
propagating plants
to rapidly restore a world in great need of regeneration, small actions grow up quickly. one of the most magical projects in the garden is to make more trees and shrubs from the plants already growing around us. one of the easiest ways to propagate many new plants quickly, to create food forests that feed … Read More

coldframe (the carpentry remix)
a remix of building the coldframe from the journal of small work* episode four. it’s a great time to knock one together, whether you are heading into spring or fall. now the snow is melting i’ll be starting some cool-loving seeds and then hardening off seedlings in mine. it’s a particularly nice pairing with the … Read More

seed blocks
to reduce plastic in the garden one of our favourite practices is to use a tiny press called a soil-blocker* to make cubes of soil to sow seeds and raise seedlings in. we make up a very wet mixture of potting soil with the consistency of cake batter, which always makes me crave chocolate cake. … Read More

the sweater
what if we expected our clothing to be a relationship for life? the sweater i’ve been living in (you may have noticed it playing a supporting role in a couple of minute-films of late) took me a year of small work, stolen between tasks, usually at the end of long days, while traveling to see … Read More

spoon butter
we have a tremendous impact on our world when we re-culture an ethos of taking care of what we have. late winter here is on the verge, before mad spring energy bursts forth. it’s a fine time to potter about tending to things not urgent yet important. just the moment to get around to restoring … Read More

plan a kitchen garden
we can plan our kitchen gardens even when there’s snow on the ground. we plan for successive cropping, overwintering spring-cropping purple-sprouting broccoli which give way to summer’s tomatoes, which then make way for another winter’s garlic. last autumn’s garlic will yield to this autumn’s brussels’ sprouts and the next spring’s parsnips and carrots. the kales … Read More

lawn to kitchen garden
the small work* only looks small on an individual level, microscopic. it is repeated in a network of interrelationships that circumnavigate the earth and reverberate across time, compounding, small to the power, of the people, of all of life. exponential. growing our own food within our communities could look like this. some of the … Read More

wood ash + biochar
the wood stove is a gardener’s companion, highly valued for its production of wood ash for sweetening acidic soils, charcoal to inoculate in deep litter for biochar, and even bone meal for minerals. this is stacking functions at its best. the many concurrent uses for the wood stove multipy the benefits of heat we’re already … Read More

three-legged cook-pot
a three-legged cast iron cook-pot baking potatoes inside the wood stove was something of a revelation to me. this is appropriate technology at its best. it multiplies the benefits of heat we’re already producing, reducing our energy use; it’s simple and waste-free to use with little to repair, it’s that rare breed: a lifetime tool … Read More

winter morning chores
if lending a hand with farm chores after a snowstorm appeals, here’s a wintry morning’s worth squeezed into a single minute, with a goat walk tucked in at the end (to bring another round of wood-stove-melted snow, when the pipes froze.) by request, a chore-time farm-tour. this is the twice-daily tour i take, with a … Read More

enamel cup
time for a cup of something hot off the wood stove, twice-warmed-up, but no matter. i hope that you like this new minute-film on the small work of reducing our requirements as we adapt to a lower-energy-and-material future, a just one, one that we would love to live in. it is of course a dear … Read More

toaster
if a toaster longed to live a simple life, this would be it. unplugged, pared down to its acoustic self, reincarnated as a plain, double-sided rack that hugs its toast close, resting cosily atop a trusty cast iron wood stove of a quiet winter’s morning next to the tea kettle and perhaps a pot simmering … Read More