Gearing Up!

It has been a long time since I have done a proper post … too long. My journey is, as always, busily filled with living life while trying to fit it learning and growing as a part of the natural world. Rest assured, I am still treading this MooseBoots trail. In fact, I have both an exciting announcement and a request for assistance.

Big Little Sister is now an adult and a world traveler. She recently completed one of the things on her list of 100 things (her bucket list) by traveling to Dubai, United Arab Emirates. This was her first trip overseas and she completed it alone. We have encouraged her to live out her dreams now, while she is young, and then get tied into life.

One of the other things on her list is to through hike (hike end to end non-stop) the Appalachian Trail. Big Little Sister has been purchasing her gear over the last year or so … carefully researching each piece of equipment needed and buying it with an eye toward having to carry it for the full AT. As a trial run, she plans to hike the 100 Mile Wilderness later this summer.

As a concerned parent, I told her that I did not wish her to try this alone. I asked her to find a partner for the trip. I also told her that if she couldn't find one that I would hike it with her. To which she responded, “We go in August.”

Photo by BobWalker

I can not tell you how excited I am to have this opportunity to spend time in nature with my daughter!

We have been passively planning this for the last few months. I convinced my boss to allow me to roll over (against published company policy) 2 weeks of vacation time to spend on the trail. I have begun reading everything I can about gear, about the trail, about anything related.

Of course, the harsh reality is that I now have less than 2 months to gear up. Even more harsh, I do not have the finances to be able to purchase the extensive list of gear needed for the two week outing. So, I need your help.

Here are some ways you could help:

• Click on this link, Expedition Kit Contest, and enter, which will give me bonus entries into the contest. If you win, I might ask you to borrow your gear.
• Round up any gear that you might have around. I would love to take it off of your hands, even just for a couple of weeks.
• If you, or someone you knows, works for (or owns) a company that makes this type of equipment and would like to sponsor the trip, please let me know. I will take seconds that are otherwise unsalable.
• While I would prefer one of the previous options, you could make a donation using the button on the sidebar. I will use the money to fund the trip, but would really rather you let me use your gear.
• Share this post with all of your friends and family! Post a link on all of your social media sites, too.

I will post a complete listing of the gear I plan to carry along with the current equipment weight. If an item does not have a weight listed, it is because I do not yet have one to use. While I am not seeking brand new, cutting edge technology, please bear in mind that I will need to carry the full equipment list and 20 pounds (10 kilograms) of food for 100 miles.

One might ask what all of my learning has been for, if I plan to take all of this gear. I intend to forage foods along the way. I also intend to try to do this as primitively as possible, but I want to be prepared in case my skills are not up to the challenge, Yes, it is a better safe than sorry argument.

Big Little Sister will be carrying a camera to capture the sights. I will be carrying a journal to write my observations. I would post real-time posts, but I understand that cell service is very sketchy in that part of the country. So, you will have to wait for photos and thoughts. Who knows, it might even turn into a book.

I think my MooseBoots journey is going to take an enormous turn this summer!

I am so grateful for the chance to do this with my daughter, for your support in this, and for the Universe's continued guidance in all things.

Chanterelle

The chanterelles are starting to pop up after a few days of rain.

It is still a little early for blueberries.

I love Foraging Sundays!

Hazelnuts

Blueberries Are Starting To Ripen

Foraging Sunday

It took all day, but the smoked venison roast was delicious! Oh, and everything else was found in our little quarter acre slice of heaven ... Even the oyster mushrooms!

Life is good.

Foraging Sunday Dinner

Yesterday, I scored some oyster mushrooms and dryad saddles! Sautéed with wild greens and a side of rainbow trout, it sounds like dinner.

Maple Buds

Warm spring weather is here.

Spring Springing

The blueberry bushes are starting to bud. I apologize for the blurriness.

Life is good.

We Are In The Local Bookstore

So, I walked into a coffee shop / bookstore and there we were!

Blueberry Tweet

https://twitter.com/EricBrown1969/status/618890374308741120

Red Belted Polypore

I spotted this 30 meters off the trail!

Lady Slippers

Lovely flowers to share the woods.

Mayflower

A new friend!

