CAUTION: WET PAINT.
A little cabin progress report: we have real walls! With paint and everything!We picked out some colors and spent a long day painting. It is amazing what a difference it makes - the house looks like a house now. I can visualize the pictures on the wall, the shelves and cabinets and the life that will fill this place. And although I used to dream of perfectly clean, white walls, the green and brown are growing on me. Next step: furniture!- Hannah.
ROUGH DROUGHT FARMSTEAD.
We need rain, and it looks like we need a good amount of it. The garden has become a dry, dusty and predictable place where everything is in basically the same rough shape it was the day before only less happy. Nothing grows, save for a few odd birds––beans, tomatoes and eggplant particularly––who seem to be flourishing. Mostly, however, everything just looks hot, sweaty and thirsty. And when it gets this way, it's hard to find things in the garden to do. Mulching seems futile because one good gust of wind will throw the mulch all over the garden. With the bizarre wind storms we've been having, it's not worth the risk. There are no weeds germinating, and what weeds were there, we've picked three times over (from a weed perspective, notably, the garden looks awesome!). Also, Kentucky has been a furnace this week. So needless to say, with not a lot of work to be done in the garden and being dangerous to do too much work anyway, we've needed to get creative to fill our days. Sometimes literally.Hannah's been painting and working on a new tab for the blog, while I vacillate between reading, writing, fermenting (got one last blackberry wine and some sour pickles in the works) and watching in awe as my wife works. In the heat of the day, we pull Wendell inside and try to talk him out of chewing on our possessions. ALL our possessions. The rabbits and chickens need extra tending around these temperatures so it works out that we're down at the house more. They both seem to be managing well, however, despite the heat. And the farm?––the farm is panting.Our forecast has pockets of promise, though nearly four weeks in, we're not getting our hopes up. At this point, it would take something torrential––five or six inches probably––to get us back to where we need to be. But honestly, we'd be happy with an inch followed by some more realistic temperatures. How's the rain situation in your neck of the woods?- Jesse.
ZEN AND THE ART OF ART.
In the past two days, I have finished two paintings and I am pretty excited, to say the least! It is so good to be painting again, and for Jesse to be able to write. However, June is a busy part of the season, so we have to make time for these pursuits, whether that means getting up before dawn, or working extra hard through the day to feel ok about spending an hour or two painting. These hobbies, however, are very important to our sustainability, because of how important they are to our sanity. Insane farmers does not equal sustainable! And I can assure you, it feels good to have two new finished pieces and a couple more in the works! Now... where to put them?- Hannah.
WENDELL WEDNESDAY.
Remember when Wendell looked like this? I have started painting and drawing and making art, partly because I miss it and we now have some space for me to set up a studio....but also partly because I want to hang some of my work around town and start making some much needed cash. *SHAMELESS PLUG ALERT* anybody want some art? Portraits of people, pets, inanimate objects? *END SHAMELESS PLUG* But seriously, I think Wendell is my new muse.
