GOODNIGHT FARM

 Glory and Noah who have helped immensely with all the garden enterprises by always producing an abundant supply of organic matter for my gardens.  Once again another circle so to speak....from the earth, through the horses and back to the earth.

Hi Pat,

Chris and I have been moving along on our art/farm project. We have created our own unique classical 4-circuit labyrinth garden [most labyrinths appear to be odd numbered circuits], called the Bee Garden Labyrinth, using veggies and flowers.  The Labyrinth Society describes a labyrinth as:  "A labyrinth is a single path or unicursal tool for personal, psychological and spiritual transformation."  The classical labyrinth is bean shaped, which we felt was appropriate for our garden variety and one circuit is devoted totally in beans.  Chris tells me [she is the labyrinth expert] that when walking the labyrinth and one comes to a corner it is wise to stop and contemplate the turns our lives take.  I have fretted over the weeds, which seem to be growing with leaps and bounds, and then I thought, no life is complete without some weeds...sort of like one can't have a really pretty sunrise without some clouds.  Not to mention that this year we have struggled with the weather, which shows one's struggles in life and persevering to keep going.  Funny but as I wrote that a thought came to me as Chris has been part of the cast for 'Carousel', which I attended yesterday, and the one song in the musical, When You Walk Through a Storm, certainly seems to apply to our garden this year.

I get carried away with all this 'circle' stuff and often think that this little garden also represents all the circles in our lives.  Many years ago I started my own life here on this farm and now it seems to have come full circle as I am back on the farm once again.  Hence the name Goodnight Farm as it is where my husband and I plan to say our last 'goodnight's'.

We are hoping to make our first farm to table delivery to Tree of Life this week...will keep you posted on that!

Pam

From Lydia Cassatt Osgood, Deborah from Bagaduce Farm with her sweet donkey

Deborah again, who is paired with Lydia for the Farm/Art Exchange

ANNOUNCEMENT POSTER

 

FARM/ARTS …..EXHIBITION 2014

OPENING RECEPTION

Gallery Within

at :

REVERSING FALLS…..

SANCTUARY

Sunday,August 24, 2014, 3:00 TO 5:00

FUNDED IN PART BY:

MAINE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION for more info: www.reversingfalls.org

PREVIEW :FARM ART EXHIBITION ON AUGUST 24

Laura Givertz of Fibula Gallery in Deer Isle village has invited me to hang one of my paintings for the RFS show as a preview. It is there now. She also has hung one of our posters to advertise the exhibition to  generate interest on that side of the bridge.

Title: CHANGING THE LANDSCAPE, 30" x 30" x 3" with box insert and bundle. The bundle holds Apple Rootstock from the west coast farm in the fertile Tualitin Valley, where I did my first farm art exchange. Coppenhaven Nursery has provided the rootstock for many of the apple orchards we see on the east coast, including here in Maine.

MAINE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION GRANT

The Maine Community Foundation  awarded a partial grant to Reversing Falls Sanctuary to fund the professional hanging system and dropped track lighting for our exhibition space called,  THE GALLERY WITHIN, here we see one of John Gray's electrician team installing the track

Daksha Baumann  has been a critical part of this whole process from doing research with me and John Miller to the actual grant writing with our 3 teams: finance, building, programming, to painting and scraping. Our teams are working teams as well as dreamers who envision community building in fun and stimulating programs . Here Daksha has a look at the hanging system which is the thin line of molding running between windows at the top of the windows. A thin steel cable is  ingeniously engineered to quickly attach to the track. each cable is capable of holding 40 lbs. then a stainless steel clasp holds the wire and attaches to the wire on the back of the paintings for a stunning presentation. It locks on the steel cable and also has a closed clasp that secures the art work.

GOOD NIGHT FARM will donate to food pantry as part of our exchange

a note from Pam Capurso of GOODNIGHT FARM. Hi, Pat,  Just a quick note to let you know Chris Farrow-Noble and I have discussed donating a portion of our produce to the Tree of Life Food Pantry.  We are also thinking about planning a day when we are planting our "labyrinth" garden as a "circle of friends" day and having a few friends join in our project.  We are also hoping, weather permitting and dependent on how the garden progresses, designating a day for a labyrinth walk, which Chris knows more about.

