LETS GO Chicago Harvest

Last Wednesday I joined LETS GO Chicago in harvesting vegetables for their CSA in Rogers Park. It was a lovely day.

They had a bunch of gigantic sunflowers in the garden that they had not intentionally planted but that had volunteered.

I harvested cherry tomatoes. It's not summer if I don't harvest some tomatoes! I love the smell, and the green hands that come with it.

A cosmo.

And this is Little Love. She is very...um...unique...but she really is a darling just like her name implies.

Waffles and Aliens

Waffle Chicken...

Alien Chicken

Sunshine Chicken

-Yeah Yeah Yeahs

Chicken Card 29, 30, 31

-Dana Falconberry

I made even more chickens yesterday but I will save them for another day!

Relly Belly in the Sun!

Sketch for page 12!

Golden Yolks and Sunshine

Page 10!

I enjoyed sewing this piece together outside in the sunshine!

A beautiful fall day.

Anticipating Tomatoes

Last year I made these watercolor studies of a tomato I brought home from the farm. Tomatoes are on their way!

A Beautiful Day

Crook sprawled out, absorbing the sun!

Work in progress.

The garden is full and gorgeous! I could never have a summer without growing food ever again.  I see myself always working on a farm, or helping my own little garden grow...or maybe...owning an organic farm of my own someday.  Either way, I have to have my hands in the soil somehow.

Rainbow Chard.

Chard for dinner!

Little apples.

Little pears.

Little squash.

Blackberries are almost ready!

I spotted a little skunk. I got so excited and started to follow her until I remembered they could spray me. I had a terrible image of everyone on the farm laughing at a stinky me.  I decided to let the skunk go.

Honey Amongst the Lilacs

I woke up this morning to a chicken staring at me through my window.  A lovely way to rise!

Honey amongst the lilacs...she is a darling.

Crabapple blossoms!

I am starting sketches for a large book I will make out of fabric.  It will be about me and the chickens.  This will be the first page!

While I am here at Wormfarm, I have MANY goals.  But one of them is to create one handmade business card a day.

Living in the Now

During the summer, the farmers and I harvested 1000 pounds of tomatoes in one day.  I took home 20 pounds of those tomatoes and made a gigantic batch of tomato sauce.  I froze the sauce so that I could eat it all winter.  Last night Jake and I finished the last batch.  I can't wait for tomato season so I can make some more!

This morning Jake and I took a walk around Rogers Park.  I enjoyed seeing the many Daffodils, Hyacinths and Tulips in the sunshine. 

I am a bundle of nerves.  So much is ending for me here.  Jake will be leaving for New York soon, I will be leaving for Wisconsin.  But with all the things that are ending, so many wonderful things are beginning.  For the past few years I have been working on how to live in the now and not in the future. So much joy is wasted when I worry about tomorrow everyday.  I struggle with wanting to control everything that happens in my life, but many things should be left to happen naturally.  It is a challenge but I am getting better and I am happier because of it.

Golden Yolk

Golden Yolk, 14 x 14 inches, fabric and string

Inspired by the yolks from the Wormfarm Institute's Hens who were free to roam all day and eat all the bugs and greenery they could find.  You won't find a yolk like this in the grocery store no matter how "cage free" they say they are.