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I became a worm mom recently, through serendipity and the generosity of a compost-wacko compadre. It’s odd and humbling, having become completely at ease with my farming impulses even as I cherish city life, to suddenly be unsure whether I’m up to the task of caring for my squirmy charges. I seem to be doing fine so far. I give them coffee grounds and whirred-up remains of my salads that would otherwise go in the compost bins. And, well, I’ll let you know. But here is an absolute inspiration: Will Allen, who has seen why urban farming is essential and is striving to make it accessible. I’m not sure why I had to read the New York Times to find out what’s going on in my own backyard, but there you have it. “Creating soil from waste is what I enjoy most,” he said. “Anyone can grow food.” So simple—and so true.
With gardening season rapidly approaching, I offer you this glimpse of a whimsical program from across the pond. It’s devoted to people who grow oversize veg, as they call them (and I think I’m going to adopt the term—much sleeker than veg-e-ta-ble). I wish I could see whole episodes of this.
http://www.channel4.com/video/half-ton-veg/series-1/episode-1/growing-obsession_p_1.html
http://www.channel4.com/video/half-ton-veg/series-1/episode-1/big-is-beautiful_p_1.html
http://www.channel4.com/video/half-ton-veg/series-1/episode-1/all-or-nothing_p_1.html
ETA: This tape is defunct as of 1/1/09 due to Mixwit’s sad demise.
It took me a while to come up with a housework-related mixtape, partially because the housework tends to swallow my free time. But I finally slapped this together when I needed a night off. Pardon the liberal stretching of the house theme. And make sure to check out the last track for your spooky fix—it’s my favorite old-time radio bit and will help get your juices flowing for Halloween costume-making.
I’m sunk in a spate of touch-up projects right now. So I will attempt to entertain with some pics I took 3 years ago (wooooosh—yes, that was Chronos winging away) at the Vrooman Mansion in Bloomington, Illinois. We’ll start with fixtures that feature lovely old wood.
Copper-lined tank:
And a little something to stoke my push-button obsession:
I think this might be the mother of all toilet seats:
And check out the tank. I’ve got pics of the inside. It’s a little gruesome, but just in a rusty way.
Then there’s the wood-rim tub:
For those of you feeling a little overwhelmed by life and house work, I recommend the story of a clever couple in Akron, Ohio.
Be sure to look at the photos. They restored the bathroom instead of ripping it out—hooray!
One of the ways I coerce myself to work on the house on a lovely autumn day is to make sure I’ve got interesting programs on the radio. Every Saturday I listen to Chuck Schaden’s Those Were the Days on WDCB. They’ve just finished playing a Jack Benny program with Orson Welles. And next it’s going to be Suspense. You can listen online, too, if you’re not in the Chicago area.
What could be better than old-time radio while working on your old house?
