viola sororia

violets are up all over, bless them, coming up in lawns and woodlots and forests.

i got it into my head that for some event later on in the year i should have some lovely violet simple syrup from which to make soft drinks, so that meant getting down and funky with the back-breaking labor of harvesting thousands of the little blossoms. a friend of mine and her grandson helped me with some of that, but still. it was a lot.



so then after you get a big wad of violets you steep them in freshly boiled water. but you don't BOIL them because you will lose the color.

and what you get is a fantastic teal liquid. fantastic. only for violet syrup you kind of want it to be purple, and you change it back from teal to purple through adding drops of lemon juice because apparently the color is a function of pH.

who knew?

anyway, then you add the sugar until you have simple syrup and you probably want to skip the step where you spill a half cup of it in your kitchen thereby kicking off two days of mopping.

then MB said that id i was going to do all THAT for a tea party i may as well make violet ice cubes wherein a single violet blossom is placed inside an ice cube at its maximum freshness and beauty and as usual MB is right.

there are no pictures of that, though. you have the internet. you can google it if you want to see what the precious little darlings looks like.

yeah, that.

don't panic, i'm a naturalist

i'm all gradumated and stuff, which means i have a shiny new certificate and a fancy new hat.

and the girl scout council is wasting no time making hay, because if you thumb through the program guide the words "with a Vermont Master Naturalist" are sprinkled liberally throughout, which makes me both proud and a little terrified.

i'm having fun preparing for events that are still five or six months away. f'rinstance there is a wildflower tea party coming up in october, which will be the end of goldenrod season, but i have made garlic mustard pesto (in my freezer) to serve along with other spring delicacies like knotweed pie and violet sodas.

i hope to make touches like that be the difference between "that was cool" and "WOW that was cool."
it isn't hard to do if you put some things by, like the violet syrup or the knotweed purée.

i guess i should tell you some things

i think i mentioned that i am studying in the Vermont Master Naturalist Program?

yeah, i am. our last class is next saturday and i will be a bona fide Vermont Master Naturalist.

really you don't pass until your project is complete, but you only need 20 hours of project work and my project is kind of just a down payment on a never ending multi year plan and i'm over 50 hours on that so far, sooooo.

last weekend i went to a training at a girl scout camp, as an instructor.

before the training proper i played chef flask and whipped up some ramps 'n' taters and wildflower fritters with birch syrup for the other instructors.

i also field tested my new homemade hammock stand rig, which only settled the question for me if i need the storeboughten one.

answer: yes. the one i made hangs the hammock just fine but it's hard to put up a full sized tarp and also my rack is eight feet long to transport, which is Not Convenient.

also i seem to have gotten caught up with the town conservation commission, because when you start to do outreach in the community to support your project for the girl scouts, you start needing favors or at least goodwill from the community, so now i'm helping to monitor the health of one forest and i'm on the hook for a written report for a historical society.

it's all turning out fine though since i'm still a volunteer and can pick and choose both my work and my hours and because i don't get paid, everyone is happy to have me do the work i want.

i am able to turn hours and hours of labor into free camping trips...

...on which i perform more labor.

but it's all good. i'm having fun.

inter-library loan

i am currently working my way through all the books of seanan mcguire, but since my library doesn't have a lot of them, they have to come through inter-library loan.

...which is kind of fascinating to me.

so of course i'm making a map of where all the books are coming from.

because of course i am.

here.

the screaming stump

i'm sorry; i do not update y'all as often as i should. i'm still reading about your cat and your crazy clients and your kids.

let's just say that i've been busy studying. and stuff.

anyway, today i was out at my study location having a good luck at this stump...

no wait, backup, backup.

this winter on many occasions i saw the tracks of a little cottontail rabbit. and the rabbit was browsing the brambles around the stump and then i noticed a lot of poop outside some holes in the snow and it was clear that the little cottontail lived there and then one day there was one perfect wingprint in the snow and a great deal of fur, but no blood, so it was unclear to me whether or not the little cottontail survived the raptor attack, but i didn't see new tracks or new poop, so i sort of thought not.

but that was more or less where i lost my glasses, so i keep looking around there and as the snow melts (we had fresh yesterday!) i can see more and more where the fur is scattered about and i was looking at that today and some diggings around the base of the stump when i heard (or more like felt) a vibration and then a scream and i thought maybe a bird?

but the noise seemed to be coming from awfully low to the ground and then i heard it again and i was just coming around to the other side of the stump to look in the hole and i saw...

