As I mentioned in a previous post relating to my belt buckle work, forging metal opens up so many possibilities in terms of form and texture. While I have dabbled a bit in the more artisanal aspects of blacksmithing, I am excited to be diving more seriously into formal artwork.
It might feel easy to idealize life on a farm. Space. Animals. Days under the warm sun, surrounded by and cultivating beauty. Being your own boss. Owning your time. Zach and I certainly have idealized this kind of life. How do you think our butts ended up here? Idealism has its place—right? Couldn’t a person consider it one aspect of the dreaming? Isn’t is a part of the formula that drives us to something different . . . better than the reality we currently inhabit? And don’t we all want that—something better? It is part of the human nature, I believe. Therefore, I don’t chide myself too hard when life is less than idyllic. Just because we went for the dream, doesn’t mean we were under any illusion that it would be smooth sailing. Or sailing at all. But what is the point of ignoring the thing that pulls on you so hard, you can’t help but follow the yarn to the knot?
. . . even if it is just to see it unravel, in ways you never would have imagined. And then realizing that “better” is in your hands.
Recently, while wondering in the Missions, I found a cup! It was of the insulated, stainless steel type; perfect for hot drinks on cold days in the blacksmith shop. Having just been perusing Calvin and Hobbes, I thought to myself… “there’s treasure everywhere!”
Full Disclosure: I am kind of a geek. A pollinator geek. It started innocently enough. As a little girl, running wild in rural Vermont, I was drawn to the fields of daisies, black-eyed Susans, stinking bob and queen Anne’s lace. Consequently, I became acquainted with the bees and butterflies that frequented the same fields. Color, shape, movement—it was all very magical to me. I remember running at top speed, through the head-high grasses and flowers one day, mouth agape (either in joy or breathlessness, who knows) and suddenly feeling the furry, bulky buzz of a bumble bee between my bottom lip and teeth.
Tool making is an integral part of blacksmithing. There are so many tools to make in the blacksmith shop: tongs, hammers, punches, chisels, drifts, hardy tools, jigs, fullers, swages, etc. On the farm, there are rakes, pitchforks, shovels, scythes and sickles. In the kitchen, there are knives, spoons, bottle openers and on and on. There is an endless fleet of steel tools to be forged!
When I began working with metal, I didn’t think I’d be making belt buckles. But isn’t a belt buckle just another tool?
We had always been interested in strawbale construction, so decided to build a greenhouse to support our flower operation and provide a year-round grow space. While there is a ton of information out there on strawbale construction, we found that there was a bit too much technical information out there and thought that a simple photo log might be helpful. Our photos essay (read on!) will hopefully provide some inspiration and insight into our building process and help others explore natural building on their own!
Truth be told, Danielle began designing florals for weddings before there ever was a farm. She did the flowers for our wedding nearly nine years ago. too. She didn’t admit that she could do wedding floral until last year sometime. Now we’re diving in, taking pride in using only flowers we (or some of our awesome neighbors) grow.
I had lost purpose, that is….. until I went skiing in the Missions yesterday! Deep snow in the steep alpine, coupled with the bush-whacky adventure exit was just the break I needed from winter planning and cleaning decades of spent hay from our listing, old barn. Working a bit on the farm and forge, it has been easy to forego recreation and self-care for the sake of knocking another item or so off the ever-growing list of things to do. It seems every time I’m just about through some task, a few more rise from its ashes.
As we near the close of our first “official” season on the farm, I find myself exhausted and awash . . . in gratitude. We couldn’t have asked for a better summer. Sure, it was slow to start, but in some ways, that allowed us to catch up. We put in our first growing field this spring. That meant fencing, prepping soil and rows, placing irrigation and planting somewhere around 2000 plants. We only suspected what the season would be like and therefore we were cautious in setting goals and realistic about the fact that we really had one person working the farm because the other was usually parenting. Still, we got our butts whooped and hearts full up.
Our first CSAA was a smashing success.
It’s been an odd winter: hardly winter at all until February, then winter as it should be. A good deal of glorious snowfall and negative temps to check the population of true bugs that have taken over our wood pile. And then many foggy mornings adorned in feather frost or faerie frost, depending on who is doing the telling. What difference does it make though? It all has to do with wings.
