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19 Uses For An Instant Pot You've Probably Never Thought Of

October 22, 2019 by Lydia Noyes Leave a Comment

This post may contain affiliate links. Read our Affiliate Disclosure here.

Do you love your Instant Pot, but feel like it could do more for you?

Maybe you're ready to branch out beyond the basics and see what this machine can really do.

Or maybe you've not committed to buying an Instant Pot yet and want to see what it can do before you invest.

Related Reading: 24 Instant Pot Accessories Every Owner Needs To Know About

What Is An Instant Pot?

"Instant Pot" is the name of a popular brand of electric pressure cooker that's transforming the weeknight dinner game.

It's had over 35,000 ratings on Amazon and was one of Amazon's five best selling items on Black Friday and Cyber Monday in 2018.

This game-changing kitchen gadget makes it fast and easy to cook homemade meals by acting similar to a high-speed crockpot.

By setting the Pot to build up pressure for set amounts of time, you can cook meat dishes, soup, and even cheesecake in a fraction of the time it would take with other appliances, and without the guesswork involved with a traditional stovetop pressure cooker.

But there's more to the Instant Pot than making a quick pasta dish. It turns out there are dozens of creative uses for this versatile machine that spans everything from crafting, cosmetics, and candy.

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19 Unique Uses For Your Instant Pot

You're doing yourself a disservice if you limit your pressure cooker use to nothing but dinner.

Below are nineteen innovative uses for an electric pressure cooker that will keep it in your heavy rotation.

Note: While most of these recipes specifically refer to an Instant Pot, almost any brand of pressure cooker should work well (see end of article).

1. Handmade Popsicle Stick Bracelets

If you're interested in making unique jewelry for pennies apiece, an Instant Pot can help you out.

Just fill the machine with water and set it to saute mode. The water will soon start to boil, at which point you can toss in popsicle sticks of your preferred width.

Let them boil for several minutes, and then carefully pull them out of the Pot with tongs. The sticks should be heated enough that you can (carefully) bend them to the shape of your wrist. If the sticks aren't pliable enough, place them back in the water for a few more minutes.

Once the sticks have cooled, you can decorate them as you wish. Some people cover them in fabric or scrapbook paper; others use permanent markers or wrap them in embroidery floss.

There's no limit to the creativity for making some ultra-cheap and unique bangles.

This tutorial from The Graphics Fairy will help you with design ideas.

2. Sterilize Breast Pumps and Baby Bottles

Instant Pots serve double duty for nursing mothers. Not only are they an easy way to make dinner, but they can be used to sterilize baby bottles and other nursing supplies.

Just add a cup of water to the Pot and place the trivet inside. Add all items you want to be sanitized to the Pot, ensuring they don't touch each other.

Close the lid, turn on steam mode for two minutes, and allow the steam to release naturally for five minutes. Manually release the rest, and pull out your sanitized equipment to dry on a clean kitchen towel.

3. Homemade Dog Food

Don't limit your Instant Pot to human needs; it's a stellar accessory for making pet food as well.

Using the Instant Pot lets you dump all ingredients into the Pot at once and move on to other tasks while everything cooks.

You can make a week's worth of food in one batch, making feeding your pet homemade dog food easier than picking up a bag of kibble at the store.

While almost any homemade dog food recipe can be adapted for a pressure cooker, Tales From the Back Road walks you through the steps for getting started with a healthy chicken recipe.  

4. Herb Infused Oil

Extract as much benefit from your garden-fresh herbs as possible by processing them in your Instant Pot.

Both fresh and dried herbs can be infused with oil at low heat. The yogurt setting on most Instant Pots is perfect.

Simply combine the herbs and oil of your choice into a mason jar, and place it on the trivet in an Instant Pot.

Fill the Pot with water halfway up the sides of the jar and set it to low on crockpot mode or the yogurt setting.

Let the herbs steep in the hot oil for up to four hours before turning the Pot off and allowing it to come to room temperature.

You can strain the herbs from the oil with a cheesecloth or potato ricer, and store the oil in an amber-colored container out of direct sunlight.

5. Recycled Crayons

With a little creativity, you can use your Instant Pot to melt down crayons for new art accessories.

A Well Filled Homemaker explains how to do it.

First, you'll need to collect popsicle sticks, parchment paper, small plastic cups, broken crayons in multiple colors, and a silicone mold, preferably in a cute shape.   

Start by sorting your crayon pieces by color into the cups. Different shades of the same color are okay, and there's no need to remove the paper coating.

Add one cup of water to your Instant Pot insert and place the included trivet in the bottom. Put in the containers of crayons, and lock on the lid of the Instant Pot. Set it to steam mode for two minutes, and allow the pressure to release naturally.

Remove the cups from the Pot and carefully pour the melted wax into the molds, keeping the paper coverings out of the way with the popsicle sticks. Once the wax hardens, pop your new crayons out of the molds.

6. Homemade Elderberry Syrup (and Gummies!)

Making homemade elderberry syrup in your Instant Pot is easier than you think, and you gain full control over the flavoring process to create gummies that you love.

Sparkles To Sprinkles shares a recipe for elderberry gummies that do double duty; they are both delicious and a natural immune booster.

To make the syrup, you'll need a cup of dried elderberries, two tablespoons of fresh ginger, two cinnamon sticks, six whole cloves, and 1 ½ cups of raw honey.

