Wool Wood & Whiskey

05-15-12 - THE SECOND TIME AROUND

Last November I embarked on a project. It’s on a a scale that I’ve never attempted before, what I hope will become a book sometime in the relatively near future. So what’s the idea? Well, it’s something simple and something complex, an idea and a way of life, and an ideal that some of us hold near and dear.

At first I started out just reading — a lot. A few months of that mixed with tracking down families, couples and individuals who foot the bill. The original idea was to find and interview back-to-the-landers from the 70s here in Maine and find out what worked for them and what didn’t. Then I thought about doing a “back-to-the-land then and now” kind of deal, mostly because the flow of young people moving here to farm and/or get away from it all doesn’t seem like it will stem any time soon.

While it may not seem like it, those two ideas qualify as undertakings on a grand scale. From roughly 1968 to 1983, something like seven million people moved out of American cities and out in to the country side. Maine was a major focal point of the movement, and although I haven’t tracked down any exact numbers yet (most of these folks were at it specifically in order to not be found), there’s no shortage of white haired counter culture practitioners to talk to here. Similarly, Maine is a magnet for young farmers today, so a bit of paring down was necessary.

At some point I hit upon the couple that runs Sheepscott General Store in Whitefield. Ben was raised in the area by back-to-the-landers, and returned home with his girlfriend/business partner Taryn not too long ago. Their story inspired me to see if I could find other children of the 70s generation who are bring about the next incarnation of the movement here in the state.

What I’ve found has been fascinating — I think it’s a real window into a very complicated part of Maine’s culture. A few weeks ago I set out to meet all of the families I had found over the previous few months, and spent a week on the road traveling 900+ miles to talk to them and hear their stories. Eventually, those conversations will become a book, but in the meantime, I thought I’d share some of the photos I took along the way. Stay tuned for more…

05-09-12 - ON BEING THE BLACK SHEEP

I’ve been b-l-o-w-i-n-g it! Self-promotion ain’t exactly my forte, which is bad because I’m proud of this piece in the latest Farmer General.

05-08-12 - THREE TWELVE AND FORTY-TWO SECONDS

05-07-12 - THE WAY LIFE SHOULD REALLY BE

It has been one gall-dang flat winter and spring. Of the maybe three swells we’ve had since the last real one right after Christmas, I missed two of them, too. It usually seems like I’ve got work when there are waves, then it’s slow when it’s flat.

Fortunately things kind of lined up last week. That’s Peter’s van in the shot there, set up how it should be more often: two logs, my old beater single fin (which he’s borrowing, trying to get feel for something shorter than a 9’6″), my new Vaquero, two dogs and this little splinter. The conditions were far from epic, but flailing on the alaia made me remember that it’s kind of more fun when it’s tough. I did finally manage to paddle into a couple quick ones — no standing up yet, but some serious marveling at the speed.

Now all we need to do is figure out how to wedge sessions into the middle of more paid work days. That’s going to be the sweet spot here in Van-cationland.

05-01-12 - A LONG, WHEEZING HIATUS

Oakland StoopSet

As they say in these here parts, Jeesum Crow! I’ve been out of touch with the old e-lectronic reality for quite some time. There’s been a lot happening, most of it in the realm of food and farms and trying to make a living, but more on that later. For now, we have some catching up to do.

With detail.

In March I learned a couple of valuable lessons: #1, Don’t spend your entire vacation in a city you used to live in. #2, While in said city on vacation, don’t impose unknowingly like a total country bumpkin on your friends who work at restaurants. I learned these lessons while on vacation in San Francisco, where I used to live. The thing is, March gets pretty bleak around here — aside from the odd 80-degree heat wave, while you just happen to be in California, where it’s 59 for the entire week. Escaping is always a part of our plan, usually hampered somewhat significantly by a pervasive lack of funds. So ironically enough, it was our state of brokeness that drove us to San Francisco this year, where we could crash with friends and fly under the radar for a bit. Add a very good, very pregnant friend who I knew I had to see before she’s miraculously back to her unround self with a tiny human in tow, and it all seemed like a very good idea.

