Planning My Indoor Herb Garden

One of my orchids. I know it isn't an
herb, but I don't have pics of those.

I love to grow things. Flowers (orchids and African violets are my favorites), house plants (philodendrons have taken over part of my living room), herbs (I once grew a basil plant into a small tree) - if it is green, I'll try to grow it. If I had access to an outdoor garden, I'd grow my own fruits and vegetables too.

Every year, I grow as many herbs as possible in my small condo. I have large northeast-facing windows and great light, so plants do quite well. I always plant a few staples, but try to mix it up a bit and try something new every year. The newbies are still up for debate. I haven't 100% decided yet.

The Staples

Rosemary
Sage
Thyme
Parsley
Basil

These are my favorite herbs and I use them a lot. I'm going to experiment with new uses aside from cooking for the staples this year. I'd really like to get more self-sufficient when it comes to remedies, teas, and such. Well, except for the basil. I usually consume all of that making pesto!

The Newbies

Lemon Balm
Spearmint
Arugula (Rocket)
Bay laurel

I usually plant some form of mint every year, but this year I'm planting two. I want to use the lemon balm for tea. I'll cook quite a bit with spearmint. It blends well with basil. I eat arugula almost every day in some form, so I might as well grow my own. The bay laurel is one I've wanted for a very long time.

I might have room for a few more since I have an additional plant stand this year. Any suggestions?

Will Whoever is Praying for Snow Please Stop Now?

I have cabin fever grumpies. It has been bitterly cold in Virginia the last couple of weeks and my ability to get outdoors for any length of time has been severely hampered. Okay, I've been out twice today to shovel sidewalks and shovel out my car, but I really don't think that counts. It wasn't fun. It was an awful lot like work.

How Mother Nature says "Stay Home!" (The snow
got heavier and we have about 8"-9".)

Yes, I have winter coats and long underwear. They are perfectly good for a normal mid-Atlantic winter. You remember those? The ones where are low temperature didn't really drop below 25F/-3C or so?  I think if I am going to keep up the hiking, I need to kit out Montana style for the winters. I'd like to be able to get out even if the conditions are a bit frigid, but WHY ARE THEY FRIGID IN VIRGINIA?

But alas, that is not to be right now. I'm going nowhere. I even had a nice, indoor activity planned for today and Mother Nature said no to that too. Our department of transportation and the neighborhood plow guy just weren't moving quick enough to keep up with the storm. The roads are a no-go since I don't have all-wheel drive. So much for shooting today. Harumph.

I can't do much about the car since it isn't paid off yet and it's primary job is to get me to the train so I can go to work. AWD isn't normally necessary.  I can start accumulating warmer clothes though, so that is a task to complete between now and next winter.

And yes, 12 hours later, it is still snowing. It is supposed to turn to sleet at some point, but that is just worse. I wanna go out and play!

Short Girl Buschraft Tool Review - The *gasp*Bear Grylls*gasp* Multi-Tool

The flashlight, multi-tool, sheath, and fire steel. The paracord
is my addition to hook/carry the smaller tools since the
sheath is so awful.

I know as soon as you mention Bear Grylls, many bushcrafters, survivalists, and preppers scoff. Mention his line of Gerber tools and noses start to curl. I received one of the Bear Grylls Gerber multi-tool sets for Christmas. It has the flashlight, a multi-tool, and fire steel. (Yes, I see the noses turning. Chill.)

I actually quite like the multi-tool, but lets knock the little stuff out first. The flashlight is a flashlight. It's small and fits in my purse if I want it to. It's bright and it works. The fire steel also works just like it should. It makes nice, big sparks. Perfectly good. Okay, on to the big stuff.

Next to my thumb is the piece
that warps and makes it
difficult to get the tool free.

