The Plant Project

About seven months ago, I read about the 'ecosystem in a jar'. Curious as I am, I went to investigate the whole phenomenon and decided to try to make one myself.

The intention is that you create a balanced ecosystem in an enclosed environment (like earth, actually). That may sound easy, but it is quite a challenge. When you put too much water in the jar, the plant will rot and die, but when you put too little water in it, the plant will die, too. When the soil you use is in a poorly state, your plant will die of nutrient shortage, and so on.

Until now, two jars survived. The smallest one was the 'test jar'. After I made the plan, I took a small jar to find out if it worked. 

I put a plant cutting of a Spider plant (Chlorophytum comosum) in the jar, together with some moss, and added a small amount of water. After a few weeks, the small plant had grown and the moss was greener then when I put it in the jar. It worked!

This is the jar I created after the 'test jar'. I put a small Sword Fern (Nephrolepsis) in it, together with a mossy branch, moss and alder catkins. As you can see on the label, I closed it in february this year, so that is six months ago. In the meantime, I only opened the jar to smell the musty scent of wet soil. From now on, I will try to never open the jar again, and see what happens.

On the left, the jar just after I arranged it. On the right, the jar it is now.

This is the jar I made today. The previous jar with moss in the lead, flourished about four months. Because one of the pieces started to rot, I removed some water out of the jar and removed the rotten piece of moss. One week later, I added another piece of moss,. Within a week, all the moss was covered with a thick layer of mold. Big lesson: never change something in a balanced ecosystem.

I digress. This jar contains two types of moss, a stone (for decoration), three small twigs (from our apple tree) and a few dried apple leaves. I am very curious about what will happen to the leaves; will they compost, because of the soil and moist? Or isn't it moist enough to rot, and will they just stay there?

 This was my blogpost for today. In the next one, I will explain how the plants survive in the secluded environment. 

Do you have an idea for a blog post, something you would like to know about plants, animals, the things I do? Feel free to leave a comment or use the contact form on the right to send me a message.

Nature in your room

For I collect naturalistic things, I also own a windowsill full of houseplants. Some are in sealed, air-tight jars, which I will tell you more about in a subsequent post.

Today, I would like to tell about the Schefflera arboricola. As you may know, most of the houseplants we know are tropical plants. That's why they flourish so well in our warm room climate. The Schefflera, also known as Dwarf Umbrella Tree, is native to Hainan and Taiwan.

This plant I got from mijn boyfriend's mother. She didn't know how long it is already standing in her room, but it's quit a long time. The plant is a little bit neglected, but after a dust turn, a pot with fresh soil and a bit of plant food, it will certainly grow again.

 

The Schefflera arboricola is a small tree. The roots are growing out of it's pot, so it will quickly get a new, bigger one.
 



 

Look how beautiful those leaves are!
 

Buy all the things!

Today, I went to the Hague with my mom and sister. They have several special shops in The Hague, the Native American shop and Natural Choice (the shop where I bought my butterfly, see previous post), for example. I bought several things I would like to show you.

I love beads, especially beads made of wood, bone or glass. The beads in the pharmacist jar are made out of wood and painted in natural browns. I bought the candleholder in the same shop; it is just a heavy stone with a hole in it to put a candle in. I appreciate this simplicity very much, in my opinion nature is the best without any additives. The feather is from a jackdaw.

Beads I bought in the American Native store. I love this small shop, it is full of naturalistic things and handmade things from the American Natives. 

Those beads are made of glass, copper and buffalo bone. The blue one on the left is aquamarine, the two red, round ones bamboo coral. I will use them in dreamcatchers and small needlework. Aren't they wonderful?

I keep those beads seperately in a small, glass jar. 

I also bought a few stones in a home decoration store. I have no idea where I am going to use them for, so I am still waiting for some inspiration!

Hodgepodge

Todays blog is a hodgepodge of different things; things I found, made and inspire me.

Collection of things, waiting to get put into work. From left to right: tail feathers from a North Holland Blue rooster, earrings (which are finished, but inspiring), beads with seeds, feather shaped pendants.

A dead bumblebee, found in the garden. I put it on this piece of wood, with pins around his body, so it will dry with his paws and antennas in the right position.

A Pachnoda marginata peregrina, which I found in an old terrarium where they used to live in. It was completely dried, but unfortunately it missed it's paws and antennas. It's still a wonderful creature, though.

Last week, I worked on several new power stones (also see my previous post about power stones). 

This one has a mole in the front, which stands for contact with Earths energy, knowledge about herbs, roots, seeds and rivers and love expressed in nature. Brown is obviously the color of earth and contains beneficial energy. The symbol on the other side is the basic element of earth.

