La Casa Grande Colectiva

Category: projects

  • JAR band at the IMC

    The JAR band opened a show at the Independent Media Center yesterday.
    JARband at the IMC
    My poor excuse for a camera was there to insufficiently document the moment.

  • Another weekend recap!

    DSC_5629b
    Jacob, Andrew and Ronna re-sodding our muddy front yard.
    New Sod!
    A beautiful grass island was formed.
    DSC_5647b
    The neighbor’s yard was covered in spring time flowers!

    sophie1
    Sophie howled and barked at dogs across the yard.

  • Bee Hives Arrive

    Harvest House resident Robby Nagel brought his beehives over today.  Robby inherited the hives from his grandpa who retired from beekeeping a few years ago.
    Robby shows how the smoker works
    Robby has been going to beekeeping classes offered by the Central Eastern Illinois Beekeepers Association and approached us a few months ago about keeping bees in our big yard.  We’re not only glad to share in the honey but the bees will function as excellent pollinators to our trees and crops.  In the photo above, Robby is showing me how the different pieces of equipment work.

  • rigadoo – old time acoustic music

    4th gigI spent the evening reading Lawrence Lessig and learning new songs with my string band.  We’ve been having practice sessions where we take turns introducing new songs to the group. For the sake of confusion I’m going to share two songs in different file Erins hands on the neckformats so there’s a good chance you can’t listen to one of them.  Charlie showed us how to play Joshua Fit De Battle Ob Jericho (WMA) and Pig Ankle Rag (mp3) is a song that Erin and Charlie taught to Kendra and I tonight.  All the files hosted on the internet archive CC.

  • garden progress, weekend recap

    There were several changes made to the garden landscape this weekend.
    _MG_6877.JPG
    Ronna sowed a bed of peas and lettuceRonna works on the pea and lettuce bed.
    Rob, Rob, and members of the Catholic Worker House turned the old compost pile.
    talking about compost
    Mac, Kannan, and JohnE pulled up some sod to make a vegetable bed for the members of their house.
    chicken inspects fresh bed
    We began digging a hole at the end of the canal system that runs through the garden.  We spent a lot of energy and the pond that forms will probably get really gross.  We did use the topsoil to raise a few vegetable beds in order to alleviate the Sping flood that we’re expecting.
    THE HOLE

  • bicycle rack – new location, what does everyone think?

    Drew and I moved the rusted bed frame bike rack out from the house a bit.  Is everyone happy with the new location?  Please reply with a comment 😉
    _MG_6874.JPG

  • seedling update

    Our seedlings are going on five weeks old now, so it’s about time for an update.  They all looked the same at first, but now they’re each developing their own characteristics.

    update on the seed starts, march 16
    garden sage

    cuke, squash, and squash

    The biggest bummer so far is our tray of hot peppers.  We planted jalapeno, habanero, cayenne and several other varieties, but so far there is little action from the seeds.  I’ve been told that peppers take awhile to sprout.
    not much action with the hot peppers yet

  • House Concerturtle

    Last Friday, March 6, La Casa (under the MCery of friend & former resident Anna) hosted Concerturtle (!) – an evening of performances of (mostly) new experimental works.  Three residents (including your humble narrator) participated in music-making.  We packed our living room with delightful human beings, kept our guests in grape juice & popcorn, & followed the festivities with a talk-back session & a bonfire in our garden.  I (for one) thought it went swimmingly.

    The “Program”:

    Hi there,

    Do you remember this assignment?  Here are two versions:

    “Write a statement that you want to be true.”
    “Write a statement that is unfortunately false in current society.”

    I want this assignment to linger in the air for a while.  I find that  I’m never quite done with it.  Dr. Parenti recommends exercising your  “desiring muscles” frequently enough that they at least don’t atrophy.

    So, I’m starting a weekly bulletin:  This Week in Desire Statements.   Send false statements and related artworks & project links to unfortunately DOT… false AAT… gmail DOT… com, and every Friday (I hope) I’ll put
    together something out of it.

    Thanks,
    Jacob Barton

    • The Solution to the Problem btw Israel & Palestine, by JARband.

    More about this piece here.

    • Playing (with) Policy, by AnAndR.
    • The Squirrel’s Nut, a story composed & told by elizaBeth.
    • Bagatelle No. 1, performed by Snow Leopard & Jacob.
    • Duke of Uke & His Novelty Orchestra, performed by Dave, Lorene & ?.
    • Rigadoo, performed by JP, Erin, Charlie & Kendra.

    Rigadoo plays some hot bluegrass & Celtic music with traditional instruments & a set of mesmerizing “chakra bowls”; the Duke of Uke plays funky tunes on ukulele (accompanied, in this instance, by electric bass, tuba, & backup singin’); Snow Leopard arranged Bagatelle No. 1 (by whom?) for keyboard & udderbot; elizaBeth shared a draft of a story for children pointing to the absurdities of capitalism with talking rodents!

    We six La Casans have inherited a tradition of house concerts – a tradition I happen to adore.  I can think of no better venue for a show than a good friend’s living room!

    UPDATE: some photos from the event,

    concerturtlethumbs

  • New Blog, First Post

    Hi,

    Welcome to our new blog.  We are a group of people living in a big house (casa grande) together (colectiva) in Urbana, IL.  This blog will be a place for us to document our habits, decisions, accomplishments, and thoughts.  We will use this as a tool for understanding ourselves and our relationships with the world.  Expect this site to change as we find better ways to organize and share our media.

    -JP