Stash Studios

When Pigs Fly

“Dai due regni di natura, piglia il cibo con misura” ~ “From the two kingdoms of nature, choose food with care.” An Italian adage that frames the philosophy behind Dai Due (Austin) and was the underlying theme for a weekend of hog hunting in the Hill Country.

A dear friend who eats meat but calls herself "city" was slightly squeamish to hear that I was rendering lard and cracklings  last night while Mr. Stash was breaking down a boar on our kitchen counter with a alarmingly large saw. I have to be honest with you. We've never done this in our lives. Both of us are at least one, possibly two generations away from having the need to butcher for survival.

Though I lived for several years as a vegetarian, I eat meat now and I'm completely disillusioned with the industrial factory farm system through which most of what we consume gets passed. So when Jesse (Dai Due) offered us the chance to join him and Tink (Off the Fly) and the guys at Madroño Ranch (Medina), we jumped at the chance. I had just read the article in Texas Monthly and found the idea that I didn't know something as elemental as this irritatingly bourgeois.

A force of gravity
drawn to the other end
of experience
so that I could more thoroughly honor
the honest fact
that
I cut
skin
for art
and
a living

Friday evening was my first time to sit in a blind and wait. I told my daughter later that this was much like sitting on an airplane for a long flight watching a silent foreign movie. The space was compact. No cell phone service. We had to be remain still, quiet, and fairly scent free. Four hours passed with nothing more than a few cardinals in range. Then two large hogs wandered into our line of sight. I pointed. He shot. The guys ran out to track and I paused. I despise gratuitous gore but there is nothing inessential about this moment. It was our solemn duty to see this through. An honor really.

I can best equate this experience to childbirth
it is a messy threshold of sorts
a transformational crossing
and to those on the other side
no bridge can be built
one must cross it on their own
or remain on
the other
side

Moments later the sun started to sink beyond the hills and the truck full of hunters came to retrieve us. We hopped on back with our hog and bounced down the steep mountain absorbing all the stories of what had passed for each of the men in the last four hours. Tires crunched over limestone and splashed through dark creekbeds as we headed to the gambrel.

I really thought this was going to be the hard part. It had been at least 30 years since I'd seen game hanging in a tree waiting to be dressed. But my husband said before we left that I'm a gauntlet girl. Throw one down. Tell me I can't do it. And I proceed. Full tilt. Words echoing in my wake. Just watch me.

This was
no
red
neck
blood
letting

There
is a beautiful
reverence for
honest wildness of
the animals
here

No hormones
no industrial farms
my food has soul
I saw it

And at the moment it slipped away
it became our responsibility
to retain
its
soul

Tired but satisfied, we headed home for dinner and rest. Just before I fell asleep, I pulled out the one book I brought with me, The Dirty Life and couldn't believe the serendipity when on page ten, this citified, vegetarian writer was helping slaughter a hog, something that ended up being her first step into a new life.

On Saturday morning, the guys all went out on a dawn hunt. It was 20 degrees and my very experienced counterpart was going solo into a solitary stand. Following the morning hunt, the afternoon was consumed with detailed demonstration of butchery, curing, and sausage-making. All the while, Jesse broke down the fresh boars, his chefs swirled around him working on dinner. Never before has a farm-to-table dinner been so utterly close to the farm for me. What was described as a traditional Italian four course meal included no less than twelve unique dishes that utilized the hog from start to finish.

Sunday night we were bone tired from a long drive and little sleep but we broke out a bottle of wine, joked about branding this sWine night, and worked late into the night showing our kitchen more action than it has likely ever seen.

Now
my freezer is full
free range, organic, prime cut meat
bacon, chops, roast, ham, and the beginnings of pancetta, proscuitto, and sausage
the fridge has 16 pints of rich broth that smells like butter
and two pints of lard that incidentally
is healthier than
butter

Refreshing and rare
this weekend was not about who you know
or what you can afford
or what you drive
or where you live
it was about
survival and
choices

Jesse's cookbook arrives this September. Tink is available as your guide to all things wild. The guys run weekend classes on all sorts of wild game. You can find Dai Due at the farmer's market in Austin. And Madroño Ranch is a great source for organic bison as well as a center for writing, art, and the environment.

