It's in the Bag

Oct. 25, 2010

The thrills and drama of  harvest are over for another year and the 2010 crop is in the bag... literally !
We ran out of bin space and began bagging the grain. These bags come from Argentina and are especially made for grain storage. For those of you that like numbers - ours measure 9 feet in diameter and are 250 feet long with a 10,000 bushel capacity.

Oct. 25, 2010 grain bags beyond the beaver dam

We finished combining late Friday night. By Sunday the weather had turned wet and the snow began that evening.

Oct. 25, 2010

Saskatchewan had some great harvest weather this year. We had almost six weeks of mild, sunny, windy days. I'm sure it was the longest stretch of good weather we've had this year. We experienced very few breakdowns and the quality and quantity of the harvest was pretty good - all things considered.

We are truly thankful for that !

Sept. straight cutting wheat
precision operating required for "catching on the go"
 saves lots of time as the machinery doesn't stop while the grain is unloading

Sorry the above picture is a bit out of focus but I wasn't used to using my daughters' camera and was in a bit of a hurry to get out of the way !

Next post will be back to regular programing and clay related !

My New Ride

If the skies clear up and the wind blows and the sun shines, this is where I'm going to be spending the next 8 - 10 weeks. Our new Case IH was delivered awhile back. It's got 485 hp under the hood and a 40 foot header. Lots of lights- gonna need them.

This years growing season has been really crappy. The spring was late, cold and wet.  Normally, about 32 million acres of land are seeded in the spring. This year, heavy rains in the spring made the soil too wet and prevented many farmers from getting out into their fields.The result was that about 10 million acres of Saskatchewan farmland went unseeded this spring.

Rains have continued and have flooded out many of the plants that did get started. We weren't as bad off as some of the farmers in the eastern side of the province. Our crops were late into the ground and now almost a month behind normal development. I'm surprised we haven't had a hard frost yet but that is a certainty sometime in the coming week.  It’s that time of year. The days are getting shorter and we can’t seem to get a sustained period of warm, dry weather. It’s been a difficult growing season and so far the same pattern is holding for harvest. 

Q: What it's going to take to make me happy?

A: These guys pulling onto our land.

photo credit to William Dekay

Do you think I'm asking for too much ?? 

A large serving of Linda, please.

small bowl by Linda Arbuckle

Best Part of Wakin-Up is breakfast with Linda. 

What a great way to start my day! 

Does this lady know how to use a brush and a color wheel, or what ?

Here's a little P.S. to my last post: John Bauman has a terrific post on photographing pots on his blog. See the Aug. 28th post.

 http://baumanstoneware.blogspot.com/

Recent pots out of the kiln

small Ikebana vase

O.K., these are lousy pictures, and I know it. I am trying to improve them and if anyone would like to put some pointers in the comment section, please feel free to do so. I need to buy some proper lights and background stuff but I don't have an endless supply of money and don't know what and where to buy. I live in the "great white north" and there is not a photo supply store on every grid road here !

small shallow bowl, split lip, 6" diameter

Heres a couple of decorative  shallow plates. They look quite flat but they actually have a nice shallow curve to them.

they are each aprox. 11 to 12" in diameter

Bowls, Bakers and Decorative dishes

It seems that my time has been burned away by the more mundane tasks of life on a farm lately but I have had some time in the studio and here is proof !

Flower ring in action. 

If you look closely, the round channel of the vessel can just be seen below the petals. These little items are fun to throw and have to be displayed in use or the customer usually can't imagine what they are for or how simple they are to arrange. Add candle in the center space.

Parting Shots

just a few architectural detail shots I thought were interesting and may, someday, leap out of my subconscious and throw themselves onto a pot in some form or another. Funny how that happens, eh ?

the craftsperson who did the above column had maaad skills !! I wish I knew more about it.

above and below - panels from the same set of doors each design measuring aprox. 8" x 14"

Supporting other potters

I don't know of any other potters who do not buy other peoples pots. 

I treasure my small pottery collection and pots by other potters far out number my own in my cupboard by a large percentage. There are some good reasons for that... the main one being that I am unusually severe in critiquing my own pots.  I have a hard time overlooking perceived flaws and certainly "see the next one" and how I would improve on certain aspects. I often have to put some time and space between what I have made in order to appreciate what is right about a certain pot.

