I was very happy to have been able to spend a couple days recently
with one of my best friends on his new farm. Being a country boy at heart I was
simply overjoyed to be able to connect with the land again. My friend John is
getting his farm established and right now has quite a good assortment of
livestock, from pigs and ducks to rabbits and gorgeous highland cows.
While I was there I helped to build a couple more pig pens
and pulled fence posts from a field to re-purpose them in the pens. I also
milked a goat he has and drank some milk right out of the pale, something I
haven’t done since I was a kid. It was great!
There were also a couple farm kittens there that were
extremely cute. One is black and the other is grey. They are polydactyl cats
with 6+ toes on each front foot. I played with them as much as I could and also
was able to get some video of them playing around. I love cats!
All in all it was an amazing visit and I look forward to
going back to help out again. I hope to have some land of my own one day. I definitely
did not want to come home to the rat race of Huntsville after being there.
I have been fascinated by mushrooms for years! How they appear
out of seemingly nowhere, how delicate and sublimely beautiful. They embody the
whimsical nature of fantasy, and yet in many cases cause people to steer clear
for fear of poisoning. They are brief in their existence and so have generated
a sense of mystery to use humans who eat certain varieties for both culinary and
vision inducing purposes.
Oh how I love mushrooms! I have been photographing them over
the last few years. It is like a grand treasure hunt for the smallest of
wonders. I often find them in the strangest and most remote places on my treks
through the forest. Under rotting logs, inside old trees, high up on a rock
face, everywhere you can imagine!
Each new find causes an inspiration in me that brings new
drawings to life. Ideas of little worlds and whole civilizations that live in
the shroomy forest grow in my mind until they find a way out into the world
through words or art. I have created a whole world with a race called the Wee’Ones,
a tiny species of ‘people’ that are intimately connected to the mushrooms of
the forest. They embody the jovial side of human nature that seeks to come out
in the most awkward and inopportune times. They are pranksters and poets and architects
of grand structures of small stature. Indeed I do spend quite some time in my
mind walking through the simple dwelling and vaulted cathedrals of the small
mushrooms of the forest.
As it turns out, there are many people who are drawn to this
strange flora. It seems that humans are deeply connected to this mystical plant
and are drawn to it in many different ways. Either through food or art or
games, sometimes stories; there is always a way in which we can enjoy
mushrooms.
In the last year I have started to use a wood lath and
quickly found myself drawn to making mushrooms on it. These little wooden sculptures
caused quite a stir among some of my friends and I was urged to continue to
explore making mushrooms on the lathe. One slow work day I was sitting at with
my ideas sketch book and was drawing out different shapes when an idea came,
why could I not make an incense burner that was also a mushroom? Needless to
say, I was smitten with some kind of mushroom frenzy until I finally got a
design that I liked. I went off to the lathe and created a bunch of different
incense burners. I tested different styles and configurations and am continuing
to refine them slowly.
I took the first two I had made down to some friends working
the local new age store, lit up some incense
and watched them both smile from ear to ear. After thirty minutes of talk and
watching the smoke curl up and around the mushroom caps I walked out of there with
a handful of money and short two mushrooms.
As is usually the case with me, I got excited about this and
went out to buy all the supplies I would need to streamline the whole process.
I made ten more mushrooms on the lathe and then…I found something else to get
excited about! OK, so this is not new for me but it is very funny that I now
have ten mushroom incense burners sitting all over the place. I do hope to get
back up to the shop and make some more, maybe sell them to local shops, or even
put them on eBay.
My mushroom Mania comes and goes from time to time but it is
always there in the background. Whether I’m drawing, photographing,
researching, or growing them they are always there in the back of my mind,
inviting me to engage in another fantasy that could take me, well, anywhere!
