Category: Outdoors

Enamelware

  • subtitle: Kitchen & Camping Essentials

By Sophie Zifcak | 15 Jun 10 | Cooking, Kitchen, Outdoors | Comment

The craft of enamel has been around as a decorative and functional technique for centuries. Vitreous enamel is akin to ceramic glaze – it is most commonly the result of fusing powdered glass (or less often a glass paste or spray) to a metal or ceramic substrat. Enamel is bonded to metal in kilns at a high tempurature, from 1400 to 1640 °F.

Enamel Cup, Circa 1920s

Enamelware Cup, Circa 1920s

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Urban Gardening

  • subtitle: Return to the 'Victory Garden'

By Susan Morrell | 30 Apr 10 | Food, Garden, Outdoors | 5 Comments

Tending a backyard vegetable patch or growing herbs on your windowsill are by no means new ideas, but it’s impossible to ignore the recent explosion in popularity of urban gardening. Transcending mere trend, gardening is once again in the mainstream of modern living, even – or perhaps especially – for city dwellers. As during World War II, when Victory Gardeners were digging their way to produce during wartime, home gardening has once again taken on a feeling of urgency, as well as providing a frugal avenue toward self-sufficiency.

Vegetable attacking Swastika. Advertising for a Victory Garden

All Americans Urged to Grow Victory Gardens

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Beekeeping

  • subtitle: The Bees are in Trouble

By Jessica Hundley | 25 Mar 10 | Garden, Outdoors | 3 Comments

You might have heard the nightmarish predictions and the difficult to deny facts – a dizzying 50 billion… yes, billion honeybees dead over the last three years… and counting. If you’re not an insect lover, this might not seem troublesome until you think a bit about the bees’ intrinsic link to human survival – without their help of pollination, one third of our food supply would essentially be destroyed.

Blue Banded Bee on a Pin, Courtesy of Padil

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Hot Smoking

  • subtitle: Smell, Memory, and Deliciousness

By Brion Paul | 8 Mar 10 | Cooking, Food, Outdoors | 2 Comments

From the smoldering smell of a freshly extinguished match whisking you back to the hushed awe when gathered round a pungent crackling campfire, to the sweet and spiced dance of a Snickerdoodle on your tongue, taking you back to your first batch of homemade cookies emerging soft and warm from the oven – the corollary between memory and our powerfully nuanced senses of taste and smell is unique.

Smoking Fish

Smoking & Barbecuing Fish Filets, 1893, Courtesy of Shorpy (Click on Image for Details)

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Corrugated Cardboard

  • subtitle: Plain Old Box

By David Vega | 11 Jan 10 | Materials, Outdoors, Packaging, Paper | 6 Comments

I was recently on a search, looking by the bins near our neighbor’s apartment complex, peeking behind the store around the block, looking for the right one. And then I found her – a flat yet sturdy beauty, about 6 feet tall, pleasantly thick in all the right places, clean around the edges, and in excellent overall shape. I had found the mother of them all, a huge cardboard box, and what a great playhouse it would make for my 2-year old. As I threw the heavy carton into the back of my truck, I imagined what it must have carried, being so strong, and what it would become after I got through with it.

Carboard Container Advertising 1942

Carboard Container Advertising 1942

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Wooden Snowshoes

  • subtitle: Walking Silently Over the White

By Sebastian Kaufmann | 8 Jan 10 | Leather, Outdoors, Wood | 9 Comments

Fresh powder snow doesn’t just look beautiful, it also swallows noise, making everything impossibly silent. But walking through deep snow is so strenuous that it’s nearly impossible to enjoy this simple pleasure – unless you strap on a pair of snowshoes. A recent article on the excellent 10engines blog sparked my interest to read more about the history of wooden snowshoes.

Wooden Snowshoe

Vintage Wooden Snowshoe with some Steel Wire Repairs

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Pocket Lighter

  • subtitle: Flip, Flick, FLAME

By David Vega | 23 Dec 09 | Outdoors, Smoking & Drinking | 5 Comments

Man’s fire, the gods’ greatest gift. Forgive the overused metaphor, but I was as inspired as young Prometheus when I held hot fire in my hands, produced by my very own steel pocket lighter. A skinny eighteen-year-old takes on a serious swagger when he smokes a cigarette, and half of it happens right when he lights up.

Zippo Advertising 1959

Zippo Advertising 1959

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Scott Nearing

  • subtitle: Living the Good Life

By Jessica Hundley | 10 Dec 09 | Books, Cooking, Outdoors | 2 Comments

‘The good life is never stable, never secure, never easy and never ended. It is a series of steps or stages, one leading into the other and all, in their outcome, adding, not subtracting; augmenting, not diminishing; building, not destroying; creating, not annihilating.’ – Scott Nearing, 1965

Helen & Scott Nearing

Helen & Scott Nearing

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Swiss Army Bread Bag

  • subtitle: Repurpose of an Old Bag

By David Vega | 9 Dec 09 | Fabrics, Outdoors, Vintage | 8 Comments

I found these great vintage Swiss military bread bags at an Army-Navy surplus store the other day. Amazingly well-made. I was immediately drawn to them aesthetically, and seeing how I’ve been building up a vintage Italian road bike as of late, I thought they’d be perfect candidates for panniers.

Vintage Bag

Vintage Swiss Army Bread Bag

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