Red Dirt Farm and Studio

A brilliant sky, pink with swirls of blue and purple if only for a moment, long enough for me to take just a few photos and then it was gone.   That’s how the morning started yesterday.  Sleet and freezing rain with just a bit of snow fell briefly.

I find time to write now because even though it seems a long way off, warmer temperatures will bring busier times for me here on the farm.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I was awake for the day by 3 am.  I gave up trying to sleep just before 5.  All week I have been contemplating seed ordering for this year’s gardens.  As always I have dreams of fields of flowers and charming bouquets of sweet simple flowers lovingly placed in the farm stand for sale.  I keep the dream alive year after year, that my flowers will be loved by someone other than me.  So there in the wee hours of the morning, before the sun came up I placed my orders.  With the press of the button, my dream of being a flower farmer will continue for yet another year.

This year, I’m beyond over the moon to say I have a venue outside of the farm stand, where my humble farm flowers will be available for purchase.  More about that later.

 

In chicken land, Gracie brought her tiny fluffy chick out of the enclosed nursery for just a few hours.  Briefly, on a wet cold windy day, she brought baby chick down into the run, into the dirtiest muddiest, poopiest part of the run.  She talked sweetly to the little one telling her all the things that new moms tell their wee ones.  The other chickens watched, especially Hawk, who is always quite observant of all the comings and goings and not at all inclined to be broody or to visit with my human self.  I believe her to be quite wise in her quiet ways.  Rooster Cogburn is the dad.  He too watches from a distance.  He has the best disposition, treats his ladies with great respect.  When I give him treats he gently takes them from my hand, places them on the ground and calls his ladies to come over and eat them before he does.  Now, that’s a true gentleman.

That darn red-bellied woodpecker remains elusive.  I have to do acrobatics and contort my body in unnatural ways just to get a crummy photo.  You just wait…

Tabletops and window sills are filled with bottles of cuttings from rosemary and lavender, growing roots for me to pot up later.

I also potted up tulips and daffodils this week for forcing, they too will be available for purchase in a local shop very soon.  (Insert a vision of me jumping for joy.)

A few weeks ago while I was recovering from surgery, I eased my pain with a few simple sketches.  Later I worked on incorporating those sketches into some mixed media work.

A bird wearing a crown.  I’m layering vintage images of mushrooms for the feathers.  This piece is a long way from complete.

Calls of the heart.  It is a self-portrait, eyes closed dreaming of feathers and flowers.  These are the things that occupy my dreams.  Awake and sleep dreams.  Layer after layer I rework these pieces.  Unsure of the next step, unsure if the piece is complete.  Mostly unsure of seeing my handwriting splashed out on the corner.  Maybe because then it is very personal and very real.  I’ve had it hanging on the wall for about a week, periodically looking at it trying to understand if it is trying to tell me something, or is it complete?

 

Until next time, xo kim