Take a baby Mushrooming! Take a class on taking your bebeh mushrooming!

What have I been doing you ask? Well, getting out and mushrooming as often as I can. Since I'm home with the Bebeh 3 days a week, we just take her along.

Some very helpful, patient and kind friends and I have made two trips up into the Oregon Cascades for mushrooms in the last two weeks. The first trip was dry and sunny and provided us with those lovely, early-season tan chanterelles. Dry and clean and perfect for pasta.

The second trip was much colder (in the low 40's) and wet, and we really had to bushwhack to get in. The baby was an absolute trooper, got swaddled up and conked out for an hour once we got into good mushrooming territory. Thanks to Canukistani Kate not only for the pictures but for being on Nap Duty both trips.

As for the class, here is the info from Arctos School of Herbal and Botanical Studies:

Mama/Papa and Babe Mushroom Outing with Missy Rohs
Tuesday, October 6, 10am-4pm

By special request, this excursion is geared towards parents with little ones. The day is a little shorter, and we won't be away from the car for more than an hour and a half at a time. This parent- and baby-friendly hunt will focus on delicious edible mushrooms like Chanterelles and Matsutake. Our hope is that we'll not only find an array of beautiful fungi, but score a basketful to take home and savor! Bring sturdy hiking shoes, water, and lunch.

Carpool will meet in SE Portland. Register by Oct. 3rd by emailing missy@arctosschool.org.
Cost: $35 per adult (sliding scale available) -- kids under 10 are free!







Enjoy sharing your life with little ones,

Bp

[huge thanks to Canukistani Kate for not only the pictures, but all the baby holding]

Update on the Mushroom Tree

As I was out feeding the chickens this morning, I spotted something kinda gross looking, and potentially very exciting.

Last fall, some of you may remember, I got the idea to inoculate a stump in our chicken yard with wild edible mushrooms. Due to the species of the tree, I chose Chicken of the Woods mushrooms (Laetiporus sulphureus), and set about plugging the stump.

The beautiful bloom depicted on the right is not the stump in my back yard, but a bit of a dream picture of what it could look like as early as this fall.

Below is a picture of the state of the "dry" or "inactive-looking" plugs in the stump. If you click it to get a better view, you can see a number of the dowels sticking out from the bark, looking quite "dowelly", and not super biologically active.



And next are two picture of what look to me to be fully active, early-stage spots of growth at some of the "active" plugs. Unless this is newbish ignorance, like some kind of successful immune-response from the stump, I believe we have liftoff. They are even a creamy orange color, which fits the species of mushroom I chose to grow in this stump.





Enjoy turning waste wood into beautiful food,

Bp

[top picture courtesy of Wiki Commons]

Luminescent Fungi in Japan (and elsewhere)

The Pink Tentacle blog has a great post about these awesome Japanese luminescent mushrooms (Mycena lux-coeli). Apparently, they grow on fallen Chinquapin trees.

These particular fungi are from deep in undisturbed woods, which are a pretty rare thing in Japan nowadays.

There are a few different varieties of mushies that will pull off this maneuver. We've observed some fungi in rotting wood in the woods on Mt. Hood that look like little glow worms. They were especially abundant on the path up to Angel's Rest in the Gorge, which is one of the reasons I used to like doing night hikes there.

Probably the largest specimen of glowing mushroom in the States is the Jack O' Lantern mushroom, Omphalotus olearius. As far as I know, they don't come this far north, but are pretty common in central and southern California.

Enjoy glowy things in nature that aren't ravers taking a night hike,

Bp

[via my faithful Canukistani operative "Yuri," photo credits at Rincon Del Misterio]

Photo essay: creating a "Mushroom Tree"

As I mentioned last month, we are going to attempt to grow wild mushrooms in our back yard. I ordered 300 plugs of Chicken of the Woods spawn from Fungi Perfecti.

The first picture is of the bag of plug spawn.


The second is the back of the bag, showing a healthy bunch of plugs.


The third is looking into the bag, seeing a nice, healthy cottony network of mycelium around all the plugs. The instructions were to let the box and spawn sit for up to a month before using so the mycelium could recover from the shipping. When it looked this way, I decided it was ready to go.


The next picture shows a 5/16" drillbit and a few holes in the "diamond" pattern suggested in the 10-page booklet supplied by Fungi Perfecti. The bit was around 4 1/2" long, and I was shooting for a distance of 3-4" between holes -- so used it as a rough measure.


