Posts Tagged ‘compost tumbler’
Thursday, October 6th, 2011
A few years ago, when we set out to get involved in making Rain Barrels and selling other Home and Garden products at Metro-Detroit Green Fairs, we never thought it would turn out so incredibly well. The community involvement with green fairs, charities, school and churches has helped shape our business, continuing over a hundred years of Rubin family involvement in the drum and barrel industry. Now, at Maxi, as the summer comes to a close, so does a chapter of our lives. The Green season is over, there no more events until next Spring/Summer. We all set our sights on the numerous things we have neglected due to the hustle and bustle of the season. We won’t be hibernating this winter, but a part of us will. The Green part.
I thoroughly enjoyed all of the events we were involved in (a list is provided at the end of this post). However, certain moments, or days, stand out when looking back from the corner of the autumn and winter seasons. I want to share my favorite “highlights” from this summer with all of you.
Two tents down! Currently, both of our tents need repair. One, we have no idea what happened to, and the other a storm almost swept away! At the St. Clair Shores Green Fair in the Park it was a beautiful day until warnings of a oncoming storm started to spread across the fair (since the Dream Cruise was happening on Woodward Ave. simultaneously, we just checked their twitter feed) Even though the vendors and patrons were advised to leave a little early in hopes of missing the brunt of the storm, we were among the last out of there, and our tent nearly didn’t make it out at all. I went to grab the truck for our final load of Rain Barrels, and when I arrived to our location I find my father (Richard) holding onto a tent that was in shambles. He looked like he was holding onto it for dear life, in high winds and heavy rain. This was a very intense end to a great event.
HOT, HOT, HOT! All of you remember that heat wave in June? Well we can’t forget it. We had three events planned almost simultaneously for that weekend of heat. Friday I spent in Armada while the rest of the Maxi staff was at the Ferndale Live Green Fair. I guess this is one time I lucked out, since at the Lavender Festival in Armada we had a location in the shade and the fair was on grass, not pavement. The staff at the Live Green Fair said it was sweltering hot as the intense sun reflected up from the ground. Also, the way the booths were set up didn’t allow a lot of airflow. On Sunday, I made my way to Ferndale, my father and I did the best we could, but I was definitely suffering during tear down, and was afraid I was going to pass out. My Dad had to stick me in the car with the AC on to get me to stop acting loopy. I am pretty sure I was a second away from heat stroke.
We enjoyed all of the events this year, these two weekends were exceptionally interesting, check out the list below for all of our events this year, and watch out for even more next year! Hope to see you next summer at some of our Green Events!
I tried to remember them all and hopefully, got them all of them here. Click on each to learn more. This list doesn’t include all of the Rain Barrel workshops we have done, just a few of them.
If you know of an event in Metro-Detroit (really anywhere in Michigan) that you would like us to bring our sustainable living setup including Rain Barrels, Composting, and Container Gardening, please let us know. Drop me an email at joshua@maxicontianer.com with the details.
Enjoy this slideshow of photos from our “Green Fairs” Collection of photoset’s on Flickr!
[slickr-flickr tag=”GreenFairs” type=”slideshow” captions=”on” delay=”3″]
Tags: Armada, Birmingham, Compost, compost tumbler, Composter, Composting, container gardening, earth day, East Lansing, Fair, Ferndale, Ferndale Perennial Sale, Garden, gardening, Grassroots, Great Lakes, Great Lakes Folk Festival, Green, Green Breeze, Green Fairs, Green LIving, home and garden, Live Green, local motion, Metro-Detroit, Michigan, Perennial, Plymouth, rain barrels, Rick Rubin, Rochester, Sierra Club, Sierra Club Great Lakes, St. Clair Shores, sustainability, Water
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Wednesday, September 7th, 2011
On August 31st, Compuware debuted its newest creation (and it’s not software) Lafayette Greens, an urban garden located at the old Lafayette building site, which was demolished in 2009. The community garden will provide all organic produce for Gleaners Community Food Bank (and if there is an over abundance of produce, it will go to the volunteers too!). The garden will be maintained almost entirely by a volunteer workforce. I was fortunate enough to join them for the grand opening celebration.
