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.

"Now kids, never play with fire."

We recently held a traditional fire making class for kids.

It was a cold day, 12 degrees fahrenheit and snowy, yet still th' kids came out. 

What a great day to make fire.

Learning how to make fire with many different methods is a very empowering skill set to have. 

Fire is one of the basic elements, and has been used by mankind through out history. 

Why, i wonder, did we trade fire for electricity.

Techniques covered in this class were the bow-drill method and flint and steel, and each participant had the option of taking home a fire kit to continue their education.

It's hard to take photos when you're teaching a class, but i did have Alex helping me and th' kids, so i managed to get in a few shots. 

We are planning on doing a follow up class, and a more advanced bowdrill class which will be suitable to those already experienced or grown ups- 

Here are a few shots i managed to get, and again, a link to a blog covering th' class.

Cheers friends. 

Here's Jeremy, one of the few parents who braved th' cold, 3 hour class- he made his first coal and you can see it in his eyes...

Here's Alex showing how to hold th' flint and steel, and then how to prepare and hold your tinder bundle

Here's Rosemary, who graciously hosted th' class on her farm, blowing a coal into flame.

Some bow-drill practice

The snow packed down quick and made it really tricky to hold th' fire boards in place, everyone did really well under such challenging circumstances, which is often what you will find in the wilderness.

Thanks to everyone who came out.

We'll be leading more classes and foraging tours this year, if you'd like to be notified, send us an email or comment with your email address and we'll add you to our mailing list. 

(rico and beth at g mail) 

Cheers.