Ironically enough, when I discuss the stress of preparing for our hike, I'm not really discussing the hike at all.  The actual hiking of the Pacific Crest Trail has not been the most intensive part of my preparations.  The things I will be leaving here at home are significantly larger logistical issues than the process of hiking across the nation.  That right there should be a good indicator of how much mom's and housewives actually do!

Most of my preparations as of late have been food related.  Though Jules survived many bachelorhood years before I was in the picture, the main sustenance contained some mixture of tuna fish, cheese, mustard, salsa, sour cream, mayonnaise and chips.  Most all meals were microwavable and many came in plastic bags with various colorful fast food chain logos printed on them.  During college, many calories were also consumed in liquid form of either alcohol or Coca-Cola. Now, not so much.  I would be judicious with the words "Food Nazi," but let's just say I'm a bit more specific about what I put into my body.  Case and point, I'm battling being sick right now and the boys are off at McDonalds.  While Jules offered, I declined any take out.  They are both eating multiple double cheese burgers to be sure, since The Barracuda is now keeping up with both his father and I in food consumption.

"Huh? Food!?!"  This is the face Optimus gets anytime food or food related subjects are discussed in our house.  The dog will wake out of a dead, snoring sleep if he hears any kind of packaging crinkle or any jar pop.  He sleeps through much everything else.

Jules' original reaction to 60 days all by himself was quite a delighted squeal and a run to Taco Bell for a 12 pack of tacos.  After consuming about 4, he began to realize the thrill might be gone.  Not to be thwarted, he continued in true bachelor fashion and was promptly quite sick.  He didn't feel "normal" again until a couple days later.  I rubbed it in relentlessly quietly chuckled from the kitchen where I made more real food.  We haven't visited Taco Bell much since.

Shortly there after, we talked a bit more about this whole eating-while-I-was-gone thing and I suggested a meal planner.  That didn't go over very well at first, but soon the thought of coming home from work and being able to have food without thinking sounded pretty good.  Our meal planner is much like one from Traveling Mel.  It has a calendar which tells Jules exactly what to pull out the night before to defrost, what to pack for lunch the next day, and what to do with the defrosted/canned items for dinner that evening.  There are recipes and quick tutorials if he needs them.  There is even a grocery list in the back which will provide him with the exact quantities of what to get so that he doesn't wind up without something important.
 

Frozen half gallons of tortilla chicken soup, ready to be defrosted and eaten.

The freezer is quickly filling up.  My hat is off to all those working mom's who freeze and prepare meals for their families.  Taking one day a week and making big batches, figuring out how much extra to prepare so that one whole meal can go into the freezer, those were not tasks anywhere near my normal life.  It takes work.  Work that many mom's do on their precious down time.  Way to go, all of you!

The enchilada assembly line progressed this week and they were all wrapped in wax paper and Zip-Locked up.

Over the next couple days, Jules is getting crash courses in cooking.  He's doing well and we have all been quite happily eating what he makes. So far, it appears to have met his rigorous standards - hot, covered in cheese, contains meat in some form, has less than 4 steps. He's feeling much better about his food options, though we are still joking that without cooking lessons he might just show up to meet us weighing 400 lbs due to eating junk.

Jules would like me to reiterate that he is not stupid or helpless.  On the contrary, he's quite talented.  However, when we decided to diversify the household chores around here I took over the kitchen.  We have steadily progressed to the point there is no insta-food left.  If microwave and stir is involved, Jules is all over it.  If open, dump contents, stir, place in oven are the steps, he can create some very tasty-ish things.  We don't really have much of that kind of food left unless I pre-make it. 

In many ways Jules is greatly stepping out of his comfort zone, just like The Barracuda and I.  Traveling for 60 days and living for 60 days without the other partner is a very new experience for this highly interdependent family.  This was somehow left out of my mental game plan when the whole PCT thing was originally discussed.

His enchiladas turned out really well and were completely unsupervised as I took a shower.

The major bonus of all this food prep is that we don't need much by way of groceries for the next 6 months.  With backpacking food all measured, prepped and parceled the entire time we are hiking is taken care of.  We are still bringing cash with us for fresh veggies along the way and the occasional town stop to eat as many calories as we can cram in, but that doesn't amount to too much money.  With me preparing all of Jules' food, his grocery bill is going to be pretty darn tiny as well.  Mainly he will be purchasing the fresh salad stuff, fruits, a block of cheese or two, and snacks.

A southern man cannot be left without his cornbread!

It is odd to think of this kind of trip saving us money, but I've crunched the numbers multiple times now and it appears that we will be putting a good 300 extra dollars a month in the bank.  The original purchasing for our hike has worked out to be approximately 100 dollars extra over the last 4 grocery bills.  With our tiny house, we rarely meet the minimum for our electric bill, so the processing of the food doesn't play much into the equation.   It is really quite a testament to how purchasing in bulk, careful planning, and proper food storage can save families significant amounts of money.   If saving money proves to work out true, you can bet we will be doing this much more readily as the years progress.  The Barracuda has quite a long list of hikes he wants to do and saving money sure makes that prospect a bit easier!

I'm now off to dehydrate another giant bag of potatoes, package up some oatmeal, and start putting everything into mail drop boxes!

T Minus 16 days and counting.  After a solid 10 days of Pacific Crest Trail madness, I think both The Barracuda and I have hit burn out.  We are both still in our pajamas....and its after 1 o'clock in the afternoon.  I should be dehydrating 18 more potatoes.  He should be doing his Latin work.  I'm here at the computer; he's in his pajama pants out on the flat making a sand castle empire.  He's not wearing a shirt, or shoes, or socks and I had to specifically tell him that he needed to keep his pants on.  One nice day and the boy becomes a nudist.  I guess that's one of those perks to living no where near another living soul. Fortunately, his outdoor presence does give me quite a nice chunk of time to do some quite lengthy Trail School planning.

A bit of background about our individual homeschooling situation is in order.  Homeschooling is such a varied dynamic that explaining a few key points of background info about how we handle it might be helpful.

The Charter School
As a family, we receive quite a nice chunk of state funding for our homeschooling as long as we go through a few, pretty minor hoops.  The only restriction we have is that the state cannot pay for religious curriculum.  Other than that, we can do dang near anything we want to.  There is no specified curriculum, no number of hours needing to be logged, no style necessary.  For the first two years we were complete unschoolers and it didn't matter.  What it has meant for our son is that he receives a much higher level of education than we could have provided otherwise.  Six hundred dollar Rosetta Stone would not exist, nor would the hundreds of dollars of art supplies.  It also means an official transcript.  As high school teachers of alternative education, both Jules and I see the dark side of homeschooling.  If the parents do not keep accurate records or report the correct way, kids get the brunt of it when they rejoin the traditional system.  Grade levels are lost, hours of learning disappears, and kids are left with even more adjustment to the transition.  It gets ugly and it isn't an isolated case. Even worse are the kids whose families have had a dramatic loss and that is the reason they rejoin school.  No one intended on stopping the homeschooling.  No one even wants it.  Dad lost his job and both parents are now working remedial jobs to support the family.  Someone died and homeschooling just can't happen.  A forced move to a state which requires such elaborate paperwork homeschooling becomes impossible mid-year.  That gets even uglier.  It is worth it for us to have all the formal, federally recognized paperwork just in case. The trade off is our level of reporting.  Once a week we are required to check in and give a quick (2-3 sentences) summary of what we have done in each subject.  Once a month I update a list of goals (completed, in progress, and new) and give a very short blurb (6-8 sentences) on where we are heading for next month.  Each year there is one annual test for growth and to check on special services needs.  The test causes me and the kiddo a bit of stress mainly because of the word "test." Every year it isn't a big deal; every year I go on stressing about it. We don't test around here.  Not really, anyway.  However, I do realize it is very easy to miss red-flag issues when you are surrounded by your own child all the time, especially when you don't do things the "normal" way.  It has also been so incredibly helpful in keeping The Barracuda's curriculum well rounded.  By the sheer nature of being only 7, The Barracuda has not experienced much.  It isn't possible; he hasn't been on the planet long enough.  I feel it is my job as his parent to show him how awesome all sorts of things can be and make them understandable to his experiences.  Up until the age of about 12-15, kids scores should be pretty darn close to level across the board.  This is not due to strengths/weaknesses, but just general neural development as the brain develops both sides fairly evenly until the hypothalamus really kicks into overdrive. Overall test scores can show me very quickly if we are slouching on one subject or I haven't found a way to make the learning "real" for him. It forces direct accountability and scheduling for me.  All of this to say, we can't just stop school because we are going on a hike.