AN EYE.

at least i thought it was an eye. i was kind of standing there thinking "did this hole have a thing in it that looks sort of like an eye before? was it always so dark in there?"

and then the eye BLINKED.

and the thing screamed. loud. and the vibration buzzed in the hollow under the stump.

and i said "hi, neighbor. didn't mean to upset you" and i'm sure i looked legit startled and i wandered away, letting the little cottontail believe i had been scared away.

i don't know if it's the original little cottontail, but it is A cottontail.

i didn't use to think of rabbits as animals with fearsome screams, but there it is.

and now that stump will forever be the screaming stump to me.

speech!

i have an interest in diction, because singer. when you're a voice major in college, you have to learn stuff about diction and how words are formed.

so there's this:

phonetic map of the human mouth

and do not miss the link at the bottom to the pink trombone.

then if you're done with that and you're brave, there's this.

pin

MB got me this thing, which is super cute, and my new de facto nametag.

it glows in the dark!!

daily routine

i dunno. maybe i could work blogging back into my daily routine.

this is my Year of Naturalist Studies, so that's top shelf.

so more or less is my daily routine, barring appointments, which are their Own Thing on the calendar.

i wake up in the morning more or less nine hours from when i went to sleep. note that i do not wake up nine hours from when i went to bed, because those things are different. if the day before was especially difficult in any way, i may wake up ten or eleven hours after i went to sleep. this is essential to allow my body to heal overnight.

first thing i do is check the weather and then my emails. i answer important ones. if my body feels ok and the weather is good, skiing moves onto my list of things to do for the day and i get up.

otherwise, i play a few rounds of toon blast and then practice morse code, because i'm learning that.

then it's time to read. first i read books related to my studies. then when my thinky bits are tired, i read a chapter or so of whatever book i'm reading for pleasure.

only then do i get out of my hammock for the day.

then i work on research or projects that need doing from my desk and early in the day when i am fresh and the light is good. i may intersperse this with life maintenance adulting, or gear maintenance.

at lunch time i eat at my desk, usually watching a video that pertains to my studies.

in the afternoon i go out. this trip may include shopping or errands, but it often involves a trip to my study location for research or observation. in warm weather i may take practice on the archery range as well. i always stop to tag an ingress portal because that's a thing i do every day.

then it's home to eat an early dinner, talk to MB, and that's followed by either evening project work/ research, or if needed, a quick circuit playing ingress to tidy up anything in my area that needs to be made blue.

then i sleep.

i love this woman so much right now.

https://www.wthr.com/article/waitress-confronts-customer-who-wrote-gay-slur-receipt-viral-video

go on, click through.

this here is just one reason why we need to have minimum wage that eliminates employer subsidies for tipped workers.

or better yet, eliminate tipping and institute livable wage for everyone.

awesome. let's go look.

i think i have done something right in this life when i am the adult to whom groups of girls run when they have found a bug. or a dead thing.

this happens to me all the time.

a group of girls finds a bug or a dead thing or a pile of poop and the come running to me. "hey, flask! we found a (thing)!"

"awesome.", i say. "let's go look."

this reaction is pretty much why this cycle repeats. i am the adult in the room most likely to drop everything to go look at the thing. sometimes i am not delighted to drop everything and go look at whatever it is, but i want children, particularly girls, to be interested in natural science. i want them to be excited by the things they find, and i want them to think about how to interpret what they find.

we think this is part of a deer.

there's a trail of it leading from the far shore of the pond to the road.

maybe it's a hunter dragging a kill, maybe critters dragging dressed bits.

either way it's under the ice. it may have been ON the ice until a thaw.

and my heart swelled with pride when the girls came to find me to go look at it.

camping equipment: crêpe pan

in october my girl scout troop went fall camping. it was colder than normal, and it snowed. you never know what you're going to get in october.

anyway, there's this kid in my troop who had her heart set on BRINGING A CRÊPE PAN so she could make crêpes for everybody for breakfast. i asked her if she was prepared to get up before everyone else to cook breakfast, to stand in the cold cooking while others were eating. 

yes and yes.

carry on, i said.

