| Tuesday and Wednesday evening-- |
[Jul. 17th, 2009|05:33 pm] |
Hello, all!
Two very special events this week, if you can make them--local food goddess Marla Camp joins us in our "Tuesdays on the Porch" series at Texas French Bread, 29th and Rio Grande, for an evening of conversation and local food. (Clickie!)
Aaaand, we're going to be at the Vortex Theater this coming Wednesday for an evening with Nigel O'Hearn. This should be a great evening of conversation and drama. Please join us :)
One more minor (?) news article--the Front Porch Project is starting an on-going book study group Wednesday mornings at Book People. This week, the wrap-up of "Blessed Unrest." WEdnesday the 29th--Bob Jensen's new book, "All My Bones Shake." (More information...)
Take care,
Rumbelow |
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| House-shopping with Pattiwax and Meadowbriar-- |
[Jul. 6th, 2009|10:22 pm] |
 Is this the future home of The Front Porch Project and Loggia? Hard to say! But there's one of those unique consensus on the porch that this would be a good place to begin, so we wanted to give our members a brief tour of what just might be the newest music venue in Austin and the hottest off-Congress place for a cup of coffee. |
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Journey if you will through downtown Austin on I35. Just past the last of the skyscrapers, you hop on the access road at Cesar Chavez. On the left, if you're traveling in the early Spring, the green of the traffic median is a riot of yellows and blues as the wildflowers push into bloom. And on the right, Loggia, the Front Porch Project's home. The front lawn is a welcome garden just off the highway, a bright, colorful oasis. |
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 You have to imagine the bright colors, because right now, the building is an inconspicuous gray color. We're going to have to fix that! Ideally some local artist will risk a stepladder to paint a swirling mural on the rails and supports of the second storey balcony (the diners won't see it, but the slower rush hour traffic will!) My vote's for a version of "Starry Night," but with more bluebonnets. We'll see what happens. But the garden on the front lawn is non-negotiable. |
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Meadowbriar, Pattiwax and myself took a trip to see this interesting building after a long weekend. After lunch at the IHOP on Cesar Chavez and I35, we snuck out of the parking lot down the block. The house sits in the middle of a circle of family businesses, wrapped by a parking lot of a small auto sales yard. It's got a nice front lawn, and potential for a covered outdoor stage area in the space behind the building. The interior is an exciting maze of rooms and subrooms--some of those walls are going to have to go to make room for arches and open space, but we'll certainly keep some of the nooks for more intimate dining. The building is a home converted to a two-floor office, with a small kitchenette upstairs. Every room has a cubby, a built-in shelf, or a display cabinet as a part of the wall--lots of display room and shelves for books and board games for the coffee-shop regulars, and books and gifts from Loggia's wares. |
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The upstairs balcony stretches the length of the building, wrapping around the side to lead to a little staircase between levels. Not the most scenic view, but there's a relaxing quality to traffic at night. Two sides of the same coin--the space is very visible from the road, and easily accessible from downtown, but the highway is a bit noisy for outdoor dining. So many compromises in life. We'll have to see if this is a place we grow to love, or a nest for us to grow and fledge. Could go either way!
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It was really a treat to walk through the building and imagine the possibility of Life on the Porch. And Pattiwax hasn't mentioned how thrilled she is that the Loggia will have, well, a loggia, a big open balcony. The layout just sparks all kinds of ideas, and the potential of the area itself--a good-sized parking lot lends itself to outdoor art festivals, and the streets nearby have huge greenbelts that just cry out for events. We're only about 20 stone throws away from our friends at Boggy Creek farms, and a few vacant lots in the area lend themselves to eventspace. Lots of potential! More news when we have more news... |
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| The Front Porch presents a month of Tuesdays :) |
[Jul. 4th, 2009|10:31 am] |
The Front Porch Projectmeets every Tuesday evening at Texas French Bread on 29th and Rio Grande, a couple of blocks away from the drag, for an evening of conversation and good food after-hours. Enjoy TFB's fine menu, wine and conversation--and please bring a friend!
Over the next few weeks, we've got a bunch of great speakers and facilitators lined up!
Tuesday, July 7, 6:00: Brad Carlin, the executive director of Salvage Vangard Theater--on local theater, improv, and the local art scene. Salvage Vangard Theater "creates and presents transformative, high-quality artistic experiences that foster experimentation and conversation." A mission statement we can TOTALLY get behind! Come and foster conversation with with Brad and the Front Porch!
Salvage Vangard Theater will be hosting an evening of improv and conversation with the Front Porch on July 22. This Tuesday's event is a taste of things to come!
Tuesday, July 14, 6:00: Mason Arnold, a founder of Greenling Organic Delivery--local and organic food and Austin entrepreneurship.
Greenling is a group delivering local food and organic produce straight to your door. They're focused on building a sustainable future through changing people's habits and lifestyles, a few small changes on a wide level. Greenling is the group that delivers the big plastic bins of farm-fresh produce, making organics more accessible and affordable for Austin.
