So I placed these in the compost bin a while ago, and the promptly forgot about them. In some spots the image is mostly latent. Nearly completely gone, the staining came out with very interesting patterns on the print. I am happy with these as well just thought it came out well.
So this is going to be the last update to this project. I want it to morph into something new. My friends are dying and I have not been able to help them. The people I have spoken to believe its the sudden chilly weather in San Diego. This is several day late I know finals are looming and I have not been able to get to posting.
There is still something poetic in this it is kind of a perfect life cycle beginning to end. The ups and downs growth death and rebirth.
The 10 week mark…Still stagnant, not a whole lot of change in either jar at this point, and if anything the plants are looking slightly weaker again. I made the decision to leave them in the growing jar for another week for two reasons. I am hoping that next week they will appear stronger again and in order to get a good layout on the grid part of the project. I did not like the grid that came out this week.
Again these jars appear to be reflective of life for me. Existing in some sort of strange holding pattern with minor movements forward, but no complete collapse at the same time. No leaps and bounds of change. Maybe the transplant see big change is what they need to move forward. Or maybe it will be the death of them.
Well with in growing the friends in the jar have improved over the last week. I know the post is late, but I swear I have been taking the photos as scheduled.
So bringing them inside helped, I guess some times in life we all need a little shelter from the external elements that are affecting our well being. I think the Compost Jar is at its end point there has been little to no change over the last couple weeks.
I think that the plan for me know is to call this particular project done next week. I will do 2 final photographs next week and then start a new side project, (side project 1 is deceased as stated before, still figuring out how to photograph empty planters). I will combine the contents of the jars into a new vessel, and I will probably start another larger project. Not quite sure yet what cycles 2 will be but I have a few ideas
Cycles continues to move on, I know I havent transplanted the basil yet, I am just a touch afraid to do so at this point after the last transplant. (Also I have not had time to find an appropriate vessel). I feel on the overall level things have slowed a little on this project, which in of itself is not a bad thing the project is an experiment in life and growth. Strangely enough it is a little congruent with the current times either way. Progress sometimes proceeds rapidly and some times it slows slightly
I am truly happy and excited about this project as it expands and moves forward on its own. In some ways I feel it is odd that this started out in such a small way and I am finding my way in the project. These little green things and a jar of dirt are something that are becoming close to me, and following me along with my own journey.
At this point the project is moving along nicely. It Has slowed a little bit and part of that may be due to cooling temperatures. But the Compost is continuing to turn into a dark moist soil and now my little plant friends has decided to creep out of their jars. The basil in the growing bins has become quite fragrant, i really believe i need to move on and transplant the plants and start a new growing jar, and possibly a larger compost jar.
Cycles is continuing to move along, though the growth rate has slowed some the basil is begging to peak out of the top of the jar I opened. I believe our recent fluctuant weather in San Diego to be prt of the culprit, it has alternated between blazing hot and wet and chilly here over that last week. Given that the plants are no longer existing completely in their little enviroment this is probably affecting them somewhat.
In the Compost Jar much of the items placed with in are barely recognizable any more. I actually am thinking it may be getting close to time to attempt to plant in this jar, when opened the smell of soil is rich and vibrant, You can still smell the citrus peels that were placed in with the pile at the beginning but recognizing these things is difficult, some of the more dense yard waste is still recognizable and there are still a few bright green leaves.
I believe the transplants side project has given up, and this makes me a little sad. I did not want my little friends to die, but even with good thoughts, talking to them and plenty of sun and water they have not thrived. I could not bring myself to photograph them today, but i plan on it in the near future, its just hard to photograph essentially a death mask. I guess the failure of this part of the project speaks back to the original intent of the project though, not every cycle in life grows to its full potential, and at times some times things get in the way and end that arch of life.
This also brings me to wonder what am i to do with the growth jar, it seems that things are getting dense in there and there is more growth than i expected even though very few of the chives that were planted are visible. But the shallow amount of soil in the jar, and the number of plants growing i know at some point if I want these plants to thrive im going to need to get them out of the jar. I would rather not pull them free of the soil like the few i attempted to move in the Transplant side project. I believe my best option is to separate the soil pack into 1/4’s and attempt to remove them that way.
Cycles is continuing to move forward. The plants are now trying to grow out of the top of the jar so after today I am removing the lid to allow them to grow. This is in a small way putting an end to that micro-environment, Put this whole project is an experiment dealing with where is goes once i started the process. I have noticed that the plants are beginning to require more water than they once did and I am becoming concerned that I am going to have to figure out how to transplant the whole jar.
The compost jar is continuing to move forward as well, opening the jar you get a big smell not of rot but of fresh soil. Its a healthy and clean sort of smell. Although the progress here is seeming to slow down some I think I am going to have to go find some of the worms suggested by the guys at Stone Farms in order to keep it going forward.
Finally the side project is not thriving the small plants i attempted to replant just do not seem to be thriving as much as i would like them to. The weather has been odd here in San Diego this week wet, rainy and chilly at the beginning of the week the towards the end the temperatures soared into the 100’s. I think this may have been part of the issue. Some of the small plants are now wilted and and are not seeming to live a few still have some good color to them, and I hope by regular watering and care they my come around but at this point I am unsure as to where it is going to go. I will photograph them next week wether or not they begin thrive, and either call it quits with that part of the project or not.
Cycles is moving forward nicely. Things are continuing to progress as i had hoped they would. My basil is growing like crazy, however I think I may have to open the growing jar in order to allow the plants to continue to grow. Also i started doing some research (Probably should have done more prior to planting) and I am going to need to thin out the plants. I plan to add this is as a secondary project to Cycles.
Cycles is starting to take on a bit of life of its own. More and more am I thinking of other things to add into the project. This started out as project that was intended to be confined to a constantly growing and a composting jar. I thought that perhaps i would start adding new jars in as the compost became soil. But now I am thinking that this project can live on a little more and grow a little more to be encompassing of more life and death cycles.
I am still on the fence on how often i should shoot these images. Many times through out the last week I have looked at the terrarium and thought maybe today is the day. I held out for the full week to show the drastic changes overall. For this set i slightly changed the camera angle in order to show the level of decomposition in the Compost. I found that shooting from the slightly above angle did not show the degree of change that actually happened.
To this point I still have added nothing to Growing only opening the top to allow for some fresh air in. Compost was turned after the photo in order to not disturb the level of change.
Below are the 14 days collected together
Jerry Slough Photography 