Can you imagine people sitting in a field of picnic blankets beneath a canopy of white and pink petaled trees? You notice the people are all enjoying food, cookies, laughter and . . . sake? It is one of my fondest memories from my assignment in Japan. Each Spring we would organize a bus load of “dorm rats” (that’s what they called all the young airmen that lived in the dormitories) to roadtrip up to the Hirosaki Cherry Blossom Festival. The trick is to bring a blanket and things to trade: American beer, candy and snack foods, bologna sandwiches, fried chicken and maybe a guitar or harmonica. You just stroll around the park, eat some Japanese festival foods (which are very exotic–Tentacle-on-a-stick anyone?), or paddle in a canoe through a sea of pink and white petals. Maybe the most amusing part is to sit with the Japanese locals (who are also mostly tourists too) and swap food and drink and shenanigans with them. Just like Americans, Japanese are shy until they’re a little tipsey! But I once traded a ham sandwich for a fried crab–not a crab leg, but a whole battered and deep-fried crab! We would go smiling from blanket to blanket making tiny deals and friendships.

When I heard about ReTREE WNY from Justin Booth, I thought it might be wonderful to duplicate that kind of annual celebration of nature and community. Maybe I got a little carried away–we registered to plant 143 ornamental cherry, lilac, chestnut, hazelnut and dogwood trees on the streets around Cold Spring Neighborhood and nearby. My hope is that in the coming years many people will enjoy seeing the blossoms and strolling in the neighborhood or sitting on a bench eating a sandwich.

Believe me, we definitely want urban orchards–growing apples or cherries or other foods we can consume. Michael wants a sugar maple farm for tapping syrup. Justin warned him it would take 60 years for a sugar maple to mature to the tapping stage. (So, Michael needs to do 2 things–plant some sugar maples yesterday and live to be at least 94!) But we have to start somewhere and ReTREE has given us an opportunity to make a small, but long lasting, quality of life improvement along Woodlawn, Eaton, Northampton, Purdy, Chester, Masten, Utica, Waverly and Glenwood. We’ll be planting trees right around the BAVPA and Bennett Park Montessori too. All the trees are designated for the street sidewalk and come from a list of species approved by the city based on conditions and maintenance.

Naturally, we need help digging and planting and even babysitting these trees this first year.
We will pick up the trees and kits on Friday, May 2nd and sort them based on their pre-approved destination. We will also dig the holes–mostly using an auger attachment.
Saturday, May 3rd we will meet at 298 Northampton at 9am. Then we will pack everyone, their trees and kits into street teams to plant the trees all at once across the neighborhood.
Hopefully, with a lot of helpers, we’ll be done by 3:30pm and we can all regroup back at 298 Northampton to wash up for a potluck picnic and group shoulder rubs!

No matter how old or young or cranky you are–there is a way you can assist this grand scheme. Bring a shovel, iron rake, picks, hand pruners, gloves, your craziest garden hat, a picnic blanket, a dozen of your Aunt Tibbie’s garlic-cheese puffs, a stack of bologna or a jar of sour dills! (You could even bring a meat mallet to tenderize sore muscles). If you can help in any way please contact us at 716.885.4131 or volunteer {at} buffaloreuse(.)org or just show up ready to work on May 3rd.

Just imagine how special the streets will be because you came out and spent the day with us.

• Worm composting – easy, fun!

• Build with second-harvest Buffalo ReUse “city hemlock”
  
• Throw away your lawnmower – replace your grass with groundcover.
  
• Get a tankless water heater.
  
• Build a solar hot water booster system for your tankless heater – use that roof.
• Drop off your used or half cans of house paint (and other solvents) to our ReSOURCE; we will redistribute the paint for use on board up materials and neighborhood beautification.
• Call us for pickups of items you’re swapping out or upgrading such as: windows, radiators, water heaters, kitchen appliances, sofas, plumbing fixtures and lighting
• If you want to replace your garage, barn or shed with a garden or pool, call us to deconstruct it so we can recycle, reuse, reduce the quantity of rubble that ends up in the landfill–716-885-4131
  FREE PICK-UPS & ESTIMATES
  
• Buy used high quality doors, tubs, brick, stone, glass block instead of buying less quality new items from box stores that ship those materials all the way from Timbuktu
  CALL THE STORE –716-882-2800
• Volunteer on a Saturday to help transform Buffalo’s vacant lots and brown spaces into thriving micro-parks and gardens–instead of wasting electricity in front of the boobtube watching cartoons!