FARM TO TABLE EVENTS

YELLOW BIRCH FARM has done 2 FARM TO TABLE EVENTS already this season, note Missy's hand thrown dinnerware

I love this farm table that Eric built. the catered events take place in the barn studio

yum! Eric & Missy will offer a FARM TO TABLE EVENT open to out RFS community in
Sept. when you see the announcement sign up early, they sell out quickly. this will be a fund raiser for the farm that Reversing Falls offers .

PAINTERS IN THE FIELD

TODAY I visited with Sherry Streeter & her friend who were in the fields painting at Four Seasons Farm in Harborside

Sherry said be sure to notice Eliot's tools

Mid morning and just getting into the paint, lots of time scouting and looking for the right spot then laying out the palette of paints

this morning Sherry had just sketched out the composition, to view the finished painting come to our exhibition on Sunday, August 24,  at Reversing Falls Sanctuary. 3:00 to 5:00.  Artist Talk at 4:00.  Brooksville elementary school children's quilt with Becky Poole, from stories at DAVID'S FOLLY FARM will present  at 3:15.
 directions etc. are posted at the Reversing Falls Sanctuary web site

Tinderhearth Bakery at Valley of Stars Farm

TODAY Carolyn Coe and I met with Tim and Lydia at the bakery for a recorded interview. Tim was busy cutting butter into the dough for pie crusts

LYDIA telling the stories and philosophy of Tinderhearth. Carolyn Coe and I did the questions, Tim and Lydia kept us fascinated and intrigued with the idea of Having No Plan, just showing up for whatever happens. Carolyn , who had read all of the magazine write ups about Tinderhearth, and there are many, wanted to know what went on behind the scenes, what didn't go right. I will not give the punch lines away here. the interview will be a part of the Farm Art Exchange, no plan yet for how that will work, just waiting to see what happens. Pat Wheeler

preview of works for our exhibition

this piece is called Legend. it is a tribute to Barbara Larsen from the Valley of Stars Farm

edges of a painting about farming, done during a class i was teaching in Oregon a few weeks ago. Pat wheeler

In winter,  Ansel and Oliver Tenney of Sweetgrass Farm in Sedgwick  show me the food from their pantry that they put away in the fall..
We sip tea from their dried herbs.
Then in the early spring, I was shown the maple syrup gathering as well as the new baby chicks!
The boys did some artwork with me as we talked more about their farm.
They seem to be so proud of their surroundings and wanting to show me all they can.
We are writing Haikus for each season on the farm.
It is a joy and so inspiring to be doing this with them.
I am learning a lot!
barbara JOY

PIZZA NIGHT successfully building a vibrant community

Tinderhearth Bakery at Valley of Stars Farm, Brooksville, serves hand crafted, wood fired pizza tuesday and friday evenings. I love to go because its the best pizza I,'ve ever had but also because I love the scene, vibrant and lively, the back meadows full of young families enjoying the food, the place, the community.

Where else can you eat such good food in a meadow at picnic tables while visiting with new and old friends

last week i ran into Eliot Coleman and Barbara Damrosch from Four Seasons Farm, Harborside . They supply Tinderhearth with all of their vegetables. They are also participating in the Farm/Art Exchange with artist Sherry Streeter of Brooklin.

For me one of the best features is the intimacy of the bakery and watching your pizza being fired up, conversations every which way.

YELLOW BIRCH FARM offers Farm to Table events throughout the summer. in the fall

Eric Ziner and Missy Green, owners of Yellow Birch Farm host very successful Farm to Table events in their barn gallery. this year's series is already sold out, however, they will offer one more in September for the Reversing Falls Sanctuary. I will post it when we have it scheduled. Eric made this amazing farm table for the dinners. Missy has made all the dinner plates and is working now on the smaller dishes and bowls. these two are full time artists & farmers.

tomato green house

Eric and Chef Martha are ready for the action to begin

WASSON/TAPLEY FARM in the making

Carol Gregor has loved horses most of her life. She and Dick Gregor have just added two small draft horses to the farm.

the farm has lots of animals including ducks, chickens. geese. The Gregors are restoring the farm to its original  form,

Gary Vencil is working with the Gregors during the 2014 Farm/Art Exchange. he will write a series of essays. this week's topic: the philosophy of restoration

some of the healing herbs in the front garden