Monday morning rants..........

 

Monday morning rants....... turn back now if you need a smiley face.

Back from a weaving workshop, a group of 6 lovely woman who attended a 3 day basket making workshop about 17 miles up the road.  I thought it would be attended by local basket makers although Winter Weave has been around since 1988, I know as I attended, that is how long I have been weaving.  Although I only wove baskets for a few years, taking a hard right turn to ceramics I have always found it creeping back into my day to day life through knotting, darning socks, gardening etc.  I think it's in our DNA..... woven strands of deoxyribonucleic acid actually a double helix that looks a lot like twining. 

It was an 8 hour day of intensive twining.  My group was composed of 3 local weavers and 3 weavers who have traveled from New York and Pennsylvania.  All totaled there were 38 weavers who attended from several different states.  There was time for meeting, discussing world issues, eating and weaving.  I love small groups where everyone can express an opinion and be heard.  We shared what life was like in a their neck of the woods.  But what I was really dumb struck by, most of this traveling band of weavers, travel the world yes, the world attending or organizing basket weaving events.  🤯 

I had Sunday to mull a few things over and have a few questions, no I have a lot of damn questions.  As we all know from this blog I am an avid gardener, I spend quite a bit of time outside and that has turned me into a consummate weather watcher.  I am very aware of rainfall, rainfall patterns and as the years have progressed become more and more alarmed.  It is about the climate and my carbon footprint!  This is a precursor to my AH-HA moment on my Sunday morning walk around the yard. 

My awareness of climate change started around 1999 when I was working as a hired an estate gardener in and around Cuyahoga County, northeast Ohio, zone 5a growing season.  Something was happening but didn't know what and so it has gone these last 25 years.  

Back to basketweaving.  I looked at what the other teachers were teaching and materials used.  The youngest teacher in her 20's was teaching painted paper baskets and they were stunning.  The other teachers (all over 60) were making baskets, made out of rattan.  Rattan comes from the rainforests of Southeastern Asia, put on a boat and shipped over to the states.  

If you would like to know more: read, Rattan Industry Overview or watch, Rattan harvest.  It is not a pretty story and pretty damn alarming.  China is now the #1 producer of rattan.  The room was a sea of rattan baskets, there were kits available, the stuff was everywhere.  A ball room filled with rattan, compounded with a herd of traveling people descending on northeast Ohio to make something pretty to sit in their house.  My carbon awareness was in the stratosphere and it was gasping for oxygen!   Why isn't there a movement to weave from materials locally grown, like willow?  I know of two willow farmers here in Northeastern Ohio.  It's sustainable and in our backyard.  The ash trees are gone due to the emerald ash borer but the oaks and hickory are still plentiful.  There are brambles by the boat load.  I can honestly say I no longer support this activity. 

In the last month I have become pretty pissed off with "eco-tourism".  Hey let's go to Alaska on a cruise ship! Here is a mind blowing look at the environmental impact: Alaskan cruise impact  I understand that people made their retirement and then wanted to see the world.  It was what the old industrialist tycoons and their families did.....  meanwhile my family was in steerage fleeing eastern Europe.  or Ireland from a potato famine.  Spend your retirement on saving world!

Don't do it!  Stay home and watch a documentary on Alaska and indigenous people or go flush your cruise ship toilet into the pristine waters of an Alaska bay.  Watch the orca whales swimming in your last nights sewage because that is what is happening.  Wake the fuck up!  One ship carries 4000 passengers, that is so much bilge to empty into harbors or even worse out at sea. 

Or no wait how about Antarctica?  

this is from a cruise ship that sank in 2007 and left a huge diesel oil spill affecting thousands of migrating penguins. nbcnews

For those of us in Northeastern Ohio, that entails hopping on a plane to get the boat departing for some place we really should not be going.  If you're a scientist, great and I will even help buy your ticket!  But if you're a bored old person with too much money lets take a minute and think about this.  As I now know 3 people who have done the Antarctic cruise I am thinking this is the new Hawaii of my parents generation.  All of these people dashing off to Antarctica have grandchildren.  Did they take them?  No.  