The Barracuda is missing a good 2 months worth of school at the end of this school year, and a good portion of the month in the beginning of next school year.  With a 9 month school calendar (when you take out Spring Break, Winter Break, and holiday breaks) that adds up to be almost a third of the year.  School has to happen on the trail if we want to send the message education is an important life pursuit.  Evenmore, Jules and I often discuss how our family makes education part of our life-learning.  How could we stand by this message if we bailed on school just because we liked the idea of going hiking or were wishing to pursue a dream? 


Nope, school just has to happen regardless of whatever dreams we wish to make happen for ourselves. Unfortunately, the actions we don't do can send a much louder message than those we do.


Place Based Education vs Hiking

There are many incredible schools and parents out there promoting place based education.  They will often go on ambles and walks taking 45 minute and sometimes hours long breaks to examine pond water, map an area, chart and explore life within a square foot of different ecosystems, read environmental literature, create nature journals, and do all sorts of other amazing learning experiences.  Our trail school is not meant to demean or negatively comment on this version of education.  We just don't hike like that.  For us, that type of education is a walk.  We live in a National Forest, on a wild and scenic river, with less than 5 households in a square mile.  There are more bears, osprey, bobcats, wild turkeys, pileated woodpeckers, deer, eagles, and salmon then there are people.  Our son gets lots of unstructured outdoor time Last-Child-In-the-Woods style, lots of structured natural learning outdoors, and lots of environmental literacy every week by the sheer nature of how our lives work.  The Barracuda will spend 3 hours a day outside sometimes just building forts, playing in the creek, examining rocks to throw in the river, building castles in the sandflat, or learning birds by flight and call.  To us, that is just life.  For this reason, when we hike, we hike.  Hiking has a purpose. It is a point A to point B pursuit where only quick moments are spent idly as we filter water, or nights are spent looking up at the stars while we heat/rehydrate dinner. We often marvel while we walk, ponder as we move, try to find the place where our thoughts and bodies move in a similar rhythm.

For us, hiking is a working meditation about finding the place where your headspace, bodyspace, and heartspace are all flowing together in true spirituality. Hiking is a pilgrimage for us. It is a soul pursuit. By definition that is all consuming and generally a place to become uncomfortable. It is a pushing and searching expedition designed to stretch yourself, not one born out of recreation, idleness, or whimsy.


Truly finding rhythm cannot happen when you take breaks. It requires that you lose yourself and your thoughts in the forward motion.  You find the very center of yourself where the miles and hours melt together, the scenery is beautiful, and you finally understand the word "calm."  As airy-fairy as that sounds, it is the exact same thing as getting so sucked into your book that you are no longer reading words you are merely in the story and the next thing you know 3 hours have gone by.  That can't happen if you are continually being pulled away from the pages to attend to other tasks.  With every break you take, the rhythm of your body stops and you cannot continue the flow.  You are instantly snapped out of the zone.  At that moment, the hiking becomes tiresome.  You are reminded that your feet might be hurting, or your pack needs to be shifted, or you might like a snack, or a thousand other trivial pursuits.  You are stuck back in all the mundane matters in front of you.  More often than not when parents marvel at how The Barracuda (or us for that matter) can like long distance hiking and do so many miles, I find that they are constantly having their kids stop at every little thing or taking scheduled breaks every hour.

We move continuously for hours on end.  From 6 am to just before dusk, there are only two substantial breaks and they last for 20 timed minutes.  In these break times we eat lunch and filter the days worth of water.  Any other breaks last less than 10 minutes, are just a moment to take packs off so we shed layers/use the restroom, and are restricted to less than 2 a day (one morning, one afternoon).

This means subjects need to be discussed or content needs to be limited to extremely lightweight, highly compact, and very portable materials.  Content normally winds up being extremely in depth analysis of a few major ideas rather than broad understanding of lots of small things.


Trail School
All of our reporting is normally done digitally, but it is a bit hard to digitally report when you are in the middle of the Mohave desert or the High Sierra wilderness.  However, attempting to thru-hike the Pacific Crest Trail is one of those things alternative charter schools sort of like to have listed as student accomplishments.  Both the principal and our adviser are quite happy to accommodate as they can.  We will be doing weekly check-ins via the mail and old fashioned letters with phone calls as we can.  Jules has been updated on how to digitally report our monthly reviews and annual testing was completed in March.  Next year's curriculum has been meticulously planned since my normal summer perusing of curriculum is going to be spent pounding out Oregon and Washington.  In the next couple days, we will send in our requisitions and get learning plans all formalized.  The Barracuda and I have spent ample time discussing what he liked about this year and what he would enjoy changing next year.  Together the daily schedule we have come up with seems to build on the last three years of witnessing what has worked and what has failed miserably.

The preplanning of both next year and of the next couple months has really given me a better sense of direction than in previous years.  Focused learning goals mean that very little is slipping through the cracks, but writing them generally enough to work in a broad range of situations means they are versatile.  Scope and Sequence diagramming mean that there is much less gaping and overlap in subjects.  We can really cover more ground in much more efficient ways when we actively structure our content.  The Barracuda likes this way much better than structuring blocks of time for him to generically study "Math" or "School Time."

Subjects


Latin - I've summarized the next 12 Latin lessons in The Barracuda's Jenney's Latin text to involve much less writing and more direct discussion.  A single half-page cheat sheet (in size 7 font) has all the vocabulary, verb endings, case endings, and declinations.  This will travel with us to provide the formal back up necessary when we run into issues.  Every 10 days a new sheet of assignments will appear in the mail drop providing three new grammar concepts, a new set of vocabulary words,  one paragraph of Latin to read/translate, 10 sentences in English to translate.  These exercises can be done in the dirt, and formal work can be done on town days if necessary.   

English - Since our check-ins are now going to be done manually, The Barracuda will have direct practice with copywork, writing, spelling, grammar and editing all rolled into one.  Our evening time has always included headlamps and an hour of reading after dinner followed by individual writing time.  Much of this last year has been directly working on thesis construction and essay outlining.  At this point, The Barracuda can come up with a thesis statement, develop his ideas, and write an essay or personal narrative quite quickly.  Each mail drop will include a pre-addressed, pre-stamped envelop to send off that very day.

