bee creative

dark days: fish for dinner

 

Local halibut with chives and thyme from the garden.  I did add a bit of salt and pepper.  Pickles for a vegetable.  I had red potatoes as well but was too hungry to wait for them to cook, so they'll wait for another meal. Maybe breakfast...

 

gone fishin'

I recently realized I still draw fish about the way I did when I was a child.  That's me, at about age four or five.  A salmon in one hand and a red snapper in the other. 

heat rises

I found a home for a fermentation indigo vat.  It was almost 90 degrees F on top of the closet this morning.  A little warmer than it would normally be, but I'm pretty sure it stays consistently between 70-80 degrees. 

The closet came from The ReStore in Seattle.  It was originally from one of the Seattle schools and was taken out during a remodel.  I've had it for a long time now. 

Today was really more about the garden, but I did stitch the bottom hem on the t-shirt I've been working on.  I sat on the front porch steps with the dogs and watched the morning go by...

A favorite from childhood, drum stick primroses (primula denticulata).  I discovered one that I planted last spring survived the year and popped back up to bloom again. 

 

dear spring

Dear Spring,

Thank you so much for making an appearance today. 

I really needed to spend the day in the garden.  Digging, getting ready to plant onions, potatoes, and some lettuce.  Making discoveries:

Love,

Deb

 

because

for Jude and Was and family

because I remember...

 

blue sleeves...

I decided to dip the sleeves of my sample shirt into the indigo vat.  I like it...might dip them in one more time. 

And of course just a touch of blue for the sky scarf...

It's a very powdery soft blue.  We've had a small handful of blue dawns over the last couple weeks. 

unwrapping "share"

Out of the hat came the name Suzanna.   

Congratulations!

 

The yarn that I made this cowl with was made by Manos del Uruguay, bought at one of the locally owned yarn stores where I live.  While I am trying to buy local wool as much as possible now, this feels like a good exception. 

unwrapping "connect"

I always come back to connections.  How do things connect in a sustainable way?  Sustainable for me to maintain, for the environment...to sustain who I want to be. 

I stitched my fish down.  The fabric for this project was reclaimed from two shirts that had seen better days.  The fish is made with fabric dyed with leaves from the garden, onion skins, and pomegranate. 

I want to make more fish to be used on the other side of my Following Sea blanket...

My thought is to leave this side pretty much as it is now.  I am going to stitch a few jellyfish on the top, moon jellyfish.  I'm pretty sure these are the jellyfish I remember from my childhood. 

The other side, that's where most of the creatures of the sea will be, under the water.   A community...

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?