My Parents' Farm

January 12, 2018

Looking out over the pasture where cattle graze in the spring and summer

Farm sign my mother had made, featuring a herding dog

My plane landed at Charles de Gaulle airport this morning at 7am.  I am exhausted but feel like my busy week in the US was important and productive.  I spent the last half of it at my parents' farm, Stillfields.  I did not grow up at Stillfields---my parents moved there shortly after my father retired from his position as a corporate tax attorney---but my extended family has had many happy moments there over the past decade and a half.  It has become a summer gathering place for my siblings and me, along with our children, sometimes joined by spouses and our Chicago aunt and uncle.  As my parents age, spending time there with them is gaining importance. 

After his retirement, my father threw himself enthusiastically into his longtime hobby of fine woodworking.  My mother is a professional printmaker and a certified master gardener and has always had a keen sense of style.  Together, they have created a beautiful and distinctive and welcoming refuge.  

Down the allee of walnut trees

T-shirt proof

 By the way, the "FarmFest" print here is a proof of a t-shirt design, one in a long series we have made over our summer visits.  This has been a favorite ongoing activity at the farm.  Depending on our whims, we would use some of my mom's old wood blocks, carve our own linoleum blocks, or both.  Typically, I would make a "logo" for the t-shirts each year out of linoleum block.  Then we would buy a bunch of plain t-shirts at Walmart and use mom's professional printing press and inks to create runs of t-shirts.  There was always a lot of experimenting with t-shirt colors, ink colors, placement of logos and other images, etc.  I have amassed quite a collection of Stillfields t-shirts (Lazy Days at Stillfields, Dog Days at Stillfields, Pioneer Days at Stillfields, Farmfest, etc.). 

My mom's studio, and some of her prints

I took a number of photos while I was there.  I think these give a sense of place.  The furniture and artwork that my parents collect has always been an eclectic mix:  family pieces, other antiques, some of their own work, and many pieces from friends or artists or craftsmen that they have come to admire.

Three dogs, Skyla, Finn, and Gael

Another view of the studio

Their cat Starbuck and a watercolor by my
mother's first art teacher, Floyd Hopper

A pie safe that my dad made

The back porch with a print of Gael

One of my mom's award-winning prints

Watercolor by a friend of my mom's

A fold-out table made by my dad

Handcarved bowls, some by Bill Day

Japanese prints

Another watercolor by Floyd Hopper

Finally, here is a photo of the top of a table that my mom and I found at an antique store.  It was a sturdy extension table made of quarter-sawn oak, probably from the turn of the 20th century, judging from the style of its legs.  All of the extensions were missing, though.  We bought it and brought it back to the farm.  The next time I visited, the table was in the dining room, cleaned, with a full set of extensions (four in total, I think), and looking beautiful.  My dad had painstakingly chosen new quarter-sawn oak, fashioned extensions from it, and finished them to match the table.