Microcosmic Dreamscapes

Le Petit Déjeuner

2012-01-26T07:00:00.000-08:00

du sirop et de l'eaux

un café au lait

(plusieurs, peut-être)

un couteau et

des cigarettes

des céréales

du pain bronzé

des confitures

de l'abricot,

cerise ou châtaigne

tous sur la table

le ciel est doux

c'est arrivé, ça

c'est pas arrangé

mais bonne journée

Wild sunflower by the road

2012-01-25T18:07:00.000-08:00

I'm living in San Diego and see wild sunflowers all the time,
but you don't often pass them high in the ditch of a dirt road in Vermont;
what else is wildness than this?

Sourgrass on the sill

2012-01-22T09:01:00.000-08:00

open for the sun

so sour

sourgrass

my lips pucker

find my lover's &

close for the moon

We read postcards at breakfast

2012-01-20T10:35:00.000-08:00

they come

from friends
they stay
with us

we all
keep on
giving
good-ness

Dew Crystal on Kale

2012-01-18T08:11:00.000-08:00

in this bright morning I found some moisture
out-side just there

it hung on the tip of a brassica in the garden
lay-ing just there

Birch & Sky

2012-01-16T10:27:00.000-08:00

As the storm rises

2012-01-15T10:15:00.001-08:00

At home in Vermont, a storm

passed through us during the night &

lifted off with the morning light

Garlic Sprouting

2011-11-27T09:09:00.001-08:00

Garlic Sprouting, a photo by mishamjohnson on Flickr.

Free Ranger

2011-11-22T16:04:00.001-08:00

Free Ranger, a photo by mishamjohnson on Flickr.

Breed of Chicken: Saipan.

Between Boulders

2011-11-16T17:58:00.001-08:00

Car & Taylor

2011-11-05T09:32:00.001-07:00

Car, a photo by mishamjohnson on Flickr.

Two noonies.

Stump & Fungi

2011-11-04T18:39:00.001-07:00

Tourist Group Assembling

2011-10-30T10:13:00.001-07:00

Tour, a photo by mishamjohnson on Flickr.

Morning Market, Rome

2011-10-24T18:09:00.001-07:00

Morning Market, Rome, a photo by mishamjohnson on Flickr.

Overpass

2011-10-23T15:50:00.001-07:00

Fall of leaves

2011-10-19T08:39:00.001-07:00

Of the Field

2011-10-16T18:42:00.001-07:00

The Autumn Sideyard, Friday October 14, 7pm

2011-10-13T18:01:00.000-07:00

Fisheye Experiment 3: Tree Stump

2011-10-09T14:23:00.001-07:00

Tree Stump, a photo by mishamjohnson on Flickr.

Fisheye Experiment 2: Apple Picking

2011-10-07T16:10:00.001-07:00

Apple Picking, a photo by mishamjohnson on Flickr.

fisheye experiment 1

2011-10-05T08:36:00.001-07:00

Tree, a photo by mishamjohnson on Flickr.

Chez Eux

2011-10-04T08:30:00.001-07:00

Cotignac, France, a photo by mishamjohnson on Flickr.

Tomato, Stupice

2011-09-28T18:38:00.001-07:00

Tomato, Stupice, a photo by mishamjohnson on Flickr.

Weary gloves of fruit

muck and juice --- ripe dealings

carry on summer

Red & Yellow

2011-09-27T20:58:00.001-07:00

Red & Yellow, a photo by mishamjohnson on Flickr.

No matter the harvest, the seasons still wane.

Of the maze

2011-09-25T11:36:00.001-07:00

Of the maze, a photo by mishamjohnson on Flickr.

