Fall is usually a lot more relaxed, but after the mad dash this spring, I’m announcing the time in advance.

YARN SCHOOL: 10/3 – 10/6 (Thurs pm – Sunday afternoon) – EXTRA DYE LAB: 10/6 (Sun pm + overnight) – FELT SCHOOL: 10/7 – 10/8 (Mon/Tues + overnight)

Registration will be here at 10am, assuming I set it up properly. Until then, it will give an error message. In the meantime:

YARN SCHOOL INFO

FELT SCHOOL INFO

HELPERS

We’ve been busy getting ready for Cheese School. A few weeks ago, Charlene ran through all of the cheeses we’ll be making, getting accustomed to our stove and layout. I got to sample all of them, lucky me!

We also smoked some homemade mozzarella, along with some store-bought cheeses.

I’ve been working on a design for a DIY cheese press, with ample help from the Internet. Fingers crossed it will work as planned. Most of my “brilliant ideas” are rather expensive disasters, so I’m hoping this is the exception. I’ll know by Wednesday…

After nearly two years of teasing, Cheese School is finally here! April 4-7, 2013! Enrollment is limited–register now!

We have a handful of openings for Fiber School (Yarn School + Felt School + FREE Dye Lab), Yarn School, and Felt School, plus a couple add-on Dye Lab spots for people attending just Yarn School or just Felt School.

REGISTER NOW!

We’ve had a lot of inquiries. Yarn School is definitely still on as usual this spring, but with all the extra work of the tornado recovery efforts, I won’t have ample time to dedicate to Cheese School, so we’re postponing that until this fall. I will definitely email everyone on the cheese list as soon as we nail down the dates.

For all who have been asking, at this point, we’re not sure if the storm system that spawned the tornado that destroyed half of Harveyville was large enough overall to qualify for FEMA aid. But we’ve had help from many generous groups and we keep hearing of new programs and grants on our behalf every few days.

If you want to donate:

Please donate through the United Way of Flint Hills –specify HARVEYVILLE TORNADO RELIEF in the “Focus Area” to guarantee the funds will come directly to Harveyville.

The United Way guarantees that 100% of all dedicated funds come back to the community. They do not deduct any administration fees (those costs, including salaries, mileage, etc., all come from their general fund and separate fundraising). They also offer a fair and documented evaluation and distribution of funds, and all of your donations are tax-deductible.

The best way to donate cash is through the United Way of Flint Hills (click DONATE NOW). The donations are tax-deductible and will go directly to our community. Please specify HARVEYVILLE TORNADO RELIEF  in the “Focus Area” field of your donation form to guarantee the funds will come directly to Harveyville.

Thanks for all the well wishes we’ve gotten over the last few days. Ron and I and all of the animals are fine. If you haven’t heard, Harveyville was hit by an EF-2 tornado late Tuesday night. We had no warning there was a tornado coming. There was a thunderstorm warning and a regional tornado watch underway, but that’s pretty much the standard here all spring, and February isn’t really considered tornado season yet.

Ron just happened to be standing in the front hall when it swept by, and he actually saw our old motel chairs get sucked off the front porch (they landed in the city park behind the school). We had some roof damage to the grade school and lost a good chunk of our quirky handmade fence, but we’re in great shape, especially compared to the awful damage suffered by so many Harveyville residents.

If you haven’t seen the the images on the news, it’s pretty devastated here. Many, many homes were utterly destroyed.  We’ve had a lot of volunteer help coming into town, and they’ve done an amazing job helping with the cleanup. If you want to volunteer, you can get info at unitedwaytopeka.org. There’s a great system in place and the Red Cross is feeding volunteers 3 meals a day. If you live nearby and plan to pitch in, you have to go to Mission Valley School. They’re making everyone register, both for safety and liability issues, and because they town has to carefully track all volunteer help received if they apply for aid in the future–and because we are a tiny town and there’s just not much room here. They’re busing volunteers in from the school (not us; the current school).

There are many people who lost everything. If you want to donate:

Monetary Donations are being collected through United Way of the Flint Hills. Donations can be made online using a credit card at www.uwfh.org and clicking the Donate Now link. Donations can be sent to United Way of the Flint Hills, Attn Harveyville Tornado Relief Fund, 702 Commercial St., Suite 2-Ej, Emporia, 66801. Phone number is: (620) 342-7564

The nearby city of Burlingame is organizing a donation drive here.

And for all who have asked, yes, Yarn School is still on!

There are just a few spots left for Spring 2011 Yarn School. Register now!

Here’s a segment from last year that featured The Harveyville Project & Felt School!

(You may have seen our matinee idol. Uncle Honeybunch, in last year’s opening credits.)

Spring Yarn School runs April 28 – May 1. Registration and links to all the info here!

We got our first real snow of the winter yesterday–quite late this year!–and it was definitely heavier than the forecast, but it was that powdery loveliness, without much wind whipping up drifts or scalding noses.

Everyone loves the first snow of the year–everything’s so shiny and pretty and sugar-coated. Eventually you get sick of the slush and the cold and getting bundled up just to get the mail. But that first day’s delightful.

In contrast,  today is gloriously sunny, but in the single-digits and windy, so I’m enjoying the snow from inside today.

We have just a couple last-minute spots for Mitten School, so REGISTER NOW!

