Culture + Agriculture 2014

My piece, 29 Feet Per Square Meter is on display at New Visions Gallery, Inc. in Marshfield, Wisconsin for the Culture + Agriculture exhibit.  The work will be up till August 29th!

29 Feet Per Square Meter

A new piece, 29 Feet Per Square Meter, 39 x 39 inches, twigs, wire, red tape. 14 chickens per square meter inside a ventilated shed is considered free range in Australia.  The USDA only requires that the animal has access to the outdoors for an undetermined amount of time each day.  That means a coop could contain 10 to thousands of chickens inside with a door to the outside the size of a doggy door that is only open for 5 minutes a day with most of the animals unaware the door is even there or open.  Free range is not always so free.

You can call the egg company you purchase your animal products from to find out the conditions of the animals.  You can get to know a farmer at a farmers market and ask her/him what the conditions are.  Maybe even visit the farm.

More Transplaning, Kitties and Chicken Feet

Today I transplanted different types of lettuces into the ground.  3 rows, a foot apart.  Above are the lettuces before I put their roots in the soil.  Another benefit to transplanting verses putting seeds directly in the ground is that the rows will be neater and properly spaced.  It's often a bit of a mess when the seeds go directly in the ground.

But today we planted rutabaga seeds (above) directly into the ground and parsnip seeds (below).  For the rutabagas I sprinkled 2-5 seeds every 6 to 8 inches.

For the parsnips we just scattered them along the rows.  Jay said that usually the rule to covering seeds with soil is to double the length of the seed.  So for the parsnips we covered them about 1/2 an inch.

Trouser likes to sit and watch us work.  It's nice to have his company, but sometimes I wish he would grab a shovel and do something.

The kitties continued to hide today.

I started putting together the chicken feet with twigs and wire.

Then to my surprise, Jem decided to join me!