Wintergreen Wonderment

The snow has gone revealing all of the wonderful year-round ground cover.

Alarming Events - A Real Wake Up Call

I awoke to the cardinals singing.  Perhaps, they knew I would be tapping trees today, and were beckoning me to rise and get moving.  Or, they were singing with pure bliss that Spring is here after a long, snowy Winter.

Other thoughts filled my head.  I was thinking about the class about backyard maple sugaring that we plan to offer this year.  More precisely, I was considering how to help people find maples when it is just time to tap.  I have been asked many times, but wanted to find a way to show it rather than just describe it.  Lying on the bed, I pulled the curtains aside to look at the sky.  This perfect descriptive view greeted me.

The tree on the left is a maple.  The one on the right is an oak.  Just looking at the photo as is, we can see some of the difference.  Closer inspection of a real tree, not a photo taken with a phone, will yield others.:

• Maple branch and twig ends are slender.  Oaks twig ends flare out.
• Maple branches gracefully sweep toward the sky.  Oak branches twist and bend with each fork.
• Maples will shed all of their leaves in the fall.  Oaks will often hold some of the dry leaves.
• Maple twigs and leaf buds are arranged in an opposite configuration.  Oaks prefer to be alternate.

 

• Maple sap will start flowing about a month before that of the oaks.  Check the tips of the twigs for signs of life.  Early in the season the buds will be small on the maple trees, but they will be alive.  In fact, the buds will be fully developed, full size and obvious, at the end of the sugaring season.  My trees are Red Maples and when the sap starts to flow the tips of the twigs turn red instead of the gray the showed through the Winter.
• Maples will drop maple leaves.  Oaks drop oak leaves and acorns.  If the ground is not too snowy, check the base of the tree to see what is there.  Obviously, this will work better if there is only one  type of tree in the area or if the tree is standing alone.
• Maples, when tapped this time of year, will produce sap.  Oaks will not (see bullet above about sap flow).  Note, it is OK to make mistakes, because that is how we learn (sometimes we need to learn this lesson two years in a row).
• If you are not in a hurry, you can wait for the Summer and make note of you maples for next year.

Yes, the cycle of the year has taken us back to sugaring season!  With each passing year, this MooseBoots learning feels more and more right.  I am truly blessed.

 

 

 

 

SIDE NOTES:

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Spring Is Ringing The Door Bell ... Welcome It In

I like to think that I have developed a bit of awareness of my surroundings.  I know that I would like to continue to hone these skills.  I am so proud when Little Fire Faery points things out in nature ... a bird in a tree, a snake, a plant.  Her casual, easy connection with the Earth, and its host of beings, inspire me to work harder.

This Winter has been a particularly snowy one for us.  Well, really January and February were.  I recall thinking, in December, how mild the Winter was and how we would have plenty of firewood.  Perhaps, I jinxed us, but we received a number of storms that dumped more than a foot of snow at a time.  It gets harder to shovel the snow as the season winds on.  Usually, there are some warm days that help the snow settle a bit .... snow banks get a bit shorter.

This year, I have really become aware of the cardinals.  It happened a week or so ago, when it seemed like a few more big snow storms were taking us in their sites.  On morning, I opened the door to let the cat out and it hit me right in the face.  The world had exploded into cheery cardinal song, with calls and songs, surrounding me.  I could hear calls in every direction.

Cardinals and chickadees are year-round residents for us.  While the chickadees will sing their songs in the worst of the winter, often in the midst of storms, I don't remember ever hearing the cardinals.  I have seen them silently huddled in trees, or flitting to a feeder for a snack.

In some nature cultures, the cardinal is the daughter of the sun.  For me, this is particularly significant this year.  I have taken the cardinals as the messengers, carrying Spring in their songs, singing it back to us.  I have heard their song every day since that one.  The forecast is starting to show signs that the weather is turning.  I am watching the maples for signs that it is time to tap.

Spring is here!  And, had I not started down this MooseBoots path, had I not begun trying to reconnect with the Earth, I would not be so filled with joy at hearing this beautiful song.

May your day be filled with beauty and warmth.

