FiberTribe

Ernesto is a Fizzle...Thankfully

He is crossing Key Largo as we speak. Here? We have much rain and not over 20 mph winds so mercifully, we have not even lost power.  All those canned soups will stand me in good stead for the remainer of the hurricane season, though. That means all the way through to the end of October. Heh.  Now you know how bowling pins feel.

So here he is in his raggedy-ass approach to our fine state (again, courtesy of NOAA):

Now back to your regularly scheduled programming...

Life as You Know it Comes to a Screeching Wait...

Catherine says it sooo well. Bloody hell. Storm shutters are mostly up. Tomorrow comes the schlepping of plants indoors, all patio furniture gets dragged in between my house and the neighbors and dumped upside down or on its side. Garbage gets picked up (don't we hope) including the recycling which won't get recycled since I can't have it flying around tomorrow tonight at midnight when Ernesto-the-Tropical-Storm-or-maybe-Hurricane gets around to gracing us with its presence here, Chez FiberTribe.   As Holmes would say, "This grows tedious."   

If the power (and the air conditioning) hold, knitting may actually occur tomorrow. who knows?  Meanwhile, I have succumbed to the wonderfulness that is Scout's Knitted Swag. Rosalie is her name. I have NO idea how that happened and neither have I any idea what I'll make with the loveliness. At 1000 yards (it's only one skein, don't look at me in that tone of voice) it may be something LARGE....

So pay me now. Maybe I'll show you what a hurricane-coming-sky looks like...

Eating Local Sunday

Eating local in Florida continues to be limited to avocados, eggs, mangos, and the occasional sea creature.  Last night I was lucky and found some local zucchini and whipped up a zucchini soup cut with local avocado.  Not an entirely sucessful combination.  Florida avocados are much stronger tasting than the Haas avocados one gets out of California.   The avocado puree I added to the zucchini puree overpowered the lighter squash flavors.  I didn't want to go for the lime and cilantro flavoring this time but was going for a creamy texture without adding dairy.  The texture was great, the flavor not so great.  Ah, well. It's always a learning thing when one experiments. Next time less avocado, maybe a heaping handful of my homegrown basil into the mix?  Salt does help the flavors pop, too.

It was green, green, green. Sorry, no pictures for I was lacking in camera inspiration.   And then today, as a contribution to a potluck housewarming party, I made up a batch of Black Powder Biscuits from A Measure of Grace (see my lefthand sidebar), the cookbook and story of Hell's Backbone Grill in Boulder, Utah.   Not local, but damn yummy they were. 

And last but definitely not least, tomorrow starts the preparation frenzy for Hurricane Ernesto. Yes, yes, he is only a tropical storm now but we know where this story is headed.  Here he is in all his tawdry glory (courtesy of www.noaa.gov, yer national oceanographic and atmospheric administration).

You see the problem, right?  Even as a tropical storm, we'll begin feeling the clouds, wind and rain probably by Monday night. Even if it misses us by hundreds of miles.  The size of these storms is increasing exponentially.  Makes sense if you remember that the main function of hurricanes is to disperse heat in the atmosphere.  Damned good thing there is no such thing as global warming, eh? 

German Workers' Unions Rock

Here is a flagship "ad" for one of the biggest German workers' unions,  Ver.di.

Before you jump salty, know that unions in Germany, and in fact, most of Europe, are not the corrupt bully boys too many (but not all) unions are in this country.  They retrain displaced workers, stand solidly for sensible workers' rights and fair wages, and in general behave like you wish our politicians and leaders here would behave.   Plus, they have a wicked and droll sense of humor.  I present to you, "We're knitting up a labor agreement."  The line below it that you can't see says, "These deals don't fall from heaven."  Heh. and this was NOT for a predominantly women's worker group.  The most recent agreement covered doctors.  How cool is this?

Actual Fiber Content

See? I haven't neglected the yarn crawling, O my peeps.  Here is Steamboat Springs' finest yarn shop and its really wonderful proprietor.

That would be Knitch on the Mountain at Ski Time Square.  edited later: This is Carolyn and her store is full of wonderful fiber and color. She does spin and have drop spindles and roving available as well.  In the spirit of not buying anything that can be found on home turf, I came home with a skein of hideously expensive and wonderful ruby colored Tilli Thomas silk with the wee spangles in it. I believe it's called Rock Star.  I just realized that is the same yarn that Stephanie Japel used in her lovely Simple Knitted Bodice design. You see where this is going, right? 

