State of Progress

Taxi it up Today...

2008-03-26T04:57:00.000-07:00

Late last year, when Joanna and I returned from our project travels, Buttercup became a Sunday driving taxi. Joanna arranged with friends coordinating rides, to wherever their hearts desired. They would work out a price and take to the road. It wasn't like man with a van, it was more like a friend with a Sunday driving vehicle.
Today, Buttercup goes forward to another phase of being a taxi. This time it is in NYC, just north of Columbus circle. It will be scope fair goers that have the fortune of riding, suggesting a barter and experiencing just how far their barter will take them. It forces participants to think about the value not of a dollar, but of exchange. I am not sure how people will respond. In a city where no one wants to carry more than they need, what will they exchange? Stories, free passes, recommendations, a joke, a soda pop, a pretzel. Will I return from rides feeling robbed of my time? Is a barter system as amazing I believe it once was. Can barter only feel lucrative in small towns, where you can get free dentistry for artwork? Will being a cabbie for the day, fulfill the vision of art being interactive, of performance art taking on characteristics of service, where directions are contained within the routine of the service? We will just have to see.

Spring Showtime (in a gallery)

2008-03-06T10:34:00.000-08:00

Exit Art just opened their bottom floor exhibit called EPA which is the first in a series of environmental exhibitions. This exhibit specifically features Environmental Action Performers (EPA). We were amongst a handful of artist/artist groups displaying documentation of past performances prompting communication of ecological issues.

We had a great turn out, our new friend jay, featured us on his latest posting, it seems that from the exhibition, he took a keen interest in our concept and our simple/handmade graphics. Stop by if you are in the neighborhood, it will by up until May!

Kind Growing Booklet Release

2008-01-16T18:45:00.000-08:00

In December 2007 we released the artist booklet Kind Growing with Text by Joanna Lake & Illustration by Carissa Carman

Kind Growing explores sustainable eating and living while referencing visual and textual research from the Traveling Photo Booth Tour.

As State of Progress Press we printed a limited edition of 50 booklets.
To see photos and selected contents from Kind Growing, please click here.

Each booklet is priced at $20 plus shipping. To order Kind Growing, please contact us at stateofprogress@gmail.com

Sunday Drivin Car Service

2007-11-03T21:51:00.000-07:00

BUTTERCUP THE GREASE MOBILE
FOR HIRE SUNDAYS IN NOVEMBER
Sunday Drivin Car Service

Serving Central Brooklyn & Downtown Manhattan
Comparable Rates & Friendly Service

Contact Joanna to schedule a pick up
or inquire about availability & rates

917-478-1370 or joannalake@yahoo.com

November Only!

Back to NYC

2007-10-30T07:08:00.000-07:00

I would have never imagined that after just two months of living out of a car, with the pleasures of a camp stove in the trunk, white gas to refuel the tank, a cutting board the size of a romance novel, two folders of Cd's, one camera, some basic tools....and a road map, that I would want to abandon all of my possessions, setup the tent on the roof and call the outdoors my home.

I spent the first night thirsting for the cool breeze almost freezing to pull me into the deep nethers of the sleeping bag that also doubled as a pillow while driving. I awoke through the night, looking for the clouds through the tent roof, wondering if fall leaves were falling or if the clouds were passing bringing in a morning drizzle.I was no longer sleeping outdoors however to find such things. It would take a small bit of time for my sense to change.

We arrived back to the city with a sense of pure freshness. We has cups of raw milk in our system, holding us over till our arrival at my apartment where 8 friends gathered in our honor, creating a feast billowing with raw caraway cheese, macoun apples, roasted beets, watercress salad, wine and fresh bread. There were welcome back letters lining the stairway to the top floor apartment and banjo and ukulele picks in the room of masked and joyful friends.

This whole trip, we would arrive in towns, homes and coffee shops wondering how the fine art of food and sustainability could be combined into a community of people that cherished togetherness. Here we had it instantly, and in the comforts of a home still spotted with familiar wall hangings and flourishing plants.

It has been just two days back from the journey. I had to take a ride to the park to feel the essence of space and the coolness of the earth beneath my back and dream of running out to collect grains for the goats.

Here, I take on a whole new way of a sustainable life and daily path, that has begin with exerting less energy to conquer desirable needs. For the first time in 2 years I brought my largest mug to the coffee shop, sipped organic coffee and enjoyed the company or roommates while settling into the home again.

Just three days ago we had nestled into the bounty of Jonas and Judy's Homestead. They had been there for 35 years and were thrilled to have our visit partially because Jonas was so excited to see the prospects of his garage Mercedes going grease.