With other peoples pots I am much less critical - don't have the baggage of intent and expectation that builds during the lengthy making process. They come into my hand standing on their own merit. They are usually put to use and remind me of the potter, circumstance and other details of how they came into my possession. I learn alot from other peoples pots while I use and admire them - technically and aesthetically... sometimes I will buy a pot or a friend will give me a pot and over time various qualities will become more apparent and that influences my own work in one way or another.

These are the pots  bought on our trip to Quebec:

platter by Jacques Marsot - Mystic, QC.

small bowl by Yukari Hazama Iverson, Montreal, QC.

ovaled, wood fired dish by Peter Hamilton, QC.

altered, salt glazed bowl by Robert Compton, Briston, Vermont, U.S.A.

yunomi by Catherine Auriol, Montreal, QC.

something I didn't know before... There are special pairs of yunomi called meoto yunomi (meoto means ‘married couple’). Meoto yunomi usually consist of two cups with the same pattern (sometimes in different colours) but different sizes and often slightly different shapes (the larger cup being the ‘husband’ and the smaller being the ‘wife’ cup).

and Japanese for Yunomi : 湯のみ

large colander, by Luc Archambault, Quebec City, QC.

All Aboard ! next stop Quebec City

Quebec City viewed from across the St. Lawrence river at Levi
(photo credit to A. Nonomouse)

We traveled by train to Quebec City and met up with brothers Guillaume (far left) and Jocelyn Pare. They grew up on a dairy farm about 30 miles up river from Quebec City. Gill came west in 2008 and helped us on our farm through harvest. Joe was with us for several months in 2009. I can't say enough good things about these young men; hard working, honest, polite, smart, funny, good looking...

If you look down this street in lower town, you will see a sign for the funicular and the tracks which carry an observation car up the very steep cliff to arrive at the upper town near the Chateau Frontenac. Well, we were walking along, chatting away and heading in this direction to where I figured we would be gliding up the cliff -  

the next thing I knew we were pounding up the stairs and I was still chatting away... and the stairs went up, and up and up. Pretty soon I had to stop chatting and just concentrate on the stairs. I guess I'm in better shape than I thought I was 'cause I made it up "break-neck stairs", talking almost all the way up !  Not bad considering I've got 30 years on the next oldest one in the group !

view of the St. Lawrence from upper town - kinda gave me goose bumps, standing there, thinking about the beginnings of this wonderful Canada and how I am soooo very lucky to live here and raise my children in such a vast and revered country.

excavations along the banks of upper town.

Chateau Frontenac

up and down through the maze of old town

cool, full of movement sculpture, possibly something to do with Cirque de Soile (?)
 - this lady, obviously, wanted to make a quest appearance on my blog but I failed to get her name

colorful streets and beautifully kept,  historic buildings. 

fields seen from the train

lots of farms in the fertile valley - so much closer together than in the west.

riding the train across the bridge coming back to Montreal as the sun was setting

No Whining about the Wine Route

Driving through the picturesque eastern townships we came across maaany vineyards. It was hard to choose which one to turn into - after all - if you're at the vineyard ya have to taste, right ? I was the only driver for our rental car, so with no designated driver, we couldn't stop at them all !  But ... we lucked out again ! We choose to turn into Domaine des Cotes d'Ardoise a vineyard that was also hosting an outdoor exhibit of 120 sculptures situated throughout their grounds.

After a long lovely stroll through the grounds, discovering all the sculptures, we went for a wine tasting. Jenna, on the right is 20 and Caela is 15. Our host set up glasses for all of us so we just went along and throughly enjoyed the generous samples of 7 of their products. Caela was pretty quiet in the back seat after that. Jenna and I each bought 4 bottles to take home which later proved to be a pain in the ass to pack into our luggage. But what the heck - it was worth it to share it with my husband and friends back at the farm. A few years ago, while traveling through B.C.'s okanagan valley, we had gone for a wine tasting at Mission Hill near Kelowna. Both my husband and I couldn't believe the swill they were serving the guests and left empty handed !

view from the top of the vineyard

sculptures in the wood

wondering what to do with your horseshoe collection ?

or your defunct water heaters ?

I'm sure we've got enough material here at the farm to put together a herd of these fellas

 Although it was hard to choose, this sculpture was probably my favorite. Just to give you an idea of scale - the wing span on these creatures is at least 12 feet.

Below is another favorite... so creative, fantastic use of materials !

church at historic Knowltown

Most of the pictures here were taken by Caela. I had started leaving my camera behind as it seemed that all three of us were taking the same pictures and Caela has a better eye for a good shot than I.