Holy Scrap

Chamomile: Close But Not Quite

2013-05-23T15:24:00.000-07:00

Ohhhh I wanted to harvest the chamomile before hitting the road for my book tour. It's starting to flower but nowhere near abundant enough to harvest. We might miss this one!

Drying a Winter Stock of Herbs

2013-05-23T15:19:00.000-07:00

The kitchen smells amazing due to bunches of thyme, orageno, tarragon and za'atar. I had so much coriander that I bunched it to dry outside in the shade.

Mikey's Mower

2013-05-23T15:12:00.005-07:00

Mikey is enjoying a little electric lawnmower he scored last summer at a yard sale. He paid $4 for it. When your power comes from on site PV solar life tends to be about batteries. We prefer working with electricity to petroleum powered engines. This little guy has really performed for us in spite of it hanging out in the yard and being exposed to the elements for a year.

Drying & Extracting to Preserve a Bounty

2013-05-22T20:52:00.004-07:00

With just a couple of days left before we head to Washington state to promote The Good Life Lab soon we'll be handing our homestead to a friend who'll be housesitting. In these last days we are scurrying to catch plants ready for picking. I picked mullein to dry for herbal smoke and tea, dandelion to dry for its root (a liver cleanser), yerba mansa which I tinctured (a diuretic and some say the goldenseal of our region), and calendula which I make into a tissue repairing oil. All of these will be fine on their own for the weeks we will be away.

The Hand that Throws Cars: The Maker Who Imagined It

2013-05-21T20:16:00.001-07:00

I blogged about our friend Christian and his blog before, art is the proper task of life. Christian and his wife Christina make the coolest metal art. One of the best things about their work is their willingness to make the least useful most fun things. I believe we call that art. Their work travels to festivals and events around the world.

In this pic, behind Christian is a mechanical arm he made. It picks up cars and throws them. The other photos shows Christina's sculpture. Her work often contains fire elements and apparatus for things like silks performance. Their latest creation though is their son Kodiak.

I gave Christian a copy of the Good Life Lab on Sunday and he already emailed me with great feedback in spite of his being on page 40. He read excerpts to his crew at Maker Faire. Apparently I received an applause. I learned a lot about how the book is being received while at the Maker Faire. From what I can tell people are starved for meaning which the book provides in abundance. One part of touring I already like is that I get to meet up with old friends while on the road.

Pixies Everywhere!

2013-05-21T13:17:00.005-07:00

We all know the world functions on the energy of pixies, nomes and wood nymphs. The Sufis call them Jinn. Each culture has their style. Sometimes they come life sized. This weekend I met two magic beings that surprised me. Jennifer Alexander who's love for Broadway really needs to be let out of the box. She ran the Textile Talk Lounge at the Swap-O-Rama-Rama in San Mateo. In between lovingly presenting our guests and managing the stage in the most lively possible way I'd find her off to the side performing a ditty from Le Mis or Fiddler On The Roof. We really must get her a gig performing!

And just a shoe's throw away from the Swap-O-Rama-Rama tent another magical being named Sebastian, fairground staff, sat uncomplainingly in the sun working the gate nearest to the swap tent. He was our security. Of course since we were at the Maker Faire I was not surprised to discover that he's into book binding and a great many domestic DIY hobbies. Realizing no one had gifted him all weekend I gave him a copy of my book for which he immediately named the type of stitch of the bind and then while flipping through the pages went on to say things like, "oh yeah, I've done that fermentation. Did you ever try . . . .?"

CeCe Can Fix Anything

2013-05-21T13:09:00.001-07:00

CeCe knows she's a Helena Bonham Carter doppelganger. She plays on it with costumes to trick people into believing she is her. But really CeCe is more like a character Helena would play and hope to get right.

CeCe's clothes are moded out to hold every possible tool for the repair of a sewing machine, serger and likely other textile tools. Her pockets and hooks hold seam rippers, unusual brushes, scissors, screws and all variety of measuring tapes, even a spare pair of extra eye glasses. A round patch partially sewn and placed between her shoulders in the upper center of her back holds a large metal scissor that she can reach for and reveal as one might expect a knight of the roundtable to produce a sword.