World History - Every hike we take, we bring a book for me to read aloud in the evening.  Each book must weigh under 6 ounces, as that is the maximum weight restriction for all luxury items.  Moreover, it must be a great discussion book.  Every book we are bringing on the PCT involves the study of government and the way people choose to organize themselves.  This helps with our world history study for next year.  The books are classics like Utopia by Thomas More, Anthem by Ayn Rand, Lord of the Flies by William Golding, The Art of War by Sun Tzu, etc.  They are mailed to us in each maildrop and then passed on to others or left in hiker boxes along the way.  In this way, we can discuss at length The Barracuda's ideas about people and society making the activity far more than just night time reading.

I can't remember what they were discussing, but this is such a great example of our discussions.  Dad is listening intently, The Barracuda is all into his explanation with his hands going, they have stopped so both parties can clarify the thoughts our on this great ridge line.  It's so very much our life.

 
Science - Science is by far one of the easiest subjects to include.  From ecosystems, to weather and wind patterns, to constellations and telling time using the solar and lunar clocks, there is science everywhere.  Formal science learning, vocabulary, and expository essay writing are covered every other mail drop with Science Detectives A1.  These one and a half page articles include critical thinking questions and the need for direct parenthetical citation for your answers.  They focus on explaining your ideas about things like force and motion, kinetic and potential energy, simple machines, parts of a cell, classification of organisms, that kind of thing.  These encourage connections between the formal learning and what we are seeing all around us.  A page and half isn't much to give great depth, but witnessing science in action is a great way to have detailed conversations as we hike.  Each completed article will be mailed with his check in as a work sample (which are normally given in digital picture format).




Math - This subject is almost as easy to include as science.  The Barracuda will be taking compass bearings regularly.  Compass bearings require large amounts of math, visual skills, and analysis.  We will have a GPS with us and he can use it to check is accuracy, but in general we are working with mental math.  A GPS doesn't mean much if you have to blindly trust it.  The physical math and map work are important to us.  Distance equals rate times time is also a regular equation when we backpack.  Calculating if we are on track or not is a feeling you begin to inherently understand after a few weeks, but it is important to understand what 1 mile per hour feels like versus 3 mph.  It is equally important to be able to extrapolate your pace out into when Jules needs to send us the correct gear or if we will make our mail drops on time.  As we walk we will be doing quick mental math drills and fraction work to hit the ground running when The Barracuda begins Algebra 1/2 in late September.

Learning to correctly use a Monocular and find points to for triangulating your position on a map is one of those skills I'm so glad Jules knows well.  I can explain all the math behind it, but Dad sure teaches the skills of compass bearings much better than I do.  Tag team homeschooling!

Art - Our homeschool group is putting on a fall production of Romeo and Juliet.  The Barracuda gets to memorize his lines as we hike North across the nation.  We will be reading and discussing the iambic pentameter, the use of descriptive language, and in general acting out the play verbally as we hike.

With all this school, it may seem like we would be completely interrupting the supposed flow of our hike.  In many places that might be true, but with over 12 hours of walking a day, it isn't difficult to fit in all the subjects with great discussions while still leaving personal time.  In many ways they overlap.  While discussing our world history book, we will begin discussing our personal beliefs about culture, religion, and society.  While talking about Romeo and Juliet, we can discuss our feelings about people, relationships and what art really is.  While working through compass bearings, we also can express the ways we react to stress, loss, fear, and uncertainty.  We have more incredible discussions when we discuss Latin than any other subject.  Due to language being the ultimate expression of a culture, delving into the foundations of English through Latin has really given a whole new depth to our understanding of how our society relates information and how we relate to our society.

As far as I'm concerned, they are both my babies.  As far as The Barracuda is concerned, we are both his girls.  As far as Guadie is concerned, we are her people.  We've got a pretty good thing going.

The best part about long distance backpacking is that have to become okay with yourself, your companions, and your God if you are left alone with them constantly, without distraction, for days on end.  When we discuss our thoughts together, The Barracuda and I cease to be a mother and son, separated by decades, with established relationships.  We have to rely on each other and intermingle our trust.  (After all, I'm carrying his clothes and the tent, he's carrying our stove and cook pot, and we each carry half the sleeping quilt).  That interdependence means we allow our relationship to become quite blurry.  Often times I will forget that I'm talking to my 7 year old son and find I'm really talking out loud to myself.  Sometimes when I cannot seem to put my finger on what exactly The Barracuda is trying to say, I'll turn to see him staring off star struck as he is rambling.  He's talking to himself far more than he is talking to me.  The schoolwork honestly helps us sort out our thoughts and emotions.  It often greatly facilitates us finding a groove with both ourselves, our hearts, and each other.

 In the end, this is really what we really want "life-long learning" to look like - two people, relating to each other, through their formal learning, out in the world.  I have never really seen that happen in another place.  Homeschooling comes close, but still often times misses the mark.  So regularly in life we create artificial boundaries to keep ourselves in, others out, our relationships defined.  We stage our lives so they can be as comfortable as possible and not come near those blurry edges of the places that scare us.  Those places exist when you wish to challenge paradigms, actualize dreams, and create social justice.  By openly being a person with my son, not a parent, or a school mentor, or some other pre-digested role, we open up a whole other realm with which we can interact.  It becomes a level playing field.  Just two people, out for a hike, having a discussion about classic literature and life.

T-Minus 18 days and counting. I'm currently refusing to panic, be stressed, or fret too much.  It doesn't make sense, and if anything, I'm logic over emotion.  We have a giant list though.  It has each day planned with tasks that need to be finished before head out.  We appear to be on track, though things are being crossed out every which way and not really in any order.

Around here Jules' spring break centered around the Pacific Crest Trail.  He also built many sand castles out on the flat with The Barracuda.  Packing and prepping have really caused the whole idea of us leaving for 60 solid days to sink in.  A lot of Daddy Time has been happening around here.


The last few days have looked a bit like this:

This picture was taking on day one of Spring Break.  See that clean floor behind me?  Yeah, that doesn't exist anymore!


I got a swanky new sun hat in periwinkle.  I about fainted when Jules had us buy it.  New gear is expensive and when we purchase darn near everything from Goodwill and Goodwill Outlet bins a 40 dollar price tag is shocking.  However, dreadlocks make hat purchasing a bit more complicated.  Since none of your hair is ever discarded with dreadlocks (it gets locked in as your hair felts) you wind up with quite a bit of it to jam into a hat.  It was one thing I never really factored into the whole dreadlock equation.  I also never foresaw myself wearing a giant sunhat.

I made these a tad bit long so they can hopefully last through next years Summer of Summits.  They will make the Sierras so much nicer!


If youth ascent pants exist, we have been completely unable to find them. All we have been able to find are snowboard, motorcycle/snowmobile, or ski pants.  They are all overbuilt and heavy, even ones called ascent pants.  Normally they are also insulated which doesn't work for mountaineering (you overheat).  So, we have been using kid's riding pants, as in horseback riding.  They are awesome for daily or weekend ascents, but not a full 2 weeks in the Sierras.  Enter the pants above.  They began as a $2.00 pair of women's size 10 Athletica ascent pants found at Goodwill.  After an hour with me and my Bernina, they are now a kids size 8/10.  Two dollar ascent pants are much more my style.

