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Tapping Into Vermont’s Liquid Currency

A dear friend and former neighbro (yes, I said neighbro) reminded me today that Vermont’s maple sugaring season will soon be starting without me.  I miss having an opportunity to barter a day of labor for the delicious magic that my friend and esteemed Sugarmaker Ken Hastings makes each year for Bread Loaf View Farm in Cornwall, Vermont.  The hard work that is expended in tapping 30 acres of one of Vermont’s finest Sugarbush makes the end product taste all the sweeter.

Pure Vermont maple syrup it is one of the most healthy sweeteners you can find.  Did you know that the Maple sap has higher counts of manganese, riboflavin, zinc, and magnesium than white cane sugar, brown sugar, corn syrup or honey?

If you’ve ever had the pleasure of visiting a working sugar house during syrup production, you have an idea of the work and precision that is involved in the process. Sugar on Snow and Open House events occur typically in March to coincide with the peak of the season.   It is an authentic and delectable taste of Vermont agricultural history that I am grateful to have experienced.

trees-buckets

And yes, I’d tap that!

~T.

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A Song for the New Year

Being laid off for the last six weeks in 2013 threw me into a slight depression, and I exerted a lot of energy countering the negative internal dialogue with an optimistic outlook for 2014.   Joan Baez advised that the antidote to despair is action, so I am taking action every day to find a means of income beyond the $300 a week that unemployment insurance currently affords me.   Without the love and support of my partner, I would very likely be in a much darker emotional place which would, with time, surely defeat me.

This morning, I reflected on The Flame, a song that I wrote in 2011. Reading the lyrics helped me to move away from the negative and doubtful thoughts that I almost allowed to infiltrate my positive attitude today, and inspires me to sing a song of sustainable hope for the world in the new year.  May your new year be filled with more light, love, and well being.

The Flame
©2011 Theresa Funk.  All rights reserved.

Where you are going will be where you’ve been.
Its all the same place in the end.
Words spoken are ideas uttered,
sometimes in vain and then forgotten.

But sometimes,
they make a connection
and need no clarification.

If one
small
push
puts you over,
let one good turn lead you to another.

One chance is all life requires
and one dream
can be inspired by the
one spark that catches another,
and that spark will feed
the fire’s flame.

flame

~T.

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American Ninja Terrier: Big Adventures of a Little Dog

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When asked what breed of dog Stella is, I often answer that she is an American Ninja Terrier.  The American Kennel Club doesn’t include this rare breed of domesticated wild canine on their list of dog breeds, but I don’t let that stop me from using the name to aptly describe her.

Why do I call her an American Ninja Terrier?  Firstly, she’s American.   Secondly, she’s stealthy like a Ninja and twice as fast.  Thirdly, I like the ease in which American Ninja Terrier rolls off the tongue as opposed to Rat Terrier Basenji mix.

In the latter half of the 19th century, Basenjis were re-discovered in their original habitat – the headwaters of both the Nile and the Congo, in the heart of Africa. There, they are the hunting dogs of native tribes and so highly esteemed that they are regarded as having equal rights with their masters.   Stella has proven her ability to successfully hunt, kill, and consume small rodents with ferocity.   Because of her hunting nature and ability to run at high speeds for long distances, every outing with her requires that we keep her on a leash.

Beach

To date, Stella’s big adventures have spanned nineteen states: Tennessee, Kentucky, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Maryland, West Virginia, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Colorado, Nevada, and California.  When she isn’t on an actual adventure, she’s probably dreaming about the next one.

photo (9)

~T.

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Ellis Island: A Poem for Guitar

Ellis Island

I spent an afternoon on Ellis Island a few years ago and was deeply moved by the experience.  Millions of individuals arrived and were processed on the nearly 28 acre island between 1892 and 1954, each with a unique circumstance and history.  Truly astounding when you think about the scope of it.
The Statue of Liberty Ellis Island Foundation has a free searchable online database that you might find interesting and informative.   More remarkable is a visit to the Island.   It certainly changed my perception and attitude about feeling inconvenienced by travel delays.  Chances are, I’m going to arrive at my destination alive (many people died en-route to America) and it isn’t going to take me a month or more to get there.  Think about that the next time you feel yourself getting annoyed because your train is late, or you are stuck in traffic.

An untitled poem that I wrote in 2001 was penned as part of a writing exercise for a dream workshop I had taken at Middlebury College.   Our task was to piece something together from the collective sharing of words and phrases that we derived from the dream recitations of class participants.   I didn’t know what the poem was about or that it had a title until I stepped through the doors of the Great Hall that day in March of 2009.

Ellis Island 

© 2001 Theresa Funk

There were photographs in black and white,
and fingerprints.

Lines infused with a memory,
and I am skating through a strangers dream.

Sixteen lines,
half of them are disconnected.
But a theme was tied by the threads
of celluloid on paper.

I see you standing in a drove of noiseless people.

You are waiting on a line while
on the other side,
my skate-shoes glide.

~T.

