Category Archives: Occupy

Compost Capitalism

1st December 2011, at Allotment Plot at MERL, the sky was dull and grey, but in the garden at MERL, birds were singing. Ella Mott had been alerted to the fact that the Island was suffering from lack of moisture. Although it had rained lightly recently, this was not enough and the soil if you wiggled in to it or dug a hole, would reveal dryness not that far from the surface. The soil was only experiencing water as it met the open air. There was not an abundance of water flowing through the Island’s rivers or stored for human convenience in their reservoirs. If another dry winter was about to occur there could be a problem for many living things and their animation may be depleted. A quagmire was not required, but consistent moisture was needed to make plant material grow, unless the plant was drought resistant. A capitalist society required a lot of water to fully function and even basic vegetable survival will continue to be impaired. The moisture contained within last winter’s snow had evaporated in to the atmosphere, traveled across the galaxy and was now reaching another Planet far far away known currently as Kelper 22-b that a Kelper space telescope was watching as the next and nearest Earth candidate. Preparation and boarding passes were in the process of being administrated once Seti had been established as friendly. Ella Montt pondered this amazing phenomena; that there are more vibrant green Planets beyond the sky and much more life out there than any processing device could have ever dreamed of. Establishing if life forms were replicants of human imagination would remain questionable for sometime, but if the humanoids was able to survive its own Planet’s devastation from its own humanoid attack it could be an interesting prospect to meet Seti, as long as the life forms were not similar to Yuuzhan Vong.

At MERL the Allotment Plot had experienced a frost; the Climbing Beans were now all dead. Ella Montt cut the Climbing Bean stalks, leaving the roots in the soil and for now the vines on the bamboo supports. A grey squirrel moved horizontally in the trees across the garden. Wings of birds flapped and beaks emitted sounds. It was getting dark very early. The last of the Parsnips were dug from the ground. Slender leeks were allowed to remain rooted in the soil. A single Fennel plant stood defiant and seemingly unaffected by the frost, whilst a tiny Artichoke plant that had remained a stunted seedling and not grown to the same volume as Allotment Plot 326’s Artichoke pioneers, wondered if it could survive winter.

Harvest: Parsnip Halblange = 10.5oz = 895g; Leeks Blue Green Winter = 4oz = 115g; a few leaves of Rocket.

8th December 2011, it was a dark and stormy day, north of the Island was experiencing bruising by a winter storm. Extreme winds whipped across the mountain land. A Wholly Mammoth appeared and walked across the horizon.

At Allotment Plot at MERL, William Morris was standing amongst the rose bushes, deftly embroidering a tapestry in muted shades of autumnal thread. Rolls of wall paper were clutched under one arm. He suddenly announced that his work was not meant to be for the 1% who could really afford to pay the inflated commodity price, but for the 99% to inherit the patterns as a means to assist in building an achievable utopian future. The decorative plant depictions were a map to inspire the Composting of Capitalism, but right now the patterned items would help to furnish and insulate the Occupy tents at the Dome until new ways of human existence could be conceived and become universally operational.

There was no harvest today. Ella Montt had seen moisture in the crystal ball seven day forecast, so she left the slim Leeks to become more substantial. It was almost dark and no birds were singing. The Plot was taking on a new winter life form of slow activity. There was no sign of the overwintering seeds growing, which seemed odd as during the months of December in the two previous year, the growth of new plants had been apparent.

The next day, 9th December 2011, Ella Montt visited Allotment Plot 326. It was a perfect digging day. More soil was dug over with a fork, more Potatoes were found. A quantity of Broad Beans were planted and the last of the overwintering Onions.

Planted: Onion Radar x 10; Broad Bean Superaquadulce 2 rows x 12 beans = 24.

Harvested: Oriental Greens Tai Sai = 2oz = 50g; Parsnip Halblange = 2lb 4oz = 1.15Kg; Potato Sante = 1lb = 450g; Carrot Rothchild = 4oz =110g; Perpetual Spinach = 2oz = 60g; Rainbow Chard = 4oz = 110g; Kale Red Russian Curled = 1oz = 25g.

