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this is a pic of one of the pages in a catalog for Fencing…Premier 1,  Fences that Work that somehow arrived in my mailbox addressed to my daughter a couple weeks ago.  It's just the Greatest catalog,  full of kinds of fencing,  but also just a lot of practical information about livestock,  about deer and gardens,  chickens and predators.  On and on.  But i love this pic.  It's sheep.  not Goats,  but  my imagination can shift it.  And it's a hillside.  very similar to the Hill. in the open space of the Hill.  How the fencing meanders.  not square,  but meandering,  like how browsing  and foraging moves.  And there is a RedBud tree….there  are Native California Red Buds.  OK.  

Something we are finding,  as a Difficult Surprise, to factor in to our imaginings is that there is a TON of Poison Oak on this land.  As there is on most land there that is "abandoned".  The most convenient way to rid land of Poison Oak is to Clear it.  PO likes shaded areas,  not sun.  But the original thinking was to leave the Hill As IS.  Wooded.  Lots of bramble.  Wild.   But ok.  for humans,  not such a challenge…you learn what it looks like and stay away.  For our animal family,  different.  Dogs can run and chase rabbits through the bramble and return with the oils from the PO on their fur.  Goats,  which will happily browse on PO with no harm to them,  will carry those oils on their coats.

eeeeee

touching those dogs and Goats then is exposure.  So.  we need new and different thinking.  We work on it.  daily.  lots of emails with links.

 

Ddd

 

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wild rose and Golden Current

 

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there is Spring Cleaning of the Shelter side of the Albatross.  Many.  Many wheelbarrows  full.

 

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the Treasures of Travis and Everett.  the beginning of that in the unused half of the Albatross.  I looked at these today and there was a great tenderness.  How all of us love what we love.  They love these old and broken things.  They have such an imagination for how things might go.  To be a part of that….to offer and give that…….

 

Liz A commented about staying faithful to daily practice.  and it struck a cord.  

I went back in the Archives of this blog…seeing that it was April of 2010  and really,  just before that but it was on blogspot and the entries there didn't all cross over,  but close enough.  Seven  7 years and i think yes.  Of course.  7.  My number.  Seven.  ok.

i remember in the beginning i wanted to document the Cloth Making with Jude and Spirit Cloth.  I felt i needed to limit things to Cloth Making to be a legitimate blogger.  I didn't know what being a legitimate blogger meant.  New…i was new but so so enthusiastic.  So sure of stuff.

Over time i know it's changed.  Sometimes it's boring.  Sometimes it's sad.  A lot of it ISN"T about cloth,  but Cloth is ALWAYS about what it is.  ALWAYS.  ALWAYS.

the daily practice.  Like my buddhist practice.  A going.  It's all a Going.  Life is a Going.  day to day.

and i saw,  on the April 7th, 2010 post,  a pic of some of the "dolls".  It was good.  really good to see them there.  Where i came FROM.

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13 responses to “the daily practice….?……. the daily practice.”

  1. Mo Crow Avatar

    Wow! 7 years of Windthread! thanks for all you share, re Poison Oak, how many acres is there? could the Poison Oak be selectively removed by hand with protective clothing on? when I lived on a 100 acres of steep ex pasture with rainforest gullies & regrowth, we would cut down and poison the weed trees, it would take about a week when they were flowering (making them easier to see) each year.

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  2. grace Avatar

    we are trying to learn as we go. There are 6 acres. the areas that are
    SUN filled are free of it. But most of it is shaded with Mountain Oak and Monzanita etc. Where it LOVES to live. and also is the BEAUTY of this Hill.
    so we stand back and think. Taking Time. Looking. Thinking. Waiting.
    Good old RoundUp…Monsanto. That is what is most commonly used. But we can’t. so we try to Learn. It might take time. But, well, time….

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  3. jude Avatar

    blogging and sharing became my daily practice,like stitching, i realize I miss it when it isn’t there. But also it is all slowly morphing. I wonder if I will live to see what it might become.
    Poison oak everywhere here, plus poison ivy and poison sumac. I learned the hard way when I moved in. One bout had me in the emergency room .
    All of them seem to come back over time. They belong here I guess. The good news is that you can build up an immunity over time to poison oak. Still a rash but not as extreme. I pull them out of the ground while they are dormant with no leaves. And spay them with vinegar when I spot them. Usually around the base of trees. We cannot hang out in the woods here anyway because of ticks. Soul-o brings the oil on his fur. I get it t least twice a year. Poison ivy here is worse because it comes right up in the garden. the roots spread underground. Luckily I can spot it a mile away.

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  4. Liz A Avatar

    What a dilemma … we too avoid herbicides, but don’t have the complication of animals to consider.
    Changing the subject, I heard a public radio piece about Wikihouses … open sourced house plans made with wood cut by computer-driven routers. I was intrigued enough to google it and found the images quite interesting. Needless to say, I thought of you.

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  5. Linda Avatar

    My mother would get poison ivy or oak… she would swell up. My dad would go into the woods and get broom sage and make a tea. Don’t drink it.. but put it on the rash and it would cure it.
    Now that’s a long time ago and who knows? Seemed to work and I remember it.

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  6. vicky aka stichr Avatar

    Growing up in the Berkeley Hills, up against Tilden Park, our dogs ran through the poison oak every day. Neighbors knew this, those allergic, avoided our dogs, They only got baths after chasing skunks, which was pretty regular. “Why?” I asked mom. “Prince, not being a really smart boxer, is just teaching his son, Prancer.” I never really knew what the heck that dog was teaching his son, the black lab. BUT….we never got poison oak.
    Maybe let the goats eat the oak, and then give them a wash in the broom sage tea that Linda suggested? The PO is there for a reason, don’t you think? It keeps something at bay.

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  7. vicky aka stichr Avatar

    the dogs got the baths…not the neighbors.

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  8. grace Avatar

    i looked…really interesting…but she already
    has her PLAN.

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  9. grace Avatar

    i loved hearing that you live with these things…it’s
    reassuring. We will find a way.

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  10. grace Avatar

    looked up broom sage…not sure i have the right info…
    can you be more specific?

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  11. grace Avatar

    MORE reassurance. We Will let the Goats work on it and wash
    those we can. Those that won’t allow that don’t want to be
    touched anyway.
    and the dogs…i am watching Tay…who uses the “paths” around
    here…so paths there….but then there are the rabbits there…
    that can lure a good dog off the path….
    the PO evolved perfectly to live there. It is loved by birds
    and deer. Maybe what it keeps at bay is too many human beings???

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  12. Linda Avatar

    Grace
    I am not sure … it has been a long time.
    I know that scotch broom grows here all over. Maybe it is just one of those regional names.
    Sorry..

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  13. Dakotah Avatar

    Grew up tromping through loads of poison oak and ivy on the farm…never got it once! I must be immune. If I notice it these days I just walk around it.
    Something so steadfast about cloth, and how it holds truth

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