Abundant day

Gillen and Nicolas came home this morning with three Bass this time. With so much going on today, they were put in the fridge for another night. We spent most of the day at the annual Hummingbird festival, held every year on Gillen's birthday weekend, at a local plantation.

We brought Gillen's friend Aaron with us, money for fun treats like shaved ice with syrups, moonwalks, homemade ice cream made in a giant motor powered churn, a gift for Nicolas' mother, Helen, whose birthday is today, and of course - more plants. I also brought my camera, so there are an abundance of photos and they were uploaded in a much bigger size than I intended and take up an abundance of room! And I didn't even get to the ones from dinner at our favorite Thai restaurant for Helen's birthday tonight.



















The shaved ice man is Ed, the man who lived in our hundred year old house before we did. He repaired it, added stairs and a second story and built a deck and a side porch. He is the reason our house is so cool. He and his wife (whose landscaping and frog pond are what made me want this home) are also from Mass. and that may be the reason that we could afford it. He now runs an ice cream shop that he created out of a train caboose. The Caboose is being used in the filming of a movie with Luke Perry and LeAnne Rimes, called Good intentions, later this week.















Ewes Full Acres was there, run by an amazingly energetic and talented woman we've known for years who spins virgin wool collected from her own sheep. She had a huge array of variegated, hand painted colors. I bought some called grape hyacinth, that is a mixture of purple and green. Gillen's variegated green syrup tongue may have inspired my choice.

This is a goat from the animal petting area; no wool was spun from this guy. But he was quite the model.












Gillen was given a Butterfly Bush by a nursery owner who was impressed by his knowledge of the plants. How generous. Once home, he and Aaron immediately planted both this one and the ones Gillen had bought. Gillen always gets enthusiastic volunteers for the shovelling. Yesterday, another friend, Andrew, shovelled the burial hole for the neighbor-dog-slane turkey chick. Today, Gillen watched Aaron shovelling a hole for the Butterfly Bush. The butterflies already found the blooms before it was even planted. Hummingbirds soon followed. Life in the country, today, has been abundantly good.

A decade since Gillen was born

My oldest son is ten years old today. wow. He is still the passionate, loving, intense little individual he was on that first day, when after three days of labor, two weeks after my due date, he was finally forced to come out of the womb by c-section. On an apgar score birth report they gave us it says that he had a "lusty cry". He still shows that lust for life - whether running in 100 degree weather with a soccer ball, caring for his garden, cannon-balling into the pool, making grandiose plans or giggling us all into uncontrollable laughter.

I am so glad that he chose us to to be his parents.

I am also glad that he decided this year that he didn't want a party. I can't imagine keeping lots of people cool today in this heat. We're too busy keeping turkey chicks cool. A neighbor dog got one out of the case earlier. There are now three chicks buried in Gillen's garden.

We are celebrating Gillen with his favorite things. There are three different kinds of watermelon here from the farm. We'll barbecue some ribs made with grass-fed meat raised by local farmer friends. We had a fruit tart that he picked out from a European bakery (first time I didn't make the cake) and he has a new good friend from soccer here for the day who loves nature, animals,swimming and fishing as much as Gillen.

Ten is still so young and innocent. At least it is on Gillen. At least this first day of it. : > )


It is also the anniversary of Gillen's bird garden, which he started after going to the hummingbird festival with some friends on his birthday last year. He and Shannon planted four little plants (first picture). It's hard to tell from the dog-day of summer wilting affect, but this garden has grown ten-fold, as has Gillen.

new chicks and a picture of a slow unschooling moment

Gillen's Bourbon Red turkey chicks arrived in the mail early this morning. Two didn't make it, but the other 13 are fine. I'm relieved that they all didn't die in this heat. They will live on our porch for a few weeks before going to a bigger enclosure at the farm. The new turkey owner says that he feels like a father. He goes out to check on them every half hour. It's fun having squeaky baby sounds, even those of a turkey, seeping in to the house. It's 110 degrees right now! They only needed the heat lamp for two hours or so before the porch thermometer was reading 105, so we turned the lamp off. Now, we even have a fan circulating air right above them. Maybe we should move them inside with their lamp?


