The YIN MIND

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The Christine MacKenzie Memorial Kit

[originally written in 1989]

Christine MacKenzie died, in Scotland, in 1977.

Due to a less than effective welfare system, Christine was able
to feed her young child, while she herself starved to death.

Earth Lab International
produced the Christine MacKenzie Memorial Kit
in memory of Christine
and all others in the present and in the future
who will have difficulty feeding themselves.
However, while Christine’s hardship was a feature story on the BBC,
possible solutions to her plight were of little interest to the media at the time.
Perhaps times are changing.

Earth Lab now offers two possible versions of the memorial kit.
Listed below are the contents of each kit.
These could be made available to families and individuals
with low or fixed incomes, and environmental refugees.
These simple, inexpensive kits (often recycled goods), instructions
and demonstrations could be made available through Food Banks
in every community.
If enough kits are in operation, a person could feed themselves
and could even generate an income by feeding others also.

Version 1:
– 2 x cardboard boxes,
1 – deep enough to contain gravel, soil,
with a few inches to spare at the top (planter box)
1 – slightly larger base but shallower, to contain the planter box(drainage box)
– 2 x plastic bags (e.g. garbage bags) to cover the boxes to prevent leakage
– plastic tubing
1 – small piece to insert in the planter box to allow drainage from planter box into drainage box
1 – larger piece to insert into bottle to create nutrient drip system from bottle to planter box
– to cover the bottom of the planter box for drainage

1 x bottle and cap (e.g. empty bleach bottle)
– invert bottle, puncture lid, insert longer piece of tubing
2 x clothes pegs
1 – to control flow of nutrient dripping into the soil,
attached to the longer piece of tubing
1 – to position long piece of tubing from nutrient bottle
by securing the tubing to the planter box
(without closing it off)
soil (mixture of peat moss, planting soil, sand, perlite and vermiculite)
gravel or clean ‘peanuts’ (shipping insulation)
seeds: Mung Beans, Alfalfa Seeds, Herbs of various kinds
water
phostrogen – 1 tsp. phostrogen per 10 litres of water,
supplies all minerals and salts required for plants

Version 2:
old nylons – as many pairs as required, preferably beige,
each cut into four pieces (making four separate containers each)
elastics to tie off ends of containers;
also used to hang containers in drainage box
cardboard box – in which to place or hang containers
plastic bag (e.g. garbage bag)
– to cover the box to prevent leakage
water and phostrogen – as in Version 1

{diagrams and further instructions to follow – not in original text}

copyright 2011, 2014, ECOhealth / Eve Revere