Untitled

[12goldenberries]

Gabe with fish smoker experiment: read more in last posts: link to our process and thoughts on wilderness in the bio. @plumsforbums https://www.instagram.com/p/B9-RKNwBwQg/?igshid=1sf4ghdjtsibz

[12goldenberries]

NEW BLOG POST: our fish smoking experiment and thoughts on wilderness, another excerpt: // // // ‘We harvested some Mesquite (Prosopis spp. (Fabaceae)) branches, a tree that grew very abundantly all around us. Mesquite is commonly used for smoking fish and meat. We also used a little Emory Oak (Quercus emoryi (Fagaceae) and Juniper (Juniperus spp. (Cupressaceae)) to get the fire going. We chopped up the Mesquite in small pieces, and we discovered later that the pieces should be really small if you don't want a fire to flare up at any point. The concept is similar to when you smoke hides after brain-tanning them; except in the case of brain-tanning, you usually use dry punky wood rather than wet wood that isn't rotten. We didn't have any canvas, which would have been ideal for the cover of the smoker, so we used Gabe's wool blanket. It didn't totally cover it, so we used some hides to finish off the covering, which turned out to work well after we got the heat level right on the smoke. The smoke penetrated the hides too and some of the ones we had could use another round of smoking anyway.’ // /// /// Read the rest on the blog, link in bio (at Gila Wilderness) https://www.instagram.com/p/B9-RCL4h63P/?igshid=1vr78dmtvhtgq

[12goldenberries]

(Biscuitroots) Lomatium cous and L. macrocarpum roots peeled and dried by @plumsforbums from his wild-tending efforts last summer. When digging he would scatter seeds from the plants in each open hole, while also gathering sacks of seed to re-plant elsewhere. Opening the soil with a digging stick in this way and leaving it open rather than patting it closed allows for seeds to blow in from nearby plants as well, giving more opportunity for the plants to proliferate. Gabe just ground these up into a flour with a grain mill. I also ground our acorns with it the other day and now we can leach them more easily. Gabe was pounding these dried Biscuitroots with rocks by hand on his wilderness solo- and incorporating them into his Corn Masa/Yampah/Pinenut pinch cakes. Eating wild foods gives me a kind of connection to place and plants I wouldn’t have if I ‘didn’t touch’ or engage— but it’s important to incorporate reciprocal motion into the harvests. I think it is possible for folks to eating wild foods regularly and it be sustainable if not beneficial for the plant populations, the bigger ecology and cultural health— if done right. Tasting and being nourished by the plants gives us a spiritual connection inherently whether you think so or not— and if more people feel a deeper connection to the plants and the land, the more likely they are to act respectfully and responsibly towards them (ideals which unfortunately aren’t inherent in our Abrahamic influenced settler-colonial society) Getting into wild foods to sell them to restaurants so that only rich folks can eat these plants to me, is not the way to go. But I know the answered to the questions are not black and white. I have a lot of thoughts about all of this— to harvest or not, what is actually ‘sustainable’ and whose perspective are we looking from- the Victorian environmental ideal of pristine wilderness or an indigenous worldview? Or something totally new? This is always on my mind. #biscuitroots #wildfoods #wildfoodlove (at Cliff, New Mexico) https://www.instagram.com/p/B9ubFogBDoA/?igshid=1ve2lqa4uvkhg

[12goldenberries]

The tender hummingbird resting in its nest at Oak Flat, inside the gentle protection of a large Acorn Tree, or Emory Oak I believe. Sometimes I’m not sure how to speak about the care for lands that my ancestors did not tend and did not have a connection to. But I do know that I made a pact long ago to the spirit behind all things- whatever you want to call it- that I would do what is called to me to advocate for that spirit however it manifests itself or embodied itself in the land. And I’m not perfect of course, I’ve had plenty of missed opportunities or places to work on how to do this. This Hummingbird and many other beings live at Oak Flat, sacred Apache holy grounds that are currently threatened by a South African mining company (Resolution Copper) who wants to put one of the largest copper mines in the country right at this special site. An under the table land deal on the back of an military bill a few years ago gave this once protected land (and rightfully belonging to the Apache people who weren’t even allowed to go there again until the last few decades) to the mining company. The Apache Stronghold has been fighting this land deal in courts and in prayer through yearly marches from the San Carlos Apache Reservation to Oak Flat. This year I was finally able to go after initially hearing about it from my first @wide_open_studios trip with @artistsareintents a few years ago. I had intense dreams at this place when I camped there before and after the March and have been affected by this place and the Hummingbirds, the Manzanita, the large Acorn trees, the roaring creeks that came alive in the rains. I am still holding on to the protection of this place in my heart and the protection of all places, that somehow the madness of our resource extraction will stop. #protectoakflat #saveoakflat #apachestronghold (at Oak Flat Campground) https://www.instagram.com/p/B9saZ-GBZAx/?igshid=4t28jbrw0z4f

