Random thoughts, and more photos.

Random thoughts:

I love how most Inupiat hunters never actually say they are 'hunting'. As if the word itself is rude and might imply that you are not practicing good humility. Instead they say they are 'going to go and look' or maybe just 'go for a ride'......

Every season has a 'scent' to it......Spring is metallic snow drifting beneath melting loam. It is cold water and verdant gray plants bursting with a scent that reminds me of puppy breath and kitten fur. It is dust on dust on dust, with interludes of thunderstorms. It is not really a scent of awakening as most poets spout...it's more like the scent of Remembering...

I'm playing with the idea of selling herbal teas. Believe it or not me and my husband love drinking teas. We mix local plants with herbs I order online, and we love it. I have come up with several recipes that are tried and true and will be sending it off to my 'testers' this week. I will add some for sale later on to my store and see how they do! I'm always looking for way to 'modernize' old knowledge and this seems like a viable adventure. A facebook friend sent me a package form Canada a while back, it was a set of Iniut teas made from wildcrafted herbs that they sell in grocery stores across Canada. Very inspirational! Their website: Northern Delights Tea

Photo update....

We do eat ptarmigan, and then I take the feathers and 'experiment' with them. This is a necklace I came up with. I did wear it around the house for an hour, worried that the feathers would tickle. They do not tickle. lol. more pics and info and other ptarmigan feather jewelry now up at: Salmonberry Dreams
On our drive last night we came across a ptarmigan sitting on the rocks. He posed for me. I now have about 200 photos of this one ptarmigan. lol. His chest has bright neon pink smears on them, telling us that he had been eating last years cranberries. We suspected he had a nest nearby as he didn't go very far.
Winter stripped plants are everywhere. it amazes me sometimes to see such delicate fragile things still intact after the snow melts.
Took photos of this plant to look it up in my wild plant books. Neat and fuzzy!
My husband did follow this small herd of caribou for a bit, but the opportunity to take one did not come about. This time of year they are migrating north, and will pretty much be gone from our neighborhood for the entire summer. So we are trying to fill our freezer (and help others to do the same) with enough to last till August.