I had seen the videos over the last 4 years… Mycoremediation- using mycelium to breakdown different materials that are negative on this environment and breaking the carbon bonds with special enzymes to produce carbohydrates which can be positive or neutral in our environment I had also fallen for a couple new companies growing furniture with mycelium…. Following them online was a blessing, My passion followed in action. I found a mushroom farmer in Kansas City. Carie Cave. Not only is she humble and full of love, but she allowed me in her space to teach me and show me the details in producing a culinary mushroom. Free Education through volunteering… I learned how sensitive this live culture is to light, air, and other competing microbes. I found my new love, oh and by the way, did you know that mushrooms are more closely related to the animal kingdom than to plants? These special microorganism are used to expand our mind, our body, and soon, recovering of our planet...
Posts
Boys grow is a local non-profit that educates and empowers young men on farming, growing, producing, and selling. They have fund raisers and dinners every year to develop their presence and to give people a chance to see their farm and support them. If I can’t afford to be apart of something so special, next best thing is volunteering for it. I get to be closer with those making it happen. It's one of the best ways to get involved and chances are I receive a whole lot more for my time than my money.
Seeing is believing… and sometimes that’s just what it takes to put the mind in motion.. I began reaching out to landfills in the midwest around January of 2017. What I found is if they are private, there are no legal motions that require allowing public to see them. Go to east or west coast and landfill tours may be more common. Here in the midwest however, most doors are closed. After reaching out to a few dozen landfills across multiple states, I put the phone down, stopped emailing, and went on with my life. Three months later I received an email from Mike Hey, the new director of communications and the Johnson county landfill. He said not only would he show me the landfill, but he would be honored. We met, and went on a drive… Over the mountains and through the hills to the Johnson county landfill we go. He had just taken position in Kansas City as Waste Management had just bought out deffenbaugh. A new guy on the floor to clean up years worth of messes. ...
We have a problem. Our fast paced lifestyle with so many topics and subjects that need our attention and help, focusing on things greater than our personal life can feel overreached .. From the coral reef, and rainforests to the very eco system of bugs and soil in our backyard. Although we are tied to the strings of doubt, failure, mortality., We have been granted the chance to be a part of a team of motivated woman who want to better this world. We can inspire and remind the people in our community of all the amazing things we can do to change the world for the better We can be the spirit of the community that bridges the mind of information with the body of action. We are of the information age, and near past it.. We have the ability to know many great things. Great things like what we do has an impact, and that every act can be measured. The smallest things can lead to the largest outcome. You are here 1. because you are smart. You are smart in knowing th...
On Thursdays I go out with my dear friend Kianna and we spend all afternoon bar hopping for happy hour drinks. We enjoy the sunny patios, the cheap cocktails and conversations with those around us. The day leads us into the evening where we make our way to the bars of the night life, and of course finally to VIP lounge with bottle service galore. These Thursdays have become my science experiments on communication, consumerism, and consciousness. I know plastic straws are measurable on impact to our environment and so I take most Thursdays as a time to communicate with bartenders, servers, and friends. I will be sure to speak up, make eye contact, and say those words “no straw please..” with a murmured “they are killing the planet” under my breath. I tally how many people actually hear me, and that someone might speak up and say “hey that’s neat” but more likely a “oh she’s a no straw girl.. i don’t get it” I go through my night adding volume to my con...
I’m thrilled to talk with you today about brookside's new potential in recycling and composting . First I’m going to tell you why I’m here, why now is the time for brookside to begin its journey to sustainability and then ill hand it over to Cassandra who will go into better detail on logistics for a sustainable future. My name's Olivia English and I was lucky to be raised in brookside. I’m lucky to also work at Bella Napoli which is an Italian family restaurant that has made brookside its home for the last 17 years. Bella Napoli strives in authentic Italian experience. This experience comes from Italy, and in Italy, restaurants such as ours not only care about what goes on inside the restaurant but what happens outside regarding waste... especially food waste. In Milan, excess food is used to feed less fortunate, composting to feed farmers soil, and recycling to feed a circle economy and reduce landfill methane production. I'm...
I was present for a green business meeting hosted by BTG this Tuesday. The focus was food waste and the ways to improve. Bella Napoli is a family restaurant that thrives off of the threads of relationships it has weaved throughout the years. Bella Napoli is more than a conversation or one plate of pasta. It is a moment we share together that gets us through the lesser days. Behind these moments are the details of the work place. Making lists, ordering products, organizing, prepping, serving, and of course loving. There is however more to our story, and that story continues in our trash bins. As much as a passing smile can carry itself through the day, so too does our trash carry itself way beyond our bins. Food waste is one of our beautiful problems. Sending food to the landfill creates methane. Creating a conversation about composting the wasted, and donating the left overs is not only something we can benefit from as a family who cares about their ho...
