A Farm Through Time

I have wanted to blog about A farm through time for some time, illustrated by Eric Thomas, written by Angela Wilkes. I finally found this treasure again and scanned it in.

All the images are small "details", as I can't show the wide pages of the book here.

800
The book is meant to be about farming and how it has changed over time, but it has a very strong gleam of meaning about sustainable living. The book shows the same spot over the centuries, so you can see at a moment what took ages to experience. Some things are clearer at that speed as well. The first stage is "Clearing the land", 800 (England). We clear away forest to grow crops, and the forest provides building materials, fuel and many other things. We grow food on a farm surrounded by woodland. People rent land from a lord, who owns everything.

1000
In the next stage, "Two hundred years later, the country looks much the same, but there are fewer trees." You can see stands of trees everywhere, and cleared areas. The lord cuts down trees at will to use. It's really interesting how they make their clothes from flax (linen) and sheep's wool and cook on a fire in the house. Lots of skilled work to do and everyone is working together.


"The farmer's wife spins the wool into coarse thread on a spindle, then weaves the thread into fabric on a big loom. The woollen fabric will make warm clothes and blankets. The girl is winding flax onto a distaff, ready to spin into fine linen thread. Underclothes are often made of linen as it is less scratchy than wool.

"Inside the house, a fire burns brightly on the stone hearth. The farmer's wife bakes flat loaves of bread for the family on the hot hearthstones. Meat and thick, filling soups are boiled in the pot hanging over the fire."



1200
A few hundred years later, the men repair hawthorn hedges that line the fields, they've been there for hundreds of years but need to be reworked and repaired.

"The men are warm despite the bitter cold. Their homespun tunics and leggings are made from coarsely woven wool, held together with leather thongs. They wear stout leather boots and felt hats to keep their heads warm, and around their waists they carry leather flasks of ale for refreshment."

1300A new house is being built by the farmer, but unfortunately, "In the countryside beyond, most of the woodland has been cut down, but a few mature trees still grow in the hedgerows." So, what was once woodland remains in the cracks and grooves of the land.

Just that. A little gleam, the farmer becomes quite prosperous, the pages follow with illustrations of dairy farming, making cheese (in a press) and so on. Later with a soul-less flutter there is the tractor sitting there on the lonely farm and no more people. No community drinking ale and fixing the hedgerows!

Well, this is the way of life that our current way life is based upon. Just notice the trees.

Ian Beck's crosshatching technique

Illustrator Ian Beck from London, "Shaking the Dreamland Tree" page (from the book of rhymes Ride a Cock-Horse):

In his work, I love the cross-hatching technique. On this page, both the imagination and craft were good-- it's great. Look how he shows the light falling on the tree.

How to make a long-lasting magnetic fishing game with wooden fishing rod

When I was a child our church had these great family fairs where you could "fish" for prizes using a stick with string, tied to a magnet. The fishes had magnets on them too, and were numbered. When you got one, that determined your prize, often old passed down toys which were THE BEST if you are a child. Any material plush toy or object is fascinating and wonderful. When the Kohanga Reo Troy was involved with had a stall at a fair to raise money and needed to think of a few games, I right away knew I wanted to create this game. Then the coordinator bought cheap fishing rods at a $2 shops which only lasted literally 5 minutes, which is very wasteful for the environment. Here are some instructions for how to make long-lasting toy fishing rods that have magnets on the end for picking up toy fishes.

materials

--a dowel rod from the hardware store (or broomstick from a broken broom)

--a piece of sandpaper

--a box of "eye screws" (these are neat, see step 3 for image)

--matches

--cord or string

--a set of chair tips from a hardware store plus round magnets that will fit inside

OR a horseshoe magnet (I found one closed off by a piece of metal across the two ends)

--plastic fishes from a $2 store

MAKE THE FISHING ROD

1. Saw the dowel rod or broomstick into pieces about a half metre long (50 cm).

2. Sand off any rough cut ends of the sticks with rough sandpaper so they won't give anyone a splinter.

3. Hand screw in an eye screw (photo left), which is basically a screw with a loop on the end of the stick, so you can tie a string to the stick. (Or if you have a drill you can drill a hole to pull string through.)

4. I used some black lovely cord from the hardware store that they cut for me from a bit reel, it was nylon (plastic based). After I cut a length a bit longer than the stick and tied it to the loop, I used a lit match to melt the end so it wouldn't fray.

5. If you want to use my original chair tip method, buy chair tips from a hardware store and round magnets that can fit snugly inside. Then cut a small hole in the bottom of the chair tip, and thread the cord through hole (see image below). Glue a round magnet into the cavity of the chair tip overtop the knot, which also seals the knot.

Warning: You can also use horse-shoe magnets sealed off at the end with a piece of metal because some children, if left too long to their own devices, will definitely attempt to pilfer the magnet out of the chair tip...

FISH

You can hand-screw in the eye screws into plastic fishes, and then the magnet on the end of the rod will pick them up-- glue gun around the base of the screw to seal water out OR we have found it's actually really fun to use laundry pegs (the kind with a metal spring) as fish! See how many you can get at once, have them take their catches over to the couch to make it more challenging-- more use of the imagination is better anyways.