We arrived during the week when they still had plenty of chores to do, milking and feeding the animals at the break of dawn and before night settled in. Other important tasks included the preparation of the winter cook stove, fired up with extra pieces of apple wood that were chopped down to fit. The frost was also coming and harvesting the last of the summer vegetable was a big priority. We helped make spaghetti sauce, picked and strung chillies and foraged some wild edible plants that grew beneath their clothesline and apple tree.

Milk was brought in and strained right after milking and stored with dates written on the glass jar. It was raw, unpasteurized and the dates helped milk to be drunk with the dates in mild so that it didn't spoil after a day or two.

Judy and Jonas both made time for sharing, almost any information, insight and topics of conversation that could be of learning to us or them. They learned as they went and humbly knew that information would come and change.

We made fresh butter, learned how to grow Kefir, make breads, milk, herd a milking cow, identify the electric fence, and enjoy the graces of a meal harvested from one's backyard.

It was truly a gift to be in their company. It was the best way for our journey to end, at their homestead.

We look forward to highlighting the many topics and places that have not yet surfaced in out journaling.

But for now...here is to being able to find everything you need in a 20 block radius. Oh how the city provides! Thank goodness we have manicured our attentiveness and willingness to find it.

Falling leaves and other things

2007-10-22T13:24:00.000-07:00

With beams of light through the front cafe door, we made it into the little downtown of Thomas, West Virginia. We have nestled into a little state park, pouring down yellow and red fall leaves into our shoulders with just a morning sip of coffee. We thought we would stay a few days here and gather our photographs and writing to post to you all, but there is not a fresh produce stand for miles. We have a half of a cucumber, one lemon and and a knuckle of ginger. As the season changes, as does the inner workings of our bodies and diet, but we are not yet ready to relinquish the freshness of some leafy kale and a cold and crunchy apple.

We have just one week left of the journey. We were delighted to have the invite to an extended friends wedding, tucked into the hills of West Virginia in the hamlet of Helvetia, a village of craftsman and artisans. With the spinning and calling out for square dancing steps, we partner danced into the night, accompanied by the whimsical fervor of passionate string musicians. An evening drive into the mountains, planted us into the welcoming home of the bride and groom, who have created a simple and beautiful homestead. Their porch was filled with friends, family, farmers and their
great big HUGE pumpkins. There farm is in it's first year. It is rich with their labors and their dreams, sprinkled with winter kales and the amazing chia seed from South America that may be able to help any runner up any hill with just a handful.

The evening and morning passed with tastes of homemade black walnut bread, fresh from the tree, popped amaranth and the warmth of a toasty wood stove that also toasted morning breakfast bread for a group of 15. We chatted about pasteurization, raw milks, art in Pittsburgh, recipes for amaranth and cover crops, browsed at the Small Farmers Journal and reveled at the chilies drying all throughout the house, just harvested before the first winter frost arrived.

We are headed to pittsburgh for a small imtimate interactive installation in collaboration with a new friend who is involved in one mile food installations. After that... to a small cheese making operation to learn the basic of raw milks and a large scale CSA farm whose operation is getting big enough to question small scale organics.

We look forward to giving you the full picture of the south. We have seemingly passefd from Santa Fe to West Virginia with a big of silence. Not to worry..we have many stories and discoveries to share.

Is Valero Local?

2007-10-12T10:54:00.001-07:00

We knew that if factories arrived in our path we would seek out the opportunity to view what was happening inside. We have passed many industrial facilities. Some signed heavily and others lighting up the sky scape with an ambiguity of what could be anything from a toxic nuclear power plant to an incinerator. A few nights ago, as we attempted to get as close to the Texan border, we arrived in the thick of the night to the most majestic and frightful sight. The castles of glowing lights were a Valero oil refinery. It was somehow refreshing to know that the Valero, whose deisel fuel we used on occasion was being processed right here in the neighborhood. We had wondered if Texaco fuel was from texas. Now one seemed to know.

We were looking for camping within the SABINE wildlife refuge, but instead found a sign for the coastguard and drove passed the billowing smoke of this Factory........we could hardly escape. This was an expedition where we drove two hours later than expected, following coastal roads that became flooded, turning around we felt we would never be able to find our way out, so we stopped and took pictures instead. We also ended up sleping in the car that night, and in the morning, when passing the factories, it seemed normal again. Delivery trucks and stop signs, smoke that billowed into clouds and the exit of Texas. Now the question lies, in Valero local?

Seeds of Change in the West

2007-10-04T16:19:00.000-07:00

Through sunny skies and passed pecan orchards, we have arrived in this thriving little hamlet bustling with the rigor and the vivacious spirit of a large city. We are in Marfa, Texas, tucked in the back couches of a coffee shop after being on the deserted highways and old ocean floor of the Guadalupe Mountains.

