Stray dogs

Dog examining garbage for something to eat

 

Strays have found new seating: The tops of parked cars

  

A pack of strays: strength in unity

Tomatoes!

Tomatoes growing in my balcony terrace garden! They're still tiny, but we're feeling good. They've grown on wet waste composting. The plants sprouted quite unintentionally from the raw tomato waste I had chucked into a plant pot. They might be eaten by squirrels or birds. They might grow into red juicy fruits. They might … Let's see what happens :) 

 

Wet waste composting in a balcony terrace

We got Marigolds by the dozen!

plants thriving on wet waste compost

the mint plant seems to love wet waste!

Wet waste composting at home can greatly reduce the amount of garbage that gets dumped on the city solid waste disposal system.  
The good news is that all you need is a small balcony or terrace that can hold a few plant pots.  

I began composting the waste since last year and am quite happy with the results. The process I follow is easy and does not use any composting mixes or cultures to accelerate the process, or any special equipment. 

Here is how I do it:

We hardly ever have any wasted cooked food leftovers, so fruit and veggie waste is the only input here. 

Chop, shred, or blend the vegetable stalks, fruit peels, etc in a mixer. Add to the plant pots. 
To date there has hardly been any smell, or problem due to flies or worms of any kind. Yes, the pots do have tiny earthworms so they help break down the waste too. 

If you have empty pots, what you can do:

• Place a layer of brick pieces, stones, or coconut husk at the bottom of the pot. 
• Add a one inch layer of soil. Then add the chopped vegetable matter. Again put a light layer of soil.  
• Turn this mix over lightly every two or three days.   
• Initially for the first 4-5 times you may need to alternate the waste layer with a thin layer of soil. 
• Later on you can just keep adding the waste to the pot and mix it a little with the compost below.  
• You might need to sprinkle a little water once in a while to keep the mixture damp.

Another thing I observed was that banana skins/peels make good compost as they decay quite fast. Adding these in the initial few layers helped compost other waste well. 

Once about 2/3ds of the pot is full, you can plant a sapling in it. After that spread the waste mix around the plant along the edges of the pot.

eagerly awaiting fragrant Nishigandha flowers

Nothing to crow about

One Sunday morning, strolling about in search of interesting clicks, I found this crow near a garbage dump on the roadside, eager to finish the half-eaten packet of snacks. The level of hygiene in this city is in fact rather low just now. Overflowing garbage bins have become the norm. And that is what the crows thrive on.  

Possessed of a high level of intelligence and highly adept at adapting to the environment, the crow is the contemporary urban bird. But inspite of all that familiarity with the urban environment, snapping it was a bit of a challenge, because the moment I aimed my camera from a distance it became wary and edgy, its flight instinct very much alive.