so she showed up with her crêpe pan and a big jug of batter (because everyone knows that crêpe batter is best when left to rest at least an hour and overnight does not hurt it one bit) and she stood out in the field with snow coming down all around her and she made crêpes.

afterward she said it was a dream of hers. 

and she changed her username in our troop chat to Crêpe Master.

yeah she did.

we are right now planning our menu for our winter camping this month and the other leaders were thinking breakfast should be instant oatmeal and muffins and such but this kid is all like "can i make crêpes?"

i do not understand this child's need to make thin tasty pancakes on camping trips but i sure as heck support this initiative.

it turns out one of the other girls ALSO has a crêpe pan.

this is going to be epic.

snohaus 2019

i mentioned that there was snow, right?

there's a lot of it. and i have been working hard moving it from the plow piles my plowman thoughtfully leaves at my driveway to the MOUND.

so far it's just a huge mound of snow with some steps, because once you start digging inside, you're done walking on top.

or at least you should be.

some people aren't that prudent, but i'm not into stupid risks.

i am averaging three loads of snow a day, with the average weight of a load being 150 pounds of snow. it maybe doesn't sound like a lot, but it has to be gathered or chopped, shoveled into the boxes or onto the sled, pulled to the structure, carried to the place i want it, and unloaded.

rinse, lather, repeat.

promotion

you may have noticed it; i mentioned it once in my last post and it seems huge to me.

i got a promotion.

let's back up and i'll remind you that last summer i went up to the camp for a ten minute meeting and accidentally stayed to work for an ENTIRE SEASON at the girl scout camp, essentially functioning as a junior naturalist / camp life resource person.

and my Vermont Master Naturalist studies focus specifically on the town in which the camp is located, with specific regard to how i might function providing outdoor education and natural history program to the camp in the future.

it got to the point that when having conversations with people that it was just going to be a lot easier to say i'm the naturalist at the camp and it puts a handle on a lot of the things i'm doing without having to take too much time 'splainin' so i wrote to the nice lady in charge of things like that at the council and asked if i could just give myself the title.

she said that's perfect, sure. i said "great! i'll tell MB it comes with a 15% raise" and we all had a laugh.

volunteer jokes.

3-2-1- contacts

last week we had a storm. week before that we had a storm. we keep having storms. happily they keep mostly being snow.

as part of my studies and as the naturalist at the local girl scout camp i like to go out after a storm to take pictures at my study location.

last week that meant breaking track in snow that was still over my knees with me on snowshoes.

so i was looking at a cute little rabbit hole and then i was looking at some cute little squirrel holes and i was on my way back down to the car when i realized that i had lost my glasses somewhere between rabbit and starting down the hill.

now the temperature was just above zero even in mid afternoon and while i was dressed for cold, i was dressed for keeping MOVING in cold but even though it was REALLY TIME TO RETURN TO THE CAR i had to go back all the way to rabbit hole, only moving slowly and kicking up snow with the front of my shoes, hoping to kick up my glasses, because although i had dropped them directly in my track, there was still a chance that if i had not stepped on them i might kick them up and find them.

no.

so in all probability i have now stepped on them THREE times. i'm sure i'll find them in the spring, but they're not going to be in good shape, especially since i am not the only person to occasionally snowshoe up there and if you're part of a group renting that cabin, do you break track in hip deep snow, or do you use that handy-looking trail?

mmhm.

so time to buy new glasses. also, i was overdue to get new contacts, so while they couldn't send me home with my new glasses, they COULD send me home in a pair of trial contacts so at least i'm not a menace on the roads.

and you know? i can see much better with those than i could with my glasses, so maybe it was time anyway.

crickets

flourish farm had a table at the s'morestice. they were giving out free samples. the dj announced there were crickets and i said i was all about the crickets. i would have BOUGHT some, but they were free. because samples.

this was not my first time at the cricket rodeo and they were the best crickets i've ever eaten. the thai chili was a little too spicy for my tame palate, but the garlic and sea salt was just about perfect, plus it's a sustainable efficient protein.

but you love crunchy snack foods, right? so go ahead, eat your crickets. they're not just for your weird neighbor's frog anymore.

i kept telling people they were the going to be the best crickets they'd ever eaten, but really for most people that's not a high bar to get over.

they had four flavors. i tried the garlic and sea salt and the thai lime. i loved the first one, but the second was too spicy and the nutty flavor of the crickets was just overwhelmed.

