2012: Spirit Indestructible

 

“I have a spirit indestructible, a heart that was made pure, unbreakable and that’s for sure, unshakeable so give me more…”

 

2012 was a challenging year.  A year of growth, full of lessons. The worms and I  made new friends and integrated them into our crazy family of love and social entrepreneurship. 

Growing a worm business, social venture, company, or whatever you may call it… is challenging, but in a good way. I couldn’t see myself doing anything else but this. Having the opportunity to work with strong, intelligent and passionate guatemalan women is a gift from heaven. 

Meet Bonifacia Ixcoy. Boni was born in Quiché, in the highlands of Guatemala. After the civil war, Bonifiacia and her family where looking for a place to live and found a humble house in one of the communities that surround the city dump. Bonifacia can’t read or write properly, but she is in love with her worms. Whenever a new woman joins our group, she is the first to explain the worms favorite diet and reproduction process. She is more than amazing and practices vermicomposting since 2009. 

 

 

I wish I could tell all my friends and beneficiaries’s stories today…. I will eventually because if there is one thing I learned last year is that vermicomposting may open hearts and strengthen the spirit. 

“I have a spirit indestructible, a heart that was made pure, unbreakable and that’s for sure, unshakeable so give me more…” – Nelly Furtado

The Wonderful World of Worms

This is the worm movie that Cathy’s husband Rick edited from our work in Guatemala city, Petén and Sacatepequez. Cathy had so much to teach us and we are already seeing the fruits all the time she invested. (pictures coming soon).

Guatemala + worms + women = success!

A Wormderful Adventure

Worms have always had a way to take me to the most amazing adventures in Guatemala and around the world, sometimes its hard to communicate all the power and magic that worms and the whole vermicomposting process has.

The past years have been full of blessed field work and they have helped Byoearth to take its next steps and scale up. Nevertheless, to scale up one often needs mentors and advisers with the right vision and in the “worm world”  that might  be a bit challenging….but not impossible.

One of my mentors of the past months has been Cathy Nesbitt, founder of Cathys Crawling Composters, a company based in Canada that has successfully mastered the art of vermicomposting. Cathy and I met through twitter and we made such a great connection that courageously she decided to come to Guatemala and embark on a worm adventure with the groups of women that Byoearth has been working for the past year.

Cathy will be producing a video summarizing her two weeks in rural and urban Guatemala that is going to be fantastic!

Wormilicious Update – GoYoung interview

A couple of months ago, the amazing and creative GoYoung team visited Guatemala to meet and interview social entrepreneurs under 30 years old. GoYoung will release a documentary featuring many social entrepreneurs around the world and their ideas to change the world. We are honored to form part of this amazing adventure and we wish them the best of the best. We hope you like and enjoy this Spanish interview where we got to share some of our passion for WORMS!!!

“A worm bin in every home”

worm dreams come true

Microsoft once dreamed of a computer in every home,  at Byoearth, wee dream with a worm bin in every home and we are making this real by starting in Guatemalas city slum area. We have been working in this interesting and challenging area for more than two years now. And we feel proud. Proud to encourage women living under vulnerable conditions to struggle and to learn new skills that can become a sustainable livelihood. Vermiculture and vermicomposting has taught them that it is possible to help themselves and the environment with withe power of worms. Thanks to the support of 10 volunteers from a local university, our most promising vermicomposters have now a worm bin / worm kit, to produce at home. Some of them already had worm bins at home, but now they get to duplicate their production.

We are passing from vision to action, with love and passion for Guatemala, worms and the environment!

xoxo Maria

See our pictures and like our page on facebook:  http://on.fb.me/lLZTPT

Byoearth as one of the worlds UNREASONABLE entrepreneurial ideas!

Dear friends and wormers,

We want to share important news with you:

Entrepreneurs from over 60 countries vied for the 25 slots available to attend the 2011 Unreasonable Institute. After conducting over 100 interviews, the Unreasonable team has narrowed it down to 45 exceptional finalists. Now, in a true test of their entrepreneurial mettle, each of these finalists face one final challenge before becoming Unreasonable Fellows: galvanizing the globe to raise the $8,000 it costs to attend the Unreasonable Institute.

