When the Crate’s Better Than the Chair

November 23, 2009

Design

Steve Badgett of the design/art/architecture collective Simparch tipped me off to Dutch furniture designer and architect Gerrit Rietveld’s set of chairs built out of crates, done back in the 1930s. As Rietveld put it, “A piece of furniture made of high-grade wood and manufactured completely according to traditional production methods is transported in a crate to avoid damage…no one has ever ascertained that such a chest embodies an improvised, hi...

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A Warning About Straw

Mr. Homegrown

October 25, 2009

Animals, Chickens, Gardening, Vegetable Gardening

12 Comments

Claude Monet used straw (or is that hay?) for art. We use straw to catch chicken droppings! Straw is a very inexpensive and useful material for composting, mulching and animal bedding (we use it for all of these purposes). If you use it for mulch you’ll probably get some seeds that will germinate, but I’ve never found it to be a big problem in a small vegetable garden. I get my straw from the feed store, but you can often get it for free from yup...

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Trading our Home for a Dome

Mr. Homegrown

July 29, 2014

Design

20 Comments

...te listing, seem to have inspired the seller to paint some trippy outsider art. The kitchen, on the other hand, looks like a ten minute visit to the Ikea as-is bin. Maybe this is a spare kitchen? The seller seems to have also gone bold with the colors. I think I would too if I lived in a dome. Perhaps the best use for domes is for ceremonial or public spaces. There’s a really nice one that serves as a greenhouse at the Ecology Center in San Juan C...

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A Crisis of the Real: A Levitating Saints and a French Theory Remix

Mr. Homegrown

March 27, 2025

Reviews, Thoughtstylings

2 Comments

...you the historical context for a chain of post WWII French thinkers from Sartre to Latour. Jameson knew many of these people personally, and the lectures have an often funny, gossipy tone. If, like me, you went to grad school in the 80s or 90s you likely got a dose of French postmodern theory. If also, like me, you studied music, or art or literature you likely got that theory secondhand, from a well meaning professor who perhaps lacked the philo...

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How to add sparkle to your natural decorations: sugaring

Mrs. Homegrown

December 12, 2014

Domesticus, How-to

9 Comments

...rs in a perfectly even coat of shining sugar have the skill down to a fine art. But sugaring sturdy things, like berry clusters or leaves, is simple. You’ll need: One egg white, furiously whipped White sugar A small paint brush Possibly a fine mesh strainer to shake the sugar though, but you can sprinkle sugar with your fingers, too. A system for holding the finished product while it dries. Things on sticks or with stems can be propped up in a tra...

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