Bringing In The Sheaves

 

Ok, so maybe it’s not exactly sheaves I’m toting around, but look at this crop!

 

 

 

We started harvesting our grape and apple crop a few weeks ago and it is everywhere in our house. We only have three apple trees and two grape vines, but I couldn’t imagine having more than this. The grapes we have are tiny (maybe a problem with our willingness to prune? It just hurts to cut up the vines!) but even though they may be small they are mighty! They have an amazing amount of flavor. The best way to describe it would be to say “bright”. Yeah, I know, how can something taste bright? Well, these are, they light your whole mouth up. We’ve washed, plucked (sounds more like a chicken), boiled and mashed them and have made several pitchers full of juice to making jelly. The apples have been split between making jelly, apple butter, and pie filling. Mmmm, mmmm. I love the harvest.

Here's the grape mash. It had an interesting aroma, very woody. I presume it was because it was hot and the grape seeds were adding to the smell.

 

 

 

 

 MmmMmm good. Honestly, I didn't know home made jelly would taste this good.

 

 

 And some apple butter to boot

As the harvest has gotten slim and our determination to weed and trim has waned, the zinnias have started taking over. We left them spread through the tomatoes and green beans to attract insects, and the butterflies are feasting now. Yeah, butterflies aren’t really the main insects that we were going for, but they are nice to have around at the same time.

 

Little Winston, showing off his belly. I think he prefers to see the world upside down.

 -M

Newest Project

So, I've been pondering for the last year and a half about a wet felting/needle felting project I would like to do. The first CVF Mission trip I took, our devotional was over the Beatitudes. It was a phenomenal devotional written by one of our doctors who had also gone to seminary school, and it has always been one of my favorite verses. I've been looking for about a year for a version of the verse written in the Dine language (Navajo). I had been thinking about it so long as just a project i was interested in, but earlier this year we found out the doctor who began this trip to work with the Navajo people has become seriously ill and I realized I should make it for him. He has been such a blessing in my life and a great model for walking in God's word for many veterinary students and everyone he meets.

This year, we actually had found a Dine version of the Bible and brought boxes of them with to give away, so while I was waiting one morning I copied down Mathew 5: 3-12. It takes up quite a bit of room in the Dine language, and there are a lot of unique characters that I hope I copied properly. But here is a picture of verses 3-10.

 

 

I think I would like to make a wall hanging out of wet felting and then needle felt the words over it. I haven't decided the pattern for the background, but I think I will incorporate the four main colors used by the Navajo (white, blue, yellow, black) or create a pattern like the Navajo rugs with black, white, and red. I still have to sketch it out to see how the words will work against a pattern. It may be simpler to have a solid background with patterns around the edge. I never can tell where I am going when I start a project, the wool just takes over somehow. I'll post some pictures when I actually get something together.

 

 

-M

Queso in the Wool

We spent this morning at church at Good Shepherd Mission. It was beautiful to hear the people singing in their Dine language.

Afterwards we took lunch at the mission with the church members and then our group split up. Part went to hike canyon De Chelly and a small group went to meet Dr. Ruby, a Hope veterinarian on the Navajo Rez who was participating in a traditional ride. She has a wagon (pulled by two gorgeous horses named 'Fred' and 'Wagon Wrecker') and several people in her group on horseback who all rode into Window Rock for the camp meeting. A handful of us stayed back at the mission to clean and keep and eye on dinner and spend some time resting. It was storming pretty bad at the mission so I was a little worried about going hiking in the canyon so I stayed back and spent the afternoon on the porch felting Queso. I thought it would be appropriate to wait and work on him in Az, which is where I met his owner the first time I went on this mission trip. Arizona is beautiful country and gave a great backdrop to my time working. And here he is, finally finished:

I took a little walk over to the church and took some pictures with the bell and mission house in the background as well. 

        

 

 

 

-M

Navajo Land

Our group finally arrived in Window Rock, Arizona. Our first stop was at the Navajo Zoo and Museum, with a cultural introduction at the museum. Afterwards we walked around and I of course found every display of wool in the museum. Sheep are a very important part of the Navajo life, even so far as having a "Sheep is Life" festival every year.

At the very entrance to the gallery is a beautiful frame for rug weaving



 

They have mini-rug weavings hanging in a display. All the rugs were made by children for a competition. Beautiful.

 

 

They also had several displays of fiber. This is all natural fiber from Navajo-Churro sheep. They are beautiful, and very athletic sheep that come in polled and horned variety, with the potential for having 4 or more horns. I say they are athletic because usually when catching them to vaccinate we have to football tackle them or catch them mid-air as they jump over the barriers. 

 

 

 

 

 There were several Navajo spindles on display including some different designs for whorls.

 

 

 

And then there were several big, beautiful rugs that have all been hand-dyed. 

 

I thought this display of weaving was fantastic.

 

 

 It even had a mini Navajo-spindle with yarn on it.

 

 And they had a second weaving and spinning display with the different items written out in the Dine language. Unfortunately the picture of the words didn't come out well, but you can almost see some of the words on the sign

 

 

I bought a poster that had hand-dye directions for some of the different plants of the region and a my mom found a book called "The Weaver's Way" that profiles the women and their heritage. Can't wait to sit and look through it.

 

 

-M