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Mini Harvest | Carrots
We planted the carrot seeds on October 3rd and they are just beginning to come into harvest time. We picked a few of the larger ones to determine if the rest were ready but from the looks of it I think we need to wait another week or two for them to fatten up. Any good ideas for carrots besides decorating them on a bed of lettuce?
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Backpacking | Beginnings
Was going through an old hard drive looking for gallery worthy photos for the website and instead it sent me back into nostalgia. From January 2007… The sketchiest place we’ve ever pumped water from…but there was no other water! These are at Kissimmee Prairie Preserve State Park during our first ever backpacking adventure together. Who knew it would evolve to getting better gear… and walking to Maine…. and the length/part of the width of Florida? Go put on an old external frame Kelty and see what happens…you just never know!
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A Quiet Winter Garden
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Quote Wednesday | Emily Dickinson
Me and Baloo at Jonathan Dickinson State Park, Florida: December 2008 at Cacheapalooza. Photo taken by Chris. Miss that doggie…such a good pal to take on hikes.
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Rainy Weekend in the Hill Country
Last weekend was spent at Hill Country State Natural Area near Bandera, Texas. That’s about 45 minutes from the outer reaches of San Antonio. We arrived in the dark and didn’t get to enjoy the scenery until the following morning. On Saturday we took a semi-long hike (in relative terms here, 6-8 miles, something like that, no 20 miler) through the park but about half way the mist and rain started. It continued that way for the rest of the day which deterred us from wanting to spend it outside. Instead we detoured into Bandera, a cute old fashioned Texas town with historic buildings and unique shops. The rangers at…
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Thoughts of 6+ Months of Being Vegetarian
Two years ago I spent a week as a vegetarian. We were still living in Florida at that time and Chris had been sent to work in New Jersey for a week. I’d been toying with the idea of being a vegetarian for awhile, mostly because I’d become interested by learning from my friend Eliana who went from being a vegetarians to becoming a vegan, and I wanted to give it a whirl. Chris being gone seemed to make it a perfect time to put it all on trial. The week was spent well and I learned a lot, mostly that I could be a vegetarian and it wasn’t nearly…
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In the Kitchen | Orange Marmalade
A coworker gave us a bag of oranges from a tree in her backyard. I thought Chris might make juice with it since he made juice with oranges from natural areas in Florida, but apparently those were sour and made for orange-ade’s and these, well, these were for making marmalade. He spent half of last Saturday researching recipes and watching YouTube videos before making a batch. He had to re-cook it a bit because the first round didn’t gel, but it worked out! Now we have jars of marmalade for a good while!
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Quote Wednesday | Charles Dudley Warner
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Pine Top Campsite via the Bush Mountain, Marcus and Tejas Trails
When we left Dog Canyon the next morning the sky was relatively clear. The forecast did not predict any significant problems so we left the campsite with an intent to take it easy along the way to our initial destination, the Tejas campsite. We planned on stopping along the way to enjoy the scenery, take lots of breaks and really soak it all in. On the Bush Mountain trail we headed in a westerly direction along the crease between two hill tops. We followed on the flat terrain for maybe a mile, perhaps less, before starting our wind up the hill. Initially we’d bundled up but as soon we we…
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Living Adventurously
I’ve started and re-started this post multiple times, fumbling for the right words to use. The first draft felt too self involved, the second aimless, and the rest were drafts in my head. Living Adventurously. It is more than just taking off, quitting your job and vagabonding around the world. Of course, it is that too, but there are all sorts of smaller, side adventures as well. Part of the draft writing has lead me to realize that while I might not have felt I was adventurous pre-Appalachian Trail, upon closer inspection of my life, I/we had been fairly adventurous. Perhaps I hadn’t taken as full advantage that I could,…