Mr. Ground Squirrel Bites the Big Posole

No, really. I have photographic evidence.  See?

Neena? Don?  See what I mean about keeping the lid on the dutch oven?   Also, notice that blue cup in the had of the woman in the white(ish) pants? That would be Amanda who, along with me, was busy slurping up some day 2 posole when Jim fished Mr. Squirrel out of the big pottery urn used to cook the posole.  Urp.  We tossed the remains out onto the grass and were damned lucky we didn't toss our cookies into the bargain.  But WE ARE STRONG, WE ARE BMWs, heh. That would be, depending on your point of view either:  Burly Mountain Women or (my favorite) Bodacious BOSS Mountain Women. 

If you're heartily sick of seeing gorgeous southern Utah by now, well then just step away from the blog. Still with me?  Here's my solo campsite along Durfey Creek. Diamond shelter with (unused) fire ring. Pendleton blanket hanging out to air.

and  here's a view of the main Durfey Creek camp where we spent a few days learning skills and eating mutton.

Timothy asked if I had been able to maintain 'wilderness mind' as Tom Brown, Jr. of Tracker school fame would refer to it.  Sometimes is the short answer. I find myself spending too much time in front of the computer and not enough time outdoors. Maybe because the outdoors here is not peaceful.  I live in one of the greenest parts of town full of old growth trees and no sidewalks to speak of. And yet, we live all on top of each other and the street, though quiet, is still fairly well trafficked.  Keeping wilderness mind is clearly a skill that I haven't yet mastered.   All helpful hints on this are very welcome. 

The Mistress of Spices

I just finished The Mistress of Spices (see left hand sidebar) by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni.  What a magical, wonderful book.  It's fantastical, allegorical, literal and romantic. Ranges from India to Oakland, California where most of it takes place.  Divakaruni is a wonderful storyteller. Go. You won't be disappointed.  Especially not if you love spices. Who knew that there is a spice for each day of the week?  Guaranteed that you will never walk by a dusty little ethnic food storefront again without glancing inside...
Also, it's so good for travelling far, far away while sitting still in Miami. heh.

Oh. And here is my daily fix of Boulder Mountain and the Escalante high desert. See that wee spot of blue water waaay down there?  About 5 hours before this picture was taken we were all standing next to that very large reservoir lake. Looking straight up at an impossible mountain with a huge cliff at the top. Yup. We did surely walk up it.  at times almost straight up.  After stopping for an hour and a half and snoozing under our ponchos while a thunder and lightening storm passed over and away.  At just under 11,000 feet, hiking up to Point Trail (the name of that lookout) was hands down the the toughest part of the trip for me. 

Here is the desert we hiked through on the last day, heading out of Stair Canyon toward Lampstand. Lampstand is a clearly defined, smallish mesa rising up out of the Flats like a chopped off Devil's Mountain (remember it from Close Encounters of the Third Kind?).  I haven't got a picture of it yet but am sure Jennifer or one of the others on the trip did.  It looks exactly like a lamp base when seen from afar.  Amanda, Matt, Dave, Logan & Mojo actually hiked/climbed up it and howled the twilight down from the top.  Jennifer and I howled back, of course.  The photo below captures the striations and geological time capsule you walk through when you walk through the high desert.

Eating Local

Local being local to Boulder, Utah while I was at BOSS. 

How about:   Local Churro sheep, respectfully and humanely killed by Lori, skinned and butchered by all the rest of us. Meals included:  Blood tacos (blood scrambles with onions much like eggs and is very good), blood sausage, regular lamb sausage with minced garlic and onions,  mutton steamed in the ground with butternut squash (grown locally), onions, garlic, potatoes, air-dried sheep jerky (most yummy of all), sauteed liver and spleen. You'll never eat calves' liver again if ever you dry the delicate, sweet and vaguely lamb chop-y sheep liver. Dave also made posole with mutton adding onions, carrots, garlic and hominy (latter not local). We also harvested wild onions (delicate thistle-colored lily of the valley-like flowers) which are like mild scallions, sedges (one roasts the roots over the fire and they are yummy. ok. we hadn't eaten in three days but they were still yummy), chased by mint tea from mint harvested as we climbed over a large patch of rocks. We also used spelt flour and water to make raisin bread boiled in the sheep's (cleaned) stomach. We leavened the bread dough by rubbing it on the bark of aspen trees. That white powder on the bark is yeast.  This was the best raisin bread I've ever eaten. 

