Merriwether's Journal

An Easy Day in McKinney Roughs

2012-01-15T22:07:00.000-06:00

Clark and I have a goal of one awesome adventure per month in 2012 and with that requirement we drove a few hours northwest of Houston to McKinney Roughs Nature Park. This park is part of the little-known, publicly-accessible wildernesses of the Lower Colorado River Authority.

Clark and I left Clark's house in Cypress, Texas at 7am and were signing the McKinny Roughs visitor's logbook a little before 10am. This park has 18 miles of beautiful hiking and multi-use (mainly horseback, no motorized vehicles) trails. Clark and I managed to cover 13 miles of these trails before leaving at 5pm. Here are some of the highlights:

Visitor's center, classrooms, and dorms.

Inside the visitor's center were the usual displays of lizards, snakes, fish and bones.

A fake Native American lodge. It lacked the inner-sheath of a true lodge.

The trails ran down to the Colorado river and up to assorted bluff overlooking miles of farm and ranch land.

The Colorado river.

Cook's Island.

Clark on a bluff.

Clark at the Colorado river.

Me on the Colorado.

A cool tree.

McKinny Roughs is a beautiful place and relatively close to Houston. It wasn't touched by the wildfires which ravaged the nearby Bastrop State Park. Camping did not seem to be allowed in the park but I'm not totally sure on that. Hunting isn't allowed (and we saw some incredible buck deer) so it's a good place to go during hunting season if you are concerned about that sort of thing. The trails did have a lot of change in elevation, I think something like 500-600 feet from river's edge to the higher bluffs and it definitely had Houston flat-land hikers like Clark and I complaining a bit on the longer up-hill runs. We were there on January 2nd and didn't see too many other hikers other than a local hiking meet-up group and 3-4 families near the visitor's center. There were a fair number of ladies riding horseback, though. Hmmm, now that I think of it we didn't see any guys on horseback. Weird.

Anyway, Clark and I really liked it. If you are bored of the long, flat pine-tree trails around Houston this place is really worth the drive...assuming things don't go completely nutso over in the Middle East causing gas prices to leap up over $5 per gallon though that does seem more and more likely...

Adventure! Excitement! Women on horseback!!

Some call me "Blast".

2012-01-07T21:16:00.000-06:00

Smallest New Year's Eve party in years.

Yeah, I love the smell of gun powder. It's the smell of...well, gunpowder.

Adventure! Excitement! Boom!

Five-Wheeling in Pundt Park

2012-01-05T23:04:00.000-06:00

Pundt Park, along the east side of Spring, has been open for a while now but they just finished a multi-use trail along Spring creek that runs a little over 8 miles to Jesse H. Jones Park. This trail is paved with asphalt, making it a great bike path.

The trail starts off to the southeast of the main parking lot. Take the paved road loop until you get to the gravelly-asphalt path that branches off Deer Lake Trail (see map below).

The gravelly-asphalt stuff lasts about a mile then turns into a nice, paved surface.

The trail winds around, up, and down through the woods and past small lakes near the creek. Some of the hills might be a little steep for a small child on a single-speed bike but our multi-geared tandem bicycle and trailed-bike had us flying down the path on New Year's Day.

Mambo riding behind me.

Misseswether and Mambowether cruising on their 2-wheeler.

A small lake along the trail.

It took us a little over an hour to go 4.5 miles then we stopped for a picnic. Several other really friendly bicyclists and horse-riders passed while we munched. The trail seems to be becoming popular quickly.

Lunch.

The trail has only been finished for a month and either side of it is still torn up from the heavy equipment. This construction turned up a lot of edible greenbriar tubers.

Once lunch was done we headed back to the main play area. The playground is covered with a sunshade as are several picnic areas on either side of the playground. This will help a lot in the heat of the summer.

Mambowether the Adventurer.

There's a lot of people riding horses on this trail so you may have to dodge the occasion road apple. Also be aware that wild pigs are plentiful along the path, though they are rarely active during the day. The lakes are open for fishing though they are catch and release only. You can keep fish from Spring creek if you are hungry. Pundt Park is really a beautiful place to spend a day with the family, friends or even just to get away by yourself for a while.

Adventure! Excitement! Rubber on the road!

Scenes from a Christmas

2012-01-01T20:25:00.001-06:00

Christmas has passed and the New Year as started. I'm still trying to figure out where the year went but I suspect the girls hid it somewhere. They love doing things like that. That's okay, I certainly can't hold it against them, especially at Christmas. :-)

Mambowether helps decorate the tree...

...while Miniwether played Christmas carols. Are we living the Norman Rockwell life or what?!

The tree is ready!

Apparently Santa has an in with the local fire department so he can ride in style! I'm not sure why the girls' bowed to him.

Christmas Eve day brought rain but once again turning lemons into sugar plums, we were finally able to have a fire in our firepit.

Yule twigs.

Where there is fire there are s'mores which made Santa extra happy, especially since the girls had the fantastic idea of replacing one of the Graham crackers with a sugar cookie.

For some reason Misseswether and I thought the Wethergirls were old enough to attend Midnight Mass at our church. They were excited at the prospect of staying up that late but by the time mass started they were...cranky.

The whining and weeping continued through the drive home and Mambowether even wanted to be carried into the house because she was too tired to walk. Of course, once she was in the house she RAN to the tree to see if maybe santa had come while we were at church.

Yep, he came and left presents!!

A snowglobe for Miniwether! I

A cell phone* just like Miniwether's for Mambowether!

Fuzzy warm pajamas for both of them!

Turns out a concert by the Trans-Siberian Orchestra was on Public Television so we all snuggled together on the couch and watched it until 2:30am. By then the girls were happily ready to crawl into bed and sleep the peaceful sleep of the blessed.

*It turned out the cheapest way for Santa to bring Mambowether a digital camera was actually to get her a cell phone with a built-in camera. The phone isn't activated but it does have the ability to transfer her pictures to us via Bluetooth. She LOVES it.

Adventure! Excitement! The Savior is born!!

Fox Worthy

2011-12-26T22:15:00.000-06:00

Next up, a guy who eats plants!
-Fox 26 newsanchor

It's probably not a shock to my reader(s?) that one of my life's goals is to become famous (or infamous, if necessary to insure my place in history). I used to define famous as appearing on The Tonight Show, but ever since Johnny Carson left it (and us) that show has pretty much sucked. I haven't decided yet on a new definition of fame but the stars do seem to be aligning in my favor (or more likely they are just clustering to attack!). Anyway, I had a small brush with fame a few weeks ago (yeah, I'm really behind on this blog) when I had 4 minutes 50 seconds on the Houston Fox 26 morning news!

Me.

There was a lot of waiting around backstage before the interview but that was fun in it's own right. If you've ever seen the play "Noises Off" you'll realize that play is more of a true documentary than a madcap spoof. The newscast was pretty much a semi-controlled crash anywhere except directly in front of the camera. They also had donuts. Really good donuts.

Back in high school I did some work at the local public access tv station. Things have progressed a lot in twenty-five years since then. There were no cameramen on the Fox 26 studio floor. At first I didn't even recognize the cameras as they were strange, self-propelled, (an very evil-looking) robot things zooming around the studio.

Number 5 is alive!

Sometime years ago video switched from blue screens to green screens. I don't know why (I could google it but, meh).

Weather? Traffic? Who knows.

Melissa Wilson, me, and my Houston Arboretum contact.

Okay, you made it this far. Here's the actual video of the interview.

Save Money with Edible Wild Plants: MyFoxHOUSTON.com

Adventure! Excitement! Excessive Parenthesizes (I think that is spelled properly)!

For onto you

2011-12-24T20:58:00.000-06:00

is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.

Peace and joy be with all of you, my friends.
Merry Christmas!

Adventure! Excitement! Blessings!

Less Adventure, More Music

2011-12-04T20:36:00.001-06:00

It's entering the Christmas season which means lots of cute kids pictures & videos! Of course, by "cute kids" I mean my kids because they are by far the cutest and most talented kids around! Miniwether finished up her stint as both a soldier and a confectioner in her dance studio's production of "The Nutcracker Ballet" which is also the name of what Misseswether threatened me with if I complained at all about sitting through the multi-hour perform of said ballet to see the two 65-seconds bits of Miniwether.

The some-day world famous ballet star Miniwether fresh from her performance of The Nutcracker Ballet.

Following the heels of the ballet was the Wethergirl's (all three!) Christmas piano recital. I'll let the video speak for that...mainly because I want to go watch a movie now rather than keep writing.

Adventure! Excitement! Culture!

The alligators of November

2011-11-26T20:34:00.000-06:00

Brazos Bend State Park

Baby snapping turtle next to my wedding ring for scale.

Fall color.

Spanish moss.

Then the storm hit.

RAIN!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2011-11-24T11:14:00.000-06:00

Your blessing, be thankful for them.
They bring you joy, rewards, and thrill.

Your problems, be thankful for them.
They teach you humbleness, patience, and inner strength.

Your family, be thankful for them.
They do all of the above!!

Thanks and blessing to you all.

Adventure! Excitement! Turkey!

Back Twice

2011-11-08T22:12:00.001-06:00

It is a common misconception that having a time machine would give one more time to get stuff done. Alas, this is not true. At least for mortals, anyway. Having access to all of time means there so many more things to do and see than one person's life can handle so one must choose when to go wisely.

I find choosing lunchtime is always a good place to visit.

Lunchtime during the Renaissance Period, in particular. This last week we made two trips back to that joyous past! The first as part of a school adventure followed by a return trip just to hang out and have fun.

The school trip was particularly awesome because Miniwether won first place in a poetry contest!

Miniwether's poem "The Fairies"

Flying with the birds,
Sitting on a snail,
Listening to it rain
On the water pail!

Hopping from a leaf,
Dancing on a flower,
Making rose buds bloom
With their special power.

Spinning in a garden
On their little toes!
Has anybody seen them?
Does anybody know?

The Fairies dance and sing.
The Fairies love to fly!
They watch it rain upon the pail
And see the world go by!

She beat out approximately 50 other kids in her age category. Cool!

Since it was School Days, the performers usually asked for teachers to help with the different acts. Seeing as Misseswether is a homeschooling mom she jumped up when a volunteer was needed for the Fire Whip Show.

Clark and the Clackettes attended with us, as well as a friend of theirs and her kids. Actually, I'm not sure how many children were with us, they move too fast to track! Note Miniwether's medal. :-)

Mine plus one of the Clarkettes.

Misseswether is really pretty.

The day ended way too soon so I was very happy when we returned a few days later. Both girls were give $20 in "love money" to spend any way they wanted. Mambowether went straight to lady Eve's face painting booth. Being the first customer of the day, not to mention being in garb and extremely polite Lady Eve painted both girls at a steep price discount. Sweet!

Meanwhile Misseswether chatted with Shakespeare. He's very interesting.

The beautiful final results.

Mambowether also wanted to do the rope boat swing thing. It's fun and the lady running it offered once again to let her go as long as she wanted. After ten minutes (double the normal ride length) I called for it to be stopped just because we had lots more to do.

Happy!

There are lots of free stuff to do. At one point the girls got pulled into a fairy story and by that I mean a story told by two fairies.

Toy makers are always looking for people to lure in to buying their wares by allowing free play. For some reason the "Safer Swords" seller thought my girls would be good models for his implements of limited destruction.

He greatly underestimated Mambowether's fierceness.

Battle-hardened princess and dad.

Cast in Bronze is Misseswether's favorite musical act and high on the rest of our lists, too.

As usual the Wethergirls were invited to the Queen of France's tea party of princesses.

Game time after cookies and lemonade.

How often do you see monster and Rasputin playing chess?

Normally the faire closes with fireworks but the horrible drought and resulting burn ban disallowed that. So instead fairy magic was brought into play to finish the day.

Look, fairies!

The Flaming Whip joined in.

Then more fairy sparkles.

After twenty flashtastic minutes the fairies had to leave and human performers took the stage to sing a final song. What a great day.

Me after a great day!

Adventure! Excitement! RenFest!

Candyman 2011

2011-11-05T21:54:00.001-05:00

Oh...hell no!
-Girl after seeing our house on Halloween night

These are a few of my favorite things...

The Wethergirls raiding the candybowl.

The Candyman.

Adventure! Excitement! Terror!

Five Moons

2011-10-30T22:18:00.002-05:00

And it's something quite peculiar,
Something that's shimmering and white.
-The Church "Under the Milky Way"

Four days worth of camping gear/food/water for just me.

Four days worth of camping gear for me, Misseswether, Miniwether, and Mambowether.

It's been four days since we returned from the Texas Hoodlum's Fall campout and most of the gear has finally been cleaned up and put away. Keeping the girls ~~happy~~ comfortable in the wilds is no easy task. I guess when your plumbing precludes the use of trees, shrubs, or any other inviting target certain allowances must be made. Not to mention the lessons I've learned in the past make me sure to pack plenty of snacks and fruit juices!

As usual, the Hoodlum's campout was amazingly fantastic. I can't think of a better crew to hang with in the wilds. We arrived at the campout well after dark and set up our tent then joined the other Hoodlums around the campfire to chat, tell tall tales, and bond. Mambowether snugged in my lap and watched the campfire intently. I asked her if it was better than tv, she said "no".

Oh well.

Eventually the girls were tucked into their sleeping bags. The night air was crisp, Jupiter was bold and bright one one side of the sky while the Milky Way cut a band of light across the other side. On a whim I brought my old KMart Focal telescope along in hopes that being miles away from any light pollution would allow me to finally see something spectacular through it. Years ago when I was a young kid undergoing a bunch of really hideous operations Poppawether bought me this telescope so I could watch the world outside my hospital room. We didn't have any money then so dad was very limited in what he could get me. I loved that telescope and stared through it for hours. Thirty-some years later I still have it but it just sits on a shelf collecting dust.
It took me a while to focus it on Jupiter but eventually this giant planet was a tiny white dot of light in my field of view. I was hoping to see it's red spot, but there was no such detail visible. I started to feel disappointed but then I noticed something...there were five pinpoints of light around Jupiter...OMG! I was seeing several of Jupiter's moons!!! What an amazing rush!!

My telescope.

It took me to Jupiter. I wish I could have taken a picture of Jupiter and it's moons through the telescope, but it didn't work out.

Along with the Milky Way (which I love) and Jupiter there was also a meteor shower going on, giving Misseswether and I a reason to kiss after each falling star. :-) It was a very good night.

Morning came after a good night's sleep and we finished setting up the rest of our camp. It's funny how if I can fit everything I need for four days in the woods in a backpack but if Misseswether and the Wethergirls are along I need a lot more stuff.

Setting up camp.

Camp set up. We have the most elaborate setup of the Texas Hoodlums...which is more of a complaint than bragging.

The main point of Hoodlums campout is to learn and practice wildcraft skills. Classes in leatherworking, braiding, knife sharpening, wild edibles, and others were taught...and that was just Friday.

Misseswether in leatherworking class.

Misseswether's final product. Her leather pouch turned out way better than mine.

Paracord braiding was another skill class.

Misseswether and I braiding a bandolier for Miniwether.

Werner braiding a "tactical" dog leash for his German Shepherd, Klaus.

The class in knife sharpening was taught by a professional knife maker. Believe it or not, I had one of the smallest knives there.

Mambowether got her first knife (actually, two knives) this time but they were already razor-sharp and so she just watched me sharpen mine.

She perfered to spend most of her time climbing around a fallen tree.

Actually, that was one of the favorite spots of most of the kids there.

Climbing trees...not just for kids!

The big pile of dirt by the pond was also very inviting to them

Running wild and unsupervised was also a popular choice.

Snakes? Yep?

Mud? A little bit even with the drought.

Miniwether had a bit of a scare when she got caught in a stampede. Luckily it was only one cow and she was able to just sidestep out of it's path.

The rare Texas Cowapede.

While out wandering I discovered the carcass of a cow that had died months earlier. Sun, wind, and coyotes had left nothing but bones and patches of rock-hard skin. I brought the kids over to see it and they acted like I had just given them the keys to Santa's workshop! They spent a long, joyful time trying to reassemble the skeleton. Truly, most modern kids here in the USA don't get to play with enough dead things.

Best. Toy. Ever.

As usual, my gig was teaching the local wild edible plants.

The barbecue tongs were for harvesting prickly pear fruit. The drought really cut down on the number of plants around, but at least one of the tastiest, winecup tubers, were still available!

Being a Hoodlums event, food was a priority. While the usual survival fare of bugs and wild plants were eaten we also saved room for some finer foods. The offers at the Saturday night potluck ranged from soup cooked with heated rocks inside a pumpkin to my fiery Dutch oven enchiladas with home-ground super-hot peppers. I was pretty surprised that the Chinese exchange student picked that as her favorite dish!

Mambowether snagging a snackcake for lunch.

Cooking the enchiladas. One Dutch oven's worth isn't enough!

Much other food.

Awesomest. People. Ever.

After supper Miniwether cooked up bugs for anyone who wanted to try them. She introduced three new people to the culinary experience of eating insects!

Scorpions taste like a cross between crawfish and cheese.

Of course, marshmallows are also pretty good.

Alas, Sunday came far too soon. I got up before everyone else (as I usually do) and watched the sun come up.

Sunrise.

