Gardening Tools

Then there's growing a few of your own organic veggies. The fun part. Eating less meat is also a small positive that can help (livestock farming is one of the greatest contributing factors to deforestation). Meat-Free Mondays is a campaign to create awareness.... easy start, dedicate at least one day a week to no meat (i intend on making a Meat-Free Monday piece of jewellery).  I have made a few 'Garden Tool' pieces which represent "green" to me. I would like to make more, and to have a recycling range as well as an animal awareness range. I would also like to start working with other imagery that is associated with being 'green' maybe also positive and negative indicators of 'sustainability'. 

My Happy Gardening range. Dig It. Earrings. 925

Happy Gardening range. Shower with love. pendant. 925

Chapter 2 - Waste Not, Want Not.

Sprungli Collar, Verena Sieber-fuchs, 2000. Sprungli chocolate wrappers, Inox crocheted.

1. 2. *Waste Not, Want Not - looks into how jewellery can be made from materials that would usually be thrown away. Generally re- shaping or re-inventing things from materials that would usually be discarded without second thought.  The concept stems from a time during The Second World War when times were tough and innovative ways to re-use old materials became essential.eg. coats made from old blankets. The generation to follow grew up understanding 'waste not, want not'. Then came a time of affluence, and this concept was thrown out the window. Manufactured goods were favored over home-made /hand-made as they were seen as part of a more impoverished lifestyle. This has contributed  to where we currently find ourselves, the supermarket and fast-food culture, the age of plastic.Mountains of rubbish. 

1. People are becoming increasingly aware of the 'unsustainability' of this. Although sustainable  jewellery is in no going to save the world, it can only help by spreading awareness. 

1. I find, most jewellery made with this concept in mind, to be either generally quiet ugly or impractical/unwearable. This crocheted chocolate wrapper neck piece is a great example as it is both beautiful and wearable, which is an important requirement for me to fulfill through my jewellery if i am to work with this concept. I have some ideas and would like to make 1 or 2 pieces.

Progress in the garden....

Organic veggie garden going strong. Practicing sustainability not only through my Jewellery, but as a lifestyle... as best as i can for now.

Get great pleasure and nourishment from this little garden.

Getting ready for our veggie patch.

Daniela-Designed is a member of planting season. Planting season is an interactiveweb campaign aimed at getting one million people/businesses to plant vegetables on planting day twice a year(march and september). They enable members by providing them with loads of useful info and links (on how to plant a sustainable organic veggie patch). check it out http://www.plantingseason.co.za/

So this year, my boyfriend and I made it our goal to plant a kickass veggie patch. We are unfortunatly (for the time being) are urban dwellers, recently moved into a new suberban spot, with not a much space, and hectically overgrown by weeds.

<-----------------This is we had to work with!!!!

It took us two sweat dripping weekends to clear, get rid of, and prepare soil.

Vermiculture --> Design meets Worm farming?? #earthfriend.ly living

This is our worm farm!

It may seem bizarre to be talking about worms on a jewelley blog, but i love these little guys and am in the process of bringing an aspect of these amazing creatures into my design. Not yet sure how im going to do that,(maybe play on the black-gold concept)but it will come.

Our worms and the worms used most commonly and effectively for vermiculture are known as Red Worms or Red Wrigglers. We feed our daily organic waste to them, with lots of love, and in return we get the best of the best --> nutrient rich organic compost as well as worm wee(super juice) which is a plant food and natural pest repellent. We started our worm farm with 1500 worms 6 months ago and our popultation has since tripled. We love our worms and treat them as we do our pets.

“We are emerging small- scale city farmers” and we use our worms to recycle, reduce reuse and restore.And to have free top of the range organic compost and worm wee.

Recycling our organic matter (the worms food) and then turning it into nutrient rich material.

Reducing our kitchen waste therefore reducing our carbon foot print by reducing the waste we send to landfill sites therefore reducing methane emissions.
Restore, using our vermicompost to put organic rich matter back into the soil.... giving us a great harvest of organic nutrient rich herbs and veggies.

Vermicompost is the highest grade of humus and the richest fertilizer, packed with micro-organisms, good bacteria, enzymes and micro and macro nutrients all in natures perfect ratio. And its 100% organic (that is, if you eating organically from your garden or buying the organic options in stores).

No wonder vermicompost is known as black-gold, and Queen Cleopatra declared earth worms sacred.