This initiative is run by Compuware employees Gwen Meyer (onsite manager) and Meg Heeres (project manager). We had the pleasure of meeting them during the development of the garden, consulting on the design types possible with our containers. They eventually had to resort to custom made beds for the majority of the garden, but still utilized our drums in the “Children’s Garden”. In this section our used juice drums were placed in a circular design which is lower to the ground so kids can interact with the plants better. It has a very “zen” feel to it.
The event was spectacular, samples of gourmet cuisine made from fruits and veggies grown in the garden were being passed out. Free drinks (non-alcoholic) and lively music was playing. The news obviously was informed about this event, I think I saw one person from every major local station there! This event was well planned. I enjoyed my afternoon there, though I mostly just hung out in the Children’s Garden where our containers where displayed.
They also are utilizing one of our compost tumblers, though I don’t think a single tumbler will be able to supply the entire gardens needs. The footprint of the garden is the entire corner, it’s pretty big. I urge any and everyone who is in the downtown Detroit area to go in and check it out!
We are so happy to be involved in the beautifying of Detroit with Compuware. At Maxi, we are dedicated to getting involved in our community and the amount of gardens going up in Detroit this year was amazing. We urge others to develop community gardens and work together to turn vacant lots into functional and beautiful gardens. This is the green movement and companies like Compuware and Maxi, and people like Gwen and Meg are what our city needs. Take a moment to check and see if there are any projects planned for your community.
Enjoy this slideshow of pictures from Compuware’s Lafayette Greens Community Garden. You can view these photos on our Flickr as well.
[slickr-flickr search=”sets” set=”72157627569688870″ type=”slideshow” captions=”on” delay=”3″]
Lafayette Greens is on Facebook!
Tags: 55 gallon, 55-gal, 55-gallon steel drum, 55-gallon steel drum planter, children, children's garden, Community, Community Garden, compost tumbler, Compuware, Container, Detroit, Food Bank, Garden, Gleaners Community Food Bank, Green, Greens, Lafayette, Lafayette Greens, Organic, Organic Produce, planter, Produce, Urban, Urban Garden, used containers
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Monday, June 6th, 2011
This past May 25th Joshua Rubin from Maxi Container met up with GreeningDetroit.com at the Green School Awards in Pontiac, MI. Maxi has been a member of their online community for about a year now and have met many people through there green network. We often see each other at green events throughout the spring/summer season. That is how this collaboration came about, at the Plymouth Green Street Fair we decided to work together and donate a compost tumbler to the Michigan Green Schools at there upcoming award ceremony.
Maxi believes that education is key if you want to make a positive change for the future. (see our articles about recycling in the classroom and Michigan’s Green Schools.) This was our chance to get directly involved and meet representatives from different Michigan Green Schools. We delivered a fully assembled Compost Tumbler with custom spray painting of GreeningDetroit.com and Maxi’s Logos (plus a flat black finish on the wood frame to boot). The donation of the composter was announced during the ceremony and schools were asked to sign up for it if interested. It would be raffled of a lucky school and then handed around to others. Hopefully the schools will need more composters soon! Maxi loves to be involved with our local schools, helping students to learn about the many benefits of composting.
Check out the Facebook photo album here.
Tags: Compost, compost tumbler, Composter, Composting, green schools, GreeningDetroit.com, Michigan
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Thursday, June 2nd, 2011
I recently participated in Steenland Elementary (Roseville) Special Person’s Day, where students bring their closest family or friend of their choosing to celebrate their Green School. The green fair included a scavenger hunt for the kids all while showcasing what they have been learning this year about being green.
The kids were ecstatic to be in school but not in class, they were there just to have fun. I was there to teach them, and connect with their parents discussing the benefits of rain barrels and composting. Kids love to play in the dirt so explaining compost is easy, but trying to get kids interested in water conservation is difficult, especially since I was operating the table by myself, I did not have time to setup the water cycle for our rain barrel display. It was not too much of a problem, after all kids have great imaginations.
