Field trip: SEEDS in Durham!

Last Saturday we went with the community garden meetup group to tour SEEDS, a non-profit community garden in Durham that aims to teach people about caring for the planet and themselves through garden based programs.

DIG it

One program they have is DIG – Durham Inner-city Gardeners. It’s a youth driven urban farming leadership development program. & if Tasha, our tour guide is an example, they’re doing a fantastic job at it! She spouted a wealth of information about different kinds of composting, seasonal crops, preserving seed varieties, and their cool Seedling program. Before joining SEEDS, Tasha was all about Mickey D’s and littering and processed foods. Now she can’t wait for the figs & peaches to come out, and takes pride in litter-free surroundings no matter where she is.

Seedlings! The little ones.

Teens show younger kids - affectionately referred to as “Seedlings” – how to weed & plant & maintain the garden, and help get everything ready to take to the market. After school, 1st thru 5th graders come to SEEDS and learn not just about plants but social skills:

• An educational environment with a focus on gardening, nature, exercise, and nutrition.
• Fun, engaging projects and activities both indoors and in the garden.
• A small program that can provide kids with individual attention.
• An opportunity for kids to learn about their community and what they can do to make a difference.
• Time set aside each day for homework help and tutoring.

Getting started with Community Gardens

After the tour we sat down with the director of SEEDS, Lucy Harris, for some guidance and experience tales about getting a community garden going and keeping it running. Much more for another post, but suffice it to say there’s something to be hopeful about amongst the doom & gloom.

Wouldn’t it be cool to worry about not eating all the sugar snaps before they go to the market for a change? Switch over to thinking about farmer’s markets instead of financial ones. It’s a nice break.

Eco-modernism featured in N&O’s Home & Garden

One worth considering, especially in a soft housing market.

It gets pummeled into our brains daily now: HOUSING MARKET IN THE CRAPPER! Yes. Yes it is. I thought it worth a post, especially highlighting Kelly’s excellent summary on the IKEAFANS site.

Basically, the two ways for your home to increase in value, is with time, and/or with improvements. To maximize your return, you can either DIY on that custom kitchen. That’s great if you have time. And the skills. If you don’t, you can still maximize by going with IKEA:

My IKEA kitchen reduced the cost of my renovation by half, with some labor hired out. If you poll the people on this site, you’d find similar numbers.

In this example, I’ll still use the midlevel kitchen remodel which looks like others costing $20k, and which you can expect a resale value of $16k out of. Remember this is how real estate valuation works- comparables, not actual cost. I’m still assuming that the materials make up $16k of the $20k expense as in the original example.

But, with IKEA, this kitchen will cost you $8k, or 50% less than the $16k of materials in the first example. Remember, there is $4k on the table for labor which you can retain by doing it yourself (the work is the same regardless of what kitchen you choose). So, if you hire someone to do your IKEA kitchen, you will pay $12k ($8k materials + $4k labor=$12k). Remember, the $16k resale value is for kitchens that look like those which cost $20k. In this example, an IKEA kitchen installed by a professional nets you a margin of $4k.

Let’s go over that again: Build in a profit margin of $4k (IKEA with an installer) OR build in an upfront loss of $4k (other cabinets with an installer).

Win, win

Another bonus: you get to enjoy the improvement while you wait out the market recovery. And you may even decide to stay put, further saving the cost of moving.

A website remodel!

Sometime next month we will have a new and improved site. It’s going to be simpler and easier to find what you need from us, whether it’s

• kitchen / bath / closet design,
• our Ikea courier/assembly services, or
• thoughts on lightening your footprint in the kitchen & being a locavore.

Stay tuned, Keep Calm, and Carry On.

[where:27603] twitter: @ecomod

Eco-modernism gets a mention in the N&O Business section on Ikea. [where:27603]

Eco-modernism gets a mention in WSJ article on Charlotte IKEA®.

R-LINE free hybrid bus loop begins downtown Raleigh runs on 2/14

Water, water – isn’t everywhere

Raising awareness about access to clean water worldwide – or the lack thereof – and raising money to enable access is the main purpose of Twestival. It’s a global event and just your luck, there’s one in Raleigh tomorrow evening from 7 – 9pm at the Edge Office location. http://raleigh.twestival.com

The organizers are raffling off knowledge and fun products, 100% of which will also go to the cause. We’re donating our design services for a single kitchen project, come see us!

Tickets are available online, but if you want to go, better hurry – they’re running out.

It’s important. What would YOU do without water?

A few water facts from the charity:water site:

• In sub-Saharan Africa, women spend 15-17 hrs/week collecting water
• Each American uses enough water to fill 1600 glasses a day
• 50% of all schools in the world don’t have freshwater or adequate sanitation
• A five minute shower uses 10-25 gallons of water
• On average, women in Africa and Asia walk 3.7 miles a day to collect water.

[where:27603]

twitter: @ecomod

Differential Calculus is not required

No one ever said you had to make souffle and tiramisu every night for dinner. Save those shenanigans for anniversaries. Get back to basics. Foods like hard boiled eggs, steamed asparagus, and tuna & rice are basics you really can’t go wrong with. And they don’t take hours to make.

Back to Basics: for the cost of one dinner out

For $35, you can take an online class to get familiar with your own kitchen. You can do it at your pace, too. And you can get to a point where it might even be fun to make your own meals. Where’s the fun in spending gas money, looking for a parking place, & spending for one meal what could’ve gotten you 4 or more at home?

And if you’re worried about anyone making fun of you, just tell them times are tough & it’s the smart thing to do.

Dwell blog: Eco-Modernism & the Big Easy