Next is 4 plugs set in the holes, and only the top one pounded in. I used a finish hammer for this, as I couldn't find our rubber mallet.

Next is a typical "field" of plugs. My impression is that you want fields like this, as opposed to thin runs in the wood. The plug spawn grows out from the spot where it was introduced until it reaches the next one growing out from another location. When the mycelium reach each other, they bind up and support each other's growth -- so wide fields of plugs are better than thin paths.


The last picture is the incipient Mushroom Tree itself. I did a nice wide collar of plugs about 4' off the ground all around the trunk (out of reach of chickens, who I think would go after the young mushrooms), then a nice wide stripe all the way up the front to a collar around the top. When it blooms (anywhere from 6-12 months from now), it's going to look totally cool.

Chicken of the Woods (Laetiporus sulphureus) mushrooms are not only edible, but really bright and beautiful -- check out these links for good pictures: Wikipedia, American Mushrooms.com, and some doozies from the New Jersey Mycological Association.

Enjoy creating edible art in your garden,

Bp

Major Herp sighting: Coast giant salamander , Dicamptodon tenebrosus

Look at that handsome Fella!

I was so excited when a mushroom picking friend spotted this "little dude" when we were in the woods. I had just walked past it, in fact. At first, I thought it was a Cope's giant salamander (Dicamptodon copei), but on closer inspection I do believe it was a Coast giant salamander (Dicamptodon tenebrosus). Make sure to click on the thumbnail photos to get a better look at this handsome dude(ette).

I call this a major herp sighting -- but that only applies to me and my excitement level. These guys aren't rare, but they can be rare to spot due to their reclusiveness and camouflage. "Real" herp experts in this region probably see them on a regular basis.

As amphibians go here in the NW, this guy definitely is a giant. Check out the size compared to my friend's hand. He was a good 10 - 12" long, and hefty. He didn't move a whit when we were surrounding him and talking and pointing and snapping photos. It was quite a sighting, I was very excited.

So, technically this is a "little dudes" post, but a Big Little Dudes one. If I weren't mushroom picking at the time, I'd tell you where I spotted him. As it is, you will have to pry the information from my cold, dead fingers.

Enjoy unusual wildlife sightings in our beautiful Pacific N.W. rainforests,

Bp

[photos by the lovely Alethea]

Making mushrooms out of lemonade... er

As you can see from the sidebar, I've been reading Paul Stamets's book Mycelium Running. This has me thinking about mushrooms and mushroom cultivation.

SO -- we had this Blue Spruce in the chicken yard that was dying. Possibly beetle infestation. We had our friend who is an arborist cut the tree down, leaving the stump good and tall so we could use it as a framing member.

And then I realized: we could inoculate it with mushrooms!!!

It's a conifer, and not one that grows in our area, so I don't know what mushroom would be best to grow in it. I'm going to use Fungi Perfecti's plug spawn to do it. I'm thinking Chicken of the Woods or the Conifer Coral. I called Fungi Perfecti and told them the situation, and Paul his'self is going to get back to me with his suggestions.

I'm thinking Chicken of the Woods growing in the chicken yard has a certain poetic ring to it. I'll report back when I hear from the fungal superstar.

Bp

Ps/Addendum: Fungi Perfecti got back to me, Chicken of the Woods it is. We were leaning that way anyway, because of the crazy neon color and the poetic nature of chickens growing with the chickens.

Paul Stamets: 6 ways mushrooms can save the world

Another great Ted Talk. This time it's mycological superstar Paul Stamets, founder of the great company Fungi Perfecti, talking about mushrooms and how incredible they are. Not just as organisms in and of themselves, but as means to clean up hazardous waste, create soil, and generate medicines.

Despite using language that's heavy on my pet peeve list ("save the world" etc), this talk is very interesting. Note that he's going to get pretty sciency at some points, but just stick with it, he wraps it all back together by the end. You can definitely tell Stamets is one of the presenters that struggles with TED's 18-minute time limit.



Enjoy the endless ways that nature can help us help ourselves,

Bp

[via Patrick Gracewood]

Chanterelle-sicles anyone?

Went picking turkey day morning with Jon Schell, founder of the internationally famous Alethea Acupuncture Clinic in Northwest Portland. I had some blue cheese, thyme, chanterelle quiche to deliver tonight at the Foodie Orphan Turkey Day, and was out of yellow mushrooms. Good excuse to get out in the woods.