Jules informed me that these look like urine samples.  At 600 calories a vial, I don't I will much care when it comes time to eat our hummus on our lunch break!  Optimus is being very helpful in the background.  That is his industrious face.


Much of the last few days has been about food prep.  We have been slowly purchasing all the necessary food for the last 5 months each grocery visit.  The extra 100 dollars on the bill wasn't all that much fun, but it means we won't have to purchase much of anything (even for Jules here at home) over the next 5 months.  It seems like a good trade-off.

Since The Barracuda is growing like crazy and consuming monstrous calories anyway, I'm having to calorie count even more than I normally would.  Hummus is one of the major lunch selections for us when we backpack.  Each town stop which has a grocery store provides us with two days of fresh fruits and veggies to eat our hummus with.  Each of these vials (from testtubes.com) are waterproof, sterile, and food safe. They have screwtop lids and hold enough olive oil for two lunches.  We can mix up the hummus and snack on our veggies/fruits as we walk. 

All in all things are coming along.  With less than 3 weeks to go, I'm feeling pretty good about it.  The dehydrator is still going full tilt, but by next week, that should all be done too! 


Here's hoping it all works out.

The most frequent question I am asked when people find out that we are serious about hiking the PCT is what we are doing for food. Apparently, this is the most mysterious part. Tortilla chicken soup is something our family greatly enjoys eating for a normal dinner at home. It contains very few ingredients; it's a simple, nourishing meal; and the warm hearty nature makes it great for backpacking. I figured I'd give it a go and try some things to make an MRE out of it.

The recipe is as follows first for a large batch (about 4 servings) then a single batch. Each batch feeds between 2 or 3 people. Scroll down for a tutorial on how to dehydrate chicken stock and rehydration instructions. All our dehydrated items have been tested for at least 8 months, though many last for over a year if properly dehydrated.

One Large Batch of Dehydrated Tortilla Chicken Soup
approximately 13 cups dehydrated

9 cups finely ground stale tortilla chips or stale tortillas
4 quarts chicken stock
2 medium squash or 6 sweet potatoes dehydrated
2 cups dehydrated salsa
2 cups NIDO whole milk powder (DO NOT SUBSTITUTE NON-FAT)
1/2 cup garlic powder
1/4 cup oregano

One Single Serving of Dehydrated Tortilla Chicken Soup
approximately 2.5 cups dehydrated

1 1/2 cups ground stale tortilla chips or stale tortillas
1 pint chicken stock
1/4 of a squash or 1 sweet potato dehydrated
1/4 cup dehydrated salsa
1/4 cup NIDO whole milk powder (DO NOT SUBSTITUTE NON-FAT)
4 Tblspns garlic powder
2 Tblspns oregano

As with any recipe, test this before heading out into the backcountry without any backup. This is the way our family likes the taste. You might prefer less salsa and more garlic. You might want it spicier and will omit some of the NIDO.

Non-fat milk powder creates a very strange blend when mixed with the salsa. I don't know what the combination does (the acidity of the salsa maybe?) but it doesn't rehydrate smoothely and leaves a chunky, almost spoiled flavor. Use NIDO or some other whole milk powder. You can find NIDO on Amazon (really expensive!), at Walmart (pretty darn cheap), and at many ethnic food stores (also cheap). You can find whole milk powder at Natures, Whole Foods, and many natural food stores in the bulk food sections. Whole milk powder is completely stable at room temperature and can last over 3 years without beginning to spoil or loose nutrients. If you are backpacking, you need the fat anyway!

Dehydrating the Chicken Stock
Since you are basically trying to dehydrate a liquid, you need a medium to pour into and hold all the tasty goodness. This is where the chips come in. They absorb the chicken stock and then when dehydrated the eliminate the water. The tasty goodness is trapped inside the chips and stores remarkably well.


The tortilla chips always work best if they are stale. They tend to grind finer and absorb better. If available, use stale ones. Whatever the case, grind them up as fine as your food processor can get them.

The counter and floor didn't fare too well when I began to stir, but the dogs thought it was wonderful.
Pour the chicken stock in a large bowl, and then dump the ground chips on top. If you were brilliant like I was and grabbed the smaller of my large bowls, stir carefully. If you were much more intelligent and picked the biggest large bowl, stir however fast you would like. Then set aside overnight.



If your glop looks chunky in the morning, just run it through the food processor till smooth. If for some reason it is not runny enough, add a bit more stock. The final product should look and have the consistency of pablum.
In the morning, you should have something the consistency of baby food. It will probably look about as appetizing as well. Trust me, in the end, it will taste good.



At this point it should smell much better. The Barracuda seems to feel this stuff tastes like the outside breading of a chicken nugget. I have not eaten it at this point, but feel free. He assures me it is delicious!

Pour the goop onto a fruit leather tray and dehydrate at 145-155 degrees for 10 hours. You need to keep it up to at least 145 in order to properly kill any lurking bacteria. Any lower will not keep the temperature high enough for long enough.

Check it at 10 hours. The entire tray should be cracked and extremely brittle. If the pieces don't pull up in stiff blocks, they need more time. If while pulling the pieces up, you discover a section that is still squishy underneath or pliable, they need more time.

Once completely dry, give them another whirl in the food processor. If the pieces are brittle enough, the consistency should be close to sand. This means your soup will rehydrate in a matter of a couple minutes. The smaller the pieces, the quicker the rehydration. Mix thoroughly with the other dehydrated ingredients and package. Two and a half cups makes approximately 2-3 servings. It's rich stuff. As always, try it before you take outside and depend on it.


To Rehydrate
Use twice as much water as powder. Bring water to a boil, stir in powder and boil for 3 minutes. Stir thoroughly. Turn off heat, put the lid on the pot and let sit 5 minutes stirring occasionally. At this point it should be a smooth soup. Enjoy!

First off, let's clear up the Sweet Potato versus Yam thing. Often here in the U.S. the two are interchangeable. Not so much when it comes to the nutrition inside each one. Unfortunately yams got the short end of the vitamin stick. They are mainly just a tasty, starch-based root crop. Sweet Potatoes, however, are rather awesome wonder foods!


The greatness of these veggies is beginning to show itself on the commercial market, but be aware that studies (National Food Administration of Sweden, 2002) have found commercial processing to be quite unhealthy. Due to the high heat of the processing, many nutrients are lost and harmful carcinogens (PAH - poly-cyclic aromatic hydrocarbon and Acrylamide) are created. Unfortunately, those commercial sweet potato chips are quite nasty for you.

Do not fret, just make them at home!

Much like standard potatoes, there are some nutritional concerns with the ways they are normally dehydrated. The commercial production companies run into problems due to the high heat and frying often used. Luckily, you can avoid both of those from at-home processing, but you still need to maximize the nutrition.

Most importantly, do not boil your sweet potatoes. The water removes large amounts of Vitamin C and greatly diminishes the nutritional value of this awesome tuber. Bake them and then let them cool. By baking and then allowing the potatoes to cool, you are converting the starch into resistant starch. Resistant starch is not broken down by the small intestine, but is utilized by the large intestine. By being broken down later, the glycemic index is drastically reduced. The digestible fiber and vitamin content of the veggies can also be increased significantly if you bake them first. One medium baked sweet potato contain 438 percent of your daily needs of Vitamin A and 37 percent of your daily need of vitamin C.

