The Brian

Wed, 04 Jun 2008 22:16:24 GMT

http://www.karmatube.org/videos.php?id=433

Wed, 19 Dec 2007 00:33:58 GMT

Yay. This painting was sold to Suzanne. Good selection. Interesting painting.

Good deed for the day:

A guy writes me: "I'm wondering if you'd consider letting a non-profit group use your photo of your Dry Eyes Syndrome painting to illustrate research we've done on eye and mouth dryness as a result of rheumatoid arthritis. This is for an article in our newsletter, which goes out to study participants. Circulation is about 10,000 twice a year.
This is it: www.flickr.com/photos/brianfey/76430171/
We would probably use a detail of the painting.
I'm kind of scrambling at the last minute as the stock photo agencies don't have a good one for us.
Thanks for considering.
[name censored]
National Data Bank for Rheumatic Diseases
www.arthritis-research.org
AIM mintychip

I write:
Yah. That is likely fine.
Glad you like the art and that it can be useful.
There are conditions:
-You send me a copy of the magazine issue in which the art appears.
To:
Brian Fey
APDO Postal 13
61630 Erongaricuaro, Michoacan
MEXICO
-Also credit the art to "Brian Fey" somewhere in the publication.
To cut out a detail part is fine.
I hope your work against pain goes well.

He writes:
Thank you very much for letting us use your art. I will send you a copy in January.
I think we may be able to pay you a small amount, maybe $50, for the use. Do you have a paypal account or another method? Otherwise we can send a check in US dollars.

I write: Thank you for the offer of bucks. That is very nice.
Bucks are not my main priority. Feel free to donate them to your cause or some related one in my name. I like that some people will enjoy the image.
Yay!

He writes:
Thanks, Brian. That's very generous of you. We all appreciate it very much. We'll be sure to send you a copy when it's printed in January.

Yay!
It is nice that people find art useful on occasion.

Sat, 01 Dec 2007 15:24:19 GMT

Cool sounding play "WALDEN: The Ballad of Thoreau": http://www.waldenplay.com/index.php

Wed, 28 Nov 2007 01:21:45 GMT

cold tired hurt strange.
no place to go but onward.

Mon, 26 Nov 2007 22:44:55 GMT

*Earthquake hit: http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/recenteqsww/Quakes/us2007kecf.php
No apparent damage.

*Harvest dinner was smaller than I desired but pleasant.

*Cuts healing up. Eye much better. Ankle still messed up and swollen. Need to rest and not walk on it.

ouch!

Fri, 16 Nov 2007 17:14:39 GMT

PB160034
Originally uploaded by brianfey.

Last night walking home in the dark though forest I wasn't familiar with I got kinda lost, then fell off into a ravine and injured my left foot, and smashed my right knee and fell into some barbed wire cutting my face.
After getting more lost and thrashing about and crawling to try to find my way back to known places while being hurt... I got kinda annoyed and couldn't walk well due to my ankle.
After considering my options. I called for help (ick. I never need to do that.) and friends heard me and found me. Luckily one was looking for me after I was missing for a while. The forest is very dark. Walked home on the inured leg and got lost again a little.
Today I can put no weight on my left foot. Knee hurt but ok mostly. Cuts below my eye and on the eyelid. And a lump above my right temple. Small cuts on both hands and left hand hurt somehow inside.

Ouch. I am considering going into town to get foot x-rayed and to buy some crutches.

Overall I am fine, just kinda annoyed. Don't really want to go into town.

tired

Wed, 14 Nov 2007 17:08:03 GMT

P2230082
Originally uploaded by brianfey.

tired zooming...
gotta get more done... zoom zoom. Behind on everything.

Sun, 11 Nov 2007 19:37:15 GMT

Day of the dead around Lake Patzcuaro, Michaocan, Mexico.

Here are the photos from 6 days while friends visited for the day of the dead.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/brianfey/sets/72157602935371500/

Many small adventures! Zoom!

symbol

Thu, 08 Nov 2007 00:08:44 GMT

symbol
Originally uploaded by brianfey.

Any ideas what this symbol could mean? I don't recognize it.

Day of the dead.

Mon, 05 Nov 2007 21:14:00 GMT

PA310002
Originally uploaded by brianfey.

Lots of fun adventures with guests.

First batch of photos here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/brianfey/sets/72157602935371500/

weird bug

Sun, 28 Oct 2007 22:41:22 GMT

DSC_2332
Originally uploaded by brianfey.

Doing better at documenting bugs and plants. This tiny bug looked like a moving piece of bark... I figured maybe the bug was carrying a piece, but no.. That is the disguised bug.
I am also trying to use more of the native plants here. I have found two which seem to make good inks.

