Farm Life

Can't remember if I've mentioned this before but I am currently wrapping up an internship in downstate New York as the garden manager and volunteer leader. It's been a wonderful seven weeks and there is just one left of the internship proper and then a couple of days doing vegetation surveys at one of the Audubon's other properties. While I really like it here (I can be in Connecticut in 15 minutes or hop on a train and be in New York City in an hour), I am looking forward to going home in early August (CATS and other cuddly creatures, fresh vegetables, hopefully un-jinxing my car so nothing else goes wrong).

 In the mornings (before anyone else in the house gets up) I like to hide in the veggie garden to weed where we're keeping the plants that used to be in front of the house where the naturalist and we interns live- it's currently being painted and a ten-foot wide plastic tar has to be around the whole area. It took two weeks to move everything; the Virginia sweetspires, dwarf white pines, monster iris', several color varieties of bee balm and other smaller herbaceous species. Most of it is still alive too!

 Then I go back to the house and either work on my own little maintenance projects like removing lilac/wisteria roots or typing up web page drafts for a new site. Definitely have learned the importance of proper hydration!

 The wildlife around here is wonderful. Never before have I seen so many tiger swallowtails or butterflies in general. There are also a ton of deer, rabbits and chipmunks. If you want to keep a garden in Westchester county it needs to be fenced or the deer devour it- sightings have averaged around one deer a day, although seeing two isn't uncommon. The chipmunks are adorable, and so are their lager cousins, woodchucks (or whistlepigs; a much cuter moniker). Cantaloupe is akin to crack for them, just fyi, so if you need to live trap one I recommend picking up a melon (there will be leftovers, you'll get some too).

 The houses around her are also very nice, you can tell that people care. I'm currently living in an ancient farm house that was donated to the Audubon society with the chapter naturalist and the other intern. It is beautiful, although poorly cooled. My bedroom is massive and lets me sprawl out to paint and if a little short (it isn't hard to reach the ceiling), do yoga in comfort. The other houses are marvelous as well, I can tell the average income here is a lot higher than the county I'm from.

 A couple of times a week we have volunteers who come to help around the garden. Mostly we just weed and chat for two hours. It's an interesting mix of young and old. A few retired gardeners come every Monday, and they've helped expand my garden knowledge a lot as much of what I know relates more towards wetland restoration or food. On Wednesday we have some people my age (think early 20's) come by and that's awesome because otherwise it's just the other intern who is my age that I know and talk with.

 Every now and again I get to leave this particular preserve and help the naturalist and the other intern who both do bird stuff such as MAPS (Mapping Avian Productivity and Survival or something like that) or field trips. Today I went and helped with bird banding and had a blast. I've gotten a lot better at taking birds out of the mist nets that are used to catch them, and tomorrow we're all going to Jamaica Bay to check out some shorebirds which is very exciting because of all the species I am hoping to add to my life list (my goal is 50 new species by the time I go back to collage, 10/12 down so far!). Also the ocean. I like the ocean.

 And pretty much that has been my life the last few months or so. There's been a fair amount of down time to draw/paint or go on adventures; parts of which I have shared and others that I'm getting to. One last thing before I go, I'm going to show off my new camera (dubbed 'Big Bird,' a Pentax K-01) like its the royal baby. Although congrats to Kate and William on their little boy. All of the photos above were taken with it and it's been absolutely wonderful, I'm really looking forward to exploring this new medium. :)

Presenting, my child:

Friday Flashback

Today is supposed to be the last hot day in this wave here in New York, I hope all of you have been staying cool!

