Root Simple Visits Simparch’s Utah Compound

...rchitectural thoughtstylist collective known as Simparch has established a self-sufficiency experiment they call Clean Livin’. Located on the remote South Base section of the historic Wendover Airfield on land leased by the Center for Land Use Interpretation, Simparch’s project proves that self-reliance is possible in what must be one of the harshest climates in North America. Clean Livin’ features a set of solar panels, batteries, a solar shower,...

Read…

Mutant Squash

...k meaning “same household”) which is an evolutionary strategy for avoiding self-pollination. Corn is another example of a monoecious plant. Plants can only cross pollinate within their own species so watermelons can’t cross with lettuce, for instance. But there are many different varieties of squash, everything from butternut squash to spaghetti squash to various inedible gourds, so you can get some very freaky mutant cross-breeds. Results of thes...

Read…

Make Your Own Furniture

...aven’t included in this list. He refers to his collection of books as “The Self Determination Library.” The plan is to keep adding to this post. If you know of books and resources for cheap, easy to make, well designed furniture leave a comment. For every resource that I’ve mentioned there’s probably a dozen more. When possible I’ve linked to free pdfs or books you can borrow at the Internet Archive. Gerritt Rietveld I built a set of Gerritt Rietv...

Read…

That ain’t a bowl full of larvae, it’s crosne!

...conducive to producing a good crop of tubers. What crosne leaves look like Self irrigating pots, post crosne harvest Undaunted, I planted two self irrigating planters made from storage bins with about twelve or so tubers. Throughout the year the foliage was lush and finally died back in late November. It was really easy to grow, just like any other mint. It grew to about 1 1/2 feet and never produced flowers. I’m sure in wetter places it would be...

Read…

The Art and Architecture of C.F.A. Voysey

...pent every spare moment of his life obsessively drawing. C.F.A. Voysey: Birds of Many Climes c.1900. Voysey’s work points to an alternate trajectory in which our art and our cities are entwined with a reverence for nature instead being at the service of machines. Instead we have the cynicism, self absorption and nihilism of Jeff Koons and Damien Hirst. And all we have to look forward to are cites soon to be clogged with self driving cars. C.F.A. V...

Read…