Turkey Tracks:

Turkey Tracks: October 14, 2014

“My Salad”

We got a bag of mixed lettuce from our CSA (Community Shared Agriculture) farm, Hope’s Edge, last Friday.

Located just west of me, the farm has had some heavy frosts–though our yo-yo weather continues and today is nearly 70!

So, the lettuce was a welcome treat in our weekly share. This lettuce has…survived.

When one tries to eat within the seasons, lettuce runs out in the fall. I personally switch to lacto-fermented foods, like sauerkraut, when the lettuce runs out. I am so not a fan of the lettuce that gets shipped in here from California in plastic boxes. That lettuce has been gassed and is very old–like about 18 days old. Whatever zip was in it is long gone.

I’ve been savoring my bag of lettuce–knowing that the cukes, the tomatoes, the celery are all nearing the end of their days.

Here’s another poem from Jeanine Gervais, who seems to be in a creative mood these days. She’s eating, likely, what’s left in her garden these days.

My Salad

A Zen Buddhist monk book says

to practice

living

in the moment

say,

“I am washing the dishes

to wash the dishes”

and so I eat my salad

to eat my salad

15 seeds

in tiny halved cherry tomato

raspberry dressing

a pink blanket

covers green leaves

speckled by black pepper polka dots

the white of sliced

radishes

edged

in magenta

a still frame

captured.

By Jeanine H. Gervais

October 11, 2014

Turkey Tracks: “Isn’t This Fun?” Quilt

Turkey Tracks: October 8, 2014

“Ain’t This Fun?” Quilt

Look what’s on my long arm today.

“Isn’t This Fun?”

I made the blocks last March when I spent a week with my long-time quilting friends in Williamsburg, Virginia. We’ve been quilting together for close to twenty years now.

For years I’ve been clipping the selvage edges of new fabric and ripping a strip. And, saving uneven strips left over from cutting or ripping a straight edge across the top of fabric. I gathered up the HUGE MOUND of these strips and took them to Virginia and about 100 blocks came home with me at the end of the week.

Here’s the resulting quilt top–the lattice work and border treatment ideas came from Bonnie Hunter’s quilt “Tulip Fields” in her book STRING FLING.

Here’s a close-up of some of the blocks:

I’m quilting with a lime green thread…

I’m really enjoying this project.

Turkey Tracks: “Cherry Tomatoes,” a poem

Turkey Tracks: October 8, 2014

“Cherry Tomatoes,” A Poem

I met Jeanine Gervais on the windjammer J&E Riggin this summer.

We were/are both writing/literature teachers at local colleges/universities.

Since the windjammer trip, we’ve been writing back and forth on email, daily.

Here’s the poem Jeanine sent me yesterday. It really hit home as I had just been out in my own “mid-October” garden, picking cherry tomatoes. She wrote it herself, of course.

Enjoy!

Cherry Tomatoes

My back bends to pick cherry tomatoes

strung like pearls on winding branches

buried amongst rotted vegetables

blackened leaves

the garden in mid-October a shambles.

Cherry tomatoes hidden under

leaves like umbrellas

protected from wind and cold

holding steadfast, saying

Don’t forget me! Don’t forget me!

I am here. I am strong.

Jeanine H. Gervais

October 7, 2014

Turkey Tracks: The Four Seasons Quilts

October 3, 2014

The Four Seasons Quilts

I have spent large time chunks this summer making the Coastal Quilters’ 2015 challenge: The Four Seasons.

We could do one of the seasons, or all four.

We had a length requirement, but could use a range of sizes for the width.

These challenge quilts will be hung at our state show, mounted by the Pine Tree Quilters Guild, in July 2015.

I was inspired by the banner show from Italy at the Machine Expo in Manchester, New Hampshire, last spring. These seasonal banners were hung by the separate seasons–and you can see them in an earlier post here.

But here’s a reminder–here’s spring:

And I used an idea done by Sarah Fielke in the book by Sarah and Kathy Doughty, MATERIAL OBSESSIONS 2.

Fielke supplied the idea for the tree crown–made with a wedge ruler–and the template for the tree trunk.

Here are my “Four Seasons”:

Spring:

Summer:

Here’s a detail of the pearl cotton quilting used in all the quilts:

Fall:

And my favorite, though “Fall” is a close second, Winter:

Turkey Tracks: Windjammer Angelique

Turkey Tracks: September 24, 2014

Windjammer Angelique

I almost forgot this little video of the ketch Angelique, who, on our last night, joined much of the windjammer fleet in Rockland, Maine’s, south harbor.

