Tuesday, July 28, 2009

zea mays


Kingdom: Plantae
Subkingdom: Tracheobionta
Superdivision: Spermatophyta
Division: Magnoliophyta
Class: Liliopsida
Subclass: Commelinidae
Order: Cyperales
Family: Poaceae -- Grass family
Genus: Zea -- corn
Species : Zea mays -- corn


Maize, commonly referred to as corn in the United States, has been considered a unique plant since the time that the indigenous peoples of the Americas developed it to be their staple food. It is central to many sacred mythologies and creation stories which are still honored today www.gramene.org

corn 2005

Labels:

Saturday, June 06, 2009

Madison County, Virginia

Labels:

Saturday, May 09, 2009

closing the barn door


Election day. Last minute thoughts from the candidates? Have you left undone things you ought to have done?

Labels:

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Wye Farm

Labels:

Saturday, November 22, 2008

Depression


Trudy Coates worked his way through the depression. Never bothered him. Dirt was still red.

Labels:

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

fixing to plant corn


Jack Jasper, Rosni Farm, Madison County, Virginia. John Deere 4020.

Labels:

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

attachment


Jack Jasper, main drive, Rosni Farm, Madison County, Virginia

I had no idea that I would become so attached to the world, to people, places and things, a debilitating level of attachment.
So much to remember.

Labels:

Wednesday, May 07, 2008

harbinger


Harbinger-anything that foreshadows a future event; omen; sign.
Real estate agent walking the fields of the heartland?
Harbinger of cul de sacs,
an ominous sign.

Labels:

Tuesday, May 06, 2008

Heartland


D.W.Shifflet, front porch, Rosni Farm

The part of a region considered essential to the viability and survival of the whole, esp. a central land area relatively invulnerable to attack and capable of economic and political self-sufficiency.--Dictionary.com

Labels: , ,

Saturday, May 03, 2008

Heartland


Madison County, Rosni farm, horsebarn and shop foreground, Walker's bottom background, view looking SSE toward Orange.

Sing about the way a good man
Works until the daylight's gone.--George Strait

Labels:

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Madison County, Virginia


Scott Farm.
For any of you on the fence regarding a possible move to vegetarianism, see the SPCA footage regarding mistreatment of "beeves"

Labels:

Monday, February 18, 2008

Madison County, Virginia


I grew up with beagles. When I was twenty-three, moved to Madison County where huntin' folk knew them as "beatles". Here one of Lurtie's beatles does the Snoopy thing, on top of the house. If he'd lived another thirty two years, he'd know about Uno, Best in Show, Madison Square Garden.
Hounds rule.

Labels:

Sunday, February 17, 2008

Madison County, Virginia


Road to Jack's, Rosni Farm, calf-barn

Labels:

Friday, February 15, 2008

Madison County, Virginia

Labels:

Thursday, December 06, 2007

silage

Labels:

Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Trudy Coates


...been chopping corn since before the bossman was born

Labels: ,

Friday, November 16, 2007

civil twilight


Summertime in his winter home, Coates engages in supper preparation, day's labor done.

Labels:

Thursday, November 15, 2007

peace


Trudy Treaty Tweetie Red Walter Coates Thompson. The man with many names, tri-racial isolate (Black people thought he was White, White people thought he was Black, he considered himself an Indian.) Born in Burnt Tree, Virginia, "I was born with a caul over my head." Trudy was provided with a house to live in on the farm but chose to sleep in hay barns during the summer and in the shop, a cinder block utility building, during the winter.-Fixing Shadows

Labels: ,

Sunday, October 28, 2007

man versus mussel


Poor urban planning, implementing conservation measures too late, drought... The Washington Post follows the Florida, Georgia, Alabama eastern water war.
Charlottesville residents, the City has a low flow toilet rebate program. Take advantage.

Labels:

Friday, September 14, 2007

civil twilight


lost places
degrees of loss.
This place was devoured- by fire, by money, by an absentee landlord.
This place, presumably the topography remains.
oh Lost!

Labels: ,

Thursday, September 13, 2007

tom's truck

Labels:

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

metrics


Plow a straight line, plant a field of corn, play banjo, lift a tree, shoot a penny at fifty paces. Measures of a man. When accomplishment has passed, when the season of need arrives, what then is the measure?