20 December 2011, Time had drifted by again, not aimlessly, but in nonstop motion, a stream of events, that at one point included Ella Montt moving with velocity through the air, landing on her head that was luckily protected, but also an arm that resulted in its malfunctioning. The malfunction would not allow the arm to lift a garden fork tool or barely grasp a packet of seeds! Although the situation was improving, digging was now out of the question until approximately the end of January. Earth was starting to grind to a halt under the weight of the Capitalist performance. If the humanoids could learn to completely Compost Capitalism and use different systems of existence that were more in harmony with plants, then perhaps Earth would start to spin again.

Slug Potato

On 20th November 2011, at Allotment Plot 326, it was a still day, perfect for digging, there were no other visible allotment worker around. At Plot 326, it was never possible for any tranquil sound of birds singing to exist, because of the continuous sound of human machine traffic that came from roadway beyond the hedge. The noise of traveling machines was loud and deadened the human audio facility. A rabbit had died under horrific circumstance, some fur and skin were left in one area of the allotment plot and organs found in another area of the plot. There was no sign of fresh blood, the killer, (a fox perhaps?), was long gone. Ella Montt avoided stepping on the partial remains and went to dig in another part of the plot that had previously contained potatoes. More potatoes were discovered hidden in the soil. One potato was damaged with holes, on breaking the potato open Ella Montt discovered a colony of five slugs living inside it, so the potato was set aside so that wildlife would not be interfered with and their occupation could continue. Onion sets were planted next to the garlic.

A pile of newspaper that had accumulated was taken from the shed and spread across an area of soil that had not yet been dug. The newspaper was weighted down with pieces of wood collected from around the plot. Text and images printed on the newspaper reflected towards the cloud-covered sky. The sky blankly starred back at the newspaper. The print will fade and texts dissolve in to the soil as the elements react with it. Time will eradicate the papers existence. The words will loose their importance. The plant matter beneath the newspaper should integrate with worm activity invigorating the structure of the soil.  Across the plot, there was evidence that small creatures were digging themselves in to hibernate for the winter. There were plenty of places for them to hide. Carpet positions were adjusted on the plot.

Planted: Onion Radar x 80. Harvest: Potato Charlotte = 1lb 5oz = 600g.

24 November 2011 – Allotment Plot at MERL – It was the human thanksgiving festive season that had evolved from thanking to not thanking, forgetting to be thankful, but was now perhaps moving towards being more thankful once again. The native human ran through the forest of trees, then jumped and transformed in to its spirit form; wolf, bear, moose, raven… A small bird (Robin) sung hidden in a tree. Kant leaned over and nudged Ella Montt; reflect on that sound the bird is singing, it is beautiful. Cage, who was sitting on the other side of Ella Montt, nodded in agreement. The three all agreed that action to stop a second silent spring would be necessary.

The leaves that Ella Montt had gathered last week were still covering the soil of the Plot and not yet rotted. The Brick Composter remained full. Ella Montt harvested herbs, leeks, parsnips and four Blauhide Beans. The harvest was diminishing and would need to be carefully managed to continue vegetable sustainability, however the squash, pumpkin, bean, potato and onion harvest were something to remain thankful for as they continued to act as a nutritional source.

Contemporary Occupation was continuing were it was possible, hindered and unhindered by authoritarian interference. Human protests were happening in many countries across the Planet. Strike loomed, the biggest human industrial action in 0ne hundred years. Ella Montt went in to the reading room to see if there was a solution beyond occupation and protest planting. The rigid concrete barrier of greed that authoritarian humans are erecting across the Earth’s surface needs to be cracked and broken down. Meanwhile birds continue to sing sporadically and forage for winter feed amongst the vegetation.

Harvest: Herbs, Sage and 2 types of Thyme = 0.25oz =5g; Beans (French Climbing) Blauhide x 4 beans = 0.5oz = 10g; Leeks Blue Green Winter = 4.25oz = 120g; Parsnip Halblange = 6.5oz = 180g; Celeriac Ibis = 6oz = 170g.