The Cottonwood Gulch Finishing School, The Caretaker's House

Over and Out

2009-04-05T21:38:00.000-07:00

The Caretaker's House Residency is officially coming to an end. We have survived Fall, Winter and Early Spring. It has been beautiful and challenging. I am very thankful to all the residents who came out and worked and shared this place and to the Cottonwood Gulch Foundation for being here and being open. This is a picture of the kimchee I made last week. It is GOOD!

Thank You, Sally!

Landscapes of Late

2009-03-16T09:42:00.000-07:00

Base Camp Sunset

The Mud Season has begun.

Thoreau with a dusting of snow.

Wooooo-Hoooooo WOOD

2009-03-16T09:14:00.000-07:00

On Friday Gaea, Dava, Gil, Genna and Sally went to the Crownpoint Rug Auction. Here are the auctioneers in action. We gorged on Navajo tacos and saw many beautiful rugs.

The Ides of March

2009-03-16T08:58:00.000-07:00

This is where I was last year on this date. The Gowanus Canal in Brooklyn.

A beautiful storefront in Gallup.

The Gallup Cemetary.

This loaf is underproofed, but I like it a lot in its funny snouty form.

Spring Cleaning

2009-03-11T07:52:00.000-07:00

Early Spring?

2009-03-06T11:18:00.000-08:00

The snow has melted. The creek is very full. The birds wake me up in the morning. Small plants have sprouted in the yard. The wind is always blowing. The clouds move very fast with the wind. The tumbleweeds move very fast too. They wave from where they get caught all along the length of the fence. I saw two sandhill cranes above the creek.

CHACO CANYON

2009-02-28T17:54:00.000-08:00

Goodbye Sweet William

2009-02-23T19:38:00.000-08:00

Our dear sweet beast Lasse/Willy Zorba Howie died last night. He was a great companion and a good joker. We miss him very much. Godspeed, little guy!

Crownpoint Rug Auction

2009-02-15T09:59:00.000-08:00

Beauties

Teff/ Wheat wonder loaf

Golden Golden

2009-02-12T07:33:00.000-08:00

Rye and Spelt, yesterday

2009-02-06T09:24:00.000-08:00

El Morro Sky

2009-01-29T19:51:00.000-08:00

El Morro

2009-01-29T19:19:00.000-08:00

Today we went to El Morro, which is a white rock bluff sticking out of the pinon and juniper forest to the south of here and just west of the Continental Divide. It was the site of an ancient Puebloan community and later of anglo and Spanish explorers and settlers carving and graffiti on the rock wall itself.

This is a painting in the small museum of a Spaniard drinking (?) from the oasis, which has been this site's center of activity over the centuries. Today it was partly frozen, but full of green algae and quite a sight in the middle of the dry winter landscape.

what is this?

2009-01-26T07:30:00.000-08:00

Does anyone know what this is for? I found it in the middle of the forest. Please post any possible answers!

The snow is melting here. We have had a few very warm days. Now for the MUD! If I get out early enough in the morning I can have a walk on solid ground (the first in months!) before everything has warmed up to be squishy, soggy, slushy or just plain muddy.

The warm weather has been doing wonders for my sourdoughs, which are all very active. I have a hard time keeping up with them. We don't eat enough bread to justify a new loaf everyday. If anyone out there would like a Zuni Mountain Sourdough delivered to their house, please leave a comment here and I will make it happen.

-Sally

Blazing Tree

2009-01-18T06:51:00.000-08:00

2009-01-10T21:48:00.001-08:00

Teamwork in the Petrified Forest

Breakfast

2009-01-08T08:58:00.000-08:00

The crew prepares for a day at the Petrified Forest.

2009-01-07T16:33:00.000-08:00

reka and andrew have arrived

2009-01-07T16:07:00.000-08:00

2009-01-04T11:28:00.000-08:00

willy versus icosahedron

2009-01-04T11:18:00.000-08:00

i wouldn't mind being iridescent, having a thousand kaleidoscopic eyes, and being able to fly.

2008-12-31T19:03:00.000-08:00

p.doyle arrived at the caretaker's house on monday, had an idea

LAST DAY OF THE YEAR

2008-12-31T12:52:00.000-08:00

This is the Turkey Highway. The tracks are blurred after a few days in the sun.

2 minute snowman

2008-12-16T17:04:00.000-08:00

An Open Letter

2008-12-12T09:59:00.000-08:00

This is an open letter. Please write your own, if you feel like it. The snow from Monday is melting and it is colder, in general. I am experimenting with a Buckwheat sourdough starter. It's finicky, but provides an sweet and interesting flavor.

Celestial Happenings

2008-12-02T14:12:00.001-08:00

Venus, Jupiter and the Moon in the southwestern sky around 5:30, December 1st. It's a very unusual, bright event, which this picture does not really convey. Check it out for yourself, if you are in the right part of the world. By the way, the stars are all really very bright out here. They can even be a little startling in their density and intensity.

trees

2008-12-02T10:19:00.000-08:00

This is a walking funny man skeleton tree in my yard.
This is the most majestic and wise old Alligator Juniper. It grows on a rocky rise about 50 yards into the Cibola National Forest, just over the fence from our property.
This is a really big growth on a pretty big ponderosa out in our woods.
This is a composting toilet trying to blend in.

