August 1, 2008
HighButtonShoe
the farm update
the selling of my collections SALE
 
...well here we are, the first of August, with me wondering why there aren't more hours in the day in summer? I always end up with more things left to do than there is daylight, or energy for that matter. After the frosts finally ended in the first of June, having raised havoc with the growing process, let alone my temperament, the summer has been very pleasant. Only a few very hot humid days. No nights you couldn't sleep due to heat. In fact most nights we are in the 50's or low 60's, so it is really pleasant. Enough rain to keep the lawns green. We usually don't have green grass for a month or so in the summer, so this is a nice treat for me. Even with the cost of gas ($3.83.9 yesterday, as opposed to the $420.9 it got to in early July) I mow lawns often. Like swamps, lawn mowing is a favorite of mine and I think lawn mower manufacturers had me in mind when they designed the mower seats.
My early morning and later evening ritual includes the watering of the flower beds, the new grass (minus the expensive Texas grass seed, which still hasn't turned up, forcing me to use just normal grass seed...razzle-frazzle..) Ron's planted trees, and while it is an old tree, I water the farms only pear tree, which is years past its prime. Many limbs are gone, some will be in the next wind storm, some are gnarly, yet I have great fondness for this tree. Planted years ago by the old farmer who lived here (Grandpa), in its day it produced enough fruit for Mom to can a couple quarts of pears every few days. This year it has one pear. Perhaps due to its age and state of the limbs, even that one pear is disfigured and not always easily recognized as a pear. But yet, I water it. As if, by my mere pointless care of it, I will be able to keep it alive a few more years. Its memory of it will stay with me a lifetime.
The farm irrigation system is comprised of me and the hose.  Not a high tech system. We have been doing ground improvements and changes since the last frosts and each lawn shows signs of change. The 'we' of that we is Ron, of course. My main job is to rake the dirt, and water. Of that, I am good at.
 
We (he) put in the new pavers in his well thought out design plan from the front porch out. My role in that was suggesting which paver go where. In the end, he followed pretty much his own plan. One of my early morning chores is to convince the tiny ants that their ant hills between my pavers in that expensive sand is not welcomed and to discourage them. I am. On the other hand, MY century old brick path thru the flower garden is beginning to show signs of foliage (weeds perhaps) in between the bricks, which was my purpose. I am sure when Ronnie sees that, he will confirm what I already know, IT is a WEED! But it is green all the same and makes the winding path look good. As I had only limited new things to put up on Simply Primitives this morning, I opted to put 4 new pictures of my garden up rather than to say I was on vacation. I am ANYTHING but on vacation. Click on the link below at the bottom to see my garden.
 
We (he) has the tubing under ground from the wood stove cement slab out in the field to the basement and into the furnace. The shed is almost built and ready for the stacking of the winter wood supply, which is currently in huge stacks in the barn yard. Redi-Mix came Monday and poured the cement slabs for both the shed and the stove. As nothing ever goes smoothly, it seems, the cement truck blew a hydralylic (sp?) hose and could not get the shoot to work properly due to that, so the big loaded truck drove past the pour site, thru the field of flowering buck wheat, up into the hay field that had been cut weeks earlier, turned around and came back. I have pictures of the truck in the hay and wheat fields. My contribution of the day was to write the check and clean the cement tools as needed. Beu's kids came over and printed their names with a square nail, in the cured cement, with the date. It seems all cement on the farm has names and dates written in it, from many decades ago. It makes you smile, to see old slabs to remind us of times long ago when building made changes and it was chronicled with a sharp instrument and the scrawling signature of a child.
 
With the same cement, we also added two more steps going into the pole barn, so the slope won't be so treacherous in the winter months of snow and ice. Last winter, with ice for months, I always tred very carefully on that incline, with the fear of falling. So now there are steps. This does seem to be the year to get the outside tasks done. Again, we need more hours in the day.
 
My chores of the past month are to get this post-move The Selling of my Collections sale ready. Knowing full well how much was packed away, it is not my favorite task to get done, to ready it for a sale.
All the boxes that were packed last year in haste, some with organized detailed notes of the contents within, and in the end, just thrown in the box..no lists, who cares?, I am tired and don't want to do this anymore attitude...are now being gone thru again to see what I will keep and what will be sold. I am surprised with what I now deem sale-able, as before I thought I could not part with it. Having it out of sight for a year helps that plan of attack. While the hay barn itself is still very full, the basement is looking much better. The paths are getting bigger. One wall is almost bare! And in some places I can actually see OVER the boxes. And yesterday, I found, quite by accident, the long missing crock pot!!  Now if I could find the pencil sharpener. I bought one of those small hand held ones to sharpen pencils with until I could find the other one, and now have lost that one too! I continue with the theory of gathering up all the pencils that need sharpening and taking them over to the old house, where I KNOW where the pencil sharpener is. There are 2 of them. One in the kitchen and one in the basement. Sounds good to me. Like going back there to color my hair. Even after a year, I haven't gotten some routines down pat here in the farmhouse. Old dogs, you know.
 
