Hey y’all,

You know how I keep saying that I can’t do art, blog, cook, and garden at the same time? (Notice that housework is off the radar entirely.) Well, I’ve decided to concentrate on art, cooking, and gardening for a while. Once I feel the urge again, I’ll take blogging back up. We’ll see how it goes.

Just didn’t want anybody to worry about my absence.

If you want to contact me, leave me a comment and I’ll email you back.

Have a happy rest of the summer!

I’m braising a pork shoulder roast that I bought from Brad Moore’s pastured pig farm. He’s the guy who feeds his pigs the leftover whey from Goat Lady Dairy. I bought this a while back and I’m trying to clean out my fridge some. This will feed us both for a couple of days, I hope. I’m sort of following this recipe except I used one huge Vidalia onion and one Granny Smith apple, and instead of cider I had a jar of local chipotle apple marinade that I dumped in. We shall see in about 3 hours how it is. I figure that anything is good with Vidalia onions.

Sandy is painting the dining room, and boy, it is bright yellow. I love it. We’re planning to do a faux finish over it with a sponge and a textured roller, so who knows what it will look like next weekend, since neither of us have a clue as to what we are doing. Fortunately, I don’t care a lot about appearances.

I bound my little journal/sketchbook with the Miro covers yesterday, and I like it. It’s just the right size to carry with me. However, I found the instructions for Coptic stitch in How to Make Books very confusing. I’m good at following instructions and the pictures didn’t help at all. I mean, when you go in and then back out of the same hole with a needle and thread, aren’t you basically doing NOTHING at all? Seriously, that’s a major editing mistake, and then she refers you back to those instructions for the next Coptic book. If I hadn’t done it before by a slightly different method, I would have given up. I winged a solution and it came out fine. The next Coptic stitch book I bind I’ll use Dan Essig’s handout for the instructions.

Last night Sandy took me out to dinner at Liberty Oak. We tried to go to Riva’s Trattoria, a new restaurant that’s gotten a lot of press because they are Slow Food and buy as much from local farmers as they can. There’s a big demand for this in Greensboro, I’m telling you. I know because we couldn’t get in. They said that ordinarily we wouldn’t need reservations, but they were packed up to an hour from then, and it was a bit late. I’m glad that they’re doing so well. We hope to develop a relationship between them and our Slow Food chapter too. Then we tried Rim, a new tapas bar, but it was closed for the holiday weekend (!!!??). Oh well, Liberty Oak is always a great dining experience, but I was excited about going some place new.

Not much else to say except I don’t want to go back to work tomorrow. I’m either starting Eat, Pray, Love or Jayber Crow tonight. Maybe both.

Man, aren’t three-day weekends the greatest? If we ever get the option of working four 10-hour days, I think that I’ll go for it.

The coffee is almost gone already because I’ve spent most of my time so far reading emails and comments! Whew! These two discussion groups are terrific (the other one is “thecreativelife”)! But I have to go to the farmers’ market soon. That really shouldn’t sound that way - “have” to go, as if it is some kind of burden. It isn’t. But right now I feel so relaxed and comfortable that it’s a shame to get dressed and leave the house.

I’ve been working sporadically on another path that curves around from the shed, goes across the back, and meets the other one I mulched earlier this year. It’s not really a new path, but the original cardboard layer has decomposed and the weeds were taking it over. The garden has changed back there since I laid the original path too - the apple tree finally croaked, a redbud is growing, and a tree from a neighbor’s yard is dipping down over the back fence. Between leaving when the mosquitoes get to be too much and leaving when the NDN begins telling me about “unclean spirits” not allowing anything to grow, it is slow going. But that’s fine, because nobody ever notices it but me anyway. It’s almost like my secret garden. Except that I have a crazy person who interrupts me to talk about demons. At least there’s a fence between us. I hope that her daughters visit her this weekend and see the change in her. Not that I think much could be done for her, since she doesn’t think she has a problem and she’s not a danger to anyone.

Oof. I draw ‘em like flies to honey.

So. Yesterday, Sandy and I went to a great place for pizza - Sticks and Stones, on Walker Ave., across from another favorite restaurant of mine, Fishbones. Owned by the same folks, actually. But Sticks and Stones is focused on local and organic ingredients! The pizza we got was incredible, with Italian sausage from Cane Creek Farm, a local farm that raises pigs on pasture. Anne-Marie had proposed doing a Slow Food get-together there. I definitely think that it would be a hit, and I wonder if we couldn’t do a standing date there, say on Sunday evenings or afternoons once a month, just as a social thing. The one time I’ve tried this before, people think that it’s a good idea and then don’t show up, but maybe having it in an affordable restaurant/bar would work.