Kids really love playing with the fishing rod.

At the Edge of the World-- documentary (2009)

I just saw At the Edge of the World, a documentary about the Sea Shepherd's fight against Japanese whaling. It was as gripping as any show on a dangerous activity. Truly the good guys against the *insert rude word here*. In modern times, the pirates are good, and the people about their offical business in the sea are evil. Every season thousands of whales are killed (will get their stat.) People from all over the world of every background risk their lives to stop/bring attention to whale poaching-- which was banned from the world in 1986. Way to go Japan NOT.

I was just really disappointed that the Japanese would do that. I know it's part of Asian culture that one can take in the power of the animal by eating it/using its essence, but in this case they are destroying that special thing and taking it from the earth. (And apparently their flesh is very polluted now due to human impact anyways.)

Must watch it! It's really good.
 

For those of us who aren't going to jump on the boat and risk ourselves from our families, fear not, we can donate. I am definitely going to as soon as my family can handle the diversion of resources. http://www.seashepherd.org/ 
 

More about commercial whaling and the poor state of whale populations: http://www.greenpeace.org/international/campaigns/oceans/whaling/

Update October 2012 - since this post I bought my son a tshirt from their organization to support them, and will be going to an Auckland fundraiser (expensive) event soon, to support the cause of protecting whales.   (It just makes me sick that people are still killing them!)

Craft Advice

1. Relaxing music is best. Not as you would think, intense music. I listen to classical music, folk music most of the time. ANYTHING CALM. Let your spirit be calm, not excited.

2. Believe in yourself. Not too much, and not too little. The craftsman's edge is the humbleness, and critical eye, but also you have to believe in magic. Always be aware of how you are feeling-- know your nature-- curb yourself if necessary, urge yourself if necessary! Make a leap.

3. Good enough. Don't be perfectionist, you won't be able to move on. Just do "good enough". You'll get in the flow then, and when you are in a higher flow, will go back and fix easily what you now can, naturally.

4. Listen, listen, all the time. Otherwise, what is the point? I often find myself knowing I should do one thing, and ignoring it for a minute-- but a minute later I change it, as I know I should listen.

5. All the time, you can work on your discipline and patience. If you are about to work, but have to do the dishes first, but feel impatient-- do the dishes! After all, that is how you will work.

It's worth it. After all, what could be better than being the universe's pencil?

How to cut out a Real Six-sided Snowflake (aka Stellar Dendrite)

Awhile ago I found some photos of real snowflakes on the web, and also remembered that kids activity people did with me where you fold and cut out snowflakes. But the one my mother knew of resulted in 8 sides, not the real six! I tried to figure it out mathematically, but we couldn't figure out a simple way.

I recently ran across this meteorology book with a really simple way to cut out a six-sided snowflake! You just use a compass (I used a mug) to make a circle, and then you fold it in half, then into a third (see image below) towards the middle. Then you fold it out and just cut out the inbetween spaces between the fold lines. (I think you fold it in half again to cut out the decoration along the edges to ensure greater symmetry.)



Credit: Meteorology by Graham Peacock, Wayland Publishers, East Sussex, England (1994). Credit: Snowflake Cut-out by Savannah Dale.

Here is another diagram that shows how snowflakes are formed that I found on the web, "Snowflake Morphology" (Translation: How snowflakes change.)



I don't know enough meteorology to understand it fully, but I get a gist from this diagram! They turn out different ways due to different conditions.

The amazing photo at the top of this blog was photographed by Kenneth Libbrecht, a professor of physics at California Institute of Technology. He photographs snowflakes in the field and in his lab. To see more snowflake photos, go to

http://www.its.caltech.edu/~atomic/snowcrystals/photos/photos.htm

You can also learn more about the snowflake types! The beautiful crystals we picture when we think of snowflakes are called stellar dendrites.

Tibetan Children's Colouring Book

A great find! Ok, I found it awhile ago, but I wasn't blogging then! (Or finishing any goal quickly, let alone sharing something in a simple, finite way. I ran across Eternal Creation awhile ago, clothing made by tailors in Dharamsala- the home of Tibetan refugees, and the Dalai Lama. I loved the Tibetan-western fusion clothing and amazing design, but couldn't afford the clothes. But I DID order something called a "Tibetan Children's Colouring Book. It really is the ornate drawings of monks, that your child can colour in. It's so special. Definitely something I love for my children to soak up.

Click here to order a "Tibetan Children  Colouring Book" from Eternal Creation.  If the link gets changed, it's at www.eternalcreation.com, then Gift Ideas , then Children's Books.

Oh, hey, something strange I forgot until I just ran across it! On the back of the book was a curious message, emploring the receiver.


No matter what is going on 
Never give up

Develop the heart
Too much energy in your country

Is spent developing the mind
Instead of the heart
Be compassionate
Work for peace
In your heart and in the world
Work for Peace
And I say again
Never give up
No matter what is going on around you
Never give up

- H.H. The Dalai Lama 

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