The moon was still up and the darkside was faintly lit by light reflected off the Earth. I tried to get a picture of it but the bright side was to bright. Maybe taking the picture through sunglasses would help.

Four days, three nights of heaven. It was hard to leave and return to work. Things have been so busy at home between work, the girls' dance and piano lessons, my foraging classes, homeschooling stuff, and gardening (my beets, carrots, and kohlrabi are looking great!). This blog is falling by the wayside as I focus on other stuff. Still, I'll try to post exceptionally fun adventures when I can. :-)

Adventure! Excitement! Wild Girls!

Ravenscar Revisited

2011-10-08T15:07:00.000-05:00

Ravenscar...that's a name for my oldest readers. My 70'x 30' suburban backyard converted into an oasis, my Fortress of Solitude...when Miniwether and Mambowether aren't running through it like screaming aborigines. It's been a long time since I wrote about it so I thought I'd give you a tour.

Flashback: 1999

I honestly don't remember Ravenscar looking like this. Let's see it now...

West side entrance.

Edibles: canna lilies, dollarweed, spiderwort, and goldenrod.

West side of patio.

Edibles: Ein Shemer apple tree, kumquat tree, elderberries, and a rain barrel.

East side of patio.

Herb spiral currently seeded with assorted winter salad greens.

Southeast side of patio.

Edible: yuca, wood sorrel, lavender, Mexican marigold, oregano, rosemary, sage.
Boxes were made from fence blown down in hurricane Ike.

South side of patio.

Edibles: lemon grass, sage, yuca, assorted mints and onions in grow buckets.
Composters along fence.

West side of yard.

Edibles: fig tree.

Looking southwest.

Edibles: loquat, elaeagnus, wild onions, orange tree.

South.

Mary among wild native peppers and turk's caps, under ligustrums.

To the southeast.

Our firepit. It hasn't been used in a long time due to the drought.
Edibles: yaupon holly (tes), elaeagnus, turk's cap, American beautyberry.

On the east side.

Edibles: apple tree, elaeagnus bushes, assorted beets, carrots, and kohlrabi planted last week. The carrots and beets have just sprouted.

East side looking south.

Another view of my beet patch. The yuca will be moved to the barren hill in the spring.

South side of house.

Edibles: muscadine grapes and black nightshade.

Standing on the east side looking west towards the labyrinth.

Edibles: Jerusalem artichokes, asparagus, mandarin orange and Mexican lime trees.

Looking east into the labyrinth.

Edibles: asparagus, horseradish, amaranth, purslane, day lilies, Jerusalem artichokes, salsify, purple cow peas, hot peppers, prickly lettuce, wild violets, clover, pony's foot, heal's all.

East side of patio.

Edibles: lotus tub, prickly pear, birdhouse gourd, apple mint hyacinth bean, lemongrass,

Lotus tub.

I need to replace the Rubbermaid bin with a real pond container.

So that's what my sanctuary looks like. It's a good place to be when I need a break from trying to keep oil and gas flowing out of the ground, teaching wild edibles, developing a IRT hiking adventure game, being the technical expert for an upcoming apocalyptic graphic novel, blogging, working on the new mobile wild edibles website, doing interviews, raising Mini & Mambo, taking care of Misseswether, and all the normal day-to-day stuff of living in America.

Yeah, I still don't sleep much...

Adventure! Excitement! Plants!

Spoke

2011-09-27T18:39:00.000-05:00

A few weeks ago I was contacted by a Texas Parks and Wildlife biologist in charge of helping ranchers optimize the plants on their land for livestock and wild animals such as deer, turkeys, and other game. He had heard me talk back in the spring and thought the ranchers might be interested in learning about the wild plants they themselves could eat. Cool!

So Saturday I found myself making the two-hour drive up to Dubina, Texas to talk about calorie-rich seeds, nuts, and tubers to 124 ranchers and their families. In return they treated me to a good old-fashioned country church potluck supper, a tour of their beautiful painted church, and future access to some of the best feral hog hunting grounds around. Sweet deal my friends. Sweet deal indeed!

The Church of Saints Cyril and Methodius.

Inside the church.

Icons. The church I attended growing up in Minnesota had these same statues!

Tree. The branches were propped up with iron pipe.

Inside the +100 year old meeting hall.

I spoke for 30 minutes on the physiological effects of starvation followed by talking about the wild plants they can harvest to stave off those affliction. Apparently the presentation was a big hit as many of the ranchers came up afterwards and thanked me profusely and asked for more information. Texas Parks and Wildlife wants me to give this talk to other rancher associations which is totally cool.

Adventure! Excitement! Public Speaking FTW!

Burning Texas

2011-09-12T22:51:00.000-05:00

Texas has had record heat and record drought this year. Last week tropical storm Lee failed to bring rain but it did bring wind and suddenly Texas was engulfed in an inferno. Tens of thousands of acres burned and over a thousand homes were destroyed. Where there were woods there were fires.

I live surrounded by woods.

Luckily the nearest fire was stopped at the banks of Spring Creek approximately 1 mile from our neighborhood. This was a small fire and only took two days to control but it did fill our neighborhood with smoke. Once it was out I was able to get a few picture.

Burned undergrowth but the fire didn't reach the crowns of the trees.

The fire caused weird sinkholes throughout the forest. I have no idea why.

The worse fire was in nearby Magnolia, TX and was only a few miles from where I work. For three days we watched the billowing clouds of smoke to the northwest.

Crappy cellphone picture of billowing clouds of smoke.

Another cell phone picture of the smoke.

The sun through the smoke.

The fire-fighting helicopter. Its "bucket" seemed very small.

Several friends and coworkers lost their houses in the Magnolia fire so if you want to donate to the Red Cross to help these victims of the Texas fires I'd be most thankful.

Adventure! Excitement! Burned!

A small grain of sand am I...

2011-08-28T21:36:00.000-05:00

...and Misseswether, Miniwether, and Mambowether are the clam trying to turn me into a pearl.

The last two weekends I've had an amazingly large amount of culture ~~shoved down my throat~~... er, I mean graciously brought into my life. After last week's piano recitals the Wether family attended a live performance of "The Sound of Music" at a local community theater. They were surprisingly good, especially the lady who played Maria. Seriously, I almost stayed awake for the whole thing...and spent less than half my awake time wondering how to fortify the theater against zombie attacks.

This weekend was opera, ballet, live theater, and the Houston symphony and I must say that NONE of Houston's world-famous theaters would be good places to hole up when the zombies come...though I bet the ballerinas could be ass-kicking fighters dealing leaping death from above with a little training.

So how did we cram so much culture into one day? It was time one again for the Theater District's Open House. I'm sure it was just a coincidence that Sunday's sermon at mass was about everyone having a cross to bear. Some of it was kind of cool, such as the backstage costume design rooms. That was impressive only because Misseswether sews so much of her and the girls' clothing and so watching her face light up when she saw all the super-duper sewing machines, amazing fabrics, and the 96" cutting mat was nice. The rest...not exactly my sort of thing. Hmm, basically if you don't need a shower afterwards it's probably not my sort of thing.

But I did get some great pictures that you'll have to sit through (or click away to some non-family-slideshow-thingy).

Sugarplum fairy...who is welcome to dance inside my head anytime. ;-)

There was all sorts of stuff going on on stage, but the lighting above it was also interesting. It looked like something from Close Encounters of the Third Kind

A different mothership.

A whole invasion fleet.

A scary statue.

Painted Mambowether!

Okay, some of it was worth it. :-)

Miniwether says "butterfly" but I kept thinking "Magneto".

Happy daddy.

Princess!

Southern Belle.

Transylvanian child. Seriously, that costume was used in a production of "Dracula".

The girls partook in all sorts of activities and had a wonderful time. Me? Okay, I'll admit it, I had a wonderful time watching the three of them have a wonderful time.

But next week I'm heading off into the woods!

Adventure! Excitement! Performance Arts!

Still paying for whiskey sins.

2011-08-21T22:43:00.000-05:00

Long-time readers of this blog may remember a little incident involving some cheerleaders, free booze, and an electric keyboard...

Followed later on by the flaming greenbriar/microwave incident...

Let me just say that Karma has taken her revenge, my cosmic slate has been wiped clean. How did Libra rebalance the scales? Five words: Mother-Child Piano Duet Recital.

To be honest, it wasn't that bad. All the pianists were quite good for their ages though there were numerous musical restarts throughout the event due to minor mistakes. One major screwup though was the instructor forgot to bring Mambo & Misseswether's sheet music, forcing them to play from memory! Mambo did it beautifully, I was really impressed. Also, Mambowether had the best bow by far.

Mambo and Misseswether.

Miniwether got to do her duet with a friend which mad her really happy. They played "Ode to Joy" which is one of my favorite pieces of music.

Adventure! Excitement! Crescendo!

Get thee to the San Jacinto River!

2011-08-18T22:03:00.000-05:00

Due to the extreme drought the dam on Lake Conroe has been opened to send 150 million gallons of water a day down the San Jacinto River to Lake Houston. The city desperately needs this water to keep it flowing out of Houston's taps. This hasn't been done in over twenty years!

But more importantly it means now is a great time to paddle the San Jacinto River. I recommend putting in under the hwy. 242 bridge and ending at Edgewater Park in Humble. That's 19 miles but it goes by fast and it's really beautiful.

Hit the water, friends. This may be your only shot for quite a while!

Adventure! Excitement! Beneficial Droughts!

Widdershinning the Four Notch Loop

2011-08-04T22:16:00.002-05:00

Because the sun played a highly important role in primitive religion, to go against it was considered very bad luck for sun-venerating traditions.
-Wikipedia.org

It's not all that great to go against the sun if you below to a modern, technology-based civilization, either.

I was supposed to do an overnight paddle trip last weekend but the danger of both temperatures over 100F and a potential tropical storm scared everyone off. Being desperate for some wilderness, I ended up doing the 10-mile Four Notch Loop again, though this time by myself. Sharp-eyed readers may notice the last time I did the Four Notch Trail it was only 9 miles long.

Yeah, so I got lost a few times this hike... A lot of trees have fallen along the trail which took down the trail blazes, too. You need to keep a close eye on things otherwise you'll be backtracking a lot.

When Clark and I did it last time we hiked it clockwise, this time I did it counterclockwise and for a very good reason. By doing it counterclockwise (widdershins) the last quarter of the trail was mostly downhill which considering how exhausted I was, was a very good plan. It's good to be able to read a topographical map!

The morning was actually quite cool and comfortable. Walking the trail was pleasant, especially since there were lots of pretty scenery and interesting plants to see.

Pigeonwing flower (Clitoria mariana). Hmmm, why would it be called that?

Me by a pretty gully. There was water even in the worst drought in decades!

Pretty gully without me...for those who'd rather not look at me.

The gullies were all very pretty...but by the end of the trail the constant up-and-down was getting to me some. I was carrying six liters of water in my pack which was pretty heavy. In the end I could have done it with only four liters, but I'm always paranoid about running out of water.

If you like spiders then the Four Notch Trail is for you. There were all sorts of spiders everywhere, especially funnel spiders. Plenty of crab spiders and orb-spinners, too.

Since I was alone I was able to spend all the time I wanted studying plants. This lead to the interesting discovery that wherever I saw a bull nettle plant I'd also find a young sassafras sapling. Very odd considering sassafras are understory trees while bull nettles are usually out in open, sunny fields.

Bull nettle. The needles pack a very irritating poison.

American beautyberries were also turning ripe.

Since the word for the day was "moseying" I decided to pitch my hammock and lay down for an hour over lunch. Best. Idea. Ever.

Currently there's a maximum-level burn ban there so even small campstoves were outlawed. I had to make due with trail mix for lunch. Works for me, I love trailmix!! A book would have been nice, too. Next time I'm definitely bringing some appropriate reading material. I spent the first half-hour just listening to nature but the grunting of pigs around me in the underbrush was pretty disconcerting. Luckily my new cell phone has a built-in mp3 player and pretty good external speaker so I ended up listening to the sound track from The Lord of the Rings. That was the PERFECT music and I ended up listening to it the whole rest of the day.

It was hard to leave the hammock but a lot of the trail still awaited. The temperature seemed to shoot up 20 degrees between noon and 1pm and my legs had begun to stiffen some. Not good. By the end I was really exhausted, though. The Texas sun isn't something to treat with disregard in July! Luckily, the plants and landscape remained beautiful and the music really helped me to keep going.

Pelvic bone. I stuck it in a tree where it looked like something staring at you as you passed by.

Trees with the Four Notch Loop blaze (blue lines). The silver blazes indicated the Lone Star Trail main path.

I started the loop at 9am and finished at 4:30pm. This included an hour's lunch/hammock time and about an 45 minutes worth of being lost. Not bad.

Me at the end (and also the beginning) of the loop.

I ended up dumping almost 2 liters of water and if I had brought some sort of water purification system I could have carried even less. I was really surprised by how much water was still along the trail in spite of the drought.

Water.

The Four Notch Loop is really the prettiest section of the Lone Star Trail that I've found. It's not just a long, flat slog through endless pine trees. It's very diverse in terrain and plant/animal life. Definitely a trail to do when I need some wild time.

Adventure! Excitement! Heat!

Building the life aquatic: rainwater harvesting and aquaponics in Houston

2011-07-10T22:30:00.001-05:00

Work continues in my attempt to turn the Last Organic Outpost into Bartertown...though if everything goes well we'll be growing fish and crabs instead of pigs. The raiwater catchment system is complete...at least until we earn enough money to buy more water tanks. The three we have right now give us a capacity of 4500 gallons, but that isn't nearly enough to keep the farm watered. It's a good start though and adding more tanks will be a simple plumbing job. All the hard work on that system is done.

Future site of rainwater catchment and aquaponics systems.

Step 1: tear down the interfering structure.

Step 2: screw doing it by hand, hit it with the tractor!

Step 3: move tanks into position. Each holds 1500 gallons.

Step 4: make gutters by cutting 6" diameter PVC pipe in half except at the ends.

Step 5: hang gutters without anyone getting injured or killed.

Step 6: actually, I'm not sure what we were doing here.

Step 7: still hanging gutters.

Step 8: remove invasive Chinese tallow tree from overhanging future aquaponics tank.

Step 8: rainwater catchment system is finished, first flush diverter is in place, tanks are plumbed together. Now we just need rain.

So now on to our aquaponics system! The old loading dock is being turned into a 7000-gallon pond in which we hope to raise fish and also blue crabs. The water from this "pond" will be pumped through a bunch of hydroponic beds where growing vegetables will remove the nutrient rich (to plants) fish/crab poo and return the purified water back to the pond. Once this closed system is up and running properly we'll be able to produce hundreds of pounds of produce and protein each year. Fantastic!

Loading dock now cleaned up and ready to be turned into 7000-gallon fish tank.

We have to build a wall to protect the pond liner from the shrp edges of the original loading dock equipment.

Once the wall is done this liner will be installed, then we'll need water.

A whole lot of work is going on to build these things, and most of it is from junk we find and repurpose. It's really testing our creativity and pushing us past any skill limitations we had at the beginning. Miniwether and Mambowether are right there with me helping out and learning all sorts of useful skills...plus the occasional swear word (or combination of swear words!). This ties into my child-raising belief that we parents are supposed to teach our kids how to get by without us rather than protect them from every bump in the road of life.

Adventure! Excitement! Building Stuff!

(Grid) Independence Day

2011-07-04T23:17:00.000-05:00

How does Merriwether celebrate independence when there's a complete ban on fireworks due to the drought? He builds a 3500-gallon rainwater harvesting system!

The temperature was over 100F every day with humidity above 90%. The fellow workers were awesome though and it was great bringing the Last Organic Outpost closer to being off the grid.

Adventure! Excitement! #@%&* Drought!

Merriwether harvests the sky.

2011-06-21T21:45:00.000-05:00

We are on something like day infinity of a drought here in Texas which is leading to massive water bills as I try to keep the local HOA off my back. Apparently a green lawn is more important than a water shortage. Luckily the state of Texas is a bit wiser than most Home Owner's Associations because they (TX gov.) has actually passed a law making anything purchased for a rainwater harvesting system tax-free. I'd had three 55-gal drums originally used to ship Greek peppers to collect rainwater, but on Father's Day I added another three 66-gal Pepsi concentrate drums and a pre-flusher to my system. Now if it actually ever rains I'll be set to collect clean, clear water for my backyard permaculture food forest.

The main system.

The white drum held the Pepsi concentrate. The 4" PVC tubing is the preflush system. The first water coming off the roof will be loaded with dust, leaves, bird poop, and assorted other material I don't want in my barrels. This dirty water fills the PVC pipe before switching over to the barrels. This preflusher is simple but requires me to manually drain it by unscrewing the cleanout plug at the end.

Secondary barrels.

This system gives me over 350 gallons of rainwater. I wish I had steel roofing rather than asphalt shingles as with a metal roof I could easily purify this water for drinking. Asphalt shingles leach out toxins that are difficult to remove.

Adventure! Excitement! Rain!

Merriwether starts a fire.

2011-06-13T22:54:00.001-05:00

Long-time readers may have noticed Misseswether has been appearing less and less frequently in my posts. Sadly, that was because she had been appearing less and less frequently in my life. Like so many couples married for a long time (currently 13 years for us) we'd been drifting apart into "married single's life".

