(image via daily-dragon-drawing on tumblr, specific post here)
happy spring to many - here in western Colorado we’re vacillating between warm and cold in a true, classic Colorado manner.
i do these posts about praxis periodically because i seek inspiration and motivation for concrete actions i can take in my life, and you, the community of people who are into solarpunk, are creative powerhouses. with that in mind, what kind of projects are you all working on, or have you seen going down? any ideas that you’re excited about doing as the weather gets warmer?
thanks for being rad, friends.
I just helped my neighbor replace his front lawn with low growing roman chamomile and lavender. I’m hoping to rig up a little solar powered water feature using secondhand parts soon.
I have been cutting 6" sticks from storm damaged tree limbs, and drilling the various-size holes for the the solitary bee house I set up at my parents’ place. Need to replace the sticks every year after they emerge so we don’t propagate diseases or parasites in the solitary bees.
Once I find a couple 6"x1" oak boards (maybe when someone throws out a bed?) I’ll be able to cut the arching back pieces for a wood and cast iron park bench im trying to fix up. I need to take a wire wheel to the rust and paint it, fabricate the back (I already have the slats for the seat but they do need to be sanded, stained, urethaned, and attached). Then I can put it out near our local bike path.
Need to put a new tire and tube on my front bike wheel.
I’m working on some more photobashes too.
to answer my own question, i have planted two rows of potatoes this spring - my first garden that i’ve ever been involved with! and yes, two rows of potatoes is barely a “garden” but it’s a start. i want to grow food i will actually eat, so we planted an apple tree last fall and potatoes this spring. i am hoping to also do a three sisters garden this year, but we’ll see. i also potted a Scotch Bonnet plant that i bought accidentally online while trying to buy actual Scotch Bonnet peppers, ha! this will be great for the Nigerian-style jollof rice i make on weekends, and anything Caribbean inspired that i cook which calls for that specific flavor and heat profile.
i also started a Calibreserver based out of my home server setup, which will be accessible to the neighborhood i live in - i bought a domain name and am learning about what all is necessary to statically host a website. this is the first part of my dream to start being a community sysadmin for my neighborhood, where i can provide resources that are freely available to my neighbors, and we can all add content and features as time, skill, and desire allow.
finally, i have dusted off Laika, my old trusty two-wheeled steed. she belonged to a coworker’s husband who never rode, so i got it for free last fall! I have not historically been a cyclist so I am working towards it. I bought a rack i need to add to the bike, and hope to get some different tires. add in a trailer, and you have a great errand-runner, which is my goal here.
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https://indieweb.org/ has a lot of good resources. Static site generators like Hugo are also great. If you want something more traditional like a Wordpress blog, I recommend https://www.reclaimhosting.com/
For a domain registrar, I HIGHLY recommend https://porkbun.com/
i don’t know if this link is great, but it’s one that i’m going to read and try to follow along with. https://stablepoint.com/blog/how-to-host-your-own-website
verdict: it was not terribly helpful. gonna try Hugo next. https://gohugo.io/getting-started/quick-start/
I’m doing vegetarian week (and could definitely use recipes if anyone can help!)
Huge fan of these recipes: https://www.badmanners.com/recipes
https://stripedspatula.com/gallo-pinto/#wprm-recipe-container-7474 was quite tasty when we made it the other night. also https://www.ruchiskitchen.com/vegan-spicy-peanut-noodles/#recipe. both good!
Now that is some seriously adorable art. Thanks for sharing. I’m starting work on making my garden. It’s likely going to be a years long project due to the area I’m working with and doing it all myself. I plan to get pictures before and after and post it along with the design sheet and materials. I’m going to try and make it as clean energy as I can, and I’m going to be doing some soil experiments. I’ve also just arrived to this server and am likely going to be starting up some punk communities that need more representation later in the year.
I’m learning more about fermenting food and I’m working on an indoor garden using pots and LED grow lights. So far I’ve got ginger going well, and I’ve sprouted habaneros and Thai chiles from seeds I pulled from grocery store produce.
Lots of balcony veggie gardening, helped a friend set up a rain barrel, guerrilla gardening local wildflowers, and taking more trips by bike. I always enjoy seeing what the rest of you are up to!
I have lots of projects going on and I’m making incremental progress on all of them.
I’m designing furniture to make everything I own take up less space so I can move to smaller apartments in the future.
Through self-hosting, I’m slowly removing big-tech software from my life, and I’m helping friends/family to do the same. I recently set up a small invidious instance that my friends and I share.
I finally have Linux’d all the things and have my computers under a single NixOS configuration.
I’m using Home Assistant to monitor and reduce power usage.
I started https://urban-colorado.wiki to be a repository for people in Colorado to get information about recent and upcoming housing and transportation legislation, how to get involved, local urbanist communities, and social programs available and how to access them. It’s still VERY much in its infancy, but anyone in Colorado is welcome and encouraged to contribute.
I’m also saving up for a cargo bike to replace the vast majority of cars trips that I still take.