I finished throwing all of my left over re-claimed trimmings into smaller jars, just to use up the clay. I forced dried them out in the sun and wind, thrown one day turned the next and into the kiln on the 4th day. This other batch of sericite is very forgiving!

I bisque fired all my jars last week and loaded them into the Museum’s truck for the slow drive up to the wood kiln area, a few hundred metres up the hill from the residency. I can walk there direct, cross country, a much shorter route, but the truck has to take the gentle road more traveled.

Everything arrived intact, with me sitting in the back cuddling the rear row, to stop them rolling out the back. I glazed them all in one day and then packed the kiln over 2 days. It was very nice to be there on my own, taking my time, thinking it through as I go. I stopped and unpacked parts of it twice to get it right, or at least better – hopefully?

I didn’t get everything in, but about 2/3 of the big jars and half of the smaller ones. I have booked the kiln for another firing for next Tuesday. I won’t have enough to fill the kiln, but about half. I will share the space with the other resident artists.

I bricked the door up in the evening and got it all sealed and slurried over ready to fire yesterday. Today I spent time splitting pine into some quite fine sticks. The size usually associated with side stoking. For the non-potters reading, that means split into very thin sticks about 50mm sq. I will need this small size of wood to start the fire gently, eventually building up to using larger pieces and then logs.

I went out early this morning to water my garden and do a bit of weeding, as it wasn’t raining. I picked my green leaves, chilli, tomato and red radish for my salad lunch. When I gazed down the road, I saw a truck parked in the village driveway with what looked like a load of oak firewood. I was hoping that it was for me, as I was promised it in time for tomorrow’s firing. Later on in the day it disappeared?  I was hoping that it was moved up to the kiln area and tipped off into the kiln shed. I had to walk up there this afternoon in the rain to check, and, Yes, it is all in there. So everything is ready for the 2nd firing tomorrow. I will have a couple of the other residents calling in on me to keep me awake through the graveyard shift.

I spent the middle of the day cooking 3 meals to pack away into plastic food containers for the firing, as it will go all day and over night, I’ll need food, as it’s my firing. I’m not at home now. So can’t just slip into the house to make a cuppa and make a sandwich.

I’ll need to be here with the kiln most, if not all of the time. No time to go back down to the studio to make a meal. I made chick peas in tomatoes sauce, brown rice with tuna, and stir-fried veggies with brown rice and tofu. I also have 2 bananas, an apple and an orange. That should see me through. People who drop in the watch the firing often bring stuff. last firing, Uhkwan dropped in with a box full of ice creams for us all to share. Most welcome on a hot afternoon in front of the kiln.

I’m always so surprised, when I cycle into town along the road through the valley. to see just how economical and thrifty the local farmers are here. No useful space is wasted. The go to the trouble of hand cultivating the small gap of soil along the curb and guttering, to squeeze in just a few more plants. This is all hand weeded, as there is no room for a cultivator in these narrow beds.

They all have bigger crops of rice and soy beans in the big paddocks and paddies, but can’t bear to see a good piece of dirt go un-cultivated. These are nearly all grandmas and grandpas doing all this work. The average age of the Korean farmer is almost 70 years old. As it is in Japan. That compares to 58 in Australia and the USA and 59 in the UK. Whereas it is 45 in China.

It seems that with the Korean economy doing well, all the kids want professions in the city? Not too many young couples are  staying on the farm and even less are having children. The population is shrinking. The just aren’t that many children about. For instance, the school at the bottom of the hill that I cycle past on my way to the shops has only 10 students this year. I can’t see it staying open for much longer with those numbers?