Place everything but the honey into the Instant Pot and add four cups of water. Turn the Pot to manual pressure for seven minutes, and do a quick release after.

You can use a mesh strainer to press on the berries and get them to release their juices and let the strained liquid cool for at least fifteen minutes before adding the honey.  

Once you're ready to make the gummies, gather ¾ cup apple juice and three packets of gelatin. Add the juice and syrup to a saucepan, sprinkling the gelatin on top before placing it on a stovetop at medium heat.

Stir the pan for about two minutes, or until the gelatin is completely melted.

Remove from heat and cool for two minutes before pouring the liquid into silicone plastic molds.

After the gummies chill for an hour, you can pop them out of the mold and store them in the fridge for up to two weeks. 

7. Homemade Seafood Stock

There's nothing better than a big seafood dinner, but it can feel wasteful to toss the shells, bones, and shrimp tails away when you're finished.

Get double duty out of your meal by making seafood stock in the Instant Pot.

This ultra-simple recipe will add hearty flavor to your homemade bisques, soups, gumbo, and Cajun-inspired cuisine.

Any combination of seafood remnants will do, and you can store them in the freezer until you've collected enough for making stock.

You can also be creative with your flavors and select from popular options like fresh thyme, lemon slices, and Creole seasoning blends.

To start, fill your Instant Pot halfway with water and add your seafood and seasoning, stirring to combine. Close the lid and pressure cook for thirty to sixty minutes. Let the pressure release naturally and use a colander to drain the liquid.

You can store the seafood stock in your fridge for up to a week, or freeze it in ice cube trays so you can unthaw what you need for each recipe.

8. Proof Bread Dough

Bread lover's rejoice; your Instant Pot can make one of the most finicky parts of baking bread easy.

A pressure cooker set to warming mode or on the yogurt setting creates the perfect environment for yeast to flourish.

You can cut time off your baking schedule and reduce the variability of proofing dough on the countertop.  

9. Roast Garlic

Most people are surprised to learn you can use an electric pressure cooker for roasting. This versatile machine makes incredible roasted garlic that's soft enough to be spread on bread.

All you need to do is place peeled garlic cloves in a packet of tinfoil. Pour a small amount of olive oil over the top, close the packet, and pressure cook for five minutes.

The fragrant aromas of the garlic once you open the Pot will be enough to make you consider eating it straight out of the foil.

10. Fruit-Infused Water

Do you love the taste of flavored water but want to cut the cost and single-use plastic bottles from your lifestyle?

Use your Instant Pot to make homemade flavored water.

The best way to do so is to slice up your preferred fresh fruits and herbs and add them to a Pot filled halfway with water.

While any combination of flavors can work, a personal favorite is orange, basil and a tablespoon of fresh ground ginger.

You might want to add everything to a strainer basket to make for quicker filtering at the end. Process the water on manual mode for five minutes and do a natural pressure release for another five.

Once the water cools down enough to handle, you can pour it through a fine sieve to separate the ingredients, and chill the water in the fridge until you're ready to drink it.

You can also double the ingredients for stronger flavored water and freeze it into ice cubes for spicing up lemonade.

11. Boiled Peanuts

This classic Southern comfort snack can be made almost effortlessly in your Instant Pot.

It's best to use green peanuts for this recipe, which means they have been pre-soaked. Check your local Asian market if you struggle to track them down.

To start, rinse two pounds of peanuts before adding them to your Pot and covering them with seasoning.

You can customize the spice blend, but an excellent option is ½ cup of salt and one tbsp each of Cajun seasoning, crushed red pepper flakes, and Zatarain's liquid crab boil.

Cover the peanuts with water and place a steamer on top to prevent them from floating.

Pressure cook the nuts for 45 minutes and allow the Pot to release naturally. You can then transfer the nuts and some of the cooking liquid into a container and refrigerate for several hours before enjoying them.

Note: If you use raw peanuts, soak them overnight, and pressure cook for at least 80 minutes.

12. Double Boiler for Melting Chocolate

If you own an Instant Pot, there's no excuse for burning your melted chocolate again.

The Pot makes a perfect double boiler if you use it on sauté mode.

All you need to do is heat the Pot without the lid on until your water boils and then place a smaller one inside for melting the chocolate.  

13. Homemade Vanilla Extract

Bring your baking game to the next level with homemade vanilla extract.

Best of all? You can make it right in your Instant Pot, and Tidbits tells you how.

You'll need a pint-sized mason jar, kitchen shears, five vanilla beans, and vodka to get started.

Begin by cutting each pod in half lengthwise with the shears, or into one-inch pieces if they are too dry. Place the pieces in the jar and fill with vodka, leaving an inch of headspace. Put on the jar lid and lightly tighten it.

Next, you'll add a cup of water to your Pot and place the trivet on the bottom.

Pressure cook the jar for thirty minutes and let it naturally release. Once cooled, you can use the extract immediately or store it for future baking projects.

14. Easy "Egg Loaf"

Are you sick of boiling and peeling your hard-boiled eggs?

Cut out the complications by making an Instant Pot egg loaf that can quickly be turned into egg salad.

You'll want to use a glass bowl that fits inside your Pot.