She also carries tips for every possible way to teach grown ups and kids of all ages to love to sew.

I was thrilled to meet her. Even more thrilled to know she is part of the Swap-O-Rama-Rama team. Catch her if you can. I imagine that she is somewhere where that textiles are being created or modified.

Delighting in Textile Waste

2013-05-21T13:02:00.003-07:00

It looks like a real good time!

Making Somthin' is Made Better With Help

2013-05-21T12:58:00.002-07:00

There is a reason that its is a Swap-O-Rama-Rama policy that there be no mirrors at the events. Their absence encourages everyone to turn to the nearest stranger and ask, "How do I look?"

The best way to make a somethin' is to have a little help. This year's Swap-O-Rama-Rama at San Mateo creative help was abundant and everywhere. Homeygrown's crew of silk screeners covered new to us duds in fresh designs. To name a few, Seamstress Erin lured people into a denim wonder-world, Mandy came all the way from the UK to share knowledge about how to make T-shirt yarn and crochet, and Sonia Phillips helped people to make simple A shaped dresses. One thing that everyone made was friends.

Swap-O-Rama-Rama Serious Fun Repurposing Textiles in San Mateo * Best One Yet!

2013-05-21T12:47:00.001-07:00

It is wonderful to be blown away by something I began but have hardly been responsible for. Today Swap-O-Rama-Rama is kept alive on the sweat, talent and inspiration of many people. Some I am fortunate enough to meet. This past weekend at the San Mateo Maker Faire I met my new favorite superhero Erin Scholl who produced was was easily one of the best swaps I'd ever been to. Besides flawlessly putting in place the formulaic components which are no easy thing to make happen: clothes for swapping, a silk screen area, workshops, a sewing area, staff of about 100 people and a fashion show, this year she added a boutique that sold the goods of our creative staff and the Textile Talk Lounge, a stage MC'd by the fabulously dramatic Jennifer Alexander (long time San Luis Obispo SORR organizer) for presentations and talks.

The boutique was stunning thanks to volunteer Leslie and the artists who sold there including Loose Thread, Platinum Dirt, New Tribe Textiles, The Window Lady , Frankenstuffies, and Seamstress Erin, all selling great designs made from repurposed goods.

Big faire's can be very tiring and Maker Faire can easily be overwhelming. I noticed many people come to the Swap-O-Rama-Rama to hunker in and spend hours engaged in a single task, myself included. All I can say is "thank you!"

Wendy Presents the Good Life Lab @ Maker Faire

2013-05-19T06:57:00.001-07:00

Wendy Presents the Good Life Lab @ Maker Faire, a photo by mikey and wendy on Flickr.

I presented The Good Life Lab for the very first time on the Meet the Maker Stage at the Maker Faire. It went well. When I began the seats were 1/4 full. As I presented people walking by slid in to listen. By the end the seats were full, the space packed. People asked lots of questions and many bought books, a good sign.

Though The Good Life Lab is not out until June 5th, we have pre-release copies here at the faire so if your at Maker Faire come see us!

Today (Sunday) I will present the book at the Homegrown Village Stage at 11:30. I also do a presentation about Swap-O-Rama-Rama at the swap's Textile Talk Stage at 3:20. Then after a short break we're off to the Vancouver and Seattle Maker Faires.

A Boing Boing Sandwich @ Swap-O-Rama-Rama Tent @ Maker Faire

2013-05-19T06:53:00.001-07:00

A Boing Boing Sandwich @ Swap-O-Rama-Rama Tent @ Maker Faire, a photo by mikey and wendy on Flickr.

Why does it feel so good to be in this Boingboing.net sandwich? Probably because Mark Frauenfelder and Xeni have done so much to shape shift the face of media. Today I rely on Boingboing for the news of the world. Once staple outlets like The New York Times provide the same news in a more tepid form a day later or two. They often leave out the most importing thing, the good news.

