You really should go to this. It is amazing, inspiring and fun to see what everyone can make. There will be Ochibos galore and I will be throwing clay at 11am and again at 4 pm. I will also be showing people how to make a slump mold bowl at 4:30 PM each day. I will be in the Expo Hall (marked on the maker map as "Maker Made Stage"), booth #276. I will be throwing 2 times a day and demo-ing slump molds 1 a day. Yipee! If you can make it, you really should go, the fair is freaking amazing!

Handmade Parade in Sacramento this weekend!

Ochibo and Skeletal Dropkick will be at the Handmade Parade this weekend, May 23rd from 11am to 5pm at Giovanni Hall at 1333 58th street in Sacramento. Many vendors and a lot of fun! Be sure to go!

The coolest Cauliflower EVER!

This amazing cauliflower was procured at our local Farmer’s Market. The Ochibos insisted on getting it since it matched so perfectly to the purple Ochibo. You can see him walking amongst the purple cauliflower trees. It was delicious, being a bit stronger in taste than the white cauliflower and it turned a lovely shade of lavender when it was steamed.
It comes from the family that contains wild mustard (like broccoli, brussel sprouts and romanesco), Brassicaceae. I know it is too late this year, but get them for next year’s garden!
Cauliflower is totally loaded with vitamin C…. who knew?

Moss!

How freaking cool is the field of genetics? Some scientists in Zurich have figured out how to insert mammalian genes in… moss. Really, moss! What does this mean for us? Well, now we can get the moss to grow our mammalian proteins for us. Therapeutic proteins (such as insulin) that until now have been very expensive to culture due to the fact that they could only previously be made mostly by mammalian cells.

Lizards!

You know how you see little cool lizards out basking in the sun? For about forever, we figured it was solely because they were trying to warm up. Well, it turns out that they are also getting themselves a vitamin D boost. Smart little pups!

Bats!!

Bats species represent ¼ of all species of all mammals on our planet. Really! They do! Pretty freaking cool.. Bats are also responsible for pollinating, planting new rainforest trees and keeping insect populations in balance. They do a great job as bug -eaters, keeping our crops happy and they are freaking CUTE! They are also, as are many species, under threat. There is a great organisation called, Bat Conservation International, that I just recently heard about who have worked diligently and selflessly to help repopulate our bat populations. If you harbor any irrational fear of bats, please learn more about them. Go check them out and learn about the cool bats!

What to do about the car fuel dilemma

It doesn’t look like we have the answer yet, but it is looking more and more like biofuels are a bad idea. Firstly, to use precious agriculture land to run our cars instead of our bodies is very creepy. If there is a drought, which do we sacrifice first? Do we tear up the land and destroy precious topsoil just to be able to drive around? Should we be tying our food to our cars in such a fundamental way?
And now there is a study about the increased risk of crop pests if we were to plant all those crops. Apparently it will increase the amount of pests to the point where our food crops will be affected. By increasing the populations of these pests, we are not only posing harm to our food supply, but to entire ecosystems.