So much more than food

Foraging is about so much more than finding food-

it's about finding your place in th' world, in your community,

and ultimately, it's about finding yourself-

I stood by th' river and watched a heron hunting. 

He was looking for food, i was looking for food. 

We watched each other stalk around, 

i felt honored to be in his presence-

i wonder how he felt to be in mine. 

I followed th' river in th' direction of it's flow, 

came across a couple of large bull thistles,

favorite food of th' gorilla, 

favorite food of mine.

A little further along- 

I'm wondering at a Cow Parsnip, how it got this low in elevation-

there are two of them next to each other-

i taste some, grab a stalk to take home and share, 

leave th' rest there- 

this is a plant that will stay with you forever.

I decide to check on our resident hemlock population-

a deer watches me cross th' field- 

i find a dead beaver, 

and chewed willow mixed up in th' hemlock patch

animals are a lot like us, i think.

I move on-

snack on some spruce tips- 

head for th' linden trees which brought me out here.

I find some linden leaves ripe on a tree i'd not seen before,

collect a salad's worth, and head home-

plans change, 

i never made it to th' trees i thought i was heading towards-

still i found something worth taking home-

and a little bit of food too. 

Spring, 2014

Th' Thunder beings are very active this year. 

This is a good sign, it will be a great year. 

Here are some photos of spring.

would you like a  mushroom?

foraging is hard work

Adventures of a spoon

I've often felt that wooden spoons have a life of their own. But when i programmed a mini robotic camera to watch this one i got quite a surprise. After reviewing th' photos it appears that this guy had quite an adventure the other day. I'll show you th' pictures and surmise what must've happened. 

Th' first photo shows our spoon, which for th' sake of clarity i shall call "Thomas," catching some rays on what appears to be a gravelly riverbed. 

Here's a shiny piece of Mica that was seen lying next to Thomas.

Just above th' river was a trail leading up this mountain, a trail which Thomas appears to have followed.

Here he is checking out th' scenery.

And here we see Thomas froliking in th' trees.

Looks like Thomas found this guy up on th' mountain. They appear to have traveled together for a while, but he eventually caught up to th' rest of his family.

Here are some views of th' trail.

And here's Thomas lounging on a log, probably taking a nap. Hard to tell though, spoons always appear to be taking a nap.

Then this guy walked by barefooted, so Thomas followed him around for a while. 

 

He looked hungry and thirsty, so Thomas tried to help him out a bit. 

And to return th' favor, he appears to have let Thomas hitch a ride on his hat.

Up on top of th' mountain looked like a good spot to catch some more sun and warm up a bit.

Gets cold in march in th' mountains. 

But alas, th' time had come to go back down.

There was, apparently, time to climb a bit more on th' way down. 

And to bury himself in th' snow for a bit. 

And by th' time we got home, there was Thomas, just where we left him that morning. 

(He has no idea he'd been followed, and we're not going to tell him.)

Cheers.