Stone Carving- The Granite Fieldstone Mortar & Pestle

This was my third finished mortar and pestle/ stone bowl. I've come up with a different way to create a "lathe" with the grinder. I am going to put to pipes on bearings mounted on the block of wood you see in the video. The friction from the grinding wheel will spin the piece like a cylinder and leave my hands free from touching the small piece of stone. I plan to do another larger one for the WellHaus pump basin that will also have a drain bored through it out to the greywater system in the future GreenHaus.





 

Jason Michael Kotarski
Jason Kotarski

Magnetic Sewing Pin Holder

Got a little crafty for Valentines Day, yes I consider it a made up holiday but still, I thought she would appreciate something useful. I usually get potted perennials that we can put outside but as we have flower bulbs still in their package on the porch from September I'll forego the tradition!



Things I would have done differently,



A wider piece of metal. I don't write in cursive except in french and realized quickly that the piece of flat stock was very narrow. Also, I didn't even try to practice first and I haven't busted out the welder in awhile.  Also, I need to put gas on it, the flux core is so spitty. And that role was very old, thank goodness it ran out early, the new roll was far smoother. Check out the video and subscribe, comment, or suggest!!!

I'm calling Winter Over

I set out this past winter to be more active with writing. Nope, I really don't get that many views so I tried to keep up with making videos of past projects and use the dreary winter weather as an excuse to be inside editing all the video I shot while the weather is good. I figure that's when people will be trying to waste some of the dark days hours anyway.

Well, I'm calling it. I'm going to say that spring has sprung. I'm going to go back and recap on some of the projects I was able to accomplish and see if I can get this blog back on track, views or no views damn it. I don't do much writing these days so I have to keep up my typing skills somehow!

I have a good backlog of photographs to go through and I should put them to use. Since launching Spatial Recognition last year most of my time has been directed to getting that off the ground. We are attempting to focus on Historic, Natural and Cultural Resources in an area that is more about demolition and Mondrianesque painted vertical shipping container looking buildings.

So, sticking with the post and a notion to be succinct I'll turn my attention to the excitement in the landscape. The Ivy War continues and there will be another chapter coming soon but it has led to a more ambitious plan of permaculture. We intend to create a Master Plan (which I will outline later) that provides us and the animals some of our daily requirements. One of these initiatives is what I call indicators, indicators are plants that are typically consistent in their cycle. I plant them, or they plant themselves, in areas where I need certain functions. First, color! I need to see something that is not white, grey, or brown. While the evergreens are helpful I want some pink, red, purple, yellow, you know a bright garden billboard that says IT'S SPRING.

Flowering Quince- The humming birds are already VERY happy to see this starting to bloom. Although this is not the giant sweet quince fruit producing variety, we do get small tart quince that are loaded with pectin that go wonderfully with rhubarb and blackberry the the wife makes in to a jam. Keep these trimmed up and it'll flower almost all summer.

Hyacinth!!! One of my favs. What more is there to say? Both of these are perfect wake up calls to get your beans and greens started. They are also extremely important for the first food source for early bees. This is vital in the event the fruit trees blossom early as you want to keep the bees around. A couple of these planted strategically near the fruits and veggies will boost your yield.