There is also a very nice smattering of B2 (riboflavin), Vitamin E, iron and potassium all smushed in there. The potassium is of large importance due its ability to regulate your electrolytes, metabolism and hormones. Anytime we can sneak large amounts of potassium in when we backpack, I'm all for it.

In short, sweet potatoes are pretty great way to sneak in some of the important nutrients that come in fresh foods when fresh really aren't available. We mash our sweet potatoes and use them as a base in soups, stews, rice and burritos. You would be amazed at well the flavor blends, but ramps up the nutrients of other foods.

If you are making sweet potato chips, you would do them just as we do our standard potatoes. Click over Here, and follow this process. You may want to slice them thinner, if you are really wanting something "chip" like.


Dehydrating Mashed Sweet Potatoes


Peelers often remove the nutrient layer just under the skins. If possible, try to peel them by hand.
Bake your sweet potatoes just like you normally would, but turn off the oven about a half hour early. You want then fairly smurshy, but not completely cooked through. Leave the potatoes in the oven and allow the potatoes to cool. This will allow the starch to convert, while the potatoes are also finishing their cooking slowly. Once cool, the skins will bubble and the potatoes can easily be peeled.


You could use a food processor, but a simple fork smashing or potato masher will do.

Once peeled, mash the potatoes into a fairly smooth glop. They don't have to be blended up or look like they would be read for the dinner table. Mainly you just want a nice blend you can sort of smear.


Try to have your glop a reasonably similar thickness for even drying. We shoot for somewhere between 1/4 and 1/2 inch.

Using a spatula smear the glop onto a fruit leather tray and dehydrate at 135 degrees for 8-10 hours. Check at 8 hours and see.


Not quite yet...

The above photo is not dry yet. You don't want any give in the sweet potatoes. Often times you will think they are done and then find pockets on the undersides which are still wet or soft. Put them on again and give them a little more time.


Done

When truly dry, they will be brittle. You should be able to pick the entire disk up like a Frisbee or it will crack clean in the middle. If they are even remotely bendable, they aren't ready.

Think Tang

Break apart the brittle disk and food process till you have a fine powder. Due to the density of these veggies, if they are left in chunks their rehydration time can be quite lengthy. They also can provide a chunky feel to your food. By pulverizing them you get a smooth, hardy quality and a really nice mix between sweet and savory.


Once powdered, these will store for over a year and be perfectly wonderful to mix into darn near anything. It is another great way I get my boys (both the 38 year old and the 7 year old) to eat veggies. Muffins, rice, stew, casserole, soup, you name it and sweet potatoes work pretty well all mixed in.

As I attempted to find pictures for this post, I realized we have no pictures of us eating while hiking. We are all apparently too fixated on ingesting the food to have taken any pictures. So the pictures in this post are completely unrelated to content and a weird selection of various backpacking pictures over the years.

Green Lakes and Broken Top in the Three Sisters Wilderness

Most of the last couple months has been quite filled with food planning for the Pacific Crest Trail. There are three ways that I know of people planning their food purchases and preparation for long distance backpacking. Some people use a bit of a couple methods, but these are the main three:

Plan A: Wing it, and purchase most of your food along the way. This would leave me completely out of control and a total neurotic freak. It would also probably cause us to be greatly malnourished and blood sugar yo-yoing. For some, it is really great, but not us. The Barracuda likes structure and plans every food choice the night before so that he knows exactly what we are going to eat and when. Perhaps he is a bit too much like me....

Plan B: Save up a stack of money and go for one large, all-out purchasing spree. This eliminates most all the planning sessions into one, rather intense, weekend. Jules prefers this method. However, it means he has purchased a lot of the same food and quickly tired of it. Knowing myself, I think if I tried to plan this way I would have an aneurism from stress and worry about not having enough money, not having enough time, what if I forgot something, etc.

Plan C: Meticulously plan each meal, each food drop, count them numerous times to make sure you know exactly how much of each meal to prepare, fixate, calculate exactly how much each will weigh, panic, look over maps to see where there will be weight and water issues, revise, and then spend months dehydrating and fitting those foods into the usual grocery shopping. Ding! Ding! Ding! We have a winner here! That is me.

Elowah Falls on the Historic Columbia River Highway State Trail. The waterfall was so intense all of our clothing wet out in the less than 30 seconds it took to cross. The sound was deafening. It was awesome.
Food Options
At this point, we have been fiddling with backpacking food for a bit and have figured out a few different meals we really like. Variety is the most important part of any diet, backpacking or not (see this major study, or just Google search about it). I don't know how people can subsist on eating only Lipton noodle dinners, Top Ramen, and synthetic mashed potatoes when they hike. It would just kick my butt! Every morning we eat a trail or granola bar for breakfast. No eating until we are moving is the rule and it is a great motivator for us to be up and out in less than 15 minutes. The sugar gives us a morning rush for the day and makes sure we stop for lunch. Breakfast is always taken care of, but lunch and dinner were up for grabs. First and foremost, I sat down and tried to think up every single possible meal I could easily and quickly rehydrate for us to eat. The list became 9 viable options for dinner and 5 general ideas for lunches.

Dinners
Nachos/Burritos
Spaghetti with Veggie Sauce
Enchiladas
Beef Stew
Beef and Quinoa soup
Salsa Potatoes
Tortilla Chicken Soup
Cheesy Vegetable Potatoes
Tortellini with Veggies and Pesto sauce

Lunches
Salmon and Cheddar Wraps
Hummus with Various Veggies and Fruit
Vegetable Soup
Curried Lentils or Lentil Soup
Flavored Oatmeal

Quick Note: Due to how blood sugar sensitive The Barracuda and I are, we need to stop and actually eat a lunch. If we don't, we go into sugar shock by the end of the day. We just can't pull the mileage without an actual meal. Pop Tarts, candy bars, sugary granola or trail bars, and many other snacks people use as lunch substitutes cause us to spike and bonk really fast. We cannot ride a sugar high, though we will carry goo shots for emergencies. We have tried snacking for lunch a handful of times and the results are downright scary. Our lunchtime meal, from backpacks off to backpacks on, lasts a complete total of 20 minutes (The Barracuda and I actually set a timer when we solo to be sure we don't dawdle.) In many instances, we will eat while we walk using 16 ounce, wide-mouth Lexan jars (featured here if you scroll down) to keep wraps, veggies, fruits and hummus, leftover burritos, or cold pasta salad from the night before. I wake up early, make the food, and we pull it out when we need it. A waterproof lid, highly durable while incredibly lightweight Lexan, food grade, BPA free, completely reusable and non-disposable, and all with a price tag of under 6 bucks! We dig them.

Lastly, when the dogs join us they are going to need extra calorie food mix-ins as well. They cannot physically carry the amount of regular dog food necessary to keep up with their caloric burn. As a result, I am needing to dehydrate their food as well. High calorie dog food glop can be purchased (at an astronomical price), but it contains all sorts of weird things I wouldn't want our puppies eating. So, Optimus gets to rehydrate their high calorie glop as he walks during the day in a specially designated Nalgene bottle.

Guadalupe chasing sandpipers in Long Beach, Washington. The birds swarm and swoop all around you, splitting and regrouping. She doesn't care much for coastal trails, but she loves the beaches.


