Better Bones and Gardens explores the quirky projects of Dan Phillips, a trash architect; and Kipp Nash, an urban farmer. These men are remaking the common house and garden in wildly imaginative ways. Discarded cattle bones, wine corks, DVDs, and bottle caps are used as building materials for homes, while manicured grass lawns are transformed into lush nutritious gardens. While these projects may sound a little strange, Kipp Nash and Dan Phillips show that by following their passion for building and gardening, they can help people save money and keep our planet a little cleaner.
Dan Phillips (65) is an intellectual, energetic builder who has taken the initiative to create affordable, sustainable housing in Huntsville, TX. In contrast to the “processed cheese sandwich” houses that are typically seen, Dan shows that homes can be functional works of art using materials that were headed for the landfill. His imagination is endlessly inventive, and his materials range from discarded park signs as stairs to DVDs creating a mirrored studio wall. He’s created a floor using t-shirts and Elmer’s glue and his latest house uses cattle bones throughout. As Dan explains, people may be put off by the trash at first, but if you “legitimize trash” people will see it in a whole new light.
While Dan is busy building his homes, Kipp Nash is tearing up front lawns to create beautiful, edible gardens. Kipp is a young, shy-away-from-the-spotlight kind of guy who developed a passion for organic farming. Unfortunately, he had no means of affording agricultural land in his hometown of Boulder, Colorado. After a flash of creative impulse, Kipp decided to ask his neighbors if he could “borrow” their front and back yards to start up a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program. As we watch Kipp toil away on his tiny plots and harvest his creations, we see that he has started a new craze by looking at our lawns differently. As Kipp says, “Our front yards and back yards are not commonly looked at as food resources. So, what happens when we start looking at them as food resources? Things change a whole lot!”
Together, Kipp and Dan weave a whimsical story about following a different path in life. They admit that it’s not easy. Both have faced financial hardship, lots of hard work, and some failures. Kipp has to take on a second job as a bus driver to support his farming project. Meanwhile, Dan has had to re-mortgage his home to finance his building projects; convincing building inspectors that his ideas will work can be quite a challenge. In the end, we see that their sacrifices are absolutely worth it. Kipp is proudly selling his produce at his CSA, and Dan is giving a tour of the bone house to college students as he teaches them about recycled materials. Kipp and Dan provide a powerful story of how a little strife and a little change in attitude can lead us all to better homes and gardens.