JourneySeeds

I want to talk...

 
I went outside last night at 10:00pm to talk with Randy about my herbal studies.  I found Pine standing tall under the moon....and this....

 
Two men outdoors working on a woodworking project!  It's a normal thing for me to find my family outside late at night building something, planting seeds, weeding the garden, transplanting an ally.  It's how we get things done...

 
A boy works

 
And Maude is always, always watching...

Birthday...

Emma made this great outdoor chair for Randy for his birthday.  The angle is perfect, the color is perfect and its just the right fit for this birthday boy!

Beautiful chair!

Maker of the chair.  She has folks ordering them right and left from her!  Everyone was relaxing before another day of cobbing the oven.  You know how I showed you pictures of it all finished?  Well...the outer layer was cracking too much for out liking.  With great trepidation we tore off the whole outside layer and re-cobbed the entire surface...adding some more hay to the mix.  The hay was cut into finer pieces.  So, basically we've built two ovens in the last few weeks.  Everything looks good now.  We may put a final plaster finish over the outside of it in a few weeks...we'll see how it's looking.  So, the birthday was spent cobbing for awhile and then we took off for a party at our friend Ian's place....

 

Cob Oven...cont'd

 
Checking the sand form...

  
Finishing up the sand form

 
 
That bottom board is going to be cut out when the concrete is cured...

 
Trying out the paper covering but, in the end scrapped the idea....

 
Someday I'm going to get some pizza out of that oven....

 
We are bricking the form...and then, covering with cob...more durable oven.  The front is the form to keep the door opening in place/on track while the brick courses are being laid.  We had these old bricks from the chimney work on our house. 
 
 
All of these bricks will be covered by cob.  We left more concrete all over the bricks so that there wouldn't be any gaps in the end.  The  scattered bricks in back of the wood form will be removed...they are just holding up the courses going around...keeping them straight.  The bricks will also will be cut afterwards so that it is a nice smooth surface when one looks into the oven.  A ray pattern will hopefully be laid in to the "tunnel" opening going into the oven proper.

 
That's the back chimney thimble.  It too will be covered by cob in the end.


The concrete is orange colored because that's where all the cutting is being done...dust. 

 
Brick cuts

 
That's all that's done so far...so, most likely no cobbing today...just more bricking at some point.

Cob oven progress....

 
Firebrick all laid out

 
Tools of the Trade...

 
Clay piling up

 
Fiery red sunflower

 
This beauty caught my eye as I was walking back from the compost pile..
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Sarah and me after a Cooperative Windows meeting yesterday...

Buntings and blueberries...

 
 
We went blueberry picking this past week..Mark & Sarah walking down the road.
 
I am working on a bunting for our anniversary celebration.  

 
 

  
 
I think that's a total of 90 flags....that should do it. 

gyspy wagon.....

A friend made this beautiful gypsy wagon a few years back now.  I was thinking about them today because they were giving away some of their Oberhasli goats.  I found them a person that wanted to take the goats. I know it wasn't an easy decision for them to give them up.  Animals do that to us...whether or not it's a goat or a dog.  They are a part of our circle.  So, I wanted to show you a beautiful photo and link to the creation of this gypsy wagon that Kevin created.  It is a work of art indeed!  When we think of making a gypsy wagon for our travelling selves this is what often springs to mind. 

Gyspy Wagon Photo Album of the process of creation....simply beautiful.

DIY hot tub...

 

Last fall we put together a down and dirty hot tub.  It consisted of a horse water trough and a 2 burner propane stove for a heat source.  Don't put a direct heat source under a metal container that contains zinc. Immediately we smelled a noxious fume and realized that this wasn't a good thing.  We checked out what other folks said about this online and found out that you cannot burn directly under these troughs.  We didn't know that. So, this weekend my husband started to put together a different plan.  He got an old radiator, some pipe and fittings and has created a gravity feed system that circulates the hot water that is heated up under the radiator which is cast iron.  The heated water then circulates through the hot water in the "hot tub".  All this water exchange creates a nice hot tub of water to relax in.  We could use an open fire for a heat source which we would create alot of smoke near the tub. We are trying out the propane stove first.  The photo shows the putting together of some of it.  

 

Here is the finished project.  We wanted to connect the pipes right to the tub but, it's going to involve some adjusting and refitting of some parts.  The hose is going to allow us to use this alot faster.  It looks like it's going to work.  The propane stove needs to be cleaned out so that it holds a better flame.  We had the old pipes we just need to buy the fittings.  This is a quick and pretty cheap way to get a hot soak out under the stars.  

 
Hot tub set-up down & dirty style.

Hops growing well! We have 4 varieties growing separately.

Comfrey

Pansies peeking out of the stump

Johnny's a jumpin'!  

Maude is watching... 

new project...

Fabric given me to start a new project.  I'm making banners for my friend Sarah's housewarming party. I'm not sure what they are going to turn into yet...

Astoria Scum River Bridge...

Sometimes when i am feeling uninspired I try to look for a new project to work on.  It's always best for me if there are others involved in the project as well as that there is excitement around the project.  It lifts me up to have a common goal with others.  It is good to go about my days knowing other folks are thinking about a similar thing.  I love the beginning stages of an effort...the vision...the dream.  The challenge often is keeping with a project while others interest fades...it effects me.  I get discouraged when others drop back. 

So...I was very inspired when I saw this video about doing a small effort in the world.  I like it that there was an issue...a simple effort was made...and a huge result happened.  It's what making working on things seem so hopeful.  So, enjoy this small effort made.  I'm going to think about what little thing I might do. Instead of looking for the bigger project, perhaps just making the small differences around me would better suit me right now.  I might feel more satisfied and more little projects might just happen around my world.

Astoria Scum River Bridge from Jason Eppink on Vimeo.

Diy lightbox along...

 

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Leethal had this over on her blog about a little project going on in the craft community.  It's about making a lightbox for taking pictures for your blog.  If you want better photos for your blog or for your Ravelry page of projects, here is a great resource.  I'm going to give it a go as it's something I've been wanting to do for awhile now.  It will go along nicely as a project for the Indie Business class I'm taking right now.  By the way the class is great and I highly recommend any classes given by these fine women.  Here is another lightbox tutorial listed at the Croqzine a blog devoted to crafts and indie business.  Here is a handmade lightbox from studiolighting. Lastly, here is folding version of the lightbox. You can share photos when you're done on the flickr group so we can all learn from you!  Thanks Meredith for turning me onto to this community event!  I know what we are making this weekend...I can't wait!