Hands and the Farmer, Hands and the Artist
October 13, 2015
“As Gill says, “every man is called to give love to the work of his hands. Every man is called to be an artist.” The small family farm is one of the last places – they are getting rarer every day – where men and women (and girls and boys, too) can answer that call to be an artist, to learn to give love to the work of their hands. It is one of the last places where the maker – and some farmers still do talk about “making the crops” – is responsible, from start to finish, for the thing made. This certainly is a spiritual value, but it is not for that reason an impractical or uneconomic one. In fact, from the exercise of this responsibility, this giving of love to the work of the hands, the farmer, the farm, the consumer, and the nation all stand to gain in the most practical ways: They gain the means of life, the goodness of food, and the longevity and dependability of the sources of food, both natural and cultural. The proper answer to the spiritual calling becomes, in turn, the proper fulfillment of physical need.”
― Wendell Berry, Bringing it to the Table: Writings on Farming and Food
Gordon Skagit Farms does a great job marrying farming and art. A visit there is a visual feast.
Pumpkins, Squashes, Gourds: The Bounty at Gordon Skagit Farms
October 11, 2013
Gordon Skagit Farms showcases over 60 varieties of pumpkins, squashes, and gourds: carving pumpkins, cooking pumpkins and squashes, specialty pumpkins, heirloom varieties, ornamental gourds, and apples, cider, ornamental corn and decorative cornstalks. And the colors! Sunset hues, to ghostly whites, sage, and blue greens. Warty and smooth. It’s worth the trip to revel in such bounty.
I found them quite photogenic, too.
Painting at Gordon Skagit Farms
October 9, 2013
Yesterday I took a drive to the Skagit Valley to meet up with some women friends for a few hours of painting at Gordon Skagit Farms. This was my second trip to Gordon’s, which is open only during the month of October, and I hope to make it an annual tradition. I’ll write more about Gordon Skagit Farms in my next two posts, but for today, I will share the experience of making art with friends. The setting couldn’t be more convivial — Eddie Gordon displays his own paintings around the farm (quite an inspiration), we’re in the glorious countryside, and the sheer variety of pumpkins, gourds, and squashes is mind-boggling.
The Everlasting Straw Flower
October 22, 2012
We got a behind-the-scenes look at some of the flower beds that supplied the decorative displays and items for sale at Gordon Skagit Farms. I was particularly drawn to the soft, pastel coloring and the tight patterns of petals on the straw flowers.
Zen Thoughts about Chrysanthemums
October 21, 2012
“For his morning tea
a monk sits down in utter silence
confronted by chrysanthemums.”
— Basho
“When the winter chrysanthemums go
there’s nothing to write about
but radishes.”
— Basho
Chrysanthemums are signature fall flowers. In high school, the corsages for the fall homecoming dance were specially ordered giant chrysanthemums. My mother always planted mums in the narrow flower beds on the west side of the house. When I saw these chrysanthemums at the Gordon Skagit Farms, they reminded me of her.
Yellow Leaves — Red Leaves
by David Budbill, from While We’ve Still Got Feet
Yellow leaves,
red leaves,
brown leaves,
chrysanthemums,
and day and night
geese
pointing south
and crying:
Good bye!