In fact, we almost ended up moving into "single single's life". This was not a good thing. Neither of us wanted to separate, but we weren't really together anymore. Friends had noticed this and didn't like it, so they did what any good friends would do. They took our children away and packed us off to a Worldwide Marriage Encounter weekend!

Have I ever mentioned Misseswether and I have amazingly awesome friends? Yeah, we have amazingly awesome friends!!

It was not a vacation weekend. When you go to on of these "marriage bootcamps" they work you hard but with precision. The goal of the weekend is to teach you and your spouse how to use a very powerful communication tool/technique: dialogue. But not just any sort of talking, they teach you how to communicate and understand each other's feelings. They don't teach you how to solve problems or work out issues. All they do is teach you how to make each other understand each other's feelings.

Sounds hokey, doesn't it? Being a scientist, I thought "And this will help how?" along with also thinking, "I already know how she feels about everything". Turns out Misseswether was having the same thoughts.

We went in thinking it was going to be relationship snake oil.

We came out a changed couple, shocked by how much we still truly loved each other and how many misunderstandings had built up between us!!

We aren't suddenly a perfect, happy couple filled with infinite love...but we both think if we keep using this tool of dialogue...well, maybe we will be someday. We're certainly MUCH better off than we were three days ago.

Worldwide Marriage Encounter has been doing these classes for over forty years, so there's been a lot of refinement of the process over that time. It started out as a way to help Catholics with their marriage and does end with a Catholic mass, but it has spread to all other Christian faiths and all faiths are welcome to attend. These classes are held on very specific weekends so that all Catholic churches around the world pray during those Sunday masses for the couples going through the classes. Have you ever had MILLIONS of people praying for you at the same time? It is very humbling.

So, now what? Well for one thing, you are going to probably get fewer reports from the borderlands. I'll be spending much more time with the woman I married rather than heading off on adventures every weekend. You know, maybe you should look into attending one of these weekends, too...

Newlywed Wethers!

Adventure! Excitement! Feelings!

Popular.

2011-06-05T21:25:00.000-05:00

Are you there readers, it's me, Merriwether... Sorry for such a drop in posting, I've been super-busy. Demand for my foraging classes have gone through the roof. That's incredibly fantastic, but it's reached the point where they've begun getting in the way of everything else. I ended up missing a daddy-daughter dance because they picked a date I'd already agreed to teach on. Miniwether was upset for days.

This weekend was another big weekend as I was one of the presenters at the Popular Mechanics Home Safety and Preparedness Show. It was the closest I've been to famous yet, and by famous I mean Cody Lundin!

I was especially excited about this presentation because Misseswether and the Wethergirls would get to watch me.

I spoke at 12:40pm. My part of the show was telling the story of how I organized our neighborhood to get us through Hurricane's Rita and Ike. The talk was a big hit!

Just like church, no one wanted to sit in the front row!!

See, there were actually people watching.

There were quite a few exceptional presentations though of course most people were there to see Cody Lundin.

Yes he was barefoot. He doesn't sugarcoat anything or shy away from rough language in his presentation, so if you do get a chance to see him think a bit before bringing younger kids...then bring the kids!! He says stuff most people really need to hear.

Along with my presentation I was interview by the Houston Chronicle, DIY-TV and a few other things. I ended up losing track. Maybe this will open some more doors for me...though I don't know where I'll find the time to walk through those doors!

Adventure! Excitement! Presentation!

Once more with Hoodlums.

2011-05-18T22:53:00.001-05:00

Looking up at the Milky Way, freezing due to the combination of poor inventory control and being soaked from dew, I could only think to myself, "This rocks!!"

I was laying on the back of my trailer at the time (about 3am), wrapped in a cotton sleeping bag liner and one poncho liner. The cotton bag liner was soaked do to the afore-mentioned dew. I thought I had packed five poncho liners but it turned out I only packed one... Meanwhile, Misseswether and the girls were snug and asleep in the back section of her Honda Pilot. Sucked to be them, they were missing the universe!

On the road to the Hoodlum's Spring Thing!

Yes, the trailer is legally licensed.

We didn't leave home until 6:10pm Thursday evening and so arrived at Oxford Ranch at nearly 11pm. Knowing in advance that this would happen we packed things so that we wouldn't have to set up our full camp that night.

The Wethergirls' first morning of Spring Thing 2011.

Our camp.

Come the morning it was time to set up our camp, which consists of a gigantic tent, private privy, screened-in dining room/living room, expedition-quality kitchen, and assorted other items of comfort (coolers, chairs, multiple tables). Each guideline for the tent, privy, and gazebo-thing were marked with a solar landscaping light. It's an elaborate setup...and a long setup. Totally worth it, though.

Ah, the tales I could tell of Hoodlums gatherings... Primitive skills classes, awesome food, magnificent camaraderie, decent fishing...it is the stuff of lifelong memories. You just get the pictures.

Fishing!

Tire swing!

Chilling!

Trading!

Eating!

Pizza made in a Dutch oven.

Hoodlum's youngest instructor Miniwether teaching a bug-eating class.

One of her students, having just eaten a roasted June bug.

More eating!

More eating!

More eating!

Fire-making class!

Misseswether versus a fire piston.

Edible wild plant class!

Dung beetle!

No one ate the dung beetle.

Table dance!

Another plant class!

Kite!

Kite rescued from tree!

Scorpion!

Yes, I ate it. It tasted like fried smelt.

Lizard!

No one ate the lizard.

Hummingbird trapped in our tent!

No one ate the hummingbird.

Mambowether!

Miniwether!

Art!

Campfire!

HOODLUMS!!!

Adventure! Excitement! Memories!

So far behind.

2011-05-17T20:35:00.000-05:00

Lots to post, no time to post.
Here's a teaser: Miniwether teaching a class on eating bugs:

Adventure! Excitement! Bugs!

It's a Catholic thing...

2011-05-05T21:45:00.001-05:00

Mommawether and Poppawether left Minnesota during a blizzard. Four days later, 1,00 miles, and an 80F increase in temperature they arrived at our doorstep. They've never been to Texas this late in the year, so to them it was like they jumped right from April (aka "midwinter" in MN) to late July (aka "to damn HOT" in MN). What could possible have them face such weather extremes?

Miniwether's 1st Communion!

Miniwether receiving the body and blood of Christ.

First communion is a scared rite for us Catholic, being the first really big step into full faith. We Catholics get a lot of heck over some of the stuff we do. So be it. It's my faith and I'm not afraid to show it. At the same time I don't begrudge anyone their own faith nor try to convert them. The nice thing about Catholics (at least the ones who got the message) is that we don't believe our way is the only way. Shocking, huh?!

The extender Wetherfamily afterwards.

Mambowether receiving a cupcake afterwards. Well cupcake frosting anyway. She loves frosting, is so-so about the cake portion.

Yes Misseswether made the dress (both, actually) and yes, Miniwether (7yr. old) is just a few inches shorter than Misseswether (age unknown). Misseswether had Miniwether stand in a low spot for this picture. Standing flat-footed back to back Miniwether is up to Misseswether's ears!

Best picture ever of Mambowether...not involving large bones.

I don't think I want to know what she's thinking here.

Adventure! Excitement! Faith!

North and South

2011-05-05T21:20:00.000-05:00

My parents are adventurous people (no surprise, eh?). When faced with new people/foods/experiences they dive right in. Twenty minutes later they are old friends with everyone around them and have mastered whatever activity is occurring. For instance, in Poppawether's mind, he was just served a large pile of bait...

Such very very good bait!

So very very much bait!

Miniwether's favorite. It was delicious!

Adventure! Excitement! Bait!

Southern Star Brewery!!

2011-04-17T21:19:00.000-05:00

Happy birthday to me!!

This isn't a wall of beer. This is stacks of pallets of beer three high and six deep. And this is only one type of the beers brewed by the Southern Star Brewing Company in Conroe, TX. And may I also add, speaking from experience, that they make AWESOME beer!

This is their door. It leads to a very good place.

The door leads here.

Once here they will give you beer. Note I said "give", not sell. Legally they can't sell beer here. But if you buy one of their glasses they'll fill it with beer for free three times...each visit!

As you can see, the glasses are very big. The one my neighbor is holding cost $7. They have smaller ones available for cheaper but what's the point of that?!

They will refill that glass three times per visit for free for the rest of his life. Note: the brewery is 20 minutes from our neighborhood...

We brought a bunch of our neighborhood friends...because it was my birthday party!

Me, being entertaining.

Me getting ready to like the candles on my "cake".

The cake was actually brownies which melted into yummy chocolatey goo. However this goo tasted great as a dip on chips, so there was no slow down in the party!!

Brownie goo dip was a bit messy though.

Me in my first-ever pair of sunglasses. Loving the Lasik!

The Southern Star Brewery is a family friendly place and even provide a wonderful swampy area for the kids to play in.

Miniwether caught several frogs, assorted moths, and fistfull of grasshoppers. She also found a really cool knife that she's looking forward to carrying in her purse in another year or so.

I'll admit from the outside the place isn't all that impressive, but like so many things in life looks can be deceiving, plus it's often not so much the place as the people and there were a lot of fun strangers at the brewery.

It's a nice, mellow party atmosphere. They have several picnic table inside the brewery but most people just party in the yard and parking lot. You can bring your own food, water, chairs (one group of guys showed up with a couch in the back of their truck, sat in it for three hours sipping beer, then drove off again), etc... Assorted musicians also show up. The best was the guy rocking out Metallica songs...on a ukulele!

The Outlaw Cookers.

If you don't want to bother with bringing food you can buy cheap, tasty grub on-site from the Outlaw Cookers. Their brats are fantastic!!

The brewery serves beer to the public most Saturdays starting at 1pm and last call at 3pm, but people hang out for quite a bit after just chilling, talking, rocking, and sobering up. These beers pack a serious kick so PLEASE make sure you bring a designated driver (Thanks Misseswether!). Now that the summer is here it's a good idea to bring some sort of shade device, a cooler of ice-cold water, and of course chairs are always nice. You won't regret it!

Adventure! Excitement! More Exclamation Points Than I've Ever Before Used!!!

Irony.

2011-04-11T22:09:00.000-05:00

Well, that was interesting.

No, I didn't get caught in a laboratory explosion, though that would have been cool 'cause as everyone knows when a mad scientist gets caught in a lab explosion he gains super powers. Nope, no super powers...other than 20/15 vision without glasses!

Yep, Lasik baby!

So why is this ironic? Well, it turns out that the day before my Lasik surgery Miniwether got her first pair of glasses.

Remember guys, she's only seven and her dad is VERY heavily armed!

Adventure! Excitement! Supervision!

Wow.

2011-04-04T18:22:00.000-05:00

Misseswether just finished making Miniwether's 1st Communion dress.

Just...wow.

Adventure! Excitement! Wow!

Miniwether the STAR!!

2011-03-28T17:59:00.000-05:00

A long-time reader of this blog alerted me. I didn't know Miniwether was appearing in this!

Adventure! Excitement! Music Video Star!!

Supermoonweekend

2011-03-22T23:11:00.002-05:00

Nowhere.

One of these days my little electronic navigator is just going to throw itself out my truck's window in despair. I can't help that I love it when it starts shrieking "Please return to nearest road!"

Red Rider likes this place but my GPS does not.

Those of you with a tv, internet connection, or friends probably heard that on Saturday, March 19th we had a Super Moon. Due to the rare occurrence of the full moon falling at the same time as it perigee (translation: closest point to Earth in it's orbit) the full moon looked 14% bigger and 30% brighter than normal.

This is what it looked like from my non-GPS-friendly location.

It was bright enough to cast a shadow. Cool!

So what was I out doing for this Supermoon? Pig hunting!!

See the pigs?

Nope, neither did we. :-(

See the pigs? Nope, those are cattle.

Luckily we brought our own pigs in easy to carry packages. Bacon and eggs cooked over a campfire...is there anything better?

Well, yes actually. Dutch oven chicken enchiladas with extra jalapeno peppers washed down with ice cold cans of Miller High Life.

Enchiladas cooking in the Dutch oven. I love my Dutch oven.

Since bull thistles are in season I introduced my hunting buddies to its wonderful taste. They are used to me suddenly veering off the trial to harvest some wild edible plant which they then gobble up with gusto. They haven't been willing to try any edible bugs, though.

Hey guys, lunch!!

So three days and two nights were spent out in the woods gorging ourselves on fantastic campfire-cooked foods, searching for pigs, and releasing our inner cavemen. This was about as far-removed from last weeks Maserati adventure as possible but even higher ranked on Merriwether's Scale of Awesomeness!

Adventure! Excitement! Hoppe's #9!

What, you didn't get to...

2011-03-17T20:05:00.002-05:00

go see KISS...

with four babes in a Maserati?

Yeah, it was pretty awesome.

Adventure! Excitement! ROCK AND ROLL!!!!!

Cold Nature

2011-03-06T22:29:00.000-06:00

It seems the weather just can't make up it's mind this spring. We keep alternating between mid-80s and high-30's, often separated by just a day. Case in point, this Saturday. Friday and Sunday were beautiful but Saturday was frigid. The weather reports said it be in the high-60's/low-70's with a small chance of rain but it never seemed to get above 45F, though they were right about the drizzle.

I guess it was my fault for not bringing warmer coats for Mini and Mambo along to the Jesse H. Jones NatureFest. They brought raincoats which helped with the drizzle but did nothing for the bone-chilling cold. Miniwether loves the outdoors and wasn't letting the weather interfere with her fun. But Mambo spent most of the morning in my arms wrapped in my shirt, but that wasn't enough. However, a calorie-laden lunch at McDonalds recharged her and they both asked to return to NatureFest even though we had seen and done everything once already. I figure it's unlikely modern kids (even mine!) can get too much nature, so I had Mambowether wear Miniwether's coat over her own and gave Miniwether my hoodie. It worked well enough to see everything again.

So this is what we saw:

Giant cane toad, which was really cool. I want one as a pet. They can live 15 years!

Really big bugs.

Really small bugs. One booth was handing out free live baby praying mantises. This thing was only slightly bigger than an eyelash! We let it go in the backyard to hopefully kill many a bad bug.

Free stuff! The bags contain frisbees, rain gauges, coloring books, paper clips, pencils, stickers, flashlights, key rings, and a bunch of other cheese free stuff which the girls went nuts over.

Crabs. Miniwether loves the crab display and spends as much time there as she can wheedle out of Mambo and I. As you can see, Mambo was less than thrilled by it.

Crayfish. Miniwether loves these almost as much as she loves the crabs.

Fish. For the first time ever Miniwether didn't catch a fish. She took it personally and rather melodramatically. *sigh*

Crafts. The girls made flowers and butterflies out of construction paper and assorted bugs out of wire and beads. We skipped the squirrels made from toilet paper tubes.

Owl pellets. What kid doesn't like to play with bone-animal poop?!

Mambowether's owl pellet had a skull in it. That was cool.

More animal stuff. Mambowether actually found the 9-band armadillo to be rather cool.

And time to go home, a hayride back to the parking area.

Adventure! Excitement! Really cold kids!

A Winter's (Bayou) Tale

2011-02-26T20:52:00.000-06:00

Clark and I ready to start the Winters Bayou section of the Lone Star Trail.

About an hour from Houston up hwy 59 lies Cleveland, TX. Another five minutes past that is the Sam Houston National Forest which is probably the best place to hike near Houston. By best I mean "relatively pretty if you like pine trees and mostly unused except for the occasional weirdo"...wait, does that make Clark and I weirdos?!

View Winter Bayou in a larger map
Southern trail head parking on FM 2025, northern trail head parking about six miles away on FM 2666. Sidenote: the north trail head is on the north side of FM 2666.

Here is our GPS track. The diagonally line between FM 2025 and 2666 is where my GPS lost signal under the trees while driving between the trail heads.

Clark updating our progress to www.everytrail.com. Note his surroundings. Winters Bayou trail is 8.4 miles of that.

Sometimes it looked like this. That isn't the trail but rather a dry stream bed.

On the topo map it looks like the Winters Bayou trail tracks a lovely stream for most of the way. With that easy access to so much water I was going to just bring one water bottle and a filter to cut down on carrying weight. At the last momment my normal dehydration paranoia kicked in and I threw an extra liter of water in my bag along with two Gatorades. Turns out I was right to be paranoid. The big, thick blue line on the map had been shrunk down to an occasional muddy, scum-filled puddle every mile or so due to the current drought conditions here. My filter probably would have got me through the hike but ended up clogged and trashed by the end.

One of the puddles was filled with frog eggs. That was kind of cool.

A widowmaker.

Primitive camping is allowed anywhere along the trail as well as in two designated campsites. A forest fire cleared out most of the underbrush so finding a good spot to pitch camp will be easy for a while yet. Keep in mind though that some pretty big trees were badly burned and killed by the fire and are just waiting to fall in a big wind! The tree Clack is standing next to had a full diameter of over two feet but the base had been burned down to less than one foot. No way would I camp anywhere near that!

One of two primitive campsites.

There are tails of Bigfoot being sighted in these woods but we didn't see anything so mysterious...except for the Very Mysterious Clam.

The Very Mysterious Clam. It was large, intact and a long ways away from any water. How did it end up on the trail? Mysterious I tell you. Very mysterious!

