One of the crafts of the Ngabe women is to make chakras, or bags. These bags are looped from any sort of string. The traditional way uses a hand dyed plant fiber. The bags come in all sizes- from large enough to carry firewood, to bitty-sized for a cell phone. Both men and women use them as purses. When carrying a large chakra with cargo the strap is placed on the forehead and the bulk is carried on the back. This takes a very strong neck! I decided to try my hand at making a chakra with some ugly plastic string I had. I made a bag for my yoga mat. The women were so enthusiastic about helping me, but they couldn't understand what a yoga mat was (I finally called it a sleeping map) or why I would make a bag for it.
Compost
I'm trying to make compost out of my food scraps. I'm using a 5-gallon bucket with holes punched in the bottom. Everyone in my community thinks I'm crazy. They wander by the outside of my house to sneak a peak inside the bucket. They just don't get it. It's been about 2 weeks and I'm patiently waiting for something exciting to happen, to show them I'm not more crazy than I know they already think I am. I scanned a few how-to compost sites online to get started. I'm now soliciting advice from my green-friends (you all, if it applies) to see if I'm on the right track. The physical characteristics of my compost are: dark in color, smelly, attracts flies, has maggots. To keep it moist I add coffee & grounds every morning and occasionally some urine (nitrogen, right?). I set it in the sun every day to make sure it stays hot. I've added dried leaves for a carbon input. Recently it has become more consistent in color and I can tell the material is breaking down. How long should it take? Does it sound like I'll have myself come rich compost soon?
compost looking good! not sure about the urine addition though, it's usually more C hungry than N hungry!
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