Squeezin' In A Narrow Cave

Up on a steep hill in the woods there is a pile of huge rock out croppings- inheritly as dangerous as it is infinitely stable, the tremendous rocks are all piled together in such a way that it created a series of caves. Mud, leaves, and smaller rocks gathered into solid mass on the top cracks - filling in the original openings, and animals dug a new series of tunnels. It was awesome!
I started to squeeze my body into the larger opening, and realized I actually could have snaked my way all the way to the back... but did I want to?
The inner rock was jagged on some edges, it seems perfectly dry and clean in there - I did not smell animal urine and the only tracks i saw looked like a micro tiny deer shaped print (possibly a small pig?) I squiggled my way forward...
In the back of the crevice the rocks piled upward like tiny steps - there was a strong breeze of clean pure air blowing directly in my face. I was told that the cold air blowing out the hole meant the cave went deep underground. The stone 'steps' led up to a sharp left turn, and it looked as though maybe a right turn too! I wish I was an animal this size and could just move in, a cave seems like a really nice place to stay.
But Alas- I hadnt really gone too far back because I started thinking about the possibility of the creature who lived there getting pissed and me being stuffed in the crack with it biting my face like some kind of 80's horror film gremlin. So, I squeezed back out and will try again another day. :)XoXO00

Alone In The Wilderness With Dick Proenneke

Yesterday I got a DVD in the mail from a friend and commenter here at The Oko Box (Thanks Blair!)... the video was about a man who went out into the remote woods and built a cabin without any power tools, and ended up so comfy & happy there he stayed in his hand built cabin for the next 30+ years. I found a condensed version of the video on youtube, and although it leaves out some extraordinary parts of his creative abilities - you'll get the idea of how bad ass this guy was! He has inspired my already inspired self to follow my earthy dreams and heart, and don't let anything stand in the way of my love for nature.



XoXo

Abandoned Bus, Abandoned Upcycled Home

Walking down the road at the base of Earlys Mountain in Big Sandy Mush, I saw this crusty old bus across a big farm field. Like a magnet I was pulled towards it to find out what the details of it's history were...I just knew it had at have been at least a party bus for some teens, a school bus full of old seats, or an empty bus full of ghosts. I also needed to use the bathroom at that moment and needed something to hide behind anyway. :)
Once I was there I felt brave- I could sense no one was in there and that no one would care if I pulled the rusted door open to get a better peak inside the mystery van...
The inside of the outer door was dark red with padded & quilted looking plastic material - Fancy! First thing I saw was the steering wheel, hole in the floor, and piles of furnishing trash. Or rather trashed furnishings.
The inside looked as though it had once been the 70's pimp mobile! The ceiling was this fabulous tan quilted pattern, there was a kitchenette cabinet and the whole thing had obviously been outfitted like a luxurious camping RV!
The broken old windows once had groovy curtains- picturing the upcycled bus's glory days was not hard at all. I wish it had been my own glory bus.
I went around the outside to the front of the bus, where it looked like traditional junk yard bus- with no sign of the ancient party inside.
The windows were target practice, surely for teenage boys or drunk rednecks.
The sides of the bus read something like "Forest Hills... Schools". I got behind the bus, used the bathroom and left. Too bad marking territory in the human world isn't as easy as marking it in the animal world.
XoXo

Mixed Media Eco Art & Project Fail

Here is my latest eco art project video! It is in a much more primitive style, but only because the handmade paper I recycled from junk mail was realllllly hard to draw and paint on. To make the picture I used charcoal from the wood stove, poke berries, coffee grinds, nasturtium flowers, yellow dock leaves, magazine clippings & pine sap for a 'glue'. The project was already difficult because the paper could break easily if pushed on hard (and i get a lil' rough with my art)- but in the end the project was a total FAIL because i coated it with an oil and wax mixture! The oil turned the paper dark and gray and bled the other forms and colors into each other. I do think wax would be great alone though for the stiffness and lasting quality- especially to seal in magazine collage pieces, which were only stuck in place with the pine sap. :)