I was a super huge fan of 10,000 Maniacs in high school, my bff Mare Mare turned me onto them. One of my favorites is the song below. It resounds in my head every time I step outside or think about being outside this time of year because my thoughts are filled with wildflowers and road trips and sun.
I have been eagerly awaiting Spring because here in Buffalo all the daffodils begin to pop up in the parks and along the highways. It reminds me of the wildflowers in Texas; there, the highways are literally blue for long stretches–but it’s fleeting, like the daffodils. As a kid, I was sometimes thrown out of the car to help pick roadside wildflowers or dried pods for my mother’s craft projects–”pull over Pull OVER!” Now, it’s usually me shouting that, but I’m leaping from the car with my camera.

And the main message of that song is of potential and a call to action.  I just think of all the things we have planned for the season and there will be so many opportunities for you to make memories with us and new friendships and little treasures

I love the lyrics, here they are if you want to sing along:
These are the days
These are days you’ll remember
Never before and never since, I promise
Will the whole world be warm as this
And as you feel it,
You’ll know it’s true
That you are blessed and lucky
It’s true that you
Are touched by something
That will grow and bloom in you

These are days that you’ll remember
When May is rushing over you
With desire to be part of the miracles
You see in every hour
You’ll know it’s true
That you are blessed and lucky
It’s true that you are touched
By something that will grow and bloom in you

These are days
These are the days you might fill
With laughter until you break
These days you might feel
A shaft of light
Make its way across your face
And when you do
Then you’ll know how it was meant to be
See the signs and know their meaning
It’s true
Then you’ll know how it was meant to be
Hear the signs and know they’re speaking
To you, to you

p.s. if you want to assist with a project we’re working on–we need specific intel on WNY wildflowers–which are they? and how do we get our grubby paws on a bunch of seeds? I appreciate visuals too.

Spring is here, love is in the air and what could be more romantic than a walk with your sweetheart through fields of fresh grass, crocuses, tulips, tubs, and sinks. Tubs and sinks? Yep! The field next to the ReSource is just blooming with tubs and sinks. It’s actually more of a bog right now, and not really very romantic, but the the sinks, tubs and toilets have sprouted up (I noticed some unbelievable green and yellow ones this Saturday) and more are coming every week.

In honor of the spring flora I thought I’d highlight a particularly tall and striking specie, the pedestal sink. These vestiges of old houses and public restrooms are quite popular nowadays. However unlike other materials I have written about pedestal sinks don’t have any particularly fascinating history. They were created to be cheap and space saving.

People of the early 1900’s remembered (or still were) tucking the day’s paper under their arm and trudging out to the outhouse. In a Buffalo January I’m not sure many people made it through the title of the day’s top headline.

Pedestal sinks became commonplace from the late 1800’s until about 1930’s as indoor bathrooms became standard. Prior to municipal water and sewage, indoor bathrooms (ie chamber pots) were discouraged as smelly and unhygienic. Bathrooms, as we know them, were generally only available to wealthier households, and those Victorian-era bathrooms were typically large, ornate affairs with sinks built into expensive cabinetry. As the average Joe acquired a head in his home, he had much less space and money and so the pedestal sink was introduced to meet his needs. A simple affair, they were mostly made of enameled cast iron, a combination that lasts forever. But like many peasant items (e.g. bread) the pedestal sink became fashionable, artistic and expensive as well. It is funny that today these are so expensive.

So this brings me back to why people adore them so much. I guess there are several reasons. There are the old house buffs who wouldn’t let a 1890 sink in their 1889 house. There are the hipsters for whom eccentricity is the rule. Did I mention there is a Kermit-the-Frog green toilet! And then there is the largest group, I believe, the sentimentalists. For a love of old stuff, American made stuff, or perhaps the memories of mom, night after night, marching you up to the sink in your jammies, to brush your teeth and comb gum (or tar in my case) out of your hair before bed. Whatever your reason the ReSource has your sink – or will eventually find it.

Here are a few tips I’ve dug up to help you if you are considering a pedestal sink.
Read the rest of this entry »

If the Spring Cleaning itch hasn’t started in your neighborhood–it will once you see more and more neighborhoods putting out the “big stuff” on the curbs. Please remember that all of that is headed to the landfill. If you see a sink, a tub, kitchen cabinets or a pile of windows or doors–all that stuff can be donated to Buffalo ReUse and may find it’s way into another home owner’s heart. Please give us a call to schedule a pick up; if it fits in your car–you can bring it to us Tues-Sat from 7:30-5pm.

