The daffodils are in full bloom, and that means it is time to get the garden ready to plant. Some weeks ago Michael tilled leaves into the beds of rich red clay that we are enticing along on the journey to rich brown humus. Then he hauled wheelbarrow load upon wheelbarrow load of compost to the beds and tilled that in. We have planted greens and peas, but we had one more task, and the whole of our landscape cried for it. Sunday we mixed water with the Pfeiffer Field and Garden biodynamic preparation and let it sit while we waited for the March wind to abate a bit. Monday was the day. The Pfeiffer prep was one of many preparations created in the 1940's by Dr. Ehrenfried Pfeiffer and the associates he gathered around him in New York to make biodynamics more accessible to widespread agriculturists. The Josephine Porter Institute for Applied Biodynamics in Floyd, Virginia is the exclusive owner of the proprietary formulas that came out of that work, and we had a packet …READ MORE >
Innovative Saddler in Virginia – Tad Coffin Performance Saddles
A help wanted post on Craigslist piqued my interest. I hadn’t thought of saddle making, but then I didn’t know that not many miles from our place, just west of Ruckersville, Virginia, there was a saddle manufacturing shop. I pictured sewing machines like the oily industrial stitcher in the neighborhood shoe repair shop when I…READ MORE >
A Glance into the World of Gourds
My interest in gourds began when I was introduced to the axatse, a rhythm instrument used in West African drumming ensembles. The axatse is a dried gourd that has been emptied of its seeds and covered in netting with small shells attached. When the gourd is shaken, the shells rattle and make a loud…READ MORE >
spring garden walk
June. Rain. And all our young plants are in the ground, soaking up the water, waiting for the sun. Behind the fence that defines our protected zone, the garden is starting to look organized, beans and potatoes are up, and there have been greens for weeks. Still negotiating with…READ MORE >
Point of View
This young painting, showing the interaction of the colors brown and blue on a white ground, looks like this viewed vertically, with the brown on the left. Rotate the painting 90 degrees; images seen in the painting change. Rotate another 90 degrees. New images appear, old ones disappear. One more turn…READ MORE >
