Fairy Playground

Posted: October 3, 2013 | Author: becca neumann | Filed under: Art & Healing, Child Centered Activities | 4 Comments

Needed some magic today so we found a special place amongst the fading plants to create a play land.

Materials included objects from our last beach walk -shells, sea glass, stones, as well as items collected from around the yard – leaves, sticks, stones.

Making paths and trails…

Adding leaf boats…

Mama Earth Vertebrae

Posted: September 20, 2013 | Author: becca neumann | Filed under: Art & Healing, Gallery - Visual | 4 Comments

Prouts Neck Beach, Scarborough, Maine

Cannon preservation

Posted: September 4, 2013 | Author: David | Filed under: Gallery - Visual | 1 Comment

A Carronade is a short smoothbore cast iron naval weapon introduced circa 1778 by Carron Foundry in Scotland. The weapons have a short range, and ships with these became easy prey to those mounting rifled long guns, so after the War of 1812 the cannons were mostly discontinued. The Confederacy used some during the Civil War.

The inscription “1723” denotes the weight. This Carronade, a “32-pounder,” sits now at the big house, and the salt air will deteriorate the metal. We needed to do some preservation work.

Having absolutely no knowledge of metals, I did some research. The Superintendent of the Richmond National Battlefield Park recommended painting the cannon. We shied away from that. Oil seemed a safer route. The gun department of a local hunting outfitter advised that we not use any of their oils; they argued that metals have changed and modern oils would be risky.

So I called Dereck Glaser, a Master Blacksmith and founder of the New England School of Metalwork. Dereck’s recipe was equal parts Boiled Linseed Oil and Thompson”s Water Seal, with a bit of Japan Driers added. It worked great! Dereck’s webs sites are: www.dereckglaser.com and www.newenglandschoolofmetalwork.com.

Here are before and after photos:

Up in the Clouds

Posted: August 23, 2013 | Author: becca neumann | Filed under: Art & Healing, Gallery - Visual | 1 Comment

The Art Farm grows with more form and color. Earlier this month, for David’s birthday, a good friend built this Bluebird house to which I added a bit of color.

From Tree to Table

Posted: August 18, 2013 | Author: becca neumann | Filed under: Farming off the Farm, Gallery - Visual, In the Kitchen, Permaculture & Home Renovation | 3 Comments

Dinner Interrupted

Posted: August 6, 2013 | Author: David | Filed under: Child Centered Activities, Farming off the Farm, In the Kitchen, Permaculture & Home Renovation | 3 Comments

Last night, as we prepared to eat dinner on the porch, our neighbor Steve came walking down the magical path to our house. He told us that there was at least one quart of red raspberries waiting to be picked on the canes growing behind his house. That was a call to arms!

Our four-year old daughter E loves picking berries, and so this offer was the equivalent of Halloween and Christmas combined, in August. We quickly finished our dinner and then E and I ran down the path to Steve’s house.

Like little Sal in the famous story “Blueberries for Sal,” E eats 10 berries for every one she puts into the bucket. Which was not a problem here.

Before too long, she decided to run back home while I continued to fill up the bucket. There was blueberry pie waiting for dessert. Early August in Maine!

Home-Made Blessings

Posted: August 5, 2013 | Author: becca neumann | Filed under: Art & Healing, Child Centered Activities, Permaculture & Home Renovation | 3 Comments

While they are nothing fancy, they sure have great potential to be! I used fabric scraps and a black Sharpie marker (holds up great in the rain) to create our own Prayer Flags. Ours hang alongside the more official Tibetan ones. The intention is to bless our space, to bless ourselves and to bless all who walk with us. Peace be with you.

Independence…

Posted: July 4, 2013 | Author: David | Filed under: Art & Healing, Farming off the Farm, Gallery - Visual, Permaculture & Home Renovation, What is an Art Farm | 4 Comments

…for us: self sustaining, small footprint, resilience, listening to the land, freedom of choice and teaching our children about consequences, being connected to community, sharing our surplus, growing forward.

First Fruits

Posted: June 30, 2013 | Author: David | Filed under: In the Kitchen, Permaculture & Home Renovation | 5 Comments

Our Red Haven peach tree is thriving. We were told not to expect fruit for about three years, but we seem to be ahead of schedule. We are novices here, and curious to learn.

We have room – and dreams – of planting another peach tree, a couple of sour cherry trees (think pie!) and many dwarf apple trees.

Four highbush blueberry plants fell into our possession; two one gallon plants came from a neighbor, and two quite large and developed plants came from our friends Ann & Kurt, who moved this week from Casco, Maine to New Orleans. What a great remembrance to have fruit from their farm now transplanted here!

Ann & Kurt also gave us about forty strawberry plants. These were planted yesterday, and with all the rain, the timing was right.

Eleven blackberry canes came from other friends. Those went along the west edge of the backyard, part shade, but those are coming along well.

There are lots of wild berry plants – some strawberry and some raspberry (we think).

The grape stock is a mixed success. One cane is thriving, while the other has done nothing. These are cuttings of a seedless champagne grape that grows at the big house, so we will take some more cuttings and see if we can’t get more started. I am preparing to build a trellis from dead black locust trees, but that project is low on the to-do list right now.