If your neighborhood’s big trash day is coming up–let us know.

Here’s an opportunity to get rid of old technology that’s piling up and cluttering your life:
Saturday, April 26th from 9-1pm you can bring your broken, outdated, obsolete

• computers (and parts)
• scanners
• cell phones
• VCR/DVD players
• keyboards/mice
• televisions
• rechargeable batteries
• cell phones (cell phones are also accepted by Haven House to assist victims of domestic violence)

to Central Park Plaza off E. Amherst St/Holden St (btw Main & Bailey)
If you have questions, please call 716-858-6996

goes to . . .
The suspense is killing me!

Buffalo ReUse is in good company for Artvoice ’s Best Activist Group category–nominees! The awards ceremony for The Best of Buffalo contest is at Town Ballroom Monday, April 14, free to all, with lots of food and live music. 6-9pm. Town Ballroom, 681 Main St. (852-3900/townballroom.com). FREE

If you go to scream and cheer, maybe we’ll see you!
If we win, it’s all for the volunteers because we would not be this far along without all their help and commitment and their love for this city. You make it happen every time you show up–thanks. Our dedicated staff and board members also give generously of themselves every day–group hug?

(I’m also hoping that the Elmwood/Allen Bubble Guy wins for Unsung Hero because he certainly makes me smile no matter how ragged my day has been.)

Deconstructing a building is like an architectural gross anatomy lesson. It’s fascinating to see all internal components of a building as layer by layer is peeled away. The most striking feature is their skeletons which (in Buffalo) are almost always composed of long, hefty boards and beams of hemlock. Aged hemlock has a leather-brown patina due to oxidation of the tannins in the wood and a rough splintery texture. Hemlock is by nature a coarse, fibrous wood but as a structural wood it was usually left rough sawn. Cutting through a piece reveals mellow, honey-like color, slightly browner than pine, again because of the high tannin content.

What is probably most impressive about these old hemlock beams is the large widths, thicknesses and lengths. 30 foot long, knot-free, 6”x 6” is common in most old houses. Much of Buffalo ReUse’s hemlock lumber is floor joists, two and three inches by ten or twelve inches and up to twenty feet long. I believe it’s fair to say that Buffalo’s real backbone is hemlock and not steel.

What is hemlock? Tsuga canadensis or Eastern Hemlock is a fast-growing conifer (produces seed-bearing cones) like a pine tree. Despite its name, hemlock is not poisonous but is named “hemlock” because its needles smell similar to the leaves of the deadly poisonous hemlock vine – reportedly the source of bane that killed Socrates. Hemlock is described as “yew-like” because its needles are broad and soft, and more leaf-like. Its bark is deeply fissured and was once considered more valuable than the tree. Leather makers used the bark because of its high tannic acid content and often trees were stripped and left to die.

Hemlocks readily grow to 100 feet tall, and exceptional ones can be 170 feet tall. They grow very densely in cool, humid areas near water, especially around the Great Lakes and the Atlantic sea coasts. Those dense old-growth forests covered the northeast and must have been cursed by the early American pioneers as they hacked their way through them. The density and darkness of old-growth hemlock forests were legendary, and probably the reason why hemlock stands were often the scenes of nefarious meetings and dealings among colonial writers.
Read the rest of this entry »

The Spring rains have arrived, but at least we can finally feel our fingertips and toes. Though we continued deconstruction services and opened the Re-Source and kept it open every week for customers during the cruel winter months, we’re ecstatic for the coming of spring. We’re energized to begin exciting projects in the neighborhood. We have big plans for gardens and park spaces; artistic murals to beautify blighted buildings; and educational opportunities, as well as, unique materials for sale at the ReSOURCE. Finally, we’re already at the point where we can further expand our hours. Next week, the ReSource will always be open Tuesdays through Fridays, 7:30am to 5:00pm, Saturday 9 to 5. (Update: we’re now open Saturdays 7:30-5) We welcome you to stop in and peruse our ever growing inventory of rescued building materials.

Thank you for your on-going support.

As always, we invite you to get involved and be a part of the action! Please check out the updates below for upcoming volunteer opportunities and events.

