Movies Are Becoming Collages of Other Movies

So The Matrix, I Am Legend, and Blade 2 were all hanging out in the park.....

First Stage of Restoration

Yosh

Who wants to go see Thao and the Get Down Stay Down in Spokane on the 24th? New album's out, and here's the first video from it that I know of.

Hiking

We're heading down to the Seven Devils this afternoon for one last trip before the snows come. Weather's looking pretty bad, rain and under 50 degrees, but that's what Gore-Tex and goose down are for. Enjoy these pictures until we get back.

Stream That, Out on the Flo

The new Avett Brothers album, I and Love and You, is currently streaming for free on the NPR website. I've given it a single, distracted listening and my initial concerns remain; too tame, too ballad-y without the usual gripping lyrics and hooks that make their previous Gleam EPs soooo good. I'm definitely going to be listening to this a lot for the 7 days that it'll be up on NPR, and hopefully I'll discover the hidden gold.

Photo cred to Volker Neumann, who I found on flickr.

Mo' Building

Thanks to a flexible farm and cleaning schedule I've been able to take on a few extra projects this summer/fall. This here's the shop I'm lending a hand to just outside of Princeton, ID. We worked on the rafters most of the past few weeks, and last Thursday I cut and placed the blocking between trusses in order to connect each independent section of the roof together.

Something wild about building that I've been made more aware of recently is the strength of small things in large numbers. That roof is divided into five separate bays, each of which is only supported by what's under it with no side to side support. The blocking I'm putting in consists of an 8 inch piece of 2x8 secured by 4 nails. Looking at the thing you realize it's smaller than your dinner plate. But when you place 20 of them in good spots, it's all of a sudden bomb-proof. Neato.

Project Update

The Woodshed. Is there a better DIY project for the American male living the great Northwest? There can't be.

I'm trying to go super cheap with my materials but super classy with my style. Reading lots of homesteader's books on building has grown a certain fascination with wood-joining, so I did a bit of notching for my support braces. Greg Albrecht also introduced me to the wonderful world of building with timber poles cut yourself, which I used for the front braces. So far I've only spent money on the lag screws, washers, and 4 ten-foot 2x4s. Next step is the rafters, which I started cutting with birds-mouth notches today. We're hoping for 3 cords to fit in this bad boy. Exciiiiiiting.

Rainier, Round 2

So we're back and alive from our Mt. Rainier attempt. Once again blessed with (mostly) great weather, we had a great group push for the summit last week. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves for now, maybe a full post to come. But, you know...

Leapin'

New Avett Brothers

This is a shot from the Portland show we went to back in May, not taken by me. Credit goes to Jonathan Colman for the good eye. The REAL news is the free new single posted here at Spinner. I'm still a little unsure about the Butch Vig produced album that's due out soon, but hey, it's the Avett Brothers.

There is Beauty, Though Cliche, in the Mundane

It Lives

Interesting tidbit over at the (re-opened!) Cedar Room.

Weeds as Icebergs

This little guy is pretty typical for thistle. A little nub poking out of the dirt, and five times that underground. The barn is in the shot for scale.

So far summer squash, cucumbers, broccoli, pumpkins, sweet corn, sweet peas, and pole, goldrush, black turtle, and anasazi beans have started showing themselves. It still seems a little like magic, to just poke some hard little lumps into the ground and see (roughly) orderly little greenies pushing up.

Produce won't be ready for another month or so, but start looking for us around the beginning of July at the farmer's market selling "natural beef." It would've obtained the coveted Organic label, but there aren't any organic certified butcher shops around. Other than that, the cattle are all grass-fed on pasture that's been certified organic, so unless the butchers are injecting the beef with, I don't know, CFCs or something, you're basically getting organic beef.

Palouse Organics is the name, Frank Hill is the man behind it, and LaVon and Grace Wagler are heading up the operation. And I'm the gardener.

Feel Like You're in a Photo Rut?

Well just stick an inchworm onto some beer labels and tequila bar coasters! Walla!

Where The Wild Things Are

This looks really good, and apparently the Arcade Fire is on the soundtrack.

And They Deemed It RAD

The Decemberists are releasing a new EP on March 17, The Hazards of Love, and put on an open invite poster contest to advertise their live playing of it at the SXSW music bonanza in Austin. The winner, a Kathryn Rathke, wonderfully incorporated both Ladybird and Lyndon.

Heartless Bastards and the Avett Brothers open starting at 10pm Texas time, March 18, and for those of us unwilling or unable to make the trek, NPR will be broadcasting it live. Check it.

Panophoric Farm

A Joy

I love doing this.








Amy Gaither, photo credit.
Douglas Ballard, chainsaw credit.

I Work on a Farm....Again

After a few years away from tilling and working the earth, I have returned. Not to Flannigan Creek Farms, but Palouse Organics, a bigger operation owned by Frank Hill and operated by a handful of folks which now includes yours truly.

In a few ways it's the perfect job for me right now. The day Amy and I returned from our wedding I got a call from my boss who informed me that due to the deflated economy, I and three others from Terramark had been laid off. Work had been slowing down before we left, and more often than not, I'd found myself "volunteering" to take the afternoon/day off because of the lack of work. After shoveling a few roofs and other odd jobs I got a call from Frank who asked if I'd be interested in working on his farm until March 22. I'd never met Frank before, he only knew of me through the gracious compliments and recommendations of Jordan Smith, Brian Points, and James Arrick. So while only temporary work, it's still about a month and a half of consistent, good-paying work. And the work is fantastic.

My first day there I was instructed to haul a dead horse "over the hill" with the old Kubota tractor. Having just learned how to drive the thing an hour ago, I hooked a chain to hind legs and took off up the hill and through the snow. At the top I could see a ton of the Palouse, the Bitterroots to the east, and the tops of the Seven Devils to the south. After delivering the horse to its final resting place next to an eyeless steer that had died earlier in the year I trekked back to the barn and learned the intracacies of dairy cows.

Shufford, the master of the farm until recently, showed me the feeding and watering routine for Flower and Lovey, the two milk producers. He tossed some hay from a bale on the ground into a wheelbarrow with the afternoon sun coming in full from the open barn door behind him, and I almost went out of my mind with agrarian delight as the chaff and dust flew through the air thicker than snow. It's the kind of stuff you can breath in, almost choke on, and want more.

The Rich Coast

Please to enjoy some photos from Costa Rica.

Two Gems From the Inauguration

Alice Walker, speaking of Michelle Obama:
I like how she is so naturally elegant. I like how she dresses, also.


Alice Walker:
Is that Ethyl Kennedy behind Michelle? Look at the nose...
Amy Goodman:
Actually......I think......That's Joe Biden.

The Nietzsche Family Circus

He who has a why to live can bear almost any how.

Thoughts are the shadows of our sensations -
always darker, emptier, simpler than these.

Blast From the Past

Well we are back from Costa Rica and totally married. Pictures of our luna de miel to follow this coming week. In the meantime, check this out. It's the long-awaited, finally-created official page for Expedition, the backpacking and rock climbing branch of Kanakuk where Amy and I met. We got to work on this site, write a lot of the content, and contribute photos so it's pretty rad to see it up and running on the Interweb.