Let's look at the breakdown:

The average per-passenger CO2 emissions for an Antarctic vacation are 4.14 tons or the same amount of carbon pollution the average human produces for one year.  Each tourist arrival accounts for average 83 tons of snow loss a 2022 paper found nature.com . Add the risk of fuel spills, non-native species hitchhiking on tourists clothing.  Scientists are finding invasive species particularly urgent because most tourism is concentrated in ice-free coastal areas that have the continent's greatest terrestrial biodiversity.  Non-native plants will only become more tenacious as the climate warms.  Think this is crazy?  Antarctic ecologist Dana Berstrom, lead an international program called Island of Antarctica; they spent time vacuuming tourists and national program people and analyzing the data.  All major weed species in North America and Europe were found.  The most common, Poa annua, whose seeds stay viable for 4 years now has an established foothold in Antarctica....... Kentucky Bluegrass!  If you would like to read more, here is the link: Environmental impact Antarctic cruise ship.  The future generations may only see a polar bear or emperor penguins in a zoo at the rate we are going.  The average cost of an Antarctic cruise is around $10,000 plus the airfare to get there.  Take a child, go to the zoo and donate the $10K to the zoo because they are the hope that future wildlife might survive the next many years of a warming planet.  The last time the earth saw carbon in the atmosphere this high was the Pliocene era (3-5 million years ago)  and we all know what happened; read more here NASA

We cannot simply go about the world on whims anymore. I don't have grand children but I do care about the future of the planet.  Human rights and politics are important but there will not be a piece of land to fight on if the climate doesn't turn around.  Do you honestly think the woman or man holding a dying child in a third world country grieves less than you do when famine or flood hits as the earth warms?  We are the privileged, the educated who are supposed know better but we don't, we stay in our little bubble.  We say we care but look at our behavior, it sucks for the rest of the world.  In my lifetime my growing zone has increased two times.  I am now attempting to garden in zone 7a and this last week of February we are going to be setting heat records.  Again, wake the fuck up people!  Every single issue that sets our underpants on fire is nothing compared to climate change.  

Have too much money? Send your money to plant trees, check out Arbor Day foundation 

This is the stack on my desk from one days mail asking for donations to support the environment! 

Pick one!

want to adjust your carbon footprint use an app, I am using Klima https://klima.com

I am also loving the Treecard app:  https://www.treecard.org/get-the-app

There are so many ways to get started "just do it"!!  

(sorry as Nike emitted 10 million metric tons of CO2 last year) 

I am off to put up a low tunnel and plant some lettuce and radishes.  Hope springs eternal around this place.

it's NOT!

February ferments.......

 

Ginger beer has been a good way to get through February.

Ginger bug for the ginger beer, Water kefir grains and lemon flavored water kefir ready to drink.  The counters are filling with bubbly bottles.  Every morning while the coffee pot brews, all the bottles are burped to prevent exploding bottles.  

This is my first rodeo with ginger beer and I'm learning a lot!  The longer it sits the more alcohol it makes.  After two weeks the "beer" does not disappoint but I prefer my ginger beer at 3 days aged.  It's pretty easy and pretty delicious!  Better than sauerkraut juice if you're trying to get your daily gut fizzies.  

Gardening has turned into a waiting game of sorts.  The temperature turned cold enough to freeze the rain barrels and all connections (19F this morning but 50F by lunch).  The new roller coaster of winter.  

It's been a tough winter for Kirby as his arthritis has really kicked his hind quarters.  It's kicked mine too as he needs an assist for all steps and car rides.  It's been a back and fourth to the vet to manage pain.  We finally found the magic bullet, Librela.  A once a month injection, no pills.  After blood work and lots of poking, prodding, age assessment, weight assessment etc this was the drug recommended.  I read so much on this new drug and decided to finally go ahead.  It has worked the best on cats and fairly new to canines so there wasn't very much information.  In the past we had tried Galliprant but his liver just couldn't handle that drug. However it was recommended we keep a few on hand if he is having a hard day, it is an anti-inflammatory.  I tried turmeric too but again his liver just couldn't handle it.  After his first injection we were told to wait for any improvement for a month.   

