Summer 2012

Wow, it's been a LONG time since I last blogged... hard to believe that it's September already, or that school started this past week.

As much as the kids love summer, they are always excited to go back to school. This year was no exception. They missed their friends and were ready for their new grades.

Michael's an 8th grader this year. Football started a couple of weeks ago. It's been hot and humid during those first few practices, but he's been toughing it out and keeping his enthusiasm.

Emma started sixth grade. In Colfax that's the year when kids first get their lockers... a very big deal for her age group. There was a lot of anxiety and even a few tears shed during orientation, as kids tried opening their lockers for the first time. Emma had trouble at first (though she wasn't one of the kids in tears), in part because of bad advice from me... I tried to show her how to "zero out" her lock by rolling it a bunch of times, but forgot that it only works if you do it to the right... turning it left just screws the combination up. Anyway, we finally figured that out and Emma got her locker all organized. You can see her at right working on a homework assignment.

Leila started 4-K this year. She goes Monday through Thursday, noon to three, then rides the school bus home with the older kids. I drop her off at school, so I get to see her hang up her back pack and find a book before sitting down next to the other little girls (that's the morning routine as everyone arrives). She's still a little reluctant to have me go, but she has a lot to tell me when she comes home.

(One of our chickens laid the miniature egg Leila's holding at left. It looked like a pebble and there was no yolk).

My big project of the summer has been the garden. This year's planting was more ambitious than ever... we tried a few new things and made the overall garden larger.

There were successes and failures. The green beans, summer squash, tomatoes, garlic, cucumbers, peppers and cabbage did very well. I canned a year's supply of salsa with the tomatoes, peppers, and garlic and have plenty of left-over peppers and garlic to dry and freeze for use in cooking this coming year. I have about 6 months worth of frozen beans, canned 4 different varieties of pickles, made two kinds of relish, and tried kimchi for the first time with my cabbage. I also canned some of the cabbage for use in crockpot stews.

I had moderate success with rutabagas, carrots, lettuce, strawberries, and dill. I say "moderate" because the garden only produced enough of those items for fresh eating. I was able to can five jars of brined rutabaga, though, which I will use in crockpot stews this winter.

There were big disappointments, too. Our corn ended up being a total loss. Jon had planted at least six rows of corn, and it grew beautifully, some of it reaching eight feet in height. But for the first time since gardening in Colfax (it's been four years), the garden was raided by racoons... and they were only interested in corn. At first it was just a broken stalk here and there, but by early August all of our corn was gone. One weekend we tried putting out a live trap, but all we caught was a neighborhood cat. Next year we'll have to spend some money and maybe put up a fence or at least get some motion lights.

My experimental squash garden also turned out to be a failure. I planted the winter squash and zucchini in a different location than the rest of the garden because I had miscalculated and run out of room. It was a longshot to plant where we did because the soil was immature and there was definitely more shade in that area of our lawn. For whatever reason, I ended up with lots of plants and blossoms but very few fruit. I was able to harvest only four small zucchinis. There are still a handful of tiny winter squash there that I'll probably end up using as gourds. Everything that managed to grow there was very stunted in size.

I had better luck with the lettuce I planted in my neighbor's greenhouse. Johnne scaled back her plantings this year so she had more time for other projects, so she generously allowed me access to her seeds and a few rows of gutters on the second story, that I could plant in.

Using old seeds, I planted two kinds of lettuce, as well as collards, kale, radishes, purslane, parsley, and basil. The radishes and kale did poorly, but everything else has been growing fairly well. The greenhouse should provide an extended growing season, so as long as I'm faithful about watering I should have lettuce all fall. The plants are kept warm by solar energy, and solar energy and a back-up battery pack supply the energy to pump rain water up to the second floor of the greenhouse, where my plants are. So it's a nice little self-contained system. I have fun talking to Johnne and hanging out in her greenhouse, because she's an interesting person who has accomplished so much on her farm. She gets things done through a combination of hard work and intelligence, and while she's very independent she's also very generous and doesn't mind having a few extra people around. I enjoy the quiet of the morning when I walk up there... a lot of times she's out in the field training her border collie pups to herd her flock of six goats. Being up there is a kind of peaceful meditation for me.

So what else have I been up to? Well, I've been working on my collaborative art project with Laurie, here and there. I mentioned in a previous blog that both my sister and I were "lapsed artists" who wanted to get something artistic going again, but were having trouble making the time for it. We decided that if we each had someone else to be accountable to, maybe an occasional piece of art would get done. So we've been talking about our projects over the phone and using a book on collage as our guide.

I am having a lot of fun with the process of collage. It's interesting to look for rich patterns and textures in paper and fabric, and to work with the different mediums, building in layers. These creations involve acrylic paint, oil crayons, pastels, pencils, pens, you name it... whatever seems to create the effect you want... everything held together with lots of modge podge.

The book is helping me get out of my artistic rut. I had kind of painted myself into a corner because I was always trying to do things "perfect" and was therefore never happy with the result. This process encourages me to be spontaneous and child-like. Instead of fixating on perspective and proportion I am letting myself take chances and let unexpected things happen. I begin with an idea but let other things unfold, if they will. I can hide secrets in the pictures and play with symbols. It's exciting to see things happen on the paper. If I don't like a particular effect I can cover it over with something else.

While I'm working on these projects, I'm thinking about the mythology of my own life. I'm thinking about safety and danger, of gardens, bears and trees... of being alone. I'm thinking about growing things, growing up, growing old. Lost chances, mixed with choices, mixed with unimagined possibilities. It's kind of like working my way through a dream, but with more conscious involvement. I'm learning about myself as I go, which is something I don't think I've ever gotten out of art before. I think the "talking about it" part, when I explain and discuss pieces with my sister, helps this be a meaningful activity for me.

Anyway!

What else about this summer?

Our little dog Teddy broke his leg and was in a cast for about six weeks. He's almost fully healed now and getting around fine.

We have a second outside cat: Iggy, one of Miss Pitty Pat's last batch of kittens, was returned to us. He's doing great here... his mother tolerates him, and Teddy considers him a best friend. They play together outside all the time. They're approximately the same size and the same color, so it's fun to watch.

Jon turned 50 this summer. As if reading glasses weren't insult enough, now he's got an AARP card.  He's still a heavy machine operator building powerlines, but is also a foreman at work. We're proud of him and appreciate how hard he works for the family. I wouldn't have all this time to draw and dream if it wasn't for his labor.

Another neat thing that happened this summer is that my parents took the kids on a camping trip to Copper Falls and the Porcupine Mountains. However, I will write about that the next time I blog. So stay tuned! This blog is already fairly long and there are a lot of nice pictures to share from their trip.

Enjoy these last few days of summer!