What Stinks 

The sheath. My previous comments on rigid. plastic cases still stand. They are uncomfortable on curvy women. This case is particularly bad though. The way the rubber strap attaches to the sheath warps the plastic sheath so that the tool is virtually impossible to get out. I had to pry the tool out one time after I left it in for a few days and cut my finger on the plastic. I can barely get the tool out with two hands when it isn't on my belt, let alone one-handed when it is on my belt. I can't quite get into words how much I hate this plastic sheath. It sucks. I'm looking for a new canvas one to use. Until then, the tool goes in my bag. It's a bit on the big side to be comfy in my pocket.

What is Great

The tool. Gerber makes great multi-tools, whether they have the Bear Grylls name on the side or not. I really don't care whose name is on it. I like it because it works for me. My hand is smaller than a Samsung Galaxy S5 phone. Tip of my fingers to the heel of my hand: 5.75 inches / 14.6 cm. Tiny. Most multi-tools are a little hard to hold onto. Gerber added a rubberized coating to this multi-tool to add a non-slip grip to the tool. That and they had to splash the Bear Grylls orange/gray all over the thing. It is easy to spot when you drop it.

That non-slip grip means that even if the tool is a bit too large for my hand, I can hold onto it. It makes the tool usable for people with small hands and like other Gerber multi-tools, it is very useful. I've used it around the house when I haven't wanted to get my tool box out. (Yes, I have a tool box. No, it isn't pink. Yes, it includes power tools and I know how to use them properly!) I've used it outdoors and it has done everything I asked of it thus far. I've not tried to cut down a tree or split firewood. That's not what it is for. Among other small tasks, I've snipped plants, fixed a bathroom cupboard door, and cut paracord. Like I said before, Gerber makes good multi-tools.

The Summary

If you can get past the Bear Grylls name on the side, this is a great multi-tool, especially if you an benefit from the non-slip grip. It is the only full-sized multi-tool I've handled that I don't struggle to hold onto. Toss the sheath into the trash though. It's beyond worthless. Really disappointed in Gerber for that one.  Overall, it passes the short girl usability test.

What Were They Thinking and Why Aren't They Moving?

I frequently wonder what goes through other people's minds in emergencies. "What the hell were they thinking?" is one of my favorite questions. I know what's in my own head. (Don't ask. You don't want to know.) I am pretty good to have around in an emergency though. I am calm, I make decisions, and I look out for other people.

Then I wonder why people aren't prepared for emergencies. I work in Washington, DC. (Thank goodness, I don't have to live there.) The odds of something happening are pretty good, even if it is just a fire drill in the building. It boggles my mind when people don't actually get off their butts and leave when the alarm goes off as it did on Monday. We get notified of drills, so outside of those, if the alarm goes off it is probably something.

The alarm went off, I walked out of our meeting, changed into my winter boots, grabbed my purse, phone, and get-home bag and was ready to head out in about 90 seconds. We were allowed back in about 15 minutes later, but the alarm went off again withing moments and by this time, I'd packed up my laptop and was ready to head home. (Left the get-home bag because it was a building-only event.)

During our evacuation, I watched several women in high heels trying to negotiate stairs and dirty alleys. They couldn't find their keys or their phones. I would have shaken my head in dismay if I hadn't been trying to herd the pregnant co-worker out the door. ("No, you don't need to stop at the restroom. There is smoke in the hall and the building might be on fire. You can pee at the McDonalds across the street." I know, I'm mean.)

For the record, nothing was on fire. The motor of a power tool used by a construction crew on another floor set off the alarm. My pregnant co-worker made it to McDonalds to use the restroom just fine. That really isn't the point though. In an emergency, you need to be ready to go and you need to GO. Have sensible walking shoes you can slip on. Keep all your crap together. That's what purses are for, after all. Most of all, don't stop at the damned bathroom if the building might be on fire.

Of course, the upside of the evacuation was that our office musters outside a bar around the corner from our building. (Yes, we were outside the bar...temporarily.)

Is There a Height Requirement for Bushcraft & Survival?