Later on we cam to a a Very Mysterious P. Why was there a P on this tree? What mysterious meaning did it have?

Oh...it stood for "pond". Not all that mysterious after all.

A partially-burned footbridge. No mystery there. No water underneath it, either.

Clark's lunch.

Clark is a outdoors gear product tester form Amazon.com and so he's constantly sent all sorts of outdoorsy stuff to test. This time he had assorted foods including a GoPicnic picnic pack thing. He wasn't impressed. Calorie-wise, it was much more useful for a Jazz festival or some other passive outdoors event rather than hiking for miles.

He also had to test some electrolyte-replacement drink mix.

It made his water explode and got everything sticky.

Overall, the hike was still very good time for no other reason than it was a long walk outside, the weather was perfect, yet it was close to Houston. Clark and I both agreed that adding animatronic orcs that we could hit with swords would be an awesome addition to the trail but I don't see those being installed any time soon.

If you go be warned that during the summer the mosquitoes and horseflies can be thick and bloodthirsty. During the fall and early winter hunting is allowed in certain sections of the Sam Houston National Forest, so wearing bright orange clothing is strongly recommended. Early spring is probably the best time to be on this trail though it's also probably visually the least entertaining then. But hey, it's a day (or more) out in the woods. After heavy rains the trail is reportedly very muddy, especially along the bayou itself so be ready for that. Other than the Very Mysterious Clam we saw no wildlife, though we did pass some pig hunters (I assume) coming out of the woods right at the start so they may have scared away any animals.

Other sections of the Lone Star Trail I've done:
4 Notch Loop
Little Lake Creek Loop and Pole Creek Loop
Stubblefield trail

Adventure! Excitement! Pine trees!

A time for sand.

2011-02-21T22:13:00.000-06:00

They will remember this.

The wethergirls have been begging to go back to Galveston for months. Seeing as how Misseswether and I were married on a beach and this weekend was our thirteenth wedding anniversary we decided it would be a good time to go back to the beach, play in the sand and get some wonderful seafood. However, Misseswether managed to give herself a bad sunburn while being outside at a park all Friday for a homeschooling event, so she ended up staying at home while me, Mambowether and Miniwether hit the beach.

According to my folks up in Minnesota, they just received another 15 or more inches of snow. Meanwhile we're at the beach. The Gulf waters were still pretty chilly but it was warm enough to run around in swimsuits. A heavy fog covered the beach reducing the visibility down to very little. Add to the fact that we pretty much had the beach to ourselves made this both awesome and a little spooky...

The girls didn't mind the fog or the spooky, they just wanted to collect shells, dig holes, run around, make sand castles and eat Girl Scout cookies.

Preparing a sandpie.

Sisters.

Merriwether gets artsy.

Cookie time!

Beach, fog, ocean, Miniwether.

The girls didn't find many really nice shells so I bought them each a big pretty one at a gift shop. They are both sleeping with them so as to keep this day close. It was a very good day.

Misseswether also had a very good day. She watched the BBC adaption of North and South all the way through...several times.

Adventure! Excitement! Memories!

How to win a science fair.

2011-02-13T22:23:00.000-06:00

Okay kids, this one is for you. As a yearly science fair judge, I want to give you some pointers that will get help you score high on your project:

1. There's a BIG difference between science and a demonstration. A baking soda/vinegar volcano is a demonstration, a potato or lemon-powered clock is a demonstration. Demonstrations make sci-fair judges weep. Science involves discovering something that no one else knows. It doesn't have to be important information just new information. There are many mysteries in the world waiting for the light of science to be shined upon them. For instance, which fast food hamburger will decompose the slowest when left on a window sill for two months.

2. It is your job to present to us your project. This means you need to have a well-practiced presentation about your research. You need to tell us why you became curious about the thing you researched, what your hypothesis was, why you came up with that hypothesis, how you tested it, what the results were, what you concluded from your results, was your hypothesis correct, and if not what new hypothesis did your results lead you to. You NEED to do this. Have your presentation polished, practiced, and down pat. It's true, a good presentation can turn a lame project into an award-winning first step towards world domination.

3. Label all the data presented in your graphs. It's very frustrating to a judge when they find an interesting project with an excellent presentation, then look at the display and see a piece of paper containing a bunch of unlabeled colored lines taped to the tri-fold cardboard. Label name of your x-axis, label the units of your x-axis, label the name of your y-axis, label the units your y-axis, label the individual lines or bars of your graph or chart!! You are trying to convince us of something. Unlabeled data is meaningless data. If you can't figure out how to label these things in Excel (or whatever computer program) then just write them on the graph after you've printed them out.

4. Understand the components of your project and how they could affect your experiment. If you are using vinegar in your project then spend a few minutes looking up the chemicals in vinegar and their percentage. Same goes for lemon juice, milk, batteries, Coke, dish soap, bean plants, etc... This is especially important in regards to your hypothesis. If you tell me something like "My hypothesis is that orange juice will be the most corrosive to the paint on my mom's new boyfriend's Jaguar because it is the most acidic." then you should be able to tell me the pH of the different fluids you tried.

5. Your display should be bold, colorful, attention getting but also clear and easy to pull information from. Some people get upset that a lame experiment can still win if it is presented with flash. Those people are usually called "underlings". A truly bad project won't be saved by a great display, but many average ones can win with an exceptional display. Colors are great. Big CLEAR pictures of your experiment are great. Your actual plants, hamster, assassin droid, or whatever is great. Having things organized in a way that makes sense is great. You want to attract the judge's attention with what appears to be an interesting subject so have your picture or actually experiment components front and center of your display. Place your hypothesis statement in the upper left side of the display because that's where we look to start reading, just like in a book. Print the hypothesis in a big, bold, easy to read font, and don't have any other words on that piece of paper, though artwork is okay as long as it doesn't interfere with reading the hypothesis.
Below that on a new sheet of paper tell why answering this question was important to you along with interesting background information.
Next have a sheet clearly describing your experiment. Also place on this sheet a list of sources of possible errors in your measurements.
In the center goes the big pictures of your experiment and clearly-labeled raw data.
On the top of the right side place a write-up of you conclusions. What did you learn? If possible include a summary graph comparing the important values/data after analysis.
Below your conclusions have a short paragraph on whether or not you hypothesis was found to be true. If your hypothesis turned out to be false add another paragraph explaining the flaw in your original hypothesis. Make sure there are 3-4 blank lines between this explanation and the discussion of your hypothesis above it.

6. Your eyeball is not source of scientifically accurate measurements. For instance, if you are comparing the oil-absorbent capabilities of cotton, silk, and wool then actually weigh the different materials out on an accurate scale. If you are delivering a certain amount of fluid to a system then use a graduated cylinder, syringe, measuring cups or some other device capable of delivering an accurate, repeatable amount each time. Tape measures, volt meters, and other measuring devices are critical to true scientists. They need to be for you, too.
Here's another tip, if you are comparing the amounts of bacteria growing on a plate don't just eyeball the different plates. Take a digital photograph of the plates, print it out, cut out the bacteria colonies out of the picture and weigh the resultant pieces of paper. It's still a crude method, but it's much more scientific than saying, "Uh, it looked like that one had more...".

Hope this helps.

Adventure! Excitement! Oh no, another lemon battery!

Bigger.

2011-02-13T21:06:00.001-06:00

Happy birthday Mambowether!

Misseswether and I are very traditional people, especially when it comes to birthday parties. Cake, ice cream, and balloons. As for entertainment, kids are kids, put a group together and they'll figure out a way to have fun. There's no need to go to some over-priced venue or hire a petting zoo to come to your home...

For some reason we didn't realize just how much damage 17 sugar-powered kids between the ages of 2 and 9 could do to a house.

Adventure! Excitement! Next year, Chuck E. Cheese!!

Still not there, now with ice.

2011-02-05T21:06:00.000-06:00

Sorry folks, I seem to be going through a blogging-blah period. For those readers who aren't in Texas we did have a nasty ice storm come through Thursday night. Work was canceled Friday giving me the day off. However, many government offices were still open so I spent most of the day driving around ice-covered Houston roads to try and register my new trailer. Turns out registering a trailer in TX is tricky business that requires secret and arcane knowledge that I did not have and that the government agents reveal only a bit at a time. As far as I could tell no government official in a single office could give me the full list of paperwork and so forth needed to register a trailer. On the plus side I got to show off my Minnesota winter driving skills to many Texans. Note to Texans: that white stuff on the road...that's ice. Trying to drive on it at 70 mph will result in a very graphic example of assorted laws of physics. I had one guy fly by me at high speed, hit the ice and go spinning across several lanes. Luckily I saw it was going to happen and took proper evasive action. Other people around me weren't so observant or versed in the art of driving on ice. It's scary to watch several $40,000 vehicles start playing bumper cars.

You are probably wondering why I even chose to go out in that mess. Well, there weren't any lines in the government offices. That alone was worth the risk to life and limb.
Plus, now I have a trailer!!

Adventure! Excitement! Steering into the slide!

In search of a path.

2011-01-30T16:09:00.001-06:00

So y'all are still probably wondering what happened in Las Vegas. Short answer: not enough. I was there for three days to cover new emergency preparedness gear previewed at SHOT show 2011 for the Equipped to Survive Foundation. Most of my time was spent wandering the aisles of the Sand Convention Center looking at miles of knives, flashlights, guns, clothing, and pretty much anything else one would use in the wilds. It didn't take me long to realize looking at this stuff isn't nearly as fun as being out in the woods using this stuff.

That being said, there was a lot of cool new gear at the show. My reviews can be found here between the reviews of some of the other Equipped members.

I'm trying to remember the last overnight hike or paddle I've done without going back and looking it up in my blog. Whenever it was, it was far too long ago. I need to spend some time with a pack on my back and a path to explore in front of me.

Adventure! Excitement! Missing!

Irony is...

2011-01-23T21:16:00.000-06:00

...spending a week Vegas without the family and getting home just in time for Miniwether's first confession in preparation for her first Communion.

What happened in Vegas?

Uh...stuff.

Adventure! Excitement! Ooh-la-la!!

Walking with neon.

2011-01-16T15:45:00.001-06:00

No time to post, I'm about to go on a hell of an adventure. :-)

Adventure! Excitement! Elvises!

Project Updates (with many run-on sentances).

2011-01-09T20:34:00.000-06:00

As neato as my earth buckets things are, a trip to King Dollar, Nothing over $1.09! made them even better. They have now been turned into individual mini-greenhouses after being topped with $1.09 cake containers. Considering the weather reports indicate a very good chance of a record-setting cold front hitting us this week, adding these tops was probably a very good idea. The first bucket currently has 2" tall sprouts of salsify growing in it. That's a wild edible I've been after for a while. Thankfully, Brian the Rogue Alchemist sent me a bunch of salsify seeds so in a few more months I'll be able to add this plant to my wild edibles blog.

12" cake holder tops fit perfectly over the buckets.

Meanwhile, my worm bin seems to be doing well. Last night I discovered two worms copulating, so I'm hoping that's a good sign. Sorry, no pictures of it as I'm pretty sure they were both underage. However, if you are into that sort of thing here is a good link.

And finally, Misseswether found me an old pressure cooker at a resale shop yesterday! It's not quite big enough to use for canning anything more than pint jars, but I have hopes it will cut down on the amount of burn marks in the kitchen from my greenbriar tuber experiments. Hey, anyone want to trade a wild edible plant class for a 22 quart pressure canner?

Adventure! Excitement! Stuff!

The gardens at Round Top Festival Institute

2011-01-03T21:56:00.000-06:00

Back in August Clark and his family discovered the beautiful gardens surrounding the Round Top Festival Institute while looking to buy land outside of Houston. After months of telling me about it I was finally able to escape other responsiblities and make the 90 minute drive up there. It was well worth the $2.84-a-gallon gas!!

Spread across the Festival grounds are fifteen gardens along five miles of trails, along with ponds and other water features, statues, ruins, a stunning chapel, artist retreats, and of course the main attraction, the concert hall. This institute was created by the master musician James Dick (more about him later) back in 1971 and has turned into a world-renowned venue for the performing arts.

The place was empty today so we were able to park right in front of the Menke House, which serves as the site's main meeting and dining facility. I think it's the most beutiful house I've ever seen that wasn't built out of old tires and hay bales.

Love it.

Someday this will be mine!

The Menke house overlooks Susan Clayton McAshan Gardens which were breathtaking...

Clark contemplating doing something similar in his backyard.

Supposedly it's much nicer in the summer...

A home worthy of Mary.

Some ruins. The grounds were covered with amazing rock structures like this.

Originally my key interest in this place was due to their extensive medicinal plant gardens. Famed Texas herb gardener and author Madalene Hill had always wanted to share her knowledge of herbal medicines with the world and the gardens at Round Top were her main hangout. For her 80th birthday this pharmacy garden was created as a gift for her.

I am not worthy.

This garden is filled with row after row of raised beds, each dedicated to the medicinal plants of a different country or continent such as India, Africa, Mexico, North America, Europe, China, etc...

Sadly, most of these beds were bare right now except for plant tags and the occasional hardy perennial or winter annual. In late spring they will be filled to the brim with plants again and you bet I'll be there with reference books and a camera!

As we left the pharmacy garden and headed down a nice woodland trail we ran into a pleasant fellow who hailed us a hearty greetings. The three of us talked for a while, it seemed he worked there at the site and was very proud of it. We talked for almost ten minutes about it's history, some of the notable sites among the gardens, my edible plant classes, and so forth. At the end he and I exchanged business cards and I saw his name, James Dick. At the time it didn't mean anything to me other than he was a very friendly guy. Later on we discovered who he was.

After that encounter we continued on, crossing a recreated Roman bridge and heading into the woods.

Amazing.

The trail wound through woods, past bamboo groves, into gullies, and over more bridges.

We even found Buddha, who apparently likes to party with the locals.

Clark trying to reach Nirvana. He didn't make it.

We eventually came out of the woods and headed to the concert hall.

The performance hall is currently undergoing some remodeling to get it ready for the first concert of the year on Jan. 22nd, a piano recital by James Dick who will be doing works by Liszt and Beethoven. Reading this notice is what made us realize the nice guy we had been talking to was the not just some mid-level garden bureaucrat but rather the head honcho of this entire place! D'oh!

Note to self: next time before going somewhere read up on it so I can make a good first impression if I happen to run into the multimillionaire owner of said place. I have his card, you can bet I'm going to contact him about teach wild edible classes out there!!

Anyway, enough of my business plan, on to more exploration of the grounds. Next up, the Edythe Bates Chapel. Mrs. Edythe Bates Old was a musician and long time patron of the arts at Festival Hill Institute and other places. Her chapel was originally a church built in 1883 for a congregation in La Grange, Texas and was moved to Festival Hill in 1994 to be used as a lecture hall and for organ recitals. The move and construction of the rockwork, fountains, and surrounding gardens were paid for by Edyth Bates.

Wow.

Wow. This is just one of the fountains.

Matching fountain on the other side of the chapel.

The perfect place to play checkers.

This face was almost as big as me.

Past the chapel are two retreat houses for visiting artists along with a practice hall. Of more interest to Clark and I were the miles of more trails that loop around the back areas of the institute grounds. A few times we wandered into places where we thought maybe we weren't supposed to go, but then we'd find a shaded bench or statue to indicate visitors were welcome there. In fact, if I had to sum up everything in three words I would say "Visitors Very Welcome."

Clark walking the trails.

Um, are we supposed to be here?

Yes, we are supposed to be here. I love how people left offering of money, beads, and plants...

Joseph and Baby Jesus. The elm seed on Joseph's cheek made him look like he was crying.

This place was fantastic in the winter, I can only imagine how great it'll be in a few months!

Adventure! Excitement! Inspiration!

Worm Composting

2011-01-01T22:13:00.003-06:00

Here be worms.

Give me a Dremel tool and I'll change the world...or at least improve my backyard. Today's project is a vermiculture worm bin. I've been wanting to raise worms for a while, mainly for fishing but also for the great soil they produce from kitchen fruit/veggie scrapes. Plus, Miniwether just really likes playing with worms.

Someday I may end up paying for that last line.

Oh well.

Anyway, worm bins. They are easy to make out of two identical opaque plastic bins, shredded newspaper, and something that will make holes in two different sizes (1/4" and 1/16" diameter). The ideal bins would only be about a foot deep but as wide as possible to maximize the surface area. Right now Walmart, Target, Home Depot and other stores all have their "Christmas storage bins" on clearance dirt cheap (ha ha ha) so it's a great time to tackle (ha ha ha...fishing joke...worms...get it) this project. You want opaque bins as worms hate light and won't act naturally or even die if exposed to too much light.

1. inner bin
2. outer bin
3. loosely wadded up strips of damp newspaper
4. fruit/veggie waste
5. red wiggler worms
6. worm casings (aka worm poop) both in inner and outer bin
7. bricks or other thing to lift up inner bin

The key to a healthy worm bin is ventilation, hence lots of air holes are drilled in both bins. The holes in the wall of the outer bin should be 1/4" in diameter but only 1/16" in the walls and lid of the inner bin. If you use holes larger than 1/16" on the inner bin the worms will crawl out which leads to dried out worm carcasses all over. Yucky. Also drill about twenty or thirty 1/4" holes in the BOTTOM of the inner bed to allow the processed worm casings to fall into the outer bin. Occasionally you'll have a worm drop into the outer bin, too. Oh well.