And for our celebration meal, Dave, one of our guides/instructors, harvested fresh swiss chard and giant nasturtium leaves and flowers for a salad (from the BOSS garden) and made up a juniper(local berries) and spirulina and basil dressing.  Haved I redeemed myself, missy Liz???

Wilderness Mind

So since I've been back I've been reading Tom Brown, Jr., specifically, his book, Quest.  He talks about keeping "wilderness mind" whilst living back in the city or suburbs.  He says, and is he ever right on, that it is probably the hardest thing one can do. 

It has been one week today that I walked out of the Utah wilderness and I am already twitching for more.  I am hoping to get away upstate or down to the keys this coming week for a fix of wild.  I still have a core of peacefulness from the wild and want to keep that ember burning. Those of you who love the wild and for whom it is soul food of the most primeval sort, you know just what I mean.

So you want to know more about the BOSS wilderness experience? Well, I've tried telling a few friends about  it but I don't seem to be able to do it justice. It is a life changing experience but not in a huge, hit you over the head way.  It's quieter than that.  As Lori (one of my co-students) aptly put it, "First your body breaks down, then your mind breaks down, then your heart breaks open."  Ok, that last bit about the heart is from me.  But you get the idea.

I learned how to make fire with a bow and spindle,  how to build a shelter with only what the land provides, how to rig a poncho and blanket shelter, how to find certain edible roots, berries, what leaves and plants are anti-bacterial or bacterial-static, what sort of wood burns long and hot and what burns too quickly to keep the fire going overnight.  How to use a knife efficiently and without damaging oneself, how to kill, skin, butcher and use just about every part of a sheep, how to steam food in the ground, how to use a compass and a topographic map to navigate over miles and miles of rough territory, how to chew up plantain leaves to put on yellowjacket stings to make the swelling go down. (btw, in Utah they build their nests on the ground, generally on the blind side of a log you are stepping over. just sayin'.) 

I didn't learn how to: climb down slickrock in the complete dark, or hike rocky terrain in the complete dark, for that matter...how to cross a creek on moss-covered rocks without falling in, how to love boulder-hopping or be any good at it, how to reconcile myself to my mates not waiting up for me when I'm slow on the climb.  That just never got easier, though I did reconcile to being the slowest one of the group. 

I learned that however much I came to love and respect my fellow students, I wasn't truly one of them and was still very much alone the entire time.  And though I wished very much for it to be otherwise, I did not learn how to change that.   Can you tell that going into the wild and staying with it will make one willing to look a few hard, home truths square in the eyes?  well, it does, my lovelies.  Ack. enough. just look at the pretty pictures. It does soothe the soul...

Morning in Stair Canyon.

The view from Point Trail up on the corner of Boulder Mountain...

Back From the Wild

Am back from Boulder, Utah and YES!!! I did complete the BOSS (Boulder Outdoor Survival School) 14-day field course.  Here's Lori, Jennifer, me and Amanda as we cross the final bit of road up on Long Canyon overlook on the Burr Trail just before dawn last Saturday.

What relief...you have NO idea. We'd been awoken at 1:30 am after only a few hours sleep, told to put our gear in the back of a pickup truck, take our metal cups (see them dangling at our waists?) (notice our badass all-purpose knives?) and start walking through the desert in the middle of the night. We didn't know where we were going, nor how far nor how long we'd be walking. Glow sticks would mark our turns (and our water caches, as it turned out). See ya.

About 4 hours later, at the top of the overlook, there were Dave and Mojo and Logan, our instructors, with fresh pineapple, bananas, oranges, grapes and a full bacon-and-scrambled eggs with cheese breakfast.  Dudettes & Dudes, you don't know divine until you come off 3 days with no food and 11 days with oatmeal and lentil stew dinners and find that feast.

Here's the dawn over Long Canyon.

The course was beyond intense and also wonderful. I saw amazing land and views that can only be seen by walking into and through them, met some of the best people I'll ever meet in this lifetime, and learned much, much.  Am also strong as an ox, have thighs and glutes of steel, lost about 14 lbs. and weigh about what I did in junior high. I feel terrific. I'm calmer and more introspective, too.  Though I had no big epiphanies on the trip as some people do, I believe the ripples from it will continue to affect and change my life for the foreseeable future in ways I don't yet see.  More about this later and with many pictures.  Did I mention that Miami is waaay weird after the Utah wilderness?  strange life, is all I can say...