XOXoxo

Rural Entertainment: Visiting The Wells Organic Farm

Guess what Ya'll!? I got to go for an adventure about 5 miles down the road from my house to see the Wells Organic Farm in Big Sandy Mush. :) For me this is a huge deal because I have seizures and can't drive in a car hardly at all, and the road down Early's Mountain is one so windy they have those dreaded squiggly warning signs (like in Pee Wee's Big Adventure when he eventually drives off the cliff!) About 2 miles into it, I almost went back home because I thought I couldn't make the car ride (swooning nausea and approaching seizure)... in fact I wanted to be left on the side of the road to walk home. As fate would have it, I persevered and made it to my not so far away destination! (If I look a bit war-torn in the pics, it's because I went through my own personal battle field to get there.)
The Wells Organic Farm mainly does organic eggs and at one time did organic chicken, but the labor that went into producing organic chicken meat (slaughter, feed, etc...) did not come equal enough with the profit. The funny thing is I wanted to show ya'll all about their eggs and chickens, but once I arrived I sat on the ground, tied my water, knife and snacks into a bundle so I could explore the old buildings, barns and hills instead. (The look on my face is post car ride horror and figuring out whether the huge dog was going to eat me up.)
I had caught a ride with Bort there, who was helping Mr. Wells chop firewood for the winter - so while they chopped I went off to discover tiny bits of their world. A world that has been passed down for a few generations and more acres of inherited land then I could possibly fathom.
Behind Bort in the pic below is the giant chicken coop (looks to have once been a tobacco drying shed), some solar hot water contraption on the roof, and where they were splitting wood (with a self made splitting machine!).
I left to go across the road, crossing over a reallllly old bridge that was totally falling apart. I walked across the huge beams that held it up rather then the boards caving in.
There was another HUGE long tobacco shed on top the hill, holding hay and a mish mash of everything many generations of farmers can end up collecting and storing for 'future' projects and for projects that never quite worked out.
Once i walked past this building I walked towards a smaller house down a dirt road. The house intrigued me till I got close enough that a big black dog came out the door , with a man trailing behind it, staring at me with complete 'what the hell are you doing' body language. I kindly waved with a smile but that seemed to not change his expression, feelings or his dogs urge to take me by storm. I told him I was visiting the Wells Farm, and all the scary melted away... i turned around and looked for a better place to explore where i wouldn't disturb anyone. I found a quaint hill that must have been farmed because there were turnips growing randomly in the grass - I picked a turnip green off the plant and chewed on it for the next 30 minutes...it was mmmmm good. In fact, it was the best I ever tasted.
Half of the hill was covered in stinging nettles! I never saw such huge patches of nettles before, and even though i know they sting really bad i thought my boots and jeans would protect me so i began charging through them trying to get to some woods to play in on the other side. But shit, i got stung right through my jeans, and anyone who's touched stinging nettles before knows it's no joke when it gets you! I carefully back tracked out the patch and headed for the next barn i could see.
Being at an old barn is alot like getting to talk with an old man. You can see his personality in the construction, because each barn I have ever explored has it's own thumb print, it's own face wrinkles, it's own long wild story.
Inside the barn were rows of rusted metal holding bars for cattle, random chains and equipment on the walls, a tractor and...
A Circle Jerks cassette tape!?!!! YAY!
After a while i came back to the big farm house and made some friends! That big dog's name is Zoom and the kitty came up and got right in my warm lap. There was also a german shepard and another tiny kitty who were too shy for the picture, but I was trying to whistle and call them in. :)
Our friend Cody happened to be at the Wells Farm too! He showed me around the greenhouse (which was very warm and humid inside), and told me about an underground food cellar built into the barn where hundreds of potatoes are being stored.
MmMmM, Ya'll... look at dat Bok Choy! I want me some.
Mr. Wells is a 'live and learn' expert on wood stoves also! Buckstove being lowest on his list and his Bakers Choice cooking & heating stove close to the top. He showed me how in this Bakers Choice wood stove with just a few hot embers burning he piled the split wood on top and it ignited instantly! He put a teapot on, and the heat was flowing out. I am sold. :)
It was time to go when the sun was going down, the cold was getting real crisp and Bort was piling some logs into the car. The ride home was slow and much easier then the ride there. :)
It's been real!
It's been fun!
It's been real fun!
XoXOooo