Outer bin with brick risers in place. The risers raise the inner bin away from the outer bin to increase air flow to the inner bin.

There are several ways to get red wigglers, I bought mine from a bait shop. If you do this make sure you don't buy the big nightcrawlers used for bass fishing as they won't eat you kitchen waste. You'll want the smaller worms used for trout and pan fish. If you don't want to buy the worms you can gather your own from the wild. Look in/under compost or manure piles or just lay some wet cardboard down on the grass for a day or too. When you lift it there will likely be a number of red wigglers under it. Lastly, there are a bunch of places online that will sell you pounds of red wigglers. I've never tried any of them so I can't recommend a particular one. Most plans call for starting out with one pound of worms.

Place the worms and the media they came in in the bottom of the inner bin. If you caught them yourself then put a 1" layer of damp earth in the bottom of the bin. This soil shouldn't be dripping wet nor dusty dry. Aim for somewhat clumpy.

Worms, now home. Note all the ventilation holes.

Worm food: potato peels, lettuce, and a few other scraps.

One pound of worms will eat 1/2 pound of kitchen waste every day. Some people add their scraps every day, others collect about 3-days worth of kitchen waste before added it to the bins to minimize annoying/disturbing the worms. Do whatever you significant other tells you to do. It's just easier that way. Once you have a large, hungry horde of worms you can expand you scraps to include meat and other non-plant matter.

Newspaper layer. Yes, worms are excellent climbers.

Cover everything with 2"-3" of shredded newspaper. Cut the newspaper into 1" strips, soak them in water, squeeze them out to "damp sponge" wetness, loosely wad them up and toss them in the bin. Don't use glossy advertisements as they don't dampen well and the inks may be somewhat toxic.

That's about it. Store the bins in a dark area where they will neither freeze nor overheat. They can handle temperatures close to 30F and as high as 100F but will stop breeding at these temperatures. Under ideal conditions your worm population will double every 90 days. Note that like with every other creature, worms don't like living in their own excrement. You'll have to empty the inner bin about every 4 months to keep your worms healthy. Worm casings are loaded with beneficial microbes and nutrients vital to plants, often having five times as much nitrogen, seven times as much phosphorus, and eleven times as much potassium as ordinary dirt, making it a wonderful natural fertilizer.

Worm bins should have a nice, earthy smell to them. If an unpleasant odor is noticed you've probably been overfeeding the worms. Don't add any scraps for several days until the current material has been consumed. Also check that your system isn't too wet. If it is more than just damp add some more shredded newspaper to absorb excess moisture. My problem in Houston is the system drying out so I keep a spray bottle of water next to the bin to dampen the newspaper as needed.

Adventure! Excitement! Worm poop!

Happy New Year!

2011-01-01T17:08:00.000-06:00

Long time readers of this blog know I love Texas much more than my home state of Minnesota. Reason #3 Texas is better than Minnesota: last night we were outside legally blowing stuff up while wearing light jackets.

Mortar round.

Something.

Roman candle.

Spinning flaming thing.

Merriwetherbeing artistic with a flashbanger.

Another flashbanger.

Fun with sparklers.

Giant Merriwether.

Of course, we were done by 9pm and in bed by 10pm. I woke Misseswether up for a kiss at midnight then we ended up watch competition ballroom dancing on PBS until 1:30am. Sidenote on the ballroom dancing comp: who the hell decided to put Jasmine Guy in that dress? Armpit muffins are not flattering!

Anyway, Happy New Year everyone!! May the best of 2010 be considered the worst of 2011!

Adventure! Excitement! Whiskey and gunpowder!

Native Americans didn't have microwaves.

2010-12-28T17:52:00.000-06:00

This morning I dug up approximately thirty pounds of greenbriar tubers...all from the same plant.

I've been wanting to try preparing them as the Native Americana's did, both slow-roasting and starch removal. The N.A.'s would bury them under a large fire and bake them for three days. At this point the starch was converted to sugars which they would then chew and suck off the fibrous tuber body. I didn't have enough wood for a 3-day bonfire, but I did have a microwave...

Greenbriar tubers are very much like very fibrous potatoes and so I figured I treat it like I was baking a really big potato in the microwave. Considering the size of the tuber, 15 minutes at full power seemed like a reasonable setting. Everything seemed to be going well until around minute 12.

WHOOMP!! Suddenly the greenbriar burst into huge, leaping flames. I reacted in a split second, diving for my camera to take pictures of the burning microwave, then that annoying "reason" part of the brain kicked in and made me grab the fire extinguisher instead. A quick blast of yellow powder and the fire was out.

Of course the kitchen was filled with thick smoke. Luckily the Misseswether and the Wethergirls weren't home so I was able to open all the doors and windows...and wash down the whole kitchen.

Surprisingly, burning greenbriar tuber smells a lot like caramel plus dark roast coffee.

When Misseswether got home her face lite up as she walked in the door. "Someone's been cooking something yummmy! Is there any left for us?" she said and raced to the kitchen...and saw the microwave. It cleaned up pretty well but I think some of the scorch marks will be permanent. After giving her the whole story she just shook her head and sighed, "We don't have these problems when you're at work."

This started out about the size of a nice acorn squash.

Adventure! Excitement! Six more days of vacation!

Making Earth Buckets

2010-12-27T15:34:00.001-06:00

A bold person can get an almost infinite supply of free 5-gallon buckets. Restaurants, bakeries, and fast food joints are particularly good places to ask for these. At worst they'll say no, at best you'll be needing a truck to get them all home. So what does Merriwether do with free buckets? He turns them into uber-productive (hopefully) container garden thingies aka Global Buckets.

Just finished these two hours ago. Meanwhile the rest of the world seems to be wrapped in blizzards. I love Houston!!

Global buckets are based on the self-watering Earth Boxes, but are made from easy to find scrap materials. I did have to buy some 1.5" diameter PVC pipe and the soil mixture for inside the buckets, but everything else was just laying around.

1. inner bucket
2. outer bucket
3. fill tube made from 1.5" PVC tubing
4. cotton cloth to wick water from reservoir to soil
5. soil (mix of peat moss, topsoil, and vermiculite)
6. gap between two buckets which acts as the water reservoir
7. henweigh

This is the bottom of the inner bucket.
A hole approximately 1.5"-2" in diameter is cut in the center of the bottom, this is for the cotton wick. A second hole 1.73" in diameter is cut near the edge of the bottom, this is for the fill tube. A bunch of small holes (about 5/16" in diameter) are drilled randomly around the bottom of this buck to improve drainage and allow air to get to the plant roots. Sidenote: do you really think I drilled a 1.73" hole? I just cut until the tube fit.

The bottom of the fill tube has a large notch cut in it to simplify the system.
A precise person could measure (twice) and cut (once) fill tubes to the exact length needed for perfection. Luckily, plants don't need a perfect system in which to grow, so just hack a chunk out of the bottom of the fill tube, stick it through the inner bucket, and whack it off somewhere around the top rim of the inner bucket.

An overflow hole is drilled in the outer bucket.
To keep from flooding the buckets a drain hole is drilled in the outer bucket just below the bottom of the inner bucket. Hopefully you can see how I precisely measured the location for this hole.

Completed buckets before adding soil.
Now you can see all the drain holes, the fill tube and the cotton wick. The wick was made from this really hideous dust ruffle thing that I've always hated. Hopefully this hatred won't affect the plants.

Getting ready to fill the buckets.
Being lazy, I didn't feel like holding up the wick while adding the soil so I tied it to a stick. This picture is slightly misleading as the wick does end 2"-4" below the top of the soil once the bucket is filled.

Making soil.
My soil recipe is based on Square Foot Gardening and is composed of roughly 1/3 cheap topsoil, 1/3 peat moss and 1/3 vermiculite (the stuff in the wheel barrow) mixed together thoroughly. The peat moss helps hold water, the vermiculite keeps the soil loose and aerated, the topsoil gives the plant roots a place to grow. Depending on what I grow, some fertilizer may be added to the particular bucket.

And here we are back at the beginning.
It took me about four hours total to make these eight buckets and they have all been planted with different wild edibles except for the one on the end which has chard I picked up on clearance.

This is a great way to set up a container garden in a small area, especially in hot, dry locations. Another benefit of these Global Buckets is that you can move them around to optimize their access to sun or to protect them from freezing.

Once the plants are growing I'll add either a thick layer of mulch or some secondary plant like nasturtiums to shade the soil which reduces evaporative water loss. Water is added to the system through the fill tube until water flows out the overflow hole. The plants will eventually grow their roots through the holes in the bottom of the bucket directly into the water reservoir. Until then the wick keeps the soil at the perfect level of moistness. I'll update you through the year on how well this system actually works.

Adventure! Excitement! Recycling!

Amazon.com Video on Demand Sucks

2010-12-26T17:29:00.000-06:00

You can't download your purchased movies to a Mac. Do they tell you this anywhere before buying it? No.
Bastishes.

All that's left is the waiting...

2010-12-24T20:56:00.000-06:00

Cookies for Santa.

Adventure! Excitement! A whole bunch of sweetness!

Merry Christmas!!

2010-12-23T21:08:00.000-06:00

Wishing you all a great Christmas!

Adventure! Excitement! Hallelujah!

Caroling

2010-12-19T22:36:00.000-06:00

Our homeschooling group had their traditional "Dickens" Christmas party this evening which including going out caroling. It was a lot of fun.

Hi, I'm here to sing to you.

Two of the three.

Then the mothership arrived and we all went home...

The group was pretty big, well over thirty people though mostly kids (hey, we're a Catholic homeschooling group). It was a fun time though I did win a big "Bad Parent" award when I first wouldn't switch Misseswether for Miniwether during a waltz and then accidentally elbowed Miniwether in the mouth when she tried to sneak in anyway. :-(

Adventure! Excitement! Mob of people with candles outside your door!

Mercer Botanic Gardens

2010-12-19T22:28:00.000-06:00

Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul.
~John Muir

When Misseswether and I first moved down to Houston I was miserable. We lived in a little apartment in a big, fenced-in apartment complex that one could not escape by foot. I could see nature over the high fence but had no way to get to it and even if I could get to it it really was little more than a row of trees surrounding several oil rigs. I was driving 2-3 hours a day across all of Houston to go to work, and Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays were tied up with competition ballroom dancing practice and events. There was no time or place for me to get my fix of good nature.

Misseswether could tell I wasn't happy. Somehow she discovered the nearby Mercer Arboretum and Botanic Gardens, and brought me there one Saturday morning. It was love at first sight.

Lovely...beautiful...stunning...gorgeous...breathtaking...circa 2001.

We used to spend every spare moment there and when we moved into our house I used Mercer Botanic Gardens as my model for turning the flat, empty space of my backyard into Ravenscar. Any visitor we had we took to Mercer and no one was ever disappointed. One can walk the trails for hours through both cultured beds and wild spaces. Miniwether got a lot of her early training as an adventure-girl there.

Miniwether at Mercer, November of 2006.

Misseswether has been taking the girls to Mercer once a week for over two years for homeschooling nature study there. This occurs while I'm at work, so I never get to join them. It occurred to me this weekend that I hadn't been there in ages, so off we went!

Mini and Mambo at Mercer, December of 2010.

The overlook now in 2010, two years after the devastation of hurricane Ike.

Same spot back in 2001.

Overlooking the Japanese maple pond (Miniwether's FAVORITE spot).

Same spot, 2001.

A fountain-thingy they built since the last time I was at Mercer. Sidenote: If I set the iso-number on my camera to 1600 I can catch the individual drops of water falling through the air. That was pretty cool.

Cypress creek makes up the northern boundary of Mercer park, but actually getting to the creek takes some minor bushwacking.

There's a number of bamboo groves there.

Cool bug-eating swamp plants, too.

Assorted fish ponds to help lower your blood pressure.

Swings! Sidenote: Mambo didn't just punch Mini in this picture, it just looks that way. That's my story and I'm sticking too it!

Flowers.

Bathrooms! Also some nice rocking chairs on the porch.

I can't believe in the six years I've been writing this blog I haven't done a review of Mercer. It is worth going to even no matter where you live in Houston. You aren't allowed to eat in the Mercer Botanic Gardens but they have all sorts of great picnic areas and playgrounds across the street in Mercer Arboretum. Most weekends you see professional photographers out there taking pictures of beautiful brides, which is always neat, especially when you have little girls of your own along...though that could lead to expensive bills later in life... One other note, don't let any of the park workers see you holding any flower, leaf, or other bit of plant matter. They are REALLY protective of this garden!

Adventure! Excitement! Misseswether is a babe!

Ego Post #2

2010-12-13T20:24:00.003-06:00

It seems I'm a bit more famous than I thought.

Last Saturday author Keith Stelter did a book signing of his latest hiking guide, Best Hikes Around Houston at Once and Again Books. Afterwards the lady in charge of Montgomery County's parks had him lead a hike at the Montgomery County Preserve.

This is a very nice place.

This preserve is near home and in fact was the first place I ever took Mambowether out into the woods...she found her way back, though. Anyway, when I saw Mr. Stelter was leading a hike there I knew the Wethergirls and I had to go along.

Well, it turned out I was expected.

Uh, apparently I'm well know by government officials.

When I pulled into the parking lot a strange lady came running up smiling and introduced herself to me. She gushed over Mini and Mambo, then returned to beaming at me. She didn't seem to be wearing a badge, so I figured this wasn't an elaborate sting operation to catch me.

She was the newly-put-in-charge-of-the-parks-lady, she figured I'd show up at this event, and she was hoping I'd join Mr. Stelter in leading the hike to talk about wild edibles along the trail!!

Mark Stelter kind of looks like Santa Claus.

Assorted hikers. You can't see Mambowether but she's at the front leading the way. She took to that roll like a natural!

A lovely mix of yaupon holly and poison ivy.

A raccoon I saw last week while hiking alone somewhere else. I just wanted to add this picture because he's cute.

So anyway we hiked, I lectured, Mini and Mambo made new friends, and it ended with me agreeing to be the official wild edible plant teacher for Montgomery County. Once the new nature center is finished I'll be doing free foraging classes out there several times a year. The really cool thing about that is I now finally have permission to pick stuff for y'all to eat during these classes! That will be great. Downside is this is a volunteer, unpaid position. Well, downside for me but pretty awesome for all y'all!

Merri Christmas everyone!

Adventure! Excitement! Joyous tidings!

Sometimes I even impress myself.

2010-12-13T18:14:00.000-06:00

What do you get when you cross some bolts, springs, a cheese press, some conductive foam, and a multimeter attached to a computer?

This!

Total price: $214.45
Cost of instrument it mimics: $160,000, excluding shipping and set-up fee.
Merriwether's Christmas bonus this year: Vegas!!

Russ Pittman Park & Nature Discovery Center

2010-12-05T21:00:00.000-06:00

Earlier this year I was contacted by the Nature Discovery Center here in Houston to see if I'd give a talk about wild edibles plants. "Heck, yeah!", as normal, was my answer. So last Wednesday I and my beautiful assistant Miniwether spent half a day exploring their land and giving what I have been told was (and I have to swallow my normal modesty to repeat these words) "the best talk they ever had there!".

This is a very cool place.

Russ Pittman Park is four acres of wonderful wilds in the heart of Bellaire, just inside 610. Wooded trails weave past fountains, pools, a wounded bird sanctuary, reclaimed prairie, a playground, an herb garden, and assorted surprises. Above you scamper playful squirrels, butterflies flutter by, goldfish flash in the pond, and birds flock a'plenty. On one edge sits the original Henshaw House. Once a beautiful estate home built in 1925 by the president of the Sealy Mattress Company, it now houses the Hana and Arthur Ginzbarg Nature Discovery Center. What were once stately (and stuffy, I mean it was owned by a mattress maker, what would you expect?) rooms are now filled with gobs of hands-on activities designed to teach nature stuff to kids without them realizing it.

Rooms of cool stuff!

Lizards and microscopes, it's almost as good a combination as gin and tonic!

Many live things in cages and every science book ever published!

Taratula!

Bearded lizard!

It was surprisingly soft.

A slimy, wriggly thing.

Warm, fuzzy things. Is it just me though or does that bunny have an evil look in its eye?

Turtle Jenga!! Sidenote: don't actually play Jenga with the turtles, they bite.

Sargasso sea stuff!

My lovely assistant...

...who likes dead things.

There were several naturalists on hand to talk about all the living and dead things.

A little over a month ago Misseswether discovered that Miniwether had been teaching wild edible plant classes to the other kids at their weekly meetings in the park. Misseswether was terrified that Mini may accidentally poison one of her friends and when I got home from work that night she had Miniwether show me all the plants which had been pointed out to friends. Turns out Miniwether was perfectly accurate in every case, both identifying the plant and explaining how to eat it. So now she's my assistant when I give plant lectures. The class at the Nature Discovery Center was her first official presentation as my helper and she did very well. Her main job was to hold up the plants as I talked, pass them around the room, and collect any uneaten plants. Unfortunately since I was doing the talking I wasn't able to take pictures of her helping. I've really been wanting her to do this as I think it's a great way to get her used to being in front of crowds. The ability to speak to crowds is an amazingly useful skill that I want both my daughters to inherit.