The first 25 finalists to raise $8,000 , for a total of $200,000, will be chosen to attend. And the decision lies in your hands. Head to the Unreasonable Institute’s Finalist Marketplace and join one million people across the globe to vote with your dollars for an entrepreneur you believe might change the course of history.

In order to enhance the challenge, the Unreasonable Institute has imposed contribution caps, starting with $10 in  week  one  and  increasing  incrementally.  In  addition  to  preventing  single  underwriters  from  providing  full funding,  the  caps  force  finalists  to  mobilize  the  support  of  hundreds  of  people  from  around  the  world, mandating creative marketing, effective storytelling and  the power of social media  to garner support  for  their ideas. In  2010,  the  inaugural  year  of  the  Unreasonable  Institute,  entrepreneurs  raised  over  $160,000  in  the Marketplace from nearly 3,000 supporters across 130 countries.“We  believe  that  absolutely  everyone  can make  an  impact,  and  the Marketplace  is  a manifestation  of  that belief,” continued Epstein. “We encourage people  to visit  the Marketplace and  leave  their mark on  the world, whether it is through a Facebook post, watching a video or donating $10 to an entrepreneur whose idea struck a chord.”Donors have an opportunity  to  test out  their own  social marketing  savvy  through a gaming element: a donor receives one point for every dollar contributed and two points for every dollar that is contributed as a result of sharing their vote via social media. Top point earners receive prize bundles from HP, which has come on board this  year  as  the  Unreasonable  Institute’s  first  corporate  partner  and  as  part  of  the  company’s  longstanding support  of  entrepreneurship.  In  addition  to  the  prizes,  HP  is  contributing  a  scholarship  fund  for  the entrepreneurs and providing technology through which the entrepreneurs can tell their stories and ideas. “HP believes in the transformative power of technology and entrepreneurship to tackle some of the world’s largest social issues,” said Wayne Surdam, vice president of Media and Influencer Relations, Personal Systems Group, HP. “The Unreasonable Marketplace is an incredible platform for high‐impact social entrepreneurs to scale their ideas and connect with the world.

Yes… a Guatemalan social venture is included in the 45 unreasonable entrepreneurs, we need to prove this unreasonable idea, scale up and connect Guatemala and Worms as a tool for development in the world.

Help us please: http://bit.ly/i915sq

Can kitchen waste inspire a new year resolution?

Why not? Kitchen waste is just a vehicle to exploreone of natures precious gifts, worms that recycle degradable waste, also known as vermicomposting or vermiculture.

Kitchen waste is constantly being generated and must be disposed of, right?

With vermicomposting, worms and micro-organisms to turn kitchen waste into a “black, earthy-smelling, nutrient-rich humus.”

For starters, you only need three things:

1. Green waste (from you kitchen or garden)
2. A worm bin (with worms, of course…)
3. Your love, care and enthusiasm.

Heres a quick  overview on vermicomposting at your house:

Many internet sites quote the author of Worms Eat My Garbage, Mary Appelhof, who suggests weighing your household food waste for one week, and then measure its volume to find an adequate space. Mary suggests that bins need to be shallow because the worms feed in the top layers of the bedding. At the same time, your worms will need to be in comfortable bedding. A bin that is too deep is not as efficient and could potentially become an odor problem.

“Worm boxes can be purchased or made. Plastic storage containers are convenient and come in a variety of sizes. These containers are easily transported and are a nice alternative to heavier wood bins. Many people choose to have several small bins as opposed to one heavier, large wood bin. Small bins work best in homes, apartments and school classrooms. They are easy to tuck under desks, place below kitchen sinks and keep out of the way in laundry rooms.” Reference: http://bit.ly/gWMRfD

Think about it.. worms can change your mind and introduce you to green living.

Cheers!