Compost

Adult Workshop on Indoor Anaerobic Composting 5/27 @ 8:30am

/ Lehcim Nosredna / 2 Comments

Bokashi Composting is a method that allows you to compost indoors, at a rapid pace, with only a small amount of outdoor space. Come to the Waldorf School of Baltimore on Tuesday 5/27 @ 8:30am for a 1 hour workshop that will give you the confidence to tackle this great feat on your own! Your WSB student knows how to do it — now so can you!

One lucky participant will win a WSB Composting System; and twelve participants will be able to purchase a WSB Composting System for $30. Bring a drill if you have one! If interested, please bring a check payable to Waldorf School of Baltimore. All proceeds will benefit WSB’s Green Projects.

Click on the flyer below for more details….Coffee BOKASHI 5-27-14

Spring 2014: GREEN SCHOOL & GREEN POWER!!!

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Greetings! Spring us upon us and we are busy, busy, busy! Students have been expanding our school garden as well as planting trees and seeds in our new pop-up greenhouse. Our chickens are healthy and happy, and our honeybees are thriving. We will be harvesting wax and honey within the next couple of weeks.

In late April, our school was re-certified as an official Maryland Green School. Be sure to check out our extensive, web-based green school application here: http://waldorfschoolofbaltimore.weebly.com/
As well as this widely circulated press release: http://www.prweb.com/releases/2014/05/prweb11824154.htm

Another piece of exciting news . . . . In an effort to remain leaders into a sustainable future, The Waldorf School of Baltimore is now offsetting 100% of our yearly energy consumption with renewable energy! This avoids emitting 475,629 pounds of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere and advances the U.S. green economy and energy independence. Read all about it here: http://www.greenschoolsalliance.org/news/green-schools-renewable-energy-purchasing-consortium-welcomes-28-charter-members
green_energy_cert_2014Thanks for reading!

 

WSB Student Council presents another Zero-Waste Initiative!

/ michel anderson / 1 Comment

TerraCycle-Logo-PNGThe Student Council has enhanced its partnership with TerraCycle to bring  our community the ability to recycle single-use coffee/tea capsules. The rise of these machines is controversial because the capsules are not recyclable nor is the coffee always of the fair trade variety. Since 2010, the Zero Waste Box program by TerraCycle has been working to change some of that. Of course, further action is needed, such as demanding the manufactures of these machines & capsules take responsibility for their products from cradle-to-grave. (Hmm…perhaps a life-cycle analysis and letter-writing campaign project for our Middle School?)
But in the meantime, please bring in any brand of capsule — after we have collected 12 pounds of the them, the Student Council will mail them to TerraCycle for composting, recycling, and repurposing. (If you’re able to compost the coffee ground yourself at home we will be able to fit more capsules in our box. But if not, no worries, bring them in full.) If you’re place of work happens to use one of these machines, please consider starting your own collection campaign: Zero Waste Boxes

Our Waldorf Fair was Zero-Waste!

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CompostStationSignOur Waldorf Fair was last weekend, and I’m happy to report that practically everything used for food & drink was successfully composted. All of your plates, forks, and cups, will be broken down into nutritious compost. The Waldorf School of Baltimore would like to thank Waste Neutral for taking care of us this year — they came yesterday to pick it all up and did so as a gift to the school. And the school would also like to thank all of you, fine readers & attendees, for disposing of everything properly and helping us host a zero-waste event!
WasteNeutral
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WSB Green Update: Oct 2013

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logoGreetings! Today is World Food Day, and to honor it, WSB’s Student Council will be hosting a food drive. The drive’s dates are still to be determined — but it will be happening soon. So get ready to clear out those pantries of all the extra canned goods that have been lingering. This morning the 8th grade and I had a lively conversation about food miles. We calculated that the ingredients of a typical bowl of cereal may have traveled over 5000 miles to get onto a kitchen table in Baltimore, MD. We discussed shopping at farmers’ markets vs supermarkets, the importance our local economy, and making informed decisions about the food we eat.

Today at lunch I had some eager 2nd grade students help me roll up the hoses as we start to prepare the garden for the long cold ahead. We’re hoping to do some winter gardening this year, so we’ll be making a some cold frames over the next couple of weeks. We’ll also be edging out the garden and putting down more mulch soon. Plus, we have hopes of firing up the old earth oven before winter hits! More on that soon.

Another exciting development is the new Fairy Garden in the Children’s Garden outdoor area. Working together last Sunday were CG teachers, Mrs. Bechmann & Ms. Landgraf, and parents, Yevgeniy Elbert (Asta), and Roland & Naoko Oehme (Yuma). The new Fairy Garden spawned from a collaboration with Mrs. Bechmann and Roland Oehme of Green Harmony Design. On behalf of the WSB community, the Children’s Garden would like to thank Roland for providing the garden plans, some plants, and lots of hard work; and to Yevgeniy for his gift of hard work, mulch, and tools. Below are some photos of the install — be sure to stop by sometime and check it out. Who knows what creatures will take up residence there come Spring?!

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Composting with Waste Neutral

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Photos of WSB’s grounds and composting systems are featured in a short video about Waste Neutral, a local waste management & composting business. The video is part of a series called “We the People 2.0” which is a collection of inspirational shorts about people doing great things to improve our planet. The videos are a project of WSB parent & Sustainability & Global Awareness Committee member, Julie Gabrielli. Watch ’em all!

Switch to Wind Power & Support WSB!

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CLCstamp_windpowerGreetings! With Spring just around the bend, WSB is proud to announce a new partnership with Clean Currents. Clean Currents is one of the leading green energy providers in our area, and together we will be encouraging you to take a few simple steps to reduce your carbon footprint and support domestic, clean energy sources at little or no extra cost. Emily Conrad is the head of Clean Currents outreach program, the Green Neighborhood Challenge, and will be visiting our school and doing educational demonstrations and activities with our students over the next 2 months. She will also be attending faculty and parent meetings to empower you to make the switch to renewable energy. (Fun Fact: Emily is also an alumna of the Washington Waldorf School in DC).

Over the next 60 days (until 5/5), for every household that switches to Clean Currents, and mentions “The Waldorf School of Baltimore,” we will receive $30 for our school garden program! Plus for every 20 households that sign up we will get a $500 bonus! 

Signing up is super easy. You don’t have to own a home, you just have to be in charge of paying your electricity bills.

Check out current rates and make the switch HERE:

  • No instillation or switching fees
  • Same dependable power to your home
  • Continue to receive just one utility bill
  • Fixed rates that are competitive or lower than what your current utility provider offers

Make sure to type in “Waldorf School of Baltimore” as your “Green Neighborhood Challenge group” when you enroll so we get the credit. If you have any questions, call Clean Currents at 301-754-0430 ext 3 or email gogreen@cleancurrents.com. One of our former blog posts also has a good amount of information laid out for you.

Thanks for reading!

Sustainability Wish List

/ Lehcim Nosredna / Leave a comment

bokashi-compost-teaGreetings! We are the hunt for a couple items to help out with our school’s composting project. In order for the students to see the composting process we are looking for large, clear, air-tight containers (like the ones that pretzels and snack foods come in). We need eight of them — one for each classroom. So if you have one please send it in with your child. The other item we hope is collecting dust in your basement a working aquarium air pump. This will be used by the students to make bokashi compost tea — a powerful and natural fertilizer. In the interested of keeping our carbon footprint low, we’re hoping these items are floating around the community so we can avoid buy new ones. Thank you for your support!