Sat, 27 Oct 2007 19:04:13 GMT

cool project:
https://www3.nationalgeographic.com/genographic/participate.html

Mon, 22 Oct 2007 22:22:45 GMT

Today a guy brought me a baby rattlenake. I guess I will keep it tonight until I figure out if I should keep it or not. Don't know much about that.

Zoom zoom... thing go along. Highest trail yet on an inclined place is built.
Place cleared for another composting toilet. Blah blah... tons of stuff done... much more needed.
I wish I had time to write up all the trippy stuff.

Working on rancho maps

Sat, 20 Oct 2007 15:34:42 GMT

colors2 copy
Originally uploaded by brianfey.

Trying to define places for camping, trails for horseback riding etc.

Sun, 14 Oct 2007 15:59:23 GMT

a billion new photos posted:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/brianfey/

Sun, 14 Oct 2007 13:41:02 GMT

Tired tired. Stayed up much of the night before last writing in slow simple spanish to make an invite for a few folks to come here.
Gotta make it work.
Ordered more building supplies to come next week.
Gotta build a smaller fenced area to solve immediate issues.

Bought food to feed next guests.
Ankle still hurts. Turning purple now in places, but mostly better.
Need to not walk much, but gotta walk to make things happen.

Zoom!

Zoom and Zonk!

Fri, 12 Oct 2007 16:09:48 GMT

Kinda fried feeling.
I wish I could take a day off, but I am also happy with the work I am getting done.

Had some nice guests visit the other day.

Getting lots of nice emails from old friends. It almost makes me cry with happiness to hear their words and
Behind on responses.
Arg. Must keep going. Zoom.

Construction is going ok with only minor mistakes. I am documenting them all so future toilet will be perfectly made.

I feel like I am juggling a strange mix of things.

The dogs are continuing to be a problem.
Early this morning they were out circling two cows barking and one cow was bleeding from the mouth. I can hear them again right now. I am going to start tying them up regularly at night.

Tue, 09 Oct 2007 01:06:09 GMT

Sprained ankle bouncing in darkness but it got mostly better the next day.

Hosted a nice Seattle person who bought my art in the past. Much chatting and food and drink. Went to a Jaripeo in Uricho.

Composting toilet progressing nicely. Tracking all labor and materials.

Tired cause my mind zooms and I slept zero last night.

Three most guests come tommorrow. Yay!

Dogs killed a cow, or supposedly did. I guy from a nearby town came to tell me. It was an old cow with a value of about $5000 pesos so I compensated him fully without admitting guilt, though likely it was my problem. Ouch!
Me and a local guys theory is that the dogs where running around biting it on the nose and it tipped over into the ditch and couldn't get out. The cow does not seem to have fatal injuries, though it is dead.
They will no doubt be ripping into it soon enough. Ick gross.

I priced fencing. To fence my land would take about 3200 meters of chain link fencing. I need 160 rolls of fencing at $1400 per roll (20 meter rolls) which would cost then $224,000 pesos.
Plus I need to make concrete posts for it, and the labor to make over three kilometers of fencing. Ouch!
Tommorrow I will start tying up the dogs and also choose a closer perimeter to fence.

Thu, 04 Oct 2007 16:09:24 GMT

Lots of projects progressing.
*Prepping the casita for someone to stay a couple days.
*Fourth composting toilet began construction today. It will be bigger than the others but with the same basic design. I have a new albanil (stone and concrete guy) who seems sharp. I want to track time and meterials for this so I can figure out how much building these really costs me.
*Selected location for the first sauna and and now confused about how to actually build it right. Need to order the Rob Roy sauna book. I would prefer to borrow it from the neighbors but since they haven't returned my other books after two requests I think I won't bother.
*Playing with the new telescope and learning enough about astronomy to use it will. Due to the elevation and lack of light pollution here, the stars and milky way show up very well.
*Good Seattle friend planning to come soon. Need to email the other Seattle core folks about coming down.

Mon, 01 Oct 2007 14:00:46 GMT

My hotmail email has been down for several days. Sorry to anyone I have not replied to.

Sun, 16 Sep 2007 15:15:32 GMT

The gardens are producing lots of greens. We can have all the salad we want. Some of the greens are kinda spicy though. Arrugula. spinich, kale, mustard greens, a purple spicy green, a purple non-spicy green, cilantro, parsley, basil etc. Four of my collard greens plants are still alive. They get eaten by local pests, but if I can just get these ones to survive until they seed then I might be ok.
I have learned of several native plants growing in the forest which are good for salads as well.

We have been eating mushooms a lot. There are 4+ good kinds to eat here, though the favorite is oreja de raton since it is easier to clean than the trompas. I tried drying them and that works very well. I should be able to serve mushrooms all year round after I collect enough in the next rainy season.
I need to figure out what level of collection I can do without damaging reproduction.

