Randomness

I missed posting my Sunday Gratitude.  Tuesdays Tip toppled into my tasks....

I have no tip this week.  My mind is somewhat empty.  I seem to have the bottomless list...but there is a light at the end of my tunnel of toiI....& I am Grateful!  Had another kick ass weekend.  The plan was to tile the shower but those outdoor chores on my list called instead.  And a good thing too....first ICE this morning!

This will be my duckies 5th winter!  I hope they are ready.  I know I am ready for winter and the rest it will create in my life.  

List of what was done:

final coat of paint in the bathroom

wired the new lights 

wired new pressure switch for well pump

brush cut my trails ~ ready for snowshoeing!

moved school bus shelter to an interesting place..next blog..I hope...with more on this!

pressure switch wasn't working right...spent quality time with DH lying on the cellar floor noting the switch on and off point...turn power on and off to turn a nut just a bit more then running up stairs to check the pressure in the tub then realizing we need to clean the water filter in the water heater..did that...too tired for a bath

6 loads of laundry now that the water is working again....these are moments when you know your marriage is working!

I would like you to meet my favorite power tool that I use...really the only one.  I do not care to run the tractors.  The lawnmower messes with my shoulder bursitis.  The BCS walk behind tractor is too much of a beast for me.  BUT the weed whacker and I are real pals!  I do about 90% of the weed whacking around here.  This machine enables me with my trail obsessions!

Presenting ---> Wilma Weed Whacker

I am the Queen of the Weed Whacker!

My weed whackers crown resides on one of my many "altars".  Look closely and you will see homage to my sons dinosaur years, saints, the plans for the big shed, and a lucky charm found during one of the tillings.

....and just another neat sight...shadow frost....

~A Bunch of Randomness~

There is only one thing I am certain of....

Change.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* ~*~*~*~*~

Faithful are actions
But never,
are words.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Consciousness, what is that really?
Moments awake and aware?
Being aware we're aware?

What are we when not;
unaware, asleep, semi-conscious....
Are we less or more alive at those
in between moments just before waking?

For in moments dreams drift,
and are we not riding those moments
Fully aware we're dreaming?

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

writ ten randomly on 5-30-08 

Sinnaminsun Sinnaminsun

http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/a-bunch-of-randomness/

---Shop News--- & Etsy MaineTeam Cash Mob

Now that the Gardens are DONE 

(well my new list is getting pretty long...but just a lot of little jobs...) 

Thread has been flying!  

3 new puppet are listed in  www.injoyecocutie.etsy.com 

Moose ~ Rose ~ Monarch Butterfly

I thought I was done making puppets.  I started making them back when I tried to sell handweaving at craft coops and fairs 20+ years ago.  Weaving is a tough to sell so I made puppets to make my rent at the craft coop.  My patterns have been stored away in the attic for years. When I opened my EcoCutie Shop they started to call me.  The truth is I love puppets!  Not just making them but playing with them too.

Mr. Moose is a totally new design this fall.  Have you ever hear of the book, If You Give a Moose a Muffin, by Laura Numeroff?  (love this book...read it many times!)  Well, if you give a fiber gal a fleece she makes a Moose Puppet.  Back in September at the Common Ground Fair I swore I would NOT buy a fleece...I have enough stuff and enough to do!  But then I found this beautiful, to me, 5 pound Cotswold yummy brown fleece for $3.00 a pound!! I couldn't pass it up.  It has nice light brown tips that I noticed matched this light brown felt I had recently aquired....well I saw a MOOSE!  It took 3 prototypes to get him right...I just love him.  He is a bit of a ham too!

https://www.etsy.com/listing/166987730/maine-moose-brown-hand-puppet-kids?ref=listing-shop-header-2

Puppets Make Great Tree Toppers!

Add rose oil to the mouth of Ms. Rosetta then she won't have stamen breath ~ LOL 

Really, it is another way to give a roses to someone!

https://www.etsy.com/listing/166999411/pink-rose-hand-puppet-kids-toy-eco?ref=shop_home_active

Not all the Monarch Butterflies have flown South!

https://www.etsy.com/listing/166989782/black-orange-monarch-butterfly-hand?ref=listing-shop-header-0

(here is another blog post about my puppets if this isn't enough)
http://injoyemporium.blogspot.com/2013/06/shop-news.html

ANNOUNCING ~~~ ETSY MAINETEAM CASH MOB!!!