Spray it generously with non-stick spray, and crack eight to ten eggs directly into the container. Next, add a cup of water to your Instant Pot and place the included trivet inside. Balance the bowl on top of the trivet and cook at high pressure for 20 minutes. Let the pressure naturally release for five minutes before finishing it with a quick release.

The bowl should cool in the Pot for five minutes before you carefully remove it and slide the egg loaf out. You can then chop it up for use in your favorite egg salad recipe.

15. Milk and Honey Corn on the Cob

If you love rich and buttery corn on the cob and want a hassle-free way to make it, then this recipe from Simply Happy Foodie should do the trick.

You'll combine water, milk, butter, salt, honey, and Cajun seasoning with 6-8 ears of corn, and pressure cook it for four minutes, allowing the pressure to release for five minutes.

You can serve the corn immediately right from the Pot.

16. Wine from Grape Juice

The hype is true; you really CAN make wine in your Instant Pot. The full details are found at FoodnService, but the basic process involves a jug of grape juice, one cup of sugar, and a packet of red wine yeast.

Carefully follow the included instructions, and within two days, you can be drinking your own fresh-brewed wine.

Note: This recipe works best if your pressure cooker comes with a yogurt setting, and you'll need to keep it on for 48 straight hours.

17. Natural Easter Egg Dye

Make your spring holiday season a little more festival by making homemade dye for Easter eggs in your Instant Pot.

Tidbits will walk you through the steps of making a gorgeous range of natural dyes by using purple cabbage for blue, beets for pink, yellow onion skin for orange, ground turmeric for yellow, and red onion skin for red.

18. Iced Tea

Make the world's easiest iced tea in your Instant Pot. Smooth yet strong, this recipe from Two Sleevers is one you'll keep coming back to.

All that's needed are four teabags, six cups of water, and a ½ cup of sugar. Add it all to your Instant Pot and cook on high pressure for four minutes. Let the pressure release naturally for at least 15 minutes after. You can then chill the tea until serving it over ice.

It's possible to reuse the same tea bags for your next batch, so long as you add one or two more to keep things flavorful.

19. Hand Lotion Bars

Did you know you can use an Instant Pot to make personal cosmetic products?

You can nourish your skin with this homemade hard lotion bar recipe from Traditional Cooking School.

Make sure you have the following ingredients on hand: one cup each of grated cacao butter and beeswax pastilles, ½ cup of extra virgin olive oil, one teaspoon vitamin E and twenty drops of your favorite essential oil.

Turn your Instant Pot to warm mode and add the cacao butter, grated beeswax, and olive oil.

Let everything melt (it will take about 12 minutes) and transfer to a glass measuring cup. Whisk in the vitamin E and essential oils, and pour the blend into a silicone mold. Leave untouched until hardened, and use immediately or store in airtight containers.

Bonus: Other Electric Pressure Cookers to Consider

While the Instant Pot made electric pressure cooker is trendy, there's plenty of other brands worth trying. Check out these options if you're in the market for your own.

Ninja Foodi: This 8-quart pressure cooker comes with a built-in air fryer for extra versatility.

Mueller UltraPot: You can compare this all-around quality pressure cooker to the Instant Pot Duo. It comes with a steamer basket and tempered glass lid.

Crock-Pot Express: This fuss-free pressure cooker has a six-quart capacity and includes a manual pressure, simmer, and boil function.

Breville Slow Pro: You get 11 pressure cook settings and a color-changing LCD screen with this device that lets you know when it's pressurizing, cooking, or in steam release mode.

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Read Next: 24 Instant Pot Accessories Every Owner Needs To Know About

~A.

Fires explode across California, from wine country vineyards to Southern California subdivisions - Los Angeles Times

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2019-10-24/fires-explode-across-california

Fires explode across California, from wine country vineyards to Southern California subdivisions

Fueled by violent winds from the northeast, fires erupted on dry hills across California, tearing through oaks and vineyards in Sonoma County and burning homes hundreds of miles away in subdivisions near Santa Clarita.

The extreme weather conditions will continue into this weekend, heightening both the fire threat and the likelihood of more widespread power outages as utilities try to prevent electrical lines from sparking more blazes.

As the winds swept into California on Wednesday night, an eruption of fires big and small followed: first Northern California wine country, then San Bernardino, Orange County, Marin County, Santa Clarita, Eagle Rock and the San Fernando Valley. Firefighters were able to control some while others exploded out of control.

The Kincade fire started Wednesday night and consumed more than 16,000 acres of northern Sonoma County, pushed by wind gusts higher than 70 mph and forcing the evacuation of Geyserville and other parts of the famed Alexander Valley wine region and burning about 50 structures..

"If you're in Geyserville, leave now," the Sonoma County Sheriff's Office said in an advisory Thursday morning.

Pacific Gas & Electric Co. had shut off power to thousands because of dangerous wind conditions.

It's unclear whether utility lines played a role in the Sonoma County blaze, but an incident report from PG&E said a transmission line failure occurred near Kincade and Burned Mountain roads at 9:20 p.m. Wednesday, around the time the fire was first reported. In a mandatory report sent to the California Public Utilities Commission, the company said one of its workers noticed Thursday morning that the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection had taped off the area. PG&E said Cal Fire also pointed out a "broken jumper on the same tower."

PG&E said distribution lines in Geyserville and the surrounding area were shut down at 3 p.m. Wednesday but transmission lines remained energized.

