Cherry Plum Pickin’ & Raccoon Fleshin’

I missed a week of my Weekly Laundry list due to Echoes in Time and other busy things in my schedule, such as my training with the Portland Fruit Tree Project. You heard right, I signed up for their Harvest Leader position this year, which means I get to meet new people, learn a ton of stuff about trees, get free fruit, and help out those in need. Pretty awesome!

At the harvest training I met some cool folks, some of whom I will get to know better as we will tag-team the harvest parties. For our training we picked the fruit from a Cherry Plum tree. A deliciously sweet fruit with a tart skin. Something happens when working with strangers like this. It felt like a team building exercise that some corporations pay millions for, only, we just gathered a bunch of fruit from a tree together. The most primal action I can think of (aside from, um, well you know) involves people gathering food together. Simple and profound.

I took a workshop at the rabbit farm that donates their hides to me. I killed, skinned and butchered a rabbit. It felt crazy intense. Like, watching stomach muscles continue to digest food while laying in a bucket outside of the body 5 minutes after they cut the head off intense. I felt so amazing to handle an animal that we had just killed. I feel so accustomed to handling long dead roadkill, that living, moving flesh, even when dead, can feel so vibrant and alive comparatively. I’ve started writing a piece about this that I plan to post later this week.

 

I’ve had a raccoon hide in the freezer since the December Rewild Camp. I took it out today and began to work on it, fleshing it and scraping it and tanning it. I’ll write a bunch more about that later too. I feel like I finally get the process, or at least a better one, then I’ve ever had with tanning skins. I think this will make a much finer hat than the one I have now.

 

(Thanks Noah for these awesome pics!)

Last Week’s Personal Goals:

1. Use hide glue to make mullet paint brush and blog about it.

Downy Woodpecker painting.

2. Use hide glue to reinforce the stone drills and blog about it.

I’ll take this on next.

3. Write my “Community vs. Rewilding” blog

I worked on this one a lot, but realized I had a bunch more to say and work through! So, still working this one out.

4. Start my blog on pine needle basket making

I’d like to get to this one this week too.

Last Week’s Rewild Camp Goals:

1. Take pictures of the pine needle basket making kit.

Oops! I’ll get on this.

2. Perhaps shoot some video?

Haven’t done much yet. Just lots a pics. Maybe some vids soon if I can get my hands on a nice camera.

3. Continue to spruce up the food and food presentation at Rewild Camp (now also called Rewild BBQ)

This week we ate the rabbit that I killed and its organs! What a delicious barbecue meat and an awesome one to share at a Rewild Camp.

Next Week’s Personal Goals:

1. Finish tanning raccoon hide.

2. Smoke raccoon hide and rabbit hide at Rewild Camp.

3. Make bow-drill sets to sell at Last Thursday.

4. Use hide glue to reinforce the stone drills and blog about it.

5. Continue and possibly finish writing my “Community vs. Rewilding” blog

6. Start my blog on pine needle basket making.

7. Post blog about killing the rabbit.

This seems like an awful lot to do. I really need to make some money right now, so making and selling bow-drills sits at the top of my list really. We’ll see how much I get done.

Next Week’s Rewild Camp Goals:

1. Take pictures of the pine needle basket making kit.

2. Continue making awesome food present.

3. Hand out Rewild Camp fliers at Last Thursday.