The Pressure Is Building

This is the first day in a long time that the temperature is expected to reach into the upper 30s here.  It has caused me to really begin thinking about the coming sugaring season!  I can not wait to get out and tap the trees.

Oh yeah ... we are planning to continue Foraging Sundays with more emphasis on storing foods to be able to go year round!

My winter slumber is nearing its end.

Foraging Sundays - Weeks 11 and 12

This week has been an incredibly abundant week, but I need to fill you in on the very short story of last week first.

Last week, I cancelled Foraging Sunday.  It was with a very heavy heart and considerable self-flagellation.  It seems that on Week 10 ... rather after foraging on Week 10 ... I found a new friend ... poison sumac.  It was not during my forays into the woods for food, but while cutting vines to make a basket for gathering the hazelnuts I have been anticipating.

The new neighbor was tucked neatly into the vines.  Now, I can not honestly say that I didn't see it ... I did ... I just didn't really pay it too much mind.  I tend to be a little cavalier about nature ... if I am respectful and open about my activities, no bad will come.  I saw the plant ... I didn't recognize it ... I didn't research it ... I IGNORED it!

I did not know I came in contact with anything until the next afternoon when the contact dermatitis rash started to appear.  Of course, by then it was too late to really assess the full extent of the exposure.  I do not like taking medicine and turned, as I often do, first to herbal remedies.  I started vigorously scouring jewelweed into the rash.  I broke open all of the now obvious blisters, rubbing my skin raw.  I tried to relieve the itch and rash for a few days to no avail.  By day 3 or 4, I stopped treating at all, figuring that the worst was past.  By day 5, the swelling started.  By day 7, Wendy was panicked enough that I reluctantly agreed to visit the local quick care clinic.  I had a hard time arguing while unable to bend my right arm or leg, yellow crusty streaks coursing down my legs.

I do strive to impress.  The nurse noted that normally people do not show up with cases as bad as mine.  Really, I thought 15% coverage was a small number.  Normal people come in when the rashes are the size of a computer mice.  Did I mention that I don't really like to go to the doctor?

Regardless, the next stop was the pharmacy to fill the prescriptions for Prednisone and antibiotics.  I started the Prednisone immediately.  The antibiotics ... not so much.  Instead, I used garlic.  I ate 4 raw cloves of garlic a day for the next 5 days, after which point I didn't really think I had any sort of infection.

After the trip to the clinic and Wendy's apparently convincing argument to give me a note to stay home for the next two work days, I conceded defeat and cancelled Foraging Sunday Week 11.  I am so sorry to disappoint you all.

Yesterday, 7 days into the 12 days of Prednisone, feeling good and much less swollen, although just as itchy, I started looking for food for this week.  I started with the hazelnuts.  I noticed the husks were starting to turn yellow and decided to pick.  In all of the rest of years of my life, I have probably gathered a total of 25 hazelnuts ... small, little, tiny nuts.  The squirrels, chipmunks, and others always seemed to beat me to them.  Yesterday, I gathered 5 pounds of hazelnuts, and I have not even visited all of the 50 bushes I identified this spring.  Call me silly, but I was reluctant to go dashing off in the woods willy-nilly in shorts and a tee-shirt while still battling the current itchy affliction.  I will visit them next week, most likely cautiously clad in full length pants and shirt that will be removed and placed in the washier immediately upon my return.

In the afternoon, the girls and I took our bikes and went out to see what we could find.  I told them to be on the look out for hazelnuts, berries, mushrooms, and such.  We did manage to find a small number of chanterelle mushrooms, thanks to the recent rains.  We also discovered (about 1 week late) a nice patch of black trumpet mushrooms that were too old to eat, but worth noting for later in the year.

Upon returning home, I suggested the girls gather some of the feral apples that were dropping in the neighbors yard.  Hey, it's my sandbox ... I make the rules ... feral apple trees are forage!  They left without so much as a grumble and returned a short while later with 8.5 pounds of small, gnarly, splotchy apples.

