WORKSHOP: Vermiculture (or, Worms -- Nature's Little Garburators); Wednesday, 2011 November 23 @ 7pm in UofL TH241

Vermicomposting is the practice of using worms to process our organic waste (fruit and vegetable scraps, newspaper, etc.) and turn it into a rich, natural soil enhancer. This (repeat!) workshop will cover the basics of vermiculture and vermiposting. Dan Rollingson of Earthly Matters (www.earthlymatters.ca) will demonstrate how to build your own vermicomposter, discuss the benefits of vermicomposting, and go over some troubleshooting tips. You can expect to leave knowing more about worms than you ever thought possible and with an appreciation for how truly amazing and beneficial worms really are. 

Date: Wednesday, 2011 November 23 

Time: 7:00pm 

Location: University of Lethbridge, Turcotte Hall Room #241 

Cost: Free to members of the CRCGA; $3 for non-members

"Wellness is a journey, not a destination"

Jilly, the main character in Judit Rajhathy's Free to Fly: a journey toward wellness (2003), sums up how I felt after reading the book: "We've got to do something. I feel like we're living on another planet and that right now we're in some kind of time warp - a flicker of sanity in a very screwed-up universe." Jilly whispers this to her husband during a visit to a "school that was renovated with environmental safety in mind." - scent-free, great ventilation system, skylights, broad-spectrum lighting throughout, healthy cafeteria menu and much more.

The book starts off with a poem titled The Canary by Kathleen Helene Enders and ends with:

I, the canary,
was finally
Free to Fly......

followed by this piece from Silent Spring by Rachel Carson:

Then a strange blight crept over the area

and everything began to change.

Some evil spell had settled on the community:

mysterious maladies swept

the flocks of chickens;

the cattle and sheep sickened and died.

Everywhere was a shadow of death.

The farmers spoke of much illness

among their families.

In the town the doctors had become more and

more puzzled by new kinds of sickness

appearing among their patients.

No witchcraft, no enemy action had silenced

the rebirth of new life in this stricken world.

The people had done it themselves.

Free to Fly is the only book on environmental illness and food and chemical sensitivities that I've actually read cover-to-cover. It was recommended to me by a wonderful friend and I would in turn recommend it as an excellent starting point to everyone else.