Pumpkin Carve 2024 - #SoulSeesBest #AgEcoResearch

GIF from 2024 Halloween 🎃 by WriterJoshua on YouTube

It's October

    Spooky Season is upon us and, while I like to think of myself as removed from the trendiness, I can't help but be caught up in the pumpkin fever that the Fall brings. One of those trends is prevalent across streaming platforms in the form of Halloween inspired collections. While browsing HBO's Max,  I came across a Food Network competition known as, Outrageous Pumpkins. After binging a few seasons, I became inspired. I feel a bit overwhelmed, as some of the carvers are of a full on set construction and special effects design caliber. However, my only experience with Jack-O-Lanterns was a simple triangle eyes, square teeth, cut out kind. I had seen more intricate details created by shaving the pumpkin, instead of cutting all the way through but, this was the first time I would consider trying it myself.

Still from Outrageous Pumpkins on Food Network

Stream Outrageous Pumpkins on MAX

My two pumpkins next my laptop with a screenshot of Outrageous Pumpkins on FoodNetwork for inspiration

AgEcoResearch Pumpkins

Pumpkin in a raised garden bed surround by cover crops

    I should also note that, I have been growing my own pumpkins for about three years. After one Halloween, I tossed the store bought Jack into the garden. I have a raised bed that I've been trying to build organically (and as financially efficient as possible!) by layering a few bags of soil and fertilizer at a time, planting cover crops, adding yard waste and kitchen scraps, and repeating the process to fill the the container.

    So, I just tossed it in the corner, not worried about whether it would grow or not, just happy to make it part of the ecosystem. I wasn't all that surprised when I found pumpkin vine growing the next Spring. I harvested a pumpkin or two the next season and repeated the process, tossing that Jack back into the box. You guessed it. That one grew back the next season and, this year, I harvested two more pumpkins! This year, I've saved the pumpkin seeds and plan on planting them in a more intentional way but, in the mean time. I have two Jack-O-Lanterns to experiment on! (Muahahahah because, you know 🎃)

Pumpkin leaves surrounded by cover crop 

Two pumpkins marked with crayon before becoming Jack-O-Lanterns

Two pumpkins shaved and carved into Jack-O-Lanterns

    I spent about two hours with a cheap carving kit, a potato peeler, and a small kitchen knife. They weren't the best tools, as I found myself missing a clay carving tool, like the ones I saw in Outrageous Pumpkins, to shape in finer detail. I also have a vertical peeler, as opposed to the horizontal oriented ones they use, that made it a bit harder to control the angle. Otherwise, I enjoyed myself and think that these are a great first attempt and creative pumpkin carving. If everything goes well, I have some more to play with in 2025!

WriterJoshua carving into a pumpkin with a pairing knife

    So, I set up my laptop and my iPhone to capture some footage of the process. You might find it pretty boring. I didn't do any talking. I wore headphones so, there's no music but, I hear that there are folks who just like the background noise and kitchen sounds. I also found some cheap LED lights with remotes to give them a spooky vibe in the dark. You can hear the carving and scraping of the pumpkin so, I posted the 2 Hour Ambient Pumpkin Carve on YouTube. 

For those of you with less patience, I'm working on cutting that video down to a shorter version with music, and maybe some voice over. Link coming soon.

For those of you with even less patience, how are you still reading this? I'm impressed! I posted a short video of the results on social media, linked below.

• Homegrown Jack-O-Lantern 🎃 by WriterJoshua on YouTube Shorts
• Halloween 2024 🎃 by WriterJoshua on YouTube Shorts
• 🎃 by SoulSeesBest on TikTok
• Halloween 2024 by SoulSeesBest on TikTok
• 🎃 Pumpkin Carve 2024 by SoulSeesBest on TikTok
• Halloween 2024 🎃 by WriterJoshua on Twitter (X)

If I don't see you before then, have a safe and Happy Halloween 👻

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Sincerely yours,

Joshua Lucero

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First Coffee Can Pottery Fire Running Journal - #SoulSeesBest #AgEcoResearch

October 23, 2024: The initial test firing was unfortunately delayed. About an hour into the burn, a freak wind storm began kicking up dust. Due to the dry conditions, I got nervous and decided to put out the flames. Just after I did, the fence was blown over, nearly reaching the grill I was using! Putting out the flame may have ruined my first test (see #1 Carmen below) but, I salvaged the charcoal and used it on the Test #2.

October 06, 2024: Today, I've decided to try my first piece of primitive pottery fire. My hypotheses is that it could work but, I do have various concerns. So, I decided to treat it as a science experiment and document each step. Keep an eye on this specific post. I will update subsequent firings, here.

Introduction

I've harvested wild clay from the back yard and allowed it to dry for several days. Instead of a coffee can, I've drilled aeration holes in a wider peanut can. I have made several small pottery-like pieces, intended to be used as temporary plant pots but, after some creative experiments, I've decided to use them as a learning opportunity for something more permanent. I have no direct experience with firing wild clay but, I have been researching online for a few weeks. 