We have 15 gallons of veg oil in our trunk that we look forward to filtering, although the striking sun of the plains blew thick with storm clouds and we await another day when the heated sun will ease our process.

We just finished the satchels full of tomatoes, kale, arugula, sweet bell peppers and radishes from Seeds of Change farm tour. We spend an entire afternoon there. We were welcomed by their generous staff, and invited to view, wander, look and collect. Seeds of Change has been in operation for some years now. Mars (you know the candy bar) bought them out and now are the most financially stable investors that keep Seeds of Change afloat. Luckily, Jackie Mars, the wife of the Mr., truly supports the cultivation of a sustainable culture. Sustainability being better than organic and fair trade, because it encompasses the entire means from which the ethics of a company should implement alternative measures.

We began our tour identifying and harvesting seeds. Each row was carefully labeled and available for identifying. Joe was hard at work, pleased to be extracting sunflowers stalks and jovial in his regard to the pleasant nature of the company. Seeds of Change runs this research farm to produce quantities of seed for drying and selling, as well as to grow varieties that visitors view from their extension collection. Farmers all throughout the US are supported in part by their contribution of providing seeds to their 250,000 catalogue patrons. These seed growing farmers often additionally gather income from running a CSA to their local community. Inside the seed lab, are multiple large industrial sized equipment. Seeds that have casings and wind propellers like the gentle fliers of a dandelion are carefully placed through equipment to process just the seed alone.

We walked through gardens rows and greenhouses, tasting and choosing. How delightful for us to be able to taste the variety that we wish to grow, to be able to eat three different types of kale and write down the ones that are intoxicated with flavor. Would you ever think that the seeds packets that you choose from the hardware store. 3 for 99 cents would be any less than good. Is it more the success of being able to grow them? So at what stage does a farmer or a lay man desire the variety of a better tomato or a heartier lettuce. Who ever knew there was more than cherry, roma and vine tomatoes? When does the education begin? Just this last year, I grew 6 different types of lettuce, and to my surprise visitors were shocked! 4 more varieties than they have ever seem outside of the grocery store.

When did the grocery store begin to become the school of agriculture? How will we ever know that there is more out there? Does having a variety always have to become a luxury for high-end markets?

Having finished the last of our local produce, except from the sizzling hot chili pepper that we can eat only one at a time, we emark to the next town, San Antonio and Austin Texas, to meet a friend and explore the inner working of an urban oasis, maybe we will even see Willie Nelson?

As for now, our writings are more of daily occurance than of theory, in a time when we are developing views of progress, mutilations of land and intoxication of creeks and the over chlorination of public water, we are stayin bright. We will seek out the aromas of local and homemade food, either with our campstove or with the smell and seeking eye of a homemade Mexican food restaurant, or a torterillia, providing the freshest. Stay tuned! The west has given us many gifts of seeds, good new friends, welcoming cities, generous mechanics and great theories and thoughts.

Santa Fe

2007-09-30T22:56:00.000-07:00

Just four days into our stay in Santa Fe, we have found the gift of family and friends so welcoming and extensive we have seized to research the town as intimately as we often do upon our arrivals in a new place. We have sunk our teeth into learning from the locals over daily conversations, afternoons and dinners brimming with the knowledge of local plants, food, local culture, art, wildlife. entomology,archaeology and seasonal occurrences. The momentum of our travels has reached a peak.

With juniper berries drying in the back of the car window, we have a full collection of hollyhock seeds in four different colors. Mesquite seeds were dissected and retrieved as were the loofah pods that were generously and informatively handed out as a local product in Tuscon. We stayed in the north south side of town and Tug, the Galisteo St. neighbor helped us track down the state flower yucca seeds. Wild amaranth was billowing from the sidewalks. Within the passing of a entire day, the seeds being collected and drying in the center console of our vehicle were carefully dried, extracted and catalogued for future use.

My uncle invited us to view the inner workings of the small yet profitable Aroma coffee roasters, sharing the basics and master minding of organic and fair trade roasting.

The Santa Fe Farmers Market was so large we needed the assistance of a few new friends to show us the recommended route. There was an overflow of local farms. We spent the entire morning, finding out about turkey eggs, and quill feather pen carvings, and finding Jerusalem artichokes, and freshly roasted green chili. We found 6 different kinds of potatoes, the cheapest and freshest baby kale and arugula, one stalk of millet grain,and onions marked with the remnants of organic soil.