Tuesday, July 21, 6:00: Marla Camp, owner and publisher of Edible Austin. Edible Austin is a gem of local food, recipes, and sustainable dining, and we're honored to have Marla join us!
What can we possibly say about Edible Austin? Pick up the magazine at Whole Foods, Central Market, or the farmer's markets, it's a lovely--and free--publication showing off local foodies, bringing great ideas literally to the table, and tempting you with healthy and exciting recipes. We are amazed, gentle reader, that we can pick this up off the "gimme" rack before shopping (amazed, and somewhat dismayed, as our pocket books have lost more weight than we have this year!)
Tuesday, July 28, 6:00: To Be Determined
Tuesday, August 4, 6:00: Susan Leibrock, community relations director, The Sustainable Foods Center. Working to redefine food distribution and marketing in Central Texas.
The Sustainable Food Center creates opportunities for individuals to make healthy food choices and participate in the local food system, through education, relationships with local farmers, and organic food gardening. Responsible for the launch of the Austin Farmer's Market, a farm-to-cafeteria program in Seton hospital. As we work toward the launch of Fresh, we're delighted to share a dialog with SFC!
Our speakers for the summer have been chosen as part of our focus on sustainable foods leading up to the Austin premier of Fresh: The Movie. Check our News Blog for the latest information on this film! |
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| Tuesday evening at Texas French Bread-- |
[Jun. 17th, 2009|08:25 am] |
It's early, and pre-coffee, so I tried to say "Texas French Porch," which just makes no sense.
Yesterday evening, we had a lively discussion at Texas French Bread on 29th and Rio Grande. The general topic was food and sustainability, buying local. The TFB folks are participants in the Austin Farmer's Market and advocates of local buying and slow food, and lead the conversation, which ranged a bit.
One of the more interesting tangents--if someone was there and could refresh my memory on who, exactly, said this--was in a thread of discussion about subsidized food prices that create an inexpensive and unrealistic food market for mass-produced, grocery store produce and meats, while creating an *apparent* high price for organic, local foods. While there's some truth that the prices for local food are high, since there's generally a lack of economy of scale, some of this is just that local food is priced realistically, without large subsidies.
One of our guests compared (while acknowledging the length of the stretch of analogy) that the pricing scheme, the result of a 50-year experiment in mass agriculture, and the industry struggle of agribusiness vs. local, resembles the depressed pricing of of a slave-based economy, which, frankly, America got over (well...that's probably arguable, but our *domestic* slave economy at least). A slow process let us see the link between ethics, pricing, and production, and that's the sort of situation we face with sustainable agriculture.
The evening's menu was a farm-to-table menu of fresh produce, very vegetarian-friendly. I had a tasty roasted beet salad with feta and carrots. Excellent food, illustrative of much of the discussion.
Next week--Tuesday at 6:00--we'll have a speaker from Made in Austin to speak about his efforts to create a native Austin brand. Should be fun, make it if you can!
(Cross-posted to Bodega Days) |
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| June 21 postponed-- |
[Jun. 16th, 2009|04:26 pm] |
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Sounds like we're going to have to put off the June 21 event until some other Solstice. Kind of like a row of dominoes, one thing fell into another and the event became unworkable. Ach, well, on to Tuesday evening conversation at Texas French Bread. See you there? |
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| An invitation to the foodies-- |
[Jun. 13th, 2009|10:52 am] |
One of our big upcoming events, a fundraiser/friendraiser for Made in Austin, crops up on June 21--not that far from now! The Open Source Diner has been tasked with providing foodstuffs for this event.
One of the Front Porch's ongoing concepts is to work with local foodies and food vendors to create a menu that's uniquely and completely Austin. In our summer campaign we're going to be helping organize fundraisers for several local organizations, beginning with the Made in Austin group. If you'd like to get some publicity for your food biz, are interested in being one of our food partners when Loggia opens in September, or just want to support us and the organizations we're working with, we'd LOVE to have you on the Open Source Diner team!
We're looking for foodies to help serve the crowd (we're estimating 50-100) on our Longest Day party. We should be able to at least partially subsidize ingredients, though donations are appreciated, since we're donating as much as we are able to Made in Austin when the evening is over.
Interested in playing, helping our indigenous businesses, and helping us get the Front Porch Project word out? Let us know! |
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| Upcoming events: |
[Jun. 13th, 2009|10:51 am] |
Hello from the Front Porch!
We're starting to fill up our summer schedule with new events and opportunities for conversation, music, food and entertainment. Our web calendar can be found at:
http://www.frontporchproject.org/calendar/
* Tuesdays on the Porch: An ongoing event hosted by Texas French Bread. Tuesdays, from 6:00-8:30, you're invited to join us at Texas French Bread on 29th and Rio Grande for an evening of conversation, music provided by a local artist, food provided from a selected menu by TFB. This Tuesday the 16th the focus will be on food and sustainability--a recurring theme as we build up to the Austin premier of "Fresh." Guest speakers: Murph and Ben Willcott, Texas French Bread.
