Taking Root: The Vision of Wangari Maathai. Filmmakers: Alan Dater, Lisa Merton, 2008.
The documentary tells the inspiring story of the Green Belt Movement of Kenya and its founder Wangari Maathai, the first environmentalist and first African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize.
The U.S.- educated Professor Maathai discovered her life’s work by reconnecting with the rural women with whom she had grown up. Their lives had become intolerable: they were walking longer distances for firewood, clean water was scarce, the soil was disappearing from their farms, and their children were suffering from malnutrition. Maathai thought to herself, “Well, why not plant trees?” She soon discovered that tree planting had a ripple effect of empowering change. Countering the devastating cultural effects of colonialism, Maathai began teaching communities about self-knowledge as a path to change and community action. The women worked successively against deforestation, poverty, ignorance, embedded economic interests, and violent political oppression. They became a national political force that helped to bring down Kenya’s 24-year dictatorship -Kanopy.
Fun at the Production Farm / Tales from the Plant Nursery
I’ve temporarily stepped into a now former coworker’s role - and I wanted to share what the work is like. She suddenly got ill and isn’t coming back.
The vacuum seeder! This allows you to seed a 288 flat in no time! Whoever invented this thing was a genius. There’s different sizes of trays that fit into it, to accommodate the different sizes of seeds and flats.
To get to this step however, there’s lots of unglamorous things to do, that actually take up the bulk of the time:
find correct soil
find correct tray
fill tray properly
find correct seed
find how much to seed
find correct tags
find marker to write the date on the tags so we know when they’re seeded
grab and select proper seeding plate for seed vacuum
All seeded!
Seeds! These live in a fridge.
Ready to germinate! Don’t water too hard or you’ll destroy everything.
Seed mats. These heat the seeds to get them to germinate early in the season. If it’s really cold at night, even though this is a heated greenhouse, plastic will be pulled over the hoops for further protection and warmth.
I kinda skipped a few steps, but once the seeds have germinated, they’re removed from the heat mats. Once they form large enough roots, they’re transplanted into these trays (these are called 804s, it took years of lobbying to convince our boss to use these instead of the smaller 1204s).
They are fed organic fish gut juice here at the farm, I feed them organic soybean juice at the garden center. They are both waste materials from other industries. The soybean juice smells delicious and doesn’t make people gag, unlike the fish.
This work is deeply satisfying. I’m planting 1000+ vegetable seeds a day, knowing that it will go on to feed people in the community.
Honestly the best place to be in January and February around here is working in a heated greenhouse. July… not so much.
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The mummy of Ramesses II was among those found in the royal cache (DB320) at Deir el-Bahari, West Thebes. It was completely covered with linen bandages that bear the king’s name and epithets in Hieratic script.
The mummy has silky hair, which was white at the time of death, but has yellowed from the preservative chemicals. His nostrils were filled with resin and seeds, perhaps to better hold their shape.
According to the X-rays, the king was suffering from dental problems and severe arthritis in his hip joint. Ramesses II’s mummy was sent to Paris for further studies and preservation. The king most probably died in his late eighties or early nineties.
New Kingdom, 19th Dynasty, reign of Ramesses II, ca. 1279-1213 BC. Now in the Royal Mummy Room, Egyptian Museum, Cairo. JE 26214
This blog is mostly so I can vent my feelings and share my interests. Other than that, I am nothing special.
If you don't like Left Wing political thought and philosophy, all things related to horror, the supernatural, the grotesque, guns or the strange, then get the fuck out. I just warned you.