Organic Fall Garden

This is the first time I have ever got to plant a fall/winter garden! I was not sure what to expect, but here is what I have learned so far...
1. Animals preparing to not have food for winter may be extra tempted to venture into your garden! Something ate the tops off of all my kale and dug up my beets in just one night.
2. Stuff doesn't grow with the gusto of spring and summer, it is a slower smaller process - but still well worth the time.
3. Planting stuff at the end of August is probably best to get a head start on the growth.
Here is a list of what seems to be growing well enough that I will replant them again next year:

• Red Russian Kale
• Purple Mustard Greens
• Radishes
• Beets (if something doesn't dig them up and eat them)

A few things are iffy, and I can not tell if it's the climate, pests or critters- and that would be the cauliflower and broccoli having issues of disappearing. I am still watching the carrots, which seem to be growing well but V-e-r-Y sloooooow. The green onion seeds I planted never came up at all.
As ya can see in the pic below radishes get first prize for fall garden producers!!!
XoXo

Animal Tracking: Tiny Mystery and Co.

I don't look like much of a tracker, but I like to pretend! That is me in the apple orchard this morning (eating an apple, giving dirty looks) - the mud up there was perfect for looking at animal tracks. The thing is, I found some that are familiar to me and some that are a total mystery... maybe ya'll can help me figure it out!? :)
This first track above looks like a kitty cat paw, and was about that size. The cats that live here never seem to go up that way... but the tracks right next to there (seen below) may have been the who knows what that tempted them to go into the unknown.
This print in the mud is not only new to me, but has me pretty baffled. Ultra tiny, about the size of a penny including toes and pad - perfectly shaped little circle for each spot it imprinted into the ground. But no real visible claws, which made me think this might not be a squirrel (my first guess) and started thinking possibly it could be a giant frog, or other baby critter?
Next to the single print above was a little scurry of the same creature's tracks, where they stepped in the same place more then once- and even looked as though it slipped, skidded, or could have been dragged. Any guesses on this one?
Below is a large print of a coyote or medium size dog. This was further up the muddy trail by about 30 feet from the tiny mystery prints. In a way, I can see an entire food chain forming as I move upward...
This last track is a classic deer imprint, which there are tons of! I love thinking about how the deers are out-smarting me, always one step ahead, silently getting away.
Past all the apple trees, and into a small man made hut I finally found something that was there right then and not just it's tracks... a wittle brave forest mouse! Look at his sculpted ears and clean multi-toned coat, I love him! He was running fast as he could away from me... :)
XoXo

Growing On The Forest Floor

It's beautiful from far away, and just as breathtaking close up. I find myself looking at the 'bigger picture' in my emotional life quite often and attempting to overlook the details... while in my physical view I am over compensating by noticing every little detail growing around me, far more then the bigger grand view. I suppose if nature was a teacher, the lesson would be there is worth in everything we see-... it's a million trillion tiny details that build up to the picture at large and each bit of the ecology counts. Emotionally or physically.
Striking patterns and colors, mushrooms and moss are especially mysterious to me. The moss growing on the stick below made criss crossing diamond shapes, with little bits of more moss right in their centers.
I was told this classic looking mushroom below may be a choice edible, can anyone give it a positive ID?
XoXo

DIY: Crochet Headband In Soy Fiber Yarn

Halloween was one washed out rainy, dark day - so I decided to spend it doing an indoor craft project and save my outdoor hauntings for another time. I wanted to crochet a simple headband that wraps around the forehead, in a sort of neo hippy, native american, warrior style. You know, except that crochet never really looks hardcore- it naturally lends a softness, sweetness, and kindness to whatever you make. I used natural fiber yarn made of soy that I bought from Knit For Brains last year. :) Here are the simple steps for a quick headband:

• Crochet a chain (ch) to fit around your own head, using a small hook (F5).
• Crochet a single stitch all the way across- when you get to the end, stitch right into the other end creating a circle.
• Crochet single stitches around the circle for 4-5 rows, then tie a bow!

One accessory can change your whole character! Happy belated HAllOwEen!

XoXo