I fell Down

Two days after my last post I was walking on rocks (what else it is Pennsylvania) after an exhausting section of trail called “Knife Edge”(it is as steep an nerve wracking as it sounds) when I somehow managed to basically get all my limbs caught in one spot. My feet were pinned along with my hiking poles and I just sort of fell forward. In the 1-2 seconds it took me to fall I thought oh shit I’m going to hit my head. I have not fallen and hit my head since I was a child. There is something rather awful about it, not only am I going to hurt my now fully fused cranial vault but I am going to react with the emotional maturity of a toddler having not had any practice since then where head injuries are concerned.

Once on the ground I had to untangle my body from my pack and assess the damage. This all sounds like I was quite calm and handling things well, but really I was a mess. I had to keep telling myself that it couldn't be too bad cause I hadn't lost consciousness. I had been cognizant of my temple being ground into the rock and the noise it had made when it scratched my glasses. I cleaned my head and held my cold water bottle to my eyebrow. I called my mom and we figured out that she would come and get me the next day and I would hike 2.5 miles to a B&B. So I hiked out listening to Bill Bryson’s “In A Sunburned Country”. It made me feel better to think of a country far away from where I had just fallen.

I made it to the B&B around 3pm and checked in. The owner gave me some Ice for my head and my shin (oh yeah I hit my shin too) before leaving me to deal with my various injuries. I showered, ate some ramen, and went to bed. My mom came to pick me up the next day and I’m back in NH with what I believe to be my first shiner.

If I hadn’t fallen I might still not have been able to stay out there too much longer. The nights were getting very cold and the night before I had had a very hard time staying warm. My sleeping bag is rated at 15 but it wasn’t really holding up.

I’m going to continue my hiking by doing some overnights and such in Vermont and the White Mountains with my mom. We will overnight in a heated camper and shuttle around. Hopefully this will mean I can still get about 30 miles a week or more of the trail done. There are also some fully enclosed shelters that I might still be able to use. Doing shorter trips will also mean less weight and next time I fall I won’t have that extra 40lbs of weight making the fall that much harder.

I think that it is possible, well highly likely, I still have some nerve damage in my right foot and leg. The doctors did say it could take up to 2 years to have all the nerves and the muscles firing at full power. I have noticed that while my right leg is getting stronger it's not where i thought it would be and I still don't have a lot of stability in the ankle. It also seems likely that I have some arthritis in that foot from the break.

Palmerton PA

I began this leg of my hike in Greenwood Lake, NY. My mom and I drove down and camped in one of the many overnight parking areas for the AT. We woke up late and after eating a great breakfast of eggs, tomato and bread I headed on my way. It was a nice day, sunny and not too warm. I did 6 relatively challenging miles;a lot of rock hopping along ridge lines. I kept noticing that every decent would have been easier as a ascent and every ascent easier as a decent. I was beginning to think that the person responsible for marking the trail was a sadist with a grudge against southbound hikers. An assumption that was all but confirmed by the last decent of the day for which I had to take off my pack and and lower it down the side of the cliff with my bear bag rope. After patting myself of on the back for my ingenuity I walked a little farther and made camp.

In the process of making dinner I managed to have my dinner explode allover my hands (burning the shit out of them) pants and boots forcing me to use a few wet wipes to clean up what I could and hang the rest of my dirty clothes with my bear bag until I could wash them properly.

I called it a night. crawling into my tent my hands still burning and feeling a bit low. I listened to my Ipod and let Bill Bryson read to me about Australia. I awoke to the sound of gunshots. The hunters were out early and in full force.

I packed up in a light rain and crossed a stream within the first hour of walking; replenishing my water supply. About a mile later I came to what I now refer to as "that fucking cliff". There was a white blaze on what was a nearly sheer cliff with a little slit in it. Think a low relief of Jabba the Hut with his mouth open and a white blaze where his eyes should be. Now I don't know if Jabba's mouth was meant to be a foot hold or a hand hold or what. What I do know is I am not going cliffhanging ala Stallone style with a 40 lb pack on. I tried an alternate route of giant boulders covered in slimy decaying mushrooms and that didn't work either. The thing that worried me was: say I did manage to get into Jabba's Palace without falling into the pit of carkoon what if once up there I found it even more difficult in the thick fog? What if rotting mushrooms covered every surface? What if there was a Rancor up there?