As you can see from this picture, it was cold. Plenty of frost on the logging roads, and some patches of snow on the ground. The dog didn't care, and we got into the mushrooms regardless. They were, however, frozen solid. It was kind of weird to be picking mushrooms, but not cutting them from the stalk, and every time you grabbed one it was rock hard. This would be the last mushrooming trip at these elevations (approx. 3500 ft., mostly south/southwest hillsides). Freezing really messes the mushrooms up, they're just water logged proteins, so freezing then thawing then freezing pretty much tears them apart. We went to an old faithful spot, crossing the stream at a really pretty spot. The frozen logs with snow weren't very easy to navigate but we got across with little incident. The logging roads took us into prime chanterelle habitat -- big trees, moss, and relatively undisturbed forest. The woods here had been logged of their biggest trees some time in the past, I'd guess the 50's, but it had been a selective logging. So as you worked through the trees, you'd occasionally find huge stumps, 6-7' in diameter. But, the trees they left behind thrived and are now reaing 2-3' in diameter themselves. The mushrooms have grown well in this stretch of forest. Here's a picture showing the disturbed, but highly mushroom-productive forest we were picking through.

The mushrooms being frozen made some extra steps to the cleaning process, affected their texture a little bit, but didn't diminish their flavor a bit. The quiche I brought to the potluck tonight were a huge hit, and I was more than pleased to be serving genuinely wild food that I had gathered myself. I love that shit.

Enjoy your little triumphs,

Bp

Luddite finds Kings on the coast

Received this image today over email from a very happy Luddite.
His spider sense got tingling and sure enough he found some Boletus edulus, or King Boletes, or Ceps, or Porcini.

I like many wild mushrooms for eating, but when I had these for the first time -- I hesitate to say this, but I think they blow most others out of the water.

(waits for lightning from the mushroom gods)

They all have their place and flavor and compatible dishes, but Ceps are just so dam good. Ok... Black Chanterelles are super tasty as well. And Matsutake have an incredibly unique and robust flavor... okok, it's apples and oranges. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, all that rot. They're all good.

It's just I don't get Kings where I pick hardly ever. So, the grass is greener down the coast today.

I'll recover from this green, envious tinge momentarily.

Enjoy your friends' successes,

Bp

How to start picking wild edible mushrooms

I have a request from the comments! I feel so, official.

How do you start out collecting wild edible mushrooms if you don't have any friends with experience? I'd say, pay someone to be your friend -- I.E. take a class. The absolute best class I've ever taken was the Wild Mushroom Conference at Breitenbush Hotsprings. It was fantastic. There was a PhD for every 6-7 attendees the year I went, and I spiked up from picking Chanterelles only (!!) to having experience and confidence with over a dozen edible species. It's a bit of money and a bit of a time commitment, but I cannot possibly suggest it more highly.

Here's the heartbreaker, you missed it for this year. It is held mid-late October every year. The date floats a bit depending on availability of teachers.

If you have the patience, wait a year and go to that, I couldn't imagine a better start.

If you can't wait a year, hook up with the Oregon Mycological Society. I met many members when I attended the Breitenbush conference, and everyone was very sweet and helpful. They are so enthused about mushrooms that it is just contagious. There are some world-class mycologists who associate with this society, a fine fine group of folks. Their conference, also, was last month. But there are trips being planned all the time, and when you get in contact with them I'm sure you could find a mushroom outing just about any weekend of the fall season.

Bare bones: go out with PEOPLE who know what the hell they're doing. Don't rely on a book, ever. Some people would scoff at this comment, but this is my opinion. Why juggle around with danger like that, there's no need. There are scads of helpful folks who are more than willing to help you get started, just get a hold of them.

Oh, and absolutely buy David Arora's books, and other field guides. I keep his All that the rain promises, and more on me when I'm in the woods, and the huge tome Mushrooms Demystified in the car for deeper investigation. There are other good books out there but I prefer his, they are what I was weaned on.

Hope that helps, and if you have any questions just let me know.

Enjoy your newest hobbies,

Bp

Wild Edibles I did pick, post #2/2

A writing challenge to myself: finish this post before the Chanterelle Blue Cheese quiche is out of the oven -- go!

There were a few more dandy edibles that we picked while out last weekend. Two of them are in the Boletus family. I like Boletes for picking with beginning mushroomers because it has a safety built into it. If it has sponge instead of gills underneath, it's at least safe to pick and check out later (if there isn't a mentor around to check). The worst you get in the pacific N.W. is one that will slime up like a slug when cooked, or be bitter as hell and obviously inedible (big hint, when the bitter bolete is sliced with a knife the whole flesh section turns blue very quickly). So, relatively harmless compared to some of the other scary fungi out there in our forests.

