It's Thursday the 9th, which is probably a redundant thing to state, but I haven't written in some time, and I really ought to have written while I was in Rhode Island last week. I was there for my friends Karim and Kim's wedding. It was an incredible trip, including timing a hurricane swell just when I got there. I had a hard time transitioning from living in my truck in the woods, wholesome living to the intense partying that is the social norm in my hometown.
Today was incredible, even though I slept until 0900. Last night we had a killer music session at my friend Matt's house. I even got on the microphone for the first time, and it was pretty fun. So today, I spent the morning cleaning my cabin, working on photos and editing some video from last year. The video is from a nighttime surf session that we had in March in Rhode Island. The waves are overhead, the water very cold, and the video quality, (night shot) lacking, but overall it's a pretty neat little bit of footage.
After editing and eating breakfast I went to town to run some errands, and I remembered everything that I needed to buy. That almost never happens. I even found a cool little container for my compost at the goodwill, a sheepskin, for $4.99, really, and a pair of neoprene waders for $9.00. Insane deals. I also found this piece of metal at the scrap shop/recycled building supplies store. I sanded it and painted it and installed it over my stove to hang my pots on. Living in such a small space I have to store things creatively.
The best part about today though is that I had a hunch that the chanterelles might be popping, so I went to investigate. Having been gone for nearly two weeks, I don't really have a good sense of the past weather conditions, and where they might becoming up. I drove a road that I hadn't picked before, but I had driven up it and noticed some promising looking forest. I stopped a couple of times with out luck on the way up, but a couple of miles up I stopped and walked into the forest a little bit.
I'm super superstitious, so I didn't bring my mushroom bag, or anything, not wanting to jinx myself. I walked in about 100 meters, and I came to a steep hill, heading down from where I stood. It was about 100 feet tall, and down below I could see what looked like the right color blotches in a small gully. My eyes are pretty bad, so I couldn't tell for sure, so I walked down the hill. It was drizzling pretty steadily, so as I little house in the prairied my way down the hill, my pants got soaked in the wet sword fern and salal. When I got about two thirds of the way down I confirmed that indeed they were Chanterelles, and it was a good vein of them. I filled my wool Pendleton, and my hat and went back to the car to get my bag. I hadn't jinxed myself, yes!
I went back, and picked the rest of that patch, and then meandered a bit on the bench, and within an hour I had 10.4 pounds of really nice Chanterelles. Unfortunately, I only had one bag, and it was full, so I have to return in the morning.
After picking the mushrooms I had to "process" them, and then I fixed my buddies chop saw, so I can start trimming out the windows in my cabin tomorrow. Then I sanded, painted and hung the potholder in the "kitchen".
I have a call in to a mushroom buyer in San Diego, and hope that he will come through. It could be a real boost to my income this fall. If not, then I will sell them on my website, and see what I can get for them at the barter fair next week. I have about half of them drying right now, and the rest of the prime ones waiting for their brothers and sisters in a box. I hope to pick about 40 pounds tomorrow. Wish me luck.
Today was incredible, even though I slept until 0900. Last night we had a killer music session at my friend Matt's house. I even got on the microphone for the first time, and it was pretty fun. So today, I spent the morning cleaning my cabin, working on photos and editing some video from last year. The video is from a nighttime surf session that we had in March in Rhode Island. The waves are overhead, the water very cold, and the video quality, (night shot) lacking, but overall it's a pretty neat little bit of footage.
After editing and eating breakfast I went to town to run some errands, and I remembered everything that I needed to buy. That almost never happens. I even found a cool little container for my compost at the goodwill, a sheepskin, for $4.99, really, and a pair of neoprene waders for $9.00. Insane deals. I also found this piece of metal at the scrap shop/recycled building supplies store. I sanded it and painted it and installed it over my stove to hang my pots on. Living in such a small space I have to store things creatively.
The best part about today though is that I had a hunch that the chanterelles might be popping, so I went to investigate. Having been gone for nearly two weeks, I don't really have a good sense of the past weather conditions, and where they might becoming up. I drove a road that I hadn't picked before, but I had driven up it and noticed some promising looking forest. I stopped a couple of times with out luck on the way up, but a couple of miles up I stopped and walked into the forest a little bit.
I'm super superstitious, so I didn't bring my mushroom bag, or anything, not wanting to jinx myself. I walked in about 100 meters, and I came to a steep hill, heading down from where I stood. It was about 100 feet tall, and down below I could see what looked like the right color blotches in a small gully. My eyes are pretty bad, so I couldn't tell for sure, so I walked down the hill. It was drizzling pretty steadily, so as I little house in the prairied my way down the hill, my pants got soaked in the wet sword fern and salal. When I got about two thirds of the way down I confirmed that indeed they were Chanterelles, and it was a good vein of them. I filled my wool Pendleton, and my hat and went back to the car to get my bag. I hadn't jinxed myself, yes!
I went back, and picked the rest of that patch, and then meandered a bit on the bench, and within an hour I had 10.4 pounds of really nice Chanterelles. Unfortunately, I only had one bag, and it was full, so I have to return in the morning.
After picking the mushrooms I had to "process" them, and then I fixed my buddies chop saw, so I can start trimming out the windows in my cabin tomorrow. Then I sanded, painted and hung the potholder in the "kitchen".
I have a call in to a mushroom buyer in San Diego, and hope that he will come through. It could be a real boost to my income this fall. If not, then I will sell them on my website, and see what I can get for them at the barter fair next week. I have about half of them drying right now, and the rest of the prime ones waiting for their brothers and sisters in a box. I hope to pick about 40 pounds tomorrow. Wish me luck.