This brings us to Week 11.  Today, we started out with a lovely applesauce.  I took 1/3 of the apples and cut them into small pieces.  These pieces, still sporting bits of peel, were boiled in water to mush.  I was worried that I had placed too much water in the pan (maybe I did, but it boiled off quickly enough).  The contents were then strained through a food mill, which took all of the peels out and let through a nicely textured sauce.  I returned it to the pan ... remember, too much water.  Then, I added a bit of sugar and some cinnamon.  I would have used maple syrup, but I fear we will not have enough for the coming winter.

Voila!  Breakfast!

After breakfast, I needed to run the girls to the dance school.  I figured I would stop at a few stops along the way home afterwards in between the errands I needed to run.  That all changed when ....

On the way, I noticed a roadkill Whistle Pig (it's just another name for a groundhog).  It was fresh within 24 hours.  It was not there yesterday and it was now.  Marmots (I am full of names for them), are diurnal, so it was hit late in the afternoon yesterday or this morning.

I immediately picked up the phone.  It would seem that I am truly a DOG person ... I tend to bring home dead things.  I asked, "how would you feel about me bringing home a roadkill woodchuck?"  Wendy was hesitant, but, after admonishing me several times about not eating(or bringing it in the house) it if it smelled bad, agreed.  Funny, she sniffed it after I was done cleaning it!

With a new focus, I finished running the days chores and even stopped to look for more chanterelle.  Instead, I found a handful of milkweed pods small enough to eat this week as a lasagna (right, Wendy?).

Dinner was a lovely soup made with Whistle Pig, chanterelle mushrooms, dehydrated wild greens, feral apples, jerusalem artichoke flour, mint and chives.  Oh, and we had some of the 1.5 pints of applesauce left over from breakfast.

I still have 1 quart of soup and 1 pint of applesauce for lunch tomorrow.  By now, I think my co-workers expect strange foods to be in my lunch bag.  I just wonder what they'll think tomorrow.

The weekend has been filled with such an abundance of food.  We are blessed to be able to learn the  things and to grow.  This has been our most successful week yet!  Here is to more to come.

As for the Sumac, I take this as a lesson.  Be aware!  Pay attention and be curious!

Poison sumac, for the reminder, I am honored that you chose to be my teacher in this.  Please, accept my humblest (and itchiest) apologies for slighting you.  I  recognize your power and your right to be.  You are truly a unique, unassuming being.

Foraging Sundays - Weeks 7-10

In spite of the hectic pace of our modern lives, Wendy and I have continued to challenge ourselves with foraging all of our food on Sundays.  We are learning quite a bit, perhaps more about modern life than about foraging, but there are certainly some incredible moments.  For instance, one lesson that echos very clear each week is that one must have the time to actually go out and find food, unless one knows where it is and when it will be there.  The native people in this are had such knowledge and the time to gather the foods and store them for the coming winter.  We, on the other hand, are still learning and growing.  We follow along the best we can.

Three of the last four weekends have been consumed with my participation in a local production of the Full Monty.  It was fun ... I love theater ... but it is incredibly time consuming.  This often meant having only an hour to go find food on Sunday before leaving for the show.  And, try as we might, we could not seem to find the time to plan ahead.  Thankfully, we have been given many fish throughout this adventure.

In keeping with the spirit of the challenge, we are trying to learn to fish, we are learning new plants, and we are checking new areas (or old areas) with our newly found skills.  I am brushing up on hunting skills and paying attention to what is growing (or moving) in the areas I visit.  We are storing extras when we can, like the 1.5 lbs of blueberries we picked this past weekend.

So, without further ado, here are the meals we have eaten.

Week 7

Wood sorrel soup with blueberries

Week 8

Chanterelle, jerusalem artichoke, purslane stir fry with blueberries.

Week 9

 Blueberry and jerusalem artichoke cobbler

 Blue gill fillets, purslane stir fry, with blueberries

Week 10

Blueberry, chanterelle, purslane stir fry with spicy wood sorrel soup

As you can see, we have relied on the blueberries and greens with every meal.  We have added them to stir-fry, we have eaten them raw, and we have baked them into a pie with Jerusalem Artichoke flour crust!  Our staples have been chanterelle mushrooms, blueberries, purslane, dandelion greens, wood sorrel, and jerusalem artichokes.

