Food, Glorious Food

        Somehow, I just can’t stick to recipes; so, if you want to try this one that I am in the process of baking as I write this, feel free to make your own substitutions. I got the original from a friend, Sandy Dick, many years ago and have used it for every backpacking and canoe trip for over 20 years since then in some form or another.

Whole Food Bars

Ingredients:

1 cup raisins

1 cup currants (or more raisins)

[I used currants today.]

1 cup chopped dates (or more raisins)

[I used ground up dates today.]

¼ cup honey (or molasses)

[I used a bit more than ¼ cup honey today.]

¾ cup orange juice

[I blended two oranges today. It was probably a bit less than ¾ cup.]

¼ cup oil

[I used ¼ cup of olive oil today.]

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 teaspoon allspice (optional0

[I used a bit more than 1 teaspoon today, by accident.]

½ teaspoon salt

[I used a bit less than ½ teaspoon of sea salt today.]

½ cup sunflower seeds

2 cups rolled oats

2 cups stone ground whole wheat flour

[I used 2 cups of stone ground barley flour – less gluten but not gluten free.]

1 cup shredded unsweetened coconut

Proceedure:

        Grind raisins, currants & dates and combine in a large bowl.

Stir in orange juice, honey, oil and soak for 20 minutes

(Or put liquid in blender, add raisins, etc. and blend.)

[I used the blender today.]

        In a bowl combine thoroughly the cinnamon, allspice, salt, sunflower seeds, rolled oats, stone ground whole wheat flour and coconut.

[I added 1 cup chia seeds to this today.]

        Stir in wet mixture until thoroughly combined.

[I used my hands as if mixing bread dough today.]

        Press on a cookie sheet and roll flat with rolling pin.

[I lined the cookie sheet with parchment paper today]

        Bake at 275 F for 22 minutes. (Do not brown.)

Remove from cookie sheet and cool on cake racks.

[Not sure about “do not brown,’ as the mix is “brown” before it goes into the oven so I just did the 22 minute baking.]

        It is a kind of “granola” bar but in this case it costs less money, I think, and I know exactly what is in it and I know that  a couple of bars will serve as most of a lunch on any hike day.

So Many Little Things To Do

I've printed out 23 maps with directions from Google. Hope they are correct! I am working on maps for all the campsites and B&b's. Oh yes, food. We will want to eat. I want to make granola & lunch bars tomorrow or Sunday. I was looking at freeze dried foods today at MEC to add a bit of easy variety to our suppers. ( Did I mention the 50 bales of hay that arrived today that needed to be in the barn? Or that the grass needs mowing again? Or that I am running tomorrow? )

Sent from my iPhone

Another Step

I know it's been 10 years since my camp stove has been burning. It may even have been 15 or more as I used a one- burner for several solo trips. Anyhow, after some cleaning, oiling, and pressure blowing of spider webs and rust the old stove is going again.


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Getting Into Details

        Spent most of the afternoon redoing some details of the walk. I now have the costs of the accommodations listed and details about the B & B's and camping areas so we know when we are having breakfasts provided, not often, and when we will have access to wi-fi, most but not all places. I also noted when we have use of kitchens and information about lean-tos. 

        Following is the Vermont State Park information about lean-to camping:
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        "If you've never stayed in a lean-to you don't know what you're missing! Lean-to's are awesome - they shelter you from wind and rain, keep your gear dry and kids love to use them as a stage!

Like other sites, each lean-to site has a fire ring or fireplace with grill for cooking and a picnic table.

        

        Lean-to's are 13'4" wide and 9'3" deep. The front opening is 7.5" high and the lowest height at the back of the lean-to is 4'3".

        

        There are several ways to handle tent placement on a lean-to site. One way is not to use a tent at all and just set up your sleeping pads and bag inside the lean-to. Some use mosquito netting in the lean-to's to keep out the bugs. Some folks put their tents right inside the lean-to's - keeps 'em dry and also keeps out the bugs."

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        The next step I want to work on is having more detailed maps and directions set up like the old Automobile Associations Trip-tiks. So far I have two days. Below is a blurry version of day 2. (I don't want to give away details here until they happen.)

        I have also replaced the old ground sheet for the tent and bought some camp fuel for the stove. Tomorrow I will clean up the stove and see if it still works or if I have to buy some replacement parts. Time is moving quickly towards the trip.

Accommodations Found

        Well, after hours and hours of looking on the internet via AIRBNB, Google Earth, Google Maps and Google searches, I have places for us to stay every night of our journey. We are about half time in State Parks and half time in B&B's. Some of the "Bed and Breakfast" locations include breakfast and some do not. Those that do not at least have cooking facilities so we can do our own. All of the State Parks have "Lean-to" camp sites which I chose so we will have dry places to stay even if it rains unless, by bad luck, there is a strong wind from the direction of the open part of the lean-to.

        Next steps include checking out all of our camping equipment. Some of it has not been used for a few years so . . . .

        My old tent seems to be in good condition. It just needs to air out a bit before we use it. Looks good in the yard for now.

        Given that it may be a bit cool by the end of September, I purchased a new cool weather sleeping bag for  Fleur-Ange. According to the papers that came with it, she should be good to well below the freezing point. Am I foolish to expect no snow before the end of September?


       

Looking For Places to Sleep

        Spent several hours looking for B & B's that were in my price range. Who knew that a bed could be worth more than $500 a night? Will keep looking. 

A Long Walk Coming

     On February 29th,1704, Abigail Nims, who was Fleur-Ange’s great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandmother, was one of 109 (or 112) captives taken by the French and several First Nations people from the English frontier village of Deerfield which later would be part of the state of Massachusetts. Abigail was only 3 at the time so she must have been carried most of the way through the winter snows back to various areas in what would later be called Quebec. As the “Queen Anne’s War” drew to a close, some of the 89 captives who survived the trek to the Montreal area returned to Deerfield but Abigail did not. This year there is a meeting of some of Abigail’s descendants in Deerfield in October. As a special “art project,” Fleur-Ange is planning to do a return walk from Montreal to Deerfield. It will be a roughly 480 kilometre (300 mile) walk. Fleur-Ange has an elementary school friend, Pauline, who plans to do the whole walk with her. In order to cut down on costs of gas and keep us all fairly close to a vehicle on the walk, I plan on doing a shuttle with Fleur-Ange’s van so I will walk a bit, return to the van, drive ahead, return to meet Fleur-Ange and Pauline, then start the procedure over. We expect to start the walk from Montreal on September  3 and arrive in Deerfield on October 1. At this point in time I am looking at Google Earth and Google maps to try to follow, as closely as possible, the route that the captives walked.

        Fleur-Ange is planning on starting a new blog to record her adventures. I will post the address on this blog when she gets started; meanwhile, I am hoping to blog my part in this activity here. So here we go . . . .

        So far, we have made arrangements for some people to stay in our house when we are gone to take care of feeding the animals and keeping the house occupied in our absence. I have roughed out the route, have two bed & breakfast reservations for a total of 7 nights, one motel reservation, and campsites for 5 nights. There are lots of other preparations to do in the next two weeks before we drive to Montreal. Busy, busy, busy, . . .