How does your garden grow?

I can feel spring in the air.
Bulbs are emerging.
The frogs at the lake sing loudly at night.
My daughter no longer waits for the bus in the dark.
I am feeling more energized, creative and alive.
And I have begun working on the garden again with a new determination.

To plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow.

We moved into our farmhouse last August. I knew immediately where our garden would be.

Dresden explores the future garden space August 2012

I had only seriously been gardening for 2 years in containers in my city apartment courtyard. It wasn't the best conditions but the garden did OK. The first year, it was a mother's day gift. I relied on help growing that one because Ian passed away in June and we didn't really function normally for 2 months. After we recovered a bit I was very thankful for the chores in the garden. I think this is when I truly began to love the garden- lugging the watering can from the front to the back several times with an excited little toddler, noticing they grew, finding flowers and fruit...

 Kirk Garden Year 1 2011

The second year, I had an experienced friend who helped me and taught me a lot. While growing the garden we grew a friendship and he still helps me with my garden as I venture into bigger and better things. His experience his more than helpful and having a friend involved keeps things moving and inspired and you keep the procrastination at bay much more than working alone.

Kirk Garden Year 2 2012

I really loved the little garden. I loved having fresh herbs for cooking, we harvested many peppers, and had a few other veggies, like cucumbers and tomatoes. I packed up and moved all the containers and put them where the garden would be. Everything took off and was very happy. I got more tomatoes in the last month here than I did in both years in the city! This really gave me hope for the future of my garden.

The container garden in it's new home August 2012

We began digging in late September, and as the first beds went in we planted some crops to over winter. We put in strawberries, spinach, carrots, beets, cabbage, onion and collards.

Digging the garden Fall 2012

They are still doing fabulous. The lettuce from the other house held on all the way till January as I just harvested outside leaves as I needed them. I cant wait to get more in; it's beautiful and delicious. 

Heirloom romaine in the snow January 2013

This week will wrap up digging the beds. I have a few starters to put out- purple cauliflower, brussel sprouts, broccoli, butter crunch lettuce, black seed lettuce, and purple kohlrabi. I will be seeding iceberg lettuce, the heirloom romaine, a few more beets and carrots and spinach and sweet peas. I drew a wonderful plan for the garden. I cant wait to see it come to life!

Kirk Garden design

We have also been working hard to 'tame' the landscape. The house and grounds have been neglected for a long time and it needs lots of love and attention. We had a friend visit and he helped with clearing some vines and pine needles. We've spent many days raking away years of pine needles and uncovering rock lined flower beds that were long forgotten. We've pulled vines till our arms hurt.

I work with a great group in Raleigh called Food Not Bombs (more on that in another post) and I have obtained many flowers for planting outside through them. I have put in several rose bushes, a big circle of mums, some paperwhite bulbs, an azalea bush, and a couple of others. I recently was gifted some tulip bulbs from my garden friend and have seeds for morning glories, sunflowers, daisies, echinachea and a mix of wild and garden flowers. The morning glories will climb the rustic pole shed my husband built and my hanging windows. The sunflowers, daisies, wild and garden flowers mix will line the garden fence, and sunflowers and tulips will greet you on the drive up the driveway. Being at home in a secluded area has made making my environment a work of art much more important. I am always coming up with interesting ideas to make the yard an artwork- rag chain from our old clothes fluttering from the trees, recycling old windows and other items I find buried in the garden or in ancient barns in the woods. (I'll dedicate a blog post to this in the future.)

Hanging windows yard art

We have yet to build the fence, but know it is an important next step. We are lucky to live right near nature preserve land but it provides many hungry animals who would love an all you can eat buffet at my garden!

We don't want tears in the garden! We need a fence!

I plan to plant my herb garden outside of the main garden as not to take up sacred fenced in space on plants the deers wont be interested in devouring. I plan to grow the typical herbs I have always grown and adding a few more medicinal plants. These will be instrumental in making my natural cleaners and beauty products for the family. (More on that in a future blog post)

I also want to put in a special bed just for Dresden to work in. Of course he will be helping in the big garden, but I think having his own plot will add to his garden experience. He can do things "his way" and really learn and explore. I am adding child friendly aspects to the big garden for him to enjoy- a pea teepee, little mini tomatoes for snacking on while outside, and a strawberry patch to name a few. His big help right now is helping with his 'Gator' hauling leaves for compost and just entertaining himself while I dig and hoe. I hope to make him a sandbox and eventually a tree fort. I already made him a 'workbench' out of a stump with large nails driven into it for him to work with a real hammer. I feel so lucky to have the chance to raise a small person who will have spent so much time out in nature. I know it is one of the best character building activities we participate in together. When we first moved here he didn't know how to play outside alone; we always went to a park with play equipment and other children for outdoors time in the city. In just the past 6 months he is able to find things to entertain himself outside for hours! He is becoming less bothered by being dirty and is becoming (just a little) more adventurous.