Go check out Portlander Timmy Powers' paintings assuming a very appropriate place on the wall at Accident & Artifact. Check out this guy's work, he was the brains behind Rogues Gallery's t-shirt designs for the past couple years and he paints stuff any guy can get down with.

The trip wasn’t bad in any sense, aside from the fact that we felt compelled to cram as much into our time in the city as possible. Off the plane and onto BART, straight to Four Barrel coffee (weaving through a labrynth of fixed gears and mustaches along the way), then BiRite for sammiches and a 22 oz. Racer 5 consumed lustily on the grass at Delores Park. We walked everywhere, just like we used to, and ended up back in my old neighborhood — Popeye’s Flats (you know the one, on Divis), although it’s known now more sanctimoniously as “NoPa” (bletch).

Got to Flour + Water and ask for the "Little Baby Special" -- this guy will serve himself to you. Zing!

At some point in the afternoon it occurred to me that it was already Tuesday, and my friend who works at Flour + Water had recommended we hit it early in the week. Having just fallen off the turnip truck, I forgot that recommendations from your buddy in the kitchen should always be taken seriously, and I unwittingly called his wife to see if we could swing it for that evening. My friend, of course, was a total champ — along the lines of “Sure, we can probably make it happen…” in a good-natured kind of way. What I didn’t understand until we showed up that night was that getting into the place is pretty much like going to war. For the rest of the week, everyone we told we had eaten there gave us the same story, “God I love that place, but last time I went it was a ______ hour wait.” “Hee hee, yeah!” I’d say, screwing a toe into the dirt and doing a little curtsy, my own special little dance for when I know I’ve been a pain in my friend’s ass. Dude played it off like it was no big deal, but I’m still ashamed of my cluelessness.

Hoppy, hoppy beers buoy spirits better than marine diesel.

From there on it was pretty much a two burrito a day, beers in the sun at two PM kind of trip. We got to catch up with the bros at Mollusk, and finally met this dude at his awesome show in the gallery. The opening was super rainy, but people still come out in the Sunset, because that’s just how they do it out there — Right.

While in the East Bay we checked out State of Mind: New California Art circa 1970 at the BAM/PFA. It’s up until mid-June: Go if you’re in the area — it’s worth it just to see Robert Kinmont’s “8 Natural Handstands.” That his work became the centerpiece of this exhibition on the Californian conceptual movement is no surprise, and the guy had style for miles back then. Just be prepared to gain a sudden understanding of just how much the whole “menswear” thing has been jocking the era.

Unecessarily necessary in California.

At the end of it all we spent a good day way up north, drinking been in a bait shack on pilings out over the water. A little wood smoke from the stove inside would have just pushed the whole thing right over the top, but it had unfortunately been disconnected recently. I would give my right arm to have this place within an hours drive of my home.

A little bit of New England a long way from home.

So now we’re back — have been for a long time, actually. There’s lots more to catch up on, and hopefully I will actually have time to get WW&W fired up on all cylinders again. We’re bracing for a big summer at this point, hoping for surf and primed to stuff our faces as the season aligns to yield produce again.

Check back in from time to time –

04-17-12 - WHILE YOU WAIT

Back again after an enlightening trip through Maine for my second generation back-to-the-land book project. More on that to come, but while I’m dealing with photos and all that, check this video.

Everything was better in the 70s except for the skis, although the top sheets on those Kestles are pretty bitchen. Yeah, I know we had a bummer winter this year, and I also know that it’s over 60 degrees out right now at 10:30PM. This video is just that good.

04-12-12 - SURF FILM TOMORROW NIGHT!

Get some of this styling at the ICA at MECA this Friday. 8:30PM for Aussie wizard Steve Core’s Ocean Rhythms.

04-02-12 - WATCH THIS & KNOW

These webisodes from Farmstead Meatsmith and Farmrun really couldn’t get any better. Inspiring stuff, and a wonderful illustration of just how far we’ve come from really knowing our food. Plus, LOOKS DELICIOUS.

anatomyofthrift.com

03-28-12 - JUST BACK

Seven days in San Francisco, a place changed and yet not much so since Kerouac got drunk there on hot afternoons. Many miles and calories later, back in Maine in snow again after an 80 degree week in March.