A Theory of Pole Beans - Nikki Giovanni

2011-09-25T11:11:00.000-07:00

that must have been the tail end of the Depression

as well as the depression of coming war

there certainly was segregation and hated and few

these small towns and small minded people

trying to bend taller spirits down

were unable to succeed

there couldn't have been too much fun

assuming fun equates with irresponsibility

there was always food to be put on the table

clothes to be washed and ironed

hair to be pressed

gardens to be weeded

and children to talk to and teach

each other to love

and tend to

pole beans are not everyone's favorite

they make you think of pieces of fat back

cornbread

and maybe a piece of fried chicken

they are the staples of things unquestioned

they are broken and boiled

no one would say life handed you

a silver spoon or golden parachute

but you still

met married

bought a home reared a family

supported a church and kept a mighty faith

in your God and each other

they say love/is a many splendored thing

but maybe that's because we recognize

you loved no matter what the burden

you laughed no matter for the tears

you persevered in your love

and your garden remains in full bloom

Oaxacan Green Dent Corn

2011-09-18T18:30:00.001-07:00

Green Dent Corn, a photo by mishamjohnson on Flickr.

As it dries

it dents and greens

and browns

Unfolding to flower

2011-09-16T07:50:00.001-07:00

Hopi Corn, a photo by mishamjohnson on Flickr.

Hopi corn.

Unloading for market

2011-09-12T08:26:00.001-07:00

Corn rising at dusk

2011-09-09T18:08:00.001-07:00

Hopi Corn, a photo by mishamjohnson on Flickr.

Haiku - Boncho

2011-09-07T08:07:00.000-07:00

How cool the green hay
smells, carried in through the farm gate
at sunshine!

A stick of kale

2011-09-05T08:08:00.001-07:00

Lacinato (aka Dinosaur) Kale, a photo by mishamjohnson on Flickr.

Haiku - Basho

2011-09-04T09:27:00.001-07:00

The seed of all song
is the farmer's busy hum
as he plants his rice

New Header Image: Highland Sheep

2011-09-01T17:19:00.001-07:00

Highland Sheep, a photo by mishamjohnson on Flickr.

Just posted a new header image the other day. It's a shot taken in 2008 in the Scottish Highlands that I've posted here before. Up there you can happen upon sheep just as often as you might find an ant in a field, or deer by the edge of the forest. These sheep were found on the edge of a lake, below an old castle on a knoll.

Enjoy the new look; I think Scott Ballum would approve.

Flowers I love.

2011-08-31T07:51:00.001-07:00

Flowers I love., a photo by mishamjohnson on Flickr.

Runner Bean Running Wild

2011-08-30T07:34:00.000-07:00

Watch out for that bale!

2011-08-27T09:30:00.001-07:00

Pitchin' Straw, a photo by mishamjohnson on Flickr.

The Eye of the Chicken

2011-08-26T09:35:00.001-07:00

The Eye of the Chicken, a photo by mishamjohnson on Flickr.

Coming of the Corn

2011-08-23T09:31:00.001-07:00

Green Dent Corn, a photo by mishamjohnson on Flickr.

Haiku - Kikaku

2011-08-19T08:16:00.000-07:00

The rooster, fighting,
spreading his ruff of feathers,
thinks he's a lion!

Horsetail in the pond

2011-08-18T16:56:00.000-07:00

I've got your back.

2011-08-15T16:28:00.001-07:00

I've got your back., a photo by mishamjohnson on Flickr.

The Ladybug & the Thistle

2011-08-13T19:14:00.001-07:00

The Ladybug & the Thistle, a photo by mishamjohnson on Flickr.

The Mad Farmer in the City - Wendell Berry

2011-08-12T18:12:00.000-07:00

As heard at the Summer Sideyard.
I'm back.

-------------------

As my first blow against it, I would not stay.
As my second, I learned to live without it.
As my third, I went back one day and saw
that my departure had left a little hole
where some of its strength was flowing out,
and I heard the earth singing beneath the street.
Singing quietly myself, I followed the song
among the traffic. Everywhere I went, singing,
following the song, the stones cracked,
and I heard it stronger. I heard it strongest
in the presence of women. There was one I met
who had the music of the ground in her, and she
was its dancer. “O Exile,” I sang, “for want of you
there is a tree that has borne no leaves
and a planting season that will not turn warm.”
Looking at her, I felt a tightening of roots
under the pavement, and I turned and went
with her a little way, dancing beside her.
And I saw a black woman still inhabiting
as in a dream the space of the open fields
where she had bent to plant and gather. She stood
rooted in the music I heard, pliant and proud
as a stalk of wheat with the grain heavy. No man
with the city thrusting angles in his brain
is equal to her. To reach her he must tear it down.
Wherever lovely women are the city is undone,
its geometry broken in pieces and lifted,
its street and corners fading like mist at sunrise
above groves and meadows and planted fields.

