well hidey-ho, today was a rainy day, which is no surprise, and to Nana's ponder, i AM getting my healthy Irish glow! =)
Yesterday, was a really pretty day, with a "soft" rain in the morning, followed by holes of blue sky and sunshine in the afternoon. We began the day by raking the horse poo, seeking the piles and spreading it out, so it could decompose, and allow the grass to grow through again. We did this on the south side hill, so our view was the expanse of the green hills and it was pretty flippin dandy for rakin' poo! Then we walked up the hill to the circular herb garden, which has stones for a path around the beds, and pulled some wicked weeds out of the pathway. There were some amazing rocks to be found in the pebbles on the path! I found an epic quartz stone and also an agate looking rock! Little did i know was weeding in a crystal collection! Then Stiofan and Christine, asked us to assist them in this epic project of weaving willow stalks around these totems of willow wood, to create temporary beds, until they make stone walls out of them. It was really cool working together to weave these long thin willows around the sticks to make this epic shape of a long lizard! It is probably about 20 feet altogether! They grow the willows in one of their fields and then they cut them and soak them in the moat around the shed, and than they weave them into baskets or beds! Pretty awesome. After we weave the willow about 2 feet high, we line the sides with sheeps wool and than, add about a foot and half of mushroom compost, and than top it off with dirt from the forest or where they have removed dirt from around the property. They put the mushroom compost on the bottom because, if they just planted the plants in the compost, it would be a bit too harsh for them to root, so by putting the more acidic, rocky soil on top, it allows the compost to settle and balance out over time.
After weaving, we parted ways and I built my first fire by myself in the cabin! In order to heat the cabin and the sauna, you have to build a fire through this tiny 6 by 6 slot. We went in the sauna for about 40 mins and i finally dripped sweat, which was quite the accomplishment for me! Then we danced and laughed and had some lentils and rice and hit the hay. (ha!)
Today, we began by working on the weeding we did yesterday, in the circular herb garden. This is actually a super meditative process, especially when you have the green hills staring you back into your wondrous eyes! After weeding, we went back to the weaving of the lizard bed, and we spread lots of mushroom compost and pulled lots of sheeps wool apart to line the inside of the willow. After lunch, we went to an arts festival in Mount Shannon, to check out this performance art piece. It was quite the experience! We were inside this little gallery which had these doors open, facing this really big lake and epic hills. The performance took place outside with a woman and a pile of dirt and two white boards of wood. It was somethin' else- i tell ya! It began by the woman in a black dress facing the pile of dirt, with her back to the giant lake and mountainous hills. It was raining on her, and after 45 mins of her sliding in and eating and rolling in the dirt, she looked super cold. She wrote with her dirt ridden tongue on the planks of white wood, "a bushel before i die", about 10 times, until she was writing in red with her bloody tongue, at which point i began to feel a bit weary. but i realized as she went, that i am totally not a weirdo here, which is totally cool. or i am! but so is every one else!
It was pretty gnarly, funny, weird, to say the least. Christine, Chelsey and I surely were entertained by this woman's strong love for eating dirt.
When we came home, Chelsey and I relaxed, I finally finished my book, and we drank some of the Black Current wine, Stiofan made, that Christine slipped through our cat door today.
Another beautiful day in a Beautiful land.
Tomorrow is Sunday and we will go back to check out more of the Art Festival. I want this to last forever.
-mimi
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