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“UPCYCLING”

The term “upcycling,” coined by Reiner Pilz in 1994, is used to define the process of taking products already in circulation (aluminum cans, plastic bottles, glass bottles, etc.) and, instead of throwing them away, these products are used to make new and improved products. There has been an increase in the popularity of upcycling in recent years due to its marketability and low costs of reused materials. Here are a few examples: a chess set I made from plastic bottles, and a few cookie cutters I made from aluminum cans.

GETTING STARTED

I started using a machete to hack away at all the weeds that were taller than my knees. This was proving to be a tedious task that was destroying the machete because of the quantity and size the rocks hidden beneath the brush. Entonces, we paid a local worker, Kathia, to till the backyard completely, and to put the soil into rows. She has offered us black soil to use as well. This whole process was completely sustainable in that we did not hire any outside work and no machines were used. We made very good use of the resources we could find within the town.

SEEDS

As far as the planting goes, I used only seeds collected locally. I refuse to go out and pay an outrageous price for specially cultivated seeds and plants when the people of San Miguel are kind and helpful, offering us seeds and advice. Good ol’ Kathia provided me with seeds from the following plants: cucumber (pepino), tomato (tomate), papaya, bitter orange (naranjilla), tamarind (tamarindo) and beans (frijoles). Deyanira allowed me to pick a few peppers (ají) from her backyard collection so we could extract the seeds and plant them; I chose to plant both the spicy (picante) variety and the sweet (dulce) variety. And believe me when I say… the spicy ones are SPICY. I licked my finger after cutting one open to extract the seeds, and my mouth was on FIRE for several minutes. These plants will definitely come in handy when they start producing fruit. Can you say “Kalu Yala brand hot sauce”!?!?!?

In a way, the practice of collecting seeds is a form of upcycling. Instead of eating a plant with the seeds inside, thus wasting the possibility for the growth of new plants, I decided to use them to create life.

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MEDICINAL PLANTS

Kathia also collected some medicinal plants and planted them in black soil so that I could transplant them in my own garden. These plants include paico, camomile (manzanilla), aloe vera (sabila), Lippia alba (mastranto), oro azúl (“blue gold”) and waterwillow (tilo).

Other plants transplanted in this fashion were: red-hot cat’s tail (rabo de gato), celery (apio), and novios (a type of small flowering plant). Future blogs will detail the uses of the medicinal plants listed above. Information on ALL of these plants and well over 100 more will be available in the Plants of San Miguel booklet I am creating (this should be posted online by next semester).

UPCYCLING in San Miguel

Virginia and I had a genius idea to create labels for the garden. I cut out little rectangles from a cardboard box we had lying around and wrote the names of the plants on them in both Spanish and English. We then put toothpicks in the bottom of the labels and stuck them all in the ground around the garden. So far they are holding up pretty well to watering and rain. And the best part is: cardboard is just paper so it will eventually biodegrade, at which point we can throw the labels into the compost pile and make new labels from cardboard (continuing this cycle we’re creating). I imagine that one day upcycling will be a popular practice in Kalu Yala and will become part of the culture that we are creating.

BEFORE AND AFTER

The backyard has gone from being full of weeds, snakes and dangerous plants, to being clean, clear, and ready to develop! Here are some before and after shots, along with a shot of Sebas and I working in the garden!