CARS

2008-11-28T15:38:00.000-08:00

Last Sunday morning, the last day of my mom's visit here at the Caretakers' House, we were preparing to make a red chile breakfast when a red pick-up truck came screeching and banging off the road just outside the house. We heard a terrific bang and saw a crashing burst of dust billow into the gray sky as the spinning red mass left the pavement and rolled 3 or 4 times around and over the barbed wire fence. The truck landed on its side and all was still. We called 911.
After about an hour and a half everything had been cleaned up. The driver, who was alone, had managed to climb out of the truck before the ambulance arrived. He was taken to the hospital with a cut on his head and apparently much confusion about what had happened to him. It seems he had simply come around the curve too fast. My mom and I were in shock all day. We took a walk up into the forest and made lunch, but generally felt kind of exhausted from the drama of the wreck. On Monday morning we prepared to drive to Albuquerque for my mom's train, but my station wagon would not start. We thought because it was a cold morning. (Although now, several days later I still can't get it going...stay tuned.) So, we called Jimmy Herman, the postman and miracle mechanic who lives down the road. He showed up and we tried to jump the thing. After a 1/2 hour we gave up and were lucky enough to get our dear friend Evan's old black Saab, which had been wilting into the scrubby brush behind the house since the summer, jumped and going. The battery of this car had a hole in its side, so we could not turn the car off, as the charge would not hold. Not only that, but this car can only be started with a big screw driver and some certain jiggling of the automatic window button while you turn the ignition. Fortunately, I had driven this car before, so I remembered the tricks.......eventually. So, with the black car resurrected and the luggage heaved into the back, mom and I charged off down the road. And just as we cruised up the ramp onto Interstate 40 we caught sight of mom's train, the Amtrak Superchief, already on its way from Gallup to Albuquerque, where we were to catch it. It was just like a play, as some people say, or an old movie, as we raced the train across the cold morning plains of western New Mexico in a rattle-trap car that, against fear of missing the train at the next station, we could not turn off.
After successfully getting my mom on the train, I met up with Evan, who lives in Vermont, but happened to be in town. He delivered me to Jeff's Gasoline Alley, an import car garage in Albuquerque, where my other car (one member of my family's fleet of aging, but treasured, foreign cars) happened to be ready to pick up after getting its choke cable replaced. So, Evan took his car and I took mine and drove back home. On Tuesday Evan and Ellen arrived from Albuquerque to load the trusty black Saab (with a new battery) with at least a 1/2 ton of tires, table saws, photo enlargers and a gigantic red car hoist (the perfect instrument with which to lift the entire car into the air, if you want to do such a thing) and books, all of which Evan has been storing in the basement here. They intend to drive all of this back to Vermont by the end of this weekend.
In other news we may get some snow tonight....

Bread, Birds, Bum

2008-11-22T08:37:00.000-08:00

Another successful Rye and Wheat Sourdough, fresh from the oven this morning.
Two hawks on one branch.
Getting lots of work done.

Future Resident Preview Extraordinaire #1

2008-11-18T09:19:00.000-08:00

By Anna Raupp of Homer, Alaska

Gallery of Small Wonders

2008-11-18T09:07:00.000-08:00

The Season is Changing

2008-11-10T09:18:00.000-08:00

The rustic arbor has been uncovered of its overgrowth and I have begun to lay a patio.
It snowed, a real snow, overnight, halting any stonelaying work.
The cat considered jumping onto the roof.
It's windy and cold, but beautiful. The snow gives all the land forms and trees new definition.

SNOW! OBAMA!

2008-11-05T08:36:00.000-08:00

heeehehhhehhheeeeheeedayofthedeadhaahahhaahahahhahahaahahhahahahahhhaheehehhe

2008-11-01T23:13:00.000-07:00

2008-10-24T12:09:00.000-07:00

A sculpture by Tim Eastman:

It's a hectic life out here

2008-10-10T10:43:00.000-07:00

We have had clear blue skies and lots of wind the last few days. The woodpile is growing, we climbed Mt. Taylor to check on the snow up there, and visited the old train wreck near the rodeo. The cottonwood leaves are changing colors and the brilliant yellow and purple flowers are dying off. I moved a desk outside, to take advantage of the sunlight and heat and general fall-time atmosphere, but was driven in again by the boisterous wind.

2008-09-26T16:11:00.000-07:00

Our first authentic Caretakers' House Sourdough. 90% rye, 10%wheat, water and one week on the counter. It is a happy culture!

2008-09-25T07:14:00.000-07:00

We have a new resident, Lasse Zorba Howie, intrepid, talkative tabby.

"Capturing" the sunset.

2008-09-14T08:47:00.000-07:00

THE FIRST RESIDENTS HAVE ARRIVED
what could be better!

2008-09-10T17:28:00.000-07:00

I took this picture one year ago today while I was out here in New Mexico. This baby rattlesnake was hiding beneath a small pile of kindling that I grabbed to start a fire. Only later did I realize he was coiled right there. He was about 3 inches in diameter.

2008-09-09T18:32:00.000-07:00

I have arrived here at The Caretakers' House. As I waited for this photo to load I walked outside to view the golden hour, as the sun set. A coyote was yipping, birds were swooping for bug dinner and a thick dark cloud was coming this way. Wind and rain come at least once a day, but for only a short period. Our first residents arrive this Friday. I prepare for their arrival with a thorough cleaning of the new studio and some firewood chopping.

2008-07-08T14:09:00.000-07:00

Two photos from last September in New Mexico. One is a giant basket in a swimming pool made to accommodate 5 people, but I didn't finish it. The other is of the beautiful Red Rocks Regional Landfill. -Sally

2008-07-08T13:57:00.000-07:00

The Caretakers' House is an artists residency in the high desert of western New Mexico. The first season will begin in September 2008 and run until May 2009.