Sandy decided that he loved the color of the walls in the restaurant, so we added buying paint to our list of errands and bought new paint for the dining room, which is a rather awful Carolina blue. Not that I don’t like Chapel Hill, y’all. But we’ve never liked the color. This is a pretty bright Tuscan gold, with a slightly darker color to add texture with a sponge and a textured roller. It might look terrible. But we’ve made paint mistakes before, and we’ve lived with it (the year of the Peptobismol pink living room comes to mind). A change will be nice. I don’t plan to paint it, though. I’ll be busy cleaning and decluttering.

And hopefully having SOME fun in the studio. Yesterday I puttered around out there and before I knew it three hours had gone by. That’s when I know that I’m in the present moment, living my life to the fullest. Time warps and folds. I decided against combining the Elements tapestry covers with Susanne’s papers, and put together a small booklet with some of her papers and a cover cut from a Jean Miro poster book I scavenged. Small enough to fit in my pocketbook, beautiful enough to make me proud of it, simple enough that if I make a mistake I won’t beat myself up over it. I used my Japanese screw punch for the first time on the papers. I might need a smaller size punch bit, but I love the tool. Now it is ready to bind. I’m going to try the Coptic stitch again.

Okay, coffee’s gone. Time to buy my groceries at the farmers’ market.

I can’t eat these Violetto artichokes because they are too beautiful and they attract an enormous crowd of different kinds of bees and other insects.

I was given this potted plant about five years ago. I planted it in a spot where it ended up getting trampled a lot and forgot about it. Now it is protected by these hostas, and it has bloomed for the first time. Maybe it loved that intense heat we got early in June.

from this photo

It is getting harder and harder to post here, because for one, I am art journaling on actual PAPER (yes, it does still exist) and two, every time I get online I am totally distracted by this wonderful new Yahoo group that just started. Everyone is excited and enthusiastic and it is very busy with interesting posts right now. There are people on it who have been journaling for decades and people who haven’t journaled at all but want to begin. It is flat wide open and it could consume all my time just chasing the links and looking at books that are recommended. If you’re interested in getting into art journaling, defined here as “notebooks with a few sketches in the margins to watercolor diaries to collages between the pages of an old hardbound book to everything in between” and mixing “words and art on the pages of a journal/diary/notebook/sketchbook,” this looks like it is going to be one of those really inspirational, helpful, supportive discussion groups with some very free spirits in attendance. If you’d like to join: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/theartjournal/

My head is full of the book projects that I’m working on, too. Yesterday I carved a large stamp of Mama Kitty, which came out very well considering that she was a torty. It was a bit of a challenge. I will post a photo separately. Today I plan to warp up the tapestry for the cover of the Feral Family book. I’ve decided to work on the pages before I bind them, because I’m planning to do a lot of writing, and if I mess up, it will be easier.

I also made signatures (the folded page sections inside a book) for the Elements tapestries books from four sheets of handmade paper that Susanne gave me. These will be thin, 4″ x 6″ books. Right now I am trying to decide how to bind them. I bought a book called How to Make Books that I like a lot. But the decision is hard for me - I also can see making cloth pages for these tapestry books, and doing different covers for Susanne’s papers.

So many ideas and possibilities for the weekend. I feel overwhelmed at the outset! I’d like to take a stab at making my own paper from recycled paper and cooking some plant materials to make pulp, too. I’ve promised Sandy to work on decluttering this weekend, and if I don’t clean out the refrigerator, I’ll deserve what I get when some mutant vegetable rises from the bottom of my vegetable bin and consumes me.

Yesterday I worked some in the yard, planting more beans. I figure that this is my last chance to get more beans in, and I had the space from where I harvested garlic and pulled out lettuce and 2-year old parsley and chard. I have green tomatoes, finally, and harvested one cucumber and some Hungarian wax peppers are appearing. This year I have planted eleven different kinds of beans, and two varieties of field peas. I hope that they will fare better than my green beans did, who got blasted by the record heat at flowering time.

