sketchbook project

I'm participating in the newest "Sketchbook project: 2011". It's a very cool project, and maybe I will be able to bring a rural view to it. It will be touring galleries in about 6 places in the U.S. in early 2011. Nettie and I are working together on this project, partly in an effort to get us to be responsible to ourselves and to creating better work/life balance in our lives. Neither of us has much else for art-friends in our daily lives, so hopefully this will be good for both of us.
I can't wait to get my sketchbook!

it's spring again, I think!

It's been a long time since I've updated my blog, so I thought I'd drop you a line to let you all know I'm not dead, just busy!

Here's a picture by Sr. Claire of Springfield's waterfall.

No Farms, No Food

I've recently discovered the American Farmland Trust and their "No Farms, No Food" campaign. They are encouraging the "buy local" ethic, working actively to preserve farmland by buying the development rights from farmers so that the land never can be used for other than agricultural purposes. It seems to be an active group with some good ideas for saving our farmland from development. I haven't seen much there as far as other ideas (than big monoculture farming) for making a living wage from farmland, but I still haven't explored the site fully. They've got a great campaign going with the "no farms, no food" slogan, but I would definitely be interested in other ideas for farmers, especially those with small acreages, to help keep their land and be able to live on it without resorting to driving an hour each way every day to go to work in a factory. I know too many farmers here who have to do just that to stay afloat.

Ducks! Ducks! Ducks!

so, you know I said we have some ducklings, right? well, boy do we ever have some ducklings, and for the first time when I went out this morning to feed and water it was hot in their brooder/coop.
I fed/watered them, and they are going through a whole trough of chick starter/grower in 12 hours, and running out of the three gallons of water available in the same time period; anyway, it was so warm in the coop and promises to be quite a warm day, I decided to let them out of the coop. Boy oh boy did they think that was grand! They were absolutely enthralled by the amount of bugs and grass that was available for them to eat. Here are a few photos:




















Here they are coming out for the first time, figuring out that it's ok to come out, finding some yummy, crunchy buggies, and beginning to taste a tiny bit of the real world.
Enjoy!

back from the back of beyond

sorry it's been so long since I posted, been a bit busy.
moved from texas to kentucky, got that small-town library job I wanted, only i'm the director, not just a peon librarian. that part has been kinda scary. but kinda cool too. I get to do the things I feel strongly about, give the people things that will help them to use the library more. that part is cool.
dealing with interpersonal issues among my coworkers is not quite so cool, but can mostly be handled. that's what they pay me for I guess.
If you look at my posts in March of 2007 you will see that I had an incident where someone threatened to sue me, accused me of hitting their child; at that time I put out a call to the universe to get me to a small-town library where that kind of thing would not happen. Exactly one year from that incident I'm the director of the small-town library I asked for. absolutely amazing!
We give thanks for unknown blessings already on the way!
We have also found the house of our dreams, on 4.5 acres, with a long driveway and beautiful views, a great porch and a garage and a half. it's awesome, the closest living things are cows, neighbors are just close enough to hear them if the kids are screaming and yelling. Perfect!
We have baby ducks, about 1 1/2 weeks old now, just starting to grow their tailfeathers in. We've been trying to figure out what kind of shelter they will need on a permanent basis. we're considering building a "minibarn" with Starplates, which you can find examples of at www.strombergschickens.com. They make really cool little structures. well, it's late and i'm tired, i'm going to go read in bed and then pass out. My life is bliss!

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