I never thought about love when I thought about home

I had an incredible time at The National show last night in Royal Oak, MI. Lead singer Matt Berninger has an amazing voice. He also has a background in graphic design which may explain why everything associated with their band is so wonderfully designed.

Lilco Letterpress

I LOVE LOVE this tiger print from Lilco Letter Press: a little letterpress based out of Dallas, TX. You can buy their work on their Etsy site here.

Greening of Detroit Volunteer Day

It's not everyday that painting a liquor store means doing some good for your city. As part of our work volunteer day, we painted an abandoned liquor store in order to convert it into a garden shed. We had a lot of fun working with Greening of Detroit. They are doing a lot of cool projects all over the city and it was nice to be a part of one of them.

Handmade Detroit

Lish Dorset (pictured right) and Bethany Nixon (pictured left) became friends over a mutual love of hand made crafts. Dorset explains, “I’ve always been making things and when I came back to the area after college it was hard to find like minded folks with my interests.” Then she met Nixon, a fellow art enthusiast. They started to form meetings with other crafters, where they discussed sewing tips, their love of vintage, and everything handmade. In 2005, they formed Handmade Detroit, a community for local artists.

Through their hosting of craft fairs and events, crafters from all over Michigan are able to meet and sell their work. Some crafters use these events to test their products and see if they can make a personal business from them. Dorset explains, “We’ve been able to help people test out whether or not they want to get into a business. They starting selling and realize that people like their work and what they are doing. Nixon added, “It’s been a great thing to see a lot of our vendors do so well.”

To meet theses fine ladies of Handmade Detroit as well as other vendors including Chris Gorsky, visit the Maker Faire this Saturday and Sunday at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, MI.

Say Nice Things About Detroit

Chris Gorsky loves Detroit, and he wants everyone to know it. That's why he created Detroit GT a t-shirt and design business. All of his amazing shirts and objects celebrate Detroit and it's culture. You may see Chris driving around this summer in an ice cream truck converted into a mobile store. If you don't catch him that way, you can also purchase items from his website and Etsy shop.

Bobble Head Buster

My dog will do anything if he thinks he's about to get a treat.

Turning Motown into Growtown

Detroit is in the unique situation of having too much land. In the 1950s Detroit's population soared to 1.8 million people. Now the city is faced with a population decrease to about 900,000 residents. The question on everyone's mind is what to do with the vacant lots. One popular idea and movement is to turn the empty spaces into urban gardens.

Urban Farming was founded by Detroit singer and former Prince protégé Taja Sevelle. The organization is dedicated to turning vacant land over to food production, providing a healthier diet to city people who either go hungry or have poor nutrition.

I had the pleasure of working with Urban Farming to plant a garden in a vacant lot on Knodell Street near the Linwood neighborhood. Volunteers work to plant the garden and the nearest fire department waters the garden if rain water is not enough. Residents are allowed to help themselves to whatever they need. Detroit has no major supermarkets and few stores that carry fresh produce so a garden movement like Urban Farming can be essential to the community.

To learn more about Urban Farming read this Guardian article entitled "Detroit gets growing" or this Guernica article entitled "Food Among the Ruins."