Little Adventurer 

Who am I?

I am many things...
A creatrix, a living walking work of art, an artist.
A mother, a best friend, a wife and lover.
A muse, a collector, a performer, free thinker and dreamer.
A librarian, a theatre director and designer, a performance artist and vocal performer.
A teacher and a life long learner.

Some may say I am a narcissist, a bitch, or a troublemaker. Those work too.

Creatrix is a word I made up (I often do that). I tend to art direct my life. I love to dress up in costumes and often my clothes will be something I use to help express myself. I take pictures of my life because I love showing off how awesome it is: my beautiful children, my amazing husband, my talented friends, the great city I live in, the fun and outrageous things I do. (See? I am a narcissist!) I love my family and they come first in all I do. That being said, many of my friends are my family. I am very loyal and always there for someone who needs me- I like to be needed. I am full passion and never afraid to cry or yell or dance when the feeling strikes. I collect dead bugs and rusty metal from sidewalks. I was once a singer for an industrial performance art band that used blood and fake vomit on stage. I was a children's librarian for 3 years and a teen librarian for 3 more. I once owned a restaurant. I also directed a children's theatre group for 2 years. I once thought I wanted to be a teacher, but could never work for the public school system. I love words. And books. I like mind puzzles but hate math and baking and can't spell. I design clothes and alter clothes but will only handsew. I hate patterns and sewing machines, they take the fun out of it for me. I can often be innappropriate, but not when it really counts. I clean up nicely and I really am a very responsible adult. I am honest, sometimes too much so. I am often told I am mysterious. I am a jealous person. I am sometimes my worst critic and often insecure, but I have a blanket for that.

After the storm, there is always a rainbow

After a long break, I have returned.
It's been a long strange trip.

Shortly after the last post on here, my 18 year old step son passed away. It was very unexpected and the only answers we were given was that it was unexplained natural causes. You can imagine the blow this was to my family. It took a long time for things to become even close to normal. I created some very personal type of art and then I just sort of stopped creating. I'm not really sure of the reason, but I think it has to do with the incredibly hard job of trying to make the family operate like normal when we were so far away from a normal place. We describe the feelings we have by saying "nothing has changed except everything".

So, we decided to change everything...

We left our downtown 1920s apartment and moved into a 102 year old farmhouse on 2 acres of land.
The Quirky K Homestead.
It's been a lot of hard work. We have been painting, repairing and updating the interior, digging garden beds and drawing plans for our chicken coop. We are adjusting to heating by wood only and making our own cleaning and beauty products. We have started canning, drying and preserving. We spend the weekends together clearing the neglected land and renovating the house.  Life has gotten simpler but much busier. It feels good to do everything yourself and I feel like our family is closer and more in tune with the universe. My son plays outside everyday, my preteen daughter is forced to be unplugged and be outside, we have room for animals and we take care of plants, the kids learn the value of hard work and see its rewards.

About a week ago it hit me that I only have less than 2 years till my son has to go to school and that meant I only had 2 more years of being a stay at home mom and to dedicate to making my art.

So, here I am.

I have set a goal of being ready to apply for summer and winter shows this coming season. I plan to work, work, work in my warm studio over the coming cold winter months and let all of these great creative ideas come pouring out that have been forced to swim in my head the past year.
I hope to post here weekly to share and document my creations and artistic endeavors.
I also hope to get my Etsy shop back up and running in the next month.

Keep your eyes open for me.

Faeries

Ah, faeries. One of my favorite things. And I mean real ones, not the fairy-faeries, the trixy, fierce kind. The sharp teeth in a beautiful smile kind.

My daughter is out growing faeries.

It all started last summer when I was tucking her in and she started crying because she felt like she was growing up, that she could actually feel it. She said she was excited about it but she was really worried that she was going to miss her chance to have an adventure. That she has been hoping and wishing all her life that she would find a secret door or a faerie ring and it still hasn't happened.
My heart broke a little and I got teary eyed. I pulled it together enough to tell her that her life is her adventure. She can travel to exotic lands and experience anything her mind can dream up. I think she could see my point but neither of us really felt any better.