Great news! My huge stone cistern is finally full! 67,000 liters of water. All the other water storage things are full too.
So for a couple weeks I have all the water I want. As the rains taper off, then we will have to go back into conservation mode. This year I will have 5 times more water than last year, though I will have more guests too.
I still need to build the sauna and more composting toilets.

The face totem pole is nearly done. Now we will have to figure out how to move it to a dryer place, seal it, paint it, build a base, and lift it in.Hmmm...

I had beer with locals in the tiny town several times which was enjoyable.

The dogs are mostly all ok.
Dizzy has some kinda tumor in her tits. The vet says to keep an eye on it and use a cream.
Goldie has been slowing down more and more over time. I was confused by it. She acts sad. So I took her in and the vet diagnosed that she is over 12 years old! The people who gave her to me said she was 3 or 4. The new heart medicine we put her on is having immediate positive effect.
It looks like I may give Hippie and Sebastian to some nice local guys. I will wait until after I can get them fixed.
A little more focus on dog training is improving dog behavior.

A wwoofer and I mapped the community center in Eronga. I gotta figure out some things to do there, though it is nearly impossible since I never go to town ecept to get the things I need to survive here.

A bunch of the adobes we made got rained on. Arg! What a waste.

Many more things going on, but I am too busy to write much.

More pics here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/brianfey

Tue, 28 Aug 2007 00:18:04 GMT

Things are going well.
Some recent challenges but they seem to be getting worked out.

I did some touring with the woofers of the lake area and that was ok. I live in such a cool place, I should explore more. I would love a week or two to just travel Michoacan. I have been here 3 years now with never a time free to just go and see places. There are jungles and caves and deserts and cities... so nearby.

Still not caught up on posting old photos. I am getting emails from folks from past festivals or shoots, which is always nice. I have known or met such amazing people. It is nice to hear what they are doing with their lives. Lives are like sculptures.
I heard from my dad, who I don't talk to much. We don't talk much since I misplaced my faith. It is a loss for both of us. I am so behind on emails people send, and those who make me think I often am slowest to respond to. His is pretty important to me. I now have 3872 messages in my draft folder which at one time I thought I should respond to. Dang.

All the dogs are fine. They are generally doing well, though one or other always has some injury or issue. It is so nice that they are past the puppy stage.
With the woofers around they have been getting more human attention.
Training needs to happen more. They are all trained not to be bad, but few are trained in any way to be good. And.. they are are times a mob .. a pack.. of dogs. They need some work.

The second kitchen is now cleaned up with good help of wwoofers and we can start making healthy food there. Food situation is improving. I am well fed. The ideal of eating locally grown food, preferably with much grown here, is doing better. I still need to build a root cellar. I am making a list of what is in season when so we can pig out in the ideal ways.

I feel often overwhelmed by all which need to get done,.... but I guess slow progress is just fine.

One guy is working on a wooden skull carving. It is going well. I want to make a mold with it. and make concrete skulls in time for the day of the dead.
Overall things are going well. The rains are falling well... and the collection system seems scaled well this year. I am catching much rain, unlike last year when I lost a lot.

Went today to go try to find locally made cheese in the closest village. The people who did make cheese don't now. :( The lady who makes tortillas and bread was not found. Will try again.
I want to go visit the local best cheese guy and learn a little.
I bought his cheese recently and so far as I can tell it is the best cheese made in the state.
(thanks, Jen and others who recommended him!)
I would like to know how to make aged yummy cheese. Not a big priority... but making cheese would be cool. Maybe then I would get goats. More fencing needed first.

Gardens are going well.
I can't tell what will happen since things are expanded much more from last year. I think I will have a massive surplus of large goards or squash.
I wish I could travel into the future 5 years and them come back and tell myself what I should be doing.

Mon, 13 Aug 2007 15:44:40 GMT

Community center in Eronga had a nice party with people playing live music etc.
The new space is far superior to the old one.

Had a pleasant day in Patzcuaro yesterday. Nice brunch with friends.
Bought a bunch of books at a sale to benefit the dog clinic. One is a good atronomy book. Once the rainy season ends I will try to learn some constellations.

New wwoofer arrives today. She will be helping with plant propagation and hopefully help building the cob huts since she has building experience. I think the cob huts could be very cool. They will be simple; no water or anything fancy. That would be better than tents since in the rainy season the rain can go right through a camping tent.
She sounds pretty motivated to help improve the food situation too.
She will be bringing down the new video camera so I should be able to start making decent videos on various permaculture topics. I am thinking it would be good to tour some of the other local permaculture farms expecially those ahead of me in various ways. One of them having David Holgrem in for a workshop. I wish I could go to that but I am too busy just now.