So I said fuck NY/NJ. Well... first I had an emotional meltdown. Then I said fuck NY/NJ. I called my Mom and she helped me find a Bus that would take me from Greenwood Lake To Delaware Water Gap, PA. I bushwhacked out to a road falling several times and eventually sneaking through someones back yard to a road.

I spent the night in a hotel the next day busing it to PA and one more night at a Days Inn getting everything dry again.

Thanksgiving day I hiked the 3.2 miles to Delaware Water Gap and then the other 6 or so to my first shelter. I shared the shelter with two other hikers Rainfly and Checkers. They tried to give me a very pretentious trail name that I refused to accept. We all chatted and slept. I hiked South in the morning and they hiked north.

The rocks here are crazy. The path is like walking on a perpetual stream bed but without the water softened rocks. Instead I picked my way across pointy rocks for hours at a time. I can't really tell you what PA looks like because my eyes never leave the trail.

I am in Palmerton PA today taking a zero day. My knees and ankles need a break and I needed a night indoors. I stayed in a free Hostel last night in the basement of the Borough Hall. I dried out my stuff in the boiler room, ate some Low Mein from a restaurant across the street, and took a shower that more resembled being scoured by a pressure washer(bliss). I was also able to do laundry, after 7 days it was very necessary to clean the sweat out of my clothes.

I resupplied, trading in my normal cracklin oat bran for a some pop tarts from the dollar store. I also switched up my tortillas for some ramen.

I'll try to stay in a sort of boarding room tonight and hike to a shelter just a mile or two up on the trail tomorrow if the weather is still a bit bad. Then I will continue on for 5 days to Port Clinton and 2-3 more to Pine Grove.

I have basically decided to stop when the weather gets too bad to keep going. It is possible that I may decide to leap farther south for a bit if PA gets hit hard. But we'll see. I will just let this hike go the way every day goes: I'll hike till I can't anymore and then I'll stop.

I'm not sure when I'll be able to get pictures up. The library hear doesn't have a card reader that works with my camera memory card. I suggest if you really need pics of PA you google them.

I headed out for what I thought was going to be a nice 5 day walk from Dalton Mass to North Adams Mass. What I ended up doing was 2 days 2 nights and 10 miles before admitting I was too sick to keep walking.

The first day was great. The temp was mild and the sky clear. I was well fed and made really great time getting to the campsite early in the afternoon. I hung outside my tent in the late afternoon taking my time getting ready for the long night. I tend to be in the tent by dark, reading and recovering. I usually pee around 9 pm and then get good and snuggled in. Even the annoyance of getting back out of the tent at 9 has become something of a comfortable routine and the way I stagger gracelessly out of the tent, think calf being born and taking its first steps, gets slightly less awkward each time.


I was slightly restless the first night and ended up having to pee again at 2 am in a cold drizzle. I spent a good couple min dabbing up all the water I had let in the tent on my return. I was a bit congested and the right side of my throat was beginning to hurt. I woke in the morning the rain had all but stopped. I packed up and ate a few handfuls of crackling oat bran and some nuts. I meant to do 8 miles that day but the going was slow due to the

trail being slippery from rain. I made it about 4 miles before I started to feel really bad. Not just tired but sort of light headed and detached. My throat hurt more than it had in the morning and I took my temp, 100.2. It was time to go to bed. I wasn’t at an official camp site so I hiked just out of view of the trail and set up camp, ate a hot meal which made me feel a little better and took a couple Aleve. Do to the unsuitability of trees in the area I had to hang my bear bag a little closer to my tent than I would have liked. I knew I wasn’t far from Cheshire, but I didn’t know I was feet from Cheshire and practically camping in someone’s back yard. No one found me and told me to leave or anything I just thought it was kinda funny. I laid down and dozed for a couple hours then kept my 9pm appointment. I slept pretty well and took my temp around midnight, 99.

At 3:30 in the morning I woke up and before I could move I heard a heavy footfall. It was where I had made dinner. The footsteps continued getting closer to the tent. I didn’t move. It sounded like a large animal. The foot falls were heavy and deliberate. Not a scurrying animal. I contemplated whether or not I should make a lot of noise, bang on my pots and turn on my headlamp. If it was a deer or a bear that would probably scare it away, but what if it didn’t? I decided to remain still and hope it would keep walking, It did. It walked within 2 feet of my tent and then over in the direction of my bathroom. It lingered for a moment and then continued in the direction of my bear bag. I tried to remember exactly where I put my multi tool before falling asleep. I really wanted the reassurance of a 2.5 inch folding blade. I waited for the sound of scratching against the tree that held the bag, for the noise it would make as it hit the forest floor and then the sound of shredding fabric and Velcro as an animal, maybe a bear, consumed the contents. Even as I waited I doubted it was a bear I heard no snuffly breathing no grunting. I thought Coyote? Bob cat????

