The Box.

I should probably have my pants on fire and be hanging by the telephone wire right about now...I lied, I didn't completely finish my planter box project yesterday. I finished the actual box but today was the official installation and closing ceremony. We have decided it looks like either a small coffin or a very large window box that is not on a window. But as I mentioned before, all I have to do is wait for plants to grow and all the attention will be distracted from that minor observation. The tough part today was figuring out what to plant in the box since we didn't really have many choices. I think the only seeds we had were some spring flowers. Luckily, a few weeks ago I brought home garlic from Pie Ranch but never got around to planting it. So the planter box is now christened with garlic. It's perfect, just the thing I need to keep away those bad boys like Edward Cullen...

Bob the builder, can he build it?

So I had initially approximated my stint in construction to last a few long and painful weeks but pleasantly surprised myself by finishing (almost) all on Day 1. Here's a rough outline of what my schedule looked like today:

8:00am Wake up to buy materials

10:30 Come home, spend way longer than necessary making calculations.

11:00 Take a break before venturing into power tool situation.

11:15 Measure everything, everything, everything!!

11:30 Cut everything. (In the process, inhale a forest's worth of sawdust.)

12:00 Realize our drill is missing, walk down to campus to pick one up.

1:00 Grub

1:30 Realize we don't have the right drill bit but decide to carry on anyway.

1:32-2:30 Assemble everything and get frustrated when things don't fit where they should.

3:00 Struggle getting it all in the car before taking it to the jardin de ma mère!!

Or if you would like to hear in greater detail the struggles of my day, proceed:

After trying numerous hardware stores and nearly being coaxed into buying wood that was $$$, finally got redirected to Truitt and White by my ever so faithful father. I swear there's some sort of magic spell cast over the property because as soon I drove into the yard, my car immediately shrunk about three sizes. After narrowly escaping some forklifts I managed to park between two pick-up trucks that must've been like twice my height.

Anyway, it's not until you actually walk in to the store that you realize all the calculations and plans that you've been hatching in your head up until that point aren't really that important. With the help of a few large old men with beards you get pretty much every suggestion and opinion on anything you need. I swear, even with the neat list I had written up before walking in, I changed my mind about what I wanted to buy at least ten times. In the end, the answer came to me by wandering through the yard until I talked to enough people that told me what I really needed was rough redwood. Bought two 12' planks and got half of a broken one for free! Sweet deal. (...or so I thought. Until I found out as I was assembling everything that the board was warped)

All in all, a pretty interesting experience. Though I must say, going in to that place is some serious time warp. 20 minutes in there ended up being an hour in real life...

Back at home I got everything laid out and geared up for the occasion. Then, for the sake of all the old people that like to walk down the path I tried my best to lay low because I'm pretty sure if they had seen me they would have been very, very frightened. I mean, with grunge clothes on, a mask on my face and a skilsaw in my hand I might have just as well been a deranged murderer for all they knew. Or a bandit construction worker. ('Cause we all know how many of those there are around these parts of town.)

Aaanyway, after a few hours of doing all the screwing by hand and finally (finally!) finishing, I came away knowing that.......... I like building things! (And I like working with power tools too) FOR THE MOST PART. Let's just say that I learned one thing: Carpentry is sort of annoying in that it's like dominoes or math problems. If you mess something up at the beginning, it normally shows up to haunt you at the end.

Rookie mistakes aside, I'm still pretty confident nobody will really notice those few boards that stick out a little further than they should or the occasional gap unless they look closely. And as soon as we get some green going, it'll be like it never even happened.

yum

I have the urge (and perhaps responsibility?) to let the virtual world know that at this very moment I am sitting on my couch while hard cider is making itself in the kitchen. Just in case we all die from ingesting it, at least someone will know how we ended up the way we did!

It pretty much consists of a fermentation process created by attaching an assortment of tubes to a jug of apple cider. Think what you want to think, I guess it's either really sketchy or really delicious. On second thought, it's probably both. :) Skål!

And so it begins.

The first few weeks of not being on the farm were certainly welcome, a little break from sore muscles and getting up early was nice. Now after being sick for a few days in a row, that has all changed. Outside the world is autumnal and beautiful, and meanwhile I'm stuck inside trying to speed my recovery so I can go out and enjoy what I'm missing. When I'm not sleeping, I drink tea, or I look outside, or I put on another pair of socks, or I read Farm City (a book I just got about an urban farmer).

Farm City. I'm only about 100 pages in but to be honest, I'm not too impressed. I can't really put my finger on it, it just doesn't grab me the way I wish it would. That in mind, I must definitely give Novella Carpenter credit for having roused me from my sickly stupor enough to inspire me to do something. I believe that in itself is reason enough for me to praise this book royally.

I've been wanting to build planter boxes for a while, but it wasn't really until I opened up Novella's book and fell into her urban farm that I realized I too could have my little sanctuary. (The petting zoo may not go over so well with my mother, but the vegetables are definitely manageable.)

So, with that begins my quest. I will build a planter box for my mother's garden.

I have exactly 16 days until I fly back east to visit family. Doubtful that I will finish in time. But in any case, the race begins.

No more pie: Part II

It's strange, in some ways it's harder to say goodbye to animals than it is to say goodbye to people. I guess it's because animals are harder to talk to on the phone.

Be thankful for grimy walls

Following my pre-Turkey Day disappointment in humanity, I remembered one of my favorite works of public art. It lives on the Berkeley campus, on a slab of gray just by the square of grass across from Café Strada, where my dog likes to go crazy. There is usually construction there, which of course means lots of cement and blah. It was it's usual boring until one day I noticed the wall had changed. Tiny creatures and flowers were now etched into the grime. And although not really my artistic style, the cartoon-like figures made me smile. As though silently mocking, they stood there showing that public art didn't necessarily have to be a "destructive" thing. 

Note to self: next time you see a graffiti artist being told off, remind them to use a powerhose instead of a spray can.