I’ve been sleeping an unusual amount of time lately. Yesterday afternoon I had a headache and took a nap - highly unusual for me to nap, not unusual to have the headache this time of the month. Then I went to bed at 9, got up at 7:30, fed the cats and lay back down for an hour! Jeez! I feel like a vampire has been sucking on me, but other than that I feel okay. This is the third period that I’ve missed, so I guess that I’ve definitely hit menopause. I am afraid to stop taking birth control pills, mainly for the reason that I’ve taken them for 27 years and the one time I tried going off them was not fun at all. I’m sure that this time would be different though - whether better or worse I couldn’t say.

Reading a lot of Elizabeth Berg now - she has replaced Alice Hoffman and Anne Tyler for my new “women’s book” author, at least for now. I like her style and her characters are very different so far. I just finished Talk Before Sleep and have started Open House. When I find an author I like, I tend to read all their books I can get my hands on all at once. I’m not sure that this is the best way to go about it. Seems a little obsessive.

Okay, I’m done with the coffee pot. Time to upload some photos and then get out to the studio while husband is still sleeping and NDN is inside the house. Lately she has really gone off her rocker. Can anyone recommend a good exorcist? God, she must be terrifying the poor little girl who lives on the other side of her.

Quick Back Forty Update before I forget:

Where the garlic was from front to back:
Black beans from Spannocchia
Jacob’s Cattle saved from last year
Borlotti beans from Firenze
Red speckled limas from Cricket Rakita

Behind cherry tree:
Carolina Sieva limas saved from last year

I posted earlier that the raw milk rule had passed its last hurdle, but I was wrong (I’ve deleted that post). NOW it’s passed the hurdle. Here’s the skinny from Ruth Ann Foster:

NORTH CAROLINA RAW MILK ACTION ALERT
From Ruth Ann Foster,
Greensboro, NC Chapter Leader, Raw Milk Coordinator
July 2, 2008

I have just received word from Representative Pricey Harrison that the Senate unanimously passed HB 2524. (Yesterday, it passed unanimously out of the Senate Agriculture/Environment/Natural Resources Committee.) We have successfully reversed the dye rule.

While this bill preserves a freedom we already had, it is still a victory. During the campaign, we developed many relationships increasing awareness and support. Numerous legislators have expressed an interest in creating a bill for legal access to raw milk for human consumption. The Agriculture Department has also stated its desire to work on this issue. As you are aware, legalizing raw milk will require a tremendous effort. Convincing the Public Health Department will be a difficult task.

Another victory in HB 2524 is clarification of the exemption of unpasteurized milk from the commercial feed law. The Agriculture Department cannot force pet milk producers to become licensed as commercial feed manufactures. Sounds ridiculous but this has been their practice. Our compromise is to label containers with, “Not for Human Consumption” and “The Sale of Raw Milk is Not Legal for Human Consumption in North Carolina”. With all the duct tape that labeling will require, there is no need for gray dye!

ACTIONS TO TAKE
Please take a moment to thank our representatives and senators, especially Rep. Pricey Harrison. She has performed a miracle getting this through in record time. Pricey told me as we began working, that disapproval bills rarely pass. It was because of her tenacity and political skill that HB 2524 succeeded.

Consider your proposals for legalizing raw milk. Email me with your comments and suggestions. We can use these to work with our legislators before next session. Ideally, we will meet together in an open forum.

Thank you all for your hard work and the success of HB 2524.
Happy Fourth of July!

Best,
Ruth Ann Foster

Email Ruth Ann at eatreal @ gmail . com.

This third hat from last week is mine, MINE! The hatband is inkle-woven from cotton threads. I looked out over the lake and designed it from the view. At first I resisted putting the blue and brown together, but the lake is the color of tea and the sky and sun reflects off it. When I started weaving, I was happy with the choices I made. This hat is pretty rough compared to my other ones because I was getting down to the dregs of my supplies, but I like it the best.

The first two before the final trimming, drying on the screened porch. They are now in the possession of my mother, who helped me gather the cattails and couldn’t decide which one she wanted.

All three were handwoven with cattail leaves and a small amount of bulrush.

I never knew that part of the pleasure of canning my own food would be the pops that the jars make after they come out of the boiling water bath. It shows that the jars have sealed.

Five pint jars of watermelon rind pickles, one jar with half watermelon rind and half cherries, just for kicks.

Pickling is so much easier than most people think.