She came right across our bow, so we had a great look at her dropping her foresails and gliding into her chosen anchor spot.

One of the really joyful things about sailing on the windjammers is seeing the other windjammers out on the water. They are like large graceful birds in motion.

John took a gorgeous picture of the Angelique taken during the windjammer races many years ago. I reframed these pictures this past winter.

She dropped her sails just after I stopped recording. But I got this shot:

Turkey Tracks: MOFGA’s Common Ground Fair 2014

Turkey Tracks: September 24, 2014

MOFGA’S COMMON GROUND FAIR 2014

MOFGA stands for the Maine Organic Farmers’ and Growers’ Association, and each year, MOFGA puts on The Common Ground Fair.

This year marked the 38th Fair.

I’ve written about this fair many times, but each year is just so special.

This year I went with Giovanna McCarthy on Friday and with Penny Rogers Camm on Sunday– spending about 10 hours at the fair over the two days.

Here are some picture high lights. As always, I think of many pictures I should have taken, but didn’t–like a little video of the “horse whisperer” who trained a young, big working gelding to follow him around the ring in about 10 minutes.

I’ve always loved these “post” faces:

Look at this hoop house filled with flowers:

Outside this hoop house was the prettiest hot pepper plant with purple hot peppers:

We had a very cool summer, so the winter squash and pumpkins struggled. None of mine even made little squash. But, here’s squash bounty at MOFGA:

What’s amusing about this picture of a compost toilet displayed so one can see all the workings is that one of these boys is INSIDE the toilet, and the rest are very amused, as only boys can be. What looks like a reflection on the glass is actually a boy’s face.

On the way out of the fair, we passed this family of baby pigs asleep in the sun:

On the way home BOTH days, we stopped for some of John’s Ice Cream–all home made, all so delicious. John’s ice cream reminds one of what REAL ice cream tastes like when it isn’t full of fake ingredients. The marshmellow cream in the Rocky Road is the real thing, for instance.

I love MOFGA!

Turkey Tracks: Come Sailing With Me: Lobster Roast On An Uninhabited Island

Turkey Tracks: September 24, 2014

Come Sailing With Me

Lobster Roast On An Uninhabited Island

For many, the lobster roast is a windjammer sailing high point.

Passengers are ferried in the yawl boat to an uninhabited, beautiful island, and the crew cooks a gorgeous lobster roast.

Here’s the island we went to on this trip:

Here’s a little video that pans from the beach:

I love the way the succulents grow right down over the rocks on some of these islands.

The crew sets up a beautiful spread of snack food to eat while we wait for the lobsters to be cooked:

Here’s the lobster pot being organized:

And, eventually, there are lobsters! That’s Captain Jon Finger to the left with crew members Justin and “Mouse” with the straw hat.

Grateful passengers find natural seats and tables among the rocks on the beach:

And after cooking marshmellows or making “some mores,” everyone goes back to the ship full and happy.

Here’s the Riggin, waiting for us:

Turkey Tracks: Come Sailing With Me: Raising a Windjammer Foresail

Turkey Tracks: September 24, 2014

Come Sailing With Me:

Raising a Windjammer Foresail

Here’s a little video on raising the Riggin’s Foresail–the big one in the front.

If you are standing in the back of the boat, the left side of a sail is “the throat,” and the right side is “the peak.” The two sides do not get pulled at the same time after a certain point in the raising.

Listen, and you will hear Captain Jon say “HOLD PEAK” and you’ll see the right side crew stop pulling.

Note the fog on this day. It was the only foggy day we had.

I rather like a foggy day at sea, just as I like a foggy day here at home from time to time.

Fog is soft, comforting, and it just slows everything down.

Turkey Tracks: Come Sailing With Me: Raising the Anchor

Turkey Tracks: September 24, 2014

Come Sailing With Me:

Raising the Anchor

Hello Everyone,

I’ve been having way too much fun with visitors and have not posted to the blog as a result.

I still have some little videos I took on the J&E Riggin this past trip.

Here’s one on hauling the anchor.

Remember that the Riggin is an authentic windjammer schooner and has no motor to move it (they use a separate yawl boat to push it when needed) or a motor to raise the VERY HEAVY anchor that gets dropped every night.

It takes quite a few willing souls to get the anchor back on the boat.