"Those transmission lines were not deenergized because forecast weather conditions, particularly wind speeds, did not trigger the PSPS [public safety power shut-off] protocol," PG&E said in a statement. "The wind speeds of concern for transmission lines are higher than those for distribution."

Officials have not determined the cause of the fire.

In Southern California, the Tick fire erupted near the 14 Freeway around 1:45 p.m. Thursday and was moving quickly toward Agua Dulce, with 29-mph gusts that were expected to as much as double in strength overnight.

Firefighters scrambled to get air support to protect neighborhoods in the fire's path. But the rugged topography made it difficult as the blaze raced through narrow gullies up to the backs of homes. Some homeowners tried to beat back flames with garden hoses, but several homes went ablaze.

Other fires broke out in Marin, San Bernardino and Orange counties, and one ignited in Eagle Rock.

Southern California Edison said it planned to turn off electricity to as many as 300,000 customers, while PG&E reported cutting power to more than 184,000 customers but apparently did not shut down all transmission lines in the Kincade fire zone.

The outages gave some residents a false sense of security. Madonna Tavares and her husband went to sleep in their Geyserville home around midnight and woke to a banging on their door at 5:30 a.m. "Get out! Get out!" their landlord yelled.

Tavares, 70, said the smoke outside was so thick she could barely see a foot in front of her.

With the power out, she and her husband scrambled in the dark to get dressed, find their two small dogs and jump in their car.

"They shut off the power and we still had a fire," she said. "I don't understand it."

After Dwight Monson, 68, heard a fire was burning 16 miles from his family ranch, he gathered important documents, packed the cars and evacuated his grandchildren.

All was still clear at 2 a.m. Monson figured the ranch, tucked amid vineyards and great oaks in the hills above the Russian River, was safe. Then he saw flames on Black Mountain, about three miles to the northeast. The fire had raced 14 miles from where it had started less than five hours before.

Monson placed his hopes in a neighboring vineyard — a thousand acres of lush grapevines between his home and the fire. That prospect dimmed as the mountain was engulfed and a few swirling embers turned into a storm, driven by powerful gusts out of the Mayacamas Mountains. He and his wife, son and brothers fled after 4 a.m.

"We looked up the hill and couldn't believe what we saw," Monson said. "To see that whole thing, just red flame."

By the time they got to a friend's house in Geyserville, the fire was already there. A front gate was in flames across the street. "It followed us down," Monson said.

They moved on to a shelter in Healdsburg. Monson said the family lost four homes and a barn on their property.

The fire brought back dark memories in the region. Two years ago, the Tubbs fire and others burned through wine country just to the north and south, killing more than 40 people, destroying more than 6,000 homes and devastating a swath of Santa Rosa.

"There is still a lot of trauma in Sonoma County from the fires of two years ago, and waking up to a day like today brings back a lot of memories," said David Rabbitt, chairman of the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors.

The wind in the region was expected to abate Thursday evening through Friday but return even stronger Saturday, with gusts as high as 80 mph. Firefighters will still need to contend with unusually high temperatures in the 90s and low humidity levels throughout the Bay Area on Friday.

A reporter observed numerous destroyed homes in the area of the Kincade fire, but no official count had been released by Thursday afternoon. The massive Geysers geothermal energy facilities run by Calpine Corp. reported some damage.

Ten air tankers and helicopters were being used to fight the fire from above as ground crews attempted to add containment lines around the blaze, said Will Powers, a spokesman for Cal Fire. But the wind kept driving embers over the lines to ignite grass and brush, and the fire had zero containment as of Thursday afternoon.

Residents of Santa Rosa and Healdsburg were on edge early Thursday morning with the fire burning to the north.

"It's scary for a lot of people," said Healdsburg Mayor David Hagele.

Hagele said that by 9 a.m., 40 evacuees were at the Healdsburg Community Center, where mental health services were being offered.

"That's really important when you have these traumatic events, especially this close to the anniversary of the Tubbs fire," Hagele said. "Our whole county has been affected by that."

Jim Young, 67, of the Robert Young Estate Winery rode out the night in his pickup truck, checking on his 317 acres of grapes. His frontyard was scorched and the hills above him blackened and still smoldering, but the grapes and his house survived.

"The wind was blowing every which way. It was smoky and the embers were flying horizontally, so it made it hard to know what it was going to do," Young said.

The bright side, he said, is that there's nothing left to burn near the vineyard when the winds kick up Saturday.

Willon reported from Sonoma County, Luna from Sacramento, and Fry and Reyes-Velarde from Los Angeles. Times staff writers Joe Mozingo, Alex Wigglesworth, Rong-Gong Lin II, Jacyln Cosgrove, Lelia Miller, Dakota Smith, Colleen Shalby and Emily Baumgarten contributed to this report.

~A.

Too weird...really.

.....