It was a quick meeting, lasting about two hours. The school was filled with non-stop smiles and laughter and of course, the occasional cry. Overall, it was a enjoyable experience and it seemed as though all of the kids and their special person’s had fun. Steenland Elementary ended up buying a rain barrel for the kids to use in their garden at the school. Thank you Steenland for inviting me to join your special persons green fair, it was a blast!
Here are some photos from the event [ Photos by Michael Burd ]
Tags: Compost, compost tumbler, Education, green schools, Rain Barrel, Roseville, school
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Wednesday, May 18th, 2011
Maxi Container kicked of the spring season this year with a busy schedule. We participated in Green Fairs in Grosse Pointe, Plymouth, and Rochester. Community based events like these are a good way for us to meet the public and get feedback on our products, while educating people about water conservation, composting and container gardening. This past year we have redesigned our home and garden products, added new ones, and increased our commitment to green living by getting as heavily involved in these type of events.
Local Motion Green hosted an Earth Day Celebration on April 30. This was the first time Maxi had gone to Grosse Pointe Farms, and the response was tremendous. We had a great time talking to people who were excited about gardening and sustainability. The atmosphere was excellent with live music and events for kids too! Maxi also donated fiber drums to be used as recycling bins at Grosse Pointe Academy. You can read the whole article here.
The next weekend was the Plymouth Green Street Fair, May 6, 7, 8. Last year this was a great weekend, full of fun and friends. (Joshua and Richard are from nearby Farmington Hills) This year it was nothing less. Maxi was met with huge response on our Rain Barrels. We sold out! It was a fun filled weekend, which included a musical performance from American Idol runner-up Crystal Bowersox. They dyed the fountain green and even had a FLASHMOB (public choreographed dance) randomly in the center of downtown. Overall we had a wonderful time in Plymouth. (It helped that our tent was across from the amazing Plymouth Coffee Bean.) To view pictures from the event click here.
Last weekend (May 13, 14, 15) was the Rochester Green Living Festival, which has a strong reputation as being one of the premier green fairs in Metro-Detroit. They provide a rich experience, full of activities, entertainment and green vendors. There is something for everybody. The festival started as an Earth Day Expo and has grown significantly over the past few years. Unfortunately, this year was plagued with bad weather. On and off showers on Saturday detoured some, but we still did well. Sunday was a wash out, too cold for most to want to leave the house, with almost no attendees. Maxi still enjoyed being in Rochester for the first time, meeting all of the eco-conscious people looking for ways to reduce their carbon footprint and live a more sustainable life. Thank you Rochester and we hope for better weather next year!
Our upcoming events are the Ferndale Live Green Fair July 15-17, which takes place in Downtown Ferndale (9 mile and Woodward Ave.). The same weekend, on Saturday July 16, our very own Joshua Rubin will be in Armada, MI at the Lavender Festival, giving a Rain Barrel workshop/class. Maxi will also be at Birmingham’s Green Breeze on July 23, on Old Woodward between Maple and Brown Street. Please come out and join us at these GREEN events!
Tags: 2011, Birmingham, compost tumbler, Contianer Gardening, Crystal Bowersox, earth day, events, Ferndale, Green, Green Breeze, Green Fair, Grosse Pointe Academy, Grosse Pointe Farms, Joshua Rubin, July, Live Green, Live Green Fair, local motion, Local Motion Green, Metro-Detroit, Plymouth, rain barrels
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Tuesday, May 3rd, 2011
On Saturday April 30, 2011 Richard and Joshua Rubin represented Maxi at the Grosse Pointe Farms Earth Day “Green” Fair. The fair was hosted by Local Motion Green, a grass-roots organization involved in helping raise public awareness by putting on community-based events. Their mission is to illuminate the links between environmental toxins and negative health consequences, in an effort to influence personal and industrial behavior, as well as promoting improved health and quality of life. Melissa Sargeant, (Education Coordinator) of Local Motion contacted Maxi asking if we would like to be involved, and we are sure glad she did. This is one event we definitely did not want to miss!