Go to Etsy and type in maineteam <--- one word ---> to start deciding what you want so you can <3 ahead of time.  Buy Local on Line (for my Maine Readers). Many shops will be having specials that day including me!  For November 8th ONLY use coupon code cashmob13 in any of my 4 shops and save 30%!  This will be my only sale this holiday season.

https://www.facebook.com/MaineTeam

***Tuesday's Tip***

Ok Tuesday's Tip is a day late...but I was harvesting the carrots yesterday!  This is my LAST BIG outside job.  With what I did over the weekend and yesterday I can now make a new list! Woot! Woot!  I mean to blog more...but...this Is my first year blogging during  harvest, send a kid to college, way behind on Etsy, and need to add bookkeeping to my list, Autumn.  So NOW I hope to be more regular again!!!

Before Harvest (Kale in the foreground)

Carrot Harvesting Tips:

Pull your carrot on a cloudy dry day.  Leave them out in the garden before you pack them.  

Do NOT wash them before storage.

    

Get your boxes ready.  I found these Fish Boxes at Hamilton Marine, Searsport, Maine.  The work great and will stack inside each other for storage or flip them around and the stack on top of each other.  Then get your packing material ready.  I like dewy morning raked leaves.  I have tried a number of packing materials of over the years.  Wood chips were too drying, peat moss was too messy, sand was to heavy...but...leaves are juuuust right!  I have been using leaves for about 4 years with great success keeping my carrots until nearly spring and then I can just add them to the compost pile.  Leaves smell nice too.

A layer of leaves and then a layer of carrots.  I cut the tops off as near that carrot as possible without cutting the carrot.  My biggies are Scarlet Keepers and as their name suggests they keep well.  My skinnies are Nantes Half Longs, not the best keepers...if my son hadn't gone off to college there would have been none to harvest. (experimented today with shipping him some via priority mail...he is my carrot kid!)  The Nantes tops will snap right off but, the Scarlet's require a knife.  I sort out any weirdy or super small carrots to use first.   

I got done just as the rain started to fall!  Another layer of leaves..no cover just leaves and into the cold room they go!  We have an insulated cold room.  It is around 60 degrees right now but should cool down to 40ish by the end of the week ~~~ cold winds are coming!  

After all the carrotiness I feel a bit like a goofy carrot-actor....so time for some fun!

My favorite weirdy LOVE carrots of the bunch! 

Shel Silverstein 

 Natasha "Juice From a Carrot or Two"

CarroActer Cake

In a Bowl of Sanity
Add a Cup of Heartiness
a Cup of Wisdom
a Cup of Kindness
Two Drops of Tears  
And three Cups of Smiles

Mix Well Until Smooth

Add a Cup of Fate
a Cup of Compassion
And Two Cups of Passion

If It Feels Dry
Add Two More Drops of Tears
And Keep Mixing Without Fears

Then Gently Mix In
Two Cups of Sincerity
And a Cup of Attention

Mix Until It Sticks To the Bowl
And Until Foamy Peaks Form

Add a Cup of Strength
a Cup of Integrity
a Pinch of Doubt
And a Cup of Trust

a Pinch of Naivety
a Pinch of Bitterness
And a Pinch of Spice
Juice From a Carrot or Two
Be Very Careful
Not To Overdo

When It Feels Fluffy And Light
When It Tastes Pleasantly Right
Serve All Above
Generously Sprinkled
With Love

:) :) :)

~Natasha~

http://hellopoetry.com/words/carrot/poems/

34

https://www.etsy.com/treasury/MzQ0Mzg3MTh8MjcyNTEzMTM5Mg/its-my-anniversary?ref=pr_treasury

Can you guess what year?  I have never been much for games or beating around the bush.  I am more likely to get in trouble for telling it like it is...at least the IS that is my IS.  So today I have been with my partner in life creation for 34 years.  Our "marriage" was not the conventional sort.  No one on Etsy would have made any money from my getting hitched.  34 years ago today we said vows to each other on beach in Douglas Alaska with our only witness a scrappy little sled dog pup, named Kavik, that joined us during a hitchhiking trip arounds Alaska.   Later, before we bought land together we became legal...I don't remember the day or the year...July I think...it only cost $10 for the marriage license...that much a do remember.  And my husbands buddy from his high school days was our witness then.

