Mistwalker
Gold Member
- Joined
- Dec 22, 2007
- Messages
- 19,024
I haven't been around as much as I'd like lately, life recently got very complex. There was a death in our family, then due to all circumstances together we had to relocate home and office 700 miles in a move across four states. Immediately following that came an emergency construction project, and oral surgeries to fix years-old problems...plus keeping up with work. So a lot on my plate lately.
Now that we have settled in some, and I have had some time to get out and check things out, I thought I'd some photos from autumn here in the southern end of the East Appalachian Temperate Rain Forest. The knife in the pics is an Explorer Survival (later called the Explora Survival) knife made by Marto of Toledo Spain, and designed the Explorer Charles Brewer-Carias. Having been told about him by a friend from Latin America when I lived in south Florida, I found his work fascinating. He was a huge influence on how I see the world, and an inspiration. I bought one of these knives new at an army surplus store in Columbus Georgia back in the mid 80s, and after a while of carrying it on a few explorations of my own, I had parted with it along the way. I came to regret that very much years later. I have spent a good bit of the last twenty years trying to find one, and then trying to find one I could afford. Recently I made a trade for one. It was like a reunion with an old friend, and it seemed only fitting that I take it exploring
By the way, here is a nice write up on this knife done by a friend here on the forum. If you are unfamiliar with it, then this will shine a little more light on the subject, as well as the person and thoughts behind the design.
http://www.donrearic.com/brewer.html
Autumn is in full swing here in the mountains. All of the hardwoods; oaks, ashes, maples, birches, poplars, hickories, walnuts, cherries, elms, etc., are putting on their annual end of the year show of colors, and enough leaves have fallen as to be able to see further into the various colors. It makes for a nice ride through the mountains.
In the fields the bright colors of summer have started giving way to the subdued colors of winter. With all the golden rod, there will be plenty of tinder material around.
The fruit of the toxic plants always sticks around long after everything else has been eaten.
There there are still some dandelion greens still around...
And passiflora incarnata vines are still around, climbing anything they can find, but no fruit left that I have seen.
I noticed I was being observed by some of the indigenous population.
Then I through the branches I spotted one of my favorite autumn snacks, persimmons
Though we have already had some frosts up on the mountains, eating the ones still attached to the tree or to broken branches is a bad idea. They haven't gone through the bletting stage and are still highly tannic at this point.
Most of the ones on the ground will be sweeter. Look for the ones that look like they are in the early stages of decaying, a little browned. They will often get covered by falling leaves, which makes them harder to find. However being covered likely speeds up the mellowing a bit.
But there will be competition for the berries, and not just the deer and coyotes....
But it didn't take long at all to find a handful.
There are a lot of muscadine and grape vines in this area, but not much fruit left. I didn't find many, but savored the ones I found.
.
Now that we have settled in some, and I have had some time to get out and check things out, I thought I'd some photos from autumn here in the southern end of the East Appalachian Temperate Rain Forest. The knife in the pics is an Explorer Survival (later called the Explora Survival) knife made by Marto of Toledo Spain, and designed the Explorer Charles Brewer-Carias. Having been told about him by a friend from Latin America when I lived in south Florida, I found his work fascinating. He was a huge influence on how I see the world, and an inspiration. I bought one of these knives new at an army surplus store in Columbus Georgia back in the mid 80s, and after a while of carrying it on a few explorations of my own, I had parted with it along the way. I came to regret that very much years later. I have spent a good bit of the last twenty years trying to find one, and then trying to find one I could afford. Recently I made a trade for one. It was like a reunion with an old friend, and it seemed only fitting that I take it exploring
By the way, here is a nice write up on this knife done by a friend here on the forum. If you are unfamiliar with it, then this will shine a little more light on the subject, as well as the person and thoughts behind the design.
http://www.donrearic.com/brewer.html
Autumn is in full swing here in the mountains. All of the hardwoods; oaks, ashes, maples, birches, poplars, hickories, walnuts, cherries, elms, etc., are putting on their annual end of the year show of colors, and enough leaves have fallen as to be able to see further into the various colors. It makes for a nice ride through the mountains.
In the fields the bright colors of summer have started giving way to the subdued colors of winter. With all the golden rod, there will be plenty of tinder material around.
The fruit of the toxic plants always sticks around long after everything else has been eaten.
There there are still some dandelion greens still around...
And passiflora incarnata vines are still around, climbing anything they can find, but no fruit left that I have seen.
I noticed I was being observed by some of the indigenous population.
Then I through the branches I spotted one of my favorite autumn snacks, persimmons
Though we have already had some frosts up on the mountains, eating the ones still attached to the tree or to broken branches is a bad idea. They haven't gone through the bletting stage and are still highly tannic at this point.
Most of the ones on the ground will be sweeter. Look for the ones that look like they are in the early stages of decaying, a little browned. They will often get covered by falling leaves, which makes them harder to find. However being covered likely speeds up the mellowing a bit.
But there will be competition for the berries, and not just the deer and coyotes....
But it didn't take long at all to find a handful.
There are a lot of muscadine and grape vines in this area, but not much fruit left. I didn't find many, but savored the ones I found.
.
