Verdant North Fork Valley vs. Sacrifice Zones: Big Plans

"Sometimes, to someone lonely, there comes something which serves as a wondrous balm.  It is not a voice, not even a sound.  It is the smile of women, which like the light of perished stars, is still on it's way."  - Marie Rilke

Winter is lonely sometimes, in a way that spring and summer can never be.  It can be hard and cold as diamonds, and even the brilliance of stars in the deep, black night sky feels like ice, not comfort.  We struggle to pull ourselves out of our dreams and the warm covers and into the deeply unappealing cold of the apartment.  I've resolved to make a morning ritual for myself that will beckon me to get up in the still dark hour and get my day started; my new cranial-sacral healer, Becca, helped me think of this.

I plan, no, I Resolve, to get up with the alarm (cat generated or Nora Jones CD on the clock/radio), throw on my robe and house shoes, stumble over to the couch and turn on the radiant heater, splash water on my face and rinse out my morning breath, get the tea pot boiling, and snuggle under a blanket on the couch until I'm ready for the day.  It takes a lot of resolve to get that far, but I'm sure I'll get a lot of satisfaction out of taking charge like that. It's also necessary, so I can be ready to work as a substitute in the schools, once I start getting calls.

 Moonrise over the Raggeds, from Fire Mountain Farm

Sometimes I wonder why we bother making plans; they so often get blown to pieces by new realities, right?  The simple answer is, if we didn't make plans, little would get accomplished, other than the simple necessities of life, and in truth, they can easily fill the days of our lives:  washing clothes, washing our selves, feeding ourselves, cleaning up our messes, getting to and from places where we meet friends and do errands and get exercise... We need plans to break our routines, inspire us and give us hope.  Mark and I plan on buying a small piece of acreage in the valley; now those plans are on hold.

Skiing on Grand Mesa on Mark's 54th birthday!

Our beautiful valley, with one of the highest numbers of organic farms per acre in the United States, is under threat from oil and gas companies, for exploration and drilling.  I had no idea what that could mean until we moved here, to the Western Slope.  Have you seen the movie "Gasland", or read about the health risks Fracking presents?  If the energy companies get their way, our plans for buying property here may be dashed.  And what about the hard working farmers in the area, who've staked their life's claim on their organic acreage?    

A Paonia street in the snow

Other communities have fought the onslaught of drilling companies, and nearly all have lost.  And we are not even allowed to know who nominated these particular parcels, until after the sale has taken place this August... if indeed it does take place.  We are hoping that the newly documented dangers of fracking will buy us time to protect our valley.  It makes no sense to drill now, when experts admit that the price of Natural Gas is too low to make new drilling profitable. Why risk our water supply, clean air and natural beauty for the possibility of hitting the jack pot, when they know it's not likely to yield gold?

Another truth I just learned is that even when the EPA finds that indeed, fracking by energy companies has directly poisoned the water in a community, such as in Pavillion, Wyoming, they cannot undo the damage.  They can agree to provide clean drinking water - trucked in; and guess who pays the bill?  Taxpayers.  The Energy companies get the profit, and we pay for the remediation - but there is no fix.
What's the underlying game plan here?  To ruin rural communities, and suck all remaining funds out of the middle class?

 Here's the real gold - healthy communities, willing to think outside the box and use our resources wisely.  This was taken on a bike ride just outside of Paonia.  And speaking of low-impact travel, I saw a neighbor ride by our studio window today in a cart pulled by his horse!  It seemed wonderful, somehow...   why not?

Next Swingin' at the Sage: February 18th! Extra sweet social dance

Special date for our February dance:  the 18th, extra sweet with chocolate, hearts, and lots of fun friends to dance with.  Featured dance:  Swing and a mini waltz lesson!

A Few Art Pieces

So you know we  have a studio right in downtown Paonia. It is on the ground level of a former bookstore, and we love it. It is around the corner from the Blue Sage, across from Don's Market, and an easy walk for me to the elementary school for my job. The building is for sale, so more on that if and when there is movement on that. In the meantime we struggle to get there and put hours in, what with farm and chickens, dance business, other political involvement in the valley, my job and all the social opportunities.

We have been managing it some, and here are a few of my early pieces, just taken with our point and shoot. When we can get some higher quality photos, and when I can produce some higher quality work, I will post them on the MarkWillsonArt blog, but since I hadn't posted here for awhile, I thought I'd put them up.

This is Mt. Jumbo, or Jumbo Mountain, I'm not entirely sure which. Everyone just calls it Jumbo. The sketch for this painting was done from our hayfield.

This is untitled. I think the sketch might have been done on a bike trip we took up Back River Road, but I'm not sure. I have lots of sketches.

This is Lambourne Mountain and her companion, whose name I can't retrieve from my foggy brain at the moment. I have many sketches of them. They dominate our landscape. They of course have snow on them now.

Also a view from our hayfield, looking off toward the Raggeds. This is version one. I have since finished it. I will get a picture soon.

All of these pieces are gouache on paper and they are smaller than I typically work. I am not super duper happy with them yet, and was thinking today I need to start working bigger to loosen myself up a bit. I'll keep documenting.

Margot was inspired by an exhibit the Blue Sage is having this month. They had a call for entries into a History Exhibit, so Margot put her thinking cap on and came up with a fabulous idea for a series and came up with an even more fabulous painting. She entered it, it got in, and Annette at The Sage asked her to make more of the series. So I have made her some cool wooden panels to work on, and she is plugging away. We are talking to a local photographer about getting some professional shots of these, and we will post as soon as we have some. Get ready DeEtta, these are going to knock your socks off.

Other News
Margot is struggling and jumping through hoops to get her teaching certificate and sub certificate for Colorado. They are making it extremely difficult. We still don't know when that ordeal will be over.

The chickens are doing great and are making lots of eggs. We are averaging around 18 to 20 a day, with a record 25 one day! We have no trouble selling them, and actually eat a fair number ourselves, but we have been buying organic feed of late, which is awfully spendy, so we are not really making any money on it,  but we love our girls, and the eggs are exquisite!

It is very cold! Takes some getting used to, and also appropriate dress. I get fooled in the morning by how bright and sunny it is, and go out under dressed to check on the chickens and the barn cats, and yowchy it is biting! Riding my bike to and from work can also be interesting, but I actually do have good gear for that.

The job is good. The kids are getting to know me and I am learning the ropes. It is every day, and actually provides a good anchor to build the rest of my day around.

Our third second Saturday social dance is tomorrow. December's turn out was spectacular and surprising! We hope the momentum continues. It was great fun and everyone was very enthusiastic. We built a short choreography (well, Margot actually did) that we have been working on with some students that we will be performing at the dance.

We just got a DVD of the Christmas show we were in. It was great to see all the acts! We are going to try and isolate our number and download it as a file and post it here. That one we choreographed together.

Thanks for keeping up with our adventures. All our best to all,
Mark