Day 793 (Daily Post)
Day 793. It has been raining here ever since yesterday evening and if the dark storm clouds are any indication it does not look like it is going to be letting up anytime soon. I do not recall it ever raining quite this much during the winter (in the mountains here) and apparently it has been a winter of 'record breaking' rainfall. As I have previously stated in other posts weirdness in the weather patterns does not surprise me much at this point in history and the new 'normal' is apparently the 'abnormal'.
Occasionally I wonder just how 'out of whack' the weather has to get before folks start treating it with the seriousness it deserves. Perhaps folks should be listening to the scientists instead of the parade of talking head buffoons that masquerade as politicians, entertainers and media personalities whose motivations can easily be summed up as 'profits and ratings'. Is it not obvious that perhaps the scientists of the world might know more than all the aforementioned twits combined or am I delusional in thinking that folks that have devoted their life to rational critical thinking, whose ideas are supported by hard data, logic and empirical evidence are all blatantly wrong or even worse part of some 'grand conspiracy' to undermine the 'powers that be'? Just think about it and while you are at it (although I tend to avoid harping on current events in the world) think about all the children taking to the streets today because the fucking adults are failing to do enough to secure a future that includes the world being habitable for not some far off future generations but a generation that is already walking the face of the planet.
For myself I do the best I can to limit my impact on the world within practical/pragmatic boundaries and think that I am doing more than most but I never feel like it is quite enough. Especially since I use propane for heating and cooking and although compared to most households it is a marginal amount I am still faced with freezing or staying warm. I also use a gasoline powered lawnmower and weed-eater that (throughout the course of a year) I use about ten gallons of gasoline in and a few quarts of oil. It may not be much in the grand scheme of things but enough to weigh on my conscience and motivate me towards better solutions. Solutions that I have actually found by getting battery operated devices (to replace the gasoline ones I use) that can be charged with my solar panels. Those solutions are expensive though and the costs are out of my reach so I keep muddling along feeling guilty, knowing there are solutions and frustrated that I cannot apply them.
Some folks would ask the obvious question of why do I mow the grass or cut back the brush and although it is a good question it also inadvertently grates on me because the folks asking it often have no context for just how challenging 'living in the woods' can be. There are really two answers to the question and the first is having tall grass increases the likelihood of me (or the dogs) not being able to see venomous snakes before one or all of us gets bit. The second answer is ticks love the tall grass and with the variety of life-threatening tick-borne diseases (and the sheer number of ticks) they pose a far greater health risk than the venomous snakes and are a constant nuisance throughout the majority of the year. Obviously goats are a good solution for keeping the grass mowed and just about any sort of fowl are good at controlling ticks (and insects in general) but to be blunt it is everything I can do each month to feed myself and my dogs and feeding more critters (or paying their inevitable veterinarian bills) would be financial suicide if I were foolish enough to endeavor upon those solutions at this time. There is also the expenses of fencing, shelter and water systems for those animals and with the coyotes and other predators in the area I am highly likely to lose some animals even with adequate fencing and shelter. So again more solutions that would lower my environmental impact but are out of reach financially.
I think that I am not alone in this sort of solution versus costs versus environmental impact dilemma. What I do not consider to be a valid factor is 'convenience' because it basically says 'the convenience of the now supersedes the significance of having a habitable planet in the future' and that my friends (and not-quite-friends) is the real crux of our current scenario and if I was a child looking down the barrel of mass extinction I would not just take to the streets...I would take to the streets chanting "Fuck you I won't do what you tell me!" I say this not out of some misguided anti-authoritarian sentiment but because that is the only option us 'adults' have left open for those we are supposedly setting an example for. I say 'give them hell today kids because they/us have given you a future that is hell beyond measure!'
Anyway now that I got all that out of my system. Yesterday I did manage to get the majority of the 'yard' mowed and although I usually let it 'go to riot' early in the spring because I dislike cutting any flowers down there are not that many flowers yet and last year showed me that I really need to keep a handle on the tick population/habitat early in the year or else be prepared to suffer the consequences. So I did my first mowing of the year and I have to admit (other than the using gasoline part) it is an activity that I thoroughly enjoy doing especially since getting an actual lawnmower last year and not having to do it by hand with a swing-blade or with just a weed-eater. Doing it those last two ways was incredibly time consuming and the calories involved to do it were a bit off the charts and often left me exhausted, sore and miserable. On a different note.
I took the advice of a friend yesterday and harvested some of the dandelions here for edible and medicinal purposes. I also harvested some wild onions and purple dead nettle for the same reasons. I fried all of them together and then after frying them I added them into a mixture of self-rising flour and homemade apple juice and then made two 'loaves' of flat bread with the entire concoction. All in all it was quite delicious and probably pretty damn healthy compared to my usual grub. My only real complaint was that even though I thoroughly washed the wild onions they retained the taste of the dirt/clay that they grew in.
I also did some hiking looking for mushrooms (especially Amber Jelly Rolls) to add to my wildcraft dinner but did not have any luck. It did feel good though just to get out and do some walking in the woods and while I was doing it I visited those high elevation springs that I mentioned yesterday. It has been a really wet year so it is difficult to precisely gauge the fruits of my labors doing spring/seep development there for the last few years but damn they are looking amazing and producing an incredible amount of water. One rather isolated spring in particular has come a hell of a long way from just being a 'damp spot' on the ground and it has also been the most consistent producer of water (in that area) ever since I got in there on my hands and knees and slowly started cleaning the debris away by hand some seven hundred odd days ago.
One way or another I need to get out in the woods today and get my new water barrel insulated with leaves before it freezes tonight. I was debating between draining it or not but I think the coming cold snap will give me the opportunity to see how viable it is to plan on having the utility water system operational next winter.
Well that is enough early morning phone typing for me and it is looking like the rain is letting up a little and the sun might actually come out so I better wrap things up, do the tedious editing, get this posted and make some more coffee so my half-asleep brain can magically/scientifically become my 'half-awake' brain. Yal be well and I will do the same.
