fine days.

i have not been putting any effort into the internet this summer, because i have been doing fun things. usually i forget the bring the camera. i will try to remedy this, futurewise.

so we picked some blackberries from our dear friend cecelia's landlord's back yard.



the thickets are so overgrown that aaron brought his DR mower, and whacked the crap outta them blackberry canes to make us paths, which saved us many-a thorn-scratch, and let us access the sweet, ripe, high standing fruit. thanks, honey.



pink fingers and many somersaults later, we have plenty of fruit for jam, which thrills me deep.









a good day.

beltane.

we had a potluck to celebrate spring, as well as our recent meat-glut.



lentil salad.



meat plate.



peanut butter cookies.

we also ate grilled kielbasa with kimchi and caramelized onions, sesame chicken with peppers and onions, and a quiche. items we bought for this meal: french lentils, brown rice, stoned wheat thins, butter, flour, sugar, black pepper, salt.



this baby shrew came to visit, poor fella.



also, i may have gotten a touch too much sun. plus side: my sunburn is pretty neat looking.

what we waste.

the stand-by frozen foods dumpster. this is a picture of what we did NOT take home with us. all of these cardboard boxes are full of frozen meats, strawberries, pizzas and pre-packaged processed entrees. we filled our car in two runs, filled our freezer, my parents' storage freezer, and supplied the local baptist food ministry with more frozen meat than the pastor could rightly deal with. he was greatly appreciative, all the same.

why do we waste? what makes products, materials and commodities so easily discard-able? especially when it is commonly said that so many people are in desperation?

i fear for the wellbeing of a society so unwilling to be resourceful. i fear that we are stuck in a negative cycle of consumerism, of 'sell-by' dates, of the excessive production of processed foods, and the overpowering voracity of the economy versus the human needs of the people whose paycheck it represents.

i try to avoid talking about this too loudly, but it is plain: i don't understand any of it. i am baffled by the greed, the exploitation... baffled by the waste.

friday.

a giant antique rug from our friend jon's trash. i couldn't get a photo without at least one of my little critters in it, so i thought i'd post one with all of them.



a horn case:





and a grain scale. i'm planning to use it for a hanging produce basket in our kitchen.



i love helping people clean out their barns. so many treasures!

straggler.

another little loudmouth to feed:












this little rooster had escaped at the farmer's union after being removed from a box of baby hens. after catching him, the fellas who work there were puzzling as to what to do with him. i offered to take him, and they were greatly relieved. win, win! i like him very much. hopefully he never turns evil on me, i'd hate to have to eat him.

high wheel.

we helped our friend jon clean his barn attic. he collects antique bicycles. i stole some evidence:



ordinary.



hard tire safety.



sociable tricycle. (!?!)

round abouts.

apple bark grafts.



sinkhole.



over-winter brussels sprouts.



egyptian walking onions.



georgian crystal garlic.



hablitzia.

frugal kultur.

(ha ha)

aaron worked at installing hugelkultur beds for ramps and ribes alongside our road. hugelkultur is a permaculture practice that relies on the moisture and warmth of buried, decomposing wood to create luxurious living environments for perennial plants and fruit trees.

first he dug a trench:



then he lined it with punky fire wood, which he salvaged from the back yard of one of his landscaping clients.



people do make hugelkultur beds from freshly cut wood, as a way to make use of the trees that they need to cut down to create garden space. however, this wood was already very soft and moist, kind of perfect, really:



he was easily able to squeeze a trickle of water out of it.



he shoveled the soil over the punky wood, and gave the whole thing a generous layer of leaf litter.



the first residents of this bed are these gorgeous little ramps, which aaron got through a plant swap.





they look so happy already!

of course the best thing about this project is that it doesn't involve any purchasing. it uses yard waste, and the only investment is elbow grease.

end times.

garbage pie.

what am i going to do with all of this trash?





that will do.

i kind of scabbed together this recipe and this one, using what i had. i used coconut oil and stale cookies (plus a crappy stale dumpstered graham cracker crust) to make a good crust. i also sprinkled the top with shredded coconut. purchased items in this pie: coconut oil, shredded coconut, salt, corn starch. i froze the leftovers, and it became mind-blowingly good.

animals in cages.

we went to the stone zoo with family.









i'll spare you my various opinions on the captivity of wild animals, but suffice it to say i was troubled by conditions at this zoo. that said, i did enjoy myself, and managed to not let myself get bent out of shape about it all. but not as much as this kid:

1903.

on a high shelf of my uncle's shop:



my mom and i took it down and cleaned it off with paintbrushes, like archaeologists.

shazam:





what a fine old machine. it is a willcox and gibbs, from 1903. it is missing parts, but a lovely thing. we admired it, wrote down the serial number to research it, and put it back where we found it, to collect itself a new cozy dust blanket.

dunphy rhubarb.

we have our own heirloom rhubarb.



i can trace it back three generations, and my grandmother might know its history before that. i should ask her.



with a little mulch and some benign neglect, i am sure it will be overwhelming our family gardens for years to come.