Secret garden

Idea: a box, made, possibly, of wood, with cleverly constructed holes for the entry and exit of air and water.  Outside, a switch; inside, soil, a seed, and a lightbulb or two.  Somewhere a battery or other source of power for the light.  The box would be nailed/screwed/welded/sealed shut when complete, preferably in such a way that in order to open it one would have to do serious damage.  As I see it there are two possibilities:

1. A large water hole over which the light in a reflective tube can be fit.  It is wide enough that one can see through it and the stalk of the plant can fit through it, but not so wide that the flower, when flowered (if there are flowers) can.  We know from Science that plants grow towards their light sources, so hopefully the stalk would grow more or less straight up and out through the water hole (at this point one would have to begin using a second light to illuminate the stalk-parts remaining in the box), resulting in a sort of ship-in-jar effect, since the top of the box couldn't have been put on after the stalk reached the necessary height.

2.  Many small water/air holes drilled in the top of the box, too small to look through.  To make watering practical the top of the box could be concave; simply pour on some water and it'll drip through the holes without spilling.  The lights are contained completely within the box itself (more than one, probably, so the plant grows somewhat evenly), and you basically can't tell at all whether or not your plants are growing, unless they're particularly aromatic.

I prefer the second! It fits well with my earlier idea for cabinetry/wooden furniture of various sorts in which all the visible wood is unfinished, rough, etc, but the parts that face inward or are joined to other pieces of wood are all ornately decorated, smooth, etc.

Update: If, in the latter version, the plant is aromatic, it could be the least efficient potpourri ever.  While the plant grows and flourishes, and for a bit after it's died and dried, the pleasant Duft wafts through the room; if it's too wet, or, uh, something, however, the stench of rotting plant matter.  It's a commentary on—or perhaps an intervention into—the way we purchase beauty at the cost of life! What's more, it occurred to me that one could combine the box and the furniture idea and just have a sealed-shut box with (possible) ornate, artful decoration or hatever inside—but maybe it's just as plain on the in side as on the out! See, it's, like, about how you can never be sure if the objet possibly d'art for which you've given out your hard-earned shekels is really the product of an Artist who was Inspired and which Speaks about Something, or is junk turned out by a charlatan who's temporarily duped the artworld. But either way, just owning one testifies to your incredible situation! Buy now!

Comments

[bitchphd]

1 is lovely. 2 is sad. That you prefer 2 is also sad.

[ben wolfson]

Should we only be interested to view the cherry blossoms at their peak, or the moon when it is full? To yearn for the moon when it is raining, or to be closed up in one's room, failing to notice the passing of Spring, is far more moving.

Or you might prefer Keene's translation.

[ben wolfson]

You might also prefer the correct link.

[ben wolfson]

Hey, that still isn't the correct link! Whatever, do a search for "137" and follow the link to page 115.

[bitchphd]

How is "more moving" a correction to "sad"?

[Andrew]

Ben,

Can I email you about your Goethe Institut experience? I might go there next summer. My email is awgreenegmail.com Add the @

-Andrew

[ben wolfson]

It's a correction to the "sad" of your third sentence—that I (claim to) prefer the second option isn't a sad sign about me, but rather a sign of profundity, of sensitivity of soul.

[bitchphd]

I don't think I was saying it's a sad sign about you, but rather that it makes me sad. Sensitivity of soul may be profound and admirable and all that, young Werther, but I'm a pre-Romantic girl myself and I think there's a lot to be said for being a little more callous and a little more happy.