Project Design and Process

While working throughout my recipes I have come across many interventions.  I thought it would be good to note where I saw significant interventions taking place.

While making my products I had to overcome many obstacles.  As I am a texture person and certain textures tend to bother me, I had to really play around with my products to give them a good feel and consistency. This was specifically for the health and beauty products that I made.  I used beeswax, coconut oil, cocoa butter, and shea butter for my foundation.  I found a resourceful website that shared good ratios for beeswax and other oils, she also gave a brief caption as to what the mix would be suitable as.  You can check out the website here.

Not all my recipes worked on the first try but it would have been incredibly arduous to share with what I had tried in order to get to the final working product for each item.  As I stated above, the most difficult recipes I faced were from making cosmetics.  I approached each project goal with curiosity and I was ready to make amendments and make it work.  I had a vision for things to come to life (cream blush, and foundation cream).  Both of those cosmetics required a lot of adjustments and there is not a lot of people in the field of DIY that are making these products.  It would be neat to eventually trademark a recipe that I could eventually make products for others and sell them on Etsy (an online store for crafty people).

I had a goal of submitting by March 1s for this output packet and I made it.  I held myself accountable by having skype check-ins with other Gaia Associates.  I also had my MoY presentation during this project cycle and the content was used for this output packet.  That helped keep me on task, as I had to present it two separate ways and one was half way into the month.  That left me with about half of my work completed which was refreshing and I didn't feel as stressed to approach this deadline.  I have found my best practices are to: walk away and get some fresh air after every 2 hours, dedicate 1 hour every night to working on my output packet (and allow myself to continue if I feel like I have the attention), meditate after doing homework and then read articles that interest me before going to bed.  All of these tasks have helped me stay focused.

Earth care: I paid attention to this ethic throughout this output project cycle by trying to produce little to no waste.  I focused on using renewable resources and finding materials to reuse for other tasks. I also tried to give one item more than one role if I could, for example coconut milk and using the shredded coconut in some kind of granola after making the milk.   I also used all local items so my carbon footprint was reduced in that matter.
People care: This ethic was probably the biggest component when it came to my project.  Which seems ironic as one of my main goals is to become more self-reliant but with the amount of people who are active in this field it is easy to collaborate and barter.  I want my family and friends to be healthy and I love to provide healthy alternatives for them.  I stated this in my last output but I find it to still ring true. These skills help me build my independence and also build my collaboration tool-set that I can share and teach my knowledge to others.  By not being as present in the consumerist world of society and carefully placing my money into local businesses and co-ops, I am helping my community work towards self-reliance.
Fair share: This ethic was applied mainly for my bartering with Rachel.  As she was giving me a weekly supply of eggs, I had to make sure that I was supplying her with enough in return.  Most of the time she had requests that were attainable and I could provide her with.  It was also applied because I am trying to limit my consumption of non-essential goods.  I feel like my life style will serve to provide as an example to my friends and family.