still, delicious. and nutritious.

s'morestice

some saturdays ago i went out with barb to play a little ingress and we were headed through middlesex and barb said "ooh. what's going on there?" as we passed camp meade. i'd heard about the s'morestice festival and thought i might could go, but it fell right out of my head until we were passing by.

so we blew up some things and linked some things (we're the RESISTANCE, boys and girls!) and headed back to middlesex to catch the party.

it's hard to explain. people try, but the news items really fall short. this account has the best video of the s'more being served, i think, but it's really hard to capture the vibe of all these people casually milling around and enjoying the assorted fires and the dj's playlist, which included ALL THE FIRE SONGS, plus flourish farm was there with free samples.

cirque de fuego was also there. it was the second time i've seen them and they're an amazing show.



there was this huge hut like thing that they described as a maze, but it was more like a spiral path, in and out. it smelled fresh and was beautiful inside. people brought little notes or trinkets to represent wishes for the new year or things they wanted burned away.

here's a view from the inside, through a porthole:

and here is the thing on fire:

how to cook like flask: pot of slop

we went camping this weekend in the northeast kingdom. for dinner i made a pot of slop.

i know, that sounds totally delicious, so i will tell you how to make it.

ingredients:

several slices of bacon
a large onion, chopped
carrots? are there carrots in your fridge? great. chop them.
some soaked beans. or canned. doesn't really matter what kind. beans. i used black eyed peas.
some kind of stock, or water and bouillon cubes.
diced potato
cut vegetables. i just tossed in some frozen veg mix i had in the freezer. doesn't matter.
fresh spinach
cheese. any kind will do.

to prepare:

you've remembered to soak the beans, right? ok, good.

cut up the bacon. you can leave it whole, but it's easier to cook down in your pot if the pieces are small. cook it until the fat is rendered and the bacon is cripsy. then fish the bacon out with a slotted spoon and set it aside.

toss your onion and the fresh carrots into the pot to cook down in the bacon grease. now is also a good time to put in some spices. i used a little slat and pepper (more pepper than salt) and whatever was left in an old packet of fajita mix that was half used up.

when the onions are soft and just beginning to brown, put in a bunch of water and some bouillon cubes, or if you have it, some kind of stock. also add the beans. if you're starting with large chunks of raw potato, add those now. if like me, you're using frozen cut potatoes (because camping. i'm in a hurry here) let the beans cook a while (until just a little harder than you want them to be when you're done) and then add the potatoes and frozen vegetables.

cook them until everything is hot again and the potatoes have your desired amount of doneness. if you overdo the potatoes nobody will really care because it's for camping and it will still be nutritious and delicious and filling. it will just be like wallpaper paste.

toss in some spinach leaves and let them wilt in there. then remove the pot and either stir in the cheese and let it melt, or (my preference) sprinkle grated cheese liberally over the top.

there ya go.

works great if you put a bunch of slop in a heavy duty ziploc and pack it. add the spinach and cheese at camp.

we're fancy now.

i'll fold

a few days ago i went to my mom's house to fold my map, because i don't have a room in my house with enough floor space. it took me an hour or so, but i got it done.

you want me to back up?

ok.

so you know i like studying things and i think i've posted geology things here before, but the problem for me has always been trying to READ the USGS maps online, because they are such huge files and the print is very teeny.

it's hard to learn how to read all that and understand it if you can't get a good look at the map.

and with my vermont master naturalist studies, i have an excellent excuse to really LEARN all that, plus an excuse to have the paper maps that i can use for study and for instruction, which is a thing.

did i even explain all that about the course work? if i have to back up THAT far, it's going in a new post.

anyway, santa brought me the map. my mom hands me this present, a five foot long cylinder and i have NO idea what it is because i don't remember this was on my list, but i'm not really prepared for how huge it's going to be.

folded, the three sheets fit in a two gallon ziploc, so i can take it out in the field.

lists

things on my to-do list today:

wrap presents


things i did today:

make additional presents
watch youtube videos
read some chapters of a book
play games
sharpen knives
do laundry
wash and put away dishes
rinse fish ('nother story)
grocery shop
prepare and eat two meals
bake a clafoutis
walk to the mailbox

notice what's missing?

light returning

today is the shortest day of the year.

may the light grow within you as well as around you.

here's a picture of a flower i took when it was summer.