Every trip to the vet also means a trip to the beach.  He just goes into terror, tremors and shaky legs at the vet, breaks my heart and sitting on the floor with him doesn't do anything except give him a place to tuck his head.  When we're done we head to the beach.  It's better than a pup cup and the sand is so much easier for his hind quarters and all trauma floats away.  I am mildly hopeful as we have noticed a difference in 24 hours.  Less panting, less moving around trying to get comfortable, less sleepless nights for both of us. He still needs an assist on the steps but not quite so much.  CBD oil has helped too.  Oh the life of a geriatric pup. But beach time takes many years off and makes him so happy.  So many more trips to the beach this year!  Life is better with dogs...... I think they make us better humans. 

It's been a month of weaving too.  I am teaching a workshop this Saturday for Winter Weave in Willoughby, Ohio.  We are making these small pots in 8 hours.  These ladies better have wicked fast fingers.  I am teaching the last day of the three day weaving packed intensive workshop and hope their fingers aren't seized up.  

Putting kits together for the first time and writing out directions on the process I've been perfecting for so many years has been daunting.  As a maker, my job has been to get from point "A" to "B" and not worry about the little stuff.  Little stuff; how many wire spokes, threads, beads, miles of waxed linen, tools used etc are in each final piece.  You just do it.  For each kit everything is counted out, labeled and packaged.  Who knew there were 288 pieces of thread around each of those little pots or over 100 beads.  The math alone sent to a dark place, something I don't experience when weaving.  I have been making these pots a long time and never counted anything or even my time.  I just knew what I wanted to achieve and got there.  I also never worried about anybody copying these pots because no one in their right mind would ever make these pots but I love making these little pots and big pots too. 

 Ask me on Sunday morning if I would do this again.  I am looking forward to meeting other weavers! 

After Sunday garden life begins and I can't wait!!  Winter weaving will be done and it will be time to move onto the rhythm of seasons, planting, seed sowing and birds singing.  I'm ready! 

A Week of Sun!

 Blissful sun and outside time. 

All that pruning and time for chipping.  This chipper is a beast and got a pretty good work out this week.

The way back is pruned and piles sorted, something my OCD mind enjoys.  

So much needs to dry before it can be chipped.  

After seven days of dry weather the lawn mower even fired up, in February!  

Not to cut grass but more to mulch leaves for the compost pile and garlic.  Nice to see green shoots of garlic breaking through the ground and then unceremoniously covered again.  The mulch helps with the wild temperature swings.  Last week we hit a high of 65F and next week we are projected to drop to 15F.  

A bit of insulation will help (I hope). 

This part done and a wee bit of mulching makes me pretty happy;

 even though there is so much more to do! 

The germination on the seeds has been pretty good!  This is the first year I am using 

collected rainwater and couple caps of liquid fish emulsion every two weeks. 

Now I need to find my fan for a bit of circulation.  

The leeks never came up so I will plant a few more and hope for the best!   Black seeded simpson lettuce has not germinated well either so time for fresh seed.  Fingers crossed.  

In the clay world, chemicals are disappearing at an alarming rate! I use quite a bit of kaolin (EPK). When I started 40 years ago the general consensus among the great clay pontificators: "Oh we will never run out of EPK!" It's mined in Edgar, Florida.  Well I tried to order it last October and nobody had it, I mean nobody!  I have other kaolins I was subbing but I like EPK and don't need to make chemical adjustments.   Called my chemical supplier, two and half hours away and they could part with two bags (100 pounds) but only if I had ordered in the past.  Phew, I had!  I paid over the phone and said I'd be down in the morning.  Friday, a day I really should have been in the garden or fishing but I made a chemical run.  

I crossed the river and saw people fishing in shirt sleeves.  I cried.  As the year is advancing I am becoming more and more untethered to all the ceramics and clay.  As the mines close and chemicals disappear or become cost prohibitive to purchase I don't think I want to put the work into re-formulating glazes. I've become comfortable with these studios glazes over the years; I know their quirks and firing schedules. The stuff coming out of the ground and the world too is changing and we are exhausting world resources.  I'm not sure I want to be party to that anymore.  I think I'd rather spend my time regenerating soil, backyard food supplies, pollinators and making a haven for birds.  I am ready to divest my chemical hoard of Custer Feldspar (mine closed 2023), Gerstley Borate (mine closed by US Borax in 2000), Nytal talc (mine closed 2012) and host of other bags labeled and stashed in the studio.  Do I really need all the raku equipment?  I have beautiful Mark Ward burners that could go to a good home and free up space.  So much stuff... a talisman sieve used twice and 40 years of accumulation is just too much!   Spring cleaning is definitely happening in the studio this year!  

