Wintergatan – ex Machina

Wintergatan – Music, Machines and Homemade Music Instruments from Sweden! I have a fondness for Rube Goldberg machines and clever design. If it is something that actually makes music as well, then I’m all for it. After watching this video I felt a need to find out more so exploring I went. It was a […]

The Magic of Sinew

SINEW Sinew is the term used to describe tendon or ligament in more formal English. It is the cord that connects muscle to bone or bone to bone in skeletal animals. Like rope, it is made up of bundles of bundles of bundles as shown in this anatomical illustration. For our purposes, sinew is a […]

No Apology Necessary

As we head into the weekend, I wanted to share a short essay. This may be a lengthy read by internet standards but I would like to suggest that you pour yourself your favorite beverage or if you are at work then skive off a bit and take in the wisdom of Robert Louis Stevenson. […]

House Trucks from the Early 1970s

Rolling homes go back almost as far as rolling vehicles and the modern era of motor driven cars is not an exception. If you have followed this blog at all you may have seen some great contraptions, especially from the 1920s and 30s. The counter-culture of the 1960s lead to a generation of rolling home […]

On the Antiquity of Gourds

Gourds have played an important role in human history in both the Old World and New. The origin, domestication, and spread of this and other plants was a topic of much conversation when I was in graduate school. It seems now that its antiquity and introduction to the Americas is becoming much clearer. This humble […]

Education

“I never let my schooling interfere with my education” Mark Twain Wise words. Sometimes I think we’re entering a Dark Age just at the moment when we have vastly more knowledge at our fingertips than ever before. We can look far out into space and at the tiniest of the tiny to understand our universe […]

Lulled into Complacency

Because they didn’t know better, they called it “civilization,” when it was part of their slavery. Tacitus, Agricola, Book 1, Paragraph 21.

We NEED Community – by Damien Patrick

Originally posted on Kindness Blog:
Can I ask you some questions? Why, when we grow up, do we move out from our family home and then go and buy or rent a house in a street full of complete strangers, sometimes many miles from our loved ones? When did this practice start, why and to…

Primitive Arts

Today I’m prepping to present some primitive skills on Saturday, from raw materials to finished goods. I’m also getting some kid’s activities together to draw in the latest generation. An assortment of stone-age technology laid out to take to the public.

Making the Possibles Bag

Several years ago, I made a shoulder bag that I still often carry today. It is the perfect size for a small field bag or hunting pouch. It was a lot fun looking at various designs, mostly from the 18th century to try and come up with something that would fit my needs. When I […]