Squeezin' In A Narrow Cave

Up on a steep hill in the woods there is a pile of huge rock out croppings- inheritly as dangerous as it is infinitely stable, the tremendous rocks are all piled together in such a way that it created a series of caves. Mud, leaves, and smaller rocks gathered into solid mass on the top cracks - filling in the original openings, and animals dug a new series of tunnels. It was awesome!
I started to squeeze my body into the larger opening, and realized I actually could have snaked my way all the way to the back... but did I want to?
The inner rock was jagged on some edges, it seems perfectly dry and clean in there - I did not smell animal urine and the only tracks i saw looked like a micro tiny deer shaped print (possibly a small pig?) I squiggled my way forward...
In the back of the crevice the rocks piled upward like tiny steps - there was a strong breeze of clean pure air blowing directly in my face. I was told that the cold air blowing out the hole meant the cave went deep underground. The stone 'steps' led up to a sharp left turn, and it looked as though maybe a right turn too! I wish I was an animal this size and could just move in, a cave seems like a really nice place to stay.
But Alas- I hadnt really gone too far back because I started thinking about the possibility of the creature who lived there getting pissed and me being stuffed in the crack with it biting my face like some kind of 80's horror film gremlin. So, I squeezed back out and will try again another day. :)XoXO00

Alone In The Wilderness With Dick Proenneke

Yesterday I got a DVD in the mail from a friend and commenter here at The Oko Box (Thanks Blair!)... the video was about a man who went out into the remote woods and built a cabin without any power tools, and ended up so comfy & happy there he stayed in his hand built cabin for the next 30+ years. I found a condensed version of the video on youtube, and although it leaves out some extraordinary parts of his creative abilities - you'll get the idea of how bad ass this guy was! He has inspired my already inspired self to follow my earthy dreams and heart, and don't let anything stand in the way of my love for nature.



XoXo

Growing On The Forest Floor

It's beautiful from far away, and just as breathtaking close up. I find myself looking at the 'bigger picture' in my emotional life quite often and attempting to overlook the details... while in my physical view I am over compensating by noticing every little detail growing around me, far more then the bigger grand view. I suppose if nature was a teacher, the lesson would be there is worth in everything we see-... it's a million trillion tiny details that build up to the picture at large and each bit of the ecology counts. Emotionally or physically.
Striking patterns and colors, mushrooms and moss are especially mysterious to me. The moss growing on the stick below made criss crossing diamond shapes, with little bits of more moss right in their centers.
I was told this classic looking mushroom below may be a choice edible, can anyone give it a positive ID?
XoXo

Burger Bun Mushroom

Big rains, a cold snap, more big rains and some warm sunny days = mushrooms! These big guys were growing under all the dense bamboo and I thought they looked like yummy burger buns! I don't know how to identify many mushrooms (except morels) and was wondering if any of my fungi friends out there knew what type this is? Cause if this is edible I am going to make a sandwich out of it. ;)
They are very large, the round part was almost the size of my hand... big mushrooms are exciting!
This last pic shows the white gunky web like stuff under the leaves that the mushrooms grow from, I like that they grow from something that looks like a spider & slug made it together.
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