Cheryl Toh’s Encaustic workshop was excellent! I wish I’d gotten a few “before” shots of the work space and blank panels for contrast! Everything was covered in brown paper, with pristine little wax stations, bare plywood panels and tidy little rows of tools and supplies. By the end of the weekend, it was a marvelous chaos of color and texture, with sample panels and works-in-progress cooling and curing on every surface! Some of the students focused on pure experimentation, while others concentrated in creating works. I was completely unfamiliar with the process, so it was fun to peek in and watch everyone at work.

We’re hosting artist Cheryl Toh‘s GET WAXY Encaustic Painting Workshop next weekend (Nov. 4-7, Thursday – Sunday). The workshop page for the class syllabus, details, and registration information.

Personalized instruction, encaustic supplies, tools and equipment, room & board at the Harveyville Project are included in the workshop fees.

This workshop is an excellent opportunity to discover new techniques and applications with wax. Artists working in most any medium (drawing, painting, mixed media, fiber, clay, sculpture, etc) benefit from the exploratory, hands-on nature of this workshop. Beginning participants as well as those who have experience working in the medium, gain skills and techniques from the personalized instruction.

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The following weekend brings Hello Yarn’s Adrian Bizilia back to Harveyville for our first-ever Mitten School! All the details & registration info are here.

With the help of the handsome & talented David of Southern Cross Fibre, Adrian’s been busy selecting colorways for Mitten School. We’ll be using gorgeous, squooshy Quince & Company Lark (territorial wool) for the mittens and Tern (wool/silk) for the lining. Yum, yum!

Join us for a special new workshop this winter. Hello Yarn’s Adrian Bizilia, she of the marvelous mittens, will be leading knitting workshop! Yippee!

Details & registration here!

I’ve noticed a two things over the last couple weeks: 1) Eggs are still down, even though the temperature has really dropped (they often quit laying for a spell when it’s hot); and 2) Bridgette has been bolting off every morning when I let them out. When I was really late last week, she practically beat the door down.

I figured they were picking on her. Back when Bridgette was recovering from her dog attack, the other girls would peck her like crazy. Obviously her tail never grew back after the dog chomped it off, so she’s the odd girl out, and I worry that the other chickens are bitchy to her.

But today, I watched her rush off and discovered her making a beeline under the hay tarp. That’s this summer’s hay, still stacked in the driveway and covered with a tarp. It’s there because the snazzy new hay shelter was still under construction when the pasture was hayed. My plan was to turn the tarp into the sides of the shelter (it’s just an open structure with a tin roof), but the best laid plans….

So when she disappeared under the tarp, I followed her and discovered this:

A secret nest with a huge cache of eggs! Luckily, it’s been cool, so there were no exploded rotten eggs. But there were nearly a dozen from Bridgette (the green ones), and another handful from Inara, who has also been laying in the nest box. There’s no way of knowing which are oldest and which are fresher, so the chickens will be getting all of them over the next week or so, mixed in with their kitchen scraps.

Yes, chickens will eat eggs. This often astonishes people, but it’s true. They love them (they’re delicious!). In fact, in some flocks, you get trouble with hens breaking open their own eggs to eat them. We’ve never had that problem, but you’re always warned about it in the chicken books. I think as long as you break them open outside of the nest, there’s no worry. With these eggs, since some are nearly two weeks old, I’ll probably crack them open and nuke them before feeding them to the girls, to be on the safe side. (BTW, fresh eggs don’t spoil immediately at room temperature–you could keep them out on your counter for a few weeks if you wanted with no ill effects–but Bridgette may have been brooding over them, they have probably been at much higher than room temperatures).

I blocked off her entrance to the tarp and moved a couple of the clutch (and her) to the real nest box, but she seemed none too enthused about using it, and ended up laying today’s egg in the middle of the path, scurrying back to the tarp repeatedly (and being repeatedly relocated by me).

After encountering interviews with both Chuck Close and Oliver Sacks twice this week, I sought out a quiz on face blindness (prosopagnosia). Here are two quizzes, one with celebrities, one with anonymous computer-generated faces. Although I knew I wasn’t remotely face blind, I was surprised to score 100% on the celebrity quiz & 97% on the other one–I usually think of myself as crap at remembering people. But that’s not entirely true. I’m constantly recognizing people, but I can never remember context or names (though typically I have a sense of whether or not I like them). So I guess my memory’s spotty, but my actual face recognition is good.

I remember watching a Chuck Close documentary years ago, but somehow, I didn’t remember that he was face blind (which seems an obvious takeaway, given his art).

This is a workshop the Topeka Public Library hosts each year. I hope to attend next year.

Thanks to Bonnie for sharing these pictues!

Busy day today! First I got to visit with the noxious weeds rep from the county. She dropped by to spray the (thankfully) teenie patch of sericea lespedeza. She gave the rest of the pasture a once-over and confirmed the growth was limited to one little area. It’s well away from the sheep and smack in the middle of the flattest part of the pasture, so I’m not concerned about contamination or runoff. And although it’s a weed that’s supposed to be a natural dewormer, it’s also pretty much the kudzu of the prairie from what I hear, so best to nip it in the bud!

Then I got to observe a Kansas Arts Commission panel for a grant I applied for–very interesting and useful. I got respectable marks, but with the limited funds and big cutbacks to KAC funding, I’m not overly optimistic, alas. It was also really cool to see what other people are working on–I wish I had been able to sit in on more of the reviews.