I did not hear my bear bag fall instead I heard an impossibly loud scream that made me cold from the tips of my toes to the edge of my hair line. It seemed so out of place like a noise that belonged in the jungle not in Cheshire Mass. I waited still not moving hoping to hear the noise again but from further away. I did hear it and it was moving away, headed east. I waited a few minutes before frantically searching my pile of crap and finding my Leatherman-esk tool. I decided against the serrated blade and instead chose the straight one laying it on the very top of my piled supplies. I rolled onto my back knowing if I was attacked I would want my hands and knife in front of me. I figured I just needed to cause enough pain to make eating me not worth the effort. Because after the screaming I had a picture in my mind of what it could be, a mountain lion.

The cougar or mountain lion was hunted out of the eastern united states, though a larger variety continues to live in the west. There have been credible sightings of cougars in Mass and New Hampshire for over 15 years. Many attribute their reappearance to exotic pet releases. Before this last trip my brother’s friend Maggie said that some carcasses had been found in trees not too far from Manchester. I said I’d worry when they were human carcasses. A couple weeks before I had been teased about sleeping out in my tent at Upper Goose Pond Cabin. One man saying he had heard the screaming of a mountain lion in the area. I brushed it off. But laying in my tent knife by my side I kept imagining what I would do if the animal returned. I thought it would be impossible to fall asleep but within a half hour I was sleeping better than I had before and I woke at 7:30 thinking my bladder might explode.
I got out of the tent in my normal fashion and looked for signs of my early morning visitor. About a foot from the side of my tent I saw a print. There was a 4 inch area of disturbed ground with some compressed mud in the middle. It didn’t look like much but it also didn’t look like deer, and it was big. I peed, packed and got the hell out of dodge. My fever had creeped back up and I needed to get back to civilization. I caught the bus to Pittsfield then another back to Dalton walking less than a mile back to my car.

After a few days of sleep and drugs I am almost fully recovered. I have spent some time listening to different mountain lion and Bob Cat vocalizations. I am pretty convinced that what I heard was a Mountain Lion because while listening to one of the recordings my toes went cold. Even if my ears don’t remember the call exactly, the rest of me does.

Though I didn’t finish hiking Mass, I am finished with Mass. I have decided that this weather is ridiculous (the foot + of snow currently falling is a prime example) and I need to resume my hike much further south. So I’m going to finish packing my mail drops and pick up the trail again in Greenwood Lake NY continuing south through NJ and PA where the cross sectional topography looks flat except for a few gaps here and there, as opposed to the Berkshires which looks like an EKG.
I can catch a bus from Boston to NYC and then another from Port Authority to Greenwood Lake.

I will, of course, post an updated PO drop schedule soon.








This shroom is twice the size of my hand.

View from The Cobbles.

Log Log Log


From Blamo!



















This is the kind of fungi I meet on the trail.

The rash is getting worse

Just thought I'd post a pick for those of you who are having a hard time visualizing my current foot problem.

5 Days In Mass

I hiked for 5 days this stretch. It was great. I had really good weather my bag wasn’t too heavy the bugs weren’t too bad. It was a little warm but I managed to stay pretty well hydrated even if eating was a little difficult. (no appetite at the end of a hot day) I did however have some odd cravings for (all of them salty) cheese wiz, French fries, and crackers.

I had to get off the trail 2 days early because I began to have an allergic reaction to the moleskin and medical tape I had been using to protect my heels from further blisters as I continued to break in my boots. The skin on my left foot just above the heal started to crack and peal and get very red. I decided to get off the trail immediately and deal with my foot instead of letting it go and face another 1.5 to 2 week delay. (note: This is what I initially thought the reaction was to however since I now have blisters, bumps and redness all around both ankles I am going with a Allergic Contact Dermatitis Caused by a reaction to Nikwax Base wash.)

