Eating Things Off The Ground - Dandelions

So I left the building briefly this afternoon to walk to the campus cafeteria to grab a Coke. Returning to the main building I saw one of my team members heading out into the sunshine for a breath of air. We sat at a picnic table and began to chat. At one point he carefully and politely asked me what I was eating. Without realizing it, I had been plucking young dandelion leaves from the ground and delicately snacking on them as we discussed our weekend plans, and casual departmental dynamics.



After quickly and not too desperately explaining why it was good to eat dandelions and other wild foods, he thanked me for "effectively defusing what could have been a very awkward situation". After all, I'm his new boss and the last thing I need is for rumours amongst the group to begin that I like eating things off the ground.

Cheers (here's to good eating),

Mungo

Turn On Your Love Light, Brokedown Palace & Slab Bacon

Now that the warm evenings are upon us, I've been watching less and less television when I get home from work. Work is going well, I am really enjoying the new position and department. And evenings like this are made for listening to music and relaxing.



And there is nothing quite as relaxing as some Grateful Dead. This song brings me back a couple of decades to when I first listened to this - to summer evenings, and parties. And it's fine times tonight too. Plus I picked up slab bacon at the shops the other day. Just like I said I would. Fine times and slab bacon - can't be beat.

Turn On Your Love Light

Without a warning you broke my heart, takin' it baby, tore it apart
And you left me standin' in the dark, said your love for me was dyin'.

Come on baby, baby please come on baby, cause I'm on my knees.
Turn on your lights let it shine on me shine on your love light
Let it shine on me let shine, let it shine, let it shine.

When I get lonely in the middle of the night
And I need you darlin' to make things alright

So come on baby, baby please and I'm beggin' you baby cause I'm on my knees,
Turn on your lights let it shine on me
Turn on your love light let it shine on me
Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine.

Without a warning you broke my heart, takin' it baby, tore it apart
And you left me standin' in the dark, shine your love for me was dark.

Come on baby, baby please come on baby, cause I'm on my knees.
Turn on your lights let it shine on me shine on your love light
Let it shine on me let shine, let it shine, let it shine.

Brokedown Palace

Fare you well, my honey, fare you well my only true one.
All the birds that were singing are flown, except you alone.

Going to leave this brokedown palace,
On my hand and knees, I will roll, roll, roll.
Make myself a bed in the waterside,
In my time, I will roll, roll roll.

In a bed, in a bed, by the waterside I will lay my head.
Listen to the river sing sweet songs, to rock my soul.

River going to take me, sing sweet and sleepy,
sing me sweet and sleepy all the way back home.
It's a far gone lullaby, sung many years ago.
Mama, mama many worlds I've come since I first left home.

Goin' home, goin' home, by the riverside I will rest my bones,
Listen to the river sing sweet songs, to rock my soul.

Going to plant a weeping willow,
On the bank's green edge it will grow, grow, grow.
Sing a lullaby beside the water,
Lovers come and go, the river roll, roll, roll.

Fare you well, fare you well, I love you more than words can tell,
Listen to the river sing sweet songs, to rock my soul.

Mungo

Taking Stock of the Backyard Plants and Things - First and Second Glances

There isn't a whole lot going on in the backyard at the moment at first glance.



But on second glance, the moss is beginning to emerge.



I'd like to gather some up, add some yoghurt, sugar, salt and some moss in a blender and slowly churn it up. Then I could use a paint-brush and innoculate various areas of the pathway and brick walls with moss - it'll grow as long as the right conditions exist.



Cardinals, sparrows, grackles, mourning doves, a hawk of some type (a kite?), have all stopped in a the bird feeder.



As the lawn begins to come into its own, violets burst out, and I know that I have to rake out the thatch, aerate the soil, scatter fertilizer and plant grass seed on the bare spots. I'll let nature take care of the start though.



On the edges, Lily of the Valley is beginning to emerge - soon fragrant white bulbs will fill the air with perfume.



Berries are building up, buds are opening.



Birds keep away from the thorns.



The sun catches the bright colours.



An old potato stalk signals to me that maybe there are potatoes under the soil still from last year. I don't know if they'll come up perennially. I won't look into it, I like surprises.



The rose bushes are slowly coming back to life.



A fragrant Hyacinth has opened by the back door.



Whenever we open the back door, the scent comes into the house.



The grape vine basket that I wove last fall has mostly broken down.



This year I'll learn to make stronger ones.



A foamy, crystalline sheath on the peach tree drew my attention.



Upon closer examination I saw a colony of very tiny caterpillars.



The pathway for us is looking good.