Dinner invites brought warmth and welcome to the food before us. My first attempt at eating fresh buffalo tacos, and the fine presentation and rolling of homemade egg pasta, prepared in the traditional rolling method from the western Italian hills. Fried lemons and orange peels, olives and onions generously and tastefully provided us with a mere 2 pints of the best smelling oil for our car. The grain of the south arrived in two dishes of blue corn polenta, with freshly harvested mushrooms, and blue corn flour pound cake. We were excited to share our project with the array of new friends and excited to find out that the same research farm we are attending this Monday is where most of the produce arrived from and mutual friends of many.

The kindness, interest in out project and resourcing that has taken place here is Santa Fe has made our stop here magical.

We head out to the seeds of change research farm, tomorrow. Stay tuned.

Joshua Tree

2007-09-21T23:43:00.000-07:00

With the second leg of our travels ahead of us, we retreated to the quiet solstice of Joshua Tree, to regroup and be in the still of the vast land of wild and dangerous cacti and the 15,000 year old Joshua trees. With dried fruit and nuts in the trunk, two gallons of water, some hot Thai food from only restaurant in site, beside the bustling Beatnik Cafe, we departed, arriving in when the fall of the moon sank beyond the Hidden Valley rocks. The local newspaper listed an array of art events, but it seems to be that the more eccentric, and organized array of activity is a bit more discreet.

The two days in the desert was a quieting of the spirit tucked beside the monolithic boulders of the Hidden Valley Campground. It is no wonder they have a residency program here, as the entire day unfolds for retreating, reading, breathing, walking, listening, and watching the quietness of the clouds as the cactus expose themselves.

Where is local food in the desert? We equipped the car with dried fruits, nuts and grains. There was hardly a tree in site that sprouted green leaves let alone fruit. Within a days of cumulus clouds and rock climbers scaling rocks, we uncovered the magic of the cacti. The prickly pear was just in fruit, but many of the fruits were not quit ripened for tasting. From spending time in Mexico, Joanna was accustomed to the red striking fruit, it's many ways of eating and the simple art of harvesting. I hadn't a very strong liking nor desire for harvesting or working for the green bean tasting from the nopales, the cactus paddles from which the prickly pear is produced. The Land of Little Rain book carried on the discoveries and uses of desert plants, particularly the mesquite tree from which Bar-b-q flavoring comes from, creosole, from which a sap emerges for Indian arrowhead points and the jumping cholla flowers, which are picked off with a large and safe distancing pole.

Within the days in the desert, we looked and discovered, burned a fire in the night to pass the moonrise and identified the variations of cactus pencas. We began to understand the cactus families and the subtleties and variations in species.

With a desert storm overhead, we headed back to the manicured and private mobile home neighborhood in Palm Springs to Joanna's Grandmother's house, to repair the obviously rough running vegetable filter in the car, so that we could use the remaining 10 gallons of oil we cleaned in Camarillo.

With 2 hours of car maintenace, manual reading and oil adjustments, we invested in the best 6 in wide wrenches to add to our Grease Girl car kit, changed the filter and prepared for the next leg of the trip through the south.

California research and wonderings

2007-09-18T10:29:00.000-07:00

Spending time in urban centers has given us the opportunity to source from the riches and most comprehensive cultural and educational outlets.
CA has been fruitful. I met up with a dear friend who works at Patagonia. Patagonia offers employees up to $2500 towards the investment of a hybrid or alternative fuel vehicle. Hows that for benefits. She also got us a link with the few restaurants in town that are savvy to collecting oil. The Thai restaurant down the street was ready to start a weekly schedule with me. The sushi restaurant was already on a system of collecting and delivering. The other Chinese and Thai restaurants thought I had already come in last week. They were prepared for gathering oil for me. In addition, for the first time this morning I found companies that actually clean and have a delivery service to your home like Green Diesel in Chino, CA. However, they don't distribute on a pick up basis.

We have been building our vocabulary and our interests are converging in a community of artists and activists, historians and mechanics. They are so few times in life to just learn and research and piece together ideas and spur others. We are doing just that.

San Francisco was filled with a visit to the largest botanical library in the western US. Joanna even found a publication from a regarded author she had worked with in Oaxaca. We looked at companion planting, heirloom seeds publications,botanical illustrations from South Africa that was inspiring for drawing. We made it to the Prelinger Library, which was written about earlier in our travels. Our camping dreams and set-up, process and location was inspired by the historical societies current exhibit of the Way We Camped. We ogled over the maps, camp song books, poems of the love for bacon and vintage publications of traveling techniques and set-up. We crossed the street to
SFMOMA to get a view of Ann Hamilton's indigo blue installation. There is nothing more profound than seeing what seems like 18,000 worn work shirts, pressed and folder into a triangular mound and an attendant worker sitting at the table in front of it erasing single words from a old book, letting the eraser bits make a nice pile of refuse, to make a commentary on labor.

