Filed under: ... in Natureland, Amis & Famille, Deep Thoughts, It's all relative
My horoscope today:
Sometimes your fantasies are like scenes out of a science fiction movie and have little basis in reality. Now, however, your dreams can hold the key to your immediate future because your imagination grows directly out of your everyday experience. Don’t try to rein in your thoughts; be as flexible as possible and patiently let them wander as they will. Your relaxed approach just might enable you to find an undiscovered treasure.
Science fiction, hmm? This impending move/extreme life change does have an air of un-reality to to…But then again, it’s hard to imagine anything when the weather is so bleak and blah. So as my unbirthday present to YOU, here are some photos I took while wandering around the Brooklyn Botanic Garden last August after a rainstorm. Sure to help anyone shake off the mid-winter blues:
Illustration from Linnea in Monet’s Garden, one of my favorite books as a kid.
I won’t lie. Not getting up at 7am for a stressful unappreciative job feels great. Granted, I’m not raking in the cash in a 9-5 way just yet, but the pure freedom and satisfaction with where my life is heading makes up for the slight financial insecurity. My monthly horoscope hinted at an influx of money this month (in fact, throughout this year), so I’m choosing to focus on what I want/need to do and throwing it out to the universe to take care of the rest.
But it hasn’t all been sleeping late and hulu marathons – All things Better Farm finally have my full attention, my pre-move to do list is getting steadily plowed through and I’m getting my recent graphic design portfolio together in hopes of attracting more freelance clients. A downside is that I have completely lost my sense of time: Tuesday was Sunday, yesterday was Friday and I almost called my mom at noon today thinking that she’d be home. Oh well, at least I don’t get tired at 9pm anymore.
More inspiration:
* My So-Called Freelance Life by already-blogged-about patron saint of F that S, Michelle Goodman.
* Inspiration Boards on Flickr
* Free seeds from Operation Green Plant
And one just to make me laugh:
• Unhappy Hipsters
My friend Renee brought this to my attention. Butchy works Tuesday nights, so holla if you want to go to any of these!
I saw an interview with Emily Polliton of Project H Design and was blown away by how such a simple idea could rally such global action to design products that not only look good, but do good as well. Below are a few of my faves…
The Hippo Water Roller Project (Johannesburg, South Africa):
The practical and durable design of the Hippo enables more water to be transported more efficiently than traditional methods.
The Hippo, with it’s large drum capacity of 90 litres / 24 gallons, frees women and children from having to spend a large portion of every day dedicated to collecting water for their households.
Far less effort is required to roll the heavy weight of water (90kg / 200lbs) along the ground rather than carrying on the head.—
Football Tape (by Marti Guixe – Barcelona, Spain):
A simple roll of tape printed with a traditional soccer ball pattern. For those of us who may not have access to the nicest leather soccer balls, a strip of tape and some balled up newspapers, magazine pages, or even plastic bags will suffice. The simplicity of the idea is phenomenal, transforming whatever flotsam or jetsam you have around the house into a pick-up game in the yard.
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And the one that lit me up AND blew me away…
GROW and Solar Ivy (by S-M-I-T – Brooklyn, NY):
That last shot really makes me think the sunny side of Better Farm needs some Solar Ivy stat – guess I’ll have to look up the peeps at S.M.I.T. before I leave Brooklyn for good…
See more Project H Design results at Design Revolution Roadshow
I was browsing The Selby recently, but even my guilty-pleasure obsession with interior design can’t keep me from noticing the photos that show some green!
City Garden from Lyn and Tony in Darlinghurst Sydney
Country Garden from Dan Martensen and Shannon Click at Home
Filed under: Better Farm, Big (Green) Deal, Inspiration Station, It's all relative
Forget couch-surfing, try living in a house smaller than a parking space. A west-coast woman sold her 1,500 sq foot home to live in a tiny house parked in her friend’s backyard. Talk about reexamining how much space you really need!
She seems completely confident and happy with her decision, and I love how her friends recognized that their backyard didn’t need to be kept pristine and empty for their use only. I hope more people realize a McMansion on a sprawling grassy lawn is not only unsustainable, but unnecessary as well. I wrote more in depth on the argument for smaller (and already developed) spaces at the Better Farm blog.
Apparently therapists are seeing an increase in arguments between couples about “green” issues.
In households across the country, green lines are being drawn between those who insist on wild salmon and those who buy farmed, those who calculate their carbon footprint and those who remain indifferent to greenhouse gases.