It's October in Southern California and, while it's notably cooler at night, you might not know it. For about a week, we have seen 100F+ temperatures nearly every day. Fire danger is always a concern but, I intend on being as safe as possible. I will light the can inside of the barbecue grill, and can close the lid if necessary. A high of 102F is forecasted for, today. 

Preparation

I repurposed a tin can and bought some charcoal briquettes. I was hoping to get a few pieces in this can, as it is wider than a coffee can but, it's not much taller. So, I may just do one at a time.

I have seen some people preheat their pots in a home oven, or around an open fire pit, to prevent the drastic change in temperature, that might encourage cracking. I would hypothesize that it will get hot enough in the sun to prevent any kind of shock. Also, these pieces tend to be thicker than most of the pottery I've seen. This may help or hurt in the long run.

General Hypothesis

I believe that this "coffee can method" will successfully oxidize the clay, making it durable enough to resist water. It will also create a "finished" look to make it more appealing. The clay had more grit than I would have liked, even though I sifted it. I added some sifted sand to the second batch and wonder if I added too much. They have all held up well in the sun, and have hardened evenly in multiple days of 100F+ weather. When I learned about the coffee can firing method, it included the use of lighter fluid. I want to keep it as natural as possible. This may make it more difficult to light but, I will add some paper and cardboard to increase flammability.

Tech: Is Squarespace Ignoring My Domain Forward Path Request?

    You might have noticed that, in the address bar instead of writerjoshua.com, it reads sites.google. That's because I am hosting my landing page on the New Google Sites. I originally purchased the domain with Google but, they have recently transferred their domain management to Squarespace. So, I'm learning a new domain management system but, it's mostly built the same. However, some things have not transferred well.

    For instance, a common DNS entry, when hosting your domain on a Google platform, reads "ghs.googlehosted.com." I'm no tech expert but, that basically means that your target domain is on a Google site. Now, that CNAME entry reads "ext-sq.squarespace.com" and I am not allowed to edit it. I can only speculate but, I believe that is where the issue may lie. 

    When I search the web for a solution, it comes easily enough. I created the domain forwarding rule, to my Google hosted site, and checked the option for Path Forwarding to "Forward." This should have the url at my site read writerjoshua.com, instead of sites.google. However, when I review the rule on Squarespace, it still shows my Path Forwarding option as "Do Not Forward." 

    Now, it says that changes can take up to 24-48 hours. That's fine. So, I've waited for about a week and there's still not the result I want. I even created a new subdomain rule and that began forwarding almost immediately, although without the Path Forwarding I would have wanted. 

    I've checked the option, again. I will wait another few days but, I'm not sure that the issue will be resolved.

Do you have any ideas? 

Thanks in advance.

Are you having a similar issue? Leave a comment.

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Sincerely yours,

Joshua Lucero

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Short Blog Posts?

    Why do I feel like blog posts have to be long, elaborate columns, as if they were in a newspaper or magazine? Is it social media that does that? There's this idea that, "if it's going to be shorter than a few lines, it should just be a social media post." I mean, isn't social media just a microblogging platform? Is that just me? As a blogger, do you feel compelled to keep your short worded ideas off of your blog?

    Why can't we direct daily traffic to our own websites with short posts? I can't be the only one who feels that way, and I'm sure it's not a coincidence. I get "ideas" throughout the day and want to post them somewhere. Not so much to share them with you but, to document them. Like a digital notepad, I like to go back over my "list of notes" to analyze my thought patterns and maybe flesh out an idea for a research project, or something. I kind of loathe having to go to another website to do that.

    I could just use the notes app. Sure, it's not always about reaching an audience but, sometimes these thoughts could inspire others to pursue their own. After all, isn't social media so successful because we have a deeply primitive urge to communicate with others? So, I like having that option.

    I'm trying to work on that. I obviously want to connect with society but, I don't feel like it must be through somebody else's app. So, see if you catch a few short posts around here and tell me what you think. 

    Also, I'm working on reorganizing my webspace. Google Domains are now operated by Squarespace so, the change over has made it...interesting. I'm trying to host my main url at a Google Sites design, and use this Blogger account as a Blog.WriterJoshua.com subdomain. I've tried adding custom DNS records but, it's not quite coming together. It's hard to read because some changes are instant, yet some say they'll take 24-48 hours so, it's hard to say if there's an error or it's just not showing, yet. Pardon My Dust, as it were, I guess.

Happy Thursday. Somebody tell October it's supposed to be Autumn in SoCal.

☀️

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Sincerely yours,

Joshua Lucero

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www.writerjoshua.com

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Opinion: Knowing the Why - One Easy Step To Understand Anything!

Hey,

Happy October!

I'm still very new to the world of clay. I've been extremely hesitant to just get my hands dirty and figure stuff out. I've always been somewhat cautious about approaching new things. I need to understand the why and how of it all. It's not enough to just copy someone else and say I Did It! This can have positive and negative effects. In this case, it created a barrier to entry. I was so focused on being the perfect clay potter that, I lost touch with my inquisitive nature. 