- from The Mad Farmer Poems

Pealing roasted peppers for the hot sauce. In the side yard.

Natural History - Aldo Leopold

2011-08-11T06:45:00.000-07:00

...[These farmers] have learned from experience that the wholly tamed farm offers not only a slender livelihood but a constricted life. They have caught the idea that there is a pleasure to be had in raising wild crops as well as tame ones. They propose to devote a little spot of marsh to growing native wildflowers. Perhaps they wish for their land what we all wish for our children---not only a chance to make a living but also a chance to express and develop a rich and varied assortment of inherent capabilities, both wild and tame. What better expresses land than the plants that originally grew on it?

I talk here about the pleasure to be had in wild things, about natural-history studies as a combination sport and science.

History has not conspired to make my task an easy one. We naturalists have much to live down. There was a time when ladies and gentlemen wandered afield not so much to learn how the world is put together as to gather subject matter for tea-time conversation. This was the era of dickey-bird ornithology, of botany expressed in bad verse, of ejaculatory vapors such as "ain't nature grand." ...

- from A Sand County Almanac

V'nilla #2

2011-08-10T15:36:00.001-07:00

V'nilla #2, a photo by mishamjohnson on Flickr.

From the Summer Sideyard.

This one is done.

2011-08-09T08:02:00.001-07:00

This one is done., a photo by mishamjohnson on Flickr.

In the tomato patch.

Great Possessions - Aldo Leopold

2011-08-08T07:10:00.000-07:00

Books or no books, it is a fact, patent both to my dog and myself, that at daybreak I am the sole owner of all the acres I can walk over. It is not only boundaries that disappear, but also the thought of being bounded. Expanses unknown to deed or map are known to every dawn, and solitude, supposed no longer to exist in my county, extends on every hand as far as the dew can reach.

- from A Sand County Almanac

Flashback: La Casamance, Senegal (2006)

2011-08-07T15:55:00.001-07:00

Walkway of Shells, a photo by mishamjohnson on Flickr.

Motto - Langston Hughes

2011-08-06T08:57:00.000-07:00

I play it cool
And dig all jive.
That's the reason
I stay alive.

My motto,
As I live and learn,
is:
Dig And Be Dug
In Return.

Sun Sets Purple

2011-08-05T07:27:00.001-07:00

Sun Sets Purple, a photo by mishamjohnson on Flickr.

Thank you Sideyardees

2011-08-01T18:59:00.000-07:00

If you missed it, or even if you were there, check out this article on the event.
-------------------

What a wonderful event in the Sideyard last Friday. Thank you to all our readers and the many people who helped put the event together.

Milling about before the show.

I've added a new Summer Sideyard collection to my Flickr site. There you can browse some of the photographs displayed, cards that were sold, and a few shots from the event. I will soon have a site online for you to purchase prints from. IN THE MEANTIME, if you cannot wait, you can contact me directly and I'll hook you up.

Taylor Mardis Katz had some rad mini chapbooks for sale too. To get your hands on one, check out her blog: it's full of panache.

Tomato flowers at dusk

2011-07-31T18:09:00.001-07:00

Tomato flowers at dusk, a photo by mishamjohnson on Flickr.

Friday Night: Sideyard Poetry & Photography Event in Hillcrest

2011-07-28T21:44:00.000-07:00

Come this Friday from 7-9p for a reading featuring several San Diego poets (including my partner-poet, the jazzy Taylor Mardis Katz) and an exhibit of some never-before seen photographs from my collection. There will be poems and prints for sale.

Food and drink will be provided. And you may bring a chair or blanket if you'd like.

