The movable feast named Easter

  
The egg dropped on the table, cracked open and ozed around. A clean-up crew was ready and it was soon just an another smudge added to the accumulating collage of wax drips and spattered dye building up on the  table. Which had been especially prepared for a hard night of muck. Luckily Nancy had just started the egg. She hadn't put in hours. There were no tears or pulling of the hair. It was good to get that over and done- no more egg breakage tonight, okay everybody?  

 

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Easter snuck up fast and we hardly had time 

to plan our annual Ukrainian-esq egg dying party. Many years ago we were invited to a large Easter weekend gathering at the Angelo Coast Nature Preserve in Northern Ca. A serious contingent (none Ukrainian, that I know of) worked on their eggs off and on for 3 days and I learned the batik technique of layering melted wax and dye, working from light to dark. That morphed into spending subsequent Easter eves around our table with whoever wanted to join in. 

How long have we been doing this, anyway?  Long enough for it to be a tradition that people besides us anticipate. In the past few years people have gotten more serious about getting to the table and working with this wax resist technique. Though we use the traditional tools and dyes, our eggs have lost the look of the traditional eggs. All kinds of cheating ensues. I think it plenty good enough that we just keep doing it.

  
The tradition of egg decoration in Slavic cultures originated in pagan times, and eventually was transformed and morphed into the Christian Easter egg. Nevertheless, these decorated eggs, called pysanka have retained much of their pagan symbolism. Eggs reoccur in numerous myths as the symbol of life and renewal in many other cultures around the world, but the Slavic ethnic groups developed the painted egg over the centuries. I'm still searching online for one passage that said something to the effect that we must keep painting eggs for the world to continue. It wasn't a choice but an imperative.

And of course let there be Easter Lilies, that ubiquitous flower that I still love. And let there be other varieties of lilies I can source  loved equally as well.

A blossom petal and a Coalition

 

An early morning neighborhood walk yields a rather spent magnolia petal and a sprig of tamarisk that hasn't come into bloom yet.

Tamarisks are beautiful moisture loving shrubs. As far as I can tell, they seem well behaved in the Bay Area.  But I know better yeah, I've got my eye on them. I've spent a lot of road time traveling through the 
Southwest to another place I've called home; Colorado Springs. They are rampantly out of control in high desert areas clogging waterways and crowding out native plants. 

There is an actual Tamarisk Coalition that restores waterways to healthy conditons- you know you're in trouble when there is an entire organization dedicated to your eradication. 

Another beautiful shrub run amok.

 

Part 2: Curating Daylilies: Amador Flower Farm and Homestead Farms Nursery

For many years I worked most often as an artist/painter and and less frequently as floral designer/gardener. In the past few years that ratio has been reversed. I've noticed a word has been stolen from the art world vocabulary lately and applied in the marketplace to lines of clothing, household goods, socks, dog food, etc. The word is curated- often appearing alongside carefully curated. For an artist this little word plays an important part of your life because you are always submitting your work to be juried into some show or gallery (until you've Made It). The decider (curator) on the other side of the fence, looks at all the submissions with a theme in mind to put together an interesting and relevant curated show. 

So I went to Amador Flower Farm last week in the Sierra foothills to look at their collection of  nearly 1000 day lilies and try to bring as few home as possible. There is only so much space and so many more kinds of plants to plant. When I got home from that visit, I happened to stumble across another nursery online; Homestead Farms Nursery in Missouri. They offer over 1200 day lilies for sale. And frankly their collection was more to my taste, not to mention their website is very attractive. Their colors are more subtle. Amador is good for really brightly patterned and colored day lilies. First thought- Damn- I need a bigger garden!  Second thought- it appears that curating is also done in the flower growing/gardening world. But of course.

 

Why day lilies? They're beautiful, drought tolerant, their original versions are native (more on that another time) and they're tough. To date I haven't found any that work as cut flowers for events because they only last a day, but there are some rumored to be long lasting.

 You can decide for yourself here:
https://www.amadorflowerfarm.com/ 

http://www.homesteadfarms.com/fashion-bug/ 

 

Part 1 Dark Horse Ranch, Mullien Harvest, and on to Amador Day Lilly Nursery

As we dropped down into the warm Central Valley from cool coastal Marin County, I exhaled; whew, the land was still spring green. There's been so much in the news about the drought that my mind was primed to see brown vegetation everywhere, which normally happens some months out in summer. Now it's hard to know what the new normal is. The Central Valley, bread basket of the USA, falls between the lower coastal mountains and the higher Sierras. It's hotter than the coast and heats way up in the summer. The hot air rising in the Central Valley pulls in cool ocean air laden with moisture (read fog). That's why Mark Twain needed a down vest in San Francisco during his infamous summer visit.