After cleaning and attending to my foot last night plus getting a full 12 hours of sleep it looks much better.(note: later in the evening is when I noticed the widening of the affected area on my feet. Depending on the severity of the rash as it continues to develop the schedule that follows will probably change.) I will return to the trail on Saturday or Sunday to start leapfrogging around between the towns of Dalton, Cheshire, and North Adams. In these leaps I will be going for 2-3 day stretches and packing minimal food. So I will have an even lighter pack and should be able to really get my mileage up.

Sometime at the end of next week I’ll pack up the remainder of my food and head for the Mass/Connecticut border to start the long trek South with the fall.

Since it gets dark by about 7 pm I’ve been reading a lot. I wanted to ask for book suggestions from everyone and maybe for books from you all. If you want to send me a book it should be paperback, fairly dense, small letters and challenging content. I find I can get through a regular light-read mystery novel (300-400 pages) in two nights. I’d like a book that would last more like 4-6 nights but not some heavy tome that I will resent the weight of. Also, you need to be cool with never getting it back as I will probably leave it for the next hiker. I have ordered a few books already they are as follows:

Stiff

The Coming Plague

Guns, Germs and Steel

Blink

If you would like to add to my reading list, all books should be sent to Flying Goat Farm That way I don’t end up overloaded.

I took a couple pics while I was out and about.

Milkweed

Benedict Pond

The A.T. Runs through this pasture Cows and all.

It's not the prettiest part but the AT runs over I 90 on a foot bridge. I noticed it when I drove from Ohio to NH a little over a month ago. As I passed over it the cars below honked their support. (I suppose they could have been honking in disapproval but I choose not to believe that.)

[3/3] till the morning my feet are just too tired for that.

[2/3] Today wasn`t super difficult just tiring. I seem to go very slowly uphill and even slower downhill. Right now i am in my tent hoping i won`t have to pee

[1/3] I made it back onto the trail in mass yesterday. Stayed at Mt. Wilcox south shelter last night. Tonight i am 6 miles farther north at the Shaker Campsite.

When Mosquitoes Attack

“Mosquitoes remind us that we are not as high up on the food chain as we think”

-Tom Wilson

I Left early on Monday morning instead of Sunday. My mom drove me to a spot near Sheffield MA and dropped me off at the trail on the side of Holmes rd. She pulled into a muddy spot that functioned as a parking area and I jumped out of the car moving quickly, eager to be on my way. She opened her door and immediately said, “Holy shit.” And I asked, “oh you mean the mud?” and she replied, “No, the mosquitoes.”

It was then that I realized they were everywhere. Huge swarms thick and voracious in the humid midmorning air. I got my pack on quickly, said goodbye, and started off at a brisk pace up into the Berkshire Mountains. The first part of the hike was all up. I had myself convinced that if I could just get up high enough the tree cover would thin out and a breeze would take care of the bugs. So I pushed hard. It was during this sprint to the top that my heels began slipping and rubbing against my shoes. I should have stopped immediately and retightened them (I am still breaking them in so this wasn’t completely unexpected) but I didn’t. I was so maddened by the little stings and the inhalations of 3-4 bugs at a time which always sent me into a coughing and spitting fit, that I just kept going trying to outrun them.

I reached a point where I knew mosquitoes or no I needed to take care of my feet. So I stopped and endured the constant attack while I used moleskin to pad my heels and tightened my boots. Then I kept going, looking for some exposed patch of sun and breeze. I found it on a big rock that was marked on the map by a little camera symbol. I took off my pack and went out on the rock with my Gatorade. It was quite lovely, not only to get away from the bugs but to look down on the river and houses and woods below. It made it worth the trouble. I rejoined my annoying traveling companions and dashed to the next scenic view point just half a mile away. It was even lovelier than the first with a 180 view and 5-6 birds of prey circling in the area. I figured they either spotted a dead animal or could smell me.

I walked on to the shelter thinking at one point I must have passed it, but I hadn’t and arrived and went through the process of collecting and treating water. Another hiker arrived. Gary is a retired cop in his 50’s. He is 150 miles short of completing his second AT section hike. We made dinner and chatted then I set up my tent and went to bed. In removing my shoes and socks I also removed the skin on my heels. They were raw. I slept poorly and got up around 8. Gary had left. I dressed and made breakfast my heels protesting the whole time. I packed up and left.

