Just another day ….
This picture shows a small bit of the outskirts of the wetland that borders this little slice of heaven I get to live and work on. Every Autumn when the morning dew gets heavier and the morning sun hits at just the right time this is what you see. I remember the first time I saw it. I was walking down the gravel drive to get the paper (yes that long ago) and the sun rose over the hill and lit up the fields that were just covered in spider webs. They were everywhere, on the grasses and trees and fences. It was stunning and eerie and I had never seen anything like it. I turned myself around, went and got my son and my camera. I made sure my youngest who is seriously terrified of spiders was still in bed. I spent the next week until the sun shifted studying this field.
This week as I headed out to work I noticed the field and was delighted to see all the my weaver friends are still at it. In this time we live in where we just do not know what each day is going to bring us I am finding more and more comfort in the natural world around me. I know I am very lucky that I get to share these 5 acres with all of the critters and life that grows here. I know I more aware and connected since it has basically been just me and whatever else lives here with me.
Spiders are flipping patient as hell and the beauty of these woven splendors with the morning light shimmering on their dew laden threads is quite magical.
We had a delightful but unexpected visitor this week.
Meet Frankie the bunny! Isn’t he adorable? And also very tame as you can see.
Yeah he came right in. It turns out my neighbor got some bunnies and some of them escaped so now we will all have bunnies. I love bunnies so I am delighted. The chickens were very confused. It does explain who has been eating my lettuces. I will have to fence them off now.
These ladies were not real thrilled to be sharing their ranging space with someone else. They were already pretty peeved with the blue jays and then this guy shows up. Never a dull moment and most definitely a good day.
Crystal and I were thoroughly entertained. We actually got a full week of work in which lately seems to be quite a miracle. We still have a little smoke this week from the California fires but the super awful toxic air has cleared. Thankfully. And now we all get to recover. So many folks here in the Pacific Northwest have lost so much due to these fires so please do keep them in your thoughts and prayers. Since Scappoose is North of Portland we were pretty safe for the actual fires. I am very proud of how our little community stepped up to help those that were evacuated. We opened out fairgrounds and had so many donations form the community at large that we trucked them out to other communities in need. Farmers and ranchers here opened their land to house animals that had to be moved. It was a lovely thing to witness in this time where we seem so divided. When push came to shove all of that did not matter. I hope we can remember this!!
One of the things I did during this pandemic to feed my soul was to get my garden back in shape. I started the project because of the supplying food aspect but then just kept going. One of my dreams for this piece of land is an extensive dye garden. Well this year we have the beginning of that. The picture above ip Hopi Sunflower which is a wonderful dye plant that I have been wanting to play with. Look at those seeds. Now if I can just leave it long enough for it to get to the perfect time to harvest before the birds get to them.
Crystal and I are making headway on orders!!!!! Sock club is shipping along with web orders and store orders. Yay!!!! So very happy. Thank you all so very much for your extreme patience and also for believing in me. I am truly humbled, grateful and so very lucky to have been a part of this community for so long. Your emails and letters are so wonderful. Thank you for sharing all that you are also going through. We are all affected in some way by what is happening in our world. We just never know what another person is going through in life.
I spent time this week changing the colorways to Autumn and Halloween since it is my favorite time of year!! The trees here are already turning. Since we have lost so much forest in the past few years I am probably going to find a way to pay homage to our trees.
Okay… well I am off to do the shipping and feed the chickens. I can hear them clucking away as I type so better get them their morning grain and greens before they get hangry.
I hope you all are well and taking care!
Stay safe!
