Playing with Sticks

Five, six, pick up sticks;

Seven, eight, lay them straight;

— Early English nursery rhyme

Life out in the sticks these late winter days often finds me playing with sticks. I gather them up and find other uses for them; it’s the ultimate in recycling. It’s a way for me to branch out and learn new skills.

Stick project #1:  Creating a dead hedge.  It all started a couple of months ago when I was "tidying" up my Girl Cave and tossing fallen branches to the far edge of it. The sticks started piling up and before I knew it, I had a certifiable dead hedge and I rather like it. 

I'm hoping that all sorts of critters, from beetles to snails, native bees, toads, lizards, field mice, rabbits, snakes, and nesting birds, will find it a happy and safe place to hang out. 

Eventually, it will decompose and enrich the soil, but I'm planning to add to it whenever I find a fallen branch -- making it an ongoing effort to ever-so-slightly slow climate change via carbon sequestration. Bonus: creating an inviting habitat for all creatures, great and small, of Farm Dover.

Stick project #2:  The spring spruce up of our teepee. 

The vertical poles still stand from 2024 and will hopefully last another year; all I had to do was add new horizontal connections. I fastened long branches from our pussy willow to the vertical poles with bits of string.

Next month, I'll recruit Hazel and Norbert to help me plant the base with sunflowers, sweet peas, cucumbers, pumpkins and grape hyacinths. It's always a well-loved destination for some of my favorite people. 

Stick project #3: Hurdle fence. Later this month, I'll plant one of the raised beds in front of the cottage with peas and fava beans, but they will need protecting from some overzealous rabbits. I've added to last year’s woven hurdle fence around the bed. I'm hoping it will make it just that much harder for the bunnies to leap into the bed and feast on sprouts. Fingers crossed.

And finally, Stick project #4: Cloches.  This week, I will cut some more willow sticks to create a cloche to protect the soon-to-be-planted radishes. Here's one I fashioned last year.

Gleaning. Piling. Connecting. Weaving; all part of my stick life here. It's nice to have these projects while waiting for spring to arrive. It feels good to be out in my own little world, a break from the worry of our nation and planet’s future.. Playing with sticks: Won’t you come out on a limb and join me?

 

To Roscoe, with Love

Nothing pleases me more than when my grown children (and their partners) love on their nieces and nephew. Perhaps they see it as a way to stay connected because they live so far from each other. Perhaps they see it as a chance to nurture a tiny human with a shared DNA. Or perhaps they are just lovely, thoughtful people who are generous with their time and talents. 

Their love can take the shape of Saturday morning FaceTime call, a hand-sewn butterfly cape; a mud kitchen hammered together from two pallets, a hand-painted "red plate/journal” to mark milestones; a canvas bag full of heirloom toys and puzzles passed down from cousin to cousin; 

or, in this case, an illustrated book....

New York Baby Roscoe turned one on January 14th and her Uncle Jack, Aunt Kasia, Cousins Hazel and Norbert and I (her Bee) collaborated to make her a very special gift: a book that shows all the fun things she can do when she comes to Kentucky to visit Farm Dover. It was a hit!

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Here's a peek at the illustrations, drawn by Roscoe's Uncle Jack and colored by her Aunt Kasia;

story by cousins Norbert and Hazel (as told to Bee). 

Farm Dover: A Good Place to Be

Hi, Roscoe! We've been waiting and waiting 
for you to come to Farm Dover.

Hold our hands and we'll head down to Bee's Garden. 
See any red raspberries?

Then we'll run 'round to our Mud Kitchen.

What should we cook? 

Let's cool off in the back porch pool. 

Do you want to blow some bubbles?

Then we can pick some wild blackberries. How many can you pick?
Watch out for thorns!

Race down the hill to the teepee.
See any cucumbers to pick for a snack?

Then follow us over the creek to visit the Faerie Village.
Does it look like the faeries had a party?

Hold on tight. Don't drive the Polaris into the weeds!

And just before bedtime, snuggle up for a story.
Which book should Deed read?

Farm Dover: a very good place to be!

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Roscoe's book is one in a series of hand-illustrated books, made with love, for each little one. Each was printed as a board book by Artifact Uprising. 

Hazel's book traces the myrid of critters that show up in her backyard.

And Norbert's teaches him to count all his favorite things at Farm Dover. 

And now, Roscoe can look forward to Kentucky visits where she and her cousins can gather garden goodies, make pretend sumac soup, blow bubbles on the back porch, pick wild blackberries or cucumbers growing up a teepee, visit the Faerie Village, drive the Polaris, and snuggle up for a bedtime story. 

So, Roscoe, come to Farm Dover soon. We've been waiting and waiting...

Happy 1st Birthday. You are so loved.