Then I rushed back to get ready for a visit from a troop of Earth Scouts. They’re a co-ed scouting organization with an emphasis on the environment, diversity, peace and community. I like that the groups mix boys and girls. I don’t know if it’s true for all Earth Scouts, but this group included a wide range of ages as well.

A group of nine kids–from toddlers to I’m guessing about 8 or 9?–and their parents came out to meet our sheep, learn about wool, dye yarn, and help me spin. First they met the sheep, then all of the children dyed their own mini skeins of yarn with a combination of Kool-aid and food coloring. While we microwaved the yarn to set the dye, they tried washing a little raw fleece, then everyone took a turn helping card a batt. When the batt was finished, I gave a little spinning demo on the wheel, then all the kids took turns treadling while I drafted behind them. It was fun and the kids did a great job and seemed genuinely engaged in all the activities. Some of the older kids even tried drop spindling. They’ll be using the yarn they created to weave their own belts, which will be used to hold all the badges they’ll earn.

I’m hoping to get some pictures from the parents–especially of the team spinning!

I recently borrowed a copy of the 1970 Sheepman’s Production Handbook from our extension agent, and I liked it so well, I ordered my own copy. My used copy came with several 70s pamphlets from the Montana cooperative & extension service. Speaking of Extension, I’m officially in the Master Gardener program, and I am psyched! At our orientation, I learned all about how Extension came about. It’s very cool! You should totally take advantage of your extension, America! It’s awesome! (Hint: you don’t need to be rural. You can find out what’s eating your tomatoes or making your ivy wilt or when to plant squash.) If you don’t know about it, google your state or county and the word extension.

Here’s one of my favorite pictures. Naturally, he’s smoking. Nothing like a smoke to take the edge off when you’re lambing!

Remember when life was still like Mad Men, when everyone smoked, all the time? I remember when I smoked all the time, and now it seems impossibly alien. And dude, I am not that old. Okay, yeah, I’m kind of old.

Dammit.

Sort a reverse cocoon. The new hay shed (in progress) covering the wilting remains of the old hay shed. It may (fingers crossed, thumbs held) even be big enough to hold the mower!

The really hot weather has passed, but it’s still in the low-to-mid 90s. In the warmest part of the day, all of the sheep grab a spot of shade and either idly chew their cuts or snooze. I like to peek in on them at the height of the heat and make sure they’ve got plenty of water and hay. They have access to pasture, but typically venture out only when it’s a little cooler (morning or evening), so I make sure they have snacks.

Fudgy the Whale usually chews.

Agnes prefers to snooze.

Jayne was sound alseep.

I’m always struck at how much these three hang out together. You seldom see one twin without the other, and Agnes is usually close by as well. Fudgy and Jayne are kind of tight, but not like these three.

When I think back at their dramatic entrance, it’s very sweet to see them such a cute little family.

We’ve had a few cancellations and I’m working down the waiting list, so if you’re interested in Yarn School, Felt School, or both, email nikol at harveyvilleproject dot com! We just might be able to squeeze you in!

Spoke with Adrian today and she’s about to get started on the special Yarn School spinning fiber colorways, woo hoo! For my part, I can’t wait to get going on the spin/kint of my 4-Ounce Challenge pattern. I’ll be using one of the Yarn School colorways from days gone by. I’ve got EIGHT bags of Hello Yarn Yarn School fiber burning a hole in my stash, so it’s just a matter of deciding which one to use!

Ever since meeting with our extension agent on Monday, I can’t stop thinking about weeds! When Uncle Honebunch spend three days sulking with a tummy ache after gorging on horseweed, I got a bad case of weed angst. Now that I can identify a few more, they menace me less. And while there are plenty of vexing weeds out here, a few otherwise useless ones are pretty enough, and favored by the bees and butterfiles, so I’ll let them be for now. I’m a little hamstrung without a dslr (you really can’t sneak up on bugs with a point and shoot), but I did snap a few pretty butterflies before I scared them off:

I learned that the X-files weed I was fretting about is the perfectly safe Illinois Bundle Flower (and, it turns out, good forage for the sheep). 

Our friend Tex Jernigan’s new project, what will no doubt become hundreds, if not thousands of portraits styled thusly:

Go here for dozens more, plus a marvelous time lapse of the whole thing.

Tex is all about the series. And he doesn’t fool around when it comes to numbers. A collector at heart, I can’t wait to see how these portraits pile up.

Tex was the fella responsible for these:

These came from a K-State demolition. Since RampHouse will be constructed almost entirely of recycled materials, we’re going to have a breakout illustration that shows the materials origins. We’re hoping to get some nice shots of the original construction this was in.

These are for the ramps, but this old laminated arches are way too pretty to hide, so hopefully the ramp construction will leave some of them exposed.

There’s a lot of this everywhere lately:

Straw Bales by crystalseas on flickr

Now it always reminds me of last summer, when I walked by Ellen’s room and saw this:

The fan was particularly inspired.

A few days later, it became this:

It’s funny how you see these things every year, but you don’t quite notice them until you have a fresh set of eyes.

