GP Magic Show

Last summer at the children’s library where my wife works I did my first Growing Power magic show. This Saturday at the Resource Fair at our Church I will do it again for children and adults. I used four clear plastic containers to show the progress of waste turning into compost, then, with the help of worms, into rich soil, and then growing a plant. Tomorrow at the public school across the street from the DMZ garden I will take a smaller version of the show using four jars rather than four plastic containers. The magic comes in with the ‘time machine’, a box I use to speed up the time between stages. Last summer and Saturday I used a box called “Uncle Bob’s GP Time Machine”, tomorrow I will just wave a green magic cloth to make the transformation. The first container or jar is filled with everyday waste, like banana peels, coffee grounds, and leaves or wood chips. The children like it best when I have them eat bits of banana and put the peels in the container. The second container or jar is the ‘cooked compost’. To this jar worms are added and the compost turns into enriched soil. A seed is planted and with the magic of the time machine a plant appears in the fourth one. Of course we can add some flash and show biz. For example, on Saturday my wife the storyteller will, at the start, read the children’s book called “Diary of the Worm.”

At the Resource Fair at Church on Saturday I will also do a demonstration of the AIR, Air Insulation Resource system. My friend in Madison has given us the mathematic and scientific explanation of how the pockets of air in this system save heat loss and money. I will publish the fact sheet with this information on the AIR web page when it is complete. It is fascinating how this simple, affordable, everyday use of air pockets can be such an effective energy system. My friend is doing the math and science for all those interested. I am writing a children’s story called the “Hare, Hair and Air” to make the same point to children. The main characters in the children’s imagination explanation of the same facts are a rabbit, goat and owl. If anyone knows of an illustrator for this story please let me know.

Growing Power and being Sustainable involves a little bit of magic or mystery, some math and science and a whole lot of imagination.

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