Tepee Attempt

Tried to build a tepee this summer. The quest to recreate the simple, mobile, and graceful shelter of the Plains tribes is a recurring theme for me, and while this iteration didn't get lived in, at least it's an adventure worth sharing.

To begin, I had the help of two friends. Excellent bike handling skills and a sense of humor were required for the task ahead.

 

 We secured four giant bamboo poles on each of two bikes and set off to ride 5 miles through the city to the north.

 Motorized traffic was light on that Sunday morning, but there was still enough foot traffic to provide an audience. One man expressed the notion that bamboo carried by bike is more 'sustainable' than anything else in existence. This may be true.

Arranged into formation, the bamboo took on that beautiful form of a giant cone!

View from below.

Blue plastic provided a covering and a canvas for slug meanderings.

And it stood, reflecting the color of the sky.

Urban Wildlife - an exciting encounter

Enormous Mantis @ the PSU Community Garden!

Fall Planting 10.13.13

Warm in the sun today, forecast the same.
Green beans doing their last. Planted summer-grown seeds of kale, radish, fava, parsley, cilantro, and pea. Serendipitous gift of elephant garlic, I shoved it into the ground too. Warmth will fool me as well as the seeds into extra action before true winter cold sets in.