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Urban Farming

It has been a year since we first began planting our garden here, and I relish the success of our efforts.   The work was intensive and our rewards all the sweeter for it:

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Even Stella has enjoyed some of the bounty:

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Technologies such as vertical growing and aquaponics are allowing people to grow even more in small spaces which can have a positive impact on the growing global urban populations.   It matters less about how much we grow – what’s important, I think, is that we try to grow something so that we continue to move ourselves more towards self-sufficiency and away from a total reliance on the food chain.  Now wouldn’t that beet all?

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~T.

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The Healing Power of Art

The Foundation for Art and Healing is an organization that was founded to  perpetuate general awareness about the healing power of art.   Ongoing research about how engagement with the creative processes impacts the likelihood of recovery from disease and traumatic events is compelling, and the Foundation’s aim is to convey the knowledge about the relationship between art and healing and provide active and ongoing support to communities and individuals.

Whether it is expressive writing, music, movement or visual arts, all share the ability to change people’s perspectives, moods, and overall health.   In 1860, Florence Nightingale wrote about the effect of “beautiful objects” on sickness and recovery. “Little as we know about the way in which we are affected by form, by color and light, we do know this, that they have an actual physical effect.”  Creating art stimulates our neurology, and that stimulation makes us feel good.

The healing power of art was evident to me long before the concept was popularized.  My self-directed art education and healing practice started at the age of six when, out of a need to find refuge from the bouts of domestic violence that occurred in our home, I would hide in a closet with paper, pencils, and crayons to create art.

Today, watercolor, pencil, and charcoal are the primary medium that I work with to create contemporary landscape images on paper.  I am inspired by the scenery of places that I’ve actually visited, or photographs of places or objects that elicit an emotional response. That spark of emotion is what starts the authentic creative process for me and also influences the colors that I select for each of my paintings.

Addison County

October Hillside – 11″x 13″ watercolor on mixed media paper. © 2013 Theresa Funk

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Beautiful Buttes

Sutter Buttes

We stopped to take in a view of  the Sutter Buttes today, but they were barely visible through the agricultural dust from the Great Valley of central California.  Also known as the  “smallest mountain range in the world,” the Buttes rise about 2,000 feet above the fields of walnut, rice, almond, and other crops that abundantly grow in the central California region.

Access to the Buttes is extremely limited, but easements have been granted as part of land trust agreements that make guided, educational hikes possible.  The Sutter Buttes Regional Land Trust  continues its mission to protect and preserve the Buttes and surrounding lands for years to come.  I intend to participate in an interpretive hike and take in the full beauty of the Buttes more intimately.

Until then, I enjoy the views of the small circular complex of eroded volcanic lava domes from a distance.
~T.

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Excellent Birds

California is a stopover  on the Pacific Flyway, a major route for the millions of birds that migrate from Alaska to Patagonia.  My visit to the Gray Lodge Wildlife Area near Colusa, California last year was an incredible sight to behold, and an experience worth repeating.

The Migratory Bird Conservation Partnership seeks to protect, restore, and enhance lands that support bird populations in California.  It is estimated that Less than 10% of the state’s original wetland habitat remains today, and the threat of losing more habitat persists.  The Partnership is working hard to preserve and enhance the places where these birds  rest, feed, and breed  in an attempt to reverse the declines that many of these populations have been experiencing.   I do my best to support worthy causes by donating time or money, and sometimes both.    Regardless of how much or little that I give, the intention is always sincerely appreciated.

~T

They arrive by the thousands and drop from the sky,

landing in groups of two, three, or six sometimes and all at oncce.

A Pintail circles around another,

one other takes to flight.

A cloud of Snow Geese grace

the liquid surface of the world.

The sound of wings uplifting is like a sudden burst of inexhaustible joy.

Colusa

©2012 Theresa Funk

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Full Moon Heart and Peter Mulvey

Full Moon Heart was an acoustic quartet that was formed as a result of a weekly music jam in Waitsfield, Vermont.   There were some gifted musicians that used to come to my band mate’s woodworking shop, and I am very fortunate to have had the chance to  have created music with them.    The jam sessions were very casual and relatively small in the beginning;  a few guitars, mandolin, upright bass, banjo, and on special occasion, a drummer and tin whistle player.   Eventually, the jam got quite large, and a few of us decided to regroup so that the original songs that I and another band mate were writing could be further developed.

From those sessions, a weekend gig at a local tavern manifested, followed by open mic nights and various other musical festivals in and around the state.  It was at the Falcon Ridge Folk Festival in 1995 that I first heard Peter Mulvey play, and I have been a fan of his music ever since.  I used to be able to see his shows when he would come to Vermont, but have not seen him perform in over two years.

Peter is playing in Berkley, California this Saturday, October 19th at the Freight and Salvage but I am, regrettably, not going to be able to make it, and neither will Full Moon Heart.   Instead of making a solo, 4 hour round trip drive to catch his show, I’ll buy his latest CD to add to my collection.   He is a remarkable musician, storyteller, and philanthropist.  Give him a listen if you get the chance.  Better yet, watch and hear him play his magic in a live show whenever he’s in a town near you.
http://www.petermulvey.com

~T 

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Water and Color on Paper

Water and Color on Paper

The time I spend in the garden is equally divided between gardening, play and training with Stella, and artistic expression. In addition to hydrating and harvesting vegetables today, I painted a gift for my partner.

Original watercolor on paper from my California Series, copyright 2013.

~T.