Address:
3794 Vermont St.
San Diego, CA 92103

Check out the Facebook event page for more info.

Sunny-Flower with Caterpillar

2011-07-28T16:40:00.001-07:00

Sunny-Flower with Caterpillar, a photo by mishamjohnson on Flickr.

Eggplant

2011-07-26T17:35:00.001-07:00

Eggplant, a photo by mishamjohnson on Flickr.

Side-walk chalk

2011-07-25T11:11:00.001-07:00

Sidewalk chalk, a photo by mishamjohnson on Flickr.

Direction signals for the side-yard sale by TMK.

Sunflower heads cut for seed

2011-07-19T18:00:00.001-07:00

Sunflower heads cut for seed, a photo by mishamjohnson on Flickr.

The Indestructible/So Sheepless right now!

2011-07-17T21:24:00.001-07:00

TMK at the Hillcrest Market.

Wild Sunflower

2011-07-17T08:51:00.001-07:00

Wild Sunflower, a photo by mishamjohnson on Flickr.

Casting about in sunset and sweet clover.

Yum.

2011-07-14T21:52:00.000-07:00

For the love of bacon, french toast, and friends.

Amongst the litters of things

2011-07-08T17:59:00.000-07:00

Shallots sprouting.

Verveine

2011-07-07T16:18:00.000-07:00

Arroyo Willow

2011-07-04T12:10:00.001-07:00

Arroyo Willow, a photo by mishamjohnson on Flickr.

11:18 Clean

2011-07-02T20:56:00.000-07:00

Prickly lettuce leaf in shade

2011-06-30T19:39:00.001-07:00

Prickly lettuce leaf in shade, a photo by mishamjohnson on Flickr.

Cattle & Castle

2011-06-29T07:18:00.001-07:00

Cattle & Castle, a photo by mishamjohnson on Flickr.

Setting up drip, after the rain

2011-06-24T08:51:00.001-07:00

Setting up drip, after the rain, a photo by mishamjohnson on Flickr.

Sometimes, while flitting through old photos, I come across one that arrests me...Look big.

Chicks under the Heat-lamp

2011-06-23T17:21:00.001-07:00

Chicks under the Heat-lamp, a photo by mishamjohnson on Flickr.

Watch them go...at Suzie's Farm.

...by the dill and the hut

2011-06-22T16:51:00.001-07:00

...by the dill and the hut, a photo by mishamjohnson on Flickr.

Lavender on Tablecloth

2011-06-20T20:59:00.001-07:00

IMG_9654, a photo by mishamjohnson on Flickr.

Horseweed/Marestail

2011-06-19T09:32:00.001-07:00

IMG_9684, a photo by mishamjohnson on Flickr.

from the field.

Ready to Bloom

2011-06-16T17:37:00.001-07:00

IMG_9563, a photo by mishamjohnson on Flickr.

Windbreak

2011-06-12T14:44:00.001-07:00

Windbreak, a photo by mishamjohnson on Flickr.

leek, calendula, borage, sunflower

Mother at Graduation

2011-06-09T18:13:00.001-07:00

, a photo by mishamjohnson on Flickr.

Ma mère, à chercher mon frère.

in blossom

2011-05-28T19:53:00.001-07:00

Pink shadow flower garden

2011-05-24T17:26:00.001-07:00

Pink shadow flower garden, a photo by mishamjohnson on Flickr.

Portland Japanese Garden.

Caterpillar on the farm

2011-05-22T09:30:00.001-07:00

Caterpillar on the farm, a photo by mishamjohnson on Flickr.

from the field.

Beet flow

2011-05-20T14:02:00.001-07:00

Street Level

2011-05-13T18:51:00.001-07:00

SDIM1093, a photo by mishamjohnson on Flickr.

Planting Partner

2011-05-08T19:34:00.001-07:00

Planting partner, a photo by mishamjohnson on Flickr.

Yentil, Elspeth, Homer

2011-04-29T16:00:00.001-07:00

Writing labels for newly sown rows.

Yentil, Elspeth, Homer, a photo by mishamjohnson on Flickr.

