The following is a project summary from the Phoenix Box group.  Human Ecology projects during Summer Term explored systems and proposed ways to effect a positive change by finding a leverage point and taking action.

The Phoenix Box is a symbol of knowing where your food comes from and about self-sustainability.  The wood of the casuarina tree box rots when coming in contact with soil.  This rotted wood can be used as soil for the next box that will be made.  This cycle is similar to that of the mythical Phoenix, a bird that is reborn from the ashes of its deceased self.  With each semester new people will be planting various flora inside the box.  This opens the window for future human ecology projects and a chance for people to expand upon this already ongoing project.  As well as the seeds planted inside the box, the idea of bringing this style of living to a place will be planted in the minds of all who come in contact with this idea.  The entrance to the dining hall seemed a fitting location to place the Phoenix Box.  This is because of the high amount of human traffic that passes by, as well as offering shade and protection from wind and salt, two things that these plants do not handle well.

The casuarina tree, which was used to make the box, is native to Australia and invasive in the Bahamas. Casuarina outcompetes other species, its needles spread out all over the ground making it hard for other plants to grow or survive. Because of the soil and plants in the box, the casuarina will rot each year having to be remade. The benefit of this is that more and more casuarina will be cut down and used. Once the wood breaks down it helps to make the soil more fertile. The soil we started with is a mix of sand, goat manure, and casuarina shavings left over from our project. We gathered cardboard from resources and used it in the bottom of the box to help prevent water from running straight through the soil. Also from resources is the watering can we decorated for the use of the Phoenix box.

After talking with Josh Shultz and Geoff Walton about our plans, we started the construction of the box by planing casuarina wood in order to make them equal width. Once this was done, we enlisted the help of Rico to cut the wood into planks and join them together with screws and supports to form a three by two box.  This process was difficult due to the high density of the wood.  So dense in fact that it can even sink in water!  After digging a hole about six inches deep, we put the box in the ground in order to prevent it from flying away during hurricane season. Besides the wind protection, we also chose the spot for sun protection and good placement for CEI, students, and faculty to see the box and have access to the communal garden.

Once the box was done, we talked to Joseph, the groundskeeper, and decided that goat manure, sand, soil and wood shavings from the wood we planed would make the best fertilizer for the herbs. We also learned that herbs would be the best things to plant because they are beneficial to everyone and require less upkeep in comparison to flowers. So, we transplanted mint into the box and planted basil seeds, then watered it a lot. When all this was done, we made the sign by planing wood in the wood shop, cutting it, and painting it. We could not paint the wood of the box since the chemicals in the paint might leak into the soil and intoxicate the herbs.

The purpose of the Phoenix Box is to teach Island School students and community members about the importance of knowing where their food comes from. Most people don’t know how their food gets from a farm to a grocery store; our herbs can go straight from the Phoenix Box to the kitchen. Also, our project teaches people about the value of food. It is difficult to grow plants, especially in Eleuthera where the soil is not very fertile. Hopefully, people will learn to appreciate food more and will waste less. The garden also promotes using local food, which is better health-wise and cost-wise, since less money is spent on imported food that has been produced on large-scale farms using chemical fertilizers. Our fourth purpose for implementing the Phoenix Box is to encourage people to grow their own food and think about where their food comes from when they return home. Even if you live in a small house or apartment, you still have enough space to grow a few plants!

The Phoenix Box symbolizes a hopeful future in Eleuthera as a larger emphasis on agriculture can be placed upon the people rather than the U.S. for food. Eleuthera used to be the “Breadbasket of the Bahamas”; however as competition increased and as policies changed during independence to put Bahamians in more “sophisticated” jobs in the office, as a higher emphasis was placed on tourism, agriculture declined rapidly. Now most of the agricultural operations are fairly small scale and local opposed to the past commercial farms. The Phoenix Box connects to Eleuthera by displaying how important growing food on the island is to the sustainability of the future food sources for Eleutherans. Optimistically, the Phoenix Box will encourage a higher awareness of where food on Eleuthera comes from, as well as any more sustainable alternatives.  We hope that future students will maintain this box and use it as a communal garden space.

phoenix box flyer

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The following is a Cacique update written by Arielle and Julian for Tuesday, July 26th. 

Tuesday started out bright and early as both students and families ran, biked, walked, and in some cases drove, to High Rock. Not all our guest were thrilled with the early wake up but were exited to go any way. Many took this as chance to show off in front of their families and quickly completed the two-mile run. Almost everyone took the plunge off High Rock to cool off and relax in its clear blue waters, before heading back to campus to prepare for the day.

Island School students spent their last few minutes preparing for their Human Ecology presentations. The food pamphlet group scrambled to print out brochures and finished with a few seconds to spare. After an awards ceremony congratulating many returning alumni and faculty that made summer term possible, each group did their best to show what they had done and learned in the last week. After the last presentation on Boy’s Dorm Beach and several days of hard and occasionally stressful work, Human Ecology was finally over. Not just Human Ecology, our classes were finally over. Of course we still had to write a student letter and make a portfolio but it felt like we were done.

After eating lunch and finishing our portfolios everyone had a chance to sign out for the last time. A few used their time biking around the loop, exploring No Name, and relaxing at Sunset beach. Other students went out with their families to hang out inside the marina or go SCUBA diving. However it was spent, everyone made the most out of his or her final free time

The Perez and Erdman families had arranged to try SCUBA diving for the first time. David Miller had given the families a crash course and the basics to a successful first dive. After setting up gear we were briefed on the boat ride to Sunset Beach.  Emotions were flying as the new divers were asked to back roll of the side of the boat in full gear.  The families we confident enough to trust the two very experienced dive instructors David Miller, Peter Zdrojewski, Malcolm who was a very helpful hand, and Julian acting as a “dive master” helping out his family underwater. The dive and the instructions were in very shallow water and lasted about 45 minutes.

After free time everyone got back together for dinner and the parents, faculty, and alumni were invited to the Maxey house at the marina. The students spent the rest of the night finishing up their last few assignments, portfolios, and a summer term program evaluation. Study hours ended half an hour early so we could all get extra sleep for the final morning exercise, the triathlon, which we’ve been training for the past five weeks.

Editor’s note:  Please enjoy this vintage blog post!  It was lost in the depths of the server.

The following is a Cacique update written by Joe and Sam for Wednesday, July 20th. 

“Butter is good on a roll, but alone it is not,” as a studious, fellow Island School student once told me, was the quote we chose today. Although the saying at first may not seem as serious as it sounds, the meaning stretched much deeper to us, especially today. Bright and early around 6 A.M., many of us took an optional dive opportunity to check out the stunning Hole in the Wall reef about 60 feet down. We were able to see the distinct “drop-off”, which was breathtaking, as we toured the reef. After we got back in the morning, we split as some of us began the physical work behind our human ecology projects, while others worked with the South Eleuthera Kids Camp on plant identification walk around the old resort. The quote specially made sense to the students working with the campers because as a summer term community we work well, but we need the other members of the community as far as they stretch to the campers, interns, kitchen staff, etc… to make this experience great. We switched in the afternoon as the other sides got to experience this unity as well. As our semester begins to wind down with parent’s weekend approaching, I think we are beginning to finally see, as Peter told us in the beginning of these five weeks, the bigger picture of things and how all of the systems in our community combine complexly to form something so amazing, yet so simple. We continue to work on our human ecology projects, each with a set goal of leaving a legacy on this campus or at least fixing a problem we see within a system, whether it is in our community at the Island School or the local community throughout Eleuthera.