Tracy Porter Blog… be inspired!

I’ve lived in the country most all of my life. There’s no question it sits deep in my soul. A few years here and there in cities..all good stuff, I adore the city…however……darling I love you but give me that countryside!! I love the smells in the country… where we are it’s all freshly cut hay and horsey smells. I adore the sounds..crickets and toads year round, the high whiney of the horses, kids yelling,  tractors going down the road…peacocks ye-ow-ling , chickens cackling….these are sounds of happiness to me!  There is great opportunity for the boys to get bored ( yes, I am one those parents that thinks boredom is a true gift!!)  ..and yet…even greater opportunity to find oddball “creative”  things to do. Since I was a kid I have always called them ” country things”…stuff like the never ending search for the baby kittens, building forts from rocks and sticks, shooting each other with potato guns because although we have 65 nerf guns there are no more neon bullets….anywhere.   Catching things…( most anything is included…especially with 4 boys…) also….

Mending and painting fences. This is a constant. I remember it well when I was a kid, back then we used creosote …..god awful skin burning garbage… the horses didn’t like to chew on it much….but I never stopped us from climbing the fences for hours on end.

Rope swings, we have 4 now…this is by far the number one thing our boys like to do. They have all sorts of “freestyle”  rope swing contests…they even climb up into the big old oak tree and hold the knot on the rope and jump…a distance that surprises me every-time I see them do it…but they love it. Their nice strong arms will be good for more garden building chores down the road!! Keep swingin’ boys! (…I know what you are thinking…but,  stitches only once so far….knock on wood)

Cowboys hats…this sort of melts me when my boys put on cowboy hats. I get all little house on the prairie excited….they get all embarrassed by my gushing….and so it goes.

Garden building. ( this goes back to strong arms are good….) We make little additions to our garden all the time, most of the materials we find on the property…. rocks, good compost, nice flat stone….The boys do the collecting….and together we start playing out with what we should do….we run into the feed mill to poke around,… + run over to the hardware store..poke around more….get more seed packets….grab our shovels and go!.. That little skeletal structure is the very beginning  of a chicken coop that my darling boys ( and daddy man) are building. Me excited ?…well…just a wee bit. ( more of that to come)

Lizard catching. This is not such an uncommon scene. An empty bathtub filled with nearly 30 lizards on this particular day  ( same with you eh?) ….and then  the oh , so-sweet…..”mom, it’s cool that we have a bunch of lizards in the tub isn’t it ? ( yes, thank god they are not in the microwave….this is much better) …don’t worry we’ll put them all back outside later…..”    Yes, it’s cool…..don’t hurt them, and yes…release them later…..I don’t even give these things a second thought anymore.

One of our favorite things to do is to watch movies under the stars. John rigs up  big drop cloths ( while I watch..wine in hand…all smiles…MacGyver does the work)  between the trees..the boys drag every blanket  from  the linen closet that they can carry. ( kind of make me nuts later, but it’s worth it….making memories right?….I mean hell…. what’s 17 blankets with a bunch of grass, dog hair and spilled soda to worry about?)  The projector flies….and everyone is happy. ( We have now learned to shut the sprinkler system off…that was a bit  of a shock the first time….ahem,  correction….”wet” , grassy, dog hair,soda spilled blankets)

Then we crash hard. All that fresh air knocks you out.

No matter where you live…get outside man. Nature is crazy good…for your whole happy soul.

Cheers + xx,

T.

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Labels: be extraordinary,behind the scenes,more Tracy Porter,nature's inspirations

Just in case you are not on our poetic wanderlust mailing list yet….hop to it and you may win your choice of a delicious piece of our archivally printed wall art ! These are signed and dated + made right here in our California countryside studio!  You must sign up by may 6th as we are announcing the winner on our blog and Facebook on the 7th of May!  If you are already on our mailing list…you’re  in like Flynn…(to win)….~ TTFN!