Looking Forward

Hope this finds you well and warm. The Stash factory is quiet for the holiday and the family is regrouping and planning for 2012 with visions of canvas, wood, adventure and of course, more leather. And inspiring us today is the Canvas Hotel ~ Norway.

Best,

Sweet Summer.

[Erin Pata]

[above shots from find me at the beach]

[Ryan Tatar]

Blue Atelie

A small slice of brilliant blue Brazilian Bohemian chic at the Blue Atelie cottage. A rustic beach cottage for two. Steps away from the white sands of Trancoso beach.

Rancho California

Besides attending Remnants, I spent my weekend at a working grassfed cattle ranch on the central California coast in a 200 year old farmhouse with a nice long clawfoot tub and a few furry mice. As I understand it, the ranch has been in the same family since it was carved out from a Spanish land grant a few hundred years back. I was precisely 15 minutes away from the beach but likely closer by air. 

The grounds were lush and are often used in catalog shoots. The roads into the place are winding and hilly and green, just what you would expect to see in a car commercial since that is indeed where many car commercials are filmed.

This experience taught me a few valuable lessons. First, much like Homeland Security, mice like to inspect your bags upon arrival. Second, when you have been shot through the American air transportation system, you can sleep through just about anything (even mice inspecting personal belongings). And third, throwing a handful of TexMex flavored pepitas out on the stone patio will keep mice occupied for the duration of your stay. (The same technique, however, does not work for HS agents.)

10,000 Words

For Scarlett. Our night watch hen and a few of my Hipstamatic shots from our weekend show at Remnants.

Touch Taste Smell Sound

Completely thrilled about the prospect of this which is surely to be another amazing lovely creation from Gail Chovan, the owner of Blackmail in Austin, Texas. Please support Gail and Zelda and Creed and Evan V and Aaron and their team via Kickstarter.

Best,

Remnants.

[art above | below ~ Junk Girls]

Last week was our first big week of expanded production at the factory. Originally this was simply an exercise to build additional stock for our shops and finally carve out time to perfect prototypes. However, it turns out that I will be heading to CA for another show at the end of April.

At first, I thought this might be a vacation under the guise of research but turns out that my friend Scarlett of Saffron & Genevieve will be a vendor at Remnants of the Past and she will be selling our latest line of Stash bags along with her usual well-curated selection of killer vintage finds.

For more infomation on the show, read Scarlett, Junk Girls, Country Living (April 2011), Remnants facebook and website.

Looking forward to this but expect things to be a little quieter here as my team and I concentrate on production, perfecting, tagging, and shipping.

Have a great week!

Vagabonds and Gypsies.

Right now, at the foothills of central Texas, on 300+ acres of cow pastures, saloons, barns, inns, and dance halls there is a little semi-annual event going on. The music from a well-beaten banjo tings through a starlit night as you walk a wooden bridge over a dry creek bed full of colorful wooden birds. 

Some people refer to it as Warrenton. Others Round Top. Some just call it "the show". It is all at once a fine antique show, a swap meet, a treasure hunt, a garage sale, a spontaneous music venue, a party, a prom, a reunion. 

Oh, folks were speculating that the ravages of a slowing economy and gradual sprall of the show might lead to its demise but to paraphrase Mark Twain, the rumors of its demise have been greatly exaggerated.

My take after 20 years is that it is a living organism. Each time I experience it differently. This year has been no exception. There are a zillion posts on Warrenton/Round Top. There is a website dedicated to helping you wrap your head around the show. So, though I know a lot of secrets that the show holds, I'm going to let you discover it for yourself.

The photos above are not from the show. However, the series from the talented Jeaneen Lund captures some essence of the show for me. Special thanks to Vintage is for Lovers for directing me to Jeaneen.

Feeling Cheeky

In the event you are traveling this season and are feeling cheeky about the whole search process, let your underwear do the talking. Available from 4th Amendment Wear. You're welcome.

Warm regards,