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Author: theMan
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The Subtle Influence of a Single Plant
Yosa Buson 与謝蕪村 (1716 – January 17, 1784), famed painter and poet, painted the night scene of snow falling on Kyoto near the end of his life. It is one of his most famous pieces and was designated a National Treasure of Japan in 2009. Looking at the painting, you would never guess that there is a connection between this painting and the rapeseed plant which paints swaths of countryside with brilliant yellow when it blooms.
Attribution: Baum im Feld von Petr Kratochvil
It was during the time of his life that the production of rapeseed oil greatly increased in Japan. It resulted in a supply of affordable oil which was used for cooking and for lighting.
Rapeseed oil was poured into small bowls with wicks. When the wicks were lit and placed into paper lanterns, they cast a soft, warm light. The abundance of rapeseed oil enabled people to have light at night. And it is this soft, warm light which Buson captured in his famous painting of snow falling at night. In the painting, he shows this light filtering through the shoji screens of the houses. If it were not for the rapeseed plant, the houses would be completely dark, and he may not have made this masterpiece at all.
The painting is titled 夜色楼台図-Yashokuroudaizu, and to create the effect of falling snow, Buson used flakes of oyster and scallop shells. He also used a foundation of chalk to bring out the colors of a snowy night. 51 inches long and 11 inches tall, this ink painting is considered the first panorama created in Japan.
- Yosa Buson ~ Wikipedia
- Rapeseed ~ Wikipedia
- Kirin Art Gallery
- 風景を見る蕪村の眼
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What’s Old Is New Again
From the The Farmer’s Friend at the Bow Little Market, I purchased this old pitchfork. It should come in handy for cleaning the chicken roosts, turning compost, and gathering hay. The only mark on it is “I-D-L Top” stamped on the handle. There are no manufacturer’s mark on the tines
Even though I’m calling it a pitch fork, it may be a dung fork.
Pitchforks typically have only two, three or four tines while dung forks have four or five, other types of fork even up to ten tines with different lengths and spacing depending on purpose (Pitchfork – Wikipedia).
It could also be a straw or silage fork.
The number of tines would mostly depend on personal preference and the job it is being used for. Over the years most forks have been made with two to five tines. The two and three tines forks (the ones most commonly referred to as pitchforks) were used for loose hay, straw, and bundles of grain. In fact they are sometimes referred to as bundle forks. The four and five tine forks are in fact manure forks and were made for that purpose. Other forks of six or more tines have been made for silage, potatoes, beets, etc. Even saw one listed as a compost fork recently (hobartwelders.com).
In any case, the fork is now back at work, helping out at a man and his hoe®.
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Early Morning Salad Picking
On an early, Thursday morning, it’s time to pick greens for Tweets Café. There’s always time to enjoy the flowers on the way to the salad rows.
The baby kale are perfect for picking today. Light green on top, a soft purple underneath, they will make great salads this weekend.
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A Chicken and a Snake
Chickens are like ground vultures. They will scarf most any corpse they encounter, even a snake. A chicken has found a dead snake and the race is on to find a quiet spot where she can feast on it without being disturbed by the other chickens.
So would a chicken kill a snake? Some chickens do. Chickens are accomplished hunters. If they see something small and moving, they won’t hesitate to nab it with their beak. They can move with astonishing speed. These descendants of dinosaurs are formidable. If you close your eyes when they scream, you can hear a Velociraptor screaming.