Poor Nicolas. I remember farming in this kind of heat, years ago, and looking for reasons to go to Wal-Mart (no other option and I was still naive...) to get supplies for the farm. I also remember not having air conditioning here in the house, for years. I am so grateful for it now but we can only put it on so high. So we are all moving slowly and hanging out in our living room - a picture of which room provides a road map of our life at this moment.

The book in my lap in the foreground is _Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows_ which we are reading a lot lately. On the ottoman are a few of my projects - the two blankets that I'm crocheting and the _Playmaking_ book that I am rereading to prepare for a theater writing class I'll be teaching in Sept. There is a NC map there that Jesse was using with his "Which Way USA" NC game book (that's a cool series of state books that the kids revisit every once in a while). There are piles of library books and an older Harry Potter that Jesse is rereading, Gillen's crochet project, a few board games, a yo-yo that they were trying to figure out, a 500 piece puzzle all out and only a quarter finished in the corner that Jesse has been working on maybe once or twice a week since June.

I know that Nicolas doesn't always see the magic in all this, just the chaos. I often try to neaten it up before he comes home. If only projects could all live under an invisibility cloak, when necessary, to then reemerge and be continued when the impulse rises.

We watched a great BBC documentary with David Attenborough - "Life in the Undergrowth". It's like "Life with Birds" (also really good if you haven't seen it) but with insects. Man, these insects have some amazing courting rituals and even more amazing mating talents.

In an hour, a new "Ben Ten" movie is being shown for the first time on Cartoon Network. Several weeks ago, Jesse created a banner to remind himself of this big premiere event and hung it near his bed. We'll record it and watch it again with his two "Ben Ten" buddies.

Hope you're all staying cool.

Community

This morning, Gillen and Jesse shared tools to release the transformers that they had frozen in cups of water the day before. I shared this idea with them after reading Helen's blog. Who knew this was going to be so exciting for them.

My kids have been raised, much of the time, in a barn. We have been farming since before they were born. It goes with the territory. In addition, one could (one who is rude and hasn't spent enough time in the country - like my former self) even look at my children, when they are peeing outside or eating a piece of meat with ravenous gusto, and easily say,
"Boy, were you raised in a barn?"

These are not the reasons I named my blog "Barn-Raising." Though it's nice that the name does double-duty.

A barn-raising is about community. A big, supportive group of neighbors, both friends and family, jump in to lend a hand, or a meal or a strong back. It really would be so cool if we could all get together to help build one another's houses or take care of one another's children or meals or exhaustion when needed. I know this happens in many places still in the world, even in small rural places like mine. Since we aren't living in one of them, for now, I am talking about another kind of community. I get so much from you other bloggers who are also unschooling, or creating, or farming, or losing your mind, or just questioning. My kids get to see your kids' bird sightings or that you also have a boy who wants to sew or that there are kids just like them in far away places doing similar things but in a different climate.

We have really good local friends who home school,create and parent but they aren't a yell-for-unschooling-or-craft venture-help away, living as remotely as I do. Those on my block may not hear me if I yelled. They could have their hearing aids turned off. Plus, they can't show me what it's like to live in Maine, Boston, Minnesota or Zimbabwe or how they would take a picture of a leek after a rain.

Thanks to my semi-local, IRL community and to my on-line community.

Red Flint Corn; a story of slow food and our dream fulfilled

Remember the corn that we were growing for Anson Mills, in S.C., to grind into polenta? It is ready! These first few pictures show the corn's progression from the spring until today:

