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 eggs fresh from the henhouse, flipped by quiet hands and tended to slowly, lazily. to know that it is simply made, nothing to break, really, certainly easy to repair, so brilliantly elementary and sturdy as to ascend to that highest achievement, the perennial favourite, the tried-and-true, the quintessential, the lifetime tool. a classic.
is there a beloved, tried-and-true tool that you use each day?
this small work is a companion to the journal of small work* film on stacking functions and multiplying our material and energy benefits, ‘wood stove’ and a cousin of ‘pulley airer,’ that ode to appropriate technology and downshifting for a flourishing future.
it marks the beginning of a series of minute films that illustrate the possibilities of what we might do in response to this moment with our own hands, at home, right now, little by little and continuously, widely, multiplying across households and communities.
these little films respond to your requests, dear patrons. you can send me a message here or leave a comment with the questions that are coming up in every day life around shifting into living regeneratively.
as ever, enormous thank you to all the appleturnover patrons for your support.
x elisa