Food For Thought
Episode 6: The Learn & Grow Virtual Sustainability Learning Center
In this episode of Food for Thought, Anne explains the purpose and design elements of the Virtual Sustainability Learning Center and how it will be used to provide ongoing online instruction until we get our tiny house (https://gf.me/u/yzvw9p) and add to our sustainable living instruction using it.
For now, we’re providing project-based instruction supported by modeling in an evidence-based approach to providing virtual instruction to hands-on problem-solving and the application of academic skills to addressing real-world problems on a scale that can be replicated by many families, either as part of a home-based instruction strategy during shutdown or an ongoing homeschooling application, as well as other groups such as Scout troops, schools, and community-based organizations.
Links:
* More information about Feed America and pandemic-related childhood food insecurity – https://feedamerica.org
* More info on beneficial soil bacteria, Mycobacterium vaccae, which can reduce anxiety:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0376635713000296
https://rdw.rowan.edu/etd/2707/
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/323774195_Women_with_Anxiety_and_Depression_Out_of_the_Darkness_and_into_the_Light
Key basic materials used in the design and implementation of the Virtual Sustainability Learning Center:
* Tent-yurt – https://amzn.to/3lVYZI3
* Wood burning stove – https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/camp-chef-alpine-heavy-duty-cylinder-stove
* Shower/bathroom tent – https://amzn.to/2IQi0NY
* Sink/table – https://amzn.to/3fjwSjw
* Composting toilet system:
(Instructions: One bucket serves as a storage container for clean, unused coconut coir. The scoop goes with it, so you can scoop fresh coconut coir into the toilet. The second bucket is the actual toilet. Snap the toilet seat to the top of it and put a layer of coconut coir down on the bottom of the bucket. Thereafter, when using the toilet, cover your waste with more fresh coconut coir. Once it fills up to the point where it almost can’t be comfortably used, dump the contents into a composter, rinse it out, dump the rinse water also into the composter, return to the bathroom space, and reload it with a fresh new bottom layer of coconut coir. After 6 months, the composted bathroom waste can be used to fertilize trees; after 1 year, it can be used to fertilize food crops.)
* Two 5-gallon buckets, one with a lid – https://www.lowes.com/pd/United-Solutions-5-Gallon-General-Bucket/1000462835 and https://www.lowes.com/pd/Encore-Plastics-12-in-Blue-Plastic-Bucket-Lid/3029999
* Toilet seat – https://amzn.to/36RnBvi
* Loose coconut coir – https://amzn.to/3lRozOk
* Scoop – https://amzn.to/3lRZ3IJ
* Gray water recapturing buckets:
* 16-gallon for shower – https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/tuff-stuff-flex-tubs-16-gal-asst-f16-pmx
* 7-gallon for sink – https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/tuff-stuff-flex-tubs-7-gal-asst-f7-pmx
* Mylar emergency blankets for making a heat-reflector inside the tent-yurt – https://amzn.to/335u2da
* Omnia Stovetop Oven – https://amzn.to/393tsQQ
More information about the Great American Dust Bowl of the 1930s – https://fmr.org/legislative-updates/lessons-dust-bowl-cleaner-mississippi-rooted-new-farming-paradigm
More information about Lev Vygotsky – https://www.simplypsychology.org/vygotsky.html
We needed to replace our current battery-operated shower. The pump is already dying, so we can’t recommend it. We recently ordered https://a.co/4RR3SdX, but it hasn’t been delivered, yet, so we’ll have to keep you posted on how well it works out.
***Note: All product links to Amazon are via affiliate links. A portion of all proceeds from Amazon orders helps us fund our educational programs and services.
Music credit:
Simple Ballad by Alexander Nakarada | https://www.serpentsoundstudios.com
Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com
Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/