It hasn't always been smooth sailing for 34 years, it has been a growth process...Earth School, Baby!  Like I said I don't care for games (as a kid I thought board games were bored games) So during challenges I could go right for the juggler of truth...not always pleasant. Neither of us quit anything easily and we are both deeply loyal people...sometimes to a fault but that is how we roll.   Our marriage has been based on choice.  That was our vow to each other~~~ we both said that, I know I could choose a life partner from a multitude  of different people and have a great life but, I choose you!  So during the rough times reflection on our choice brought us out of whatever trouble we may have had.

We were together 15 years before our son was born.  Now with the boyo happily starting his life we look forward to what comes next!  We are much more discerning now.  We waste very little time being "mad" at each other...now we choose to be "mad" about each other.  The truth is the other aspect of our life together that has kept us together is, well, I like to say sometimes that we fell in lust with each other...we were pretty young!

So here is my favorite lust poem....

Wild nights - Wild nights! (269)

BY EMILY DICKINSON

Wild nights - Wild nights!

Were I with thee

Wild nights should be

Our luxury!

Futile - the winds -

To a Heart in port -

Done with the Compass -

Done with the Chart!

Rowing in Eden -

Ah - the Sea!

Might I but moor - tonight -

In thee!

http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/173343

Pause & See

Many folks I know dread the shortening days that start with dark mornings.  I welcome the shift!  I tend be a late night reader and the mornings come all to quick and bright.  Depending on the day I have two very reliable alarm clocks...one brings me coffee the other wakes me with fuzzy wet kisses...at 6:00 AM SHARP...with no consideration for how good the book I was reading the previous night!

This morning it was a fuzzy kiss and a thumping tail that brought me out of my dreams.  From where I lay my head I can just see a sliver of an eastern window.  It was a deep magenta....I haven't seen the sunrise for a whole summer.  So since my companion needed to go out......

Well, I missed the magenta but I know the days will continue to shorten and I will soon meet a sanguine sky.  Here is some of my morning walk...never leaving the land where I live.

My Sunrise

The chirp of birds in the early morning
Bless my smiles with their innocent calling
I head outside with my blanket wrapped around
And lay there listening to this memorable sound.

Inspiring orange light of dawn, infatuating
With all colours the sun rise is portraying
Its cheerful glow fills my heart with serenity
And takes me to a tranquil fantasy.

Amaranth red shimmers of vitality
Creating the most curing reality
Shines transparently through my soul
And takes me to a place so beautiful.

Hues emphasise pure yellow rays of hope
That warms my aura lost in the clouds reflective pink coat
This morning ambience has risen bright
Like heaven shone down with its piercing light.

There will be no melancholy, only a feeling so gay
Because my sun, you've just started my day. 

Theo Williams

http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/my-sunrise-3/

Time for warm hats~~~YES!

This a regular feature I plan to include in this blog.  I try to see something new each day.  It is part of my practice in "seeing".  The art of seeing is essential to any creative work in my humble opinion.  My favorites are the ones that stop me in my tracks!  Like so many folks I have a very busy mind that I struggle to quiet.  But by creating this practice it has given me many opportunities to pause and be with a new wonder.  I love to wonder about wonders.  These little seeings can be just the jolt my creative process needs to get out of a rut.  But mostly they provide a pause which is that moment of peace I need to heal from a frustration. These seeings are grounding for me and bring me to the present.  I will admit to laughing out loud with joy over some of these discoveries. They are a moment of childlike wonder!  