This stone has a spider with its web in the front. The spider stands for wisdom, creativity and inspiration. The web is added, because spiders are master weavers. Yellow stands for wisdom and creativity, purple for spirituality. The symbol on the other side is from the American Natives and means wisdom.

Last but not least, a power stone with the bee. The bee stands for prosperity, reincarnation, communication with spirits and concentration. The blue color stands for truth, sincerity, spirituality and calmness. The bee also connects with the goddess Diana. The symbol on the other side of the stone is from the American Natives, and means happiness.

The power of stones

As long as I can remember, I am very interested in other peoples cultures, especially their religions. I am very fascinated and inspirated by all those several beliefs, and you can see it in my work (also see my previous post). Today, I worked on serveral 'power stones', which are shamanistic power objects. Maybe the word 'shaman' makes you think of the Native Americans, but there are many more people in the world which are connected to shaman belief.

Back to the stones. I used animals with the shaman meaning of each animal in mind, and combined it with the connecting colors. I also used ancient Celtic symbols.

Three finished stones. A turtoise with an orange background, because orange is a healing color, and a tortoise stands for healing, too. A white owl on the small stone, because white stands for pureness and an owl for silence, so that connects. The yellow stone has the Mother Goddess on it, which stands for creation. The spiral stands for growth and life, what connects with the green color. The yellow symbolizes wisdom.

The back of the stones. The triple spiral is a sign of female power an growth. The Celtic cross on the yellow stone symbolizes faith, trust and spiritual love and connects with the purple colour, which stands for peace of mind and meditation.

This is the small owl compared to my forefinger. Pretty small, isn't it?

My ears are full of dreams...

... with these miniature dreamcatchers. I made them today. It was quite difficult to make the web in the centers, because it's so small. I'm very pleased wit the result, though. What do you think?

All the little things

'Enjoy the small things in life,' who hasn't heard -or read- about that sentence? Well, I take it very literally.

Hodgepodge. The feather is from a brown hen.

The snail family.

An ammonite fossil on the left, a Great Ramshorn (Planorbarius corneus) on the right

 Say hello to my little friend! This little crab in clear plastic has the same size as my fingertip.

At the feet of Mother Earth

Today, I took a walk through the park near my boyfriends place. The center of the park consists of artificial, low hills in a female body shape, and is called 'Mother Earth'. So actually, Mother Earth is surrounded by her own park full of trees, ditches and swaying reeds. Although the park is made by human hands, it slowly gets it's own character. Trees grow tall and nature goes it's own way. The farmers mow some paches of grass, so everyone can picknick and play with his dog on the fields, but that's it. I once saw a Great Bittern (Botaurus stellaris) and when you look closely to the ground between the trees, you can find feces of foxes. I love to just sit on the grass and meditate, at the feet of Mother Earth.

The sky and the clouds were wonderful, today.

Bridges keep your feet dry. All the bridges are made out of wood, so they fit perfectly in their environment.

A branche of an English oak (Quercus robur).

Moss on the bark of a tree.

I picked chamomile (Matricaria chamomilla). When the flowers are dry, I use them to make herbal tea.

Burned flower

As I said in my previous blog post, I am working on a new flower press. I thought it would be nice to show you the work in progress!

This is the actual drawing and text on the press. I put it on using carbon paper (an old-fashioned way to make copies).

After I put the image on the wood, I used my wood burner tool to create the external lines. I use small paintbrushes to color the image.

A messy desk! The light isn't what it should be to take pictures, but I have to use strong artificial light to work proper.

Drying plants

Today I would like to show you a project I am working on. I'm drying plants, because I'm creating a herbarium.

Normally, I use a flower press to dry plants and flowers, but my flower press is full of other leaves and plant pieces, so this plants I dry in a... Bible! Of course you can use every thick, heavy book instead. I use this Bible, because you can close it very firmly by closing the locks on the sides of the book. (By the way, I'm working on a new, bigger plant press, but it is not ready, yet.)

Mostly, I use coffee filter bags. These bags are very absorbent, so the plants will dry quick. Besides, the filter bags protect the delicate pages of the bible against moisture from the plants. I simply cut the compresses edges from the filter bag, fold it open and lay a plant on it to dry. Then, I put another open filter bag on top of the plant and turn some pages to put another plant on, etc.

The way I dry my plants:

This is the front page of my herbarium. When the leaves are dry, I will glue one in the centre of the page.

Some plants, like this thistle, fits in one filter bag. I just close the bag and put it in the book.

Look how wonderful this little thistle is!

This plant didn't fit on a filter bag, so I used ordinary print paper.