bee creative

basics

This morning I finished the red hat so that I could use the needles to finish the sweater.

The hat.

The sweater. 

Thinking about what a basic wardrobe should have, what it should be made of, where it should come from. 

Thinking about the basic construction of clothing.

The last On Being interview I listened to as I worked on the sweater was an interview with Seth Godin.  I listened to both the edited and unedited versions.  If you only listen to one choose the unedited.  One of my favorite quotes:

"And so it's easy to keep track of what art is by what it's not.  Right?  It's not following a manual, reading a dummy's book, looking for a map.  It tends to be people who work with a compass instead.  Who have an understanding of true north and are willing to solve a problem in an interesting way." 

 

things that count

one...

long term project. 

I've decided this is my Thought-full project.  I've listened to a lot of On Being interviews as I've knit it. 

two...

pillows.

I mostly knit sitting in a chair facing the rocking chair that holds these two pillows.  Thinking about how they are similar and different.  

three...

jars I filled today.  On the top, home made tahini (don't remember where I got the idea but when I did a search I found these directions); bottom left, hummus (peel your chickpeas/garbanzos!); and bottom right preserved lemon and parsley tapanade.

Today's snack:  bread with hummus and tapanade. 

Thinking about how caregiving is an act of creativity and creativity is an act of caring. 

make + living

The phrase "making a living" often refers to our employment.  Recently I've been thinking about it in slightly broader terms.

Make as the process of bringing something into being.  Living as the process of being.  Thinking about how sometimes we chose our employment, other times it chooses us.  About food and shelter.

About the strand that becomes something...

the poetry in my morning...

Up early this morning, as usual.  Just finished watching (for the third time, the first time was several years ago) Andy Goldsworthy Rivers and Tides.  And for the first time noticed the additional part of the title... Working with Time.   I can easily say this is one of my favorite movies.  For what he says about creativity, the connection between man and nature, the sheer beauty of the images. 

And then I went to let the chickens out for the day...

The piece of plywood that I keep over the top of their food so it stays dry.

As I stood there in the silence, three seagulls flew over low and landed on one of the neighbor's roof. 

Next came the sound of the songbirds moving through the bushes...

and then the crows. 

.....

8:12 AM 37 degrees. Overcast.  Wind NNE 10 MPH. Visibility 10 miles.  Sunrise 8:02 Sunset 4:19

.....

It probably won't, but it feels like it could snow this morning...

waiting...

eleven pieces of of the last two days

This morning...



Equinox fish:





1.  Kale one year after planting.  I want to reread my copy of Four Season Harvest by Eliot Coleman soon. 

2. Baby Swiss chard planted about a month ago.

3.  Hazelnuts harvested before the squirrel could take them.  Dried in the dehydrator.  The squirrel won't get as many next year...

4.  Drying corn, peppers, and a mixture of carrots, parsley, celery leaf and onion.  I use all these as seasonings for foods throughout the winter. 

5.  I have grapes!  Should be enough to dry some.

6.  Hops harvested before the rain.

7.  Tattered fall crocus.  The sun came out for just a bit this afternoon.

8.  Mending the wool blanket.

9.  Peanut butter cookies!  Recipe here.  Worth making even if you are eating wheat. 

10 Lola makes her nest.  I can hear both dogs snoring at the moment... Time for another cookie. 

how worlds might meet and blend...

thread to cloth, cloth to thread, thread to cloth... silk, wool and cotton.

some weekends...

It wasn't that I got distracted this weekend... although yesterday I picked up a copy of Digital Expressions by Susan Tuttle from the library and did spend some extra time on the computer today.  

I didn't even spend the weekend napping or being lazy...

(This blanket was perfectly flat until Lola decided to arrange it to her liking.)  

I just didn't do most of what I planned to do. 

Rather I seemed to spend a lot of time day dreaming and shuffling fabrics back and forth and thinking about whether to cover (the middle of this did not turn out the way I wanted), or to cut.  To use this pattern or that pattern. 

And I did discover that the secret to making good (what I think is good anyway) nut butter is to roast the nuts and not be stingy with adding oil. 

And I did find this really good interview with Bobby McFerrin (he talks about improvisation) which I think applies to all types of creativity.  He talks about the need to just keep going.

I did that. 

 

 

 

moving through the day

4:44 AM  I can hear the rain hitting the chimney.  Often I wonder what it would be like to live under a tin roof.

6:01  Having my second cup of coffee.  Wondering about wardrobe choices.  Layers are very necessary where I live.  I wonder if the lighter layers for winter could be made to stand alone for summer?

6:56  Just came back in from the letting the chickens out.  The code for the sky scarf for the last three days would be G-G-G.

8:04  This morning I'm being more deliberate about cheese making then I usually am.  I'm following these directions for making Paneer.

9:00 Been working on a Jelly for the last hour. There's a break in the rain so I'm off to the grocery store to get potting soil.

9:55  On my way to the grocery store I saw two cars go by with snow on them.  Talked to one of my brothers and he said he had an inch of snow this morning.  No April Fools joke, that is unless you thought it was spring...

11:23  Just finished planting up the tomatoes, peppers, cabbages, and broccoli.  The indigo isn't up yet.  Maybe I need to reseed?  Nope, need to be patient, I just looked up the germination time and it can take over 32 days!

(I'm particularly pleased with these tomatoes.  They grew from seed that I saved two years ago.  I'll thin these to just one plant in a couple days.) 

2:34  Spent an hour or so outside, some beautiful sun breaks off and on this afternoon.  Made an indigo vat (chemical) to dye a sweater that could use a pick-me-up. 

4:00 Cleared the table.  I'm finding that I need to have an open space available to work if I want to keep working on things during the week.  But I constantly fight a desire to stack things...like books.

6:23  Time to think about what I need for work tomorrow. 

unwrapping "grow"

"Each of us harbors a homeland, a landscape we naturally comprehend.  By understanding the dependability of place, we can anchor ourselves as trees." Terry Tempest Williams

"Having once put his hand into the ground, seeding there what he hopes will outlast him, a man has made a marriage with his place, and if he leaves it his flesh will ache to go back." Wendell Berry

 It always seems that the words I need at any particular time tumble into my life.  I just started reading An Unspoken Hunger by Terry Tempest Williams.  The sentence above are words that make so much sense to me.  Words that I want to linger in my mind.  

I've carried images and pieces of Wendell Berry's poems in my mind for a very long time, the first book of his poetry a gift from one of my favorite teachers in high school. 

Being able to grow, the capacity to change, is an important part of creativity for me... but growth isn't always a good thing. 

Today I planted indigo seed, madder, safflower, calendula, cabbage, broccoli, swiss chard, and onion seeds. 

As one grows larger, the other grows smaller...transformation. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

unwrapping "learn"

So much to learn...

When will we have our last snow this year?  Was it today?  Last year it was the first week of April. 

How long will the indigo vat last at 60 degrees Fahrenheit?  This is day three.

How fast can I make a local, sustainable, organic dinner for the Dark Days Challenge?  20 minutes

This is hash browns, scrambled eggs, pear and sorrel from the garden. 

Curiosity can drive creativity...

I'm dyeing roving in the indigo vat for the sky scarf.  Tomorrow I'll plant indigo seed.  Maybe this fall I'll have local organic indigo to dye with?