I have landscaped for over 10 years ranging from residential to commercial. I have worked heavy machinery to weeding of yards. I have worked in teams to plant thousands of mature plants, irrigation, 10 foot trees, weed barrier, mulch. I have worked by myself, bare hands, leveling a foot of dirt, loading/unloading trucks with hundreds of pounds of rock, dirt, mulch, plants. I am effective in my time. I am educated in what stays and what goes. I know the details in spacing, depth, light, water, nutrition. I not only plant with power, i plant with love. I personally speak to the flowers and the worms and I tell them thank you. My belief is not in a perfect yard but a healthy yard. I believe in native plants and a couple of weeds, I support and specialize in butterfly gardens, rain gardens, and of course gardens. I love beautiscaping but I love even more educating on topics of soil health, native plants, and yards that support eco systems vs work against th...
Tuesday morning- April 24th I will be traveling with a Orion down the west coast with a final destination of Arizona. Orion works for a farm to table concept called SweetGreen. He builds personal relationships with the farmers to learn their system and values. We will be leaving San Francisco and visit farms throughout the west coast and the south states. Orion and I begin on the road this morning towards a mushroom farm , high production high scaled. I want to focus on the education aspect of this but I can’t help pulling an emotional human experience with it. Orion and I visit Global Mushroom. Most everything is automated. Our guy Chris tells us that before they expanded he told the boss man about automation. Implementing this system into an old system doesn’t work. You can’t stop production to create a new way. You need to expand in to a new system as to make the old system obsolete. The equipment mixes, weighs, drops the agricultural waste into wooden crat...
Carbon Storage sinks trees soil 1% leaves 40% trunks/branches 45% soil/organic matter 13% roots 1%debris Total soil carbon ecosystem storage around 80tons /acre Plants grow by making sugar(carbohydrates) from carbon dioxide (co2+h20)- sharing theses sugars with soil microbes who in exchange feed the plant. Sugars- fed to mycorrhizal fungi which give minerals Fungi attach to roots to exchange in a symbiotic relationship. The relationship builds better soil with aggregates to maintain moisture by a sticky protein called glomain(soil carbon) Feeding bacteria colonies whose enzymes break soil into nutrients.` Plastic is made from PETROLEUM, derived from petroleum > these raw finite materials come from a “Cracking process”- breaking hydrocarbons- oil- a carbon rich material. Polymers are made up of carbon hydrogen (links of monomers) 2015. 9.1 billion tons ^ of plastic have been produced since 1950. Those are still in our environmen...
Re-cap on Bay Area Applied Mycology Monday night at Omni Commons in Oakland Ca. Large group, many first timers. Discussion ran around scheduling hikes to go check on current fungi based projects. One such project is to monitor eucalyptus tree stumps that have been inoculated with mycelium. This is to test strength of mycelium in breaking down the stump and reusing new sprouts vs commercial chemicals which are a hazard to wildlife. A march for science in April, BAAM is approved to set up a mushroom booth to sell product and raise funds. Mike directed the meeting while Jill, who has a degree in mycoremediation requested help teaching kids about mushrooms. Seth, who works the lab in the omni commons in Oakland, talked about pay for teaching mycelium workshops to raise funds as well as hold an income. Great collaboration among fellow BAAM members. Within the Omni Commons there are dozens of groups working to make the world a better place. From Free Access to WiFi, open source...
I just awoke , Thursday at 1am, from a dream that had my focus and attention. When i have panic attacks, I feel as if Olivia as i know her is fading away. In my dreams however she remains real and conciously present. The dream is a Birdseye view of the highways, all the traffic in the rain, slowly making its way. I hear Elon musk speaking, he says soon there will be off ramps where pods are stored. Soon automation will be the main form of movement... My history and love of Jpods (an alternative transportation system) comes into my mind. I find myself parked on the side of the road in the piece of shit honda my mother owns. Two absolute chunk ugly cars pull up next to me. The first car is filled with a family of 4, the fathers energy calls to me. A second car, same situation. I turn around in my backseat, to where i have somehow manifested both fathers. I look them both in their eyes and say “We are all here for a purpose “ i squeeze my eyes tight as i feel ...