The Life and Times of the Plume

Friends! Sorry for going radio silent for a stint! We’ve been running at full throttle here since the start of March — which came in like a lion and remained a lion and went out like a lion and then April came in like a lion, too. It was a proper snarling, growling pride! But the rumors are true, at last it’s springtime on the steppe and while we have had more squalls than sunshine here I cannot complain as the desert is as green as Iceland and the wildflowers have started to sing color into the landscape. It’s heaven. It’s such heaven that I feel absolutely restless. I want to be outside all day long, every single day, rolling around in the grass, draping my bones and sinew over the living earth, and sneezing every other minute. I choose heaven when I’m able.

The sheepherders have been rolling through on their way to the high country, the sight of them continues to thrill me. It never gets old. The geese are laying. The chicks have almost outgrown their brooder. My iris patch is alive and well and my roses are leafing out. Pumpernickel’s belly seems suspiciously plump with potential piglets. The horses are growing sleeker each time I brush them. Abundant life, all around. I join in the mighty chorus and sing aloud everywhere I go.

Robbie has been hustling to get our place ready for the growing season and I want to offer up heartfelt thanks for your kind support this spring. With my studio work we have been able to buy up all the used haying equipment we need to take over our haying operation here. We’ve had a neighbor cutting and baling for us the past few years and with our scant hay profits we’ve barely been able to cover the cost of our irrigation bill so it will nice to have a couple bags of bullion in our overall pockets here from hay sales this fall, something to show for our work. There’s an old saying that if you want good hay, you need to do it yourself, and it’s so true. The secret to good hay is handling it as little as possible and we’re looking forward to being hay masters here. Thank you again. We’re never going to be wealthy people in the worldly sense because so much of our work revolves around home economy or farm economy (which is not a part of cash economy). Our wealth is on the pantry shelves and in the chest freezers and in my medicinal cabinet and in the fermenting crock…but boy do we eat well, boy does our livestock live well, and boy are we thankful for this place we’re calling home while we’re on this beautiful Earth! We’re just so glad to be here.

Before I forget, we were admitted into the Ketchum farmer’s market and will be selling garlic in person in July/August this summer. We are registered as a joint booth which will allow me to also sell some jewelry if my inventory allows. I’m looking forward to it so much, it’s going to be a hoot. I hoped to do a couple big art shows this summer but I’m finding I need more time to settle into our new life here and rest and recover and reinvent myself.

I have other thoughts to share with you, especially regarding our transition out of the wildland firefighting lifestyle we lived for 15 years but for now, the sun and the wind and calling and I must head outside to commune with nature and collect nettles on the riverbank. I hope you are all well. I carry you in my heart.