"When you realize how perfect everything is you will tilt your head back and laugh at the sky"             ~~~Buddha

~~~Gratitude~~~

Ah me, I so wanted to make this Gratitude post yesterday.  Well, a standing computer desk has its drawbacks....like being too tired to stand after 2 days of work!  I have wanted to blog more...lots of stories dance in my head as I go about my work.  Reflecting back to the beginning of this blog I realized I started it on October 30th a year ago.  That was after my garden sabbatical summer.  So I guess I will cut my self a break!  (Also~~~distracted by a visit from UMO boy this weekend!  Very nice bit of family time...when he wasn't visiting his girl friend ;)

It has/is being an amazingly mild autumn so far.  We have only had the lightest of frosts.  This will be the latest frost since I have been keeping records here which started in 1991!  Could let things stay outside but at some point one just has to go for it and get a big bunch of work done.  We really like to have most of the outside work finished before the local fashion statement is HUNTER orange.  So this is what we did this weekend....

Before

After

Beets, Leeks, and Rutabagas are in the cold room.  I still need to harvest my carrots but I like to pack them in leaves.  The leaves are still on the trees!  Got going on the Garlic planting today...hope to finish tomorrow...then giving the boyo a ride back up North.  The thought of North makes me long for winter winds and snow....I am grateful that most of the fall tasks are complete.  I am grateful that I love winter.

Mary Oliver (1935 - Present)

Fall Song

Another year gone, leaving everywhere
its rich spiced residues: vines, leaves,

the uneaten fruits crumbling damply
in the shadows, unmattering back

from the particular island
of this summer, this NOW, that now is nowhere

except underfoot, moldering
in that black subterranean castle

of unobservable mysteries - roots and sealed seeds
and the wanderings of water. This

I try to remember when time's measure
painfully chafes, for instance when autumn

flares out at the last, boisterous and like us longing
to stay - how everything lives, shifting

from one bright vision to another, forever
in these momentary pastures.

It is my intention, each Sunday, to share something that fills me with Gratitude. 

I write ~~~Gratitude~~~ with the wavy lines to represent the gratitude ENERGY~~~~~! 

I hope you will join me and share your gratitude moments. 

~~~Amen, Blessed Be, Namaste'~~~

Shadows

Now is the time of shadows.  The summer fades and winter is at our doorstep.  So funny how the mind works.  I do not realize how fully present I am until I reminisce.  This how my garden is now...

  

Spring, did it ever really happen?

So neat and tidy...full of potential...

and growth...

just a shadowy reflections in my mind

Leaf golden orange,
Fell slowly and lightly down,
Shadows hug, let go.

Copyright 2013 Brenda Davis Harsham

http://friendlyfairytales.com/2013/09/19/shadow-haiku/

PAUSE & SEE

I am wicked busy.....

We are in the midst of a glorious bit of weather...so yesterday morning I could not resist a walk in the woods...the first in quite awhile.  Now that it is fall and the biting bugs are nearly gone and a sunny day doesn't mean humid heat, the woods are irresistible!

I was just enjoying the lovely sights~~~mossy logs, my little favorite spot by the run-off stream, and interesting little fungi!

I came upon this old birch stump covered in fungus~~~Beautiful!  I remembered the first blog I wrote looking through a curl of birch....

...when out of the corner of my eye I saw what looked like a white puffball mushroom....????

...but it was not!

...it was a hard boiled duck egg!!! 

A few days ago I had 3 cooked eggs that were a bit past their prime, so I put them out on the edge of the woods hoping someone would enjoy them.  They were gone the next day.  Someone is stashing this one for later!

I covered it back up and left it alone...I haven't been back today to see if it is still there...I am wicked busy....

wonder who?  Raven?

and a poem....

Forest Walk

BY KRISTINE O'CONNELL GEORGE

I’m practicing my

         I-belong-here

         no-twig-snap

         no-leaf-rustle

         no-branch-crack

         see-all, know-all

         float-like-fog

         like-smoke

         pine-needle-soft

         forest walk. 

No one will know I’m coming.

No one will know when I’m gone.

http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/241896

This a regular feature I plan to include in this blog.  I try to see something new each day.  It is part of my practice in "seeing".  The art of seeing is essential to any creative work in my humble opinion.  My favorites are the ones that stop me in my tracks!  Like so many folks I have a very busy mind that I struggle to quiet.  But by creating this practice it has given me many opportunities to pause and be with a new wonder.  I love to wonder about wonders.  These little seeings can be just the jolt my creative process needs to get out of a rut.  But mostly they provide a pause which is that moment of peace I need to heal from a frustration. These seeings are grounding for me and bring me to the present.  I will admit to laughing out loud with joy over some of these discoveries. They are a moment of childlike wonder!  

"When you realize how perfect everything is you will tilt your head back and laugh at the sky"             ~~~Buddha