New winter things

It seems like every personal blog on the internet has a post that's like "Sorry I haven't posted so long!" I kind of started to forget that I made this/the reason I made it to begin with became obsolete. I started working with what can only be called a "nature connection" school, and since the people I've been working with have become a big part of my life I've had them to share my experiences with. Actually, a lot of my experiences have been with them. This summer I had kind of hoped to start following others and actually become some part of outdoorsy-folk blog network, but it didn't happen and I haven't felt a real need for it lately.

So with that out of the way I'm just going to make a few posts in the next few days.

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We've had an incredibly mild winter so far, but it's been nice to get out on days when we've actually had some snow accumulation. One day last week I had the urge to get out and do some stuff I really haven't done much of, some of it not at all. So I went out for a nice leisurely walk, visited some land I hadn't been able to see since about September, made myself a little fire, melted some snow, brewed some cedar/hemlock tea, and just relaxed. It was nice to get out just to do some simple stuff like that. And I learned that if you let your snow get smoky, the water is going to taste smoky as well. Wood choice has something to do with that as well, I suspect.

I haven't had a lot of chances to get out in the winter to try making fires, but so far I've found that it really isn't much of a problem. The only really noticeable differences from making fires in the other three seasons seem to be these: tinder availability and wood selection. All of the dried grasses, which are usually one of my go-to tinder sources (most of my fires are started either by friction or with a ferro rod), are covered up, as is much of the fuel-sized firewood. The fire I made that day was started using a ferro rod—sparked into some waxed jute twine and igniting birch bark. A good fire-starting tinder can be carried with you to get around many problems. Of course, had I used a match or lighter, I would have been set with birch bark. (One can, and I have, started birch bark with a spark, but it takes a little extra prep that I couldn't be bothered to do.)

In my walks I've been happy to see tracks pretty much everywhere. Places I walked regularly during the spring, summer, and fall are now dotted with tracks from various animals. I find tracks (and tracking) fascinating and wonderful, but so far it's been one of those things I've had motivation difficulties with. Often times I see a track, study it a bit, try to figure out who left it, perhaps I'll take a picture, and then move on. For whatever reason I've yet to get to the point where I'm measuring, journaling, drawing tracks. Hopefully I can motivate myself to delve deeper soon. And hopefully we'll be able to keep some snow around for it! For now, I'm glad I'm noticing them—my awareness has definitely expanded in this area.