Freight Sleds

Freight Sleds

Winter camping can mean carrying heavy backpacks in deep, slippery snow. Awkward at best. But if you can slide your loads across the snow what was a hindrance can become a help. Something as simple as a cheap, child's sled can make all the difference in the world....

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A January Snowshoe Excursion

A January Snowshoe Excursion

Preparing for an upcoming snow camp, Andy and I set out today to see how we'd do on snowshoes and check out potential campsites within our walking distance. Andy borrowed snowshoes from our brother, Dave,   I had a new roll-up deer drag I had never used. When we...

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Firestarter

Firestarter

I experimented with making firestarter today.   First, I filled the cups of a cardboard egg carton with dryer lint, scraps of paper, and wood debris from the bottom of my firewood box.                     Then I...

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The Last Pole

The Last Pole

I peeled the last pole in a set of forty today.  I cut them for the longhouse next spring. It should be a party.                              ...

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Winter Picnic

Winter Picnic

OK, technically December 3rd is still fall, but the day was short and it was cold.                                                    ...

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Frozen Pinwheels

Frozen Pinwheels

Mimicking a steep mountain avalanche the snow rumbles off my lodge suddenly sliding down in sheets and curls scrubbing the canvas clean  

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Snowy Morning

Snowy Morning

Two crows and a robin cross the blank, gray sky overhead A wren pauses on a snowdrift before joining a junco in the filigree atop a birch Squirrels make their cautious way through the grove as small birds flit through  oak branches flocked with white The snow...

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Rocks is My Pillow

Rocks is My Pillow

Oh my Darlin'  Oh my Darlin' Oh my Darlin' Clementine You are lost and gone forever, dreadful sorry Clementine.                   June 1rst, 2007 - November 20th, 2021

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Day and Night

Day and Night

  A gust blows through the not quite bare oaks, filling the air with swirling leaves. Clouds part and the sun slants bright golden light through the pouring rain. Coyotes whoop in the dark, then fall still. Their echoing cries fade to silence. The bright stars...

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The Haint

The Haint

          The fire had burned low. Its flickering light joined the soft glow of a kerosene lantern hanging from the lifting pole at the back of the lodge.  I lay on my cot, staring up at the tipi canvas suspended overhead by a cone of slender poles.             Walter...

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Baked Couscous

Baked Couscous

Baked Couscous I've made this dish stove top at home and in the Dutch oven while camping. A savory couscous galette, it is an easy, flexible recipe. You can use any mushrooms, or none at all. The same with the meat: use whatever you have, or no meat at all. I've made...

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Chicken & Dumplings

Chicken & Dumplings

Chicken & Dumplings Chicken and dumplings may be the ultimate comfort food.  We had this for Sunday dinner on our Halloween camping trip. To ease the work at camp, I did some prep at home, mixing the dry ingredients for the dumplings in a zip lock bag, and cooking...

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Cranberries and Chanterelles

Cranberries and Chanterelles

  Cranberries and Chanterelles Cranberries ripen at the height of chanterelle season. It was inevitable eventually I would try cooking them up together. I'm only surprised it took me so long to get around to it.     Ingredients  chanterelles wild cranberries...

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Dutch Oven Cornbread

Dutch Oven Cornbread

  This is a variation of the cornstick recipe I posted earlier.  Cornbread recipes are pretty flexible. You can start with equal parts cornmeal, flour, and sugar Use more cornmeal and less flour for more texture; proportionally more flour than meal yields...

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Campfire Chili Dinner

Campfire Chili Dinner

Until recently, I seldom used a tripod for anything more than boiling water. Why go to the effort to make a tripod when you can cook directly over the coals? But I have come to appreciate the heat control a tripod affords. You can hang your pot high over a flaming...

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