Mikey and I are at the San Mateo Maker Faire where we've run into many old friends like Dale Dougherty, Maker Faire and Make Mag founder who wrote a foreword to my book the Good Life Lab, and Harley from Burning Man's Black Rock Arts. We're happy to back and feeling strangely like we're home.

(Image: Me, Xeni, and Mark at the Swap-O-Rama-Rama tent at Maker Faire)

NEW MEXICO Magazine Reviews The Good Life Lab

2013-05-15T14:53:00.000-07:00

THE REVIEW: Just a few miles from the Spaceport, Truth or Consequences is the site of a different kind of envelope-pushing for Wendy Jehanara Tremayne. She and her partner, Mikey Sklar, decided to opt out of their conventionally successful New York Life to live in T or C as off-the-grid homesteaders. They linked up with a group of like-minded folks, also from other parts of the country. No covered wagons here - Tremayne and Sklar bought a former RV park, renovated a “decrepit” 1967 mobile home, set up solar panels, and reconfigured vehicles to run on biofuel made from discarded fast-food grease.

In a series of chatty, thoughtful, appealing chapters, Tremayne aims to inspire others to not only consume less but to also “live out of the waste stream,” using our society’s discards to clothe and outfit our homes, and so on. She also gleans soapberries from tress in Elephant Butte for laundry-washing, and plants from the New Mexican landscape (ocotillo, yucca, mullein) for home remedies.

What makes this different from decades of quasi-hippie practices? Tremayne and Sklar fully embrace cutting-edge technology to optimize their lives. Sklar, formerly a Wall Street computer programmer, turned his brain power toward the making of gadgets that MacGyver old applicances to make and preserve homegrown foods. He learned how to mix his own biofuel, and invented a device that revivies exhausted solar batteries. One of their peers teaches students at Northern New Mexico College how to convert old Pontiac Fieros to run on electricity.

Although most of us will keep paying the electric bill and enjoying lives that involve weekly visits to big-box stores, this book’s perspective, with its many recipes and how-tos, offers readers ways to begin to adopt regular, pragmatic practices that save money and are kind to the environment. Read more at Tremayne’s blog, blog.holyscraphotsprings.com.

- Candace Walsh

Return to MakerFaire

2013-05-15T11:39:00.001-07:00

Return to MakerFaire, a photo by mikey and wendy on Flickr.

The first MakerFaire started off with a surprise. Just before arriving the faire's producers sent us photos of billboards they designed to announce the event that were all over the Bay Area. They featured a photo of me in a fan shirt at Burning Man. Once we reached MakerFaire we discovered thousands of flyers and posters with the same image. I expect this year to be radically different. Wendy's Swap-O-Rama-Rama and various book talks will keep us busy at this event which is now over 5x its starting size. Hopefully the image seen here there and everywhere will be The Good Life Lab. Here we go!

Larry's Underground Tomato Monster

2013-05-14T16:14:00.001-07:00

Larry's Underground Tomato Monster, a photo by mikey and wendy on Flickr.

Last year our neighbor dug a giant hole in his yard and covered it with clear plastic. His theory was that the high water table combined with local hot springs would keep plants warm and wet year round. He was right. Look at what a single tomato plant turned into after a year of growing in his subterranean greenhouse.

Curse You Faucet

2013-05-14T15:02:00.001-07:00

Curse You Faucet, a photo by mikey and wendy on Flickr.

Last February we installed a fancy (for us) Kohler faucet. Yesterday, I had to replace it. We were disappointed that this item failed so quickly. As we were researching the issue we found that this faucet had dozens of reviews on Amazon about leaking within the first two years of service. It took about 3 hours of Kohler phone support to get them to honor their lifetime guarantee. It took another 3 hours of to remove and replace the faucet. It killed our day.

Hand Stitching Leather Tool

2013-05-12T17:58:00.003-07:00

Hand Stitching Leather Tool, a photo by mikey and wendy on Flickr.

I I learned about a new tool today to secure Sesame's collar which I had to adjust to make a right fit.