THE COMPANY'S BUSINESS
Structure and history
TTS AAS was formed in 2017 as a public benefit corporation, and we are in the early phase of operations. Our subsidiary, TTS, was established on October 28, 2002, as Resting Bird, Inc. Resting Bird, Inc. became a subsidiary of Really Likeable People. Inc. ("RLP") in 2007, in which Archive West Investments, LLC (an RLP shareholder) was an equal owner. The name of TTS was changed to To The Stars, Inc. on August 17, 2011, and Archive West Investments acquired the shares of TTS on January 1, 2015. Archive West Investments contributed the shares of TTS to Gravity Holdings, LLC in 2017. Gravity Holdings contributed all of the shares of TTS to TTS AAS on June 1, 2017. TTS was the parent company to Love Movie, LLC and Poet Productions, LLC, both of which were dissolved in 2018. Depending on project development and funding received, we anticipate forming additional corporate entities for each of the Aerospace and Science Divisions.
Our mission
Our mission is to be a vehicle for change by inspiring a newfound appreciation and understanding of the profound, yet unresolved, mysteries of the universe that can have a positive impact on humanity. We are working to achieve our mission via an entertainment, science and aerospace consortium that inspires and collaborates with global citizens to investigate the outer edges of science and unconventional thinking in order to push human knowledge and capability forward.
Principal Products and Services
The company is currently organized as three separate divisions: the Entertainment Division, To The Stars, Inc. (TTS), the Science Division and the Aerospace Division. Our public benefit purpose is a unifying factor across our divisions. While progress on program initiatives is still pending sufficient funding, the company was able to make significant achievements in support of its mission in 2017 and 2018.
Entertainment Division
The Entertainment Division (TTS) creates and licenses original content across a variety of media platforms including music, books, movies and television. TTS also manufactures brand-related novelty merchandise, primarily sold direct to consumer within its own e- commerce and retail channels. Existing products may be found at www.tothestars.media. During 2018, media and merchandising of original intellectual property brands accounted for 45% of TTS's revenues. TTS is also the licensee or sublicensee of Angels and Airwaves (AVA), Cathedrals of Glass, and Tom DeLonge's professional name and likeness, which accounted for 55% of revenues. TTS has a strong existing retail customer base with a high returning customer rate. We are able to nimbly respond to demand for various products that we can sell directly via our own distribution channels, including locally in our own brick and mortar store in Encinitas, CA and worldwide through our e-commerce store. In 2018, approximately 95% of TTS's revenues was derived from its online operations.
TTS released the following products in 2017:
· The Hope Collection: A limited edition vinyl record set of the entire Angels & Airwaves music catalog.
· Box Car Racer. The 15th anniversary vinyl edition of the band's debut album in exclusive colors.
· We Don't Need to Whisper Acoustic EP. TTS released a 4-song acoustic version of Angels & Airwaves' iconic album We Don't Need to Whisper in August 2017.
· We Don't Need to Whisper. Original full-length album on two black vinyl LPs.
https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1710274/000114420419034515/tv525071_253g2.htm Page 28 of 102

7/12/19, 9(43 AM
· I-Empire. Original full-length album on two black vinyl LPs. TTS released the following products in 2018:
· 'Poet Anderson...In Darkness'. This is the second book in the three-book 'Poet Anderson' series by Tom DeLonge and Suzanne Young. TTS sold advance copies of the book in December 2017 and the book was released for trade on January 30, 2018. After release, it jumped to the #1 New Release in Young Adult on Amazon and met with 4-star reviews.
· 'Sekret Machines' Fiction Series, Book 2: A Fire Within. Book 2 in the 'Sekret Machines' fictional book series, written by Tom DeLonge and A.J. Hartley, was released on September 18, 2018.
· 'Who Here Knows Who Took My Clothes?'. A children's book by Tom DeLonge released during Holiday 2018.
· We Don't Need to Whisper. Original full-length album on two special edition colored vinyl LPs.
· I-Empire. Original full-length album on two special edition colored vinyl LPs.

Find it all here.......🤓
https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5b5a458fe749405f83225fe8/t/5d28c46a6c0dd40001030e53/1562952811903/TTSA_Reg+A+%232_Offering+Circular_FINAL.pdf

FICTION: The Plant Sitter - Sam Dilling - Medium

https://medium.com/@samdilling/fiction-the-plant-sitter-b01d9cff49d1

FICTION: The Plant Sitter

Sam Dilling

Photo Credit: South Coast Botanic Garden

At first, he just needed the money.

He had been scanning the internet for odd jobs but kept coming up short. That's not to say there weren't openings—of course there were plenty of jobs to be done in a city of over 8 million people—but he didn't want to stand for long periods of time, he hated cleaning bathrooms, he wasn't particularly handy, and he didn't have a driver's license. His options were, therefore, severely limited.

After several hours of perusing on a Saturday, a listing on the third page of craiglist finally caught his eye:

Live Plant Caretaker, $15/hour, must be able to lift up to 35 lbs.
*IMMEDIATE START AVAILABLE*

He wasn't entirely confident in his ability to lift 35 pounds, considering he couldn't remember the last time he had stepped foot inside a gym, but he liked the sound of making $15 an hour by exerting little effort.

He clicked on the "reply" button and indicated that he was "interested in hearing more about the opportunity." An old coworker once said that you never wanted to seem too eager—with jobs or with women—so he had been practicing being more casual.

Within the time it took him to close out of the window and log into his email, he already had a response.

"Great! See you on Thursday at 9 AM. The address is 710 Warren Ave. Buzz 2B when you get there."

He reread the message several times. Could it have been sent automatically? Who was the sender? And where was Warren Ave.?

