Every year Jon's family rents a camp somewhere in Maine for a week-long family vacation. So, we spent this past week falling in love with Parker Pond in the Belgrade Lakes. It was a week outdoors in magical forests, swimming off of our rocky knoll, hiking, paddling, fishing, and hand crafting for everyone.
Before the trip, Erin found Natalie Chanin's website and books, and reminded me of a project I have wanted to do for years since Merry gave me Natalie's first book: The Alabama Stitch Book.
This is a picture from her book of the skirt we both planned to use as our template:
We made stencils, and laminated them at home before cutting them out with an exacto knife. The night we got to camp we started stenciling our jersey skirt panels with textile paint we made from acrylic paints and textile medium.
And then we let them dry, and basted the two layers of each panel together.
We spent days in the woods around the camp. Kathy was the first to begin crafting inspired new spots for the fairies to live...
complete with stone pathways and a silo for grain so the fairy animals will be well-fed all winter.
Nanny, Mary, and Bob came on Monday to celebrate Dick's birthday with us, and enjoy the pond...
and Jon and Erin got right to work catching crayfish. Not surprisingly, Jon quickly re-discovered that they pinch, and it hurts!
One of the most wonderful parts about the camp was how peaceful it was. No motor boats. No float planes. No neighbors nearby. It was just us, the beavers, loons, and fish on 65 acres at the tip of the pond.
We built camp fires every day...
hoaned our knife-sharpening skills in style...
and explored in our canoes.
Nate caught more fish than I have ever seen anyone catch... mostly perch, who found their way back into the pond, only to be caught again on the next cast. Apparently memory isn't their strong suit.
Erin and I stitched during spare moments around the campfire, or when we all sunned ourselves on the rocks by the water. (And for curious folks: we stitched around the borders of our stencils, and then cut them out carefully, leaving a painted border that prevents fraying, and allowing the underneath layer of fabric to show through.)
Jon and I got up at 5 one morning to canoe out in search of otters...
We didn't find any, but we did see two beavers paddling in the early morning light. They slapped their tails at us, and dove down. Inevitably, they would pop up in a new location and do the same stunt all over again. We eventually left them to continue on their way... (can you see one of their faces here on the left, along with its watery trail?)
We also sat to watch a mama and papa loon feed their baby as the sun rose. They both dove for fish while the baby stuck his head underwater, watching them. When they popped up with a snack, they would paddle over and pass it on. I was amazed at how quickly they could catch fish, and also at how much that baby ate!
I have always loved the way droplets make waves on the water, and how canoe paddle splashes form little balls that skim across the water untouched before rejoining the pond again.
On our way home we found a big beaver dam, but it seemed that no one was home.
Later in the day we all adventured a ways down the pond to an area of conservation land where there are great hikes...
...even the Hooties came!
We pulled our canoes and kayak ashore, and off we went...
The woods were full of moss, and ferns...
and so many interesting mushrooms!
Who uses these black q-tips, I wonder?
and did you know that the bumble bees also work indian pipe? We didn't!
We ate our picnic lunch overlooking the lake...
and on the way home we found a great big grandfather oak tree...
Erin made Jon this delicious whoopie pie... we are in Maine, after all!
and we paddled home again...
to enjoy the afternoon sun on the point...
and make sailboats for the frogs...
Jon and Dick both brought their favorite stumps, and we had wondered why... until the morning that Jon split his and started working, and working, and finally a shape appeared...
Kathy, Erin, and I spent an afternoon tie dying...
Here's just a small sampling of the many things we made!
We spent lots more time making houses for our clever fairy friends...
Thankfully Erin's fairies will also have plenty of food and a well for water to share with everyone!
In the afternoon, Jon taught me a new game that is a tradition in their family. Have you ever played it? You each stand on opposite ends of the canoe, and you bounce, trying to knock the other person off. Apparently the goal is to stay standing, even after the other person bails. It seems impossible, because the whole canoe rocks and tips when one person goes down. Legend has it that Dick can successfully remain standing, no matter how much the canoe dips and sways.
I thought it was loads of fun, and an easy way to get in the water too!
Sadly, Jon and I had to leave camp a day before everyone else, and we really didn't want to go! But, we had to come home for class and work respectively. Plus, we hear there's a hurricane brewing, and we're all curious to see what happens back on the farm...
So... we weren't so good at posting throughout August. We had too many trips away to have much yurt activity going on, but we did manage to dry 24 quarts of blueberries from Vermont in the bits of time we were home!
They became 6 quarts of delicious dried blueberries that we'll save for this winter when fresh food is sparse.
Now that we're back, the weather is cooler and I feel like my energy for getting things done has returned. We have made long to-do lists for the fall, and we're hoping to get enough done to move in within the next few weeks! 
We built up the sides of our potato patch, and secured our little plants with more dirt, both to help them grow upward rather than outward, and also to help brace them in the hurricane, which should be here by 2 according to the weather radio. 
We built up the sides of our potato patch, and secured our little plants with more dirt, both to help them grow upward rather than outward, and also to help brace them in the hurricane, which should be here by 2 according to the weather radio. 
