this morning was overcast & cool, perfect weather for berry-picking!

24 pints of assorted different kinds are now in my freezer, ready for winter!

oh, this is one of those books that’s both a great read and an occasional eye-roller at the same time.

the basic premise is some north american white dude who’s tried to erase his white guilt by working on aid projects in south america goes to live in a former medical-doctor-now-activist’s 12′ x 12′ cabin on a permaculture plot of land in rural virginia and learns a lot of life lessons thinking about questions related to “how can humanity transition to gentler, more responsible ways of living by replacing attachment to things with deeper relationships to people, nature, self?”

i’m being snarky only because it amuses me, sorry! i really did enjoy it – see all those tabs in the pic above?!

some more quotes:

“slowing down was a radical act in the context of an overscheduled america… it occurred to me that themes when i slowed down were ironically the times when i got the most work done. creativity flows smoothly out of nonfiction, from deep wells of idleness. the creative self savors aimless wanderings where you slip into your own snug skin.”

and

“she lives in enough. she has abundant fresh food in her gardens, the music of a creek, a network of friends, neighbors and family. she and other wildcrafters throughout the rich world are choosing downward mobility – living well instead of forever striving to live better.”

and

” there’s a point where one’s material life is in balance: one has neither too much or too little. roughly one-fifth of humanity has too much and is overdeveloped; another fifth has too little and is underdeveloped. neither of these groups experiences general well-being. the former, with materialism caked on like a million barnacles, can rarely experience the simple joy of being. the latter are so destitute that they can’t sustain their physical bodies. fortunately, the third group – those with enough – is by far the largest. it is what i call “developed,” ranging from subsistence livelihoods like that of the maya of guatemala to the level of the average european circa 1990.
by this rough calculation, 60% of the world lives sustainably, in a global sense. in other words, if everyone lived as they did, one planet – the one we’re on right now – would suffice to feed, clothe, shelter and absorb the waste of everyone. [in contrast, if everyone loved at the level of the average american, we'd require the resources of 4 additional earth-sized planets.]”

on top of doing the neighborhood street fair and narrowly escaping heatstroke [note to self: no more events in the summer!!!], taking a permaculture class, and finishing up a slew of projects set to debut next week, i also thought it would be a great idea to host this months’ installment of portland’s underground supper club a few days ago! hey why not, right?!

the left-overs alone made it all worth it!!! best. menu. ever. i haven’t had to cook for days! follow @vegansupperclub on twitter if you live in portland and want to host and/or attend future events!

what a glorious day! lucy, a friend and i got up at the crack of dawn to drive towards mt. hood and take in a wildflower hike. both us humans have to work all weekend, so today was like a compressed weekend.

after a few wrong turns down unmarked mountain roads thanks to a badly-written guide book [so by "right turn", you actually mean "left hairpin u-turn" hey guidebook] we finally found the trail we’d come to see.

an hour through a rough regular forest trail [marked "easy" in the guide book - my blind little dog would beg to differ, book!] we rounded a corner to come upon a magical swiss-alps-like clearing and view. WOW! flowers and butterflies were literally everywhere!

then, just to balance things out, i came back to my studio ready for my weekend of work to the most hateful email i’ve gotten in a long while from a dissatisfied customer. butterflies, remember the butterflies!

while i’m finishing up an as-yet-undisclosed project here in the studio, my printers have been busy working on printing more notecards: oldies-but-goodies and a few new designs! that’s grace, pinball‘s shop cat, supervising the press sheets for my latest print run!

look for new farm anima & herb plant notecards on my shop site late next week! if you’re on my monthly mailing list [sign up on the shop site], you’ll be the first to know about these, and several other upcoming items!

this past sunday, and despite the mid-july pouring rain, 7 brave souls met me in the park and then we trudged to a nearby coffee shop for 5 hours of drawing nature indoors!

so fun! next week i’ll be adding a few more drawing workshops to the shop – stay tuned!

i have a big project i’m finishing up this week – more details for you next week!

written by a holistic japanese farmer in the 1970′s this book is part philosophy, part farming guide, and a great read for permaculture enthusiasts and/or holistic thinkers! so good that even though this is a library copy, i’ll be ordering one of my own soon. see all those tabs? good stuff!

here are some thoughts from the book:

“extravagance of desire is the fundamental cause which has led the world into it’s present predicament. fast rather than slow, more rather than less – this flashy “development” is linked directly to society’s impending collapse. it has only served to separate man from nature.”

&

“for human beings, a life of simplicity would b possible of one worked to produce directly his daily necessities. in such a life, work is not work as people generally think of it, but simply doing what needs to be done.”

i’m taking a permaculture course for the next few months, so expect to see most of my reading permaculture based!

love this list found via my love for you…

i blogged about atelier nl and a few of their local clay ceramic projects a while back, and now portland’s newest design shop, woonwinkel, has a few of the ‘clay service’ pieces live and in-person!

from the atelier nl website:
“The project started by digging up, shaping and baking clay from different locations through the Netherlands. They created a beautiful series of plates and bowls in different colors and structures, showing the local identity of the area the clay was taken from.

Their ideas neatly met our wishes and we collaborated to translate it into products. The result is a pottery’s service made from 6 different local Dutch clays.”

i’m not sure exactly what part of the netherlands the white clay from the collection is from, but i treated myself to the largest bowl to use in my studio!

spied in an anthropologie catalog, then researched online: textiles by u.k.-based fred shand.

apparently i’m a little late to the appreciation party, but i adore the hand-painted, embroidered and collaged fabrics.

someone described these pieces as “scruffy luxury.” love that!

and i also appreciate the tag on the back of each item, showing who in the world worked on the custom piece.