no-packaged backpackin

I just entered a cafe with my laptop for the first time in maybe a year or more. I had come to really feeling the disconnect of sitting in a cafe surrounded by people socializing on their computers, when here we are right now face to face, ready to communicate. So, now, most of the time, I sit with a stack of books, my journals, and a non-disposable pen, while others still stare at computers. The exception to this is going to Cellar Door coffee, a local roaster here in Portland. There are people (like me today) on computers, reading books or the paper, and a guy working on his comic book/graphic novel. And when I finish with this blog, I'll start on a story idea I came up with while on the trip I just returned from. So, actually a fairly good place to write.

You may be asking why I left the house with my laptop today? Good questions. Since I've been back, I have had a really difficult time being in doors. Having that fresh air in my lungs, and the moist air of the fog on my face... oh and the smells of the forest....

Then today, I stepped outside the house and into our garden, and the smell of the spring rain hit me so hard that I just had to get on my bike and ride somewhere to fill my lungs with this air and force my muscles to pump it's vitality through my body. So here I am invigorated, and telling you about a weeks vacation that resulted in almost zero trash.

Last week I accomplished one of my 3 goals of adventure for this year; I went to backpack with the redwoods. I was able to get our for 6 days by myself and just be. The results have been amazing for my mental and physical health, and the food was pretty darn good too!

I was able to pack all 6 days worth of food in my pack, and this is what it looked like:

What are all those things? Well there is some lentil soup, chili mix, a heavy soup mix, pasta, sun dried tomatoes, soy curls, peanut butter and chocolate chips, dried fruits, oatmeal,  quinoa flakes, couscous, my spice mix, hot chili peppers, granola, my morning elixir mix, vita-mineral greens, homemade tortillas, kale chips, nuts, some sugar, couple avocados, lemons, apples, orange, olive oil. I think that is most of it. Some of it was road food, but most of it is what I took out with me. This is where I make a confession. I decided to buy a bottle of whiskey. I weighed the options, and felt that the comfort of ending the night with a nip of whiskey in lieu of fires at night was worth the bottle. And having a hot toddy on chilled nights was worth it.

I ended up actually not needing much of this. In the mornings I had my morning drink and a mix of vita-mineral greens and was good to go until an afternoon snack of nuts and fruit or avocado. The granola I ate while on the road. And I never did eat the pasta. The cold sort of made the olive oil not quite usable. The first night's meal was actually extremely amazing thanks to Mark and Karen of Flying Onion farm. I picked up some of their kale raab at the farmers market before I headed and out, and it was worth the space and weight for that meal.

I was also able to harvest some wild nettles for a little freshness to otherwise dehydrated meals. And for dessert a couple times, I was able to have one of these:

Salmon berry flowers! So sweet! One is all I needed to fill my mouth with delight after a little meal. Although, shortly after I took this pic, I had to promise a bear that I would not eat anymore if it promised not to eat me. Seemed reasonable. I never actually saw the bear, but I heard it, and I could smell that I had passed an animal scent of some kind (yes, I am sure that smell was not me).

This is what my view was like during most meals:

And the above is where I refilled my water supply... I love the taste and energy of wild water. I made sure to fill up all my containers on the way out so that I could keep drinking it down the road and in the city. I believe that it is what made my hot toddy so dang good!

So what exactly is the trash that I made? Well mostly it was from the package of the batteries I had to get when my rechargeable ones died, and that is it! All the containers/bags that I used to carry the food in were ones that were around the house, or that I always use when I go out. There was some compost from the fresh fruit. The twist tie on the raab was used to keep some other bag that held the dinner bags closed. Now I have a bottle of whisky, however, and my feelings on that are, well, mixed (actually a top shelf local whiskey). I feel like I compromised a bit, but I also feel that not having a fire, especially by myself, is a good trade off. And, for the moment, that I will only use this while I'm out camping.

I did have one really odd thing happen upon returning, and that is that I kind of forgot I was doing this thing. I was facing some cooler shelves at work and saw some vegan cheese or something that I didn't think we carried before, and thought, "oh that looks good, I should try it." That was followed with, "wait, there is a reason you can't... what is it?" and then I was like "oh yeah! cool!"

Last night I was re-inspired  by this couple that stopped into the coop while on their book tour. They are amazing, and their book, "Making It: Radical Home Ec for a Post-Consumer World" is fantastic. Check out Kelly Coyne and Erik Knutzen at rootsimple.com

It's inspired me to try some things I hadn't thought much about yet. I've realized that some things are easier for me because I just don't care about having some things, like cookies and bread, around much.... but more on that later. Where should I venture to next? Take a train to.....