Mail Drops
The last 4 months have been spent figuring out where each town with a post office is located, which ones we would be stopping at, and what exactly would be in each box we mailed to ourselves. By mailing our food and extra provisions to ourselves along the way, we can keep our backpacks as light as possible. In southern California, I am not going to need winter gloves; the average daytime temperature is over 100 degrees. In northern Washington, I'm not going to need a sun hat; it normally rains solid for 5 days a week. By negotiating mail drops you can send yourself things you think you will need at certain times and send home anything you don't think will be necessary anymore.

A Town Guide is a book which tells the hiker exactly where (down to the tenth of a mile) each town is located along the trail and what to expect when you get there - are there hotels, showers, grocery stores, ATM machines, gas stations, and most importantly, post offices? Many times the exact hours of the post office are listed along with an address and a phone number. In this way you can directly calculate how many miles you will walk each day, and how many days there are in between post offices. Calculate in an extra meal just in case, and a zero day here and there and you have a basic itinerary for your mail drops. You also have excellent math curriculum for homeschooling. "You want to not starve, you better carry that one Boy!" Perhaps not quite...

We are planning to begin hiking an average of 18.5 miles per day. The Barracuda can already do around 20-23 miles per day easy, but we want to begin slowly. In the end we are thinking 25-27 miles per day will be our average, but by planning around 20 we are safe. Any extra food we can angel to others or at least give ourselves choices and extra calories. Each mail drop will contain one extra days worth of food, except every third mail drop. By making the third mail drop an exact number of days, we can cut down on excess weight. More than likely we will not be needing the extra day and they are just for feasting days of extra calories.



Our Itinerary

Leaving El Campo - 4 days worth of food
Lunches: (2) Fresh Veggies, Fruits, and Hummus; Tuna and Cheddar Wraps

Dinners: Spaghetti with Veggie Sauce; Burritos; Cheesy Potatoes

Mt. Laguna - 5 days worth of food
Lunches: Tuna and Cheddar Wraps; Salmon and Cheddar Wraps; Lentils; Flavored Oatmeal; Tortellini with Veggies and Pesto Sauce

Dinners: Tortellini with Veggies and Pesto; Vegetable Soup; Tortilla Chicken Soup; Cheesy Potatoes with Vegetables; Enchilladas

Warmer Springs - 4 days worth of food (even drop, no extra meal)
Lunches: Tuna and Cheddar Wraps; Flavored Oatmeal; Salmon and Cheddar Wraps; Lentils

Dinners: Enchiladas; Beef and Quinoa Soup; Burritos; Tortellini with Veggies and Pesto Sauce

Idyllwild - 6 days worth of food (Grocery Store)
Lunches: (2) Fresh Veggies, Fruits and Hummus; Tuna and Cheddar Wraps; Salmon and Cheddar Wraps; Lentils, Flavored Oatmeal

Dinners: Beef Stew, Beef and Quinoa Soup, Cheesy Vegetable Potatoes; Spaghetti with Veggie Sauce; Tortilla Chicken Soup

Big Bear City - 5 days worth of food (Grocery Store)
Lunches: (2) Fresh Veggies, Fruits, and Hummus; Salmon and Cheddar Wraps; Flavored Oatmeal; Vegetable Soup

Dinners: Beef and Quinoa Soup; Spaghetti with Veggie Sauce; Salsa Potatoes; Tortellini with Veggies and Pesto Sauce

WrightWood - 4 days worth of food (Grocery Store, even drop, no extra meal)
Lunches: (2) Fresh Veggies, Fruits and Hummus; Lentils; Flavored Oatmeal

Dinners: Burritos; Vegetable Soup; Enchiladas; Tortilla Chicken Soup

Agua Dulce - 6 days worth of food (Grocery Store)
Lunches: (2) Fresh Veggies, Fruits and Hummus; (2) Salmon and Cheddar Wraps; Flavored Oatmeal; Vegetable Soup

Dinners: Spaghetti with Veggie Sauce; Beef and Quinoa Soup; Salsa Potatoes; Cheesy Vegetable Potatoes; Tortellini with Veggies and Pesto Sauce; Beef Stew

Tehachapi - 8 days worth of food (Grocery Store, weight restriction)
Lunches: (2) Fresh Veggies, Fruits and Hummus; (3) Salmon and Crackers; Lentils; Flavored Oatmeal; Tortellini with Veggies and Pesto Sauce

Dinners: Beef Stew; Tortellini with Veggies and Pesto Sauce; Beef and Quinoa Soup; Spaghetti with Veggie Sauce; Cheesy Vegetable Potatoes; Tortilla Chicken Soup; Enchiladas; Salsa Potatoes

(weight restriction means I will be maxing out my weight limits with food. This is the longest stretch for me to carry food and poundage is getting huge. This means no tortillas for wraps or burritos and no cheddar cheese)

Echo Lake Resort - 4 days worth of food (Grocery Store, even drop no extra meal)
Lunches:(2) Fresh Veggies, Fruits and Hummus; Vegetable Soup; Lentils

Dinners: Burritos; Spaghetti with Veggie Sauce; Cheesy Vegetable Potatoes; Tortilla Chicken Soup

Sierra City - 5 days worth of food (Grocery Store)
Lunches: (2)Fresh Veggies, Fruits, and Hummus; (2) Salmon and Cheddar Wraps; Flavored Oatmeal

Dinners:Beef Stew; Tortellini with Veggies and Pesto Sauce; Enchiladas; Salsa Potatoes; Cheesy Vegetable Potatoes

Belden Town - 6 days worth of food
Lunches: (2) Flavored Oatmeal; (3) Salmon and Cheddar Wraps; Lentils

Dinners: Burritos; Beef and Quinoa Soup; Tortilla Chicken Soup; Salsa Potatoes; Tortellini with Veggies and Pesto Sauce; Cheesy Vegetable Potatoes

Burney Falls Camp Store - 4 days worth of food (Grocery Store, even drop no extra meal)
Lunches:(2) Fresh Veggies, Fruits, and Hummus; Flavored Oatmeal; Salmon

Dinners:Beef Stew; Salsa Potatoes; Spaghetti with Veggie Sauce; Enchiladas

Castella - 7 days worth of food (Grocery Store)
Lunches:(2) Fresh Veggies, Fruits, and Hummus; (2) Salmon and Cheddar Wraps; (2) Flavored Oatmeal, Lentils

Dinners:Burritos; Beef and Quinoa Soup; Beef Stew; Salsa Potatoes; Tortellini with Veggies and Pesto Sauce; Enchiladas; Cheesy Vegetable Potatoes

Kennedy Meadows - 5 days worth of food (even drop, no extra meal)
Lunches:Vegetable Soup; Flavored Oatmeal; Lentils; (2) Salmon and Cheddar Wraps

Dinners:Beef Stew; Spaghetti with Veggie Sauce; Enchiladas; Salsa Potatoes; Tortilla Chicken Soup

Independence - 6 days worth of food (Grocery Store)
Lunches: (2) Fresh Veggies, Fruits and Hummus; (2) Salmon and Cheddar Wraps; Vegetable Soup; Lentils

Dinners:Beef and Quinoa Soup; Cheesy Vegetable Potatoes; Tortellini with Veggies and Pesto Sauce; Spaghetti with Veggies Sauce; Beef Stew; Salsa Potatoes

Vermillion Valley Resort - 5 days worth of food
Lunches: Vegetable Soup; (2) Salmon and Cheddar Wraps; Flavored Oatmeal; Lentils