Friday Flashback

Expect some new stuff up soon, I've been waiting to accumulate a few new ones so that I have an excuse to use my new camera (Squee! It's big and yellow and takes fantastic photos) :)

Rhode Island and poison Ivy adventures

Whew, I thought I'd never get around to writing this, as I found a small patch of poison ivy under my left eyes that then spread to my knee and by yesterday with all of the little blisters popping up everywhere I had had enough and went to the urgent care center and it's been rather hectic as you can imagine. Now I'm on steroids for the next week and have to be careful what projects I tackle at the farm because not only do the side effects include dizziness, but sleeplessness, which is always a wonderful combination. I'm hoping it'll get better today since the dose decreases.
Anyways, late last week, despite my swollen eye, I made time to drive out to Rhode Island to go to the beach and see the Atlantic Ocean proper, not just Long Island Sound. The drive was long and went through several cities (which I'll admit, I wouldn't have been able to do had it not been for the original drive down here to Katonah, if you ever need a confidence/self-esteem boost log some hours behind the wheel!), and I completely ignored the instructions... Didn't get lost at all, and it was a bit of a thrill figuring it out on my own.

 This was a secluded little beach I found near one of the larger, public beaches. People were fishing and there was one man desperately trying to paddleboard through the waves. Pretty sure he gave up after a while.

 These roses reminded me of my favorite rose my mother grows back home. I might write about this at a later time if I have any success but I've been trying to grow new plants from cuttings as the large one is older than I am is slowly dying. Also because I'll be moving out of my parents house permanently soon (when depending on if I get accepted to a fellowship in February) and I intend to bring a part of these roses with me where ever I go.
There were also white roses of the same variety growing, and they formed huge mats between the beach itself and the road or private property. It was absolutely lovely and if the breeze hit just right you could smell them.

 Ahhh, seaweed. And water. Together. Because the water was so shallow and the sun so hot, I decided to get over my fear of seaweed and walk in. It touched me. And I let it and that is actually huge progress. Maybe because this seaweed wasn't as hairy as the seaweed in Lake Ontario or any of the bays in which I usually swim. It was actually kind of pretty and I saved a bit to dry in my sketchbook.

 This is my "seaweed color appreciation" picture. I've started a page in my sketchbook regarding seaweed and once I get my new camera (my mom's bringing it down today!) I'll be taking pictures.

And finally, just as I was preparing to go the tide started to come in and that was amazing. I also got to see another wild crab. And maybe because I've only seen them on these trips to the shore I've taken the last few weeks, but I think they're super cute.
Hopefully later this week I'll be able to show some new pages in my sketchbook, progress on my large painting (see below), and perhaps some  short and long term plans I'm working my way through.

My work in progress ;)

 

Friday flashback

This will be really quick, spent the day at the beach and drove almost six hours, I'm exhausted and very sore... (Totally worth it though!)

Recent adventures and new sketchbook

     I cannot believe how the time has flown around here; I only have a month left of my internship and then I'm home again for the remainder of the summer until returning to the city once more to finish up my undergraduate studies! It's been rather hectic here at Bylane, between working and organizing volunteers to helping out with MAPS (bird banding) with the other intern and desperately trying to keep the plants alive, I haven't had much time to sit down and just make something. Although now it is easier; when I went home for my younger brother's graduation I was able to pick up a new sketchbook to replace the one that was stolen.

I also managed to snag me this beauty... My third orchid who has since been names Clarence (the other two are Phyllis and George).

     However, I have been able to use my weekends fairly well. Last week I went to the Marshland Concervacy in Rye, New York to go birding. Only saw three new species that I can add to my life list, but  the environment was just amazing and I even saw a box turtle, which was unexpected.

     And I don't know what it was about today (although it is likely my surprise day off; only thought I had tomorrow off but then my boss didn't show up and I was happy), but I filled several pages of the new sketchbook. If I keep going like this it'll be full before the end of the summer!

     This was inspired by a line from one of the three books I am currently reading. So far though I can definitely recommend Derrick Jensen's Endgame: The problem with civilization.

     And finally my dream pet, a hedgehog. I love those little buggers so much. Once I settle down (and I mean that I have a way to support myself financially and am content with staying in the US for an extended period of time), I hope to get one. He will be named Samwise, after my favorite hobbit :)
     Tomorrow I'll be back with a flashback and a preview of a larger piece I'm working on. And I might have pictures to post about my upcoming weekend adventure to Rhode Island! (I just want to chill on a beach all day and see the Atlantic really)