August 18th, 2013
Paula:
A few weeks after I arrived at Windward, I started organizing one of the shipping containers called Craft Box (I've been pushing to re-name it Cracker Barrel, but we'll see if that sticks once I leave).
The immediate task at hand was to organize Craft Box from a chaotic mess of boxes and bags into a functional space, while the big picture vision included organizing the space into three clearly delineated areas:
I mainly focused on the area concerning the clothing swap shop.
When I first started working in Craft Box, there were about a dozen army duffel bags full of old or donated clothing, a rack of vintage clothes, and a ton of mismatched shoes. With the help of Arianna, Faun, and Katie, I sorted through the duffel bags and made three piles: clothing that could be useful at Windward, clothing to be donated (it is in good condition but impractical for Windward), and clothing that is too damaged to salvage.
Concerning the vintage clothing, I sorted through all of them and chose the items I felt could potentially be profitable. On a trip into Portland, Katie took the clothes with her and managed to sell a few items at Red Light.
The remaining pieces of vintage clothing may eventually be sold on the Internet. As for the shoes, I matched pairs up as best I could and saved the damaged shoes for future material uses.
After the clothes were sorted, Andrew and I worked on a more efficient method of storage. Andrew wanted to better utilize the vertical space of the shipping container, so him and I installed two rods that are held in place by hooks, which are attached to pieces of wood.
By taking advantage of the vertical space, I was able to hang two rows of clothing instead of having just one rack on the floor (thanks to Opalyn, we got plenty of free hangers from Secondhand Rose).
Andrew and I also "mouse-proofed" an old dresser by nailing metal screening to its bottom, thereby allowing ample and mouse-free storage space for tee shirts and sweatshirts.
So now that the clothes are all sorted and hung up nice and pretty, core members, apprentices, and interns can use Craft Box as a swap shop. The idea is to maintain a state of homeostasis -a tit for tat kind of thing. For example, say Sally Intern needs a warmer sweater. Sally makes her way over to Craft Box, maybe stops to say hi to the goats, and then picks whichever sweater suits her fancy.
Well, fast-forward three months, and Sally has fallen so madly in love with the sweater that she cannot bear to part with it upon leaving Windward. Yet, since she does not believe in stealing, the situation seems hopeless to her. Sally must bid farewell to the sweater that has clothed her during all the ups and downs an internship naturally brings.
But wait-thanks to the newly organized clothing swap shop, Sally can have her cake and eat it too! As long as Sally leaves behind another piece of clothing, she can take her beloved sweater home with her.
From a different angle, say Sally needs to borrow a sweater but does not fall madly in love with it. She can still borrow a sweater for the duration of her internship, and at the end of her time she can wash it and hang it back up in Craft Box.
In addition to organizing the clothes, Katie and I sorted through the various piles of stuff that squeezed their way into the category of art supplies. Basically, we kept the things that actually could be used in the making of art and moved the non-art supplies to their appropriate places.
All in all, Cracker Barrel holds a fond place in my heart, as it taught me this lesson: If you don't know what you have, you might as well not have it.