Natural Dye With Native Coda

2013-05-12T17:58:00.001-07:00

Natural Dye Cota, a Native Plant, a photo by mikey and wendy on Flickr.

Today I plucked the cota plant which grows wild here in New Mexico. It is also known as Navaho tea because the natives popularized it as a drink. Mikey and I enjoy it warm or cold with maple syrup. Each year I dry batches to last the winter. Today I threw a bunch of cota into my dying pot figuring that the dark yellow tea might hold up as a dye and it did! I got a lovely yellow from it. I can imagine that if I double the volume of plant material I can get a honey mustard color.

Serious Sewing

2013-05-12T17:53:00.001-07:00

Serious Sewing, a photo by mikey and wendy on Flickr.

This is the last outfit I'll make for my book tour. We leave on Thursday and I don't think I'll have time to squeeze in another. I made the neckline using a woven belt I found at a yard sale. I couldn't sleep last night because I dreamed of the skirt to match it. When I woke up I ran outside to dye the pieces to make it. By lunch I had a finished outfit. This is the best thing I made to date. I can hardly believe it. Yeeeeehawwwww!

Spanish Broom

2013-05-12T16:42:00.001-07:00

Spanish Broom, a photo by mikey and wendy on Flickr.

This plant might just have the sweetest smelling flowers on our property.

Making Butter with a Vita-Mix

2013-05-12T16:26:00.001-07:00

Making Butter with a Vita-Mix, a photo by mikey and wendy on Flickr.

We made butter and saved the buttermilk for last two weeks with no trouble at all. I use the leftovers of our raw cream each week. I needed to hear someone say that they used their Vita-Mix on full speed for a few minutes then dropped it down to '4' on variable speed for a few more minutes.

Last of the Stash

2013-05-12T16:20:00.001-07:00

Last of the Stash, a photo by mikey and wendy on Flickr.

Wendy finally trimmed this out of control mustache which was beginning to feel a broom strapped to my face.

Who Said You Can't Grow Strawberries in the Desert?

2013-05-10T14:55:00.001-07:00

Who Said You Can't Grow Strawberries in the Desert, a photo by mikey and wendy on Flickr.

Invitation: Bay Area Swap-O-Rama-Rama

2013-05-10T11:36:00.000-07:00

We're Off to The Maker Faire to Launch The Good Life Lab

2013-05-10T10:36:00.001-07:00

We're Off to Maker Faire to Launch of The Good Life Lab, a photo by mikey and wendy on Flickr.

Next week Mikey and I present my book The Good Life Lab for the very first time. We'll be pre-launching the book at the Maker Faire in San Mateo where copies will be available more than two weeks before the book is in stores. This trip kicks off our tour which includes the Seattle and Vancouver Maker Faires, Dorkbots in Portland and Seattle, and many bookstores.

Maker Faire is a wonder world for makers of all variety of things techie to old fashioned. There will be fire arts, and fine cooking, crafts and home manufacturing. Swap-O-Rama-Rama will have its own 6,000 sq foot space and an on site Textile Talk Lounge featuring presentations and demos by a variety of textile artists and this year we'll have our own boutique selling the handmade goods of our talented staff. This year Swap-O-Rama-Rama includes a silk screening and tie die station and of course a fashion show of non stop "oh la la!"

I will be giving three presentations at the faire so if your attending here's where to find me. Mikey will be co-presenting at two of the talks. Come down and see us!

Maker Faire: May 18th and 19th
Wendy & Mikey, Saturday at 3:30 to 3:50PM
Location: Meet the Maker Stage

Wendy & Mikey, Sunday at 11:30 AM - 12:25 PM
Location: Homestead Village's Stage

Wendy presenting a talk about Swap-O-Rama-Rama
Sunday at 3:20 at Swap-O-Rama-Rama's Textile Talk Lounge/Stage followed by a book signing

Books will also be available in the Maker Shed. See You At the Faire!

To follow us on tour check my Goodreads page. New dates are being added all the time. To recommend a stop click the link on the side of this page and tell us where you'd like to see us.