“As the focus on climate increases in the public’s mind, it can’t help but be a part of people’s planning about the future,” said Thomas Joseph Doherty, a clinical psychologist in Portland, Ore., who has a practice that focuses on environmental issues. “It touches every part of how they live: what they eat, whether they want to fly, what kind of vacation they want.”
Linda Buzzell, a family and marriage therapist for 30 years who lives in Santa Barbara and is a co-editor of “Ecotherapy: Healing with Nature in Mind,” cautions that the repercussions of environmental differences can be especially severe for couples.
“The danger arises when one partner undergoes an environmental ‘waking up’ process way before the other, leaving a new values gap between them,” Ms. Buzzell said.
I can definitely can see how different views on the state of the planet could cause rifts in relationships. Imagine being with someone who doesn’t believe there’s even a problem with how humans are treating the earth…just proves that there’s more to love than initial attraction – you have to make it work over the long haul (of humanure)!
News excerpt from The New York Times (Brought to my attention by a member of the New York Permaculture Meetup Group)
Green couple photo from Wikipedia Commons
In the name of all that is GREEN (and by green, I mean moneymoney) – I’ve entered an art competition that, if I win, I get 6 months of free living in NYC (uh, too late) or MONEY…most of which I guarantee you, would go directly into Better Farm – promise!
Vote for me here. Pretty please and thank you!
Flower-dog photo from LongBraid
Filed under: Big (Green) Deal, Deep Thoughts, Inspiration Station, It's all relative
My former partner-in-porn Nicole forwarded me this juicy lil’ tidbit of woody action…specifically potential legal action by the state of Pennsylvania against the construction of a beaver dam. After a little internet research (you would double-check everything too if your Floridian grandma constantly barraged you with biased, level 11 pro-Israel propaganda), I found that this story is actually the combination of some wiiild imaginations and a much more boring event that actually occured. So much for my next blog post.
The thing to note here is that what I originally thought was the story was not so hard to believe – maybe because trying to fine beavers for building a dam would be just the sort of thing some stuffed-shirt state bureaucrat would do. And maybe I had also hoped that someone actually had the nuts to write that response.
Beaver shot via the Illinois Department of Natural Resources
Similar compostition, hmmm? I was (surprise!) watching a documentary on the Great Barrier Reef which reminded me how garden-like coral reefs are. The anemones and sponges look like flowers and the fish are the birds/butterflies. Just a little naturey thought for your Sunday afternoon…
Butterfly photo from Vicki’s Nature on Flickr
Clown fish photo from Yuppiesonfoot on Flickr
And by notice, I mean I gave my notice at work this week. That’s right – all this talk of leaving my job and moving upstate is now an irreversible plan in motion! I must admit, I was nervous, and the fact that my boss is a bit of a reactionary, emotionally-led loose cannon didn’t make it easy on me as I tried to sleep last night. But aside from a couple bitchy comments, she took the news pretty good. And being the hardworking lil’ New Englander that I am, I will do my best to help make it a smooth transition – because for all my complaining, this job was an amazing opportunity for me to enter a field that I had no professional experience in. And the fact that they took a chance on me by promoting me from the dirty work to the head of all the dirty work, well that makes my heart just humbly pitter patter.
But all gratefulness aside – I’m really done with NY bosses. This city may be repped by the big red apple, but yellow roses say goodbye.
Yellow roses photo from Poet Seers
Filed under: ... in Natureland, Amis & Famille, Inspiration Station, It's all relative
Day 5 (last day): In which Butch and Corinne take the streetcar to the Botanic Garden/Sculpture Park, see destruction left from Hurricane Katrina, shop on Magazine Street, and probably drink some more.
(See more here)
I’m not exaggerating when I say I fell in love with New Orleans. It’s an ideal city with all the flair, art, nature and convenience I like, but at a more maneagable size. The people are nicer and the culture is still very much intact. It’s the first place I’ve traveled where I didn’t miss NYC for one moment. Someday Butch and I hope to live here, and when I die, I demand a jazz funeral!
Filed under: ... in Natureland, Amis & Famille, Inspiration Station, It's all relative
Day 4: In which Butch and Corinne visit the City of the Dead for a graveyard tour, meet a voodoo queen, wander the French Quarter/Marigny and eat pecans and muffelettas.
(See more photos here)
Filed under: ... in Natureland, Amis & Famille, Inspiration Station, It's all relative
Day 3: In which Butch and Corinne wander the industrial Bushwick-like arts district, visit museums, and due to the lack of photos, probably started drinking early.