And here’s another video for added information:

Turkey Tracks: Come Sailing With Me

Turkey Tracks: September 7, 2014

Come Sailing With Me

I’m just home after spending a magical, gorgeous, fun, inspiring six days sailing Penobscot Bay on the windjammer/schooner J&E Riggin with Captains Jon Finger and Anne Mahle.

Here’s the Riggin as seen from the island where we had a lobster roast:

There are many, many better pictures on the Riggin web site: http://www.mainewindjammer.com.

I forget how many trips John and I made before he got too sick to go, but we qualified as “Riggin Relics,” which meant we’d made 5 or 6…

On this trip, I sailed with a great couple who have made 27 trips over the years–often stringing three together in a summer. So, beware, being on the Riggin and around Jon and Anne gets into your blood. It has mine…

Here’s a little video of one of my favorite pastimes aboard:

This trip was centered around knitting and featured Margaret Radcliffe, who had just published a new, very useful “how to” book. Margaret is one of those people who is at the top of her craft. She has forgotten more about knitting than most of us will ever know. And she was generous with her time and skilled with her help on our projects. Because knitting was featured, most of the passengers were women–with two sturdy male passenger exceptions, both of whom are married to knitters.

I thoroughly enjoyed these women and will see some of them over the winter and will sail again with some of them next summer. Emails are already flying around between us.

Here’s Jessica knitting with her morning coffee/tea:

Jessica is making the hat pattern that Margaret Radcliffe designed for this cruise. I love her colors:

Here’s a completed sock on Jeanine’s foot:

And Pinky (of the 27 voyages) completed this great cowl early on in our trip:

Pinky is standing in the galley–which is always a warm retreat if one gets cold or needs a table on which to work. Here are two more pictures of the galley:

What you’re seeing is the “eating” end of the galley. On the other end is the “cooking” end. Anne and her crew (the amazing Cassie this year) feed up to 30 people (passengers and crew) three meals a day using a wood stove. There is limited water and no electricity for kitchen save-time tools. The kitchen “nook” that can’t be more than 6 feet long and with a walkway that is about 3 feet between the stove and cabinets and the sink side.

Anne’s food is…simply…amazing. Most of her food is FRESH, FRESH as it it locally sourced. She makes all her own breads–sometimes three different ones each day depending on what’s for breakfast–and there is a home made dessert at both lunch and dinner. Anne has two cookbooks now: AT HOME, AT SEA and SUGAR AND SPICE. Both are beautiful AND excellent.

Here’s a view of the boat from the back to the front–you can see the kitchen stove pipe to the left. This pic only shows about 1/3 of the width of the boat and does not show the long front end or the 10 or so feet behind the camera. I have never felt crowded on this boat. Nor had to wait longer than two minutes for a bathroom.

Here’s Terry swimming off the Brooklin harbor, called affectionately the Wood Boat Harbor as the Wooden Boat School is located there. This school is a place where you can go and learn how to build various wooden boats that you keep. I have often seen families working away in one of the buildings to make a boat.

And, yes, I did get to swim this trip–with Jessica, off North Haven island. The water was cold after the cool summer, but really refreshing as it was a hot day.

There was a lot of boat traffic this year–and it is so much fun to see sailboats cutting through the water and to hear the wind in their sails. September is really fine sailing weather.

Here’s the Riggin’s little sail boat with Justin at the helm at Wood Boat Harbor:

The Riggin always draws traffic when she anchors. Here are some small boats sailing around us:

Here’s a sailboat–one of many, many–out on the water either passing us or being passed by us:

The scenary is beyond spectacular out in this water world. And it’s impossible to capture it with just a camera.

But…

The sunlight sparkling on the water is breathtaking.

And there are endless islands and passages between them and beautiful and/or quaint houses on the islands.

At one point we traveled what is known as Eggemoggin Reach (the site of famous races and regattas) and we went under the Deer Island Bridge with about a foot to spare at the top of our mast–causing all of us to gasp and shut our eyes:

I have some other short videos (the lobster bake, the last night, raising the front sail, hauling the anchor), which I will post separately, but I will end with this picture of a sunset on the Bay:

Come sailing with me next year?

I’ll be going on another six-day sail on July 20-25 and an as yet undetermined four-day knitting cruise in mid June.

	celiamalm on Happy Birthday Soup
	celiamalm on Spring Garden Time
	louisaenright on It’s A Sunny Sunday
	Tracy on It’s A Sunny Sunday
	Andrea R Huelsenbeck on Yeah! The Improv Quilt Is Off…

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