Santa Cruz welcomed us to a beach side apartment bustling with friends and a warm welcome to the Santa Cruz County Fair , where we headed straight to the agricultural complex to view what the local pride reveals. Vegetables were showcased and given awards for the best in show. Growers were often young kids. The vegetable had been there all week and weren't exactly in the best shape, nor were the cakes from the last weeks contest. However I did see children bringing in their parents to show them their awards. The feeling of pure pride over a small reddish tomato, even if it is not organic or heirloom, seem effective for these little ones.

We passed through Castroville, to the micro climate where artichokes grow like crazy. When you can't go organic, just go kitsch...was our motto for castroville, as we passed factories steaming with who knows what, set out to find a seaside shanty for fried artichoke hearts and settled for the diner with a 6 foot artichoke outside. How can you pass through and NOT eat the artichoke bread?

LA was brewing with scientific and cultural combinations of art and space. Our visit to the Museum of Jurassic Technology was more than we had planned for. The moving dioramas inset into the wall and mechanical waves took our breath away. We came upon a historical view and diorama display of the history or mobile home and trailer living.

Just down the street was the Center for Land Use and Interpretation. They welcomed us through their discreet doorway. There was a parking exhibit that was not as impressive in presentation as it is in installation in urban centers. The most luring is their comprehensive library of industrial, urban or rural sites. The attendant encouraged us to document and perhaps submit land sites that we come across that can be added to their archive.

We are headed to Joshua Tree for a few days to find a few days in the desert to collect our ideas, source out the artistic community that has sprung up there, enjoy the quiet still sunrises, wax the car, fix the stove, and take all of bits and pieces of imagery that we have collected over the past 4 weeks to collage and build our journals. We are in the second leg of our travels. We will attend a sustainable gardening workshop at Native Seeds in Tuscon, visit the botany at the Desert Museum, and take to the mountains of Santa Fe to follow the Fallen Fruit local tree map and present out traveling photo booth to a high school class. Seeds of Change is offering us a chance to tour their gardens and view their seed banks. Marfa Texas will follow, with a plentiful and active arts festival. San Antonia will be next. Stay tuned. We are making, building and finding daily, although often times so rural it is hard to connect and share with you the day to day.

AND to our delight...we have a full tank of filtered veg oil in the car. Special thanks to the generous use of the Carman Family kitchen and to the plentiful and generous collection of veg oil.

Camarillo, CA

2007-09-15T10:52:00.000-07:00

The sun shines bright here. There is not a cloud in the sky. The car rested at the curb overnight; windows down and the morning dew with a hint of ocean air freshening up the miles of vegetable oil that lingers in delight. A banjo tune plays plays, it was a CD bought this morning from the unexpected kind and sincere woman in the manicured stucco home in the older part of Camarillo on the garage sale saturday morning rounds.

The nephews of the Carman house are at their soccer games, the pappa of the house is here, after a completed and well seasoned pork shoulder that was cooked to finish at the top of the night hour.

This home stop in Camarillo, Ca has been brewing with visitors. Aunts, counsins, 2nd counsins, nephews, grandpas, sisters, moms and more kids. It has been vivacious in hugs and food. A place anyone can call home and find a warm meal cooking on the bar b q.

The sharing, making and thought about food is the most impressionable here. It is not so important the source and local nature of the food but the shear form of sharing it. With visitors and family of all different walks of life, food takes all forms, making sure there is a bountiful enough for all visitors to feel welcome and nourished. Just yesterday morning I was welcome into my aunts home and gifted with warm of fresh bread. The outdoor bar b q has been beaming with hot dinners as a welcome to feast over the tales of south texas fishing and vietnam fermented fish breath blocking holders used by barbers.

Just last night, as the bustle of kids plunged into the pool, Jaima and Laura sat around the fire. My sister had encouraged them to stop by. They family became part of our family a year ago when they became displaced in their home and came to live here while they gathered their next plan. Jaime the father, has always worked in the fields. Although we shared the walls and welcome of a home, the mystery of his actual day to day work was often a mystery.

Camarillo is a small town interlaced with suburban homes and teaming with agriculture. It is a place where you can smell the harvest of the morning from the freeway. A place where cilantro is harvested in the fields at 6:15 just when the sun breaks the horizon to be able to see the base of the plants. Broccoli and celery, kale and lettuce are planted in rows, tightly packed in with as many as 6 rows to each soil mound.

Jaime invited us out to see his morning harvest. At the crack of dawn for us, which was 8:00, we arrived, just 2 miles down the freeway, entered on the dirt road to park in next to all of the other cars. The workers had almost completed the morning harvest. They had cut, rubberbanded and packed as many and as precisely as 60 cilantro bundles per box. There must have been 400 boxes. They took a few minute break waiting for the truck, marked the boxes, and the supervisor took the morning inventiry. The 40 or so workers loaded up the truck to call it a day.

