Made by Hand

By Mark Frauenfelder

Mark tries a lot of things-- raising chickens. Living on a tropical island for a year, making high quality espresso by hand with a custom modified espresso machine, home fermenting.

In his efforts, he confronts the problem of home made goods-- sometimes they can  be better. The often take more time. The whole experience can be more pleasureful, meditative even. But the end result may not justify the effort.

I struggle with this myself, with minor home renovations and repairs. It takes a lot of time to do a good job. Yet it costs hundreds of dollars to get a professional. If I spent the money on better tools, would I be better off? More often than not, I do a mediocre job and regret the experience.