This morning, Nicolas checked the corn's moisture. It needed to be pretty dry for us to be able to pick it. It's a hard balance, waiting for it to get really dry and hoping that the crows and bugs don't get too much of it. Last year, the bugs were a big problem and the crop was really small. This year was different, for a few reasons. For one, it was planted in very rich soil, where garlic was grown last year. Soil rotation is key. And I would like to think we got such a good yield because it was a family project. A lot of intention went into this crop. We decided last spring to grow this corn together and then use the money we would get towards tickets to Australia. The kids always get paid when they work at the farm but for this they agreed to work towards our trip. First, Jesse seeded the heritage seeds (that were sent to us by Anson Mills) in trays. Later, Nicolas and Gillen transplanted the seedlings into the ground. Jesse and I weeded, and today we all picked,shucked and boxed the beautiful red ears, for Glenn Roberts of Anson Mills to pick up this afternoon. A few months ago, we opened a savings account for the Australia trip. We deposited all the change that we had been putting in jars for years (which came to $450) as well as a check from my grandmother who wanted to help us visit my brother. With this final Red Flint Corn money, I think we will have enough to get the tickets. Kenneth, Naomi and baby - see you soon!

Here an ear had been opened up by the crows.
The small guy to the left, whom I once called to, yelling "Jesse" - yes, I really did - is Gillen's scarecrow that he built next to one of the more crow-hit rows of corn.
It was probably the hottest day yet this summer- up in the high 90s. In between the picking and the shucking we took a watermelon break and dunked our heads under the faucet. We had great conversation during the shucking - about whether it would be better to live by a stream in NC (Gillen's vote if we move) or by the Amazon River in Brazil (Jesse's choice).


The husks were thrown onto the compost. I did keep a few husks as well as one ear of corn to make a corn husk doll like the one Laura Ingalls had for a gift we're planning.


Lastly, Glenn Roberts, owner of Anson Mills heritage grain mill in S.C., came to pick up his corn. He was very pleased. He told us more about the history of this seed. Originally this breed was saved from heritage crops on the Floriani farm in Italy. This family has been farming for countless generations. Glenn got their seeds through William Rubel, who is an expert in traditional cooking. Check out the William Rubel web site - it is so cool, especially if you are interested in slow food or in cooking. Glenn said that he would send us a bit of polenta in a week, once he has milled all of the corn, just so we can taste it. He saw Gillen building his fence for his soon-to-arrive turkeys and put in an order for one for Thanksgiving (will have to be Dec. we're thinking). The chicks arrive in two days. On to the next project.

There are better pictures of the day on flickr badge to right, if I haven't already taken up too much of your time.

Unusual still-life

Except for Gillen's first soccer game happening tonight, on this new travelling team he is on, it is another quiet day at home of crocheting, games, swimming and Harry Potter. It's been a while since I included the farm so I took this picture of a Cockscomb bouquet that Nicolas brought home on Friday. To me, they look like red velvet brains. I prefer Sunflowers. But they are unique. I was taking this still-life, when over the top of a Cockscomb, I saw this even more unusual still-life:


"Nicolas with National Geographic, on a Monday."
He is our favorite thing to bring home from the farm.

Finally!

Gillen caught two Bass. Nicolas set the alarm for 6am and took him to a local lake where they fished for three hours until Gillen finally did it. They hadn't been so lucky on previous trips. Gillen was so proud to be bringing home dinner. He also had a big-fish-that-got-away story to complete the experience. If only I had a filet knife and a fisherman's wife next door to teach me how to filet them. I ended up ripping the flesh from the bones. It was a smelly, painful process. At least it was on a Sunday. Getting to hear some of David Sedaris on NPR's This American Life while I ripped and swore did help. Isn't Nicolas a dream-father, getting up on his one day off to go fish with his son? He is taking Monday off from work, so he will actually have a two-day weekend for the first time in months and months. joy!



I woke up determined to finally finish the Babette blanket. I sat in a chair and crocheted most of the day, only getting up to change loads of laundry, to turn up the overhead fan (blanket making in the summer - not so smart) and to strew fruit and chips on the table for any male who may decide to ask me to cook something. Except for the bowl of cherries, the grapes and the Kettle brand Salt and Vinegar chips, they were on their own. They survived well. Salt and Vinegar chips are "unconventionally strong and tangy" (it says so on the bag and I agree) which helps to hold off hunger. They may have managed to feed themselves lunch things at some point. I was too busy watching Food Channel cake challenges and crocheting to notice.

