Pesto and Pickles

Coming Along

Garden is coming along. Cucumbers, Tomatoes, Basil, Edamame, Spinach, and so on

Garden is in

The garden is in this year. Bush beans, cucumbers, edamame, tomatoes, jalepenos, peppers, lettuce, spinach, basil, oregano and so on.

34

Today, I turn 34 years old. My 33rd year was a huge learning experience - I have a new outlook and ready to make this life great!

GREAT SITE

I think I just found one of the greatest sights ever. I suggest the TV tab (click to go to the next channel). Incredible stuff - planetarium...need I say more!

http://www.neave.com/

I bought a

Cold Antler Farm

So you all should go over and visit Jenna at her farm. She is an author, farmer, fiddle playing badass! She writes about her life on the farm - good reading. You should also pick up her book - it's great!

http://coldantlerfarm.blogspot.com/

Musicians I know 5: DAVID BERKELEY

So after the late great Elliott Smith passed away, I decided to organize an Elliott Smith tribute show. All the proceeds went to the charity he worked with, and we ended having a great group of musicians play the show. One of those musicians was David Berkeley.

I remember seeing and hearing his stuff online. I remembered reading that he was an Elliott Smith fan, so I asked him if he wanted to play. I met him and immediately noticed how professional he was. He had his shit down. When he played you could tell he was at another level...great stuff.

Great song writing, wonderful melodies/harmonies and the best part is the vocal itself. The audio wave that he sends out and throws into your ear (which is presented to the brain to either like or not like) is stimulating.



Please go listen to him and support his music:
www.myspace.com/davidberkeley

Musicians I know 4: KARRIE HOPPER

Karrie was another Austin resident I met on my journey west. The first night in Austin I heard her play and was amazed. So honest and sincere which no one could deny.

Later I received her album in the mail and was so happy to hear the songs which I could now call my own. I could listen to them whenever I wanted. Her guiatar playing, her lyrical delivery, and words are so geniune and pure that you sigh at times when you hear them.

Favorite Lyric To Sing: "The Son and The Father had to become. The name that was on their medalion".

An Unusual Move and Twilight Song - best 2 opening tracks ever! Cheers.



Please go listen to her and support her music.

www.myspace.com/karriehopper

Musicians I know 3: BROTHERS AND SISTERS

So I had someone befriend me, we grew a distant relationship. Then he told me "You should check out my band, you might like it". I listened and loved immediately. We talked music here and there. Discuss theories here and there. Then I said, "Friend...I am coming to visit you".

I traveled to Austin and took a cab to the center of the city. I had made no plans. It was so intensely hot out that day. I jumped from shadow to shadow to avoid that intense Texas sun. A few feet later, I ended up at the fanciest hotel in Austin. They had one room left, the "Big Fatty" suite on the top floor. I exclaimed, "I'LL TAKE IT"! Up I went to the top floor.....whistling dixie.

I called Will and he said he would come pick me up with his sister Lily. I waited, they arrived, I jumped in, and off into the distance we went. It was the birth of Brothers and Sisters memories which now lye in my brain.

Watched there set later that night and was in heaven, singing along from my chair. The songs are so immediately memorable that you hang on words. And that's only sonically. Visually it's just as warm and sensational. From rough and rumble to smooth and beautiful. It's all there and needs to be in your life.



Please go listen to them and support their music
www.myspace.com/brothersandsistersmusic

Musicians I know 2: ADRON

Now that I think about it, it may have been that I met Victor and ADRON at the same time. Victor and I did share a bill at the Earl and ADRON accompanied him. After my set we all metup and hung out for awhile. I knew I liked her then.

Then one day Victor called me and said, "Hey lets see ADRON play tonight?". I responded, "Play what...is she on a volleyball team or something?". He exclaimed, "WAIT...you've never heard her play?". "No...is it great?", I said. He just looked at me and and grew the slowest smile.

The Teahouse in Inman Park is where we were when ADRON played. A nice cool place with concrete construction and the smell of herbs and teas throughout the joint. Then ADRON proceeded to make the perfect setting about 100 times more perfect.

minds were blown and cleanup was pretty intense!