This year she has her first boyfriend. It's a Wonder Years Kevin and Winnie kind of relationship. But still, my girl is growing up.

I've been doing some altered books for the past few days. I have a project that is a gift for my best friend and it was supposed to be a Christmas present and we couldn't get together so I used it as an excuse to take my time. It was then to be a Birthday present, but again our schedules didn't work out, so I am still working on it. I also have a copy of Heidi Grows Up that I am putting together for Phaedra, chronicling her life from here on out. I am hoping maybe she'll get on board with making them with me. I tried once, but she wasn't thrilled with all the ongoing work, as many people feel about it. She has also been getting into photography, so maybe a project incorporating her photo ideas will bring it all together.

I am also going to revisit an old craft favorite from the past crafts Phaedra and I have shared. Our bead, wire and fake flower faeries. We made those things sooooo many times! We would build faerie houses for them and hide them in trees outside. No matter her age, we had a good time making them. I am thinking these would be great to offer as a kid's class at work or even better as a party! I could just see little faerie princesses in the bead shop making faeries! I think I am going to have Phaedra help me make my samples. I want to show her that you are NEVER too old for faeries!

I am sorry, blog

I keep having all these wonderful ideas to post on here, but no time to actually do it. I guess that is a good thing... I have been very creative lately.
My latest project is a bouquet. The Bachelorette Burlesque Bouquet. It is beautiful and was created as a sample to use as a submission to teach a class at Ornamentea. It looks like it will be offered, and it might even be a "Bridal Workshop" where we would teach Bride's all kinds of ways they can DIY their wedding! It is very exciting!



I have a few other ideas for classes and I can't wait to get the proposals and samples together. I totally geek out on the design process and create an inspiration board in my studio and then a design sheet and detailed instructions which become my lesson plan. I was meant to be a teacher! 

Spring Flowers

I am an in between girl.
I love Fall and Spring. Today was Spring, but in a March way. I like these days where the buds and flowers are fighting against the cold nights and mornings. They are warriors, promising us better days. Maybe I am one of those, having been born in the lion days of March, but today's weather was beautiful to me. The sound of the rain on top of the rare passing train at work were an amazing concert for my senses. The downpours of rain were like applause on such a fresh cleansing day.
Today I dressed like spring flowers. (Urbanized, of course.)

Welcome Spring Cocktail Party

I found this wonderful link to bubble gum and spring fruit infused vodka and felt the gears turning in my brain! I have these beautiful pictures of pinks and magentas, parasols and mismatched china. Winter white skin turning pink from the sun like delicate first blooms, new and exposed.
I think I may plan a party...
In the past I would make Kahlua for Christmas and I always loved the fruit infused vodka my friend's mother would make. Plus, we need things like this to get things done around the house sometimes. The deadline of "having people over" makes us put on our best face and clean up. I know, it's silly, but it works.
Our little courtyard entryway REALLY needs a spring cleaning and our porch could use an update and to be springified. I love my porch. I have old windows painted purple and green hanging and it's just such a nice place to be. In the winter we have a great view of the skyline and in the summer it's always nice and shady and cool amongst the overgrown treetops. It's like being in your own little urban treehouse. I wish I loved our little courtyard, but actually I hate it. It's ugly, it's small, it's ghetto. By ghetto I mean, it floods from erosion, the fence is painted shitty and it is kind of a wind tunnel for leaves. (I once kept up with the leaves but the shitty painters stole my rake!) Our landlord does NO seasonal maintenance, so we just deal with it and stick some plants out there. Which is another problem, it's very hard to grow things out there. It floods and when it gets sun, it get aggressive sun. It's been trial and error to see what will survive between the harsh conditions and our not so great gardening skills. We are ready to make it nice and enjoyable out there and it's going to take some discipline and work from us. Last summer we bought a grill, table with umbrella, and 4 chairs. It was an improvement and made the space functional. This year I think I want to paint the fence. Not in a boring normal way. Something like vines and flowers growing or each plank a different color... I'm not sure yet. This garden junk from The Empress of Dirt is very inspiring, just googling "garden junk" is inspiring.
So now I'm ready to go outside. And make vodka. And plan this party. I love planning events. It makes me as happy as organizing does. I also love feeding people. It makes me feel very powerful. I am giving people something they need to survive, but I can make it art. Just the term "feeding someone" is poetic, really. I think a Welcome Spring Cocktail Party would have fruit and bacon and chocolate (or maybe that's just anytime).  Something salady and green with peas says spring to me. It would, of course, involve a wonderful vintage garden dress and a great apron for the hostess, because everything needs a costume in my opinion.