The audience was wonderfully attentive and asked many questions. I was scheduled to speak for about an hour and when I finished talking about the last plant I was sad because I had been having so much fun. The listeners felt the same way and so at their urging I continued on into edible landscaping plants, food security, being a 10-percenter, hunting deer, why vineyards in France are covered with dandelions, and many other topics brought forth by the adults and kids.

It ended up being a late night but Miniwether was still thrilled with the excitement of being my assistant and spent a lot of the ride home recounting the evening. Alas, the Nature Discovery Center is rather far from home and even as pumped up as she was, sleep pulled her down. The last 20 minutes of the drive home was mostly just Led Zeppelin tunes coupled with her snores. An excellent combination if you ask me.

Adventure! Excitement! Discovery!

Donations needed!

2010-12-02T19:14:00.000-06:00

So I can buy an aircraft carrier.
Think of my adventures you would read about if I had that...

Adventure! Excitement! Screw the kayak!

Cleaving Time

2010-11-28T20:55:00.002-06:00

Time travel back to the time of wizards, warriors, royalty and scum used to be a lot more fun back before the arrival of Miniwether and Mambowether. For one thing, back then (which is a tricky phrase to use if you're a time traveller) Misseswether would wear a small amount of strategically-positioned chainmaile and not a whole lot else. Woo hoo!

Alas, those days are probably over, especially when Misseswether discovers I announced to the world that she used to go out in public wearing nothing but a small amount of strategically-positioned chainmaile. Woo hoo!

Sorry, I got distracted.

We only made it to the full Texas Renaissance Festival once this year, though as usual "Black Friday" was the perfect day to be there. The original plan was to camp out Thursday/Friday/Saturday but a bitter cold snap changed our plans. Thanksgiving night the temperature dropped into the 40's with rain and Friday night they fell below freezing. Fine for an adventurer like me but not the Wethergirls and Misseswether.

As usual, the day was spent dancing, seeing old Ren-friends, and eating food on sticks. As an added bonus, both Mini and Mambo were given $15 "love money" to add to ththe spending money they'd earned. This money was there to spend any way they saw fit, no matter how much of a waste mommy/daddy thought the purchase was. Mini did very well with her money but Mambo was a bit foolish and I really had to hold my tongue when she paid $12 to open an oyster to get a pearl.

Okay, and now what you've all been wanting, the pictures!!

Wait a minute, did you want pictures of our family there? okay...

Dancing with the dancers.

These dancers, in case you forgot.

The girls danced a lot. It helped keep them warm especially in the morning.

Hot chocolate, although anachronistic, helped too.

As did a turkey leg.

Rootbeer bought with their very own money!!

Free candy cane!

Ye Old Funnel Cake!

Mambowether's $12 oyster.

Yeah, I figured you'd want a closer look.

Sidenote: one of the workers at the oyster place recognized me from my classes down at the Houston Arboretum. That was pretty cool!

However, by far the coolest thing of the day was our painting lesson at the Royal Art School! For just $20 the professor of art spends an hour with you teaching you how to paint one of several paintings.

May not look cool, but it was way, way cool.

You start with a blank canvas and the professor shows you how to hold the brush, mix the paints, and apply it to the canvas.

A little bit of hands-on teaching...

But Mambowether soon mastered it. Later on she said this was the best part of the day.

Hey, it's starting to look really cool!

Me doing some leaves.

Misseswether paints the bridge.

Once it was finished the professor had the students swear an oath to always feed their inner artists...and any staving artists they find outside.

The finished painting. Best. Souvenir. Ever.

Being of obvious royal blood, Miniwether and Mambowether were invited by the Queen of France to freely partake in afternoon tea, cakes, dancing, and games.

You can tell which is the queen as she actually gets a chair!

Merriwether plays to his audience...why do you think the title of this post was "Cleaving Time"? Cleaving-cleavage...get it? Sometimes I really crack myself up!

When playing Duck-Duck-Goose one should always tap a person with shorter legs than yours. This girl did not and Miniwether quickly caught her.

Alas, Mambo has short legs...but a fierce spirit!!

While hanging out with royalty is awesome, sometimes it's good to have friends in low places...

My ex-captain!

As with all good things, the day back in time came to an end. Weary and tired in spite of all the ye old sugar consumed it was time to go. I love the faire at night though. That's when it looks most magical...

Probably because that's when the real fairies come out...

Adventure! Excitement! Lots more pictures of belly dancers!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

2010-11-25T14:57:00.001-06:00

The turkey is in the oven, mashed potatoes and my special secret sausage stuffing are already done. Misseswether is taking a quick snuggle-nap with Mambowether before starting her 3-bean casserole. Miniwether and her uncle (one of Misseswether's brothers) are reading books. The house smells GREAT!

There are many blessings in the Wetherhold right now. I hope there are even more with you! Happy Thanksgiving everyone, may yours be AWESOME!!

Update: food is ready!!

*sigh* I know I keep saying this but that really is Mambowether's happy face. The guy is Misseswether's brother, Kidtoy.

Update #2: and now napping.

Adventure! Excitement! Wolfberry wine!

Mambo inside outside.

2010-11-23T18:08:00.000-06:00

I had noticed that when Mambo and Mini play in the backyard they always seem to move the patio furniture out under the trees and have a tea party. Of course, they never put the chairs and table (upside-down bucket) back when they are finished. My grape vines needed a better frame on which to grow so I decided to make a little tea house arbor for the girls. Okay, I bought the arbor, but the gravel and flagstones were my doing.

Mambo LOVES this arbor, it's her new favorite spot. In the past she hasn't been the outside girl that Miniwether is, but now she goes out, sits in the arbor and just watches Mother Nature every chance she gets. Last night after supper she cleared her dishes, then said, "Bye, I'm going outside, See you later!" and sat under the arbor by herself until it got really dark and she became scared.

Adventure! Excitement! A Room With A View!

Step 1: go to liquor store.

2010-11-14T23:02:00.001-06:00

“Claret is the liquor for boys; port, for men; but he who aspires to be a hero must drink brandy”
-Samual Johnson

After much discussion Clark and I felt we had come up with the perfect plan. It would make our kids happy. It would make our wives happy. It would make us happy. Sure, we didn't run the plan past our wives or kids, but it was such a beautiful (albeit somewhat complicated) plan that there seemed no need to share it in advance with the females involved. We figured they would think the plan was as awesome and jump at the chance to be part of it.

The plan, as created by Clark and I, was to go over to Clark's house Sunday afternoon and cook a meal using our Dutch ovens. We'd make whole wheat bread, venison stew, and dump cobbler. Sure, neither of us had much experience with cooking these things in this manner, but people have been cooking bread for thousands of years and deer meat even longer. How hard could it be?

Stupid, stupid adventurer(s).

I decided late last night to fill Misseswether in on her part of the plan: simply making some bread in a Dutch oven. Okay, whole wheat bread. Um, needing six cups of whole wheat flour. You'd make the flour using the manual-powered grain mill we bought...why are you looking at me like that?

The discussion went downhill from there. Apparently making bread is a very complicated activity and failure of a loaf could quite possibly end all life on Earth...at least according to Misseswether. Sometimes she overreacts to stuff.

Okay, so I put Clark in charge of making the bread. They also have a grain mill so the whole wheat goodness would remain. I'd take care of the rest. By then Misseswether had calmed down (some) and asked for a task so as not to feel bored and useless.

Misseswether breaking sticks for kindling. After that she cut up the onions and pepper for the stew.

Clark building the fire for the coals on which we planned to cook.

I suppose you are wondering where the brandy comes in. I should give you the actual name of the venison stew I planned on making. It was called "40 Proof Dutch Oven Deer". Done correctly, one uses an entire bottle of brandy during the cooking of the stew. One cup goes into the stew, the rest goes into the cooks, friends of cooks, families of cook and friends, and eventually anyone who wanders into hailing range of the cook...

It's a very good recipe. Perfect for this plan.

Browning the venison.

Of course, the one thing I needed from the store for this recipe were two cans of condensed onion soup. And of course the were out so I had to improvise onion soup, How hard could that be, just some onion and some soup...

Turns out there is such a thing as "too much onion" in a meal. Also here's an important tip: drain as much liquid as you can off the meat, otherwise you be boiling the meat rather than browning it. It's very hard to pour out excess liquid from a big, heavy, hot Dutch oven.

Eventually I moved the Dutch oven off the coals and onto Clark's grill to really blast it with heat.

Success...and more brandy!

Meanwhile Clark was having difficulties with the bread recipe. Actually, he and the rest of us didn't know that at the time. He had decided to warm up the yeast/milk/sugar solution some before adding it to the flour. Unfortunately it go to hot and the yeast died. This meant the bread would not rise.

Whole wheat bread dough in a Dutch oven.

When it failed to rise we began discussing what we could do. Fear of the failed loaf killing all life on Earth weighed heavily on Clark and I, but we decided to press on into unknown country and cook the bread anyway.

We were quickly running out of time, daylight, and family patience with our cooking adventure. Clark went back inside and cooked up chicken nuggets for the kids and then quickly whipped up a chocolate pudding pie to replace the cobbler.

Pieman.

The stew had bubbled down to an actual stewy-looking dish, so I declared it was time to eat. The bread ended up looking like cornbread rather than an airy loaf of wheat bread. Cutting the loaf required a much larger knife than normal. It was...dense. Very dense. One might even say "bricklike". The Clarks liked it though because it reminded them of the heavy Polish breads of their native home. I ate one wedge of the "bread". Yeah, thank God I'm an American. Hooray for Wonder bread!

That thing under the big knife? That's the "bread".

Of course in spite of assorted food issues, it was a wonderful evening. The kids played, the adults chatted and laughed. It ended late, but also way too soon.

My clothes still smell of woodsmoke. :-)

Adventure! Excitement! $12 Bottle Of Brandy!!

A fiendish thingy!!

2010-11-10T22:26:00.001-06:00

Grab your partner, pop some popcorn, and snuggle down in front of your computer. You are about to be very entertained!
The Beatles -- Help! (1965)

Adventure! Excitement! Ringo!

When Catholics Party...

2010-11-07T22:51:00.000-06:00

...a lot of minivans are involved.

Sorry for the long delay in posting, it's been a hectic couple of weeks. As you know, Halloween season is my busy time (NO! Not because I look like something Dr. Frankenstein built while drunk!!) Between RenFest, Halloween, and assort other bloody activities I haven't had time to write. I'm going to try and make up for that tonight.

So, the Saturday before Halloween was out Catholic homeschooling group's All Saints' Day party. Imagine forty-some families, each with multiple kids dressed as saints getting together on a East-Texas ranch.

Oh-uh, that kid is dressed like St. Adrian!

Left to Right: Merriwether, Mambowether (St. Therese of Lisieux), Miniwether (St. Elizabeth of Hungry), Misseswether (maker of Mini & Mambo's costumes). Seriously, that IS Mambo's happy face. She's a very deep and complex child.

Miniwether quickly shook free of parental hands and disappeared into the saintly throngs with her friends. Luckily Mambo still prefers daddy to people her own age. This means you have to sit through some pictures of her now.

St. Therese and St. George fishing.

St. Therese showing off her deadly accuracy. Throwing things at stuff, for the win!!

At the end of the day Mambowether told me this was her favorite part of the party, just running free through the fields.

Misseswether "St. Paul's Epistles" booth.

Eventually we had a parade of saints. To truly grasp the number of kids involved duplicate this picture five times. After about ten minutes of trying to get all the kids lined up single file the lady in charge gave up and told the kids to just start walking. She was trying so hard to do the impossible...which was pretty funny for the rest of us adults to watch.

As with all good days, night eventually began to fall.

...which meant it was time for hayrides!! Catholic parties don't end early. Sidenote: how do you know which kid has never been on a farm? The one who asks where are the seatbelts on the hay bales. Methinks some parents are a wee bit too protective of their kids!

It was a long day. I had spent the morning teaching a wild edibles class for Urban Harvest, then raced home to take the family to this party. We returned home late but discovered our neighbor's baby shower was still going strong, so we all ended up there until way, way too late.

Adventure! Excitement! Party!

Really Old School, Again.

2010-11-07T22:34:00.000-06:00

What do you get when you combine homeschooling and a flux capacitor? An excellent adventure, dude!

Yeah, I know I'm mixing my temporal manipulation techniques. It's a writer's prerogative.

Last Tuesday we skipped back in time to have class in the 16th Century. What better way to learn about how things were done back then to go back and actually see it done and talk with the people doing it?

Lessons in grace and manners from the Queen of France.

Proper cannon techniques from the king's cannoners.

Dance lessons from Anne Boleyn.

Anne was a great dancer before a series of unfortunate events.

Once again a printer's apprentice.

How homeschoolers teach physics.

The Wethergirls, Clarkettes, and Clarkecousins.

Taking the barbarian oath of proper behavior. Don't ask her what's in her wallet. She's heard that joke a thousand times.

Birds of prey rock!

Blacksmiths also rock...or iron, actually.

While bathing still hadn't been invented, bubbles were a source of amusement.

Princesses. Yes, Missewether made their awesome dresses.

How a princess eats a turkey leg.

How a princess eats ice cream.

How a tired princess travels.

Top that day, Spring ISD!

Adventure! Excitement! Learning!!

Free Meat!!

2010-11-07T21:43:00.000-06:00

Coworker: It's that time again. How many do you want?
Me: How many can you give me?

I still haven't found a hunting lease I can afford. Luckily one of my coworkers is responsible for controlling the deer herd size on his family's property. Deer are pretty much the rats of the woods. With no predators to keep them in check they will rapidly breed themselves to a state of massive overpopulation which results in suffering, sickness, and death. To maintain the herd at a number which matches the available food supply he often has to harvest between twelve and twenty deer each year, based on analysis by Texas Dept. of Natural Resources biologists. Being an ethical man, he doesn't let any of the resulting meat go to waste and is constantly trying to find people to whom he can give it.

The problem is most people want him to give them the meat already butchered and neatly wrapped up. That's a lot of work for one deer and pretty much impossible for 10-20 deer. Most people just don't want to go through the hassle of doing it themselves even if it means free meat.

My thoughts? FREE MEAT!!!

If it means being up until 3am butchering it, so be it. I'd be up that late with insomnia anyway. But now I have a freezer full of food to show for it.

The only downside is stray dogs have been causing problems with my garbage can. I have an idea how to handle that, though.

Adventure! Excitement! Pan-seared venison with mushroom/onion gravy and herb roasted potatoes!

Candyman Returns!

2010-11-07T21:18:00.001-06:00

No! No! No! No!
-a very small Spiderman being dragged by his parents towards my house.

As October progressed our nightly walks took us past houses decorated for Halloween. Mini and Mambo thought the inflatable ghosts, Styrofoam tombstones, and plastic skeletons were amusing so I asked if they were ready for me to start decorating our house again. After a bit of sister-sister telepathic communication they agreed that yes, they were old enough not to be scared anymore by my "decorations".

Sweet.

Of course, before anything else the Jack O'Lanterns needed to be carved. While both girls have progressed very nicely with their knife-work, we decided to stick to specialized pumpkin carving tools for this event.

Family time at the Wetherhold. Really, Mambowether is happy!

Miniwether hard at work.

Mambowether gutting her pumpkin.

Posing with our finished products. This is probably our most perfect picture of Mambo ever.

Miniwether was very proud of her Jack O'Lantern (far left). She did it all by herself. Misseswether's "flaming mouth" Jack O'Lantern was pretty cool.

Our entryway. This is only a small sample of what I set up. Due to my busy schedule I wasn't able to haunt the house until the morning of Oct. 31st. It took me all day to set up all the bones, bloody body parts, freakish lighting, sound effects, and assorted other things to make our house look so very, very wrong come nightfall. I didn't have time to take pictures.

Mini and Mambo kind of regretted their decision to let me be scary again, but they toughed it out.

Plus they had superheroes to protect them.

Not that the Candyman would ever hurt them!

It was a great Halloween. Surprisingly, of the six Spidermans I saw, only one came all the way up to my door without being dragged kicking and screaming. On the other hand Transformers were by far the bravest children of the evening. A lot of the older kids remembered when I used scare the daylights out of them and were excited to see Candyman return. Numerous parents took pictures of me posing with their kids which was kind of neat and just a little weird. As usual, we had a lot of children bussed into our neighborhood from down in the city. I take that to be a sign of just how good my neighborhood is.

SUGAR!!! And a pencil.

Adventure! Excitement! Terror!

Another 3am in a long, long line of 3ams

2010-10-28T03:11:00.000-05:00

Insomnia sucks.

Sunday afternoon gold

2010-10-25T23:13:00.000-05:00

Finding treasure.

Sand, sun, water.
Pretzels shaped like bats and Jack o'lanterns.
Pretty rocks, clam shells.
A lazy Sunday afternoon spent creating treasure in the form of memories.

This is not a snake. If it were a snake Miniwether would be holding it.

Yes, the Wethergirls are in this picture, but really far away.

I was hoping to at least turn up a few coins but all I managed to bring home (besides a truck full of sand) were beer cans.

Removed from the beach and properly disposed of. Merriwether says make things better.