Please go listen to her and support her music:
www.myspace.com/adriennemccann

Musicians I know 1: VICTOR VICTROOOVIOUS

I can't quite remember the first time I met Victor, it may have been a show in which we shared the bill. An interesting character who I enjoyed to hang out with. We have a very similiar sense of humor which is enriching for both of us.

I know not of what he enjoys but his sounds are unique and appealing. The songwriting is sensational with lyrics that even the the "lyric hater listener" will note and smile.

When he is in the room, it is definately brighter!

Please go listen to him and support his music!

www.myspace.com/comptrollerconstable

Buffalo on my red wall

The Buffalo sits, overlooking his kingdom of sound. He used to cover thousands and thousands of miles - sniffing the air, moving towards the spot his mind leads him to believe is correct.
Now he's left with a 3x4 foot section of my desk. His world has now transformed to a world of sound. The eyes he's crafted so well and the nose that they wrote songs about is of no use to him now. Is this heaven or hell?

GREENING THE DESERT

One of the Golden rules about being a mountain man is SUSTAINABILITY. Be wise with your surroundings.

Is it possible to grow vegetation in the desert? Permaculture my friends...permaculture. Could solve so many problems. Need to implement.

Talking Feet

Now who doesn't dig the Appalachian dancing of old (and new). Here is a short clip from a documentary called Talking Feet.





YOU CAN SEE THE WHOLE VIDEO HERE: http://www.folkstreams.net/film,121

Folk Streams Dot Net

If you love 20 or 30 year old documentaries about various Folk themes. Check out this site - folkstreams.net A whole list of wonderful free movies to watch.

One of my favorites is the Appalachian Journey video. Alan Lomax travels through the Southern Appalachians investigating the songs, dances, and religious rituals of the descendents of the Scotch-Irish frontiers people who have made the mountains their home for centuries.

YOU CAN SEE THE WHOLE VIDEO HERE: http://www.folkstreams.net/film,128

Here is the trailer for it!




The Thresher Mill is the lone survivor among numerous small mills that once drew water power from the Stevens River and its tributaries in the self-sufficient community of Barnet, Vermont, in the 19th century. It continues to operate by water powered turbine on the south bank of the Stevens River as it falls to the Connecticut River in this northeastern Vermont town. It is architecturally significant as a working industrial component of the elaborate agricultural network carried over from the economic and social world of the Barnet Center Scotch settler/farmers of the 19th and early 20th centuries when subsistence farming, village life, and small local mils were indissolubly linked.

YOU CAN SEE THE WHOLE VIDEO HERE: http://www.folkstreams.net/film,187

Here is the trailer:

Oxen Love

Here is one of my beautiful oxen. Gold tipped horns and gentle as a puppy dog. Both of these boys together have incredible power and help keep the farm producing harvests which are bountiful and yummy!

Cobb Building

The gathering of the beasts - Muddy pals help build a cobb house with all the proper ingrediants. Clay, Sand, Straw, Water, Love and so on.....

Spring has Sprung

Gardens are planted (corn, beans, cucumbers, cilantro, tomatoes, onions, jalepenos, bananna peppers, spinach, etc.). The herbs are growing nicely (thymes, cilantro, dill, parsley, chives, oregano, basils, rosemary, lavender, sage, lemon & bee balm, etc.). Things smell good, taste good, sound good and look good.

200 years

Happy Birthday friend. Anyone in your position would have been torn to pieces, ridiculed and brought to their knees. You exceeded the boundaries and played a smart game. No one could have done a better job in the same situation. It's a shame you were cut down too early. Because of that one cowardly move, generations had to suffer. Your next phase of positive/healthy reconstruction was never implemented and all that followed was 100+ years of rage and ruin. Wasted time that did nothing to evolve the human race towards enlightenment. We miss you and thank you for all you have done.

Stringbean

Oh Stringbean (aka David Akeman). What a man! He was a master at the clawhammer, a real banjo man. He and was wife came home to their cabin in the Tennessee woods in November of 1973, after playing a show at the Grand Ole Opry, and were met by intruders. The thiefs murdered both Stringbean and his wife. It was known around town that Stringbean grew up during the depresssion and never trusted banks, hence his money must be stashed away at the cabin. The thieves left with nothing more than a chain saw and some guns. Both men were arrested and sent to prison. In 1996, twenty-three years after the murders, $20,000 in cash was discovered behind a brick in the chimney of the Akemans' home. The paper money had rotted to such an extent that it was not usable.