[12goldenberries]

A species of Lomatium Biscuitroot coming up on a rocky basalt hillside outside of Sedona, AZ. I’m beginning to learn more about these Carrot family food and medicine plants lately that have been eaten and tended for a long time by the indigenous folks that have and do live in their ranges. At times during the last 12 years of my intensive plant studies I have felt overwhelmed by a group of plants (hello grasses, I’ve still not figured you out🤦‍♀️) and eventually learn them. In the west, there are so many members of the Carrot family, and so much variability according to soil, altitude and location. // // // Two things have become clear to me after this past year of learning from and engaging these particular plants, as well as shadowing folks who have spent way more time with them. First, it’s ok to swim in the mystery of not knowing the ‘name’ of a thing. You can know lots about a plant being without knowing it’s name. In fact, names are usually problematic as common names are often Anglo-centric or named after some dead botanist explorers who say that ‘discovered’ the plant (eh... Fremont, Lewis & Clark) ignoring the names used for thousands of years by native folks. In fact, what the plants have to tell us may be clearer when we aren’t attached to a naming kind of knowing. Or have any expectation of them at all. // // // Second, that the ethnobotany, archaeology, anthropology and ecology literature often ignores how humans played a huge role in where plant populations are today. Since we have a mainstream cultural paradigm that focuses on how humans are separate from nature rather than a part of it which bleeds into our every action and thought process; the interpretation of how ecologies work, or how thing ‘came to be’ often completely ignores the fact that humans and plants (and other earthly beings) co-evolved WITH one another. Humans have always had a huge impact on the land. It’s just that, the way it looks has changed. // // // It’s not an impossible thing to consider that this Biscuitroot ended up on this hillside because humans planted it at one point, alongside the lilies and other food and medicine plants found there. #rethinkingethnobotany (at Sedona, Arizona) https://www.instagram.com/p/B8eRKj-hPj5/?igshid=esaqejv2dacb

[12goldenberries]

The latest Ground Shots Podcast is now live! Episode #31 of the Ground Shots Podcast is a conversation with Nikki Hill and Gabe Crawford, recorded on a sunny day in Paonia, Colorado on the wild edges of Small Potatoes Farm this past November. //// In this conversation with Nikki and Gabe, we talk about: exploring the concepts of 'wild' and 'wild-tending' what it means to participate in a cultured landscape seeing the fabric of the landscape as a mosaic of gardens how wild-tending practices can challenge and/or reinforce certain accepted mainstream narratives around sustainable wild-crafting re-looking at what 'wild-crafting' even means in the context of prioritizing planting back the connection between mental health and wild-tending a brief introduction to some specific wild-tending techniques like seed collection and replanting, root division, burying branches and more. 'poop' talk – the importance of poop in wild-tending and planting back how anyone can wild-tend anywhere //// Subscribe on Patreon to support the funding of the podcast at patreon.com/ofsedgeandsalt //// Listen wherever you download your podcasts, or click the link in the bio to listen directly. @plumsforbums #wildtending https://www.instagram.com/p/B7KfQNDhYZd/?igshid=irtt8eo8wchy

[12goldenberries]

The latest Ground Shots Podcast is now live! Episode #31 of the Ground Shots Podcast is a conversation with Nikki Hill and Gabe Crawford, recorded on a sunny day in Paonia, Colorado on the wild edges of Small Potatoes Farm this past November. //// In this conversation with Nikki and Gabe, we talk about: exploring the concepts of 'wild' and 'wild-tending' what it means to participate in a cultured landscape seeing the fabric of the landscape as a mosaic of gardens how wild-tending practices can challenge and/or reinforce certain accepted mainstream narratives around sustainable wild-crafting re-looking at what 'wild-crafting' even means in the context of prioritizing planting back the connection between mental health and wild-tending a brief introduction to some specific wild-tending techniques like seed collection and replanting, root division, burying branches and more. 'poop' talk – the importance of poop in wild-tending and planting back how anyone can wild-tend anywhere //// Subscribe on Patreon to support the funding of the podcast at patreon.com/ofsedgeandsalt //// Listen wherever you download your podcasts, or click the link in the bio to listen directly. @plumsforbums #wildtending https://www.instagram.com/p/B7KfD-UBL1n/?igshid=1ixdswpr7r8ux