Just as he began typing that he hadn't, in fact, accepted the job and simply wanted more information, he paused. He didn't exactly have an inbox full of offers coming his way, and most jobs that paid that well required something a lot more strenuous. Caring for some plants wouldn't be that hard, and he could always ask questions on his first day.

"See you then," he said.

—

On Thursday morning at exactly 9 AM, he stood outside what had turned out to be an industrial-sized brick building at 710 Warren Avenue.

He buzzed 2B and the speaker crackled.

"Hello! Hello? Who is it?" a panicked woman's voice asked.

He leaned toward the speaker and cleared his throat.

"Yes, hello," he said. "My name's Ethan. I believe we spoke on craigslist. I'm here about the live plant caretaker position."

There was silence on the other end. He waited a beat, and then another, before looking the speaker up and down for a button he may have missed.

"YES! Yes, yes. That would be it then. I wasn't expecting you so early, but sure, sure, come on in," the woman's voice said.

A loud buzzing sound immediately followed and the wrought-iron gate clicked open.

He walked through the entryway and into a wide hallway. There was a dim, exposed lightbulb on either side that did little to light the way. He took the only staircase he could find, up the lefthand side, which opened to another wide, dingy hallway. On his left was a door that read 2A, and on his right, was 2B.

The door looked sturdy, like it was made of metal and streaked with a single layer of burgundy paint, so he knocked loudly.

In the span of a breath, the door swung open.

"Alright, alright, there you are!" the woman said, reaching out with her free hand. She was small—at least a foot shorter than him—with blonde-gray hair and deep set blue eyes. He could see her toes were painted in her sandals with their thick, brown straps. He couldn't quite guess at her age, but the word "senior" came to mind.

"Hi, yes, thank you," he said as he leaned forward and allowed himself to be hugged.

"Come in, come in, quickly. Catch a cold if you don't," she said as she shut the door and snapped the lock shut.

He stepped further into what opened up to be a single, massive room. The ceiling was at least 20 feet tall and what he could see of the entire far wall was made up of paneled floor-to-ceiling windows, half of which were frosted and half of which were not. The other three walls were brick, like the building itself, with dark hardwood floors and a single twin-sized bed tucked into the nearest corner. The rest of the room, however, was hard to see because every spare square inch of floorspace was filled with plants.

Big, small, short, thin, fat, and tall plants spilled out from every corner and surface. Some were a bright green that reminded him of a shamrock, and others were so dark they blended in with the hardwood. Some were as wide as a tree trunk, and others as thin as a pencil. But each was nested in its own whimsical pot of various shapes, sizes, patterns, and colors.

"So! The job, right," she said, stepping in front of him. Her paper-thin floral robe dragged on the floor behind her.

"Well, as you can see, I live alone. And as much as I've enjoyed caring for my plants myself, I've had to take a job. Not a job I'm thrilled about, but it's a job. I am thrilled for your job, though, aren't you?" she asked. Her eyes widened.

"Yes, yes, very much so," he said.

"Great! Right, well. Here's how it will go. You'll show up promptly each morning at 9 AM and let yourself in. I'll give you a key. Then, you will remain here for the following six hours. You will start on the left side of the room, here," she pointed," and make your way in this direction. Clock-wise, you see?" He nodded.

"Excellent. So, once you've reached this end here," she pointed to the other side, "you'll begin the rotation. At this point, you'll move every plant eight inches counter-clockwise, and rotate them four degrees to the left."

His brows narrowed. "I'm sorry, I'm not familiar with degrees."

She smiled, more-so to herself than to him, and nodded. "Right. Not to worry, it'll look like this."

She walked to the nearest plant, which was as far across as she was tall, widened her stance, and wrapped her arms around the base. She counted audibly to three and heaved as she dragged the plant a few inches. Then, she stood straight again, and twisted the pot a little to the left.

"Easy enough, yeah?" she said.

—

Over the course of the next hour, she walked him through the maze of plants and the names for each. The begonias only needed a light watering—no more than an ounce—and the fern-woods even less. While others, like the fiddle leaf, required a pep-talk or a compliment.

"You're such a sweetheart," she whispered to the plant as she ran her finger along the edge of the leaf in demonstration.

Once they made their way around the room and back to the door, she approached the tallest plant in the far right corner.

"Now, this one is my baby," she said. The plant was mostly long, luscious leaves, some the length of his own arm, with specks of dark and light green—but sprouting from a few of the stems were light orange and pink flowers as large and round as a wine glass.

"She needs very little water and sunlight, but she loves some attention. You'll want to read to her for at least 30 minutes a day every day, or else she'll get sad." The plant seemed to perk up at her voice, but he had to have imagined that.

She looked to him for a nod of confirmation before walking over to the bed and retrieving an envelope from under her pillow.

"This will be for the first week," she said, handing it to him. "I've paid you for six hours a day for the next five days."

He felt the weight of the cash in his hand as he did the math in his head. That amounted to $450.

"I only have a few golden rules," she said. "One, no one besides you should ever be in here. Two, if you have any reason to believe one of the plants has fallen ill, you must tell me immediately. And three, you must not go prying into any personal information about me. I live a very private life and I'd like to keep it that way."

"Right, right, of course," he said.

"Do you think you can handle all of that?" she asked.

