Color Madders!
Here are more splashes of color from our Earthues workshop!
Look!
I stood out at the edge of the lane that runs past the barns this weekend, watching the sheep graze. Then my gaze drew in like a telephoto lens, zooming in to the closer view. I saw my Sheltie laying under the bench by the barn, I saw the planters of flowers I had planted in Spring, now full with bloom, my little studio and the pots hanging on hooks, waiting for a new dye pot of color. Layers…layers of life, interests and lifestyle; all of it blending together in one view; my view. I find that when I stop and take in the immediate surroundings, no matter where I might be gazing, the depth, quality and richness is far greater than what I first saw. A walk in the fields and woods can offer far more vision than merely the grass and trees. My cousin took this picture on a hike this summer; simple, yet such depth of texture, color and feeling. How we view the space around us and how we choose to maintain it can have a profound effect on us individually and collectively. Look around!! Do you like what you see? Do you see what you like?
Color, culture and cloth
We had a fantastic workshop with Michele Wipplinger of Earthues here at the farm last week. She arrived in the dark of the night, I was so happy to see her safe and sound. Tuesday morning we hit the ground running, unpacking her wares and setting up and by 10 AM the group had gathered for what was 3 days of lecture and dyeing in the European tradition. Michele taught the process of hue gradation as she was taught by Jean Dufour in France who developed the technique many years ago. Jean Dufour taught Michele the process using only the eye, whereas we were given some actual recipes to follow. The outcome on Thursday was a rainbow of 9 hues with 5 shades within that hue. Natural dyeing has as intense a range of color as any chemical dye ever hoped to have! We feasted on lunches by Berndt and Nancy. I let them choose the menu for each lunch and it was a culinary delight! The weather was perfect all week so we were able to serve outside buffet style up in the garden. Thursday evening Michele treated those who could stay to a slide show of her travels to Mali, Thailand, China, Guatemala and beyond. I watched our winter sheep barn transform to a dye house then an evening movie house complete with an evening buffet…it was marvelous! When the winds of winter are whistling around and the sheep are nestled in this same barn I will remember these colorful days of dyeing; ethnic cloth from around the world, the stone walls awash with indigo from oxidizing skeins, tales of distant cultures and the color that surrounds us.
School uniforms
We have had a good laugh since Berndt remarked the other day about the sheep coats. Jack and I were putting larger coats on some of the sheep and 3 of the six lambs are now coated. We were talking to one of the lambs as we put her coat on and Berndt told the lamb ” it’s just part of your schooling here at Long Ridge Farm, you have to wear a school uniform”. How true it is! The lambs took to the coats without batting an eye.
Welcome!
We have had the good fortune this summer of connecting with Nancy Eakins and Berndt Zabel. They have moved into the cabin here at the farm and accepted the position of assisting shepherds! They most recently came from Scotland where they worked and taught in a Rudolph Steiner community environment. Nancy is originally from Washington state and Berndt is from Germany. The sheep took to them instantly and we think vise versa! Berndt plays the penny whistle for the sheep and they quite enjoy that…it is an alto flute so the notes are quite soothing to them!