I love YouTube. It's becoming an ad-ridden hell hole, sure but, I've learned a lot of niche skills and discovered interesting and unique ideas that I may not have otherwise. It's like the Universal Library of information. However, one of the largest trends is the How To genre. It's filled with videos of, seemingly, professionals showing you how to do anything in 4 Easy Steps! Most of them are alright, this isn't about knocking the ones that aren't terrible. However, even amongst some of the well meaning ones, a trend has developed among the community.

With so many videos online showing how to do anything, most people have stopped asking Why? Wanting to know how something is done, simply to recreate it, is fine. It's a great starting point but, for most people, it seems like it ends there. There's not many videos of people receiving knowledge. Everybody wants to come across as the all knowing giver of knowledge but, most of the smartest people in the world are learning, rather than teaching. There's an entire culture of people obsessed with and satisfied with a result, rather than appreciative of the journey of exploration and understanding. Try this analogy.

Imagine society has broken down. You are humanity's last hope to build shelter. All we have left is this IKEA style, snap into place, home building kit. It's easy, you just put piece A into piece 1, etc. That's fine. It works but, what happens if the instructions are corrupted and some of the pieces are destroyed? You don't know which piece goes where, let alone why the foundation and supporting beams are put where they are to support the ceiling and the roof. You just knew the simplified answer was, put A into 1. With that little How To, you could do it but, if you had taken the time to understand the Why of each piece and how it was connected, you could take that knowledge and adapt it to something outside of the context of the How To Instruction Manual. 

Knowing the Why, you could find suitable materials to replace the ones you lost, apply the principles of building a sound structure, and make adjustments based on what you have at hand. A truly knowledgeable person's power comes not from being able to recall the right excerpt from the book but, in being able to recall the understanding of the concept and applying it to the current circumstance. What good is knowledge if you aren't building on to it?

I know. That analogy gets a little wonky but, I think you're smart enough to understand what I'm getting at. What good is having all of the knowledge of the universe at our fingertips if, once it becomes inaccessible, we are useless? It's great to be able to reference anything whenever we want but, we should be using that reach to expand our core systems, instead of simply relying on the cloud. From a networking perspective, access to the cloud network is fine but, just in case, let's keep a hard copy offline.

Let me try to tie it in with this. I began my clay journey with a sustainability goal in mind. I wanted a cost-effective, ecofriendly solution to my need for many small pots, used to store and transport seedlings and rooted cuttings. I knew I didn't want to use the plastic cups that were so readily available and I knew I didn't have the budget to buy the fancy Eco-Friendly Biodegradable Pots at the scale I had in mind. That's when I fell back on my fascination with ancient technology. Particularly, ancient pottery.

It seems so easy. It's literally just dirt, mixed with water, and shaped into a bowl. Now, as I ventured down the rabbit hole of information about Wild Clay, I was inspired but, also deterred from beginning. While I'm sure most of the accounts mean well, I felt this strong deterrence. There was a mental, or spiritual, blockade: You can't just go and get dirt from your yard. I agreed. It couldn't be that easy, right? There was all of this information about clay sediments, and locations, and private and public land, etc., etc. Don't get me started on the fancy modern pottery vernacular, with the cone firing ratings and what not. 

The more I learned, the further away I was taken from my goal. Listen. I get it. Some dirt is just not clay. It may not hold up well, it may not last long. Sure, there are some limitations but, why wasn't I just getting my hands in some dirt and seeing what's what? 

🪬 Handcraft by a man who's soul sees better than his eyes do at SoulSeesBest.writerjoshua.com

So, today, I decided to do some experimentation of my own. I'm not going to name any specific accounts because this isn't meant to be disruptive. If anything, despite all of this, I still learned quite a bit, and have been inspired just the same. The adbreaks are still a GIGANTIC TURN OFF but, that's another entry (I mean, I don't even like watching ads in professional television, why would I want to watch ads from someone I don't even know is going to give me the right information, yet?). The point is, I choose to understand the why and how of clay, instead of simply relying on what YouTubers say. I'm going to take what I've learned and apply it to my current circumstance, and that means some experimentation.

• Read: What Happens If I Don't Seal Air Dry Clay? - #SoulSeesBest #AgEcoResearch (UNDER CONSTRUCTION)

 I have also received a lot of information about sun drying clay. You're not supposed to sun dry clay because, it is said, that it will crack and become useless. But, I want to know, how useless? I've also been looking into adobe mud brick. I am currently living in the Southwestern United States. Adobe is prevalent so, why not see if it can be a solution for me. 

• Read: What Happens If I Sun Dry Clay Pottery? - #SoulSeesBest #AgEcoResearch (UNDER CONSTRUCTION)

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Sincerely yours,

Joshua Lucero

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www.writerjoshua.com

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