Saline County Barnage by clay.wells on flickr

One day, there’s grass; the next day, it’s all cut. A few days later: bales everywhere. And a few days after that, they’re half gone, half clustered in the fields. And because there’s only a handful of people doing all the hay in the area, you almost never see it actually happening. You go to work, and there’s grass. You come home, there are bales. Later, fewer bales, or maybe clumps or stacks, or a long, long row. And maybe later, they just vanish. It’s staggered in pastures all around. Grass, bales, cut grass, rows, bales, grass, bales, bales, rows of bales, empty pasture, empty pasture, bales, grass, empty pasture, bales. Some of them disappear, some of them stay, grow snow, gray, sink, sink more. Sometimes there will be rows upon rows of varying age. I always wonder what they’re for. Wind break? Winter bedding? Erosion barriers? Fortification against the coming army of zombie cattle?

I suppose I could just ask someone.

(Thanks to Ellen Delbourgo for the photos. I’ll be sharing more of her work this week.)

We made it through! Today was a refreshing 97, but for the next week, we’ll be topping out in the low 90s. There’s even one day where they’re planning for a high in the 70s! Yippee!

It’s amazing how absorbing the weather is when you have livestock.

Here’s some more lighting from yesterday. I have to admit the Kansas lightning never ceases to mesmerize me. I remember driving through it for hours on the way back from Yellowstone when I still lived in Texas, white-knuckling it and thinking that any moment a vampire or a werewolf or a bloody psychopath was going to pop up in the middle of the interstate.

Tonight we had hours and hours of lighning. Here’s 90 seconds:

Caught a few early Perseid meteors tonight. I’m going to set an alarm for 3am and see how meteor prime time compares. This is the first Perseid shower since we’ve been out here that it’s been a clear night with almost no moonlight, and it’s also the first shower since they put a shield on the security light. There are still some pretty serious light leaks out onto the pasture, but it’s dramatically improved.

Hopefully by August 12 of next year, we’ll have our deck back up over the barn, complete with a little light barrier shade so we can watch the shower in excellent comfort, with no bugs or concerns over random skunk encounters.

One more ultra-hot day (my weather widget claimed 106° very briefly this afternoon), and then we’re supposed to drop down to the more regionally appropriate 90s. The nights are lovely, though, high 70s to low 80s and breezy.

The really good photos were taken by Julie McCarter. The other ones were mine. :)

Yes, that is a sheep sleeping on the floor of my office/fiber shop. It was a hard day for Uncle Honeybunch, but hopefully whatever made him sick is on its way out of his poor gut. I kind of panicked and let (read: dragged) him into my office, knowing the heat wave was going to be rough on him when he was off feed and feeling poor. Poorly? Poor? Grammar Girl, where are you?!

I lost the whole day to fretting over the animals in the heat. Notorious pig Uncle Honeybunch was off his feed since last night, and not eating or burping (burping = life for ruminants; otherwise they can become big bloated gas balloons & die, no kidding). I know the vet thought I was out of my mind, bringing a sheep into my office, but it was crazy hot, so I was way more cautious. If he’d been off feed in 85-degree weather, I’d've been a lot more wait-and-see about it. It’s unlikely I’d have even called the vet.

He’s back outside with his posse now, though still little interested in eating. But his poop is now looking more like proper sheep poo (what comes out of either end of the sheep is quite important); and he can’t really live in my office. One day of being stuck in here was enough for me. I was worried if I left for too long, he might run amok. You know, pissed off at all the bags of wool everywhere….

As for the other sheep, I put up a big coolarool shade today and kept their water cool with frozen jugs of water to encourage hydration, a very clever idea I learned somewhere on the internet. They seem to be hanging in there, and thankfully the nights are reasonably cool, because it’s only going to stay hot.

Liz left today. I really enjoyed her work, and it made me wistful about the residency program. We’ve had to let it languish somewhat because with money as it is today, we just can’t afford to promote it overall (it’s awesome but doesn’t earn anything, and we still haven’t found a magic goodies machine to pay the bills).

I’d really love to have a residency coordinator so that our workshop-free months would be  more peppered with people making good work. It’s nice to have little clumps of folks; the solo residents have to be highly motivated and resistant to boredom/block, but with little groups, you get the flock feeding vibe that keeps everyone making.

With Ron’s new shop on the horizon and my new workshops brewing, I suspect our time and money will be gobbled up and we’ll have to wait until 2012 to really put our backs into promoting the residency program again. But time does tend to fly, so it should be here before we know it. We do have something of a master plan, but sometimes all the little pictures interfere with the big one.

Really, really freaking hot. We’re okay–peachy in fact, because we broke down and bought a couple window units a few weeks ago, and we pretty much just stick to the two rooms with AC and the basement, which is always comparatively refreshing.

But the poor animals are just miserable. We had a couple 100+ days last week, but this time it  looks like they’re scheduling a full week of misery. I’m going to try to rig up some shade cloth first thing in the morning. Short of running a sprinkler over the barnyard (would that work?), I don’t know what else to do. If anyone has brilliant heatwave sheep/chicken management plans, I’m all ears.

(ETA next morning: Ah, I just read on sheepandgoat.com that you specifically should not spray sheep, as it interferes with their heat dissapation. I put up the shade cloth and I’m currently freezing some bottles of water to throw in their troughs to cool it down mid-day.)

Spidey snack:

The Art Share block printing class was great! Several of us even made suicide blocks!

Each of the participants donated a print. We’ll be selling them on etsy to start a litle fund to buy supplies for the next class!

The final stage.