Cool food movie? http://www.superchargeme.com/
Interesting new city: http://money.cnn.com/magazines/business2/business2_archive/2007/08/01/100138819/index.htm?postversion=2007080612

Thu, 09 Aug 2007 21:14:08 GMT

Slow progress.

Beto made a new sculpture in the form of a skeleton. Full body, though only about 4 feet tall. It looks like something from a Tim Burton movie. I will wait for it to dry then paint it.

I think I will have him make a 2 foot skull from which to make a mold so I can cast more skulls. Skeletons are popular around here. From the whole day of the dead thing.
And the Catrina Skeleton Ladiesare popular too.
http://www.theartofmexico.com/gallery/Fgallery2-1.jpg
http://www.michoacanart.com/4-Mexican%20Day%20of%20the%20Dead%20Theme%20Art.htm

The new totum pole is going well... for some reason he stopped working on it. I really like the completed side and now I want the other done.

The large squash or goards I planted are going like gangbusters. If they can reach maturity before the dry season I will have many seeds for next year and I will be able start carving and drying them to see what can be made of them. The greens garden is doing well. Last year I planted about 12-20 types of greens and let them go to seed to see what would come back. Three kinds did, and two quite well I will let them goto seed again and collect the seeds to try in more locations. Essentialy I will be psuedo-naturalizing them and they will also be slowly evolving to this environment by natural selection. That will be a huge win. They grew with zero fertilizer though this year and zero water added.I am adding cow shit to the gardens to see what result that has. Each feedback loop on a new plant takes 1-2 years, so it seems slow to learn.
I am very pleased and by next year I should have enough to harvest and eat as well. Of the collard greens, only two plants survived but they should be perrenial and hopefully this year will produce seed. The problem for them is that tusas... some kind of mole or gopher eat the roots from below and the plants just dissapear. Locals say to poison the tusas, but I am hoping I can grow faster than they can eat them. Perhaps I need to find a native predator for them. If I didn't have so many dogs, then likely the natural predators would reproduce more. So far as I know the dogs have only killed one tusa.
It turns out that some of the local native greens are edble so I plan to encourage those.
There are more mushrooms this year, presumably because I got harvesting to be limited last year. Unclear. I occasionally I pick them and throw them at nearby trees to spread the spores. Soon I want to get in the habit of cooking some as well.
One lady made spicy mushroom tacos from the ones here. They were extremely tasty. Super tasty. I will have to try a few methods of using them. Maybe mushrooms with a very light yellow curry would be good.
I am trying drying some as well, but I don't think some kinds are going to dry well and I still have not built an ideal solar dryer.
The undergrowth in general seems more this year which is a great sign. I am seeing a lot more butterflies and bees taking advantage of flowers.
The near natives I planted are also doing well. All the catnip I grew is gone and I suspect the cats had something to do with it. Kali Spot was playing with Honey Cupcake more nicely and so Kali was even being friendly rubbing up against Cupcake until suddenly lashing out at his face.
I want to take the last of the dogs in for sterilization next week so I can make sure no more puppies happen. It is always kinda gross since the dogs barf in the van from the anestesia and bumpy ride home. But I have a tarp in the van now. Mambo is now healed to a point where there is no further risk of infection. all the dogs except honey have gotten past the destructive adolescent phase and honey is improving. Kali Spot still is a cat and does weird things. She seems to think it is fun to jump on my shoulders while I type and and then slobber on me which apparently she thinks is affection. The other cats have their own lives in the forest and I only see them when they feel like saying hi. I think they have greater freedom than they otherwise would since the dogs go on several mob patrols in the day and night. One coyote howls and they all apeshit. They have learned to howl too. It is a good thing I don't have neighbors.

My youtube video uploads get stuck in the middle at various points. No idea why. I did manage to fix the old camera enough that I should be able to get the data off them.
I continue to upload photos from past social life and adventures in Seattle. Some are events and settings I created which encourages me that I may be able to do that again, though with more depth and substance. Simply surviving seems like such a distraction.
Apparently I seem of aloof.

I have gained some weight due to eating more food and not doing much but reading things online and uploading photos. It really is amazing how little food a person needs. Starting next week there will be a major effort to begin eating in the absolute best ways. Local and healthy.

Apparently I name a good social impression at a recent social event due to being a little more open and less shy and dancing.

The place is still a total fucking chaotic mess, but an upcoming cleanup effort should allow me to begin inviting some folks up although the road is still a major impediment to that. No word on the new road, and I am not going to drive the project.
No painting work. Hopefully other factors will put me in the right state of mind. Some of the areas I ripped up to make trails are now healing nicely.

Wed, 08 Aug 2007 15:29:12 GMT

Fat Mona playing:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=f7O-dsiQQJs

Might not be work safe.