The most abundant Boletus we ran across was Boletus zelleri. The magenta coloration on the stem, and the suede-leather-like brown cap are telling markers for this dandy little mushroom. It has conspicuous yellow sponge as well. Like all boletes, the bugs love em. Pick them young, and slice them in the field to make sure they aren't buggy (when is say buggy, what I really mean is maggoty, yech). They are great to eat, especially after they've been dried, with a strong enough flavor to hold up to mixed dishes and really beef up vegetarian soups and stews. They can often be found in the city, underneath large Doug Fir that are surrounded by mossy lawn. Of course you have to be sure the folks who tend the lawn don't use chemicals, and that dogs don't have access to the site. I've picked enough while driving around in an electrical van in the fall to make two large pizzas. It was great.

The next Boletus we picked, in much less quantity, was the Admirable Bolete or Boletus mirababilis. This handsome bolete grows out of rotting wood, has a slightly longer stem (generally) than the Zeller's, and doesn't have the magenta coloration on the stem. Otherwise, it is a pretty dam close look alike to the Zeller's. A nice thing when two look alikes are both tastey. I've found that when I am in old-growth forest, with plenty of rotting logs on the forest floor, and lots of moss, these can be the most conspicuous and abundant edible around. Again, since the bugs like them too, the take tends to be less than with Chanterelles, which bugs completely boycott. This is another good drying mushroom (all the Boletes are), and has a bit of a lemony flavor sometimes that is quite pleasant.

Finally, and on a completely different note, we picked Angel Wings -- Phyllotus porrigens. These are thin, translucent shelf mushrooms that like to grow especially on downed hemlock logs. They probably grow on other softwood logs as well. They are easy to identify, sometimes abundant, and often a nice look of variety in a mushroom dish. The flavor is delicate, and the texture sturdy/slightly rubbery. They won't melt in a saute pan which is nice. It's not an outrageously tasty mushroom, but it's great to add to a mushroom medley dish, and always fun to collect.

There we go, the last of this week's edibles. [general disclaimer coming, warning] Please do not use these posts as a guide to pick and eat mushrooms out of the woods. These posts are best used for fun reading, and backup material for use when you are in the woods with someone who knows their stuff. If any of my warnings about possible fungal poisonings sounded nonchalant, I didn't mean to come off that way. You really don't want to mess around with these guys as a mistake could end up being a huge one.

[all photo copyrights are credited in the text links for those mushrooms next to the photos in this page]

Enjoy your arboreal daydreamings,

Bp

Wild Edibles I did pick Post 1 of 2

Figured a decent explanation of what I did pick and will enjoy eating from this week's picking trip was in order.

This first handsome mushroom is the famous Chanterelle (in this case, probably a Cantharellus formosus). A great beginner's mushroom, with few look alikes, bugs never invade them at all (an awesome trait that one realizes if you pick any Boletes, which get buggy quick), and just dandy for the table. Many would say that these are Cantharellus cibarius, even experts, and hell I won't argue with them. Fact of the matter is, they're both tasty and I'll take it. From a culinary standpoint, these are one of the world's favorite wild mushrooms. There are hordes of recipes (especially French) that use it.

I do know we run into a few other types of chanterelles in our pickings, and on this trip it was Yellowfoots, or Craterellus tubaeformis. The difference in appearance is subtle, but once you have been picking for a while it is easy to spot. Not worth wasting too many words on, as they too are tasty and I'll take em.

Next is the majestic Cauliflower mushroom, Sparassis cripsa. A big, impressive, easy to identify edible. It maintains an al dente texture even after long cooking, which some say is why the name includes "crisp." Always love to find these in good condition, the grand majority I've seen were past their prime and melting down. Always a sad sight. As a culinary mushroom, this one has an interesting texture and a nice bold mushroomy taste. Not flowery like the Chanterelle, but almost meaty. The shape and texture make it a great noodle replacement in Stroganoff recipies.