[12goldenberries]

The latest Ground Shots Podcast is now live! Episode #31 of the Ground Shots Podcast is a conversation with Nikki Hill and Gabe Crawford, recorded on a sunny day in Paonia, Colorado on the wild edges of Small Potatoes Farm this past November. //// In this conversation with Nikki and Gabe, we talk about: exploring the concepts of 'wild' and 'wild-tending' what it means to participate in a cultured landscape seeing the fabric of the landscape as a mosaic of gardens how wild-tending practices can challenge and/or reinforce certain accepted mainstream narratives around sustainable wild-crafting re-looking at what 'wild-crafting' even means in the context of prioritizing planting back the connection between mental health and wild-tending a brief introduction to some specific wild-tending techniques like seed collection and replanting, root division, burying branches and more. 'poop' talk – the importance of poop in wild-tending and planting back how anyone can wild-tend anywhere //// Subscribe on Patreon to support the funding of the podcast at patreon.com/ofsedgeandsalt //// Listen wherever you download your podcasts, or click the link in the bio to listen directly. @plumsforbums #wildtending https://www.instagram.com/p/B7Ke1FwBwbY/?igshid=1m9yd24y0gjlb

[12goldenberries]

The latest Ground Shots Podcast is now live! Episode #31 of the Ground Shots Podcast is a conversation with Nikki Hill and Gabe Crawford, recorded on a sunny day in Paonia, Colorado on the wild edges of Small Potatoes Farm this past November. //// In this conversation with Nikki and Gabe, we talk about: exploring the concepts of 'wild' and 'wild-tending' what it means to participate in a cultured landscape seeing the fabric of the landscape as a mosaic of gardens how wild-tending practices can challenge and/or reinforce certain accepted mainstream narratives around sustainable wild-crafting re-looking at what 'wild-crafting' even means in the context of prioritizing planting back the connection between mental health and wild-tending a brief introduction to some specific wild-tending techniques like seed collection and replanting, root division, burying branches and more. 'poop' talk – the importance of poop in wild-tending and planting back how anyone can wild-tend anywhere //// Subscribe on Patreon to support the funding of the podcast at patreon.com/ofsedgeandsalt //// Listen wherever you download your podcasts, or listen through our website- Linked in the bio. @plumsforbums #wildtending #wildcrafting #wildfoods #plantback #weaponsofmasscreation (at Paonia, Colorado) https://www.instagram.com/p/B7KerRkBQwl/?igshid=hmwad32ra3oi

[12goldenberries]

Lately... putting up food majorly. @plumsforbums and I have been hermitting in my friend’s cabin, processing walnuts, persimmons, acorns, getting the last camas bulbs in the ground. I’ve been reeling it in a little bit energetically, dealing with some insomnia and anxiety, taking a break from releasing podcasts (editing but no new ones released until January), catching up on craft projects, organizing, writing, slow walks. I got sick a lot this fall, like 5 different acute ailments and I’m taking it as a sign from my body that I need to slow the heck down. I’ve put less on patreon the last couple months, I’ve said less here, I’ve been on here less in general. I need to lay up and lay low right now and slowly work on things in the quiet, and feeling fortunate for a place to rest my head for a second. I’ve been eating good. Persimmons, fallen apples, guavas, kiwis, acorns, yampah, winter squash, deer meat, pear butter, nutritive teas (though I need to do more and less coffee), Madrone berries (popping this year), and hopefully more citrus soon, as it’s just ripening here in Northern California. https://www.instagram.com/p/B5_O_sdB6Wp/?igshid=2ycwlc1yjpu1

[12goldenberries]

Handmade buttons! These are going out to land capsule patrons, folks who have been supporting the Ground Shots Project at $30/up on Patreon. The package I’m sending them also includes herbal medicines, writings, a zine and more. I’ve been on the road this month, and the packages are finally going out early next week. https://www.instagram.com/p/B5LUzrYBZNY/?igshid=1q7qy4rk6dtyu

[12goldenberries]

Single-Needle Piñon nuts! From a second fall harvest, more abundant now than in September when I was in Nevada. We planted some two-needles piñons from Colorado in Nevada past the edge where they usually meet and often hybridize. Piñons are suffering in a lot of places due to the Pine bark beetle and drought. Humans planted Piñons in the past beyond their usual range, and now is a good time to plant with resilience building in mind for them. Perhaps trees that Have opportunities to hybridize (and the two-needled variety is actually the ancient parent of the single-needles mutation, now a separate species) will be able to survive extreme climate change. I’ve shouted out my plant profile on Piñon a few times lately (found on my website, linked in the bio) but also Zach Elfers has a really great writeup @woodlandrambler at nomadseed.com with info about humans moving Piñon around historically. Go over there and take a look, and also read other unique and well researched profiles he has written on plants. (at Nevada) https://www.instagram.com/p/B5JjFWLBs4S/?igshid=40taaindi5ao

