Once in a while the ReSource staff will get a comment that goes like this “Twenty dollars for that? But youse guys (we’re in Buffalo) get it for free and I could get it at the home center for fifteen bucks!” Haggling, although officially discouraged, seems to be unavoidable. But that comment has a few elements that get directly to the heart of the ReUse and its mission.

First, “stuff” at the ReSource is priced on average at 50% of a new or similar item, with adjustments up or down for uniqueness or condition. The reference process come from hardware catalogs (e.g. Lee Valley, Rejuvenation, Van Dyke’s Restorers, Rocklers, etc.), business people (antique dealers, contractors, lumber yards, etc.) and prices of similar items in local stores, lumber yards, and online.

However, the “stuff” the ReUse collects is actually not free. The ReUse is not a passive filter that simply collects items, nor is it an illegal operation that scouts around for vacant buildings and simply helps itself to the contents. Unfortunately people probably associate the ReUse with scrappers who do steal metal and architectural salvage. I’ll address this a bit further down.

Born from and rooted in our community

The ReUse has a 501c3, not-for-profit designation so that money made from its sales is invested directly back into the organization to fund its missions, broadly described here – creating local, self-sustaining economies, job training and personal growth, especially for youths, neighborhood outreach and rebuilding efforts. Please see the webpage for more details and how ReUse is succeeding.
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I’ve been noticing spots forming on the squash plants. At first I ignored it, thinking it was just one leaf with funny looking white spots, but after it spread to a couple of the squash I decided to go into Plant Protector mode. Plant Protector to the rescue! The spots, I was informed via the worldwide web, are powdery mildew, a mildew that affects many squash plants if they are planted late in the growing season. Well given that we planted the squash super late in the season, I’d say it makes sense that the squash is being attacked by this mildew. Luckily it is not harmful to the fruit/vegetable of the plant, but it can become harmful if it kills all the leaves on the plant! No leaves=no photosynthesis=no food for plant=DEATH. And with death there will obviously be no vegetables.

No vegetables!? Faced with this dreary prospect I have completely thrown myself into the world of organic farming. Battling the powdery mildew organically is the only choice since I don’t want to spray nasty chemicals on the things that I will be eating. After searching through farming advice websites, I found a solution! Apparently the experiment was first completed in South America, and it was proven that spraying a milk/water solution on the affected plants will generally get rid of 90% of the problem. Not a fix-all solution, but when is something EVER a fix-all?

So today I tried the milk/water treatment. I found a spray bottle, filled it with 3/4 water, 1/4 milk and sprayed it on the leaves and stems of all the squash and pumpkin plants. I will repeat this in a couple of days–they say 2 treatments weekly should do the trick! This treatment was super easy to do. Now the only thing to do is wait. AND to take a shower because my hands and arms smell like warm milk. Ewwww!

Our community garden is funded in part through material donations and a collaborative grant awarded by The Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo

It’s so wonderful to have fans and it’s even more wonderful when you’re fans of your FANS!  We love WNYMedia and want to hug Chris and Marc (and call them George).  They stopped by last week and caught some footage of our Green Summer Crew!  They posted their project on their space.  Click & Watch it! 
WNYMedia also wants to host a party for us; stay tuned for details!

(Dr. Henry Taylor, of UB’s Urban Planning Dept. spoke with the Green Summer Crew last week)

I’ve never really been much of a gardener; keeping the one plant alive in my kitchen is basically the extent of my expertise. So when Michael and Caesandra began discussing having gardens around the ReSOURCE, I was totally psyched by the idea, but with my lack of veggie planting experience I never thought I would be helping plan them and making them happen.

Well, I’m happy to announce that we have officially started our community garden project! Two weeks ago, with the start of the summer youth program, Michael rented a rototiller and we ground up the soil and planted rows and rows of squash, watermelon, strawberries (that will come back in the next years), and flowers. They had all been growing in their respective containers for a month and we finally transplanted them. We’ve slowly been adding raised beds which contain eggplant, carrots, radish, beets, tomatoes, hot peppers, many types of beans, spinach, lettuce, and more and more delicious veggies! Everyday things are growing and producing vegetables that we can eat! Just yesterday I checked on the eggplant and it’s now two inches in size!!

Community gardens are amazing. They provide a place of hope and beauty in the neighborhood and the plants growing everyday highlights the great sense of pride we can find in growing our own vegetables and in turn pride in the community that helped to produce those vegetables. Community gardens are also a great place for socializing. Even on the first day I was talking to people from the neighborhood who were curious about what we are trying to accomplish. People I have never talked to before have started stopping by; it’s a great way to build a community and make friends. For example, I am now good friends with the neighbors across the street who generously supplied water when we didn’t have access to our own water supply yet. And the woman down the street stopped by to tell me she would like to spend time working on her own little plot in the garden too!

It is our hope that the beginning stages of this garden will blossom into a fully functional garden next spring and provide a food source as well as a source of pride for the area’s residents. Already I can see this happening; all it took was a little dirt, some seeds, and some TLC to liven up a former empty lot. Fingers crossed that there will be enough of a harvest this year and then we can invite the community out to enjoy all of the veggies, cooked in various ways. Perhaps a small harvesting celebration is in order so we can enjoy both the vegetables and each others’ company. Anyway, I hope you come for a visit or volunteer in our patchwork garden. It’d be great to see you there!