Cheers and xx,

T.

p.s.  love you for sharing all the pins ..(my sweetly addicted pinterest friends)….see you tonight for some pinning and wine…say around 11~ or so…..It’s like I spy for women..but so much more fun!!….. cheers!..xx

p.p.s. do you have a ” pin it” bookmark on your bookmark bar yet? drag one up there from the pinterest help section…….makes the fun even crazier when you are off the pinterest grid…just surfing around…xx

Labels: more Tracy Porter,nature's inspirations

I have been shooting lots of photos lately…. getting ready for upcoming wholesale trade shows etc. thought I’d share a few pics of our potager shoot with you . We live in the countryside on a small ranch that is all meadows and mountain views. It’s the perfect place for our four rascally boys to roam as they spend most of their time outside year round. ( I come from the parenting school of….let em’ run….and run and run….be wild and savage….”outside”!) We made a small potager to grow our own veggies and herbs….+ recently we seeded around it with wildflowers that are coming along nicely! This is our first ever crop of artichokes and there are more than 20 on the stems..( do you hear me squealing with delight!? yay!)

Our kids all help out here and there in the garden, they love picking out which seeds to plant…and they dig right in when something looks ready to eat…they just rinse it with the hose and munch away! Mind you as of late our two large neufies…Ted and Kit…have identified the carrot raised bed and now pull them out and munch away too….bummer is the dogs are so dam large that those huge feet stomp down all the newly planted radishes etc……( I may need some of those lovely low willow fences to keep them out!) That photo above is our son Max with our cat December… ( remember the box wood kitties that we found in our Wisconsin herb garden…now they hang out here..often under the artichokes or the purple broccoli!)

The color of the artichokes is crazy good….all the greens + yellows with dashes of plum….As much as I want to eat them…I  love the way they look….they add a bit of folly to ones potager…ravishing as they are!! They grow as perennials here….I love their massive size and their “still life” good looks….makes me want to run for the paint brush and camera at once!!

I am obsessed ( wow you haven’t heard that word from me about anything huh?…ha….) about lavender,….all colors…types, sizes….you name it…I am whipped. I tried and tried to grow it in Wisconsin…sometimes it  came back..( I am fully aware I was unfairly trying to force natures hand….can hardly blame a girl though?! ) It was such a prize when it did come back once and a while! I am bound to grow it with wild abandon here. There are several lavender farms not too far from us…and it just kills me to see  it growing in meadows…as it does in the south of France when I first fell heads over heels with it . I adore it as much in an over sized planter….it seems to work no matter. Anywhere that it can be planted as an edge is lovey as well…while you walk along and brush it with your hand or leg  the scent fills the air…I always have a bit of it rolling between my fingers passing it near my nose…now I see my own boys doing the same…makes me smile that they love as I do. The stone edge  that you see is a simple way to create a country style border around a potager…easy for anyone to do….and so pretty by pea gravel!

Are you planting any herbs or veggies this summer? ….anything else on the docket?!!

As ever…I cannot stop dreaming of ways to explore nature…she never ceases to amaze me…

Cheers, love  and lavender dreams!!

xx,

T.

Labels: behind the scenes,eating & gathering,ideas,more Tracy Porter,nature's inspirations

A bit more eye candy….You guys know I have always had a thing for luscious wall decor. I can never seem to get enough onto the walls…( we all have our issues..) thought I’d grow a nice collection for you, just in case you’re feeling the same~…these are just a few to share… vintage inspired goodness…I collage and photograph, layer over layer….I add in bits of life from near and far….until it’s arrived, and I am smitten~

Then we print each piece in our studio on a lovely weighty canvas with nice texture to add yet another layer, we use black bamboo grown right here in California to add a bit of exotic….+ a twist of rope ( cannot help myself..) I sign and date each piece. Ever influenced and inspired by natural history, wanderlust…..

What are you slamming up on your walls these days? …..Feeling poetic?

Cheers and Happy April…..to you!

xx

T.

Labels: ideas,nature's inspirations,soulful nesting & decorating

Acres of pattern and flora … dance with wild huckleberries & stolen moments.  A menagerie of folk and bohemia….rest beneath the mountains and valleys down the road. As the rain lifts in the country-side  earthly delights and beautiful dreamers make their voices heard through song and splendor. Along edges and paths..strolling through the meadows…..all the worlds memory blooms east of Eden.

…..dancing till dawn…craving Poetic Wanderlust. Rollicking good fun for all!

Cheers and love! Happy day to you…!

xx

T.

Labels: behind the scenes,eating & gathering,nature's inspirations,soulful nesting & decorating