My folks are again dealing with old age problems. Trying to work on this sale has been a frustrating time, fraught with delays and complications, as I work around hospital tests, doctors appointments and just plain things to deal with. Their continued struggles with health issues brings an overwhelming sadness to me at times. I am the driver, the ears to hear the doctors words, the taker of notes, the seat belt buckler, and the hand to hold as we often walk slowly from a painful exit of the car to the waiting doctor appointments. I know many of you are doing the same things or have in the past. I know your sadness as well. Dad may be facing another back surgery soon (bone scan on Monday, doctor appt on Thursday, the day before my sale begins....), so next week is filling up. I am asking myself WHY I thought I could have a sale??
 
Beulah and me are trying to convince her father that we should run off to Kentucky in September to go visit Frannie for the girlfriends weekend. Met with all the negative reasons NOT to go last night, which I knew would be brought up when I first approached him with it, he hasn't said NO yet. So between his daughter and me, we have a few weeks to work on him to run off for a few days. Beu may be more persuasive than me. Time will tell. But Frannie..we are working on him.
 
Ok. To business at hand. Simply Primitives for August was released this morning. I have nothing to sell, just photos of my garden, which you really SHOULD look at because my 300 brick+ path is done and shows! And you know it took me 3 summers to get more than the original 9 bricks I had done. While there check out BitterSweet Susan's offerings. www.simplyprimitives.com     Also, while I don't have anything new on PrimitiveGathering www.theprimitivegathering.com , as my release dates are the 15th of the month, my goodest chum Wendy (Miss Elspeth) of PineBerryLane is showcasing her first ever pattern releases! If you know her work, you know how great the patterns are. Just a note for reference. If you don't receive her newsletter (and you really should subscribe) her website is down for total redoing with new host. So be patient. It will be worth it I am sure.
What IS new?  I have all new fall items on Lemon Poppy Seed. And last week I uploaded several new items to the CountryCraftShowOnline. Links below. Also check out www.the1800house.com  Karen has been offering some great primitive smalls in monthly sales off her website. Good stuff! Join her newsletter and she will tell you of upcoming sales.
 
Other non essential news updates. Fritz the Anaconda continues to live, along with his sired Fritz-ling. I do believe this is the year of the snake, having lost my once thought ally of death to the snakes, 10 year old grandson Matt, who has switched sides and now has his grandfathers idea of 'snakes are good and don't need to be killed off' instilled in his head and won't help me kill off Fritz. Any snake sightings of which there are now MANY! are not met with a quick gathering of the murder off tools of ax, hoe, and whatever I can grab, preferably the riding lawn mower, but rather Matt grabs his plastic see thru container to put him in (not Matt of course, he is too big..Fritz not Matt), so he can keep the snake for a day or so. Where did I go wrong? I thought we had this all worked out. We would kill Fritz. Now I am left to my own devices and we all know how sorry a situation that leaves. The mowing of the hay fields showed just how many snakes have found residence on the farm. I am purely mortified. I may be riding the big riding mower all summer...
 
Other news. My rosemary continues to thrive out on the porch for the summer months. As does my newly acquired basil and what I thought was rosemary and turned out to be lavender. I took the plunge and actually fertilized them all. Thinking that could be the end of them, as my green thumb is actually as brown as the bottoms of my bare feet before the nightly ritual of bleach water scrub, I still went ahead and fed them. So far, they haven't died off. But then I still have time to kill them off, it is after all only August. Did you know that basil is pronounced bA-zil? I looked up a bunch of words in the dictionary the other day. As odd as it may seem, apparently I don't always pronounce words right! Did you know the more common overused word vignette (huh?) is pronounced vin -yet ? I didn't. And apparently have been saying it wrong for some time, I can only imagine the stunned silence of the person I was relaying something to when they wondered perhaps what the heck I was talking about, but had the courtesy not to ask.
 
Silly me. I just realize as I was about to end this letter that I didn't tell you about the sale. Duh?
The Sale of my Collections is August 8 & 9th. Friday noon to 6PM, Saturday 9-6PM. And we are having an early buying sale THIS SUNDAY, NOON to 6PM. This Sunday one is not advertised and there are no signs out. It is by invitation and you are all invited! The following weekend will have signs and an ad in the papers. Besides my own things, we are offering shutters, enamelware, baskets, lots of folk art, wood boxes and carriers, whatever furniture I can get safely out on the yards. We are not putting up any tents this time. Our rain when it comes, comes in the form of storms with high winds, heavy rain, lightning and thunder. Not conducive to tents and the contents in them. So I am limited on space and will be relying on the weather. Scary thought.
Our address is 19338-19 Mile Rd Tustin 49688. Phone (231) 829-3308 if you need directions. Or email me.
 
Thanks for asking to be a part of our farm and life.
Should you decide not to, merely reply with remove.
In fond regard, Tilda
shackled in the barn
keeper of the rosemary
  and Fritz, it would seem
keeping my fingers crossed for a trip to KY,
the reluctant gardener
www.highbuttonshoe.net