Our community garden is funded in part through material donations and a collaborative grant awarded by The Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo

Two customers came into the resource today looking for leaded glass windows or parts to replace them.

The first was a frazzled and frustrated customer who asked if anyone had come in and sold us a trio of leaded glass windows. Someone had broken into his rental house and stolen three leaded glass windows and left three ragged holes. He was desperately looking for replacement leaded windows.

I explained:

• The ReUse does not buy salvage precisely because it fuels theft of architectural heritage.

• We rarely obtain leaded windows because they are mostly stolen or badly damaged.

• The need to protect leaded and stained glass windows.

The second was friend of mine looking for wood of appropriate dimensions to rebuild four, 52 inch curved sashes for a turret on a house. All four 50 lb windows had been stolen from the second floor. The job to rebuild the sashes alone is massive and expensive. Police detectives went to many antique and pawn shops but never found them.

So again, protect your windows.

Ian

Stained glass

At the ReSource customers often ask for stained glass windows. Our stock is somewhat limited to some smaller pieces, mostly leaded glass as opposed to stained glass proper, and usually with some damage.

Leaded and Stained Glass

The most common type of windows in Buffalo are leaded glass windows rather than stained glass. Leaded glass windows are generally composed of clear glass, although it may be rippled, seedy, beveled, etc… commonly floral and geometric designs are created by the came (the leading) around the glass. I believe these windows were so ubiquitous because they were produced cheaply by mass production techniques. The designs were simpler and clear glass parts were mass produced and needed little cutting. The windows could also be assembled by unskilled labor. I believe that people were emulating the stained glass displayed by the wealthiest households with the means they had. To me it is a testament to the aesthetic sense that Buffalonians had. I’ve never seen more leaded and stained glass in any other city.

By contrast, true stained glass windows are usually unique masterworks. They are/were very expensive – hence the reason they reside in mansions and churches. Strictly speaking stained glass is a mosaic of colored glass. The glasses form the design and the leading is generally not the focus. The cost is born out in the originality, the intricacy, the glass quality, the scale, and labor for these windows. Colored glass was expensive with pink and reddish glasses often containing gold! When unique sheets of grained and swirled glasses such as Youghiogheny glass were used it was customary to have grain patterns continuous across the piece. For example the petals of a flower might all be cut from the same sheet, even though this wastes a lot of glass. Each piece of glass in the mosaic had to be roughly cut and then shaped by a process called grozing – essentially nipping away the sharp points until the glass is the shape desired. Assembly was the same as for leaded windows, except where fancier leading was desired.

Some windows also have drawings on them, e.g. the faces in church windows. This process involves painting the image onto the glasses with “trace paint” mixed in vinegar or gum Arabic depending on the effect needed. The glass then had to be fired at 1100^oF for many hours to evaporate the gum Arabic or other base and let the paint fuse into the glass.

I have included a copy of a page from a favorite book of mine, “Cathedral” by a favorite author/illustrator David Macaulay. From top to bottom it shows the process of making glass, smelting lead, spinning sheets from blown glass, designing, cutting and assembling stained glass windows in 1300 AD. The process has changed little since.

I should note that despite the definitions above there are also extremely intricate leaded windows, cheap unimpressive stained glass windows, and windows that combine both elements.

Care and Feeding of Stained and Leaded Glass

In my neighborhood of about 60 houses only one or two still retain all or part of their leaded glass windows. All had them at one time. This illustrates how rare they are and why the ones we get at the ReSource are usually damaged. That’s the bad news. The good news is that they can be readily repaired. They can also be modified or made more fanciful with a little work. They can also find new life as wall decorations, room dividers, tables or whatever your mind can conceive. Depending on the repair or modification this may not be cheap though, as it requires entirely manual labor.
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Last week our 5 new Green Crew Leaders began training together in preparation for our six week Green Summer program. Amanda Watkins, Shelly Inniss-Jackson and Katherine Beyer along with Cheryl Mingo and Marcus Austin are coordinating the neighborhood projects a group of 20 teens will complete this summer. The sorts of projects we have on tap are lot cleanups, pruning, mowing, board-ups, community garden installation and property maintenance and service projects for the elderly or even church groups. The mentors have already begun a short list of projects and service groups to connect with; however, if you know of people in the neighborhood with needs, please contact the crew leaders greensummer {at} buffaloreuse(.)org or call 716-882-2800 to find out how we can help. The program is short so don’t wait!

In addition, the program hopes to expose the teens to green collar job opportunities and education by visiting places like the windmills or landfills and recycling centers. “Have van; will travel” if you have a great site young people should know about as it relates to a green economy, an eco-friendly lifestyle or a service to the community, please make contact with us and let’s show the teens all the options available to them.

The last several months have been rough for our ReUse family with many coping through personal tragedies. We are sad to report the sudden loss of one of our own staff. Many of you may have met Willie at the ReSource and he may have helped you with a purchase or you may have met him at the Grand Opening. Willie had been working with us for only a few months. He had been out recovering from a serious illness and we looked forward to his return; however, we learned recently that a violent incident claimed Willie’s life.

We will miss him very much because he was a kind man with a cheery gait and a quick wit! Kevin Hayes enjoyed working with Willie a lot, “William was a steady, dependable worker and understood what we were trying to do at the ReSOURCE. I missed him when he got sick and am greatly saddened on his passing.” Willie brought a lot of experience to the team as well.

If you knew Willie, please join us in sharing a story and remembering him: