A Walk in the Woods...

Black Walnuts

Stephen and I spent some time recently harvesting black walnuts. We smashed the green husks off each nut with a large hammer, and removed the remaining bits of husk by shaking the nuts in a sealed, plastic container, with three parts pebbles to one part water, acting as a "slurry" to loosen and remove the husk bits.  With some vigorous scrubbing using a steel wire brush, we got the final bits off. The nuts, in their cleaned shells, will be curing for the next few weeks, after which time we should have some very tasty black walnut meat. 

Goodbye, Harvest Season

My favorite farm stand is literally a stand at a farm...

Fresh potatoes are two dollars for a huge bag, peppers, tomatoes and beans, a dollar a quart, and it's all so delicious...why would you ever buy the stuff in a supermarket again?

...and if you can't eat it all at once, there's always canning!

The harvest season is coming to a close, with the local farm stands all shutting down around the end of the month. Corn and soybeans are still out in many of the fields, but I've noticed the combines poised on the perimeters for harvest... 

One of the things I've really enjoyed about moving back north has been the easy access to fresh food from local farms. It makes eating healthy so much easier. Also, I've been intrigued how so many women here are really into gardening and canning. 

Last month I took a canning course at the 577 Foundation, one of my new favorite places. I'll post a run down on "everything wonderful" about this unique community center at another time, but for now, let me just say that the canning course was a godsend. I've had the Ball Blue Book on canning and preserving for years, which I used for jam recipes that I would seal with melted paraffin, but I was always nervous about doing hot water canning from written instructions, without actually watching someone else first. Yet I found out that with a minimal investment in canning equipment, hot water canning turned out to be easy enough. The woman who gave us canning lessons at the 577 Foundation, Deb Trzcinski, did a great job, teaching us basic canning skills with an easy but really delicious pear jam! (Gorgeous taste and texture--who knew pear jam could be so good?)

This year, I canned spicy pickled okra, mushrooms, pickled cauliflower and my own salsa. I missed the fruit seasons (except for apple and pear) so I'm waiting for next year to try canning some jams. It's given me such a feeling of pride and accomplishment, as well as a little pantry full of tasty goodies for much less than I would have paid for them at the store (have you checked out the price of a bottle of salsa lately? Or okra pickles?) And it's wound up being a very nice hobby. 

I will miss my weekly trips out to the farm, coming away with more fruits and vegetables than I can carry to the car in one trip, usually for less than $10. I like knowing I'm helping our local farmers, and sincerely hope I am "investing" in keeping the beautiful fields and farm lands that surround our city safe from development...at least for now...

The Sewing Machine Project

I subscribe to "Country Woman" magazine and found a great article in their most recent edition about an organization called "The Sewing Machine Project". Margaret Jankowski of Wisconsin was so touched by the story of a tailor who had lost her sewing machine--and her livelihood--in the Southeast Asian Tsunami that she gathered, refurbished and sent 25 sewing nachines to Sri Lanka, so people could get back on their feet economically. Her project has expanded to sending sewing machines to the far corners of the world, as well as to New Orleans, helping individuals affected by Hurricane Katrina. You can read about Margeret's wonderful, grass roots efforts at www.countrywomanmagazine.com; click under the "Link" heading to be connected with Margaret's story and website: www.thesewingmachineproject.org.

A Walk through Fallen Timbers Metropark...

On the way, a quick appearance by one of our many local deer...

Enjoy!

The Quilt Foundry

My first quilt: Ohio Star pattern baby quilt

I've always wanted to learn how to quilt. I have made three quilts in the past, but had only done the surface piecing; I sent the quilts out to local Amish women to have the layers quilted and the binding put on. So I was thrilled to find the Quilt Foundry in Maumee, a quilt supply shop with an extensive list of classes where I signed up for "Quilting 101" and learned how to assemble a quilt from start to finish.

My teacher was Mary, one of the four women who founded the Quilt Foundry and, who I discovered, worked for years organizing the annual Black Swamp Quilt Benefit Bazaar, and worked collaboratively on many quilts that at auction brought in thousands of dollars each. This annual quilt auction raises funds for the Sunshine Foundation, which is a local residential and day program for the developmentally disabled. 

Mary was very patient with me and the other beginners in my class. I learned a bit about using those intimidating roller cutters and plastic pattern grids, as well as learned machine and hand quilting and--my biggest fear overcome!--how to put on the binding. Now I am just waiting to sign up for "Quilting 102" !!

Northwest Ohio has a wealth of craft organizations, many of whom craft for charity. I invite you to check out these web site:

www.quiltfoundry.com

www.blackswampbenefit.org

www.sunshinefnd.org

A Day Out At Bittersweet Farms

Contemplating the beauty of nature during

this wonderful season of fall

On Saturday, Stephen and I headed out to Bittersweet Farms in Whitehouse, Ohio, for their fall festival. Bittersweet Farms is a residential program for adults with autism, but is a very special and unique program that provides a balanced lifestyle for its residents, who tend a small farm and have several creative workshops where the residents make income producing products, such as woven rugs and place mats, ceramic ware, bird houses, wind chimes, dried flower arrangements and canned goods, just to name a few. 

The fall festival was wonderful. There were lots of crafts and baked goods for sale, as well as pony and horse drawn cart rides, performances by local talent, carnival style games, and simply the chance to be "on the farm" on a gloriously crisp but sunny, autumn day, walking through the fields and communing with the farm critters.

We got talking to one of the mothers of one of the Bittersweet Farms residents, and she expressed profound gratitude for this alternative living and working environment for her adult daughter. Her daughter did not appear to us to be very verbal, but apparently she is, according to her mother, passionately interested in art, and has found, in creating things, a real sense of pride, purpose and peace about herself. Her mother said that prior to entering Bittersweet Farms, her daughter had been employed in a subsidized sheltered workshop where she expressed frustration and boredom with the tasks given to her. Now, when her daughter comes home to visit her, she is eager to get back to Bittersweet Farms, and eager to get back to her work. I can't think of a better testimony for a residential program for the disabled than this sort of enthusiasm. 

Everything produced at Bittersweet Farms is lovely, colorful and professionally made. The farm itself is on a rural setting that is peaceful and beautiful. I found it deeply touching that many creative and hard-working people have given birth to, and sustained, this dream of a holistic, balanced and creative lifestyle for adults with disabilities, who are so often given so little in our society. 

But the visit also caused me to reflect on my own lifestyle. Am I living a balanced life, in a sustaining community, doing work of which I am proud and which serve a sacred purpose? Putting beauty and creativity into the world is, I believe, a sacred purpose, and a source of strength and inspiration to the greater community. 

My little community of two (me and Stephen) is a tiny one, but my "greater community" continues to grow as I settle in here more and more. And I continue to find having time to create art and do my writing, cook meals from scratch, participate in spiritually caring for the sick and dying as well as being of service in other small ways to the community, to write this blog, and to create a warm and welcoming home for my "little community" is well worth the cut in pay! Stephen and I don't have lots of "things"and have to be careful with how we spend money, but we have a lifestyle that, I'm beginning to see, I wouldn't change for anything. It is slow and full and rich, and I am thankful for it. It allows me to prioritize for the important stuff--like a day out at Bittersweet Farms!--and to support the dreams, visions and creative endeavors that are life sustaining for others, especially the poor, the oppressed and those whom society so often overlooks.

I invite you to check out their website at www.bittersweetfarms.org . 

New Beginnings in a Season Full of Endings

Out walking on a weekend trip in southern Ontario, as autumn begins to unfold...

A monarch butterfly stops off besides Lake Erie in southern Ontario, 

on its way to Mexico...another long journey in progress...

Back in late August, I made the decision to end this blog. I felt it had run its course and served its purpose. I saw myself as off on a new and different journey. Now, at the request of some of my friends and readers (thank you for your support and feedback!)--as well as having reconsidered my stance on what this blog might be about (and what it appears to mean to many others who are on a similar journey)--I've decided to begin again, in this lovely season full of endings...

When I came to northeastern Ohio, I was immediately struck by the many organizations available here to get women in touch with creating, purchasing or supporting the arts and crafts, both locally and globally. Right here in town we have two wonderful and extensive fair trade organizations. We have quilting organizations that quilt for charity purposes and fundraising, and charity organizations that have extensive arts and crafts programs. We also have thriving arts organizations and community centers with extensive adult learning programs focusing on the arts and spiritual development. In fact, I found so much going on here that at first I thought, "There's no need for my individual efforts here--why not just sign on with some of these organizations and help THEM out? They're older, bigger and more experienced at what they're doing. Why try and re-invent the wheel as they say with my own tiny blog and efforts?"

Happily intrigued by all I was finding, I dove in head first, signing up for a work shop in traditional rug hooking, as well as  taking a quilting course and signing on for a ceramics class as the prerequisite for having studio privileges at a local community center. I volunteered to work at a quilting organization's annual fundraiser that raises money for developmentally disabled kids, and I volunteered, along with my husband, to demonstrate "pioneer era crafts" at our local metroparks. 

Soon I was also taking courses in organic gardening and food preservation, Chinese cooking, and much more. I also started frequenting local farm stands, and learned how to can and store the various delicious seasonal foods. I was kind of like the proverbial kid in a candy store that didn't know when to stop popping chocolates into her mouth! I found I was learning all sorts of new life skills--and loving it!

But something more is going on here for me...Now that I am only working part time--and VERY part time at that--I have had a lot more time to pursue, vocationally, my art and writing. I have set up my own studio and am getting back to illustration, painting and mosaic work. Currently I am working with a publisher on a book, as well as still freelancing articles for various publications. I also have established a bit more of a routine for prayer, exercise and meditation, and am looking into affiliation with various spiritual and faith-based organizations, realizing that, realistically, I can probably only affiliate myself with one of them effectively...but this is a time for checking each other out, not yet for making commitments... 

And to top it all off, Stephen and I have been simply mesmerized with the changing of the seasons, which we have missed for several years now, and have been out taking advantage of the many lovely metroparks that abound in this area. Being in nature is feeding my soul, both artistically and spiritually, at a new and deeper level. I've been fascinated to find almost all the birds we knew around our pond during Florida winters to be here in Ohio during the summer (heron, egrets, they're all here--except for the roseate spoonbill and the anhinga) and we are enjoying our "new birds", like the hummingbirds, indigo bunting and the gold finch which we see in abundance in this area. 

Can you see where all this is going? Lots of new beginnings and great discoveries, all right in the middle of one of the most beautiful times of the year up north...

But then I got thinking, "Why not simply document for people what it is you're doing and discovering, especially in terms of all the new arts organizations and crafting activities you're involved with, and your own spiritual journey through it all?" Surely, some of this stuff will interest some of your readers. And the whole purpose of this blog isn't to highlight my accomplishments per se, if there were any! The purpose of this blog is to be a vehicle to network with other "crafty" women about what myself and other women are doing in the area of the arts and crafts to help build creative and spiritual community, and build a better world, right? And believe me, there's plenty going on up here to share with you all.

So my dear friends and readers, if you'll bear with me during this wonderful time of new beginnings and transitions, and if you don't mind the fact that I might be posting entries a bit more sporadically than before, let's begin again in our mutual quest to craft a better world through fair trade networking, participating in crafting communities and through our modest but sincere attempts to build a better world in small but important steps. 

You'll notice my blog has a new name: The Artisan's Retreat. There's two reasons for that. First of all, I was beginning to feel that "Global Women's Artisan Alliance" was a rather grandiose title for such a modest little effort. Second, I am hoping you will find, or continue to find, this little blog to be a place of "retreat", where you, fellow artisan, can take a moment to rest, perhaps over a cup of coffee, and connect with me and with the efforts of other kindred spirits out there in a manner that will inspire and energize you. I want this blog to continue to be a little haven and network for all women artisans who see crafting and creating things not only as a way to make stuff, build community and create a better world, but as an important part of their own spiritual journey. The feedback I'm getting from nearly everyone who contacts me about this blog is that for them, as well as me, making things is an important part of who they are spiritually, and an important part of their own unfolding journey.

So, my friends, are you ready for a new beginning during this autumnal season full of glorious and brilliant finales? Then let's begin!