Category Archives: Uncategorized

A Separate State of Mind | A Blog by Elie Fares

Lebanon’s weather was all over the place this past week. The “Bride” storm (Or Georgette or Olga as some have called it – we sure can’t agree on a storm name as well) is ending and it was one of the biggest snowstorms to hit Lebanon in years. Torrential rain and snow, including some accumulations on the Lebanese coast, have all been documented. The joke for the first days of the storm went: Skiing and swimming at the same time are now much easier because the storm has brought the sea to your home. For the next few days, the storm brought the snow to your sea.

Many casualties have fallen to the storm, notably young infants of Syrian refugees who died of the freezing cold. Many Lebanese have had their houses completely ruined in the Beiruti neighborhood of Hay el Sellom due to the nearby river flooding.

I have…

View original post 41 more words

And a beauty in soul and courage…

A Separate State of Mind | A Blog by Elie Fares

As she ran her fingers through her hair on that cold December night and was sad to see that the chemicals had started to sink in, she knew it wouldn’t be long before she would have to make a decision she never thought she’d have to make.

To let the hair go on its own? Or to take it all off?

We told her what the right decision should be. But it’s always easier to preach when you’re not the one cringing as you look at yourself in the mirror.

She decided that she wanted to cling to it more. It kept her warm, she said. She felt safer with it, she said.

So the hair kept falling. And she kept trying to hide it.

I remember the day well. I got back home from class to see her wearing a wig. I smiled. I knew she had taken the…

View original post 160 more words

Trend 8: Urban Farming Becomes Serious Business — The Pop-Up City

Trend 8: Urban Farming Becomes Serious Business — The Pop-Up City.

Also the rise of new and more complicated forms of produce point to the the professionalization of urban farming. 2012 was the year of the Aquaponics, a self-organizing system of growing vegetables and fish at the same time. Besides small-scale installations, this has also led to bigger initiatives, like this aquaponics rooftop farm in Berlin. Also in Tokyo an urban rooftop farm produces rice in traditional wet circumstances. In addition, urban farming has moved to the production of crops like mushrooms and even medicine. Urban farming is becoming serious business.

Read more: http://popupcity.net/2013/01/trend-8-urban-farming-becomes-serious-business/#ixzz2HVAHufTy
Under Creative Commons License: Attribution Non-Commercial

We have two sessions of Green Drinks next week! This is a special session that is held at the Luminance! Festival 2012, and looks at urban farming:

As the world faces increasing food and environmental issues, urban farming is gaining traction in many global cities in an attempt for city dwellers to access to fresh and safe local food.

Is this possible in land- scarce Singapore for time-scarce city folks? In this Green Drinks session, Bjorn and Rob from Edible Garden City Project will share their experiences and how you can be part of this revolution and social community.

Date: 27 June (Wednesday) 2012
Time: 7.30pm – 9.30pm (talk will be followed by Q&A, then mingling)
Venue: SCAPE Gallery, #05-01, 2 Orchard Link (Next to Cathay Cineleisure, Orchard)
RSVP: olivia@greendrinkssingapore.com

We hope to see you there!

About the Speakers
Bjorn Low, Founder, Edible Gardens
After spending the…

View original post 851 more words

Sad that the library was damaged – and I am sure a number of personal things of lots of other people in the homes and businesses…

A Separate State of Mind | A Blog by Elie Fares

My hometown in the Batroun district woke up today to find its municipality building and public library completely flooded because of the overnight rain of the recent blizzard that’s been named “Bride” storm.

The location of the municipality building is over a hole which was known to my town’s older generation for its water retention abilities. But it has since been fixed – or at least that’s what people thought:

Ebrine Municipality Lebanon storm rain -  3Ebrine Municipality Lebanon storm rain -  5Ebrine Municipality Lebanon storm rain - 1Ebrine Municipality Lebanon storm rain - 2Ebrine Municipality Lebanon storm rain - 4MTV and other news services showed up to film this. It has also been mentioned on the Lebanese Forces website as an exclusive. So expect this to be part of the 23 minute report on tonight’s news bulletins about today’s storm.

My hometown’s public library which was donated by the late Lebanese University professor Youssef Farhat is also entirely ruined. This is the room you see completely covered by water in the above pictures.

Ebrine Municipality Lebanon storm rain - 6Ebrine Municipality Lebanon storm rain - 8Ebrine Municipality Lebanon storm rain - 10Ebrine Municipality Lebanon storm rain - 7Ebrine Municipality Lebanon storm rain - 9This is not a testament of…

View original post 50 more words

Free Grazing Frame Plans For Backyard Chickens ::: Coop Thoughts Blog

Allowing your chickens to graze on fresh grass is a good thing — not just for them, but for you as well. The nutrients in green vegetation enhances the quality of their eggs and meat. And since fresh greens can make up about 20-30% of a chicken’s diet, providing them for your chickens can save you on feed costs.

But keeping your chickens supplied with fresh greens can be a challenge. When chickens have plenty of room to roam, they will graze a little off the top, then move on. When forage space is limited, however, as in a small urban or suburban backyard, chickens will continue to graze and scratch in the same spot until the vegetation is torn down to the roots.

An easy solution? Grazing frames! But before we get to that, let’s look at some of the more common ways of greening your chickens in a small space.

via Free Grazing Frame Plans For Backyard Chickens ::: Coop Thoughts Blog.

Nervana

Al-Hadad

Presidential adviser for foreign affairs, Essam el-Haddad (Egypt’s real FM)  in UAE after arrest of “Brotherhood cell.” courtesy AlArabyia

 

Here is the first episode of my diary. As I wrote last week‘Aak’ is an Egyptian term that describes a messy situation.

 Tuesday

  • The Muslim Brotherhood’s Saad el-Katatni: “God willing, the year 2013 will be the year of institution-building and establishment of the modern democratic State.”

Wednesday

  • Egypt’s fact-finding commission says Mubarak watched the January 2011 uprising against him live. It also urges the investigation of the Muslim Brotherhood members accused of killing protesters.
  • Egypt’ssatirist, Dr. Bassem Youssef, faces a probe for insulting the president. Another complaint…

View original post 1,033 more words

Everyone in region needs to share some heart, space, and resources to care for those just trying to get out of harm’s way.

A Separate State of Mind | A Blog by Elie Fares

It’s very easy to be taken by enticing principles about humanitarian needs to keep allowing Syrian refugees uncontrolled entry to Lebanon.

It’s very easy to get angry at anyone asking that the influx of Syrian refugees into the country be stopped or controlled. How could you? The Syrians helped us in 2006. The Syrians are being murdered by their own regime in the thousands.

As if we don’t know.

This is not about Gebran Bassil’s recent “remarks.” This is about the people.

In the region of Bab el Tebbaneh in Northern Lebanon, a few tens of thousands of Lebanese live in stinking conditions – even worse than the living conditions of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon’s 12 camps. Are those Lebanese not living in non-humanitarian conditions as well? Shouldn’t those Lebanese be more important to us than anyone else, especially if we were to allocate non-existent resources to better life…

View original post 664 more words