Nature deficit disorder anyone?

Went to see a community screening of the documentary “Play again.”  First time I heard the concept of “nature deficit disorder,” that is, that “human beings, especially children, are spending less time outdoors resulting in a wide range of behavioral problems.” If you don’t believe it, just watch the documentary.

Here’s the official trailer. If you’re a parent or have children in your life, you should watch it! (and do something about it)

Organic gardening: dealing with pests II

Last year it was veggies vs. rabbits. This year grapes vs. birds. After several years of the vine only giving a bunch or two of grapes (which we didn’t even bothered to pick and graciously offered to the birds from the neighborhood), this year the plant exploded. So much so, that we didn’t anticipate we would need to make space for the grape bunches. We ended up with too much fruit on the cane roof: buffet served on a plate to the birds.

Dangerous pursuits: ladders, scissors & nets

My feeble attempt at discouraging the birds from gorging on the plump grapes consisted in opening some canes so that the fruit would drop below the roof, and covering parts of the remaining fruit (most of it) with some left-over pieces of net from the fight-the-rabbit days.

A few weeks later, I’m happy to report, we’ve gathered a couple of bucket-fulls of juicy grapes. 100% organic!

Disclosure: no bird was damaged in the process of growing or harvesting the vines.

What's up with the bees? / ¿Qué pasa con las abejas?

For those who think all is lost when it comes to our environment, there’s good news: I keep on running into people concerned with the environment, people who are doing their share to change things, informint others, raising awareness, moving things in a better direction.

Recently, I met Jocelyn Demers, producer of a couple of films that tackle issues related to sustaintability. One of the documentaries is about bees: Saving the Life Keepers. You can check the trailer here:

If you have no idea why I’m talking about bees, here’s a 4-minute summary about the issue:

Y en español (de España) otro video reciente, de media hora que explica el tema de la muerte de las abejas (síndrome de despoblamiento de las colmenas) y lo que eso representa para nosotros:

¡A informarse y tomar las decisiones correctas!

How to keep stuff out of landfills (+ another nice example of upcycled plastic bottles)

Another neat use for a plastic bottle I came across in FB: this time including the cap plus a couple of other items you can find around the house. A ladle with a broken handle or burnt? Some extra seeds? Feed a bird!

You get to enjoy the birds, birds get to enjoy the food, and more stuff keeps out of the garbage pile.


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In Mexico there are also talks about how to re-think our relationship with what we use so that less of our discarded materials end up in the landfill. The first distinction: organic and inorganic. Compost the organic, recycle (or upcycle!) the inorganic.

More on what’s been done in Mexico at a business level to green our lives? Click here.

The return of the beast (and how to beat it with upcycled materials)

The net-fence we had build to protect our garden from voracious rabbits worked well for a while. Our compost-fed plants were growing just fine when, one morning, we found this:

A former happy basil plant

They used to be healthy chives

        The promise of strawberries ruined

Something had to be done. Urgently.

The ultimate adobe house

En la última entrada sobre pájaros y nidos, los pobres bichos salían malparados. Para que no parezca que son todos tan cabeza hueca, acá va una muestra de lo que algunos de ellos sí saben hacer muy bien: la casa de barro por antonomasia. Para quienes relacionan una casa de barro con algo pobre, acá a la izquierda les ponemos un ejemplo que encontramos en Maldonado. Nada de andarse con chiquitas: para este hornero, buenas vistas e iluminación de primera con faroles antiguos era un must.

Abajo, un video donde se muestra el proceso de construcción en barro en un entorno urbano:

En una entrada anterior ya habíamos visto cómo hacemos ese proceso los humanos, cuáles son las ventajas de la construcción en barro y los resultados que obtenemos.

Para leer más en detalle sobre la construcción en barro, pueden visitar esta página o ésta y para ver ejemplos de casas realizadas en el Pinar, Solís, Punta Colorada, José Ignacio y otros lugares de Uruguay, pueden ir acá.

¿Ganas de leer más?

Casas de barro: autoconstrucción sustentable (artículo)

Arquitectura con tierra en Uruguay (libro)

Regreso a la arquitectura rural (blog)

Empresas u organizaciones que se dedican a la bioconstrucción 

En Uruguay

Ecoaeco 

Epsea 

Estudio Land Arquitectos 

 Fronterra

Tierra al Sur

En Brasil

Tibá 

Proterra

Home-building doesn't come easy to animals either

As I've mentioned before, the area we're staying is a bit of a paradise for birds. They're everywhere. They're happy. They're noisy. (We don't mind it at all, but sometimes they get so loud that the other day, while on a Skype meeting, my client asked: Are those birds in the room?)

Yet, it's not easy being a bird, not even in this sanctuary. In the past months we've seen three nests being built, and the rate of success is not as great as the bird population around would have you think.

Día de Limpieza de Costas / International Coastal Cleanup Days

Waiting ...

Hey what's up doc?

So, Irene may not be huffing and puffing through our neighborhood after all, which is a good thing! This gives us plenty of time to attend to projects on the boat to get her fully ready for sailing. Also, lots of time to notice the little things around us.

This morning I was out on the stern munching on some toast when I noticed this little guy popping his head out of the rocks in the wharf. We've noticed it earlier, but were unsure what it was. The issue was just settled at the local laundromat - it's a beaver! But I was under the impression that they had a long flat tail. Not this guy though.

So, an update on the weather. Looks like Irene will fizzle out into a "dying tropical storm" by the time it gets to our area. The Captain reckons that we'll set sail Tuesday morning. Till then we've got work to do and lots to enjoy :)

[Update AUG 30: It turns out this may not be a beaver, but a groundhog! So the controversy continues. Let us know what you think :)]