The Nehalem River

Yesterday my Dad and I went fishing on the Nehalem River. The river runs from the coast range in a curly-q around Vernonia and out the the coast. We went to a spot about 15 miles north of Vernonia. This is what it looked like at 5:30 when we got there:



It was an amazing day. We saw an abundance of wildlife. On the ride out there was a cluster of young Elk frolicking in the foggy fields. The river contained otters and beaver. Eagles soared overhead in the narrow channel carved from the hills by the river.

I know what you're thinking, "Forget the otters! Did you get any fish?" Short answer, yes. Did we have fish for dinner? No.

When I decided to start fishing again recently, it was because of the abundance of fish that Oregon has to offer. Salmon, steelhead and the like. I'm talking big fish. Fish like this:



Fish that can feed a family for a week. That's what I'm talking about. I figure, if I can catch just one monster like that, it will totally pay for the license and the tag. That's what everyone says, right? I going to do it! Mark my words! By the end of summer, I'm gonna be up to my gills in fish!

Back to yesterday. I caught two fish. Two rainbow trout. They looked about like this:



At first I though I had snagged a sandwich baggy full of rocks. It was not the epic battle I had imagined would occur. Naturally, I let the little fellow go. About a half an hour later, I caught another one about the same size. Frankly it was probably the same one. Not the brightest crayon in the box.

So that's how it begins. There will be more to follow. Even without catching fish, a day of fishing is worth it. There's something powerful about watching the day begin in the forest. It's something that shouldn't be enjoyed by fisherman and hunters alone.

Patio Garden

Mary bought me a book for Christmas called The Urban homestead.



I like it. I made sourdough bread from scratch with the help of a recipe in this book. Very tasty! Anyway, I love books like this but every time I read one I want to buy a 15 acre farm complete with livestock, barns, chicken coops and a creek. It's quite a leap from our 2 bedroom apartment situation. This book gave some great advice:

Where you are is your homestead. Do what you can with what you have.

I like the idea. I feel like I live too much of my life waiting to live. So this year I decided to grow as much of a garden as I can on our apartment patio.



We've got a couple kinds of tomatoes (grape and pear), a red bell pepper, a jalapeno and copious amounts of basil. I love fresh basil. It's one of my favorite herbs. The problem is that I hold it in too high of esteem. I have purchased fresh basil and waiting for a "special occasion" to use it, only to find it wilted and moldy when the occasion arrived. So I planted a lot of it, so I don't have to be timid in using it. I bought one start about a month ago and planted seeds around the tomatoes at the same time. So far the seeds have sprouted and are about a half and inch tall while the start has grown about 5 inches in the same amount of time.



The tomatoes are blooming now and should be producing quite a few tomatoes. That is assuming that they survive the relentless attacks of one certain Ethan that has more than once mistaken their metal protective cages as basketball hoops. But that's another story.

More later...

The 80th post on Modern Chef Pants

This marks a turning point, of sorts. I am going to be changing the nature of my posts. I have traditionally posted doodles and drawings and design related material. These things are good and fine. I will likely continue to post them from time to time. I have however decided to discuss another aspect of my life that has not previously made it to Modern Chef Pants.

I have long been a believer in the principles of self reliance and the independence that comes from following those principles. My experiences in the Boy Scouts program and my youth in general gave me a great appreciation for the basics of life. How to find food in nature, how to provide basic shelter, how to start fire without modern conveniences. When I was younger, I thought that as I grew up I would leave these simple ideas behind to join the complex world of adulthood that I did not fully understand at that point. As I get older I realize that no one really does understand this crazy world and those that seem to are either better at pretending, are very mislead or just don't care. I have found in myself the consistent desire to bring things back to a manageable level. To be able to provide for myself the basics of life without having to rely on a machine larger and more powerful than any one of us. I know that it can be done, because it is how it was done for thousands of years before us. I don't want to live in a "Star Trek" world, where everyone dresses the same and eat food that was created in a lab to taste just like pork. I can't think of anything more dehumanizing than losing our connection to the earth that we rely on for life.

If found that there are a lot of people that share a similar set of ideals. Anywhere from treehugging star children to shotgun totting bunker dwellers. In my wanderings I have found some resources that I have found consistently helpful and insightful. One has been The Simple Living Network. The sight isn't much to look at, but there's a lot of wisdom and common sense there. I would recommend checking out the monthly newsletter.

I realize that this is sounding a lot like a manifesto. Like I should be in a one room cabin with no electricity. But how would I post this to internet under those conditions? All manifesto-ness aside, I do feel like laying down the ground work for what's to come. If any of my future post head down the preachy, or crazy road just send me a little note that says "keep it together, bro" and I will oblige.

With that said, here's one of my recent undertakings:



Bees. Thousands of 'em!

My Mother and I recently took a Beekeeping class together and got a hive. We've found a beautiful berry farm close to my Mom's house that was interested in letting us keep them on their land. They grow strawberries, blueberries, raspberries and clover. That spells lots of honey and the good stuff, too.

It's been very cool to learn about bees. They are amazing little creatures. I had always assumed it was pretty complicated to keep bees for some reason. I was pretty surprised to find out that they pretty much just love to do their thing and if you throw them in a box, they'll be more than happy to fill it with honey. Okay, it's a little bit more complicated than that. You've got to know about the queen and how to make sure the hive is healthy, and other things.

I'll show some more photos of our hive:



This is me being awesome around bees.



This is that the hive looks like when you open it. We had first attempted to keep the bees in my parents backyard. Lots of people keep bees in suburban areas with no problem. We had the hive delivered and I opened it up to see this. I just about browned out when I saw it. It's a lot of bees. I knew it was going to be a lot of bees, but seriously. That's a TON of bees.



That's a brood frame. All the light colored, capped off holes have baby bees in them. By the way, did you know that when a new bee pops out of his little cocoon he gets right to work. No time wasted. Pretty cool, huh? I'm still trying to explain this to Ethan. It hasn't worked so far.

So that's all for now. In the future I'll be giving you updates about our tiny porch garden, maybe some canning later in the summer, some camping experiences, etc. Who knows.

Guess what?!

Mary and I are going to have another baby!

The little one is due on December 7th. We are both very excited.