He nodded. He couldn't believe how easy it all was. He didn't know what to expect—but a mostly-sane older woman with a roomful of plants that needed compliments was far from the worst it could have been. And he only needed $950 for rent, which meant he'd have a decent amount left over at the end of every month.

"It sounds great, honestly. Just one thing. I know you said nothing personal, but what should I call you?" he asked.

She smiled. "You can call me Nan."

—

Each morning during the week, at promptly 9 AM, Ethan unlocked the door, set his few belongings down on a small table, and got to work.

First, he went to the kitchen—which was just a sink, a fridge, and a toaster oven mostly hidden from view on the right side of the room. From under the sink, he retrieved the water jug with the long spout and filled it to the brim. Then, beginning on the left side of the room as instructed, he gave each plant their watering.

As he made his rounds, he'd stop when required to give the select plants their pep-talks or pets.

"You're looking mighty fine this morning," he'd say, no longer feeling silly. Or sometimes, when he was in a particularly good mood, he'd put on a higher-pitched voice and call the plants good girls and boys.

Once the watering was done, he'd hike up his pants and begin shifting the entire room eight inches counter-clockwise and four degrees to the left. He did this deliberately, approaching each plant in the correct order from right to left, one after another after another. He rarely broke a sweat.

Then, about four hours into his shift, when all the plants were watered, primped, positioned, and prepped, he plopped into the lone chair in the far right corner of the room.

"So, we meet again," he said. Since he began working there, the plant had grown several inches in every direction. It was called a Bird of Paradise and could grow up to 10 feet tall, according to Nan.

For the first few weeks, Ethan consulted the small bookshelf partially hidden by the bed for his reading material. Most of the books were plant-related—"The Hidden Life of Trees," "What a Plant Knows," "Urban Jungle,"—but some were more medicinal—"The Secret History of Healing," "The Master Book of Herbalism."

But after reading each book from cover to cover, Ethan found he preferred having a conversation with the plant more than anything.

"Where did I leave off?" he asked, leaning back in the seat. "Oh, right, my last job. I was a mail-clerk at this corporate office in Midtown. Everyone walked around in suits like they owned the place, but only one person could technically own the place, so I never quite understood how that went."

"I worked with this older guy named Jerry. He was in his fifties and close to retiring. He used to be one of the important guys but got really sick and couldn't do his job anymore, so they put him in the mailroom. It was pretty sad, but we had fun together. He'd give me advice, like a dad or something."

"It was a good enough job, I guess. I just got bored after a while. Sorting the mail was the best part, but I hated taking it around the office. Everyone constantly telling you to get out of their way, running from one floor to the next when an "important" package was delivered. It was just too much."

"Jerry told me I'm too lazy for my own good. That if I tried harder, I'd go places. But I don't know about that. Everything just seems so pointless."

He looked up, waiting for that thing to happen again, when the plant would seemingly sway in a nonexistent wind as though it were following along. But it never happened. He narrowed his eyes, trying to make out any sign of movement, but again—nothing.

"I know we've talked about this. I know you can't actually hear me. But if you can, will you, just, like, shake a leaf real quick or something? The feedback is just nice sometimes."

Still, he waited, and nothing.

He leaned a little closer and noticed something he hadn't seen before—the very tips of the orange and pink flower petals had turned a deep red, as though dipped in ink. He reached up to touch the edge and, as he did, the color spread through the veins of the petals like blood. He didn't know what was happening, but it felt wrong.

"Oh no," he whispered. He sat back until he could see almost the entire plant, and one after another, he watched the flowers turn red and shiver.

He jumped up. "Oh, NO! Hey! Hey, hey, hey, stop that."

It wasn't until every flower on the plant had turned that deep shade of red that he noticed the beads of sweat on his forehead.

He ran toward the kitchen, catching the chair with his foot and nearly tripping, to find something that could save the plant. He grabbed the now-empty water jug but knew from the plant books he'd read that over-watering could be just as bad (or worse) than under-watering, so he threw it aside. He searched the door of the fridge for a phone number or instructions, but there was only a single magnet from Portland, Oregon.

"C'mon, Nan! I need you," he said, finally realizing for the first time in nine weeks that he didn't have a clue how to reach her before 3 PM.

He checked the clock on the toaster oven: 1:37.

He ran to the opposite corner and pulled all the books off the tiny shelf, but there were no loose papers with phone numbers or last names. He grabbed at the books, one by one, and leafed through them.

Inside the cover of one of the books, "The Secret History of Healing," was a note: "You are the chosen one."

He tossed the book aside and stood back up. Then he noticed, on the floor by the plant, was a puddle of something that looked like blood where one of the flowers had fallen off and completely shriveled up.

"Oh no!" he said. Not knowing where else to turn, he banged on the door of 2A, the sound of his fists echoing through the hallway.

"Hello! Hello? Is anyone in there? I have an emergency." He went quiet and waited, but all he could hear was the sound of his own heartbeat in his ears.

Then, the door beneath his fist opened, lurching him forward. A pale young woman with a head full of curly red hair peeked around the corner.

"Can I help you?" she asked, in a nearly-audible voice.

"Yes, hi, sorry. I hope I didn't scare you. I just—there's a situation." He could barely get the words out without gasping for breath. "Do you know anything about plants?"

Her soft, brown eyes, which seemed kind, were wide as he spoke. "A little, yes," she said.

