Thursday 5 June 2014

EcoSystem Begins to Take Shape in 50-Plus Lifestyle Residence:
Water Circulating; Lighting Functional

Image by PeapodLife: EcoSystem with Plant Pockets, Water & Lighting Installed

“Life requires thorough preparation - veneer isn't worth anything.”

A few weeks ago we told you that an ecosystem had gone into Birchwood Place, Fitch Street Affordable Residence for Seniors. In that blog, we listed three steps which needed to take place:
  1. Final dust cleaning and building flush to expel most construction adhesives and other chemical construction pollution, including off-gassing materials.

  2. Add water and get the Ecosystem running; allow water and system to settle.

  3. Add plants, water plants and fish; again, in a gradual, organic process.

We were there on Thursday of this week to  execute Step Two of the process…
“Once ample time has been given to achieve safe levels, we will begin to add water and get the Ecosystem running.”

Except for some minor hiccups (there are always a few to be expected whenever one does an install, because there is simply no way to predict the unpredictable), everything went smoothly.

Tradespeople, Building Management, neighbours and certainly residents have all expressed a good deal of curiosity and anticipation. And, remarkably, so many of them simple “get it”—that is, they very quickly grasp the essence of what PeapodLife is doing and cannot wait to experience it.

They also seem to grasp that there is no “final product” per se, unlike other so-called “living walls” which look at their best just after their installed, after which they begin the process of decay. No amount of natural or chemical fertilizer can sustain life in their fundamentally unnatural configurations.

PeapodLife Living Wall EcoSystems, on the other hand, look good once their installed, but really start to grow, thrive, flourish and dazzle weeks and months later.  There is never a “finished product” because the ecosystem, with all its beauty and wonder, is constantly changing, growing, surprising us while renewing itself. 

Image by PeapodLife: Lush EcoSystem at former Club Monaco Head Office.

So in a very real sense, PeapodLife is truly Life, and everything else is just a veneer. Veneers wear out, chip, fade, and reveal their substance less nature. Life, on the other hand, grows, prospers, discovers, and reveals the fertility of Mother Nature herself.

Which would you like to see in a 50+ retirement residence? Stay tuned, the planting of life in Welland will soon be at hand.


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