Hopefully there is more work in the next week, which can be found by taking a look at the harvest crops, to see which one is in need. Jaime supports his family from his fruitful labors. He has been a friend and part of the family here. He is pround of his hardwork and has a humble manner of sharing even the fear and information for the chemicals that are still settling on the surface of the soil when they go in at the crack of down, disredgarding the 24 hour warning. He wares the marks of hard labor on his hands. His forearms blotched with his reactions from the many sprays that make the land clear of all bugs and prevent not a single invasive weed.

Cilantro still sticks to our palms, or the beautiful and pungent smell that is. The same boxes that Jaime was packing this morning on our tour to the agricultural site.. and these boxes make it as far as New York, Joanna remembers the graphic on the box from working in a restaurant in brooklyn.

This labor is hard. Jonathan, Jaime and Laura's son want to be a rancher. He loved his last visit to work with his dad. Laura knew that as a young kid, as eager as he was that working there even just casually, and to help him make a small allowance would be wonderful for his work ethic, but ran the risk of exposing his youthful body to a slew of chemicals that are being sprayed and resting on many of the leaves and topsoils.

Organic farms are harder to work on Jaime said. They often smell like fish from seaweed fertilizers, the produce is crawling with little insects that are not being sprayed for and the weeds and manual labor to mantain them, is laborious.

Can one really afford to choose the healthier work? Can agricultural labor become better? Will anyone take initiative to encourage better standards for farm labor? Did you know that the same pesicides that you wash from your lettuce is what others breath and wear on their skin and take home when they hug their children?

It was Jaime's family life that made him shine past his work challenges. It was the health of his spirit that has seemed to heal any physical ailments from his labor.

Here's to the cilantro that will cross the US to restaurants and markets all over the country. Here's to the risk of the exposed labor force who provides hand harvested produce to our grocery store shelves. Here's to eating locally and washing vegetables plentifully.

Santa Cruz jubilee

2007-09-12T00:33:00.000-07:00

Just as we departed from San Francisco, my sister voiced her willingness and flexibility to allow us her 1 gallon pot and stove top to filter the oil in her house. It may splatter a bit, but we would be clean and yes the house might smell like french fries or thai spring rolls. 1 1/2 hours later, with an espresso and a little multi-tasking, nearly 10 gallons of used veg oil was filtered and funneled in the car. It was the first time the system was so easy, it just took one set of hands. Since the oil was heated, the same process that took us 4 hours and 6 filters in the front lawn of a suburban Davis, Ca neighborhood, took us less than an hour..without cleanup. The small price of time you exchange for free fuel.

A few roundabout roads to the highway later, we carpool lane drove passed tons of traffic with the sweet smell of canola oil at it's best, hot and it small puffs into our sunroof.

The best feeling in owning a mercedes german car is that maintenance questions can be answered by the comprehensive maintence manual in the glovebox that we so pleasurably fixed the other day. The small jerks in the car and it's slight loss of power while riding on veg oil was troubling. Between the manual and the Greasecar mercedes 300d WVO manual, we diagnosed the slight clog in the nozzles of the fuel injectors. Now we are not mechanics by any means, but figuring out the problems of a car is similiar to living homeopathically. Don't you think?

We have arrived in the home of some lovely and welcoming friends from college. We already have the invitation to as many as 10 gallons of peanut oil from their neighbor whose installation plans went astray.

As for now, with a few bats of the eyes, a dinner with old friends posing for cheesecake school portraits, the ocean breeze swirling by, and the harbor, welcoming a morning stroll, we just might wake to hit up the local carnival that starts tomorrow, just in time to taste and judge the apple contest. Is it about flavor, organic apples, heirlooms or just good ole fashioned taste?

San FraNcisco Round 2 1/2

2007-09-10T15:06:00.000-07:00

With bellies topped high with Yucatecan delights, we have made it home to the haven of my sister's apartment. With full speed apartment construction over head, we are due in for a rest after our third day of research and true and pure foraging. Early this morning, we made it out to 8th and Folsom st. to browse the Prelinger Library. The Prelinger Library was created by two individuals with interest in archiving specialty information. Amidst the 6 main shelving units, we gently scanned the racks for process research. This sort of foraging inadvertently assist Joanna and I to be attentive to what we are passionate and fascinated by. Joanna found a pamphlet on ethylene, a chemical sprayed on fruit for transport, potato varieties from the 60's and a guide to growing potatoes for French fries. I took a look into mapping guides, insect diagrams, historic automotive travel and naturalist guides. Megan who runs the shop was very welcoming and personable and her partner in crime was equally helpful and encouraged us to browse through their wonderfully labeled and archived boxes of what has become their ephemeral collection. Luckily the meeting that was taking place in the front open air office was full with chat and dutiful progress of the local agriculture, and sustainable living, which is thoughtfully addressed in their extensive collection of USDA manuals from the mid-50's through to present. Many of their larger collection generously came from larger libraries that have closed or rid of large surpluses and editions. A surprising number of excess publications get sent into a vault through the library of congress. It is lucky for us that we got to discover these publications, some beautifully kept from 1903 and beyond.