But I digress. Our journey to Gold Country in the Sierra Foothills was marked with tender green foliage everywhere. The occasion was my birthday and some friends joined us to share a cottage on a ranch, visit a day lilly flower farm, play music, hike, cook and eat, cook and eat.

 When I'm talking about a ranch, I'm not talking rustic ranch. It turns out to be a beautifully designed and landscaped gentleman's and (woman's) ranch where sheep, chickens, grapes and good conversation abound. I later told owner, Sherry Fields (along with her husband, country doctor, Dan Fields) that the photos she posted don't do it justice. And I can't say mine do either. I was just having too much fun for photos. We had a lot of little chats with Sherry and Dan, learning that their obvious labor of love is coming to fruition after 14 years. It is a real find and a wonderful place to share with friends. There's a cottage for 4 or a beautiful barn for 2, very nicely done with all the amenities.  The bucolic landscape is classic foothill country with oaks speckling the rolling hills, especially beautiful in the spring.
  
The area is a Central Valley version of Napa/ Sonoma wine country. There are a lot of boutique wineries and old mining towns retrofitted with quaint to upscale offerings.  We were there for neither, though we made a short foray into Amador City. Nope, came for the day lilies and to settle into a rural landscape for a spell. In the summer expect a lot more heat and rolling hills gone brown.

Here is Dark Horse Ranch:  
https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/3533175 

Part 2: Mullein Harvesting
  An unexpected treat, mullein harvesting.  Discovering that our intended hike in the National forest was still an hour away, we opted to stay local and explore some old logging areas. At first this seemed like a pretty depressing prospect, anticipating a barren landscape of tree stumps. Fortunately the land had been selectively cut which  means that the forests are thinned, rather than clear cut. It's a better forestry method since these areas can still support wildlife to some extent. And it means that there are still many trees and underbrush and it was rather lovely. We found was an amazing abundance of mullein plants. Though not native to the area, this is a medicinal herb that's been used for centuries for a variety of issues. I've used it for years for colds, congestion, and ear aches. It's an interesting  landscaping plant with fuzzy soft rosette that eventually bears a tall flowering stalk. The flower stalks are fun to use in arrangements though the dropping flowers do scatter all over.

New members of the family

If Facebook is any indicator of our desire to see certain subject matter online, I just disappointed you terribly. You were looking to see some sweet babies or puppies. No, that's how attached I am to my vase collection (have no fear, my cat rules).

I'm really not sure what this container was intended for. Some designer in product land said "let's design a glass thingy to ....?" Part terrarium, part dip server, wine cooler, or hey, maybe it was designed for flowers. I don't know but I found 3 of these (well okay, Max got one) and love the possibilities. More to come.

Pave' Workshop/ Round 2

Something new: 

After a workshop, I'm inviting the participants to come back in a few weeks for Round 2:

Those interested make an arrangement on their own and send a photo to post and share with all of you. There is nothing like practice to improve your work, revisiting what you've learned, taking it a step farther, going it alone...

What I love about these pieces is that each person did take it a step further in their own way. The results are very fine. Give them a hand!

I

                                                                                                          Gila

                                                                                                                                                 Susie

 

    Nancy

Strange sky, the Dawn Chorus, Pinkish Bowl

 

 

There is a time of day officially allotted to birds. They wake up, maybe shake of their feathers, and begin to sing all at once. Called the Dawn Chorus, it's the time when these sky photos were taken, just before the sun comes up. The birds announce their territory and check in with their species members for location and a general I'm okay/you're okay report and what other unknowable communications? In our semi urban neighborhood it's one of the only times of day when it's quiet enough to hear them, before we layer it up with human sounds.

A Memorial

Doing flowers for a Memorial/Life Celebration holds a special place in my heart. I've lost a number of friends; way too young, along with my parents and Jon's parents. And then there are our beloved animals, Bosco, Moey, Moo Shu, and Ruby...  It's familiar, gut wrenching territory. These times are so raw and weighted in the sorrow, though there has always been a bittersweet kind of beauty and grace and even moments of laughter. It's such a distinct place mentally, a temporary circle of people whose members band together to perform their tasks and rituals and grieve. It's a sacred space, if I can use that word. The flowers take their place as they do for all of our important passages in life, side by side with us. 

These flowers were for a beloved member of the renowned Modern Mandolin Quartet who taught at the San Francisco Music Conservatory. I worked on this together with Max lampert, my dear friend and often creative partner. Bruce Veldhuizen, also a close friend and sought after builder of fine cabinetry and creative pieces, built this complex sphere that he graciously loaned to us.

Helleborus continuous

All you need is