Here the soils of daily washing stay on the land, conveyed by gravity through pipes to the leach fields to join the earth of the tree duff, filtering fresh rainfall to replenish the dwelling well. Meanwhile the ferrous field well spews rustily over the garden, adding a mineral edge to the lusty bite of a […]
Category Archives: maintenance
Running Fence Revisited
vintage Running Fence poster, tacked to the side of a barn in Bloomfield, CA What a rare treat when a work of art actually affects the course of everyday life for everyday people. Dozens gathered yesterday in Bloomfield, West Sonoma County to greet the artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude and to celebrate the 33rd anniversary of […]
The Week in Bloom
After more than three years on the land we’re getting a better feel for the rhythm of the garden and the fruit trees and have successfully stocked the larder with treats for the rainy season to come. Working with friends and neighbors, we’ve harvested and pressed all of our Gravensteins, which yielded about 20 gallons […]
Polished
polishing the Dining Commons tables at MLK Jr Middle School in Berkeley You might be surprised to find well-polished, handmade wooden furniture in a public middle school dining commons, let alone any lunch to serve upon it. You might be equally surprised that the tables, benches and stools of Martin Luther King Jr Middle School […]
Introducing Pappy
Pappy likes to repair things, preferably without spending money, using things diligently saved and gleaned, collected in coffee cans and baby food jars. Pappy is a uniquely American archetype, a perennially frugal character forged by hardship, perseverance and optimism. We all hopefully still have a little bit of Pappy in us. ????? ????? Between projects […]
Bicycle Composter Comes Home
Ene spins the composter above our vegetable garden MIX, our bike-powered compost tumbler, has found a final home on the Wowhaus compound, perched atop what remains of a pool deck, above our vegetable garden. The tumbler quickly breaks down our kitchen scraps, mixed with ashes and sawdust, and dumps the mixture into a garden bed […]
Rooftop Lizard Habitat
Artist Mark Brest van Kempen explains his water catchment/recycling system We spent an inspiring evening yesterday at the home of our friend Mark Brest van Kempen, an Oakland-based artist whose work “draws our attention to nature’s role as source, setting and savior“. Mark’s house and studio are a kind of living laboratory nestled in the […]