The Back-eyed Pea Harvest

Why I Love West Texas

The Black-eyed Pea harvest is finishing up the last few fields that were planted in the area. These exceptionally large capacity combines can get across the field in a short time. When the field dries down enough for the peas to thrash easily, the crop is put in the bin in short order.

The semi trucks are parked along the edge of the field and the combine has an extra long auger to be able to reach the truck from the field. They are then hauled in to be graded and cleaned so the Farmer can see what production he will be paid on.

Cris Kindle is cutting these Peas for his Uncle Bobby Kindle and is seen getting off the combine after he got it set the way he wanted it. Setting the combine to do the best cleaning cuts down on hauling and gives you a better clean…

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Autumns here, enjoy the harvest!

Archi-Food

Two weeks ago I was at my parents little farm in the countryside again aftera long time in the kitchen. For the first time I really felt the autumn was here. And with it of-course all the delights of the late sjmmer/autumn harvest. Tomatoes shall ve harvested before the first frost. The same with mangold, beans and squash.

The one thing that actually can take the frost is pasnip.

Here is te giant parsnip and giant squash just harvested by me and Emily.

Another summer delight that you can harvest for the last time in autumn is duck eggs. In the winter they don’t lay eggs.

So what did I mke with these last sample of garden goodies?

Well first I wash the mangold and fry the little homegrown red onion…

Then I take some organic garlic and maybe some herbs fry with organic olive oil and beat some of…

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October Winds

Wood Wind & Water

clouds dripping firelight
into a bright blue ether~
morning winds stirring

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Fall, leaves, fall

 

Fall, leaves, fall; die, flowers, away;

Lengthen night and shorten day;

Every leaf speaks bliss to me

Fluttering from the autumn tree.

I shall smile when wreaths of snow

Blossom where the rose should grow;

I shall sing when night’s decay

Ushers in a drearier day

Emily Bronte

• Emily Jane Brontë was an English novelist and poet, best remembered for her solitary novel, Wuthering Heights, now considered a classic of English literature. 
  
  Born: July 30, 1818, Thornton, West Yorkshire

  Died: December 19, 1848, Haworth

  Siblings: Charlotte Brontë, Anne Brontë, Branwell Brontë, Elizabeth Brontë, Maria Brontë

  Movies: Wuthering Heights, Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights

  Parents: Maria Branwell, Patrick Brontë

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Artworks Made From Autumn Leaves!

Andy Goldsworthy’s Land Art

In the land art movement, no name is bigger than Andy Goldsworthy. The British artist is recognized around the world for the ingenious sculptures and art installations that he creates using elements found in nature. Fallen leaves are among Goldsworthy’s favorite tools, and he often uses the contrast between brightly colored leaves to create dramatic geometric shapes.

Traditional Chinese Leaf Carving

Traditional Chinese artists carve incredibly intricate images into leaves from the Chinar tree, which is native to India, Pakistan, and China. The painstaking process involves removing the outer layers of the dried leaf with a knife (which can take months) while carefully keeping the veins intact.

Walter Mason’s Striking Land Art

German artist Walter Mason uses the gifts of nature – berries, water, grass and trees — to produce his temporary art installations, but it’s Mason’s use of leaves that we’re concerned with. Mason uses leaves to create gorgeous geometric patterns and collages that he captures in photographs .

One of the things I love most about being a parent? Getting to feel like a kid again as I join my children in experimenting with nature. Normally, on a gorgeous spring day, the kids and I disappear into the woods to build forts and collect specimens. But several weeks ago, Solvi and I found ourselves trapped at home on a lovely day while we waited for the dryer repairman. So we devised an at-home experiment.

It began, as usual, with Solvi collecting tiny bits of flora from the yard. Rather than arranging them in some Lilliputian vase, I decided to try something different: leaf prints. I vaguely remembered seeing something like this somewhere, but I didn’t have the particulars, so we just winged it. We had so much fun gathering the plants and banging them with hammers that the results hardly mattered. But I do like what we got: an ephemeral homage to spring.

Above: To make leaf prints like this simple trio of sprouts, all you need is: leaves and flowers, paper, tape, a hammer, and some work surface that you don’t mind getting banged up—we used a piece of scrap board.

Above: First we gathered various flora from our yard. The results are often quite different from what you’d expect, so I encourage you to experiment. For example, we thought that flowers would produce the best prints, but these were often too juicy and would just become a blur. Simple specimens with little water actually produced the most interesting prints.

Above: In terms of scale, you can be as ambitious as you want. This time we opted for smaller scale flowers and card stock. After securing a piece of paper with tape to our board, Solvi began arranging the leaves and flowers on top.

Above: A simple composition with scilla.

Above: When your arrangement is complete, carefully place another piece of paper on top and tape this to the board as well. Now the really fun part—start hammering. Make sure you hammer the entire composition underneath (you can see it through the paper). A rubber mallet would have been preferable, but we didn’t have one, so a regular hammer worked just fine.

Above: Gently peel away the top piece of paper and carefully scrape away any plant “goo” to get the final prints. Here, I love how the hammering released a purple pigment in the stems that was not overtly visible in the original sprouts.

Above: In some leaves (those with less water), the veins were brought forth by the hammering.

Above: Solvi surveys her work.

Above: Our final prints, arranged on the dining room wall, make a charming and extemporaneous homage to spring.

 

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