Gramma Meister

John's mom was such an inspiration and great fun to be around when she would come to visit us or when we visited her.  Gwen died last week at the age of 94.

Grama, as we called her, Focused on ALL things positive.  Her life was filled with joy.  She shared joy with anyone who would take it.  It is funny to think that one of her few worries, was that she might be a burden to any of her family or friends.  She was far from that. Everyone loved to be with her and help her in any small way they could.  But perhaps she meant in the future as she aged.

Grama had a minor fall which resulted in a broken bone.  Surgery went well but a few days later her heart suggested it was time to move on, and so she did.  We all thought she was beginning a new chapter in her life, she decided it was time to begin a new book.

Though she is gone from this earth, she still warms many here with her countless quilts and nourishes with recipes passed down.  Most of all, her faith and wisdom will be remembered and cherished.

When we met her friends at the church service, they would say, "oh, you are the one with the tiny house, or you are the one with the animals, or you are the one with the beautiful great grandchild/ren, or the many cars, or .................... "  Gwen had stories she told to all her friends.  And in return we would say, "you are the one/s she played bridge with, or you are the one that took her to appointments, or you are the one/s that visited her every time she had a set back, or the one who did the yard work, or brought in the mail, or ....................  The ones, beyond Craig and Shelley, who made it possible for her to live at home.  It is always good to put a face to the stories.

The picture boards at the service showed a loving wife, a caring mother, grandmother, great grandmother, and an adventurous soul (even a picture of her in her eighties on rollerblades).

There were sad times of course, but laughter, love, family/friends, and an ever present God, were forefront in her long life.  There will always be a smile on the face of anyone who is remembering her.

Pumpkins, Colors, and Family

The pumpkins in the mud hall are reducing in number, family came and left, and the colors keep changing.

I picked over 30 pumpkins from the hugels.  Most of them have been hanging out in the mud hall and one by one going off with friends and family or feeding those who visit through pie and muffins.  I wrote a story about the pumpkins on the hugel and the free range chickens.  It is basically a story about reciprocity, caring, adventure, volunteering and all the things pumpkins do when they grow up.
I hope to have it published for next year's Pumpkin Walk at Boxerwood.

Judy and Randy stopped by on their way to D.C. and the Smithsonian. Jan and Don stopped by on their way home from Delaware.  The two visits overlapped and we had wonderful conversation, plenty of laughs and I learned so much about the outside world (outside the farm world).

I have been taking in all the Color I can.  It seems to be a bad year for fall foliage but subtle is good and I think things are later than usual this year.  I want to dye with new plants and barks and lichen and mushrooms.  So much to do but my new apprentice is helping.

Henry is only 9 but I think he is a wizard.  We were looking at a future land project and were admiring the milkweed pods just opening when we came up with a brilliant idea.  Milkweed seed is carried by a wonderful downy fluff that was once used for stuffing in jackets (think down substitute). It has some of the qualities of silk,

so our brilliant idea was to blend the milkweed fluff with wool.  Henry carded the fluff and wool and some silk and wool and I spun both.  The next step is to knit  or weave a sample of each and do a survey to see what people think.

Cathy and I have just started taking Cabin Spring Farm Yarn and Cathy's weaving to our local farmers market so that might be a good place to get some feed back.