[12goldenberries]

@plumsforbums Gabe climbing an ancient staircase placed by Pueblo folks in Moonflower Canyon, outside of Moab, Utah last week. #canyonlands #moab #archesnp #thesouthwest (at Moab, Utah) https://www.instagram.com/p/B5JeqE-BbkE/?igshid=49g51hajpzsl

[12goldenberries]

A place where some of the oldest trees on earth live, the Bristecone Pines. A few days ago, @plumsforbums and I took advantage of the unusually warm weather in Nevada and visited these trees above 10,000 feet. (at Wheeler Peak Summit Trail) https://www.instagram.com/p/B5JeaA1hZV4/?igshid=8uqxnddeqx24

[12goldenberries]

Piñon Pine as a collection of species that scatter across the arid west has a history of being an extremely adaptable plant. In the Great Basin of Nevada and in ranges nearby, the single-needed variety whose Pine nuts I have harvested the past few falls (Pinus monophylla) is actually a mutation of a preexisting two-needled variety that still thrives in Colorado and parts of the southwest (Pinus edulis). The two coexisted during the time that monophylla formed itself possibly in reaction to harsher heat spells and took hold when the single needle expression continued to produce fertile pollen in such conditions. [from my plant profile on Piñon Pine, found on my blog, read the rest - linked in bio] . . . I recently road-tripped from Arizona to Colorado and then into Nevada again and the differences in two-needle and one-needle Piñons are becoming a lot more apparent after watching them transition. Two-needled seemed to have smaller nuts, with slightly harder shells. The single-needled Piñons seem to be lighter green in color with lots of needles curling upward, hearty hefty trees. Im currently in Nevada again with @plumsforbums harvesting pine nuts, and they are even more abundant than in September. I’m grateful for the mild weather. We’re on our way to California, and this mercury in retrograde has stalled travels in ways I didn’t expect with beautiful gifts along those stalls. #piñon #eatwildfood #wildfoodlove #pinenuts #pinus #botany #botanical (at Baker, Nevada) https://www.instagram.com/p/B5BFsw4B2Z-/?igshid=f1y28iunjn0

[12goldenberries]

This has been my home for three years! A 1972 Starline mini slide-in truck camper on a Ford F-250 truck. I do the podcast, botanical research, medicine making, art projects all out of this space or outside mostly in the warm season. I’ve gotten used to a tiny nest like space, and sleeping in nooks, but I do go through waves at times of desiring studio space- even to the point of committing to it somewhere and then cancelling as the Ground Shots Project keeps offering me stories to hold on the road. I’m thinking about the Taurus full moon, and the cycle of the last six months as I edit a podcast episode recorded with Laura Pendell, the widow of the late ethnobotanist Dale Pendell last May about the legacy of Dale’s work and experimentation with poison plants. I’m thinking about how much this summer flowed with beauty and ease compared to the past few summers before; how I embraced the mystery, the stress, the changing environments, and how I’ve gotten used to it, and continue to be filled by what continues to unfold with my work. The lesson for me has been in embracing the mystery of what is just around the corner- and that everything can change in an instant. For the better or worse. (at Paonia, Colorado) https://www.instagram.com/p/B4xym8ph1tQ/?igshid=ihb3q0xnx1ph

[12goldenberries]

Blue Elderberry (Sambucus cerulea) and Wild Plum (Prunus sp.) from harvesting this summer near the Nez Perce reservation with @mountain.manders and @walkingwithwesternwildflowers Since then I made Elderberry Chokecherry syrup with the Elderberries, and Plum fruit leather by squishing the plums in cheesecloth and squeezing out their pulp, then cooking down the pulp a bit and drying on parchment paper. Michael Ridge then showed me how to save the plum pits to replant by putting them in a five gallon bucket and letting it fill up with water, where the skins and pits separate. The fruit leather is tart, but when I was out in the wilderness last month, I enjoyed the fruit leather with pine nuts, broken up over morning oatmeal, or with peanut butter, believe it or not. #wildfoodlove #plums #elderberry #wildfoods #plantback #wildtending #feralfruit (at Kamiah, Idaho) https://www.instagram.com/p/B4vl60DhaKV/?igshid=1ppcibytqqpq7