Weeds are our Friends

What a great year for adding weeds to the morning green smoothie! The lambs quarters are thick and buttery, the sow thistle is tender and not too bitter, and the dandelions are - um - everywhere. I am growing some spinach, but our smoothies contain mostly wild greens. The neighbours have kindly and unknowingly donated the odd mint leaf, which adds to the flavour. Photos are of lambs quarters (at top - happy among the peas), plantain (another edible high in nutrients) and the tall sow thistle. Smoothie away - just remember to remove the stems and centre veins before you blend.

Metal box

Been working on the studio (not in the studio - on the studio) making a metal walls to replace tarps and sad canvas screens. Now feeling more industrial. Like making a big square sculpture. Two new windows cut the darkness, but hopefully no kids will wander by and get flashed.

Greens

It's hard to get into the studio when green things are sprouting.  This morning I picked plantain, dandelion, lamb's quarters and sow thistle for our green smoothies.  Soon I'll be putting nettles in there.  The slight bitterness is good for bile production, I think.  It must be good for us in some way!

Rusting, resting

It takes a while to determine if the rusting was successful. Patterns are important, it can't be too uniform.  I have waited for the spring rains and humidity to help, but it's been a strange season so far.  Perhaps a few thunderstorms are what is required.

Workspace

Does anyone else's workspace look like this?

The back of a fish

How much effort should one put into the back side of a sculpture?  One that will hang on a wall so that the back won't be seen.  Shaping the metal plate is so difficult.  I can heat and heat and heat the metal, but the shape of the fish seems to dissipate the heat away.  Some kind of magic geometry?  Today I made two cuts in the metal to create a concave shape to the back of the fish.  Many hours... and I'm still wishing for an acetylene torch.

Big Fish

I worked on Mary's second fish today, it is a gift for her son - an avid fisherman on Vancouver Island.  After pounding out the second half of the body of this 3 foot salmon, I discovered that I had pounded out the wrong side.  Nearly two hours of pounding gone to waste.  My wrist isn't happy today.  The second attempt did not turn out as smooth, but there are some nice marks in it anyway.  Today I welded the two halves together.  It's a big fish!