Rescuing and re-sourcing: my favorite vase

It's incredible what you can sometimes get for free if you just keep your eyes open.  Back in my days at UBC, I was a member of the pottery club and would occasionally (in spurts) spend chunks of time in the dismally-located subterranean pottery studio there (bad location but a great little space, I should add!).

I made some nice stuff and some stuff that...didn't quite work out.  Mostly the former, however.

Anyway, as with all pottery studios there was a "discard" bin, where people put failed pieces.  Things that didn't turn out how the artist intended, things that cracked in the kiln, things where the coloring or patterns didn't pan out.

And that's where I found this wonderful piece.  Why was it in there?  Well, one side of it has a hairline crack on the upper third or so.  But hey.  This photo doesn't really capture it, but the texture, coloration, and size of it is gorgeous.  And unless you fill it right to the top with water, leakage isn't an issue.

Bottom line: we love it.  And the price was right.  Whoever made it -- thanks!

Our pet worms

We have pets!  This isn't a new thing, since we've been doing it for over a year now.  But out on our apartment's balcony, we have a few hundred "red wrigglers," a type of worm that is particularly good at turning our fruit and vegetable scraps into great dirt!

We had some initial growing pains (note: unless you want fried worms, avoid direct sunlight, even if it's not warm out) and our current batch is the offspring of worms from friends Ian and Ruth, who gave them to me in a yogurt container with holes punched in the lid (incidentally, these worms maaayyyy have attended a Jeff Mangum concert last year since I had my backpack with me at the time).

Anyway, they're super easy to keep!  We keep them happy with a once per week feeding.  Their home is kept balanced and fruit flies are (mostly) kept at bay by the addition of shredded paper, which I harvest from my workplace's shredder and bike home with in my backpack.

Our other bit of great news is that we'll have an even better place to USE this compost next growing season, as we've just signed on for a place with a huge rooftop garden!  But that's material for a future post...