All in all, a dang good Sunday afternoon.

Adventure! Excitement! Golden!

Nearly Famous

2010-10-17T21:13:00.000-05:00

And my fame grows!

Saturday was the big community "Green Festival" at the Last Organic Outpost. They had all sorts of bands, vendors, speakers, and demonstrations. Last year's festival is when I first hooked up with the LOO. Miniwether had a facepainter paint a clam on her face. Sadly, the Wethergirls weren't able to attend this festival as I was one of the workers and also a guest speaker there, which meant arriving a little after 7am to set up and staying late to clean up afterwards. Sidenote: why can't Earth-loving hippies understand the purpose of garbage cans?! My back is still sore from all the trash I picked up off the ground after the event. Dudes, there were big recycling bins everywhere yet these greens would just leave their half-drank water bottles, food wrappers, and cigarette butts wherever they happened to sit!! WTH?!!

But I digress.

Entrance to the farm.

There were a lot of vendors there selling things like pink tools for women, home-use solar panels, herbal teas, and lots of other foods, crafts, and assorted other "green" stuff.

There was one booth that people seemed to avoid, though. People would glance at it's sign then quickly turn away... Apparently the booth's message was one that peace-loving hippy types didn't want to hear...

Zombie Squad, because sometimes it's up to you to make it through.

Yeah, surprisingly people who make their own tofu from scratch don't want to know about emergency preparedness, first aid, water purification, what to keep in a BOB, or even learn about likely threats to the Houston area. Oh well.

Most of my time during the actual festival was spent manning the Zombie Squad booth. However, I did give a talk about the philosophy behind the Food Everywhere movement which was well received by the three people in the audience. No-Impact Man was speaking at the same time as me on the other side of the grounds and stole my crowd.

Me talking. I still miss my old hat.

I did manage to wander around some and that was when I discovered I'm nearly famous! Throughout the day people would come up to me point and yell "Merriwether!! You're Merriwether!! I love your blog/class/hat!!" That was totally cool and a huge ego stroke. Several important people were at the event and they tracked me down to discuss teaching classes to their organizations. I don't want to jinx anything so I'm not going to drop names...but hopefully if things line up the way I'm trying to get them maybe someday I'll be able to trade my lab coat and safety goggles in for hiking boots and a hori hori knife. That would be AWESOME!!!

Adventure! Excitement! Fame!

Biting Things.

2010-10-10T21:41:00.000-05:00

Okay, so two out of three isn't bad. The first part of three was getting stuff ready at the LOO. I got a lot of work done out at the Last Organic Outpost in preparation for their GreenFest next week. Trash is picked up, weeds are pulled out, new beds have been made and planted. It's going to be a great time. I'll be giving two talks about Food Everwhere and also leading three wild edibles tours.

In a week these will be filled with yummy food!

Hopefully these will be gone.

The next planned event of the weekend started out well but then turned bad then turned...well, I'll let y'all decide how it ended up. The plan was for me and the Wethergirls to sleep out in the backyard under the stars. The girls have heard me talk many times of my camping adventures without a tent and they wanted to try it. A cold front had blown in and nighttime temperatures were in the mid 50's. It seemed like the perfect time to throw down a tarp and our sleeping bags for a night watching the stars.

Trust me, stars are up there.

Miniwether and Mambowether actually managed to talk Misseswether into joining us, which was rather shocking. It's not the sort of thing she usually would even contemplate.

All tucked in.

Misseswether read aloud to us for a while and then we closed our eyes and went to sleep. And by "we" I mean "me". The girls were thrashing around and complaining about things biting them. Nothing was biting me so I told them just to go to sleep. Well, nothing was biting me but the three of them ended up covered in bug bites. Miniwether woke me up begging to go inside. In the light of my flashlight I could see her face was covered in lumps.

Everyone back in their regular beds.

Misseswether and the Wethergirls quickly fell asleep in the safety of their own beds while I had to haul everything back into the house. By the time that was done I was no longer sleepy so I cracked a beer, filled a bowl with pretzels and flipped on the TV.

The only thing on was He-Man.

Sunday came and it was time for part three of my weekend plans: fishing! Mini and Mambo had been wanting to go fishing again and with the cool weather they could handle standing out in the sun. Sidenote: Mambo actually wanted to go shooting but that wasn't an option today. Luckily she considers fishing to be almost as much fun as shooting and didn't argue with me about going.

Cool weather means the worms don't dry up as quickly, and give several hours of wriggly fun.

Mambowether caught the first fish while I was still getting Miniwether's rod ready. She ended up catching four fish in less then ten minutes and then decided to play with a stick instead.

Miniwether caught 6-8 fish before running off to play with LoneStarC's son. They found some mud and much hilarity ensued.

We also saw this banded watersnake. Miniwether attempted to catch it several times but I wouldn't let her actually go into the water after the snake. I'm a good dad.

Eventually it was time to go home and hose off the girls. Turns out Burroughs Park mud is incredibly tenacious and much scrubbing was required to get them clean enough to be let into the house.

Adventure! Excitement! Apparently Merriwether Tastes Bad!!

Inconvievable

2010-10-03T21:20:00.000-05:00

So the Wetherfamily attended a birthday party at a park for twin 5-yr olds this afternoon. Among other outdoorsy party activities was the making of s'mores over a fire. I was roasting a marshmallow when a boy about 6-7ish walked over. After watching me a bit he finally asked why was I cooking a marshmallow.

I could only look at him dumbly for a minute, then respond "That's how we do it on this planet."

Damn aliens.

Adventure! Excitement! Not Human!

Review: The Forager's Harvest DVD

2010-09-26T20:42:00.000-05:00

Bad picture, great DVD.

Being a teacher of wild edibles, I'm constantly adding to my library of edible wild plant books. Two of the best books out there for new foragers is Samuel Thayer's The Forager's Harvest and Nature's Garden. They go into deep detail on locating, identifying, and preparing foraged foods. Unlike most books that have only one picture of each plant, Thayer includes multiple pictures of the plants throughout their lifecycle which greatly assists in plant identification.

I was very excited to hear he has released a two-volume DVD supplement to The Forager's Harvest. These two DVD cover the identification, harvesting techniques, and preparation of over thirty common wild edibles. Filmed over the course of two years, each plants is shown in multiple stages of it's life. The high-resolution video makes it easy to clearly see the plant details.

Low-res trailer for The Forager's Harvest DVD.

The two best feature of the DVD's are when he shows harvesting techniques and preparation of the foods. Most books only say what is edible and leave it to the reader to figure out how to harvest them. Thayer shows wonderful tricks and easily-made devices to help with harvesting. For instance, most people would try to harvest a long burdock tap root like a carrot, just trying to pull it up. This will break the root, leaving most of it still in the ground. Thayer shows how easy it is to harvest the entire root by digging a hole next to it then pulling it sideways into this hole. His milk jug cattail pollen collector is simply genius.

Of course, the reason to harvest wild plants is to eat the wild plants and Thayer again shares the many methods he's developed over years of foraging. It's one thing to read how to do something, but actually seeing someone do it, such as making sumac-ade or peeling a thistle, is so much better. You see him eat every plant he harvests, along with whatever steps are needed to make the food ready to eat.

I've been foraging all my life but Samual Thayer makes me feel like a novice. I learned something new about every plant he discussed. Someday I hope to hang out with him for a weekend just munching through the woods. But for now I'll have to satisfy myself with rewatching his DVD a few more times. It's kind of ironic that new favorite video to watch while running on the treadmill is about food!

Adventure! Excitement! Burdock!

Classy Merriwether

2010-09-19T21:43:00.001-05:00

And by that I mean I taught another edible wild plant class at the Houston Arboretum Saturday morning. There's such a big demand for my class that the arboretum has added another session next Sunday afternoon (Sept. 26th). I forgot to take pictures of the students, but afterwards I spent a while taking photos of many plants and then many hours tonight updating my edible wild plant blog.

Added: Arrow-wood, Gayfeather/Liatris, Lizard's Tail, Pawpaw.
Common Medicinal Herbal Teas under Useful Information.
New pictures for Beautyberry, Elderberry, Marsh Mallow, Passion Vine/Maypop, Turk's Cap.

Adventure! Excitement! Food Everywhere!

Remembering the Two and the 2,977

2010-09-10T23:40:00.000-05:00

9/11 comes again and I spend a moment looking up.
The last thing I did before leaving New York was visit
The World Trade Center.
I was carrying a doormat with two big footprints
of a dinosaur. I'd bought it as a gift for my mom.
She gave it back to me when I bought my house.

I spent a long, long time up on the observation deck
taking in the only city I ever liked.
It's a mean city, a smelly dirty city.
A fascinating city.

There was no other view in the world like the view from the top of
The World Trade Center.
Prometheus, coming down from the mountain top
clutching stole fire in his hands
could not feel the joy I felt high above
New York's steel,
New York's concrete,
New York's people.

Honest pride is not a sin.
America's towers were worthy.
And so they were targeted by evil
by primitives
who howl and rampage and bite themselves.

The World Trade Center
fell.
I watched it over and over.
People, clasping hands,
jumped
because it was better than burning.

I watched over and over scenes
of people cheering
celebrating
joyous
over the falling.

I watched over and over candles
lit around the world
saw tears on the faces of people who
had never been to America
but shared our pain at the loss of
The World Trade Center.

2,977! 2,977! 2,977!

Merriwether on KPFT radio!

2010-09-10T19:05:00.000-05:00

I had the pleasure of being interviewed by Michael Woodson, host of KPFT radio's "Living Art" program. Hear me babble about feeding my girls bugs, the nutritional value of wild edibles, the effect of the Great Depression on my parents, and my work with Houston Food Everywhere!
Podcast Here.

Adventure! Excitement! Fame!

Paddling Champion Lake

2010-09-06T22:42:00.001-05:00

What the heck, we're going to get wet anyway.

It's been over two years since Seeker's Fate has been on the water. Being a fifty year old piece of patch-worked aluminum, taking her out can be an adventure even on mild waters. Luckily, Champion Lake (part of the Trinity River National Wildlife Refuge) is pretty mild, as long as you stick to the blazed trails. Of course, when have I ever stuck to the trails?

Okay, so sticking to the marked trails might have been a good idea. We only saw one alligator and a few water snakes, so this was probably quite safe.

Lone Star Chris has been trying to get me out to Champion Lake for several years, but for whatever reasons I never made it. Wow, was I missing a beautiful spot just an hour out of Houston! The place is filled with wonderful flora and fauna, well-marked trails (if that's your thing), tons of hungry fish, and very few people. Lone Star Chris parked himself at a good fishing hole while Clark, Valkyrie, and I continued deeper into the swamp in search of adventure.

LSC loves to fish.

Valkyrie loves paddling.

Clark in the bow seat of Seeker's Fate, Valkyrie in her kayak, and just peeking through the trees comes the first of several rain storms.

Trail blazes were easy to spot as they guided paddlers through the tangled swamp.

Cypress trees look surprisingly similar, so it's a good idea to stick to the marked trails if you don't want to get lost.

Lost.

I had a map but I forgot it in the car. The lake isn't all that big so we weren't to worried about not finding our way out again and spent most of the time talking and laughing our way through the muck. Thankfully there weren't any leeches or mosquitoes around and we were having too much fun talking (and more often laughing) to ever feel any concern. Every little break in the trees beckoned us to see where it might lead.

Hmmm, that's not marked. I wonder where it goes?

Too pretty to be scary.

A giant lotus root pad. This thing was 20" across!

Eventually we found our way back to LCS and we all headed through the pouring rain to another section of the lake. There was a rock dam that was a nice, (relatively) dry place to rest and stretch our legs some. The rain even let up for a bit, making the break that much nicer.

Valkyrie's kayak and the indomitable Seeker's Fate.

Left to Right: Clark, Merriwether, Lone Star Chris, Valkyrie.

Like I said, LSC loves fish. Perhaps inappropriately.

I caught this one with a rubber worm on my second cast.

Along with the fish, snakes, alligators there's also tons of assorted birds out there, if that's your thing. I'm not a huge bird person so I don't have any pictures of them. Clark is a bird person. Hopefully he'll add a comment about all the different birds we saw.

Champion Lake would be a good place to paddle even in hot weather as most of it is shaded by giant cypress trees and if you stick to the trails the water will always be deep enough, usually three feet in depth. No camping, fires, or firearms are allowed, though they do have lottery system for hunting out there. Being a wildlife refuge, access to certain areas are prohibited during nesting season of some migratory birds, though that more of a late winter to late spring sort of thing. The area is very primitive though it does have several fishing piers and a cement boat ramp, though you are limited to a maximum of 10 horsepower boat motor. There's one portapotty next to the boat ramp, but it's pretty nasty.

A good place to spend a day.

Adventure! Excitement! Swamp!

Merriwether: cultural for a day

2010-08-29T21:10:00.000-05:00

I really think you should go.
-Misseswether

Of course, any married man knows "should" actually means "must", even if it's something he considers to be on par with a yearly physical after the age of forty. In this case it was the Houston Theater District Open House. This is a full day of free cultural activities such as opera, dance, symphony, ballet, and thankfully sword fighting. There's also plenty of free activities for the kids such as face painting, be a pirate, and acting lessons.

I went anyway. It made Misseswether happy. Plus someone had to carry stuff.

Sidenote, as far as I could see there were no 30-06 signs anywhere, so carrying is allowed.

As usual, Houston downtown was a maze of construction, one way streets, and random flashing lights. We eventually (though pretty much accidentally) found an entrance to the huge underground parking complex that tunnels beneath Houston streets and buildings. I have no idea how deep this parking cave goes, but the red glow and smell of brimstone seeping up from below suggested we stick to the upper levels.

First stop: Wortham Center.

This theater was built in the late 1980's and cost somewhere in the upper $70,000,000's. Those of you who know anything about Houston history will realize this was at the low point of the oil crash which turned Houston into an 80's version of modern day Detroit. Yet somehow they built this magnificent theater.

Magnificent!

The main stage is home to ballet, operas, plays and coming this May, the Blue Man Group!!

I love the Blue Man Group. Too bad they weren't there today.

We did see this opera singer. He was good. I don't know his name.

We also saw this ballet. I don't know what it was called. They jumped a lot.

I probably could have asked her but I didn't.

This modern dance troupe was pretty good. They didn't actually glow like that. It would have been cool if they did...unless it involved radioactivity or something like that.

Backstage at the Wortham was pretty cool. You discover that most of the beautiful things you see are actually hacked together out of duct tape, plywood, and gold-colored paint.

The fire escape isn't 3D, just drawn on the wall but it's an amazing illusion!

Miniwether loved dressing up in the costumes.

I liked taking pictures of myself with the techno/industrial backdrop.

Very techno/industrial. Each of these is a rope which controls a prop, backdrop, or scrim. Do NOT grab jump up onto one with a Tarzan scream. The guides get really upset if you do that.

I have no idea what this is about, but it looked cool so I took a picture.

Leaving the Wortham theater.

Next stop: the Alley Theater.

The Alley Theater is a world-class venue for amazing plays and musicals. Also, they have wonderful violence.

Violence!! This was the coolest part of the day.

They also had free acting lessons for kids there. You can't see it in this picture, but Mambowether does and excellent interpretation of a malfunctioning machine. I was laughing too hard to take a picture of it.

The final stop: Jesse H. Jones Hall for the Performing Arts.

By this point Mini and Mambo were getting a bit tired and cranky, but how often does one get to hear the Houston symphony for free?! Okay, multiple times throughout the year at the Cynthia Woods Pavilion, but here was another chance and Misseswether wasn't going to miss it!

They started with Ride of the Valkyries, so that was cool. They also did this song and this song which continued the coolness.

The ceiling of Jones Hall was an techno/industrial marvel of sound control. Miniwether was afraid a giant skeleton would come crashing through it during Danse Macabre. Sometimes she's afraid of weird stuff.

So that was today's adventurer. No woods, no bugs, no sweat, no blood. Sorry about that, I'll try and do better soon. I know how y'all like it when I return from an adventure all bloody and broken!

Adventure! Excitement! Culture!

The Food Everywhere War

2010-08-24T22:57:00.000-05:00

Not a lot of volunteers have been showing up...
-Joe, founder of the Last Organic Outpost

The LOO back in the spring.

The sand-filled playground last spring.

The playground last Saturday, overrun with nutgrass.

The LOO paths and plant beds covered in weeds.. :-(

All Joe wants to do is feed everyone. Unfortunately when the weather got hot everyone who had been helping him decided it was too hard. Considering Houston is one step away from being a tropical rain forest, it didn't take long for weeds to take over. The front section that Zombie Squad had spent days clearing has turned back into jungle. Worse, all the raised beds are under attack from nutgrass, quack grass, amaranth, purslane, and lamb's quarter... True, the last three are edible, but since very few people are even out picking the "normal" crops, wild edibles are just wild weeds right now. I was out there with Joe last Saturday spending several hours pulling up weed after weed, but two people aren't enough to fight this war. Since the pickers aren't showing up either, plenty of food is just sitting there. Anyone who comes out to weed can walk away with all the veggies they can carry.

Mmmmm, eggplant!

Yeah baby, it's okra!