The fair took place under one big tent in the Richardson Elementary parking lot. From 10am – 4pm, the lot was buzzing with activity, full of interested people wishing to reduce their carbon footprint by going green. Of course we had our Rain Barrels, Compost Tumblers, and new for this season, our Container Gardening display. Maxi also donated four fiber drums to be decorated by children and repurposed as recycling bins at the Grosse Pointe Academy. (Maxi believes in teaching green practices at an early age, see our article about Michigan Green Schools and our OPrep article about recycling in the classroom.)
Maxi had a great time meeting people and explaining our mission and about our products. We would like to formally say thank you to Local Motion Green for contacting us and look forward to working together in the future.
To view all the photos from the event check out the slideshow below.
For more information about Local Motion Green give them a call at 313-881-2263 or send them an email.
Tags: compost tumbler, container gardening, earth day, Fiber Drums, grosse pointe, Local Motion Green, Rain Barrel, Recycling
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Sunday, March 6th, 2011
We are passionate about helping people improve their home and garden. In the winter you can stay warm with one of our Drum Stove Kits and in the spring and summer you can use our Rain Barrels and Compost Tumblers to save money and help your garden grow. There are many reasons why using Rain Barrels and making your own compost is better for your plants, but did you know that it is also better for the planet? That’s right, if you utilize our Home and Garden Products you can reduce your carbon footprint by turning yard and kitchen waste into nutrient rich soil. Top it all off with “soft” rain water that otherwise would just be urban runoff. To help reduce the need for sewer expansion and reduce your water bill, Rain Barrels are a smart choice this season.
If you are interested in Rain Barrels or want to try to start composting this spring contact Bob at 313-891-3880 or send him an email.
More useful information about our Rain Barrels and Compost Tumblers please visit our Home and Garden section on our website.
This was originally an article in the March 2011 eNewsletter.
Tags: Compost, compost tumbler, Composter, Composting Garden, Home, Rain Barrel, Rain Water Conservation, Spring
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Wednesday, February 23rd, 2011
The Michigan House Committee on Energy & Technology is looking into two bills in committee on Tuesday, March 1, 2011 at 9am. HB 4265 and HB 4266 seek to return yard waste to landfills for minor energy production purposes. Both bills are sponsored by Rep. Kenneth Horn, sponsor and Rep. Paul Opsommer, co-sponsor. These Bills are a bad idea on many levels.
Michigan banned Yard Waste going to landfills in 1995. As a home owner, the impact of this ban was negligible. Instead of putting my yard waste out with my trash, I had to put it in low cost compostable paper bags availble at most hardware stores, supermarkets and big box stores in my area. In my town of Farmington Hills, MI the yard waste is collected by The Recycling Authority, and is taken to a large-scale compost site where it decomposes and becomes a rich, black humus. According to The Recycling Authority, each year RRRASOC residents generate 80,000 tons of waste. At least 30% of that waste can be composted.
Another good use for yard waste is composting at home. Composting at home reduces our dependence on trucks to haul yard waste to large-scale compost sites. It also provides us with our own source of rich humus to reuse in our gardens. Composting at home reduces the use of expensive petrochemically based fertilizers which find their way into our sewers, lakes and streams. It is less costly to produce than buying fertilizers, mulch or hummus at the local garden center. Also, composting at home is inexpensive and easy and creates a sense of connectedness with our natural world.
Here at Maxi Container we are so excited about the benefits of composting at home that we created our DIY Compost Tumbler Kit. We re-purposed a food grade plastic drum and provide all the parts and information necessary to begin composting at home.
The Michigan Recycling Coalition (of which Maxi is a proud member) is actively opposing these bills. If you live in the great State of Michigan, please call or write your representative and let them know how strongly you oppose these Bills. If you can, attend the next hearing on these Bills on March 1st at 9am, 519 House Office Building, Lansing, MI. Yard Waste can be a valued resource for the home owner. You should not be charged to give it away for free and bury it in a landfill.
Tags: Compost, compost tumbler, Composting, Farmington Hills, HB 4265, HB 4266, landfills, Maxi Container, Michigan, Michigan House Committee, Recycling, Rick Rubin, RRASOC, sustainability, The Recycling Authority, Yard Waste
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