Outdoor Recreation

Photos of the ladders mentioned above can be found here.: http://www.polyamory.com/forum/album.php?albumid=25

I swear, some of the ladders in the series were considerably taller than any of these, and all of them were a little more intimidating than any of these appear to be.
 
Among the many, or at least the several, dreams I had as a child was the dream of one day becoming an archaeologist. That never did happen. I can't say that I regret that it never happened. Other dreams captured me. Or too many dreams. Too many roads forking in too many directions.... Some roads fell off cliffs. Its a long story.

But the part of me that would have grown into an archaologist is having a good time getting acquainted with the Anasazi, or ancestral pueblo people of the American Southwest. It's not a very long drive from my tiny Santa Fe apartment to several of the Southwest's most important Anasazi sites. I've spent time at several, over the years. And there is good hiking and camping near each of them. Kevin and I are planning a backpacking trip into Bandalier National Park/Monument soon. We'll travel light, with our new and very cool water filter -- so will depend on water found along the trail, and won't be packing much of it in. That means following the river/s. (A small creek gets called "river" in New Mexico. A mud puddle may qualify as a "lake," for all I know.)

Anyway, I just purchased a book about the Anasazi, "House of Rain". I thought I'd tell you about it. http://houseofrain.com/ -- I'm diving into it now. I'll share some of what I learn.
 
Anyone here into foraging?

(For those who don't know..., foraging refers to gathering wild edible plants, nuts, berries, mushrooms....)

I'm studying--as a beginner--foraging in my neck of the woods. I live in Santa Fe and travel in the region for camping, backpacking, rockhounding....

I'm a stickler for knowing my plants and fungi really well, as not to accidentally ingest anything poisonous. This means, by my standards, learning those parts of botany relevant to good plant identification -- and the relevant mycology.
 
Anyone here into foraging?

(For those who don't know..., foraging refers to gathering wild edible plants, nuts, berries, mushrooms....)

.

Redpepper's husband is very into mushrooms. He is borowwing my truck to do some gathering this week and gave me my first taste of "chicken of the forest" or chanterelle mushrooms.
 
Redpepper's husband is very into mushrooms. He is borowwing my truck to do some gathering this week and gave me my first taste of "chicken of the forest" or chanterelle mushrooms.

Maybe that's what they call them up in your neck of the woods, but the "chicken of the woods" is actually this:

http://images.google.com/images?hl=...&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ct=title&resnum=4

"Hen of the woods" is this:

http://images.google.com/images?hl=...&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ct=title&resnum=4

Chanterelles are something else:

http://images.google.com/images?hl=...&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ct=title&resnum=5

They are all 3 different, but obviously Chicken of the woods is the same colour as Chanterelle (there are also many types of Chanterelles but that orange one is the most recognized) and has the same presentation profile as Hen of the woods.

I have found and eaten the Chant and the Hen, but I never tried the Chix. It was rainy here for the first part of the season, but now everything is dried up (bummer). RP says it's so raining where you are so I am happy for you's that there will be mushrooms.
 
I forage, JRM. There's a really good book I use, called "Edible and Useful plants of Texas and the Southwest" by Delena Tull. You may find it useful as well.

Here in our little piece of paradise, I have harvested agarita berries, wild tomatillos, nopalitos and prickly pears, yucca petals and wild lettucesfor salads, and lots of mustang grapes, among other things.

I agree, it's absolutely vital to KNOW what you're looking at. The wild tomatillo, for instance, is related to tomatoes, eggplant and peppers, and also to deadly nightshade and several other poisonous plants native to my area. So, yeah, I want to know FOR SURE which member of the family I'm dealing with.

I also think it's crucial to harvest respectfully. I never harvest more than about 1/3 of a colony of plants (much less if they are scarce) and I try to return seeds and compost to the colony too.
 
Thanks for the book recommendation, Fidelia! Judging by the plants you have been foraging, I'm guessing you must live somewhere not too far from me, here in the Southwest. (Santa Fe, here, as you know.)

One book I'm using is Wild Plants of the Pueblo Province - http://www.amazon.com/Wild-Plants-Pueblo-Province-Exploring/dp/0890132720 . This book describes use and usages of native plants used by the Pueblo people of Southwest, and their "Anasazi" ancestors. Some of the plants were used as food, others for medicine, and yet others for tools and baskets, etc. The book has its limitations, as all that I've seen do. And so I think the only thing to do for anyone with a genuine interest is to collect several or many books on the subject. One of my other guide books has simply terrible distribution maps! And this Pueblo book is good, but leaves out a lot of important details.
 
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YGirl, Thank you, also, for your mushroom book recommendation.
 
As a teen I used to go to a sleep away camp in upstate NY for the better part of the summers. It was smack in the middle of the woods with a mile long gravel road being the only way to drive in. There was nothing for miles around but trees. The owner used to cook with wild fruits and mushrooms native to the area and I became really interested in going out and foraging for them as I already loved cooking. Her son would take me through the woods and wildflower fields for hours and we'd come back with basket fulls of mushrooms, berries, apples, wild herbs. It's been so many years I'm sure I've forgotten but I loved it. I'd love to bring my son up there and go on the walks with him. Not only was the food excellent, but the nature hikes were beautiful and it was really fun. Like a treasure hunt where you always felt special when you found the biggest edible mushroom.
 
This is an awesome book for anyone interested in wild mushrooms:

http://www.press.umich.edu/titleDetailDesc.do?id=157982

Yes, it is. I just added it to my personal library. Thanks! Michael Kuo appears to be very good at helping his readers avoid poisoning themselves! And, apparently, many guide books don't warn against some of the look-alike poisonous mushrooms which Kuo does warn against. Some of them are deadly, and yet the other books often don't include warning of them.
 
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