We found a nice little bunch of Honey Mushrooms, or Armillaria mellea growing out of the base of a Vine Maple. This is not a beginner's mushroom. It is brown (so many inedibles in the forest are brown, or "lbj's" -- little brown jobbies), and can be mistaken for a few other types of mushrooms. Once you get the spec's down, it becomes easy to figure out however, it just takes a trip or two with someone who is familiar with this species.
This is one of the mushrooms known to make some people a bit allergic/queasy depending on what substrate it grew on (since it always grows on or in a tree or rotting wood). It is always recommended for first timers to eat a few bites of this mushroom and then sit for a bit to make sure you aren't one of the people who react to it. I've eaten plenty of them to no effect so I collect them whenever I can. They can grow in impressively huge clumps, and make for quite a haul. For eating, the stems can be a bit stringy, but to me provide a nice textural quality. These mushrooms have a nice woodsy flavor, and are strong enough to hold up in mixed recipes.

We also found plenty of Shrimp Russula, Russula xerempelina. This is another "not a beginner" mushroom, as it has a look-alike that will make you puke, Russula emetica. Emetica often has a more candy-apple red cap, but the real test is virtually every Shrimp russula I pick I take a tiny bit, chew it up and let it sit on my tongue. Shrimps will be neutral, with possibly a tiny bit of pepperyness, but nothing major. Emetica will after a few seconds be incredibly hot, peppery, and bitter. It's not subtle. The reference guides love to talk about the shrimpy, fishy smell that these develop as something you can I.D. them with. In my experience, that smell only happens when they are really old and/or drying out. There is little to no smell on the young, succulent ones you will be picking. Take note of this fact, however, and if you have a dehydrator set up to dry a bunch of these, stick it outside or something, otherwise your house will smell like the bottom of a fisherman's dory in no time. Did that once and the house smelled for days. For cooking, they are mild and very tasty when fresh, sauteed like market mushrooms. But I think they are best used after drying, when their unique flavor is at its peak. Cream accents them well, so cream of mushroom soup is a good option for dried Shrimps.

Ok, it's late and I need sleep, that's enough info for one post. I'll finish off with some boletes and Angel's Wings in the next day or two.

Enjoy your wild culinary delights,

Bp

ps: I took the first two photos, and the second two come from the articles that I link to about that particular mushroom.

Wild Edible mushrooms I won't pick, and why

Yesterday, the crew ran across a couple varieties of edible mushroom that I don't pick. In the process of writing this post, I realized that the reasons I don't pick them turn out to be pretty wishy-washy.

The first and most abundant is the Black Elfin Saddle, or Helvella lacunosa. Basically, I don't eat this one due to anecdotal evidence. I remember reading, or hearing somewhere, that if you ate a good amount of these and consumed alcohol, you could be temporarily paralyzed for about 24 hours. Harmless, but freaky. I, for the life of me, cannot find any reference to this "fact" anymore. So, I Have to chalk this up to superstition. Liamsdad is not saddled with these irrational fears, and collects and eats them with enthusiasm.

The second mushroom is a really handsome sucker called a Western Grisette, or Amanita pachycolea. It is very identifiable for someone with mushroom experience, it's supposed to taste dandy (despite what the Cali website says) and it would be another feather under my cap should I collect and eat it. But, you see, the term Amanita sends shivers up my spine. This is the family that sports both the Death Cap (Amanita phalloides), and the Destroying Angel (Amanita ocreata). Both of these mushrooms will take you out, dead, with one small serving. You may be saved with an organ transplant, but who wants to go through THAT hassle. I'd have to miss DAYS of school. So, I don't pick this handsome and tasty mushroom.

We found both on our last trip -- Liamsdad grabbed up the Elfin Saddles and I pointed out and talked about my fear of the Western Grisette and we left it at that. I figure, better safe than sorry, even if I can't find a single reference to back up my memory of temporary paralysis.

Enjoy your unfounded fears,

Bp

[Photo copyrights/credits: Elfin Saddle Mark Steinmetz; Western Grisette, Taylor F. Lockwood -- whom I've met, hell of a nice guy.]

Great Mushroom Hunt

Went into the Cascades with a few friends to gather mushrooms today. There are many other duties I could have canceled this trip for, but the wife encouraged me to just take a day off.

Liamspapa, his co-worker and friend Wes, Big Jon (of acupuncture fame), and Naboo the clinic dog were all in attendance. We worked our butts off, but the payoff was amazing. This might be the most diverse haul of mushrooms I've come out of the woods with. I'll talk specifics regarding the species of mushrooms we gathered in a later post, lets get into some pictures for now.

My first full basket of the trip, with chanterelles, boletus, angel wings, shrimp russula, elfin saddle, and honey mushrooms.


Liamspapa with some Chanterelles and Wes looking in.