(See more photos here)
Filed under: ... in Natureland, Amis & Famille, Inspiration Station, It's all relative
Day 2: In which Butch and Corinne take the streetcar to Audoban Park and Corinne finally learns that New Orleans is not in fact filled with Weeping Willows, but oak trees covered in moss. At the world famous Audoban Zoo, Butchy enjoys the “Embraceable Zoo,” Corinne wrestles a kimodo and they see a real live Louisiana Swamp! Also seen is the first of many awkwardly dressed stuffed aligators.
(See more here)
Filed under: ... in Natureland, Amis & Famille, Inspiration Station, It's all relative
I don’t have one specific excuse as to why it has taken me MONTHS to share my New Orleans/Santa Fe vacation that I took with Butch back in September. I absolutely loved New Orleans – to the point of almost not leaving once I was there. Ah, someday the city will be mine…
Below is a brief version of Day 1: In which Butchy and Corinne immediately eat BBQ and then wander the French Quarter drinking Big Ass Beers while Corinne takes photos of EVERY terrace and Butchy gets whistled at by the gays who are there for Southern Decadence. The hot dog cart from Confederacy of Dunces also makes an appearance.
And no, there’s no record of our nights out at Snake and Jake’s Christmas Lounge. What happens in N.O. stays there…
(The complete album can be seen here)
…pour votre jour:
Go buy yourself some flowers and get creative. It’s really one of the cheapest “luxuries.”
Like any normal person, I googled myself recently. Well, not me (we already know what comes up there), but “F that S” specifically. I never took the time to see if anyone else was using the phrase as a title to their own project – even though I myself took the phrase from a really awesome screenprinted card I bought from Rarrarpress:
Some other peeps F-ing that S…
More male nudity (I just can’t get away from it, can I?)
User art featured on Sublime Stitching, my embroidery pattern provider of choice:
And perhaps my favorite find – a substation on Combat Music Radio (a station born of a “passion for underground music and bloodsports”):
Honestly, listen to the archives of this show – dude makes my famous mixtapes look like junior high love notes!
I love the internet.
I was watching yet another documentary recently (it’s the new “reading”) – this time from the PBS series “Craft in America.” The episode I watched focused on how the landscape effects what the craftsperson creates. And “landscape” doesn’t necessarily mean Georgia O’Keefe-style remote southwestern vistas, but wherever inspires. Take for example two very different craftspeople featured in the episode:
David Gurney:
David Gurney (b. 1958 in Garden Grove, California) is a potter and painter. He received his MA in ceramics from California State University, Fullerton. He now lives on California’s Central Coast, where he maintains a huge garden and a sustainable life style.
His work is influenced by nature, food, Mexican folk art, and his childhood, growing up in a time of abundant orange groves and strawberry fields. His functional pottery is painted and decorated with mythical landscapes that reflect his time, place, and sensibility.
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And, Jan Yager:
Jan Yager (b. 1951, Detroit, MI) is an artist and mixed-media jeweler. She received a BFA from Western Michigan University and an MFA from the Rhode Island School of Design. Her work is known for its close observation of nature, reference to colonial history, and use of contemporary objects. The City Flora/City Flotsam series [created while living in Philadelphia] is inspired by the plants that grow through the cracks in the sidewalk such as chicory, lambs quarters, and purslane, and sometimes includes found coins, crack vials, and syringes.
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Whether living in a natural setting on the west coast, or in the post-industrial decay of an east coast city, there is inspiration to be found. And just because I personally feel like I’ve outgrown New York City and used up what it had to offer me doesn’t mean that those who stay (or, who dream of moving here) won’t find motivation by the bucketful. 2010 is the year I’m resolving to get back to my roots and immerse myself in the nature that has always inspired me (even if lately it’s only been through the sidewalk cracks). But no matter where we are, I think we can all benefit from attuning ourselves to the natural cycles that are happening all around us, and use that knowledge as a daily influence on our lives.
David Gurney pottery photos and Jan Yager necklace from Craft in America
Jan Yager Tiara of Useful Knowledge from Jan Yager Studio
I did a post recently on vertical gardens, and since then have come across a company, Woolly Pocket, that not only makes wall containers for plants, but…purses for plants?
I have some mixed feelings here. It looks really cute, but what is the point? And watching the tutorial video, it seems that it’s little more than a cheap purse lined with vinyl. In my opinion, DIY techniques always produces the best looking results…
Vagabond photo from woollypocket.com
