Thursday, January 24, 2013

Temporary Housing

    With the peppers growing, I needed a more temporary housing, until I can transplant the plant to a bigger pot.  While researching, I found that China was the largest producer of peppers, with crop production exceeding 14,000,000 in one year.  This inspired me to thinking about global agribusiness.  While looking around my room, I saw a box from Amazon.com, from which I purchased books.  I though about the ways that this website has used the name of one of the most important ecosystems in the world, while at the same time, its world wide sales are sending planes and trucks all around.  I decided for my temporary housing, I wanted to use the idea of business and nature, and how the world has become so relient on it, to the point where Amazon boxes among the college student room, is  natural.   After sketching the watering system and placement of the plants I went around to many dumpsters to find the materials i was looking for, such as different sized boxes and sponges.  I also started to collect dead leaves, to use a moisture control agent within the container.  From a previous time of working on a farm, I put dead leaves atop the field to stop keep the soil healthy, and well maintained during the winter.  Using this idea, I wanted to use a natural paper mache ( flour and water)  and place the leaves in the box.






Housing without plants
   I took my amazon box, and coated it with dead leaves and paper mache.  I then cut holes into the bottom of the box, so that the plants could soak up water from the sponges beneath it.  I took a thrown away popsicle box, and cut it into thirds, then place it inside my box, using more paper mache as a glue.  Once the paper mache was dry, I cut the top off of a shoe box, and cut sponges in half, then glued them together.  I had to wait about a day, till everything was dry enough for the plants to be placed.  I wet the sponges, and placed them on the shoe box cover.  I then placed 6 starter seeds in the planters, in the box.  I then covered the amazon box with plastic wrap, so that the green house affect would take shape and the plant would get the desired warmth.

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