The unknown seeds

As we embark on a new year, we are getting a lot of questions about what we are doing. I can never give a simple explanation.  I think the reason that tend to be so long winded is that I do not want to be pigeon-holed into being just one thing.  I have said it before and I will say it again, the solutions to the world's problems will not come from one thing.  They will come from cooperation and unity.  They will come from the establishment of a foundation and building on that foundation, branching from it, and growing. 

I get a lot of joy from helping the homeless. I can do that because I use other likes and interests to help me help them.  I love to cook.  I love to garden.  I love working with the environment.  I like politics and meeting new people.   All of these things, and so many more tie into what The Waiverly Projects are.  They are me doing what I like doing, so that I can help others and teach things to my daughter.  What is it that you want to do?  Who are your projects for?

So now, these unknown seeds have been planted.  I am often out and about, meeting new people and doing new things, but most of all, I am both learning and teaching (more learning THAN teaching).  Recently, we began working on biochar expirements.  For those who do not know, Biochar is burning carbon based material (which comprises most of our waste) in a low oxygen environment.  The resulting blackened char (similar to charcoal) is ground up and added back to the soil.  It does nothing to the soil alone, but as an addition to the soil, it draws helpful nutrients and micro-organisms.  It also aids in water retention for the plants.  Most of all, it takes all that carbon that would otherwise go into the atmosphere and puts it back into the ground.  Forget reducing your carbon footprint, this process is carbon negative, so it theoretically erases your footprint altogether.

How does this help?  We are building a community garden with soil comprised mainly of sand and clay.  With Biochar and compost we are able to turn orange clay and sand into a nutrient rich growing medium.  It is very stable and has the same properties that most compost and petroleum based fertilizers use, but it is much better for the soil over time.

So, where there was nothing, we see that there is potential, with work and planning, for something.  Garbage becomes compost...An abandoned lot in Doraville, GA becomes a garden...wasted wood and carbon rich waste that would have gone into landfills, becomes biochar...seeds will become plants and plants will yield food for those who need it.

I said all of that to say this, once the seeds are planted we do not, in this case, know what will grow.  We know that with nurturing and loving care, something will emerge and we hope that something will be something positive and become the seeds again for something else to grow.  So when people ask me what The Waiverly Projects are all about, I can honestly say, I do not know...yet.