Anyway, here it is! I only have to finish the border. It is for my soon-to be-here nephew in NY. I had to use a flash so the colors are a bit off. I really like that the squares are misshapen and it reminds me of a Klimt print that we own;
the first thing Nicolas and I ever bought together, from MOMA in NY(ours has a different frame).





But I can't put down the needle. My sweet niece is arriving soon in Sydney and she must have a blanket as well. Here are some of the colors for her ripple blanket.

Keeping the animals clean and fed

With neighbor Larry's help (he loves our dog as much as we do) we gave Tuki a bath this morning. Jesse-dog felt the need for a soaking as well. Everyone who meets Tuki wishes that they could clone her. She is a great dog. She deserved a bath- though she may not have seen it that way.


Later in the day, we noticed a beautiful Writing Spider -Argiope aurantia- in our front yard. Gillen fed it several grasshoppers and later Jesse gave it two beetles. It was cool watching the spider nimbly (and this spider is huge to be so nimble) racing over to the sudden offering to its web in order to inject it with poison.


The following photos were taken with my small Pentax optio S50, which is better for macro photos. It's a good camera if you're looking for one that isn't too expensive. Gillen's about to use it in a digital photography class. Then he can teach me.

Up the creek, with friends

Yesterday, we got together with our local home school play group friends at one friend's new home - a beautiful home that comes with a creek! We have been getting together every Wed. for years with these families to play at the park. Yesterday was the first time in a while we have all been together. I was struck by how old and how big everybody is getting. They all take up so much more room. It was especially fun for me, yesterday, to watch Gillen and a girl named Shannon, who will turn twelve a few days after Gillen turns ten. When they were really young, these two never played together much. Their love of nature, animals and playmobil (and maybe both being an oldest sibling and a Leo) drew them together more as they got older. It was fun to watch their interaction yesterday - still so innocent and not afraid of each other in that way you get about "girls" and "boys" in school. But Gillen was definitely a bit goofier than normal!

He was a giggling mess this morning, when we read a sentence in _Harry P. and the Deathly Hollows_ about someone (don't want to give anything away) kissing Harry. He threw his head under all the couch pillows in horror! I don't think it had occured to me, until today, that he will one day have a crush, and a girl friend, and maybe get married. Wow. I mean , yeah, I knew it was a possibility, waaaay back in my mind...

Back to the creek - nothing is better than a summer day at a creek.

As the school buses rolled past

this morning, to the elementary school down the block, the kids slept. By 8:30am they were up waiting for their friend Logan to come spend the day and night here. We sat out on the side porch and watched the hummingbirds in Gillen's garden. Yesterday, they woke up earlier and we heard the school loudspeakers playing the Star Spangled Banner. I stood and sang. It was fun to be singing it in pajamas while drinking coffee.

Today was a full, fun, free day. The kids brought out old games to play with Logan, and swam, and filled egg-cups with sweet foods for the fairies, and hid these cups from ants and monsters under the trees. They played a new knights game with foam swords on the trampoline and played a really challenging game cube game in which they all proudly succeeded in moving ahead. Gillen spent some of the day farming, got Nicolas' help to build his turkey fence and wrote out turkey business plans in a cool wooden book that he made at a book festival last year.





This is a cool game like Twister, but with countries, called Map Tangle.



Later in the day, on our way home from climbing trees and picking vegetables at the farm, we passed the long carpool line.

I feel so incredibly lucky today to be able to stay home with my kids. I'll reread this on those few days I don't! On those few really challenging days - the ones when one of us is really tired or sick or has just stepped in a big pile of dog poop (that would be me yesterday!) right after my guys have been seriously, with major commitment, whining at me about an injustice in life (one wanted to hear one more chapter of Harry Potter; the other, sadly for me, did not) I can hear the kids at recess and wonder... But on the other 360 days, as the school's routine sounds drift to us through the woods, I am reminded of our freedom, and feel glad. Not everyone gets this opportunity. Not everyone can leave their job. Not everyone can know how great freedom and learning, and mixing those two things together can be.

It was a good day.