Joe is kind of discouraged, but he's also very strong and the fire of his Food Everywhere goal still burns fiercely. I love his new phrase "Food Everywhere", it's a lot more friendly and optimistic than "The Houston Food Security Program". He's hoping this new name will get people more excited. Considering everything that is going on in the world, I can't help wonder if we'll have things ready in time. You know things in the Middle East are heating up? If that powder keg blows it's a given gas and diesel prices will go through the roof, making transportation of food really expensive which will make the food really expensive. You may have noticed retailers have quietly increased the price of food by 6% lately. With the droughts in Russia/Europe, the cold weather in the USA, and the flooding in Asian the price of food staples are set to climb even higher.

Of course, the Last Organic Outpost may be rendered illegal under some interpretations of the Food Safety Modernization Act S.510 currently on the US Senate calender. This bill requires growers, producers, manufacturers, distributors, etc to maintain detailed records and safety measures to insure no possibility of contamination by any harmful chemical, organism, or terrorist poison attack. Failing to do so would make it illegal to transfer, sell or give away any of the food. This poorly-written bill technically could even make backyard gardens illegal if the grower doesn't follow this law. I'm not sure what effect the bill would have on harvesting wild foods.

Adventure! Excitement! Food fight!

#@$*&@!!!!

2010-08-18T20:26:00.000-05:00

Once is accident,
twice is coincidence,
three times is enemy action.
-Chant of the paranoid

So what the frack does seven times mean?
In the last ten weeks we've had the clothes drier break down: $250
The dishwasher die: $500+
The dishwasher flooded the kitchen in it's death throes, requiring the replacement of a bunch of wood trim: $400+ (and not everything has been replaced yet)
The AC units both crap out: $7500+
Misseswether's health: $$$$$
Merriwether's dental work: $550

And now last night our hot water heater stopped working. I've done all the trouble-shooting I can on it and it's not any of the common problems. I went to Home Depot as they advertised if I contact them before noon they can replace it the same day. Turns out they are swamped with requests so currently "same day" now means "Saturday". What the heck is knocking out all the water heaters in Houston? I found one thing on line that if Houston attics get hot enough (above 150F) it can burn out the water heater control unit. I guess that's what happened to mine. Heater + installation: $1000+

Adventure! Excitement! Never getting that AMD-65!

An introduction to herbal tea: preparation

2010-08-15T22:04:00.000-05:00

So now let's make the tea. There are a few things to keep in mind to optimize the release of power of your herbs. Being a chemist, I'm going to pull out the big words for this section.

INFUSION
This method is used for soft plant matter such as leaves, flowers, seeds, or crushed fruits/berries. Boiling water is poured over these materials which are then seeped for 10 to 30 minutes. The water is not brought back to a boil but rather it is allowed to slowly cool or heated to below boiling. The longer the herbs are soaked in this water the more flavor, nutrients, and medicinal compounds will be released. However, be careful with some bitter herbs as a long soaking of these can render the tea unfit to drink.

DECOCTION
To decoct means to add the woody herbs to boiling water which is then kept over heat and simmered 20-60 minutes. Roots, bark, and twigs need this more vigorous extraction. As before, the longer you soak the herbs the more you'll get out of them. If making a tea with both soft and woody components first boil the roots/bark/twigs then add the leaves/flowers/fruit and remove from heat.

TINCTURE
Extraction of herbal chemicals with alcohol makes a tincture. The basic rule of thumb is 300-400 grams of herbs are used per liter of alcohol. Let this mixture soak for at least two weeks with shaking every day. Some people leave the herbs in the alcohol others filter them out. Filtering them out makes for a cleaner tincture which I find easier to use. Vodka and rum (80-100 proof) are the alcohols of choice, with rum being better at disguising flavors of harsher herbs. To use, take one teaspoon of the tincture up to three times a day, either straight or added to juice or soda.
WARNING: never use wood alcohol, rubbing alcohol, or methanol to make tinctures.

An introduction to herbal tea: harvesting, drying, and storage

2010-08-10T23:00:00.000-05:00

Okay, so know you know something about the health benefits and flavors of herbal teas, now lets learn about proper collecting and storing of your future tea. It's a pretty easy, but there are a few things you should know to make great teas.

HARVESTING
Now days it is easy to buy tea herbs off the internet or even in grocery stores. However, the fresher the better in most cases and the freshest will be the ones you grow yourself. The best time to harvest your herbs' leaves and flowers is mid-morning after any dew has evaporated but before the day's heat has a chance to really set in. Most of the flavor-producing compounds are produced by chemical reactions in the plant during the night. But these yummy compounds are easily evaporated out of the plant by the sun's heat so the later in the day you wait to pick them the less there will be of these tasty and beneficial chemicals. However if you pick the leaves/flowers while they still have a coating of dew there is a very good chance that they will mildew and turn to a mushy, useless mess during storage.

The time of day is less important for heavier parts of the plant such as roots, twigs, and bark. The proper time to collect these are based more on the calender than on a clock. Late winter/early spring is usually the right time to collect twigs, roots and bark from trees as this is when they are starting to be flooded with life again after the cold, dark winter. This new life is the vitality you want to tap. On the other hand, the roots of flowers, shrubs, and non-tree-type plants are usually better in the fall. The plant has spent all summer turning sunlight into healthy nutrients and stuffing them into the roots for storage over the winter. Come spring these nutrients were to be used to regrow the plant but now you'll be harvesting that regrowth for yourself.

DRYING and STORAGE
A basic rule of thumb is the thicker the plant matter the thicker you can pile it on top of itself during drying. Leaves are best dried while still on the stems/stalks in bundles hung up in warm, dry areas out of direct sunlight. Remember, you don't want the good chemicals to evaporate away so warm with air circulation is better than hot or direct sunlight. If you have the room, store these bundles hanging somewhere dry. A layer of cheese cloth over them will keep the dust off them.

Flowers should be removed from their stems and gently shaken to get rid of any bugs (though these bugs are a source of protein). Place them on a cookie sheets one layer deep and set them in a dry, warm place. Again, avoid hot areas or direct sunlight. Air gently passing over them with prevent mildewing, molds, or fungi from growing which are BAD for tea. Once dry, place the flowers in lidded, wide-mouth jars. Traditionally porcelain or amber-colored glass jars are preferred to reduce degradation of the herbs by light.

Heavy materials such as roots, bark and twigs should be cut into strips approximately 4" long and no wider than your little finger, then loosely pile on a cookie sheet. As before, place them in a dry, warm area with moving air to dry them without losing any goodness. Twigs and uncut roots can be bundled and hung like your did earlier with the leaves. Bark and cut roots should be stored in the same manner as flowers.

East, west, then a direction all my own.

2010-08-08T22:11:00.002-05:00

Daddy! Daddy! Dried squid!! Can we get some , please?!!
-Miniwether at the Asian store.

Remember back when Clark and I were intrepid explorers of the borderlands? Walked where no one else had walked, paddling where no one else had paddled, stepping on copperheads where no one else has stepped on a copperhead. Ah, those heady days of adventure, adventure and exploration...they are a lot harder to come by for guys with four kids in tow.

That is, for guys who AREN'T me and Clark. There's still plenty of exploration left to do in Houston even if you have kids. For instance, if you want your children to experience the world, why not take them to Asia and Eastern Europe? Both are conveniently located just a few blocks apart on Blalock Rd in west Houston.

Our first stop was the 99 Ranch Asian Market at 1005 Blalock Rd. I love this place! Weird foods, strange candies, odd drinks, bright colors and the babble of Chinese, Japanese, Koren, and other languages of far off lands.

A pallet of durian fruit!

Fish! Like most Asian food stores, they have tanks of live fish, crabs, and assorted other aquatic edibles. Wander down to the meat section if you want a platter of pig's ears, chicken paws, hog's feet, or the best price on brisket you'll find in Houston.

The Wethergirls and Clarkettes loved seeing all the funky (to them) foods and we really excited when Clark and I said "yes" whenever they found something they wanted to try eating. We left there with bags of sweets, treats, roots, and wine.

Cool, wolf berry wine!

But why stay in the Orient when more of the world beckons? Head down to 1780 Blalock to experience vowel-free shopping in Houston's only Polish food store? If you have a hankering for woda niegazowana, sok wielowarzywny, barszczyk czerwony z jablkiem, or wieprzowina we wlasnym sosie then this is the place to get it.

I have no idea what any of this is but I bet it's tasty.

Clark, being of Polish ancestry and being married to a Polish women, lead the tour through this store. Like the previous place, we loaded up with foods you aren't going to find in the local Kroger's. You want sausage? Nobody makes better sausage than Poles. Stop in, drop a few dimes, and let your feast begin.

So, what did I learn in visiting these two stores? Anything that is edible has been pickled by some culture somewhere, which led me to my latest experiment: pickling purslane and burdock roots!

The purslane and dill were grown in my yard, the burdock root was bought at 99 Ranch Market.

I used the pickled okra recipe from the Ball Blue Book Guide to Preserving Food. I cut the recipe in half which was just the right amount of pickling solution to fill two pint jars, one filled with strips of burdock root and one with finger-long branches of purslane.

Finished product. I'm going to let them soak for a few weeks before trying them. I have no idea how they are going to taste.

Anyway, that's my latest adventure. Now it's time for you Wetherpals to tell me about your favorite ethnic stores. Is there an African place you like? An Indian store you find yourself returning to? A Venezuelan market you can't pass by? Me and fellow readers would love to here about them whether in Houston or elsewhere.

Adventure! Excitement! Yummy!

An introduction to herbal tea: flavor

2010-08-05T22:02:00.000-05:00

Okay, in the last post I introduced you to the beneficial tea powers of numerous common herbs. There's a lot of power in that knowledge, but what good is power if you don't enjoy it? True, most of those herbs I listed taste good on their own, but when blended with other herbs picked specifically for flavor something really awesome occurs: healthy pleasure! Those two words are rarely placed together, but in this case it's true. So, on with the tastes of tea!

SWEET
Anise
Licorice
Stevia leaves
Vanilla beans
Yaupon holly leaves
Blackberry/Dewberry leaves
Raspberry leaves
Apple fruit
Peach fruit
Strawberry leaves

SPICY
Allspice
Cardamon
Cinnamon
Coriander
Fenugreek
Ginger
Yerba Santa

MINT
Spearmint
Peppermint
Wintergreen
Catnip
Violet
Basil

FLORAL
Chamomile leaves & flowers
Elderberry flowers
Jasmine flowers
Lavender flowers
Basswood/Linden flowers
Clover (white & red)
Rose flowers

CITRUS*
Beebalm/Lemon balm
Lemongrass
Lemon peel
Orange peel
Lime peel

LICORICE
Anise
Fennel
Licorice
Star Anise
Goldenrod leaves & flowers

TART
Rose hips
Turk's cap flowers
Hibiscus flowers
Dock leaves
Sorrel leaves

EARTHY/ROOTY
Dandelion root
Burdock root
Ginseng root
Chicory root

RESIN
Rosemary
Pine needles
Birch leaves

BITTER
Chicory root
Dandelion root
Yarrow leaves & flowers
Willow twigs

ARBORACEOUS
Sarsaparilla roots
Birch leaves
Ginseng roots
Sassafras roots
Burdock root
Echinacea flowers
Ephedra bark & twigs

*Warning: the peel of store-bought citrus fruit may have been treated with fungicides or other potentially toxic compounds. Wash them thoroughly before use or purchase organically grown fruits.

An introduction to herbal tea: what does what.

2010-08-03T21:58:00.001-05:00

Being a forager, my concept of viable plant sources of tea may be a bit wider than that of your average tea fashionista. Of course, this also means that I may occasionally find a catalpa worm or other crawly thing in the bottom of my mug. Don't worry, if you attend my herbal tea class this fall at the Houston Arboretum I'll make sure we only use plants!

So, what's all this about herbal teas and why are they so dang healthy? As usual, it's all about the chemistry. You basic Lipton's tea is loaded with a number of beneficial chemicals with the main class being known as "flavoniods". Most flavonoids work as antioxidants which is just a fancy way of saying they get rid of the bad, highly-reactive molecules (aka free radicals) in your body. These free radicals would normally bounce around ripping apart other necessary molecules, which is a very bad thing. Getting rid of the free radicals greatly reduces molecular damage to your cells, which is a very good thing.

If all you want to do is protect your molecules from destruction then regular tea is fine. However, why stop there? How about adding chemicals that can perk you up or make you relax, chemicals that can stimulate your immune system or settle down your stomach, chemicals that can reduces cramps or clear your sinuses of goo, maybe even extend your life? Yeah, they can do that and more. Here's a sample of know benefits from different herbal teas.

Herbs for Energy
Ginseng
Yaupon holly (caffeine)
Ephedra
Tumeric

Herbs for Calm
Chamomile
Kava kava root
Lemon balm
Lemongrass
Mint
Motherwort
Sage
Skullcap
St. John's Wort
Valerian root
Oatstraw

Herbs for Stomach Ills
Burdock - reduces indigestion and constipation, increases bile production
Cardomom - increases digestion, reduces gas
Chamomile - reduces indigestion
Cinnamon - reduces indigestion
Fennel - improves appetite, stimulates digestion, reduces gas
Ginger - reduces nausea
Lemongrass - improves digestion
Mint - improves digestion
Sting nettle - relives both constipation and diarrhea
Blackberry/Dewberry - helps control diarrhea
Sage - improves digestion
Valerian - reduces stomach cramps
Yarrow - increases appetite, improves digestion
Red clover - reduces gas
Stevia - reduces heartburn
Anise - reduces gas and indigestion

Herbs for Headaches
Mint
Rose hips
Rosemary
Birch leaves
Lavender

Herbs for Colds
Burdock - reduces congestion, opens airways, reduces fever
Cinnamon
Chamomile
Elderberry - improves immune system
Fennel - soothes sore throats, reduces coughing
Ginger - soothes throat, opens sinuses, reduces fever
Lemongrass - reduces fevers and other cold symptoms
Licorice - soothes sore throats, reduces coughing
Stinging nettle - reduces coughing, opens sinuses
Rosemary
Sage - reduces congestion and coughing
Strawberry leaves - slows diarrhea, reduces indigestion
Thyme - reduces coughing and sore throats, strengthens immune system
Yarrow - reduces congestion and other cold symptoms
Red clover - expectorant
Ephedra - reduces congestion
Anise - expectorant, reduces congestion

Herbs for Improved Health
Burdock root - blood purifier, antioxidants
Cinnamon - improves circulation
Dandelion root - stimulates liver, flushes system
Lemongrass - cleanses blood, liver and kidneys; reduces blood pressure
Licorice - reduces congestion from allergies
Stinging nettle - cleanses blood, stimulates liver & kidneys
Blackberry/Dewberry - high in vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants; blood cleanser
Rose hips - vitamin C, antioxidants
Rosemary - improves liver action and blood circulation
Persimmon - vitamin C
Sassafras - blood cleanser
Hibiscus flower - antioxidants, control blood pressure, lowers cholesterol
Red clover - antioxidants, vitamins, minerals, reduces bad cholesterol, thins blood
Ginger - reduces morning sickness, reduces menstrual cramping
Jasmine - antioxidants, reduces absorption of ft and cholesterol, may fight cancer

Herbs for Women
Cinnamon - reduces menstrual cramps
Ginger - reduces menstrual cramps
Lemongrass - reduces menstrual issues
Licorice - reduces menstrual cramps
Motherwort - reduces PMS
Blackberry/Dewberry - general menstrual aid
Skullcap - reduces PMS mood swings
Stevia - may help prevent osteoporosis
Red clover - reduces symptoms of menopause due to estrogen mimicking molecules, not for use by pregnant women!

Herbs for Men
Ginseng - improves blood flow to Mr. Happypants
Ginko Biloba - improves blood flow to Mr. Happypants
Ginger - improves blood flow to Mr. Happypants (don't let Mary Ann know!)
Hawthorn - improves blood flow to Mr. Happypants
Blackberry/Dewberry - improves blood flow to Mr. Happypants

Adventure! Excitement! Merriwether in hot water!

Hey, an update

2010-07-26T20:49:00.000-05:00

So yeah, things went to hell in a hand basket here lately. A medical issue tried to turn our family of four into a family of three. Things have stabilized some, but are far from normal. A new treatment has been started but it'll be a minimum of ninety days before we really will know anything and two years before it's finished.

Trying to take care of the family, work and everything while this was going on drained me to the point of coming down with walking pneumonia (hooray for antibiotic Cefdinir and prescription cough medicine with hydrocodone!). Hopefully at least I'll get over that soon.

Thank you very, very much for all your well wishes and prayers. I've been spending a lot of time down on my knees praying and knowing all y'all are there praying with me has been like being in a dark room with a bunch of wonderful candles. When my candle was feeling blown out y'all were there to relight it. I can't thank you enough for that. If we meet in person though y'all are drinking for free, my treat.

And now, to bed.

Adventure! Excitement! Hope!

Still far away

2010-07-22T21:36:00.000-05:00

Cut to black.

2010-07-03T06:53:00.000-05:00

The darkness has finally caught up.
Please pray for our family.

Uh-oh: Tracking Hurricane Alex

2010-06-26T21:45:00.001-05:00

Thank God computer weather forecasts are always wrong.

Tropical Storm Alex

Still...I think this is going to be a busy week.

Adventure! Excitement! Ike!