Andrew Mattingly, Don Barton, A.G. Sherman and Jamie Kitch
Since the recession hit, many of us have had to layoff our butlers, maids, gardeners and kitchen staff. If you’re like me, there’s nothing you enjoy more than coming home after a long night of debauchery and waking up your personal chef to prepare fried pickles for you and your friends. Well, for many of us, those days are long gone. I’m not ashamed to say that I’ve been forced to fry my own pickles as of late.
Recently, the good people at Red Emma’s saw fit to gather experts in several disciplines together to host workshops and disseminate information on the subject of how one might accomplish tasks one used to pay others to do.
For instance, the committee from the Baltimore Free Farm, comprised of enterprising young women and men, have discovered a way to grow food within the city limits. I know it sounds hard to believe but it’s true. In addition, they’re raising money using the interwebs via an innovative website the kids call the kickstarter. I’m looking into using the site myself to raise money for renovations on my summer home in the mountains. If you’d like to make a donation drop me an email.
As if all of their hard work wasn’t enough to fill up their busy calendar, they’re also throwing a party. An epic one at that. It’s shaping up to be the social event of the season.
Photos by Brooke Hall, story by Justin Allen.
Quite simply, DIY Fest was an inspiring event that brought together like-minded individuals for the sake of sharing information and fellowship. The workshops ranged from Alternative Business Models to Urban Foraging.
Lee Connah’s hand made musical instruments are “built largely from salvaged and recycled lumber, debris, found objects and unorthodox materials such as beer cans and tree bark.”
Each instrument is a work of art and entirely unique.
Lee Connah is a folk singer and carpenter who, as far as I can see, puts a lot of soul into everything he does. His instruments drew me in as soon as I saw them and kept me there asking questions for some time after.
Lee Connah’s hand made instruments. The one he’s holding is a fiddle fashioned from a chick feeder.
If you have any appreciation for craftsmanship, I would recommend you follow the link and see Lee’s work for yourself. It will be one of the more interesting websites you visit today.
What you’re looking at could be many things. It could be the guts of a modern day slot machine rigged to never pay big or maybe the brains of a listening device developed by a clandestine government agency too big to realize that it’s actually spying on itself or it might just be a small piece in the sustainability puzzle. If I had to guess, I’d go with listening device.
If you chose the third explanation for the device above, give yourself a hand. This is a part of the gadget the Baltimore Biodiesel Coop installs on their portable fuel tanks so that they can charge for the fuel and allow their members access anytime. Ilya Goldberg was kind enough to give us the low down on their mission but more than that he’s the winner of this week’s prestigious and highly coveted, ‘Not Only Are You Playing A Role In Promoting Sustainable Energy And Making The World A Better Place For Our Children, You Also Appear to Be A Powerful Sorcerer Who Is Perfecting The Art Of Teleporting With The Volunteer To Your Right Whom Our Camera Caught In Inter-Dimensional Flux Which Proves That You’re Already Going One Step Further Than Sustainable Fuel, You’re Creating Wormholes So That Automobiles Are No Longer Necessary.’ award. As soon as you get those lottery tickets figured out, give me a call. I’ve got some work for you.
I’ll reiterate, this is NOT a listening device developed a clandestine government agency too big to realize that it’s actually spying on itself.
Rod Mccraken was at DIY Fest representing Ancestral Knowledge, an organization dedicated to “reconnecting our community to the Earth.” They brought with them quite a few hand made tools including this handy dandy device that’s the perfect stocking stuffer for your favorite pyro.
It’s moments like this when you realize that in the event of a cataclysmic disaster, if you are somehow cut of from your neighborhood grocery store or your electric can opener stops working you may very well starve to death. This is why we need the good people at Ancestral Knowledge.
