This article appeared in the Methow Valley News on 11 April 2018
I imagine Igor Stravinsky composed his Rite of Spring (La
Sacre) during spring, while observing a landscape emerging from winter. Perhaps
he listened to a gentle wind blow through the woods – the opening lines of the
woodwinds. Flurries of snow grew into dissonant surges of pouring rain as
harmonies fractured like ice floes breaking free from the river banks. And
then…the rain and wind ebb. The landscape is soft once more, green sprouts push
up through decomposed detritus, steadily stretching towards the sun. A walk
across a snow filled meadow may have inspired the alternating intervals of an
octatonic scale: a half step in a shaded surface still firm beneath his foot,
followed by a whole step when he sunk through a patch softened by the sun.
Stravinksky must have navigated a muddy sloped path as he scribbled ostinatos
across the page, flowing rivulets of snowmelt, seemingly haphazard but all
merging eventually towards the siren call of the river. He writes, "I was
guided by no system whatever in Le Sacre du printemps. When I think of the
other composers of that time … how much more theoretical their music seems than
Le Sacre. I had only my ear to help me. I heard and I wrote what I heard. I am
the vessel through which Le Sacre passed."
Listen here:
The sunny hills of McFarland Creek Lamb Ranch melt out early
in the season, no doubt something the Romney sheep appreciate. Since the 2014
Carlton Complex fire rearranged the landscape, McFarland Creek flows with more
strength through the ranchland, creating a steady roar between the house and
the barn. Alfred and Callie, Maremma sheepdogs, greet owner Katie Haven at the
pasture fence. Freshly shorn sheep lazily lounge about in the spring sun, bags
of shaved wool lean against the barn wall. The new barn went up shortly after the
old barn went down in 2014. The new barn is filled with natural light, the
siding on the top half of the building is clear. “If I don’t shut the door, the
sheep will hang out in here all day,” Katie explained – I guess the sheep like
the new barn as much as everyone else.
Professional sheep shearer, Martin Dibble, visited the
McFarland Creek Lamb Ranch the day before, administering haircuts. You can
watch a video of Martin in action on YouTube, entitled “Martin Dibble Shearinga Sheep”, the sheep looks incredibly relaxed and happy, like I do when I’m
getting a haircut…or a massage…or on vacation.
Katie used to transfer the wool for processing to her shop
on Poorman’s Creek, but in the last year she and partner Bill Tackman built a
new multipurpose building on the ranch that includes a big airy space for
processing garden produce, a walk in cooler cooled by creek water, a woodshop,
an office, and a specialized set up for Katie to wash and dye the wool.
Deep tubs line one wall, with cold and hot water faucets.
The hot water is supplied by a tankless on-demand hot water heater. Large glass
jars hold dried flowers and roots that Katie uses in her natural dyes.
McFarland Creek Lamb Ranch wool is available for sale in all forms: raw,
roving, batting, and spun yarn dyed with natural dyes. Katie’s yarn can
be found online at www.thelambranch.com.
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