* The Longest Day Party: Join us at the Long House, Sunday, June 21, from 6 to 10, as we celebrate the longest day of the year and raise money and awareness for Made in Austin. Local musicians and food from the Open Source Diner team. Children are welcome! The Long House is located on Live Oak near Oltorf and South Congress. Artists, addresses coming soon.
* Wednesday Morning Book Study: Every Wednesday morning at 10:30. Sometimes, we talk about books! Currently we're working our way through "Blessed Unrest," a reflection on the combined impact on the ecological, indigenous peoples, and human rights movement.
*The Austin Premier of Fresh: The Movie: Co-hosted with the Alamo Drafthouse and Edible Austin. Expect this movie premier on August 18 and/or 25, dinner by the Alamo chefs. This event is a fundraiser for the Sustainable Food Center. Guest speaker, members of the local sustainable food community. More information coming soon.
Thank you, and we hope to see you soon!
Best wishes,
Jacob: Webmaster, The Front Porch Project |
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| One down, X-1 to go! |
[Jun. 4th, 2009|07:00 am] |
The kickoff event at St. David's Church went off pretty well. Granted, a few bugs to work out in our script, but we'll iron those kinks out.
Artist Roy Bellows talked about his design for the ark of the...uh...well, still not sure, we've been occasionally calling it the Ark of the Conversation, a travelling temple until we find our new home. Author Greg Garrett did a few readings from his novel "Shame," Meadowbriar and Pattiwax gave some background on the Front Porch Project concept (and we learned that "Meadowbriar" is the street he grew up on), I was forced to speak briefly on the Front Porch blogs, and a good time--and empanadas, and locally-made beer and wine--was had by many.
Mother Falcon's music was exceptional, rich and liquid and thoroughly above par. I've learned that I can't get even very OBVIOUS innuendo.
What's next on the calendar? 6/21, a Long Night party at The Long House--children are welcome, food and music and conversation from dusk till dark. More specific information to come.
Tuesday/Thursday conversations opening up at Texas French Bread on South Congress. Not sure what the topics are. I suspect one of the topics will be:
FRESH: The Premier. A movie about food. Hosted by the Alamo Drafthouse. We'll probably be trying to get some volunteers together to make this movie a success.
Aaaand a few more church events like the St. David's one. Again, more as I know more, and thanks to everyone who showed up--Photos coming soon! |
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| Did we mention the Amazon store yet? and, concept for new book study-- |
[May. 24th, 2009|10:44 am] |
Every Wednesday morning at Spider House coffee, 10:30-ish, we've been meeting to discuss...well, it started with a few books on the Emergent Church, but I think we're moving into "Blessed Unrest," a study of the local/slow/sustainable/fair trade/ethical food movement. From that, and from the fact that we are currently without a bookstore, we set up The Front Porch Project A-Store, an affiliate store with Amazon.Com.
Several nonprofits are using these A-stores as a way to recommend books and give other people an opportunity to support their organization without any additional cost--in essence, Amazon gives a modest (6% or so) back from anyone who makes a purchase from Amazon after entering from this site.
At any rate, it's not (currently) as flexible as the full Amazon store, but it will let you purchase items from your wish list. Once we've finished our current revisions of the Front Porch home page, I'll add some more versatile searching tools, but actual search functionality isn't built into the current Amazon A-store engine.
Enough about THAT, though. I'm toying with an idea for a new blog/community--a fantasy/SF monthly book study 'blog. Each month, the group would pick a new book to read (we'll probably start with the Wicked trilogy--Wicked, Son of a Witch, Lion Among Men). The moderators would post probably once a week with some topics over the scheduled reading for the week, and community members with interesting ideas re: that section (or the ones before) could post their own ideas, with discussion in the form of comments.
The group would meet once a month for a social thing--maybe the comedy gold "Wizard People Dear Reader" movie viewing if we start working through the Harry Potter books, or similer semi-themed socials.
Tentatively, I'm calling the blog "9 3/4ths and Lamar," in my head. Interested? Interested in moderating? |
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| Did you ever have to make up your mind? |
[May. 21st, 2009|01:23 pm] |
Pattiwax and I have been having a minor feud over the naming of cats the Front Porch Project's brick and mortar store. I think I'm over the general "well, obviously I'm right" phase of the feud, and have started listening to the voices that aren't in my head on this one...
So, the question comes down to "Logia" or "Loggia"?
The first one is A) a collections of wise sayings, or B) the sayings of Jesus that aren't specifically in the bible. The second one is an architectural feature, an internal room, usually a long hall, that's open to the elements through porticullus or columns. It tends to be a decorated area, a gallery (more in the architectural sense than the artistry sense). It's also, I learn through research, by definition a porch.
There's a bit of a pun involved because both spellings share a common pronunciation. I've been leaning toward the first one primarily because I think the spelling is a little more obvious and it'd be easier to work into a logo. However, the "Loggia" spelling has a stronger tradition in coffee houses, academic architecture, and as a type of porch, it's got a bit of a play on words as well. The second word actually is probably a stronger "concept" word.
I'd appreciate any thoughts people might have on this. Since we really haven't put the word into general circulation yet as our business name, there's still time to adjust spellings before our big event at the end of May... |
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