Boy and his fish

I saw this boy in 1978 on the Lac Du Flambeau reservation in northern Wisconsin. Strange boy who wouldn't stop smiling. It was a breezy day and the sun was out. I remember the smell of pine trees. It was a good day

Lac Du Flambeau

The Lac Du Flambeau area is home to the Ojibwe. With the rise of sport fishing back in the 50's and 60's, the walley numbers throughout the years have plummeted in northern Wisconsin. The Ojibwe were the perfect scapegoat for this drop in walleye numbers. During the 1980s and early 1990s, there were many violent clashes in northern Wisconsin over the issue of Ojibwe spearfishing. Violent scenes at boat landings received national and even international attention. Sometimes thousands of White protesters showed up at boat landings as Ojibwe fishermen prepared to spearfish walleye and other species of fish. These crowds often shouted racial slurs, threw things at the fishermen, and even assaulted them.

It all started when the Ojibwe signed treaties (aka - forced to sign) in 1837 and 1842 in which they ceded their land to the federal government. Per the treaties, they retained the right to hunt, fish, and gather wild rice and maple sap on lands they ceded to the United States. Even though they had these rights, the state of Wisconsin believed it had the right to regulate hunting and fishing as well. Slowly the practice of spear fishing in the Ojibwe of Lac Du Flambeau faded away. Throughout the years, Ojibwe members were arrested and tried for fishing as their ancestors did. Finally in 1983, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit in Chicago--asserted that Wisconsin had no rights to regulate fishing on Ojibwe reservations and, more importantly, that the 1837 and 1842 treaties guaranteed Ojibwe rights to hunt and fish off their reservations without being bound by state regulations. This decision, commonly called the Voigt Decision, was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court that same year. Hence the Ojibwe began spear fishing again and became a perfect scapegoat as to the decreasing walleye numbers in northern Wisconsin.

Taking a walk

So the wife and I took a little hike the other day in the mountains. We happened upon this glorious waterfall. We let the mist cover our face we then proceeded to run and jump to the bottom of the mountain!

Look-a-likes

My good friend JR came up to the mountains today. While in town we stopped by a record store and picked up a Mac McAnally record. Something funny about it....I can't quite figure it out. Wait...wait...I know...they are both wearing blue shirts. After this we headed back to the cabin, had some boiled peanuts and played some guitar and mandolin on the porch. Good Sunday afternoon.

Farm It Don't Harm It

This is a brilliant piece of artwork I found in an old antique store buried deep in the mountains. The artist is one Nick Benson. What a gem.

John Denver

I found this wonderful series of John Denver artwork. My childhood is heavy with 8 tracks of John Denver, wonderful melodies, soaring vocals, dreams of mountains and love of earth. I miss you.

Chore #5 - Flour

We spend hours working at the Grist Mill. Turning grain into flour, we now have a good supply for ourselves and our neighbors. Afterwards I took a little time to play music and listen to the water wheel turning.

Cats and Dogs

Well I took a break from the chores and spent some good quality time with the cats and dogs. Loretta our yawning cat loves to be let outside and run around, every once and awhile arriving at our front door with a rabbit or bird in her mouth, looking so proud. Hannah, our other little girl, is quiet and loves to be by herself (usually hidden under the bed). She is so rarely seen, that people often times don't believe we have 2 cats. Lucas our Great Dane and Jed our little hound dog. Polar opposites but both so sweet. Jed's a smart one and is doing well with training from my wife. Lucas is a mamma's boy and never leaves her side. Lucas is full of chivalry, protecting his woman. A nice day with dogs is always wonderful. Back to the farm.

Chore #3 - Hay, Clover and other goodies

Hay - what can I say. What a process. Thank God for our wonderful horses Merle and Rosco. Getting the fields ready, planting, cutting, harvesting, threshing, collecting and loading in the barn. It's nap time. Here is me taking the horses out and starting to collect the bundled harvests and take them back to the barn for threshing. After the seeds are out, we collect the hay and fill the barn. It's good to have neighbors to help.