The Wonder of Worms

...n this is “why bother?” Just put the dry castings on or in the soil. Every time you water your plant, the castings will release nutrients. Making tea is just extra work for you. Humans like to complicate things. Worms leave their castings in or on the soil. We should, too. (Leave the worms’ castings, that is, not our own castings. We needn’t alarm the neighbors.) Third, there’s aerated compost tea (ACT), as popularized by Elaine Ingham. This is ma...

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Making It Available in Overdrive App

...ecreational library visit, my favorite librarian informed me that our book Making It is available for download in the Overdrive app. Ego boosted! Many public libraries, in addition to books, now have a long list of digital gewgaws, apps and resources. One of those apps is Overdrive, which allows you to download eBooks, videos and audio books to your digital devices for free. Over 30,000 libraries worldwide use Overdrive to distribute materials. To...

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Butter Making Demo at the Natural History Museum

...from Junk (7-9pm) BUTTER MAKING with authors, Erik Knutzen & Kelly Coyne (*timed-ticket required) POTTING SUCCULENTS (*timed-ticket required) SPRAY PAINT MURAL with Self Help Graphics & Art BOTANICAL TOURS with NHM Garden Staff SMOKE FLY SAMPLING with NHM Citizen Scientists ENCHANTING TOY THEATER PERFORMANCES by NHM Performing Arts Staff LIVE ANIMAL PRESENTATIONS ART INSTALLATION, “Edge of Color” by Sarah Rara of Lucky Dragons LADWP Save the Drop...

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Making Tofu From Scratch at the Institute of Domestic Technology

...e soy milk separated the curds were ladled into the forms. In just a short time we had blocks of delicious tofu. One of the students brought some dehydrated crackers to class. He makes them with discarded fruit pulp that he gets at a local juice bar. He dehydrates the pulp with some soaked sunflower seeds. The result is delicious. It’s a clever idea. Back to the tofu. I’m going to try making my own this summer. At the very least I can make my own...

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Misadventures in Laser Cutting

...oncept, materials and tools is, of course, one of the central struggles in making art. Printing on Wood After completing my print block I had some extra time in the lab so I thought I’d see what it looks like to simply etch in wood. First I tried an image of our cat Buck, one on birch plywood and the other on a scrap of quarter sawn white oak. With some more tweaking in illustrator I probably could have gotten a better image on the birch but I did...

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