While we are not eating nearly as much as we would normally on Sunday, we are getting enough.  It has shown us that we don't need so much.  Most Sundays, we have been satisfied even with only a single meal. That is not to say that we will not be trying harder to fish and find new foods.  We know that the blueberries will be around for another week, the raspberries are ripe, and that the blackberries are coming soon.  There is food.  We have even stored up some dehydrated blueberries for the winter to come.  We will not starve, but we are watching ... hunting season opens in a month.

Next week, Saturday is currently open ... no weddings, shows, and such ... we hope to spend more time fishing and gathering.  Maybe, we'll be able to scrounge together 2 full meals!

We are truly blessed to receive what we have.  The Universe has so much to offer!

Foraging Sunday - Weeks 5 and 6

Wow!  It has been six weeks.

I watched, with amusement, this evening as a chipmunk enjoyed some of the scrap I gave to the chickens.  The irony was not lost on me ... I am trying to learn to find food in the wild, while he was learning to find food away from his nature environment.  He lives, everyday, in the wild, eating, breathing, living.  I live, everyday, in an artificial, alien place, which attempts to convince me that the natural world is there to be exploited, reviled, and abhorred.  Silly really.  I guess we are both just looking to find a way to be at peace with out lots in life.

Wendy and I have been following along with the challenge.  Week 5 was a little sparse.  We have a decided lack of skill in the time between greens and berries.  I am sure there is plenty to eat, and we could have gone out for more periwinkles, but we did not.  Instead, we stretched out skills a bit and foraged flowers.  There were many options ... milkweed, clover, rose, etc.  We also took advantage of a gray area - abandoned plants, which took the form of a massive grapevine that has been feral for several years.  With these, Wendy whipped up a nice flower soup with a butter base and some stuffed grape leaves (stuffed with flowers).  And, thankfully, we were given an 18" pickerel, which I learned to clean (it was significantly less work than cleaning a rabbit).


There was only one meal, but it left us satisfied.

This week, I was concerned.  Wendy is away with the girls.  I was left to my own devices.  Saturday, I took a stroll with the dogs to an area I haven't visited for a few years.  I knew that I had learned a lot and wanted to see what I had missed in earlier visits.  All I can say is ... Yee Haw!

I took the dogs, who were a significant impediment, but I still succeeded.  We walked for a couple of hours.  In that time, I marked, with the GPS, several more Hazelnut bushes.  I also spied a fresh mushroom growing near some old one on a broken off tree (which I misidentified).  I was fairly certain that I knew what they were and so I picked them.

In "Browsing Nature's Aisles", we emphasize using at least sources for identification of things you do not know well.  I was able to search the internet and find pictures (resource 1), I looked through a mushroom book (resource 2), I posted a photo on a Facebook Mushroom group local to my area (resource 3), and I used an on-line identification key (resource 4 - BONUS) to verify that it was indeed an Oyster Mushroom (Pleutorus populinus)!

And, in addition, I found a new blueberry patch with newly ripening fruit.  Of course, the dogs were done and I didn't have a container for berries.  I returned on Sunday in the morning without the dogs, who seemed relieved to be able to stay home instead of accompanying me.  In a short time, I picked 1.5 pints of lovely blueberries. for my meals.  I was a little concerned that this would not be sufficient to squelch my hunger.

Sunday was a very busy day.  I am acting in a local production of "The Full Monty" and we were running the technical aspects of the show prior to the opening this week.  It meant that I would be out of the house for 9 hours or so ... no time to find more food.

It turned out that the mushrooms, sauteed in butter and garlic and a pint of blueberries were enough for the day.  I still have half a pint in the fridge.

Even in the face of everyday problems, like a roof that needs repairs and more bills than money, I am in awe of the abundance that the Universe offers - the gifts, the lessons, the love.  Oh, as is my custom, I asked for a message or lesson while I was out.  The response was a pair of hawks swooping into a nearby tree, calling to each other, playing in the branches.  They allowed me to see them before darting away again, leaving me grinning.

It is officially berry season.  Foraging Sundays have just gotten a lot easier.  I am still trying to learn to fish for myself, but I know now that I will eat.

With gratitude and love, I continue to learn and grow.