Dinners:Beef and Quinoa Soup; Tortellini with Veggies and Pesto Sauce; Tortilla Chicken Soup; Cheesy Vegetable Potatoes; Enchiladas

Tuolumne Meadows - 8 days worth of food (Jules' Arrival; Grocery Store)
Lunches: (2)Vegetable Soup; (2)Fresh Veggies, Fruits, and Hummus; (3) Salmon and Cheddar Wraps; Tortellini with Veggies and Pesto Sauce

Dinners:Beef Stew; Burritos; Enchiladas; Beef and Quinoa Soup; Salsa Potatoes; Spaghetti with Veggies Sauce; Tortilla Chicken; Cheesy Vegetable Potatoes

8 packages of extra calorie dog food

Seiad Valley - 4 days (Grocery Store)
Lunches: (2)Fresh Veggies, Fruits, and Hummus; Salmon and Cheddar Wraps; Vegetable Soup

Dinners:Beef and Quinoa Soup; Enchiladas; Salsa Potatoes; Cheesy Vegetable Potatoes

4 packages extra calorie dog food

Hyatt Lake - 4 days (even drop, no extra meal)
Lunches: (2) Salmon and Cheddar Wraps; Vegetable Soup; Flavored Oatmeal

Dinners: Spaghetti with Veggie Sauce; Burritos; Tortilla Chicken Soup; Beef Stew

4 packages extra calorie dog food

Crater Lake Lodge - 4 days worth of food
Lunches:(2) Salmon and Cheddar Wraps; Flavored Oatmeal; Tortellini with Veggies and Pesto Sauce

Dinners:Salsa Potatoes; Beef Stew; Beef and Quinoa Soup; Enchiladas

4 packages extra calorie dog food

Cascade Summit - 7 days worth of food
Lunches:(2) Flavored Oatmeal; (3) Salmon and Cheddar Wraps; Vegetable Soup; Lentils

Dinners:Burritos; Enchiladas; Tortilla Chicken Soup; Beef and Quinoa Soup; Spaghetti with Veggie Sauce; Beef Stew; Cheesy Vegetable Potatoes

7 packages of extra calorie dog food

Olallie Lake - 4 days worth of food (even drop, no extra meal)
Lunches:(2) Salmon and Cheddar Wraps; Flavored Oatmeal; Lentils

Dinners:Enchiladas; Salsa Potatoes; Beef and Quinoa Soup; Tortilla Chicken Soup

4 packages of extra calorie dog food

Cascade Locks - 6 days worth of food (Grocery Store)
Lunches: (2)Fresh Veggies, Fruits and Hummus; (3) Salmon and Cheddar Wraps; Lentils

Dinners:Spaghetti with Veggie Sauce; Cheesy Vegetable Potatoes; Vegetable Soup; Enchiladas; Beef and Quinoa Soup; Tortellini with Veggies and Pesto Sauce

6 packages of extra calorie dog food

White Pass - 5 days worth of food
Lunches:(2)Salmon and Cheddar Wraps; Vegetable Soup; Tortellini with Veggies and Pesto Sauce; Lentils

Dinners:Spaghetti with Veggie Sauce; Burritos; Beef Stew; Tortilla Chicken Soup; Cheesy Vegetable Potatoes

Snoqualmie Pass - 5 days worth of food
Lunches:Vegetable Soup; Lentils; Flavored Oatmeal; (2) Salmon and Cheddar Wraps

Dinners:Cheesy Vegetable Potatoes; Spaghetti with Veggie Sauce; Beef Stew; Enchiladas; Tortellini with Veggies and Pesto Sauce

Stehekin - 4 days worth of food
Lunches: (2) Salmon and Cheddar Wraps; Lentils; Vegetable Soup

Dinners:Tortilla Chicken Soup; Burritos; Beef Stew; Tortellini with Veggies and Pesto Sauce

Sun setting over cloudline in the Cascades on Nesmith Point. Definitely one of the most incredible things and incredible hikes I have ever seen or done.

That list is a combination of umpteen hours planning, dehydrating, and nutritional research. It feels really good to have finalized. With impending post office closures in some of the small towns and a couple changes to ownership, a few shifts might need to be made, but at this point the food will stay the same. We've been acquiring it all slowly but surely. By adding 50 dollars to each months groceries, we've been able to fit in darn near most of it. A couple of items (like packaged salmon/tuna and bulk boxes of trail bars) are going to be topped off with extra PayPal funds. In general, the food for all of us cost of just under 600 dollars. By spacing it out, the blow wasn't quite a hard, and it looks like we might just pull it off. Three quarters of it is already weighed, measured, packaged, and dehydrated. Now we just have to figure out where to put all of it!

Our power was restored Wednesday when everything decided to finally melt off. We'd been out of power for a week and were honestly expecting much longer. Being the only power source for the water supply of the closest city probably saved us.

Contrary to the feelings of many others around us, our week without power was quite wonderful. The dogs are actually playing with each other in this picture, though it might not look like it. They both thought the snow was incredibly fun.

Much like our transition to a television-less household, had you asked me about going power-free I'd have thought we'd be sitting pretty well. After all, we no longer had a T.V., we have actively transitioned most of our family entertainment away from anything digital, and all of The Barracuda's schoolwork is book centered (the actual, paper, bound books). Most all of our food is dried, canned or cellared so refrigeration isn't necessary, our heat is all wood, our water is on the city fire line/water supply. Mainly, our bases were covered. This might have been a big reason that our situation was better than others around us.

What I hadn't accounted for was timing. Everything takes longer without electricity. Water does not boil in five minutes. To get it to boil in five minutes would require me chopping down our wood into lots of smaller pieces, getting the fire really going, and then placing the pot on. That process would take a good 30 minutes. There are no showers. This is a major well duh! Somehow I didn't understand just how much I'd miss the shower. Dishes are all done in shifts because the signal pot of boiling water you placed into the sink eventually gets cold and very shortly there after so do your hands. This meant we were never, ever, really done with the dishes. When the sun goes down, the work must as well. When the sun isn't up, not much can be done. The way our life is currently structured is not conducive to this power-free lifestyle. It was an amazing learning experience and one I hope to repeat again before the winter is over.

Tuesday at around 6 pm:
Jules is passed out on the couch. He does this occasionally. After multiple, stressful days and burning the candle at both ends, he collapses shortly following dinner. The power has been flickering all day long, but it has hung in there. Snow started falling 2 days ago, though the accumulation right now is still only about 6-8 inches. The morning commute was a doozy and we thought for sure school was going to be canceled. No such luck, apparently down the way it isn't quite so bad. As the weather continues to deteriorate, loosing power is only a matter of time.

With the lack of permanent residents in our area and the remote terrain we have been warned that it could be a month before it is turned on again.

Wednesday: SNOW DAY!
Lee was home today as even the big city was nasty enough for no buses to travel. Much fun has been had and a quick trip to the store for some cooking free supplies was in order. We had to dig the cars out from over 18 inches of snow. It just keeps on falling hard and heavy. Fortunately here the snow is light and powdery, rather than the dense, wet glop that falls in Portland. We'd never lived somewhere that doesn't plow before, but luckily the neighbors all have plows on their tractors and take shifts. From the looks on the faces of most of the men, this isn't exactly a chore.

Thursday: Day 1
The power hung in long enough for me to get a pot of chicken stock prepared, a two chickens defrosted, and then promptly cut out. We're keeping the fridge closed and the water to luke warm hoping it will only be out a short while. At least that's what I tell myself.