Here are some of Liz’s wood block prints and her proof press. The toad demons are the newest, and I think she said they still have one more layer to go. The multi-color prints are reduction prints. After each layer is printed, subsequent prints/layers are  made by carving away more and more of the original block. By the end, you just have your outlines/shadows. If you make a mistake, you’re just screwed. And once you’ve moved on to the next layer, that’s it–you can never make another print, ever.  It’s crazy and completely awesome! I don’t know if I’d be capable of creating with that kind of abandon.

Liz is teaching a free linoleum block class this Sunday, and there are still a couple spots left. Details on registration are here.

The blocks she prints from are beautiful in themselves. You can see a print from the bear wood block (above) below. She carves both sides of each block. The reverse for the bear block is the woman below. The reverse of the man in the tie is the toad. The double-sided blocks make me unaccountably giddy.

This is my very sad old hay shelter,which is not long for this world. It did a more or less fine job despite its shortcomings. But a wicked winter wind ripped on of the posts right out of its concrete footing, and from there, it was pretty much a goner. As of this morning, the only thing holding it up was a ladder. By the end of today, it will have a total of 4 upright posts, and next week, the hoops will be gone and it will have a proper tin roof! Ed’s going to make it a little wider as well, and I’m hoping to fit the new mower inside.

In other hay-related news, I’ve got a date with our county extension agent next week to see what’s growing on our pastures and get some help with a management plan. Right now, I’m thinking of trying to establish some native grass for the future, but skipping a couple years of haying, and doing some winter grazing and buying supplementary hay for the mid-term. But we’ll see (more boring details about our pastures here).

We found this in the shelter. I hope it finds a good place to relocate. It’s current home is now just flopped over, off the posts, but it didn’t seem interested in moving. Maybe we can help relocate it when the new roof’s up?

Good news: the City of Harveyville will be getting some much-needed road improvements!

Infrastructure was something I just took for granted in Austin, where people had the luxury of debating and whining about the pros and cons of frills like bike lanes and traffic bumps. In a small town in a sparsely-populated county, roads aren’t an entitlement or just part of the basic machine, but a massive expense. This is great news and an excellent effort by the city. Yay, roads!

One of our favorite games is planning our strategy for the inevitable Zombie Apocalypse. You have to acknowledge that the farmers and ranchers will really be in the best position to hold them off.

In the pre-zombie universe, of course, it’s used for moving large round hay bales.

This mysteriously appeared out back this afternoon, which I can only assume means they’ll finally be haying tomorrow! Yay!

Last year I fretted about the hay being so late, and this year I almost fretted a couple of times but decided the grownup thing was not to obsess over stuff I can’t control, especially when the stuff is relatively inexpensive. Worst case scenario, I’d have to buy hay. And I’ve still got a good 20 bales from last year, so even if I got zero hay this year, based on last year’s 50 bales (and that’s over an unusually cold winter), even with a lot of waste from this being old hay, I’d still probably only need 35 more bales, assuming a normal winter. At $3-5/bale, the damage would be $105-175 if I got absolutely no hay.  More likely, it will be somewhat shitty hay and they’ll just waste a lot more, but between it & the old stuff, we’ll be fine. The old stuff is not the best hay ever at this point, but they’re still eating it when it’s hot and they want a snack that doesn’t involve the glaring sun. See? Simple math has helped me avoid unnecessary stress. Yay, math!

In other hay-related news, Ed & Ron will be working on my poor dilapidated hay shelter tomorrow. I should probably suck it up and help, too, seeing as it’s mine. I accused Ed of always starting projects on the hottest days of the year. Normally, Ron would be at work, but the AC’s out at the shop, so free labor! Ed’s going to call tonight with a quote, and if we can afford it, we may go with a more permanent, tin-roof structure instead of the beefed-up hoop house I was planning. But with the possibility of Ron opening up a shop soon, we’re being more cautious with money.

The heat has also resulted in this Jayne’s new “lazy grazing” technique. For the last two afternoons, Jayne has been grazing laying down. He eats all around where he’s laying, gets up and relocates, then reclines and gobbles up the surrounding grass. It’s very weird, but he seems otherwise perfectly fine, not at all weak or reluctant to rise if you approach him. He’s always been kind of on the lazy side, the first to lay down & the last to move his ass, even as a big fat lamb, so I’m not to worried. But it is a bit odd, and something to keep an eye on.

Today I have a little Art Share PSA!

I’m excited to announce the Harveyville Project’s new artist in residence, Liz Runkle, is leading a block printing workshop for Art Share, Harveyville’s free community arts program. We’ll be carving linoleum block and printing on her fantastic old proof press! Space is very limited & participants must be over 13, as we’re using sharp tools. Call 785-589-2714 or email nikol @ harveyville project.com (take out spaces!) to register.

Later this year, Terry Yates and Nancy Land will be teaching some exciting community classes! Art Share’s KAC grant has ended, but there is some excellent volunteer support, and we do plan to continue offering free classes going forward, and we’ll probably have a few fundraisers as well. The plan is to join forces with other nearby communities to share the artistic skills of both visitors and our local people. Some classes will have a supplies fee, but we’ll do our very best to keep the art flowing freely! If you have any ideas or you’d like to lead a workshop yourself, call or email me!

And expect a deluge of posts this month, as I join NaBloPoMo. I’m trying to condition myself to post more regularly. This month’s NaBloPoMo theme is “green” which I’m taking literally today. Here’s Liz with Mr. Shivers:

The days may be long, but they’re flying by, as usual. Here are a few summer pictures from Cupcake Ranch (aka our little backyard flocks).

