As the summer begins to lift its hold and the fall rains come, we naturally turn our thoughts to fire- on the hearth and painted in the trees. We have had exquisite outdoor dining weather this summer and the September Gathering was just what we had ordered. But, this being the first commentary on the subject, I thought it might be a good time to give the back story.
“The shop” as it’s always been called is the old building in the center of the farm where all the tools and all the junk have been stored for over 70 years. From buggy repairs to greasy tractor transmission rebuilds to body work on a pair of ’57 chevy dream machines, it’s been a central part of the farm. I only have a blurry phone photo of the condition that we inherited it in but you get the idea…
To me it was too defiled by its past to ever be anything else but a greasy shop but my wife saw “character” and “beauty” in it that only a mother could love. All i saw was heaping piles of… work. But somehow I came around and with a small army of helpers (and months of time) we were able to move or discard all the stuff and get the walls painted. but it still smelled. So we got a diamond floor grinder and took off the top stratum of grease and diesel and then sealed the floor. And finally the old shop was reborn…
Here are a few highlight photos from September…
**All photos in this post (except for the first one) courtesy of Kate Howell, ivoryandlace.pixieset.com (check out her site for more photos from the September Gathering.)