This research, and insight into agriculture and the environment is fascinating in a time when we are just starting to heavily question progress, process and the quality of living, eating and educating. The information has always been published and available, but somehow seeing toxic chemicals foil stamped on a canvas 150 page hand bound book makes the information seem precious and slightly frightening all in the same sentence. Vintage publications are not current and often outdated in scientific facts and theory. Knowing that at one time this information was fact, is enough to stir the spirit and further encourage us to answer the questions we have embarked to answer....what do people know? Is progress happening? and what is progress?

We can't find progress in these books necessarily, but they contribute to this wonderful vocabulary that we are developing, daily..through passing fields, alley ways, libraries, visiting art shows, picking up local publications, and ultimately piecing together the many layers into a body of work and an inspiration for our travel...inner-city and wild mountain rural

Here's a cheers to my new by the pound red polka dot shirt, to an afternoon of tea and the delight in being able to share with web visitors the collection of portraits from the state fair.

Little ladies hit the town

2007-09-08T23:01:00.000-07:00

Another wonderful day in the city of San Francisco. Morning quests of elongated flamenco square dancing dresses from the yard sale next door, a few pecks to a rusty typewriter and dreams of a vintage thermos to replace the glass tea jar that busted at the pour of hot hibiscus tea. We walked as if our bodies were foreign to the steps of hills and slopes. We came upon jade vagabond plant growers, wild poppies, and the morning generosity of a free bus ride. No longer that a few blocks and window glares later did we arrive to the steaming pots of my first dim sum. Equipt with bland porridge and a sesame seed yam roll, we feasted, forgetting to have paper cup tea. Pretty satisfied at our gambling whole in the wall, we departed to forage for three mini funnels and $1.80 worth of sweets....to the exhibit that felt like it changed our lives or at least validated them....The history of camping.

Today we became gypsies of the automobile. We have taken to experience the natural world without restrictions and without the pulls and tugs of daily life. Even in the quaint and vigorous dreams from the 1930's we felt at home. With our camp stove and mortar and pestal, clay mexican cooking bowl, espresso maker and dried grains, we felt right at home, inspired to install out hammocks in more idealic places and spaces. Encouraged to document and post photos with messages of locations and possible camp songs. If you are lucky, we could even stage the next bandanna competition. But by the looks of it, we will stick to the fallen fruit tours of urban fruit tress, picking locally and feasting wildly.

4 new books and another bus right to the right corner of the long lost street, we retire, to sounds and images of artists we discovered by evening gallery strolling.

Such wonderful projects here...such wonderful places to find and discover the ideas and images that make us want to keep exploring and discovering to find the next fresh peach, diorama installation or seaweed dinner salad. Heres to the savory finds of a fruitful city.

We made it to California!

2007-08-31T18:52:00.001-07:00

Just two days earlier we were nestled in the quite trees of the Tetons. 2500 road miles later...we have arrived in the beauty of California. We are here in Grass Valley. We came upon the same routine upon entering any new town. We took to the first swimming spot we could fine, to emerge and refreshen from a 6 am wakeup drive.
We tended to the car by arranging an oil change, looked around plazas for ammenities, copy shops, coffee, and some fresh goods.
Two organic cucumbers and a melon later, we settled in to the sizzling hot porch of an old friend. Equipt with weathered vehicle shells, we felt somehow right at home.

Iowa or bust

2007-08-27T00:09:00.000-07:00

Here we are . It's 2 am and we're on the couch looking a little dazed at the packing that awaits us in the morning. Interior design and state of the art storage facility....all in one in good ole Buttercup. Almost.

We'll call Heartland Cafe at 6 am to see if we can catch the grease before they dump it on the morning shift, seeing that our Devon Pakistani restaurant disposed off their oil a day earlier than our arrangement. Carissa even dined there to try to seal the deal.

The night of a little hurricane in the city, we held a get together with our Chicago neighbors to gather some old school attention and interest. During our stay we toured through the Green Market, local gardens and got some street side mechanical help. We made a lot of friends, ate fresh watermelon, tasted rosemary cookies from Bleeding Heart Bakery, picked some wild sage, saw industrial cow milkers at the zoo, saw huitlacoche (delectable corn fungus) growing on blue hopi corn in a small community garden, and collected delicious mud splattered produce from Farm Girl Organics. Plastic cups and jugs have a new life as plant pots.

