Brown Sparrow Studio

half the larson's spent labor day at the lodge.

ahhhhh

northern minnesota~ ~ ~ there's nothing quite like it.

the peace, the quiet...the pine trees.

& the mosquitoes.

they're back with a vengeance.

after a dry spell the county that our cabin is in got a good amount of

rain and things started to come back and now as the summer draws

to an end the gardens and food plots are coming to fruition.

(have you ever used that word in a sentence? might be a first for me.

all you teachers out there- did i use it correctly)?

the hubs has a big food plot that has hundreds and hundreds of sunflowers in it.

he wasn't so sure i should be picking any of them for the cabin- but hey- pretty

sure he won't miss this many. : )

dad and son busy putting in fall crops

on saturday i decided to peek and see what was under the soil. i planted 20 hills of organic potatoes and the first hill was less than "state fair worthy"... there was only 4 small ones but they sure are a unique, fun color- a deep wine.

the carrots are sort of mini sized too- but hey that's what i always choose to buy

so it's all good. i have never grown summer squash and there's quite a few of those so

i need to get creative on how to use them. I think you can use them pretty much like

zucchini. i'm going to try them in a lemon loaf and also will roast some with carrots and other root veggies. when you eat food that you've grown yourself it's just such a feeling

of satisfaction. brings me right back to my roots.

no pun intended.

i took this little rocker to the cabin, but it needed some tlc so i painted it with annie sloan's old white chalk paint and then sanded down some edges and lars cut a board for the seat. i just

used a cushion i already had on it. it is comfortable and has a nice spring action.

since i was heading home and the guys weren't i made ginger snaps and oatmeal choc.

chip cookies and put in the freezer for them- that was sat.--- what do you bet they're already gone?

this is eric's new john boat. why they are called this i don't know- but they are for

duck hunting and here the 3 of us went to an area lake to see how it worked and

how fast it would go and if it held water. important stuff like that.

after the maiden voyage he let it dry and then got down to the serious business

of camouflaging it. this may look easy- but 20 can's of spray paint and a couple hours of work is not. there's a method and a certain artistry to the job. he tries to match the camo to the

area where he'll be using it. (for instance there's not a lot of cattails, so he didn't

draw any of those). i know for certain that if i'd applied spray paint for that long, my trigger finger would never be the same. his didn't even bother him. oh to be young again!

sister dawn came for a couple days and she enjoyed watching her nephew work and

she also fed the mosquito's with her own blood so they'd leave him alone.

she's nice like that. she missed going to the rodeo with us, but did get in on
4-wheeling to town to eat and people watch. she's been on the road for almost a month
straight and she mostly just wanted to chill out. i don't blame her!

my favorite part of the paint job?

look below.

lars got a bear permit for the first time ever and he packed and paced and plotted and planned and laid out all his stuff and then would literally go in the bedroom and check it all every couple of hours till it was time to go. have you seen the movie legends of the fall?

he was one excited dude- but i know -because i know him so well- that he was

also nervous. how'd you like to be 3 miles back in the woods alone looking a big old bear in the eye? it's day 4 and so far he hasn't seen one.

don't tell him i said this, but that's o.k. by me.

being a former boy scout, I'm not sure

if he packed rations or not... i know I'd have had a sandwich or some cheetos along.