Felt School Info – Felt School Registration

Psst! Yarn School enrollees: You get a free Dye Lab extension when you enroll in both Yarn School & Felt School.

Both programs are free and open to the public. Call Nikol at 785-589-2714 to sign up for the raku workshop. Click either image for a full-sized flyer pdf.

There was some confusion earlier with the way the buttons were set up! Doubles and private rooms (except for the Time Out room, $50 extra, half the normal private surcharge) are sold out, but group rooms (hostel-style) are still available. They’re $50 less, so you’ll even save a little scratch!

Register Here!

Prom was double-plus awesome this year! Thanks so much to everyone who came out to shake their money makers, and extra special cherry-topped thanks to The Royal Butchers, Howie Pyro, and Kid Congo and the Pink Monkeybirds, as well as their charming partners, who formed the excellent decorations committee. It was a rare treat!

Send me a link to your pictures so I can post them! My few pictures were awful, thanks to my broken camera. Broken camera + alcohol + garage rock freakout = ill-framed and fuzzy pictures.

Kid & Ryan’s Prom pictures

Lawrence Journal World article on Prom

Sara Hound is selling Prom photos she took here

WE WILL HAVE SOME TICKETS AT THE DOOR: CALL AHEAD TO RESERVE 785-589-2714. Leave a message with your name/number of tickets if we don’t answer.

USE OUR DIRECTIONS! GPS, Google maps & Mapquest will often route you down crazy dirt roads that will get you lost or add forever to your drive.

21 & up only, please!

The Harveyville Project’s PROM 2010

Featuring Kid Congo and the Pink Monkeybirds, the Royal Butchers, and DJ Howie Pyro!

Saturday, May 29, 2010

Dinner at 8 – Bands start at 9.30

Tickets: $15

Thanks to RICHARD’S MUSIC of Lawrence, KS for the PA!

Theme: Tahitian Holiday (Harveyville Rural High School’s 1971 Prom theme)

Dress: Classic Promwear (suits & fancy dresses), evening wear, or go native with grass skirts & coconut bras!

Tickets include: Live Music! DJ! Dinner! Refreshments! Tropical Decorations!

Dinner will cover carnivores and vegetarians and includes beer, wine & soft drinks.

Advance tickets only. This year’s prom is a fundraiser for Lab 34/RampHouse.

Buy your tickets now! $15.

Grownups only, please!

Prom 2010, Featuring Kid Congo and the Pink Monkeybirds, the Royal Butchers, and DJ Howie Pyro!
Saturday, May 29, 2010
Theme: Tahitian Holiday (Harveyville Rural High School’s 1971 Prom theme)
Dress: Sharp Duds to Superfancy Promwear (you don’t need to dress Tahitian)
Dinner at 8 – Bands start at 9.30

Tickets are a mere $15 each and include: Live Music! DJ! Dinner! Refreshments! Tropical Decorations!

Advance tickets only. This year’s prom is a fundraiser for Lab 34/RampHouse.

Buy your tickets now! $15.

Rooms: We have a limited number of rooms for out-of-towners (preference give to out-of-state guests). Overnight rooms start at $50, including breakfast. Email Nikol for more info.

We’re also looking into a party bus from Lawrence and a crash room (BYO sleeping bag).

We’ll offer corsages/boutonnieres from our local florist for pre-order and pickup at prom again this year! We’ll have those listed here as soon as we have the details.

Check out past proms on flickr.

PROM IS BACK! The Harveyville Project’s 2010 Prom will be Saturday, May 29!

This year’s prom rates extra special thrills!  Kid Congo and the Pink Monkey Birds and special guests The Royal Butchers will perform, and the inimitable Jason Ward will record it for a live record on In the Red.

Dinner’s at 8 and the bands start after dark (9.30 or so). Wear your prom finery and dancing shoes and prepare to get some fries with that shake! (Ass-shaking optional; wallflowers also welcome.)

Tickets on sale soon. Email Nikol (nikol at harveyvilleproject dot com) if you want an email when tickets go live.

If you’ve never been to our prom, it’s just like the high school prom you avoided–or maybe more like the gymnasium-in-streamers prom from your favorite 80s teen movie–but without the chaperons and teachers and all the a-holes you went to school with. Out-of-state guests get priority for overnight rooms.

The fire department burned our back pasture this weekend. We were trying to burn off some of the brush that got in the way of haying last year. The front half of the pasture was in good shape and already greening up nicely, so they left it alone.

1-5pm. Come on down!

If you want to participate in the group crazy batts, bring 2oz of any fiber of your choice.

Please register asap to avoid disappointment!

ART CLUB, The Harveyville Projects’ spinning, fiber & craft shop, will be open Saturday & Sunday 10-4 (and by appointment) now thru Christmas!

Or shop online at artclub.etsy.com. Coming soon: artclubshop.com (in progress!).

Pinhole photograph by Ron Miller

Pinhole photograph by Joey Cedarquist

Pinhole Photography Exhibit

Opening Reception with
Weenie & Watermelon Feed

Friday, August 28, 7-9 pm
at The Harveyville Project

Learn how the matchbox cameras were made!
Grilled weenies and watermelon served!

