Looking for an all natural fertilizer?

By Andrew

If you’ve been reading our earlier articles, you will probably already know that I’ve been working on a balcony garden in order to get myself a little closer to the food production process.  To date, I have been successful in growing chives, basil, oregano, potatoes, tomatoes, asparagus, peppers, and onions.  Unfortunately I’ve only been able to eat the first four items on this list due to the time it takes for food to grow in particularly nutrient poor soils.  The soil in flower pots are relatively nutrient poor for the reason that they rarely have active bacterial soil cultures and access to decaying organic material.  An easy answer to this would be to use some conventional fertilizer or compost.  But, if you’re like me you’ll want to try to avoid using chemicals and you lack the space for a composter.  Don’t fret, a slightly unconventional answer to this has been highlighted in Scientific American by using urine.  Now before you get all grossed out, please note that urine is completely sterile.  Read on to find out more…

Staycation: Sibbald Point Provincial Park

By Andrew

       The idea began as most far-flung adventures did and often tend to; in the company of friends over a few drinks.  It was a Saturday evening, five or six of us gathered around the television watching Top Gear’s Vietnam special.  The intrepid hosts of the program were undertaking a journey on second hand motorbikes and mopeds from the south to the north of the country.  About half way through the episode a conversation among us unfolded regarding travel and adventure.  Being springtime at the university, most of us were left wonting of this particular aspect of our lives as midterms were well underway.  It was at this moment that the harebrained scheme was hatched.  My friend Jack and I had set in our minds that we were going to bike from Toronto to Lake Simcoe, more specifically to Sibbald Point Provincial Park.

Tree Uproots Concrete

On the balcony, there's a big pot of dirt, littered with a half-dying, yet somehow half flourishing, poinsettia plant from Christmas and a few dwarf-like weeds. In the middle of the pot, a bare snake-like twig crawls upwards. “It's my mother nature pot,” my friend says. “Whatever grows, grows.”