"The Mad Farmer Liberation Front" by Wendell Berry

2011-04-29T15:49:00.000-07:00

Love the quick profit, the annual raise,
vacation with pay. Want more
of everything ready-made. Be afraid
to know your neighbors and to die.

And you will have a window in your head.
Not even your future will be a mystery
any more. Your mind will be punched in a card
and shut away in a little drawer.

When they want you to buy something
they will call you. When they want you
to die for profit they will let you know.
So, friends, every day do something
that won't compute. Love the Lord.
Love the world. Work for nothing.
Take all that you have and be poor.
Love someone who does not deserve it.

Denounce the government and embrace
the flag. Hope to live in that free
republic for which it stands.
Give your approval to all you cannot
understand. Praise ignorance, for what man
has not encountered he has not destroyed.

Ask the questions that have no answers.
Invest in the millenium. Plant sequoias.
Say that your main crop is the forest
that you did not plant,
that you will not live to harvest.

Say that the leaves are harvested
when they have rotted into the mold.
Call that profit. Prophesy such returns.
Put your faith in the two inches of humus
that will build under the trees
every thousand years.

Listen to carrion -- put your ear
close, and hear the faint chattering
of the songs that are to come.
Expect the end of the world. Laugh.
Laughter is immeasurable. Be joyful
though you have considered all the facts.
So long as women do not go cheap
for power, please women more than men.

Ask yourself: Will this satisfy
a woman satisfied to bear a child?
Will this disturb the sleep
of a woman near to giving birth?

Go with your love to the fields.
Lie down in the shade. Rest your head
in her lap. Swear allegiance
to what is nighest your thoughts.

As soon as the generals and the politicos
can predict the motions of your mind,
lose it. Leave it as a sign
to mark the false trail, the way
you didn't go.

Be like the fox
who makes more tracks than necessary,
some in the wrong direction.
Practice resurrection.

~ Wendel Berry

The sun hangs low, up there

2011-04-28T16:47:00.001-07:00

Copenhagen, Denmark. First shot (outside of the airport) from a trip to Europe with TMK in 2009.

'Mum splatter

2011-04-26T20:06:00.001-07:00

Pollen on my jeans from chrysanthemum flowers.

'Mum splatter, a photo by mishamjohnson on Flickr.

Arugula for Seed

2011-04-19T18:10:00.001-07:00

Arugula for Seed, a photo by mishamjohnson on Flickr.

Pelicans & Sandstone

2011-04-09T16:16:00.001-07:00

Torrey Pines 1, a photo by mishamjohnson on Flickr.

Torrey Pines State Reserve.

Taylor Mardis Katz

2011-04-08T18:25:00.001-07:00

Taylor Mardis Katz, a photo by mishamjohnson on Flickr.

is there a fo rent
sign on my butt? you got no
territorial rights here.

~ sonia sanchez

The Tomato Planting

2011-04-07T17:00:00.001-07:00

The Tomato Planting, a photo by mishamjohnson on Flickr.

The Pepper Planting

2011-04-06T19:14:00.001-07:00

The Pepper Planting, a photo by mishamjohnson on Flickr.

Farmer's Mint

2011-04-01T13:17:00.001-07:00

Goat Shed at Dawn

2011-03-26T20:09:00.000-07:00

Finca la Flor de Paraíso, Costa Rica. 2007.

Still-life, 2008

2011-03-18T20:24:00.000-07:00

Sunflowers and Rosemary and

Peppers and Salt.

Barcelona Balloon

2011-03-11T18:56:00.001-08:00

Among the Willows

2011-03-09T07:45:00.000-08:00

Taylor Parisienne

2011-03-04T18:28:00.000-08:00

À Paris.

Dent-de-Lion

2011-03-03T17:42:00.001-08:00

Brahic Brick

2011-02-23T07:44:00.000-08:00

An old, old french village of stone.

Red White Blue & Green

2011-02-21T11:23:00.000-08:00

A large red puddle of flood waters stands alone after the river had receded at Wild Willow.

Skies over Willows

2011-02-20T09:03:00.001-08:00