Worm Bin Care by Gena and Paolo

Times:

You should feed the worms once a week and check on them at least 4 times a weak.

Amounts:

You should feed them 3 – 4 cups of food a week.

Food:

They can eat any thing except lemon orange and paper. AND NO HUMAN WASTE!!!!!!

In ramie weather you want to make sure they are covered so that waster does not go in. (They will drown.

Do not put any water in they will drown.

Make sure there is enough dirt for them to freely move in they will want to escape if there is not enough dirt for all of them to move.

LEAF Application Process 2011

Leadership, Ecology, Action, Fellowship

Creating Leaders for Sustainability in San Francisco Schools

Are you passionate about making a difference?

Join the LEAF fellowship for adventures and projects that will change your relationship with the planet!

Together we explore the systems that make ecologies work well, and bring those ideas into our own communities. Create plans with your team to change the ways your school community impacts its environment. Be a leader for the change you want to see in your world!

As a LEAF Leader, you will:

Ø     Share your ideas with other student leaders and mentors during the school year to prepare a plan for your community.

Ø     Join us for two weeks of planning, learning and adventure in our LEAF Academy summer session! 

Ø     Educate others about environmental issues in your community.

Ø     Help your school community move towards environmental sustainability, with the help of mentors and team members.

Ø     Help the next LEAF leaders by sharing your experience!

The Program requires a one-year commitment to the team meetings, and attendance at the summer session.

2011 L.E.A.F. Summer Session: July 18^th-July 29^th 

Cost of Program: All accepted students receive a full scholarship for 2011

Your application will include an Essay, telling us about your interests.

Application Deadline: March 1st, 2011

Choose one of these topics to address in a format of your choosing.  You may write an essay, create a movie, perform a speech, create a poster, or use any other form of expression.

1) Why would you be a great LEAF leader?

2) What are you passionate about changing in the world?

3) Describe a time when you met a challenge with success.

4) Describe a sustainable relationship with the Earth.

5) Why is it important to learn about ecology?

Interested in applying?

Email: LEAF@presidiohill.org for application details!

Yours in fellowship,

Isaac Enloe, Todd Ditto and Presidio Hill School

BAEER Fair Saturday 01/22/11

The day proved to be a great experience. We had the opportunity to reconnect with old friends and meet many people from all over Northern California who are doing creative things to protect and improve our environment.

A special thanks to Paolo for making his way to Marin early Saturday morning to setup our booth at the fair. Paolo was exceptionally friendly and made a point of meeting and impressing lots of people. Paolo worked hard sharing his excitement and experience with the public at large.

Thank you to Xochitl, Alex, Natalia, Hannah and Daphna for coming and being so supportive by staffing our information table Saturday afternoon. This project and this day at the BAEER Fair was a great success because of their generous efforts!

Worm Bin Construction Friday 01/14/11

This was the day we've been looking forward to! LEAF participants, PHS garden club and first graders welcomed new inhabitants to the deck garden. Our garden is now home to 8500 red wiggler worms. Club members and the first grade set up a worm bin in our deck garden! We selected a cool dry space for them to live in. We added volcanic stones and mulch and gave our thirsty friends a little drink of water. Now each week we will feed them chopped up table scraps and we should see them reproducing and producing lots of worm tea! Visit our worm source at their website www.unclejim.com

A Time to Plan, Amend and Plant! Meetings Start 09/17/10 at 1:20 PM

The 2010-2011 gardening school year begins! The garden club invites all interested middle school students to participate in planning, designing, building and tending the deck garden. Students need to plan on attending the weekly club meeting on the science deck 1:20-1:55 PM each Friday. Students leave JK Park at 1:15 and return to PHS with an adult in charge.

07/29/10 SFPUC Waste Water Treatment Oceanside

LEAF at SFPUC Oceanside

Experiencing this facility blows your senses away! Getting to see where our waste goes and what needs to happen to treat it so that it isn't toxic to our environment is an important and powerful experience. San Francisco is doing everything it can to use all this waste, turning our biological waste into compost and energy from the methane. The problem is the garbage that we all throw down the toilets and drains. There are only three things that should be going down the drain to include human waste and toilet paper. The rest needs to be recycled, reused or sent to landfills.

Thank you to Johnathan Smith at SFPUC for making this happen. He really opened our eyes to our role in managing our waste and inspired us all to spread the word. Thank you to Dale and Rusty for showing us around the control room.

Waste Water Reflections
“I’ll try not to flush as many times in a day. I’ll try to use less fresh water.”

~Shannon

“I’ll try not to waste water! I’m going to spread the word about not flush garbage.”

~Gena

“It was very, very, very stinky. I learned the water we flush goes back to the ocean. I was surprised that sewer water ends up so clear… it starts out in such an awful condition.”

~Alex

“It shocked me what people put down the drains and toilets. I’ll think twice before I flush anything down the toilet. I can teach my parents about what they should put down the drain.”

~Daphna

“I was impressed by how much of SF waste is transformed to clean water, compost and methane energy.”

~Wendy

“Visiting the sewer isn’t something I would normally do. I’m going to be way more cautious about what I flush!”

~Natalia

“I care more about what I flush!”

~Paolo

“I was surprised to see how clean and organized a waste treatment facility can be! It was wonderful to see how our waste is being put to use in creating compost and bio fuels.”

~Isaac

“I think differently about global warming. Now I know SF isn’t putting everything into the ocean and I feel better.”

~Hannah

“It was so fun being in the SFPUC’s laboratory! We all need to experience the biological waste we produce in this way. The sights, sounds and smells are powerful. I feel more connected to what is really happening and am ready to be more responsible for my impact on the environment.”

~Todd

07/28/10 Recology

LEAF at RECOLOGY

We saw the shocking amount of trash a single San Francisco neighborhood can produce in one week! Mountains of trash rose up everywhere at Recology's 501 Tunnel Avenue site in San Francisco. Armies of workers were busy dealing with composting, garbage and recycling. Trucks roared past us, in and out of buildings, dumping our waste. Monster sized bulldozers plowed valleys through the towering drifts of garbage. Growling machines and conveyor belts whisked trash past the people who were sorting out items not properly sorted in homes, schools and businesses.

Monster Machine

We met a group of remarkable people. Val, an artist in residence, welcomed us into her studio to share her work and to show us how she reclaims the trash at Recology to produce her art. Val will be having a showing at Recology 09/17/10 and 09/18/10! You should check it out. Next, Mika took us into the transfer station. It was like stepping into a science fiction movie! Huge machines and vehicles racing everywhere we looked!

Sculpture Garden Resident

We hiked up to the sculpture garden on the hill started by Jo Hansen in 1992. Each sculpture in this beautiful garden is the work of a past Recology artist in residence. The lush plants were found in and saved from on site trash and compost and have been given a second chance in this thriving garden.

We  joined a caravan and traveled to Pier 96 where San Francisco's recycling goes to be processed. It operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. They bale up plastics, aluminum and paper which will be turned into new products. The aluminum stays in the United States and the paper and plastics are shipped to China. When ships carrying imported goods from China are unloaded in Oakland the recycling from Recology is loaded and shipped back to China.

Thank you to Val, Mika, Kate, Marcus and Sharon for making us feel welcome, sharing their expertise and passion and for keeping us safe.