So here's to tomorrow....maybe we'll get to use our freshionly fashioned grease filters. Home sewn and functional. And we'll see how rural Illinois and Iowa has faired in the recent rains and floods.

Buttercup goes veggie

2007-08-23T14:11:00.000-07:00

Getting used vegetable oil has been quite an endeavor. We started our first afternoon in Chicago running to the ethnic market to get some veggies for our thursday evening slideshow gathering. With arms full of the best non-organic goods we could find, some fresh baked warm slovenian bread, peruvian raisins and some fenegreek seeds to sprout in the back window of the car, we sought out the first thai restaurant en route. We scanned the menu outside to check if they fry anything. Sleek from the outside and ambient from in; the hostess got the manager and the manager requested the chef and for the first time, his lack of interest in our project and concern for liability took us right out the front door as fast as we came in. Not all hostesses and vendors have been so disinterested in realizing that we are trying to help their burden of having to pay for their oil disposal services.

There was this delightful waitress in suburban Ohio Eat n' Park diner, who had heard about waste vegatable oil cars on the news. She kindly warned us of the ding of their oil disposal, sharing her concern for our well being and encouraging us to try out the Chinese restaurant a plaza down the highway.

Then there was Sotiraq from the restaurant supply store. He cussed avery other word, offered us some marlboro red cigarettes, that we kindly declined, let us scavenge through the back alley of his ramshackeld restaurant supplies and was neither pleased or delighted to get us in touch with the A*&%$^% from the restaurant 12 miles down the way. 12.5 miles of sign research and photo taking at the red lights on gratiot ave, we emerged to the scalloped counter diner. His thick accented friend, welcomed us to the black bin of oil out back. The same bin that the Ohio waitress had saved us from. There is more in there than waste vegetable oil. Animal parts it looks like, ignited with extinguished butts of cigarettes. No thanks! He was sad that we weren't excited about his oil. But when we saw that he used a mix of shortening and veg oil, we were quick to leave. Shortening will clog the fuel injector and the 10 feet of tubing that makes our system work...so we strolled out the back door, not without taking his picture of course and letting him know he might be famous one day.

My Aunt Anne 50 miles north of Chicago has 5 clean gallons that she has never used, probably from a turkey fryer I would think. It seems appealing. Getting to know how restaurants dispose of their oil has been our biggest surprise. Do you think vegan fast food restaurants in Chicago, in addition to making dairy and animal free goods also dispose of their oil with a concern and thoughtfulness for the Grease Girls and others of like mind and vehicles that will want to collect it? We will surely find out.

For now we have the beauty of a road vehicle parked in the covered garage of Joanna's folks house. We are expecting 10-15 people who have shared an interest in our project to come and share some summer delights (potluck style). We are fashioning a slide show and looking forward to the record collection that will either have us hoe-downing or salsa dancing through the night...we'll have to see.

en route

2007-08-23T10:47:00.000-07:00

We left NYC on Saturday and cruised to Philidelphia where we stayed with our wonderful friend Liz Solms. She was out of town, but we got to stay in her downtown place, giving us time to wander around to the Fabric Workshop and the Reading Terminal Market. We even got the chance to pour in our first vat of used veggie oil into the car...but when it started to rain, we had to abandon the mission. Water in the fuel is a bad idea. So we drove on through the backroads of Pennsylvania.

Outside the city, we pulled into a gas station with a wonderful overhang where we fueled up on diesel and poured our remaining veggie oil into its tank. We even changed a few fuses and put air in the tires. We were feeling pretty good about our car skills.

We got back on the road where the storms were wild and as we twisted and turned through the Appalachians, we kind of wondered what we were getting ourselves into. After we crossed into Ohio at about 3am, we settled into a parking spot next to a milkshake spot for some much needed rest. The town hall across the street we mistook for a little country church, but either way it was a restful sleep.

In the morning we got back on the road and headed for Detroit where we stayed with Sarah, Jim and Penny. They live in the city and it was a wonderful insight into the delapitated and regrowing capital of cars. The city's famers market is incredible - there's five enormous tents set up in Eastern Market...unfortunately, we weren't there on a Saturday to enjoy it.

We were on a tight schedule to make it to Chicago, so we packed up the car and headed out on Route 12, taking us through some of the sweetest smelling air and quaint farms. Michigan was just beautiful dirivng. At nightfall the storms broke again and we pulled into Chicago right as all vision was taken out by the falls. But we arrived to Joanna's parents home in East Rogers Park on the northeast side of Chicago...and we slept well.