Thanksgiving

Thanks be to Chels (and helpers). Our first annual Vegan Tgiving was a testament to the great stuff Ad Astra is made of. Housemates, close friends and significant others filled three long tables stretching through the Map Room and living room. I believe the Tofurkey pleasantly surprised a few omnivores, guessing from the quizzical exclamations like, “I always pictured Tofurkey to be tofu molded into the shape of a Turkey!” and “Yum!” The traditional TG staples were well-represented: Green Bean Casserole, Stuffing, Sweet Potato Mash Bake, Mashed Potatoes and Gravy, Cranberry Sauce, Pecan Pie, and Apple Pie. Nontraditional (at least for me) crowd-pleasers included Vegan Mac ‘N “Cheese” and Pumpkin Ice Cream Pie. Wine was abundant, of both the jugged and corked varieties. Good food, good tunes, good company.

Recipe for Vegan Mac N Cheeze (from Common Feast, a Zine by the lovely House of Commons co-op in Austin, Texas):

1lb shell pasta

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 shallot, minced

1 c nutritional yeast

2 tbs apple cider vinegar

½ c Bragg’s Liquid Aminos

½ small container of Earth Balance – softened

1 Tbs onion powder

1 package silken mori nu tofu

5-7 oz soy milk

¼ c stone ground mustard

Pinch turmeric

Boil Pasta. In a skillet, heat a bit of Earth Balance, garlic and shallot. In a blender, combine garlic/shallot and the rest of the ingredients. Pour over cooked pasta.

Ad Astra will have a very special Vegan Thanksgiving Feast this Friday in celebration of friendship, community, and the lives to chicken and dairy cows! Several house members will cook the meal from scratch, using some recipes they've tried before and some new recipes obtained at the NASCO institute in Michegan earlier this month.

This will be the first major social event hosted at the Ad Astra house since our "Dress as Your Patron Deity" party towards the beginning of the school year.

NASCO

Ad Astra sent a small delegation to the NASCO institute last week.   They all came back very excited and full of new ideas on how to improve the House.  We look forward to hearing from Deacon, Ezra, and Jena on co-op improvements in the coming weeks. 

New Toilet

After 5 weeks of running downstairs every time nature called, upstairs Ad Astrans have a brand-spanking-new toilet!  This state-of-the-art waste disposal system has a dual flush.  That means less water for #1 and more for #2.  Yay conservation!  (Of course, the mellow yellow policy still applies).

Not only do we have a new toilet, we installed it ourselves. The night before buying the toilet,  UKSHA director Aaron Paden removed the toilet from the floor and set it in the bathtub.  It then fell to Ian and Jena to carry it down to the dumpster.  The smell was... not good.  The next day, Aaron arrived at our house with the new toilet.  He and Jason carried it upstairs and did the bulk of the installation, while Chelsea and I assisted with tool retrieval (once you're wedged in that space, you're not getting out easily).  But oh no!  The toilet was too high for our old water supply line.  Deacon found a box of random supply lines in the shop, but none of them fit.  Thus, it was left until tomorrow, when I could run to Cottin's Hardware and get a new supply line. A little twist, a turn of a knob, and presto!  The upstairs people are very, very happy.  Oh, and it' super slick, too.  You flush with a button on the top of the tank instead of the standard lever.  Snazzy.   

Our new Glacier Bay Elongated Dual Flush High Efficiency 1.1/1.6 GPF All-in-One Toilet

Posted by Beth

Ad Astrans in the News

 Current resident Jason Hering has been working to save the Wakarusa Wetlands.  Check out these news articles:

Lawrence Journal-World- Trafficway Opponents Seek KU Roadblock

University Daily Kansan- Demonstrators Hope Stop Wetland Road Talks

Posted by Beth

History of the Ad Astra House

 In 1865, Alexander Wilcox came to the newly chartered University of Kansas as a Professor of Greek, a position he held for 50 years, until his retirement in 1915. He founded the Wilcox Classical museum in 1896, originally housed in Old Fraser, currently housed in Lippincott hall on the KU campus.  In 1890, he built a three-story, 2,200 square foot home at 1309 Ohio, just blocks from campus.  Ownership of the house later passed to another KU professor, James Hunter.  As often happens with houses in the Oread neighborhood just east of campus, the home was eventually cut up into apartments.  On November 1st, 2000 the Kansas University Endowment Association purchased the house.  Three years later, the house was slated to be demolished to make room for new scholarship halls. 
      Meanwhile, the University of Kansas Student Housing Association (UKSHA) was managing two cooperatives, Sunflower House and Olive House, and was looking to open a third.  The old Wilcox-Hunter house was a prime candidate.  It had as a former home to noted KU professors, it had historic value, was a good size for a cooperative, and the price was right.  They purchased the house from the Endowment Association December 12, 2003 for one dollar.  With a second mortgage on Sunflower House and a $20,000 no-interest loan from the Lawrence Preservation alliance, UKSHA moved the house to 1033 Kentucky and began renovating what would become the Ad Astra student housing cooperative.


Posted by Beth (with assistance from Kenneth)

NEW BLOG!

Welcome to the Ad Astra Blog. Here we will be blogging about projects, our house, and the life of being an Ad Astran.