More Real Things

A BLOG ABOUT A SEARCH FOR A SATISFYING LIFE

Digging Holes For Fun and Food

Digging Holes For Fun and Food

For simple fun there's nothing quite like digging a hole. Said no one ever. Digging for clams, however -- now there's a ticket to the fun parade! And for clam digging, nothing quite beats razor clams out on the Pacific coastline. Razor clams enjoy sandy beaches and inhabit tidal zones only revealed by the lowest tides, so razor clam digs are scheduled around the tide table. Last weekend had a trio of low tides out on the Washington coast, corresponding with an open seaso

Hunting and getting and the distance between

Hunting and getting and the distance between

Rather than tell people I'm going hunting, I should probably say I'm going to walk a great distance across a lonely landscape with the hope of getting very close to some specific animals. It would be a more accurate description of how I spend my time, certainly, and perhaps it wouldn't trigger the occasionally negative response people sometimes have with the word "hunting." Hunting is a word that many people associate simply with killing. While a "successful" hunt is usually

Eyes down, forks up

Eyes down, forks up

A walk about the neighborhood yields a meal or three. It's common to think about wild mushrooms as being a far-off, deep forest, high mountain kind of thing. I suppose pictures of lush mossy forest floors punctuated by golden chanterelles doesn't help dispel that line of thinking. But mushrooming is actually an activity that urbanites can do very successfully, particularly here in the greater Seattle area. Some of the best mushroom meals I've had were from mushrooms collec

Diving for Oysters on Vashon

Diving for Oysters on Vashon

In which an undersea adventure yields tasty treats at moderate risk to life and limb. Lessons are learned. I visited Paul and Hillary out on Vashon Island early in September. Vashon Island is a beautiful, agrarian-feeling place a very short ferry ride from West Seattle - an easy way to get an island outing as a day trip from the city. Paul and Hillary have a little walk-up place right on the south west shoreline of the island. The weather was great and Paul suggested we t

Snails for dinner! You heard me.

Snails for dinner! You heard me.

Foragers Dinner Club, in which snails are introduced as a locally foraged protein, alongside salmon, pheasant, and crab. The gardens don't dissapoint either, with cauliflower tabouli, zuchinni fritters, and many other delights. A group of friends gather four times a year for the Foragers Dinner Club -- a meal that features ingredients grown, caught, killed, found, foraged, bartered, or which otherwise come to the the table with a story a little more interesting that "I got t

Jive Turkey

Jive Turkey

The Urban Dictionary defines "jive turkey" as: One who speaks as though they know what they are talking about...though they do not. Which is a pretty good definition for me, at least when it comes to turkey hunting. Late in the spring turkey season, which typically runs from mid-April to the end of May here in Washington State, I ventured out to the far northeastern corner of Washington, some 25 miles or so south of Kettle Falls. Wild turkeys are plentiful there, and two yea

No Stone Unturned

No Stone Unturned

This mother's day the family went for an outing to Anderson Island. One of the San Juans, you say? No. Uh...isn't it that one next to Whidbey, or Vashon or something? Nope. Anderson Island is the southern most Puget Sound island, which puts it in Pierce County. It is accessed via car/passenger ferries operated by Pierce County, which is why you won't find the schedule or terminal information listed among the otherwise ubiquitous Washington State Ferries routes. The isl

Morel Real Things

Morel Real Things

Fire morels are my favorite thing to find in the wild. At least until winning lottery tickets start turning up in the duff. Morel mushrooms, grouped under the genus Morchella, show up all over the world and are prized culinary artifacts. Their desirability is enhanced, no doubt, by the fact that they aren't cultivated commercially, which means that someone has to go pluck them from the forest floor. Or sometimes from their front yard. Morels will sprout occasionally from

Orienteering, Monkey Brains, and the Dopamine Economy

Orienteering, Monkey Brains, and the Dopamine Economy

I'm a big fan of orienteering, which is the sport of racing using navigation skills and a map and compass. At a recent orienteering event I was wondering why it felt so satisfying to find colored fabric flags out in the woods. I think it's our monkey brains. We've got monkey brains. Not the Indiana Jones Temple of Doom type monkey brains, but brains in our heads that have a lot in common with the brains of monkeys. And our monkey brains love hunting and gathering. Our mon

I've been to the East, I've been to the West, I've been to Lopez Island: getting outside

I've been to the East, I've been to the West, I've been to Lopez Island: getting outside

Honey Holes and Secret Spots: the Currency of Foraging

Honey Holes and Secret Spots: the Currency of Foraging

How to Say Goodbye with a Pig

How to Say Goodbye with a Pig

Foragers Dinner Club November 2015

Foragers Dinner Club November 2015

Dare To Be Square West 2015

Dare To Be Square West 2015

Hunting and getting and the distance between

Hunting and getting and the distance between

Eyes down, forks up

Eyes down, forks up

Real Things Genesis

Real Things Genesis

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Alex MacLeod

Polyhobbyist