Blight vs. Beauty

Donn Esmonde of the Buffalo News ran a commentary in this Friday’s City&Region (Section D) describing the lift in morale of the proprietors on High Street who work and live near the vacant house adopted during the Neighborhood Peace Mural Project. So many people have already been touched by that small house–the students at The Locust Street Art School who painted the panels, the groups from UB and Daemen college that focus on neighborhood transformation and the volunteers from St. Bonaventure who secure the boards to the building. We will continue boarding up more houses as the City allows.

Are you spring cleaning or upgrading your home this season?
Now is the time to get rid of the junk in your garage and basement and attic. You can donate your old sinks, counters, cabinets, tubs and other materials to us instead of leaving it on the curb or paying the landfill fees. If it fits in your car–bring it to us! If it’s too bulky for you to manage, we can schedule a pick up. (pssst, if it’s on the curb in front of your neighbors’–you can still call us!)

Mayor Youth Summer Employment Program

Do you know someone who would like to be a Buffalo ReUse Apprentice? We are so excited about the opportunity to engage with more youth in Buffalo this summer! We’ve been approved as a job site and will provide multiple experiences–green space development, urban planning, salvage pick ups, retail support, materials processing, among others. Applicants must be 14-21yrs old and there are other requirements established by the BETC. You can pick up the application from us at the ReSource, download it here or at the BETC. The deadline is Friday May 30th.

Save-the-Date(s)

• Saturday April 12th; Volunteers from Canisus College and also UB join us to board up a house near BAVPA; come out to help with that or at the ReSource and meet . . . EVERYBODY!
• First weekend in May; we’ve registered with ReTree WNY to plant 143 trees in the Masten Park and Cold Spring neighborhoods (this is around us and Queen City Farm) There will be more details about this event very soon

In today’s Buffalo News, go quickly to section D, City & Region, and scan your eyes to the left of the front page where you’ll read Donn Esmonde’s commentary on the Neighborhood Peace Mural Project board up at High Street. (If you’d like to be part of the next board up, contact volunteer {at} buffaloreuse(.)org for more details).

Thanks to Donn for visiting the ReSource and for the piece.

“Into the limbo between demolition and rehabilitation… has come a ray of hope…”

With great anticipation we were finally able to implement Phase II of the Neighborhood Peace Mural Project this past Saturday! (click on the photos to see the whole shebang). We want to express our gratitude to Jenn Hoag; she works at Home Depot and was instrumental in getting us a 25lb bucket screws, 10 boxes of nails, several hammers and socket sets. We’re very grateful and we hope that we’ll be able to get more supplies for the rest of the houses.

We arrived on site and began with a safety circle–introductions, stretches, safety concerns (yes, the “shaggy dog” made an appearance–there were about 15 in various degrees of shagginess). We met about 10 new friends from St. Bonaventure University; they chose us for part of their Service Day. BonaResponds showed up like smiling action heroes ready to unload the truck, blitz the house and get it secured in under 3 hours!
The gang spread out the murals and began measuring and trimming them to fit the windows and other openings. It’s sort of heart wrenching to trim the murals, but if we don’t, people can grab the over extended edges and yank the windows open with their bare hands. We removed the gray panels and then it was all about hammering on the colorful images!

I think people had a good time; we love meeting new friends! We met 2 photographers–Melissa and Tom; you’ll be able to see Melissa’s and Tom’s photos in the album pretty soon. We also met, Ellary, a grad student researching “mothballing” as an alternative to demolition (it’s a longterm preservation method for houses) that we are also implementing. There were a few people who were just walking by and chatted with us too.

If you’re a regular reader of this humble blog, you’ll know that 336 High St is reserved for rehab in the future and that the students from The Locust Street Art School were the mural painters. Our next board up is scheduled for April 12th; it’s a 2 story house near the Buffalo Academy of Visual and Performing Arts; we will definitely need a lot of help (pssst anybody got a cherry picker?)

Do you know other vacant houses on your block that might need improved security? If the house is also near a school, perhaps your block club Prez will write a letter in support of our effort to board up the house using the painted panels? We would prefer to board up houses that will not be demolished in the next 6months so that the students can enjoy seeing their artwork on their way to school. We have a demo list from the City, but they need to know that the neighbors support the painted panels vs. the gray panels the City uses.

If you’d like to assist with the next board up or in any other way please write us at volunteer {at} buffaloreuse(.)org