Labels: ,

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

dorsey


D.W. Shifflet, farmer, musician, mountain man

Labels: ,

Monday, June 18, 2007

corn dog

Saturday, March 31, 2007

Time, the Avenger


RC, AWS, DWS, Rosni Farm, 1976

Time, time, hear the bells chime
Over the harbor and the city
Time, one more vodka and lime
To help paralyze that tiny little tick, tick, tick, tick- The Pretenders

Labels: ,

Tuesday, February 27, 2007

Tryme, VA


Tom and Emma Jean

Labels: ,

Wednesday, June 28, 2006

Bovinae


Rain has paused here, still in the forecast, 40% chance. Eight inches of rain.

Labels: , ,

Friday, March 31, 2006

good fences?


tomato crew-boss, Gadsden County

I wonder what Lewis Lapham thinks about S.2454, Securing America's Borders Act?

Hey Lewis! Where does the ruling class weigh in on this one? What does the RC think about the 17 guest workers that live down the street in a one room apartment? How do we count these folks for the census? Is this a way for the RC to import a new underclass?

Note to guest workers. If you want to improve chances of North American citizenship, marching with an American flag is the best approach.

========================================
(from the bill)

(a) Tucson Sector- The Secretary shall--
(1) replace all aged, deteriorating, or damaged primary fencing in the Tucson Sector located proximate to population centers in Douglas, Nogales, Naco, and Lukeville, Arizona with double- or triple-layered fencing running parallel to the international border between the United States and Mexico;
(2) extend the double- or triple-layered fencing for a distance of not less than 2 miles beyond urban areas, except that the double- or triple-layered fence shall extend west of Naco, Arizona, for a distance of 25 miles; and
(3) construct not less than 150 miles of vehicle barriers and all-weather roads in the Tucson Sector running parallel to the international border between the United States and Mexico in areas that are known transit points for illegal cross-border traffic.

Labels: , , ,

Thursday, February 23, 2006

singular herb


Senator J Brandon Bell II breaks bad on the plant that founded Virginia

a lone man's companion
a hungry man's food
a sad man's cordial
a wakeful man's sleep, and a chilly man's fire,
there's no herb like unto it under the
canopy of heaven
(anon)

Labels: , , ,

Saturday, November 05, 2005

corn trinity


In memory the broken stalks, constriction, drought, heat and death forgotten.
Digital apotheosis.
Visit, please visit, when the field has been swept clean. We love in memory.
November.

Labels: , , ,

Wednesday, September 28, 2005

Dx


Dx like the corn, Tx will be precise, a date with daVinci. Like the corn, waiting.

Labels: , ,

Sunday, July 10, 2005

day of rest



for everyone except the corn

Labels: ,

Saturday, July 09, 2005

backroads



Emma and I biked 46 miles, ditches running with water from tropical storm Cindy. Thinking about running a bed and breakfast. How would the English cycling tourists get here? There is no public transportation to Slabtown.

Memo to self: find a copy writer capable of making vultures snacking on deer entrails sound romantic.

Labels: ,

Friday, July 08, 2005

Being money



Being money is fun. People work for you, cherish you, put you in a safe dry place.
Being money is the bomb, when you are big money people respect you, worship you, get nervous around you, by God they are in awe of you.

In the Bible money is mentioned over and over again, hundreds of times.

Everybody loves money. Democrats, Republicans, Chinese Communists, little kids waiting for the tooth fairy...



On the other hand there is the life of corn.

You get shelled, you get made into a pipe. Many of the brethren are processed for corn syrup, consumed by humans and turned into adipose tissue. Then the fat people pump corn ethanol into their cars, drive to Micky D's, eat corn-fed beef

It sucks being corn.

The best part of being corn is living, in the dark, in a field, millions of plants, vast monoculture, north south east and west, corn in all directions.

Large. Green. Alive!

Money can't say that.

(Emma on ladder, priceless.)

Labels: , , ,

Tuesday, June 21, 2005

Longest Day



June 21, the days git shorter now.

Watching the corn grow.

Varmints.

Found a peacock nest yesterday with three eggs.

This morning the nest was gone.

Varmints.

A crow was eating the yolk of one of the eggs, presumably moved out of the nest by a raccoon.

Varmints.

Snapping turtles lay eggs in the yard, raccoons dig up the eggs.

Varmints.

Snapping turtles eat baby ducks.

Varmints.

Blacksnakes eat pea chicks.

Varmints.

Art historians look at a photographer?s work and say ?the street photography of Mr.X is clearly informed by the photography of Lee Friedlander.?

Varmints.

Labels: ,