Saturday is hunt, gather and food prep day around here.  Butch has been tagging along recently and when I got home and unloaded it made me laugh!  

My pile.....

His pile.... otherwise known as; How'd that get in the cart? 

My list for Saturday food prep.... I don't think I could get much done without lists! 

Sunday is bread day and it's already on the rise.  

His and hers salads should last until Wednesday..... 

it's been a very good week.....

Cheers!

February and things are moving!

Welcome February and some much needed sun!  January was the third cloudiest on record!   Clouds covered that shiny white thing in the sky 83.6% of the month.  Rain was relentless and then a polar vortex hit.  Argh it was month of saying; it's gotta get better!   

The finches have been at the bird feeder more than any other bird and clean it out daily.  The squirrel baffel went up a couple weeks ago and I have not had one squirrel butt picture!  Yay! 

However on the tree pig front, we are over run!  Not only do we have 5 fat fox squirrels but a couple cute little red squirrels have moved into the locust and conifer trees.  The red squirrels are so territorial they have kept the fox squirrels out of the chicken coop.   I'll have more time to monitor the squirrel fights as garden season has begun! 

We have had two days of sun!  I woke up to a serenade of birds, before the sun was above the horizon.  It was wonderful.  Thinking hard about cracking my bedroom window tonight.  The red shoulder hawks have been soaring and loud; counted 3 in the sky yesterday, the chickens seemed undeterred by all the hawk activity.  This morning on my walk out to chicken central, the red bellied woodpecker was in a yelling contest with the titmice, nut hatch, carolina wren and pileated woodpecker; it was awesome and I have missed the morning cacophony. 

After deciding on no more art shows and seeds showing up daily in the mailbox, it is time to get to work!  The way back gardens were somewhat neglected at the end of last year and I knew I wanted to make changes, big changes!  I did what every burned out gardener does at the end of the season...... walk away and deal with it next year.  

Seeds are started and sprouting. 

This year is another year of fiddling around to find what does best on this small piece of ground.  

On the very last day of January seed trays were sterilized and the potting mix was dragged out. 

Kale (blue dazzle), Lettuce (winter destiny & blk seeded simpson), Kohlrabi (kossack & quick silver), Turnip (white hakurie), Chinese Cabbage (china star & minuette), Spinach (dash).  I also couldn't stop myself and foolishly planted cabbage (tiara, fomosa, purple & Jersey wakefield), cauliflower (skywalker), broccoli (purple) and brussels sprouts (jade cross & long island)  The onions are doing well.  The leeks have not germinated but they do take longer so my fingers are still crossed! 

Oh and use those old blinds for plant tags!  

Peppers, eggplant, more lettuce and parsley will start this week.  Oh the list is long....... 

Where to put it all?  The clearing has begun in the way back!  Raspberries and old asparagus plants cut down too.  The chipping begins today.

I planted the way back area in my estate gardening days so many years ago.  Lilacs, sweet bay, magnolia, exchorda etc.  Well they are gone, to be replaced with espalier apples and pears.  I am positive the deer will just love it!  The fence is coming down, temporarily and all the cement block is coming out.  No more raised beds.  Blueberries are being transplanted today and the sunny areas will be more productive, I hope.  I have the cattle panels ready to go for a green house and it is pedal to the metal, game on gardening!  and it's February!   I am hoping if I get the back taken care of now, the other parts of the garden will go much quicker.  Keep telling yourself those garden lies!

Last year I used strawberry plants as ground cover around the blueberries and wow did that work well!  Those will need to be transplanted as well some time this week.  Break out the headlamp for gardening in the dark!  

Some type of deer protection needs to go around my blackberries.  About the time the plants are looking good or start to bloom the deer eat them to the ground.  This is the third year and I'm kind of over it.  Thinking hard on installing the water squirting system when the cross the barrier.... works great on a cranky neighbor too.  He mowed my blackberries one too many times a few years ago but after the survey crew established the property lines it's game on.  

New chicken runways this year.    

And about the time I can't lug one more wheelbarrow..... canning season starts! 

Buckle up 2024! 

and I have had time to work on new designs.........