Works on display Friday 7-10pm and Saturday noon – 4pm
Exhibit moves to Mission Valley the following week

Earlier this month, workshop participants fabricated their own homemade pinhole cameras. These simple cameras, made with a matchbox, film, and electrical tape-and with no lens or mechanical shutter-create beautiful, sometimes distorted, and dream-like pictures. We’ll display selections from participants of all ages, and show how the cameras were made. Roasted weenies, cold watermelon, and iced tea will be served. Everyone welcome!

Refreshments compliments of The Harveyville Project. Art Share is presented by the City of Harveyville and funded entirely by volunteer donations and a grant from the Kansas Arts Commission.

* * *

Special thanks to Glenda Dixon, Caitlin McDiarmid & Todd Love, and Rachel Kaiserman for additional financial support for developing and mounting!

* * *

This program is presented in part by the Kansas Arts Commission, a state agency, and the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal  agency, which believes that a great nation deserves great art.

Pinhole Camera Photos by Stephanie Trevino, who will be leading the free workshop.

We’re proud to announce the first program of Art Share, a free community arts program presented by the City of Harveyville and funded by volunteers and the Kansas Arts Commission.

When: Saturday, August 8, Noon – 3pm

Where: The Harveyville Project (the old high school, 13149 Harveyville Road)

YOU MUST REGISTER IN ADVANCE. The workshop is free, but we need a headcount to have enough supplies for everyone.

What is a pinhole camera? A pinhole camera is a very simple camera with no lens and a single very small aperture. Simply explained, it is a light-proof box with a small hole in one side. Light from a scene passes through this single point and projects an inverted image on the opposite side of the box. Cameras using small apertures, and the human eye in bright light both act like a pinhole camera. (-Wikipedia)

ALL AGES WELCOME–Adults and children. Children under 8 will need a parent present to supervise them and handle the sharp tools. All students under 18 will need permission slips from their parents (available after 8/3, or immediately before class).

Photographer Stephanie Trevenio will lead the workshop and curate the subsequent exhibit. You will make your own pinhole camera and learn how to use it. Each student will shoot one roll of film at the workshop and leave it to be developed. If there is enough film remaining, we’ll send extra home with you, and you can return your additional shots for development by the end of the week.

Stephanie will select one shot from each student to be printed for a public exhibit the last weekend in August. There will be an optional informal workshop on matting prints later in the month if anyone would like to learn. The teacher will provide details.

We’ll have supplies for everyone  on hand, but if you have any of the following you’d like to donate in advance, we’d be thrilled! We’d also love volunteers setting up, putting up posters, spreading the word, etc. Please email or call Nikol or Stephanie at 785-589-2714 after 8/3 if you’d like to help! We’ll thank donors and volunteers on our upcoming Art Share web site.

Wish list:

black electrical tape
black sharpies
exacto knife
100 or 200 ISO 35mm film
Empty film cassettes (the yellow metal cassette the roll comes in)
For cash donations, scroll down to the bottom

Register now!

This program is presented in part by the Kansas Arts Commission, a state agency, and the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal  agency, which believes that a great nation deserves great art.

You can support this or future Art Share programs with donations. Cash donations are strictly segregated into an Art Share account and used to directly defray excess project expenses (most likely developing, in the case of this program). Any surplus will be applied to future program expenses (buying supplies, etc.). Unless you request that we not name you, we’ll thank you on our upcoming Art Share web site. Your support is much appreciated!

FALL FIBER SCHOOL October 1 – 6, 2009! You can enroll in one workshop or both. REGISTER FOR BOTH AND GET A FREE BONUS SESSION IN THE DYE LAB AND OVERNIGHT STAY SUNDAY!

FIBER SCHOOL=YARN SCHOOL + FELT SCHOOL (October 1-6) $750
(with free bonus dye lab & overnight stay Sunday)

YARN SCHOOL only (October 1-4) $450

FELT SCHOOL only (October 5-6) $300

REGISTER HERE!

We’re thrilled to announce that the Kansas Arts Commission did award funding to Art Share, a collaborative project between the City of Harveyville and The Harveyville Project that will present four free art programs! Art Share will use Harveyville Project residents present free arts programs that may include classes, field trips, exhibits, etc.

It’s a fairly modest grant, and Arts Commission is currently funding these grants at 80% (with the remaining 20% to come at the end of the term, if it’s still available), so we’ll either need to scale back a bit, or have a little fund-raising to make up the deficit. We’ll also need volunteer help and some donated supplies (I’ll psot a wish list for each program), so if you’re interested, please let me know!

Our first program will be a pinhole camera workshop in early August, followed a few weeks later by an exhibit of the photographs taken. The class and exhibit will be led by Stephanie Trevino. I’m really excited about Art Share in general, and I’m also psyched about this class in particular. I’ve always wanted to try pinhole photography, but most of my solo photographic experiments have been dismal, so getting practical instruction will be such a treat. We should have the dates and additional information soon.

We may even be presenting a second program in August! More on that as we work out the details.

If you’re a prospective resident interested in participating in Art Share, we’ll be posting the proposal requirements soon.

Yes, it’s true! We have two new residents at the Harveyville Project. They’re still too little to name (we want to make sure they’re good & strong first), but intoducing: the little boy and the baby!

