From the advent of specialty vegetable butchers to cooks being recognized for their clever use of plants, it’s clear that vegetables are no longer a side dish. And with a growing locavore movement in which buying produce from a nearby farm has become de rigueur, it’s easy to see why, driven by a spate of new home kits, DIY mushroom growing is emerging as the latest amateur agricultural pursuit. You can’t get any more local than this.
Easy-to-Grow Mushroom Garden: Mushroom foraging can lead to an unexpected magical place, or even to the ER. Back to the Roots’ oyster mushroom kit makes eating “wild” mushrooms not only safe, but also as simple as throwing coffee grinds in the trash. Aided by the expertise of mycologist Paul Stamets, entrepreneurs Nikhil Arora and Alex Velez created the Easy-to-Grow Mushroom Garden, a cardboard planter equipped with dried coffee grind “bricks” that prompt mushroom growth. Growers need only spritz their kit with water twice a day and the mushrooms will blossom within one week. Those concerned that the mushrooms may emit notes of morning espresso can rest assured that they have a clean, earthy flavor that’s, in fact, good enough for Whole Foods.
Like the countless musicians shunning major labels to maintain creative freedom, a new class of video game designers is shirking the mass market in favor of individual experimentation. With this rise in the production of independent video games, showcases for indie games are emerging across the gaming landscape. We’ve identified some of the top players in this swelling segment of Geekdom.
Indie Arcades: Though not all Gen Ys are old enough to remember a time when a fistful of quarters was enough to subsidize a killer Saturday afternoon, many are still waxing nostalgic for old school arcades. For them, newfangled indie arcades are a compelling attraction, not to mention a viable venue for DIY coders to show off their works. Functioning almost as a gallery, NYC’s roving indie arcade Babycastles offers space for enthusiasts and passersby alike to play home-coded games in a communal environment while also enjoying art displays and live music performances. Produced in partnership with biweekly all-ages show publication Showpaper (and partially funded by IGN), Babycastles is currently situated in midtown Manhattan through year-end.
With concert touring having become the foundation of the music industry in the digital age, it seems that everyone now wants a piece of the business. Though they may not have the sound systems, light shows and sightlines of more established arenas and halls, a growing number of DIY spaces are opening their doors—and often their kitchens, bathrooms and living rooms—to the music-loving public. Here are three new unconventional venues at which you can catch up-and-coming talent.
Envelope: New York City is no stranger to apartments-cum-performance spaces—along the JMZ subway line alone you have Death By Audio, Silent Barn, Dead Herring, Market Hotel and the recently opened Pyramids, among others—but Envelope is its most upscale. Think shabby chic instead of just plain shabby, locavore fare from purveyors like Brooklyn Brewery and Catania Bakery, and set ticket prices rather than a pay-as-you-wish sliding scale. It’s a far cry from its Bushwick brethren, which might have something to do with the fact that it doubles as home to musicians Chris Garneau and Caralee McElroy. Before you set out for one of Envelope’s monthly shows, however, you’ll need to secure a ticket online—the address is only given out to those who’ve clicked “buy.”
It seems as though Portland, the one in Oregon, is a destination people are place-dropping every chance they get. The city that spans the Columbia River has become a trend hotbed, offering residents and visitors alike an abundance of food cart cuisine and green living, both long before they became yuppie standards. Hot on the heels of the latest Project Runway winner, here’s what’s been cookin’ in PDX lately.
DIY Coffee Roasting: Until recently, we were content with a standard latte, but leave it to the city that gave us Stumptown to make us realize that a run-of-the-mill cup of Joe doesn’t cut it anymore. A new crop of DIY javaheads is catapulting headfirst into the roasting process, from roasting beans on a stovetop to upcycling popcorn poppers into affordable coffee roasters. Establishments like the Lovejoy Coffee Company are selling unroasted green beans (not the vegetable) along with hands-on counseling. For more “formal” instruction, aspiring roasters can take a class at Mr. Green Beans or Portland Roasting. Just be warned: once you DIY your beans, Starbucks will never be the same again.
