Hitchhiking Day 1

I am not going to post art today, but here are a few pictures of our hitchhiking beginnings:

Thank you Kimi for the pictures and our first ride. So far we have made it from East of Nashville to Mohawk, Tennessee, which is a little over 200 miles. It has taken us four rides so far and all of them have been with nice people. The first ride we waited 2 and a half hours for! We thought maybe it wasn't going to work and then suddenly a middle aged couple pulled up and took us forty miles east. The next ride we waited only 10 minutes for. This driver was a high school biology teacher up until December when he got fed up with his boss and quit, and now he happily organizes softball tournaments and also has a farm. He took us about 35 miles more. The next ride we waited only 5 minutes for! This driver was a very little and skinny Vietnam vet who had Parkinson's disease and a lot of other health problems he listed off. He told us the last thing the doctor told him was that he had three years to live, but that he didn't care because he is just going to enjoy the time he has and that no man can tell him truly how long he has. He was a little hard to talk to because he was very hard of hearing. He drove a car that I would probably never have pictured myself in and of which he was very proud. It was a bright orange Dodge Charger, (if that means anything to you), and it was custom made for him. He took us east of Knoxville, which was quite a ways. And then we waited about a half hour for this last ride, which got us to Mohawk. It was with two guys in their thirties who were fun and friendly and who had been friends since they grew up two miles down the street from each other.  One of them kept telling us that we have to go to Ashville because he loved it and we'd fit right in. They travel around a lot together for work. They gave us a beer and dropped us at this motel 8 right by the highway so we will be in a good position to start off tomorrow. What was pretty neat is that the people from the last three rides all asked to exchange email addresses, (which we did), so that we could one day meet up again, or so that they could wish my mom a happy birthday, (the Vietnam vet shared his birthday with my mom), or so we could keep them updated on our trip. After today, it seems to me like more people should hitch hike and that it really isn't a big deal or scary at all. But maybe it's just working out for us because we look sweet and innocent and trustworthy.

Hill Country Red Okra

Here is an older illustration again from, I think, around 2009 or 2010 of Hill Country Red Okra:

I just read on wikipedia that people eat not only the seed pods, but also the leaves either cooked or raw in salads. This is something I'll have to try. I've had a lot of okra, but never the leaves.
So, starting now I will probably not be posting everyday. We are now leaving for hitch hiking on Tuesday and I imagine it being more difficult than it is worth to post every day, but I will surely still post often. I just realized today after trying to plant a bunch of stuff in the garden before we go that I am probably going to be tired and busy in new and different ways so I didn't want to keep up the promise of blogging everyday. So, I guess savor these okra for a few days and I will post again soon.

Cherokee Purple Tomato

Since we were visiting with Juneau's old friends and family in Franklin, TN all day, here is an older drawing of Cherokee Purple Tomatoes:

The SESE catalog tells me that these are a pre-1890 Tennessee heirloom, reportedly of Cherokee Indian origin. It would be interesting to somehow trace these tomatoes back to their parent varieties even before the Cherokee grew them since tomatoes are originally from South America and were spread after the Spanish Colonization of the Americas. I would just be curious what hands the tomatoes and their seeds passed through and how many cultures to become this dark disease-resistant variety today.

Couch Potato

I didn't get to painting or drawing today so instead here is an old charcoal drawing that I did of my friend and roommate Katie from college:

I had gone to visit her family with her and I think I remember this as the day we went to the ocean, which was a pretty far drive, and when we came back we were both really tired. So, she zoned out in front of the TV while I drew her. I was sitting on the floor closer to her feet than the rest of her and, as I was just drawing what I saw, her feet turned out looking much bigger than they really were, but I think it's a kind of neat effect.

Eden Gem (Rocky Ford) Muskmelon Finished

Here is the finished illustration of Eden Gem Muskmelon:

I think this one turned out pretty well. I discovered with this that the white colored pencil draws over the gouache really well, which was nice because in most of the pictures I saw of these melons' leaves they had a bit of a highlight on the edges. Using the colored pencil looks smoother in the end than scraping off a little paper with a razor.
And.... I have no more to day about that. :)

More on the Eden Gem

I worked a bit on the Eden Gem Muskmelon illustration today:

...and I have not much to say about it.
But I found a fun old article from USA Today in 2004 about a man who grew a world record sized cantaloupe in Alaska, 64.8 pounds. The same man had the world record for a number of other things: a 75.75 pound rutabaga from 1999, a 42.4 pound kale and 43.7 pound kohlrabi from 2001, and a 63.3 pound celery from 2003. I guess he was really trying.

Portulaca

10Here is an older drawing, from 2009 I think, of Portulaca, also known as Rose Moss or Moss Roses:

 

I didn't realize when I did this one that the SESE seeds are a mixture of yellow, rose, white and pink flowers. So, you can just imagine these in more colors. The SESE catalog says that these portulaca are capable of storing water in their fleshy stems, and that portulaca is drought-resistant and grows well even in poor soil once established. This I believe for sure after reading on wikipedia that a common weed, purslane, is also of the portulaca species. I suppose then that this flower would not only be pretty, but edible just as that weed, purslane, is. Hm, I imagine it's just as tasty too. That's a good bonus.