It turns out that Agnes, the shyest, daintiest of the sheep, had a little secret. Miss Agnes apparently came to us knocked up, and Sunday morning & afternoon, Ron & I delivered 2 adorable little lambs. Read all about it here. I have a whole new level or respect for farmers. I wasn’t planning to breed them (they’re a spinner’s flock), so didn’t do anything special in caring or feeding her–I never even read the lambing chapters in any of my books. So we alternated between running back to the school & calling for advice, and just winging it. Huge ordeal (Ron, who was already sick, ended up with a bad fever), but really awesome, too!

Hopefully they’ll make it  (Agnes isn’t an especially keen mom, but she does seem to be warming up to them) and those of you coming to the Sunflower Spring Knitaway or Spring Yarn School will get to meet our newly-named little bundles of joy. They’re really tiny and cute.

In the meantime, I’ll try to add some better pictures. And here’s their mom, Agnes.

We’re moving into the green season here at The Harveyville Project. I’m probably going to regret planting so early, but I’ve just started my experimental hay bale garden (spoiled hay courtesy of one of the many Green Acres-style lessons I’ve learned in the last year), and the poor little starts are hanging in there, despite the fearsome winds we’ve had all day (steady 30-40mph with gusts to 50). Hopefully, you’ll be eating fresh-grown goodness next time you’re here!

Even if my bales fail, my friend June’s husband Tom’s planting a little extra for me in their gianormous garden, and I’m going to help them harvest & can. So between that & the Sundog CSA, I’m looking forward to heaps of fresh local produce.

April 6 is shearing day at Cupcake Ranch, so if you’re interested in seeing sheep get liberated from their home-grown wooly sweaters, let me know. Keep in mind that we only have 4 sheep, so the whole thing will probably wrap up in about an hour.

We’re offering private workshops starting this year, and our first, a private (well, semi-private… more on that in a sec) workshop is this June 6-7, a custom Felt School taught by the fabulous Shannon Okey. We’ve got room for a couple more students, so we’re offering a limited public enrollment. This will be an intimate workshop with tons of hands-on attention! Details & registration here.

If you’re interested in a private workshop (days or overnight) and you have a group of at least 6, let me know your ideas & we can discuss possibilities. Craft options include spinning, knitting, crochet, dyeing, etc. If you’re a teacher with a group who is looking for a venue, we’re set for that as well.

I’m also in the very, very early states of organizing Cheese School, a cheese-making workshop. If this sounds like your dream come true, let me know & I’ll put you on the notification list.

Happy springtime!

xo

Nikol

Been busy all weekend (and into this week) dyeing up fiber for Camp Pluckyfluff, yum! We still have a few spots open. If you’re in the Midwest, this is a wonderful chance to join the Handspun Revolution and spin with the inimitable art yarn spinner and author Lexi Boeger! It’s one of only two Midwest Pluckyfluff camps this year, and the only one that includes all your meals/snacks/accommodations/supplies/equipment on site. So it’s a great opportunity to take a fabulous workshop in an equally fabulous environment with minimal fuss if you’re traveling. Yes, I’m very very very excited!

Spring Yarn School registration is also open now! There’s even a 4-monthly-installment option to help with your budgeting. And because all this fiberlicious excitement is making me feel expansive: If you attend both Camp Pluckyfluff and Yarn School, you will get a free 4-hour Dye Lab session (including fiber) the Sunday night or Monday after Pluckyfluff!

One of my many plans for 09 is to get back to the monthly wrap-ups I meant to do in ’08.

2008 at the Harveyville Project saw two Yarn Schools, Felt School, the advent of Cupcake Ranch (read: laying hens and fiber sheep), a Vans catalog shoot, and a Kid Congo record, for starters! It was a busy year, and ’09 promises to be equally whirly.

Photos by Justin Kosman, September 2008.

I’m bound and determined to buckle down with the grant-seeking this year. I have two major projects I’d like to fund: a more formal, robust residency program headed up by a long-term resident coordinator, and a quarterly artist-in-residence program with a concurrent community arts workshop. If you’re a flush benefactor type or a university program coordinator who wants a lot of bang for his or her funding buck, let me know.

In the meantime, we’re funding our gradual improvements with more workshops. In addition to Camp Pluckyfluff, we’ve got Spring Yarn School  May 7 – 10, and a few private craft retreats planned for the first part of the year. We’ve decided to take a break from Prom this year (back next year). And there’s a cheese-making workshop in the planning stages. We’ll also start offering private workshops in 2009 for groups of 6 or more (knitting, spinning, felting, cooking basics, pantry builders, sausage, etc.).

But for now, we’re just trying to take the chill off.

xo

Nikol

Chantel Guidry, former Harveyville Project resident and Lawrence, Kansas poet, will be reading poems from her new project at the Lawrence Public Library (707 Vermont Street) on Friday, December 5. Doors will open at 6:00pm and she’ll start reading at 6:30.

The work comes from her new booklet, Poems of the Year, inspired by the Kansas seasons.

Chantel was a delightful resident and I’m really looking forward to her perception and wit. Hope to see you there!

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=6315618

88-year-old Norma Grubb makes the pies in nearby Dover, KS. She’s a finalist in the Good Morning America best pie contest. Please vote for her!

Watch the video here (click on Best Pie in Yesterday’s News).

Norma’s Coconut Cream Pie Recipe here.

Whoo hoo!  This workshop is a must if you’re excited about art yarns! Pluckyfluff aka Lexi Boeger comes to Harveyville this winter for one her famous spinning camps. Register now!

P.S. There’s a new 3-month layaway option to help your budget!