Jules figured out quite the system of candles. Nights might just turn out to be quite relaxing after all.

Friday: Day 2
I didn't start the fire early enough to get the water on to boil. It took darn near forever to receive tepid oatmeal. Both the boy and I were so hungry we didn't care. Around 9 am the entire house vibrated with the sound of a very large motor. We looked up to the road, expecting a colossal plow or construction equipment, but nothing. After much inspection outside, it turns out our neighbor has a commercial generator which has just kicked on to power his house. Looks like even in a power outage, Mr. Plasma will keep his name and be able to watch his obnoxious plasma screen television. Around here old toys have been pulled out from long forgotten spaces and the art of play has been regained.

The dogs think this whole snow thing is the greatest ever. They go out romping far more than they are inside. I have to drag them in, dry them off and put them in front the fire to get them warm again. So far, there have been very few complaints.

Saturday: Day 3
The dogs went out to play this morning and didn't come back. We waited, we called, no dogs. Jules became frustrated and went in with The Barracuda while I post holed my way across the flat and down the river trying to find them. Half a mile down, Guadalupe pokes her head around the corner and stops. I call, she wags her tail, but she won't come. There is no Optimus. She is very nervous and I get nervous. It is really hard to run in 3 feet of snow covered with over an inch of ice, but when I get closer she runs off again. She waits, I run. She runs off, waits, I run forward. Every Lassie movie I watched while sick from school is seeming much less fictional at this point. Eventually it becomes clear that she needs me to look over the edge of hill leading steeply down to the river. She's fussing like mad and won't stop wiggling everywhere. After defogging my glasses I can see that Optimus has fallen down the hill and is clutching to the bank with his two front paws. His back end is submerged in the freezing rapids of the river.

I tell Guadie to stay in my best non-panicking Mom voice, and make my way down the embankment. Optimus was manhandled and encouraged out of the water (you can only encourage a 220 pound dog. He is literally twice my size, I can do very little). I kicked steps back up the slope as best I could (I've never kicked steps for a dog before), dried him off with my coat, and we made the slow journey back to the house. He is doing fine after drinking warm chicken broth, having blankets thrown over him, and curling up with Jules for quite some time. Two of his front claws have been ripped from clinging to the bank, but he saved himself from complete hypothermia. His massive size came in quite handy. Somehow, he had fallen down the slope into the river and Guadie wouldn't leave him. I would have walked completely past without knowing had she not lead me to him. He's a very lucky dog.

The extreme wind coupled with heavy freezing rain over the last two days has knocked out the power for the entire town closest to us and half the surrounding area. It's going to be a while before anyone cares much out us way out in the middle of nowhere.


Sunday - Day 4
At this point, the rationed hot water is long gone and the fridge has been replaced by the snowbank of our deck. With 2 and a half feet of snow, we have to dig out anything we want to keep cold, but so far the animals haven't discovered it.

The house is beginning to resemble a ski lodge. We've figured out a system to hang all the layers so they can dry. We have enough mountaineering clothes to keep us cycling through and able to get outside for walks and playing quite frequently.

We've taken to wearing wool all the time and walking the dogs everyday instead of allowing them free play on the flat. On our trip up the road we were able to survey the damage from the wind. Our neighbor lost a tree across his dock, but it was nothing like the scenes along the road. Power lines are down everywhere, poles are snapped, and trees litter the ditchlines. Let the scavenging begin!

Around here, people don't let much go to waste. Even the local trash drop off has signs that read "No Scavenging." In some places scavenging might be considered stealing, but not here. Scavenging is an art form and a prized trait. The fine line between scavenger and thief is upheld quite strongly. We have already had many discussions with The Barracuda about the difference and it is reinforced quite strongly.

Before we could get out to collect, chainsaws of the neighbors and other locals were buzzing. Snow storm or no snow storm, no sizable tree is going to be left down without an attempt at harvesting.
Math done by candlelight isn't quite as romantic as it might look. The Barracuda has gotten quite driven with getting his schoolwork done during the daylight hours and leaving the playing for the evenings when work is finished

Monday - Day 5
We went into the big city to visit my dad and take showers today. Laundry was done, phones and cameras were charged, Facebook was checked. Everything got done and important business was taken care of all around. It was quite the productive day. The glimpse into life without power has been quite rewarding. My work ethic is much stronger, the house is somehow cleaner and we are going to bed at a decent time. With the days work confined to only the lighted hours, a sense of urgency overtakes you. When there is work, it must be done right now!

When dusk hits we begin to light candles and let the world calm down as the lights burn themselves out. Once gain we have started talking more, playing more, and laughing into the wee hours.

Tuesday - Day 6
Today it was supposed to melt off. It didn't. In fact, almost a foot of snow came down before 11 am. The local schools were all released early. We took the truck into town because some paperwork had to be faxed off and almost didn't make it home. With a child wound tight from over a week without seeing his friends, and dogs a bit stir crazy by now as well, it was a long day.

It seemed the powerless-ness was wearing on me all day. My phone wouldn't charge at the library. The line for the Internet computers was really long. The Internet was taking forever to load since it was on the fritz. The frustration was mounting. After a week of putting off our virtual lives, it has become obvious how dependent I am on getting into cyber space. Not only do I make money, but multiple other writing and correspondence jobs are handled via the Internet. Even with our power restored, for much of this last week everyone's Internet has been down. This is definitely a place I need to think on for the future.

Wednesday - Day 7
The melt off has begun. Everything outside is drippy. It will take time for the snow to actually melt, but I can see the tops a few items still out on the deck as the snow melt continues. This is probably a good thing. I've been wracking my brain to come up with more warm, dinner items that do not require baking. Much of our life can be handled by snacking, but after a week solid the snackable items in our house are vastly dwindling. Jules and I are pretty firm on not getting a generator, but we do think a propane oven is a good place to start. I know Jules' schoolwork has to be backed up like crazy. With all the grading needing to be entered into the computer, yet at the same time, his need to get home before everything deteriorates further, he hasn't had any time to stay after work and get much done.

The power was restored at around 4pm Wednesday. I'm very glad it didn't last a month!

The first thing I did was take a shower!

It doesn't matter what the conditions, we just like living in a place where this is our front yard.


A Few Things We Learned
We learned quite a bit. Mainly, we have fallen out of natural rhythm by controlling all the light and electricity. Our family felt better when we worked and then slept in a more natural flow. We need to find a way to either bake off the grid, or to have other food sources which don't require it as much. Lastly, we need to have a larger supply of medium sized, hot, wood. It is referred to as "hot" wood because it burns quickly building the fire in the woodstove up to boiling and cooking temperatures. I need to find a better way to have Internet correspondence when we don't have power here. The virtual world isn't going away and the work I do I find fulfilling, so much thought needs to be put into where I could work if we needed to. Currently, a week seems to be when we feel the strain. Perhaps, like everything else once that initial discomfort is worked through the experience isn't taxing. Over the next couple of weeks we will be working on pushing that week out into a month or more, but for now, we are just glad to be back on the grid.

Hello Blog,

I know I have left you for a while. I was kinda emotionally beat. I needed a break, some perspective. It wasn't you; it was me. There was a mild fling with Facebook...and a bit of a Pinterest obsession, but they just weren't the same. I'm back, dear Blog.

Yours Always,
Granola Girl