Big Jon with his Cauliflower mushroom.


Wes on top of a huge stump presenting some Angel Wing mushrooms (couldn't get this to look decent except in black and white).


My last basket of mushrooms from the day, with a beautiful cauliflower mushroom Big Jon had seen last week and actually found again, Chanterelles, Angel Wings, and Zeller's Boletes.


We did some serious slogging, and my dogs are barking now. Sore all over, but happy for a great day in the woods. Happy to be teaching these guys some edibles other than the (wonderful, but limiting) Chanterelle.

More later, I have an apple cider vinegar bath to take to ease these aching limbs.

Enjoy your fungal frolics,

Bp

Rain, and Chanterelles

Its been grey and rainy the last few days. It's actively raining as I write, and this makes the second solid day of rain -- which means soon I'll be picking Chanterelles. I normally hit the woods a few days after this type of early fall precip.

I saw Chanterelles for sale at the Sandy Farmer's market yesterday, which means at least somewhat local areas are starting to produce. If I remember correctly, we started picking last year on August 18th, which we thought crazy early. I'm going to have to start calling my crazy fungal friends and make dates before school starts. Even the most socially reticent acquaintances of mine will come out of the woodwork for a mushroom trip.

As the season progresses I'll talk about the politics and secret-handshake insider information for how my friends and I go about picking mushrooms in the Pacific Northwest. We've developed our own little culture around picking mushrooms, with protocols and niceties, factions, alliances and laws. It's pretty hilarious when I think about it, and I'll share as the various trips start to happen.

Enjoy the bounty of Fall, if your Fall has started yet,

Bp

Night off, a student's paradise

Getting toward the season where my non-student friends start rolling their eyes and making snarky comments about not being "so dam serious" about school -- finals are coming around. Hanging out with non-students this time of year can be taxing. It's like sports fans dealing with non-sport derision during the playoffs, or new parents getting asked out for beers by their non-parent friends who just don't get the fact that there is a toddler involved. Somehow, I think a lot of adults got all the way through school and never lost the attitude of "oh it's just school, who cares." No reasonable person would encourage their friends to blow off work deadlines when they have a performance review coming up -- but I still get this kind of flack from otherwise perfectly reasonable adults regarding my schoolwork.

To start off the finals season, I took a night off. I got off school, dropped my backpack on the living room floor and didn't think about it or academia again the whole night through. I didn't do my normal routine of a little cleaning and housework or bill paying , a snack, and probably a nap before leaving again in a few hours to go study til the wee hours of the morning with The Crew. Instead, I walked down the street and hung out with the neighbors as they were building a stone retaining wall, walked the garden a bit and talked to T. about the goings-on there, stared at flowers and bees in the yard for exceedingly long periods of time, shuffled uselessly around the house a bit, and hit the sack early. Actually got to lounge around and chat about nothing in particular with The Wife as well. At this point in the school year, that's a description of heaven for me.

I don't need to be casting over a nice hatch of Pale Morning Duns off a gravel bar on the lower Deschutes, or hunting spring Morels on the slopes of the Cascade range -- just hanging out around our wonderful house works for me. It's a sanctuary for us -- a colorful sanctuary full of books and good food, and beautiful art. A place where we can put up road-weary friends and keep the cats in a matter to which they are accustomed. A little urban oasis surrounded on all sides by flowers, trees and veggies. It pays back in spades the work we put into it.

Now that I mention it, some fly-fishing and knocking-about in the woods would be quite fantastic too. Note to self: get the hell out of dodge this summer as much as humanly possible before school starts up again.

Fire Lookout, '92

Still surfing the technological learning curve here -- took me a while to get this photo on the right computer, in a decent size, etc.

Storyline: This is a photo of my first day on the job as a fire lookout in the Mount Hood National Forest in 1992. I'm facing East and a little bit South, from the notes on the back of the photo.

As a Prehistory post (I considered labeling these "nostalgia" -- but that inferred I would be pining for these long-lost times and that isn't accurate, life's good now and these are backstory), consider this a literal snapshot of the place where for the first time I got serious about writing. I starting writing, as a "writer" or "artist" before this, but this is where I practiced -- a whole lot. Longhand even, how retro cool is that.

I may end up posting snippets from the fire lookout journals onto the blog, as they're quite trippy reading.

Oh, and the Morels are starting to pop. I saw this post and got all jazzed thinking it was here in the N.W. Morels, I will find you this season -- I will find you!