The first part the trek away from the Tom Leonard shelter was a lot of tricky and slippery ups and downs. I was fine on the downs but every time I had to climb up it would force my raw heel against my boot and put me in agony. It got to the point where I had to psyche myself up for each uphill section. Also, the mosquitoes had returned with the morning and were still trying to suck me dry. I knew the trail to my next stop was all uphill for about 2 miles and I decided I couldn’t do it. I’ve had enough problems with my feet and I wasn’t going to let the blisters get any worse. I needed to rest them. So I called my Mom for an emergency extraction. I ended up getting picked up about 5 miles from where she dropped me off.

I am letting my heels heal for a couple days back in NH. I have determined that my backpack is way too heavy weighing in at 46 Lbs I thought I was dying, and at that weight it makes my hip belt slip putting all the pressure on my shoulders and back. Not fun times. I am going use this time to get my pack down to 30lbs. I’ll pack less food, clothes, book and electronics. I would rather not have an Ipod to listen to if it means carrying a ton of extra shit that goes with it like a solar charger and cords etc.

I’m also going to make a new sternum strap because the one I have keeps slipping and breaking off.

I have near 1000 bites on my body. This is not an exaggeration and might even be an understatement. All total I lost at least 1 oz of blood and I look like I have measles.

There is supposed to be a frost on Friday that will kill all the mosquitoes that hatched after Irene making the Berkshires a little more inviting.

I am probably going to hike Mt. Monadnock sometime this weekend just to make sure my heels are healed enough to keep going and to test out a lighter pack. I should be returning to the trail in Mass for a stretch early next week. Just in case I will be bathing in deet before I leave and wearing mosquito netting over my hat.

So while I didn’t hike the distance I hoped for I did learn a lot. I’m still game for the trek and I will keep going.

Departure is imminent

I figured that since I wrote the majority of that last post on the 10th I should update my update.

My departure date is this Sunday September 25th. I wanted to leave tomorrow but southern Mass will be experiencing severe thunder storms and record rainfall. While I understand that walking in the rain will be a frequent occurrence on the trail I don't really want to begin hiking on a day when the weather channel web site sounds scared of the amount of rain that is going to fall. I have also been waiting for some fabric and shock cord that I need to finish my equipment and it won't get here till tomorrow.

It'll take me about 12 days to hike the state from south to north. Afterward I'll finish putting my mail drops together at Flying Goat Farm, and then head back down to the Mass/Connecticut border and start hiking south.

I'm getting pretty antsy. I spent the day getting high on mineral spirit fumes while I sealed the seams of my tent and rain gear. As it turns out if you mix Sillnet silicone sealant with odorless mineral spirits you can thin it out a bit giving it better penetration and making it easier to apply. Plus you get way more messed up. It also seems to dry faster.

Dehydrating cooked lentils right now, very exciting.

I am trying to make all my foods as instant as possible so that if I can't use my stove I can just soak everything for a bit and it will still be edible.

Three days and counting.

Preparing

In New Hampshire.

Well I made it through and made it out. My thesis done and all paperwork complete.

All my boots are off and I am functional if not fully physically prepared.

Arrived in NH on the 4^th at about 5 am after driving the whole way. Had a couple rock outs to the Mama Mia soundtrack complete with upper body car dancing vigorous enough to keep me away long after I was too tired.

Another thing that kept me alert in the wee morning hours was hitting a skunk just before I crossed the NH border. I rounded a curve at a moderate speed but alas not slow enough to avoid the skunk. Our eyes locked for a second before he disappeared under the hood of my car. He knew he was going to die. The memory and the smell of him lingers.

I have spent the last few days preparing for my trip. Mostly by sewing until my brain feels as though it will explode. I have made :

1 hiking Skirt

2 shorts

a pair of gators

Modified one of my brother’s dress shirts into a hiking shirt

Added extra ventilation to an rei shirt

Hemmed polarfleece pants

Made hip belt padding extenders

90% of a rain skirt

90% of a rain cover/poncho

90% of a Bear Bag

Left to do:

Hem snow pants

Speaking of Bears I have been listening to the most recent episodes of Smodcast while sewing and the last two have included an unusually high number of references to animal attacks. Now Kevin Smith is terrified of sharks which is understandable and he often works it in to a smodcast somewhere. But these podcasts talked more about bear attacks. Brutal and awful ones where people where not only killed but eaten.