A critter has made a pathway of its own underneath the shed. I'm thinking it's a red-squirrel's home.



Birds are having a good time at the feeders - and soon the plants alone will be able to support them.



Life in the grass is coming back.



Snails and ants and pillbox bugs and others are returning.



Violets are here.



Soon I'll be thinking about mowing the grass.

Cheers,

Mungo

Plans for Pleasantly Pressing Pretty Plants

I have been thinking of pressing flowers and plants this season. No, really. Not for an arts and crafts project, and not to present to my sweetheart (I'll come up with something else for her, such as chocolate or jewelery...).

To become knowledgeable about bushcraft, Mors Kochanski recommends studying a variety of subject areas - one of which is flora identification. Knowing the uses, dangers, benefits and variation of plants is obviously important in the wilderness.



Mors Kochanski recommended a good method to learn about plants - get a blank notebook and some contact film and collect plants and press them, and make notes on the pages. By doing this, you will soon become familiar with these plants and mushrooms and this is a good start towards a comprehensive education of flora.

Tim Smith's Jack Mountain site has a document called Useful Plants of the Northeast on his site, and I would want to use something like that as a starting point, along with a list of plants that hold particular interest for me (it is important that the book have personal meaning to me too - and that it is not just a generic guide of plants).

I found a terrific PDF document on the web called 'Collecting and preparing plant specimens for identification' which provides detailed rationale and instructions on collection, specimen preparation, and forms to describe the collected plants. I expect this to function as a sort of journal for myself, one which I slowly build up and create. I could include sketches and photos as well.

I intend to buy Mors' 16 Bushcraft pamphlets, and specifically it would be good to have his "21 Native Wild Edible Plants". Check out Schwert's fantastic review of the pamphlets, and consider buying them via BensBackwoods.com.

Cheers,

Mungo

BBQ #1: The First Barbeque of the Year - The Competition Emerges

With neighbours barbecuing to my left and neighbours barbecuing to my right on Saturday, the pressure on me began to mount.



I just couldn't take it any more.



I stopped acting weak and unmanly and marched out of the sun and into the kitchen.



I gathered hotdogs, sausages, a green pepper, spices, buns, plates and implements.



I took the cover off of my new barbecue (new last year), and did not find a birds-nest in it.



Or a raccoon for that matter.



With manly purpose I wheeled it down the path and onto the patio, turned the gas on, rotated the switches and pressed the piezo-electric starter button.



The barbecue immediately flared to life.



I vigorously brushed off the grease and carbon that had accumulated late last year.



Within minutes was barbecuing more hotdogs and more sausages than both my neighbours were cooking combined.



And on top of that I got the side-burner flaming, and put together a concoction that I later introduced to Spring as Mungo's Good Ol' Home Style Cajun Green Pepper Potatoes into a frying pan - spices and bits and bites.



I'm ready for the summer.



Bring on the meat, bring on the steaks, the ribs, the chicken breasts and legs and tenders, bring on the chops, the flank steaks, bring on the potatoes and onions and peppers and you know what?



Bring on a whole goat, a whole side of beef, an ox, an ostrich if you'd like.



Just bring it on.



Mungo

Sunny Dog Days - caniculares dies

Yesterday was a sunburn kind of day.



A sunburn kind of day if you thought sitting in the sun for hours reading and whittling was a good idea.



I got a sunburn on my face and on my neck.



I whittled a spoon out of Linden wood (also known as Bass wood or if you are residing in Britain - lime wood).



This easy-carving wood was a pleasure to carve - I'll put up photos later.



Mostly I just wanted to show a beagle in resplendent repose upon the grass beneath the warm sun, and Monty with his Tigger toy.



Now the Dog Days of Summer traditionally start in July, but hey - we've had such a cold, snowy winter, it certainly seemed like a Dog Day of Summer yesterday - April 18, 2008.



From Wikipedia:

The term "Dog Days" was coined by the ancient Romans, who called these days caniculares dies (days of the dogs) after Sirius (the "Dog Star"), the brightest star in the heavens besides the Sun.

Popularly believed to be an evil time "when the seas boiled, wine turned sour, dogs grew mad, and all creatures became languid, causing to man burning fevers, hysterics, and phrensies" - Brady’s Clavis Calendarium, 1813.

The Dog Days originally were the days when Sirius, the Dog Star, rose just before or at the same time as sunrise (heliacal rising), which is no longer true owing to precession of the equinoxes. The ancients sacrificed a brown dog at the beginning of the Dog Days to appease the rage of Sirius, believing that that star was the cause of the hot, sultry weather.

Well. There you go. Enjoy your weekend!

Cheers,

Mungo