"Great, okay, great, uh. Great," he said. He noticed the dusting of freckles across her small nose.

"Alright, so, do you know anything about a Birds of Paradise plant? Or, like, have you ever heard of the flowers just turning red out of nowhere? And kinda shivering, like, and falling off? Or, maybe that's totally normal and I've freaked out over nothing? I'm not sure why I'm even freaking out. It just all happened so fast and then I had no idea how to stop it and I didn't want the plant to, like, just die or something." He finally stopped hearing the rush of blood in his own ears.

"Um, I think so? Yeah, I've heard of it," she said. She stepped back from behind the door so she was fully in his view. She was also shorter than him, but not nearly as short as Nan, and wore a delicate-looking yellow dress that fell to her ankles. "If I see it, it might help me remember."

"Oh! Sure," he said. But then he remembered. "Wait, I mean, no. I can't let you in the apartment. See, I don't really know the woman who lives there, I just work for her, and she was pretty clear about not letting people in. So I can't do that. But if you could just, like, maybe tell me something to try? I could do that."

She nodded, seeming to understand. "Yeah, okay. That's okay. I just wouldn't want to tell you the wrong thing. For some plants, one thing could save them, but for another, the same thing could kill them. But I agree with you, whatever is happening doesn't sound good." She looked up at him through her eyelashes and he felt a pang of desperation in his chest.

"Um, alright. Yeah, you're right." In all his reading about plants, he never came across anything about the Bird of Paradise. If the plant really was dying, and he had no way of getting ahold of Nan, this would be his last chance.

"You can come with me then," he said.

As he turned back to 2B, he heard her close the other door behind him. He approached the door, which was still open but just barely, and felt a chill throughout his entire body.

"If you even think about stepping foot in my apartment, you'll be very mistaken," said a voice from beneath the stairs. Just then, a small person with a poof of blonde-grey hair became visible.

"Ethan," she said, stopping in front of him. "I thought I was very clear."

"Nan! Nan, you're here. I'm so sorry, I don't know what happened. I thought the plant was dying and didn't know what else to do or how to get ahold of you and I realized I don't even know your last name and I know you said nothing personal but you could have at least given me an emergency contact or something," he said, breathless again. Just then, he realized the neighbor girl was nowhere to be found.

She stood quietly, waiting for him to finish.

"I guess I just didn't want to completely mess this up. But I guess I did," he said with his head down.

"You did, Ethan. You did." She nodded as she walked around him to the front of her door and pulled it shut.

She took a deep breath before she said, "But the good news is, you're not completely useless."

He looked up, feeling a gentle wave of hope.

"I do need you to take my rules a little more seriously. No one goes in there, ever," she said. "But you've demonstrated to be perfectly capable of caring for my most prized possessions, and that means a lot."

"How would you feel about staying on the job indefinitely?" she asked.

He agreed without hesitation.

—

The office was throwing a retirement party for Jerry's last day and everyone was gathered in the break room.

He'd dedicated 37 years to the firm and all he had to show for it was a handful of generic dollar-store balloons and a cake on paper plates with enough icing to put him into cardiac arrest. He didn't mind it.

"Thanks, guys," he said, when a large slice was placed in front of him. "You don't know how much this means."

"We'll never find another guy like you, Jerry," said one of the partners with his mouth full.

Everyone chimed in with their congratulations and well wishes before grabbing their own slice and going on their way.

But one of the guys, Andrew, who started right when Jerry had first gotten sick, stuck around.

"Hey, man, did you hear about that kid?" he asked.

Jerry looked up from his forkful of icing. "Which kid?"

"That kid that used to work in the mailroom."

Jerry thought back to Ethan—to his sad, sad eyes and all the times Jerry tried to encourage him to do something with his life. There was only so much you could do with someone like that.

"Yeah, yeah, I remember him," he said, finally putting the icing into his mouth. "Good kid."

"I saw on the news the other day—said he'd been missing for a few weeks and they just found traces of him in some warehouse in Brooklyn," Andrew said, reaching for a piece of cake. "They said they're still looking for him, but it ain't looking good."

Jerry felt the sugar dissolving on his tongue and it tasted expired. "Oh," he said. "Yeah I, uh, didn't hear about that."

Andrew lifted his fork at Jerry. "Well, anyway, man. Good luck out there," he said before walking away.

Jerry sat in the break room by himself for a few minutes before tossing the rest of his slice away. The "party" had cleared out in less than fifteen minutes, as he'd expected, so he headed home.

As he normally did before bed, he checked his email and clicked through the Missed Connections on craigslist.

He discovered it trying to sell old furniture after his divorce, and realized it was the kind of place that still gave him hope.

He clicked through a few of the entries:

To the girl who enjoyed my blues harmonica playing on the A train

Ridiculously handsome downtown 1 a little after 2 today

I didn't take your rose; I should have taken your phone number

As he read through them, he felt the loneliness of retirement kicking in. Maybe another job wouldn't be so bad. Something light and easy that would give him a reason to get out of bed in the morning.

He clicked to the Jobs section, and scanned the list.

There, at the top of the first page, he read:

Live Plant Caretaker, $15/hour, must be able to lift up to 35 lbs.
*IMMEDIATE START AVAILABLE*

He didn't know about lifting 35 pounds at his age, but he clicked "reply" anyway.