Now I have heard my fair share of bear attack stories and know the chances of being attacked by one is remote while I’m on the AT especially since black bears are pretty shy and want to avoid me even more than I want to avoid them. However in the words of Bill Bryson, “ it’s not as though they have signed a treaty” the threat still exists. I am taking comfort in the fact that the attacks they were talking about were perpetrated by brown and polar bears and took place in Russia and Norway.

One of the attacks was on a 20 year old girl who called her mother during the attack and described how she was being eaten. I will not be calling my mother during a bear attack. If I am having a break from being attacked I will call the forest service and/or the police. If I am being attacked I will be using my hands not to hold my phone but to fight with the bear… grabbing rocks ,sticks anything that can be used as a weapon.

I am not criticizing this girl for calling her mom just pointing out that it seemed like a serious misfire of the fight or flight instinct. So rest assured I will not be calling any of you during a bear attack. At the end of the podcast Kevin Smith said, “So don’t go into the woods.” I think he may have been talking to me…I’m not listening.

I am going to have to adjust my route yet again cutting out Vermont completely this year. With my increasingly late start and the flooding from Irene it seems best to avoid that area for now. I’ll still be attempting Massachusetts to Georgia though. And 1,500 miles is still a good long walk. How far I get will be determined by the weather and my ability to function in it.

I have figured out the majority of my P.O. Drops. They are as follows:

(none in Mass as I will hopefully be close enough to get someone in my family to come out for a drop off and day hike)

New York: Wingdale (zip 12594) I will be picking up 8 days worth of supplies.

Greenwood Lake (zip 10925) I will be picking up 7 days worth of supplies.

Pennsylvania: Delaware Water Gap (zip 18327) 10 day supplies

Duncannon (17020) 10 days

West Virginia: Harpers Ferry (25425) 11 days

Virginia: Waynesboro (22980) 8 days

Big Island (24526) 5 days

Catawaba (24070) 6 days (this stop may or may not have a good source for my starches you want to send something when it is most necessary this would be one of the times to do it.)

Pearisburg (24134) 8 days

Atkins (24311) 6 days (another potentially limited supply stop)

Damascus (24236) 11day

North Carolina: Hot springs (28743) 6 days

Fontana Dam (28733) 6 days (limited supplies)

Georgia: Hiawassee (30546) 6 days.

Mail can addressed as follows: Jessie Blackmer

General Delivery

City, State Zip

Please hold for Thru-Hiker

(estimated date of arrival)

I may opt to have my mail drops sent to an outfitter or hostel if I plan on arriving on a day when the post office isn’t open. If so, I will post it here on the blog and on twitter well in advance.

My diet will be consisting mostly of foods with more than 100 calories per oz. I will be eating approximately 9oz a day of carb heavy foods like instant potatoes, oatmeal, and rice. So feel free to send me a box of Minute rice if you feel the urge. I will also be eating a variety of nuts, dried fruits and veggies, beans, and tvp. I’ll also be using Nido milk powder and dehydrated cheese, eggs, and sour cream.

If you want to send me a little care package here are some suggestions/guidelines.

Seeds: Roasted and salted are best. I love pumpkin and sunflower seeds.

Candy: Pretty much any candy without gelatin, which is pretty much any candy. I will be including an oz of m&m’s in my diet each day, so maybe not m&m’s. I hear snickers really satisfies and heath bars are a personal favorite.

Cookies: Please make me yummy cookies. I needs them. They are my precocious. If you send baked goods please either vacuum pack them or double bag them with a piece of bread to keep them awesome. I will also accept any other baked goods nom nom. I will be missing them sooo much. I’m not a real raisin fan but I will eat them.

Letters: Yes please.

Nuts: Love the nuts. Just please no Brazil nuts (they seem to go bad quicker than other nuts) and no pine nuts (I am allergic to a fungus that grows on them).

Dried fruits: I will have a ton of bananas, mangos and craisins so anything but those would be greatly appreciated.

Soy Jerkey: Yesssssssss. I’ll be your best friend or your jerkiest…..

Dried beans: Unless they are instant, like in an instant soup mix, It takes too long to cook them.

If you are finding all my P.O. Bullshit kind of confusing and just want to send me a letter or something non perishable you can also send it to Cara Sammons at Flying goat Farm. She and Devin and maybe Ari will be sending out my essential food boxes and could include something additional in them.

Their Address is at the top of their web page :

http://web.me.com/mcsammons/Flying_Goat_Farm/Welcome.html