I want to know if endeavor like those roller coasters at Disney World that say "You cannot ride this ride unless you are taller than this line" because I don't reach all of those lines. God stopped when I was perfect. I don't know what took y'all so long.

When it comes to bushcraft/survival, I'm not in a big hurry to accumulate a lot of gear. I want to get the right stuff and spread out the expense a bit. It took visiting multiple stores and an all day shopping trip to find a pair of hiking boots in my size. I would love to find a backpack that isn't taller than I am.

I know a lot of outdoor gear manufacturers and retailers are targeting women now. REI has an entire campaign around women in the outdoors. Yet, they still seem to think that all women are 5'6"/167 cm and built like Kate Moss. (Just FYI, no normal woman is built like her.) Some of us are short (I stopped at 5'/152 cm). We have hips and boobs. Some of us have more than others. That means straps can't always fall in the same places as a guy and need to adjust differently to accommodate the girls.

The handle is perfect.
The sheath, not so much.

 I found a Morakniv Companion knife that I really like. (Thanks +Chris Swanda / @ChrisSwanda!).  It will work quite well for now, but I imagine I will have to do some serious shopping around when I need anything more heavy duty. I have a hard time finding knives with handles that I can grip properly. Probably shouldn't have a blade go flying out of my hand 'cause I can't hang onto it. Seems like a bad idea anyway.

(Yes, I did get a pink knife. I wanted purple, but they didn't have purple. Instead, I picked pink so that if I hated it, I could send the knife to one of the two guys who recommended it and it would be PINK. Also, if I lose it in the grass or woods, it will be easy to find. And as Tim MacWelch / @timmacwelch pointed out, guys won't steal it.)

Oh yeah, knife makers, women have curves. Belt attachments that don't have a little bit of slack in them make tools and knives stick out from our hips and poke us in the waist. Rigid, plastic sheaths for knives and multitools get hung up on stuff because they don't lay flat on curvy surfaces. I made a paracord lanyard for my knife and I'll wear it around my neck a la Mors Kochanski when it is annoying me on my belt.

I know there is a lot of gear for which size doesn't matter. (Really, I mean it this time.) It seems like for the critical things, where safety and comfort truly matter, it is. (Okay, maybe it does matter.) I won't care if my sleeping bag is a foot too long. I do care that my backpack doesn't end around my knees.

As I try different products, I'll keep the short girls updated!

Just in Case You Forgot DC was Built on a Swamp - Huntley Meadows

It was a rough weekend, so I decided it would be a good time to knock off one of the shorter hikes in my book, AMC's Best Day Hikes Near Washington, D.C. Even a short , three-mile hike turns around my mood. It is nice that Best Day Hikes has hikes a variety of lengths and difficulty levels. You can choose what you are up to handling given your ability and mood.

Frozen swamps

Huntley Meadows is a wetlands preserve in the heart of Hybla Valley in Alexandria. It's really smack in the middle of the suburbs, but the real beauty of it is that it doesn't feel like it. Once you walk back into the wetlands, you feel isolated, even if there are always a lot of other hikers and joggers. The dog and I walked about 3 miles of the trails.

It is hard to see in this photo, but there is much more vegetation
in the fenced area where deer can't consume it all.

It is a very nice forest, but Huntley Meadows, like so many other forests in this area, is suffering due to an explosion in the deer herds. Huntley Meadows is doing an interesting experiment . Deer have caused a significant amount of deforestation in Fairfax County parks. With no natural predators and no hunting in populous areas, there is nothing to keep their population in check and the deer are eating every thing in sight. The Parks Authority is fencing off selected areas of the park to see how long it would take to re-forest devastated areas. The difference between the fenced and unfenced areas is startling.

It is a not-so-subtle reminder that this area used to be a lot of swamp land. (Foreign diplomats used to get hazard pay for being stationed in DC.) I didn't stray far off the maintained trails because while I don't mind a little mud, I prefer not to be calf deep in it.

Wild onions. Yum!

This time, I did a lot of snooping for interesting plants. I am sure there will be a lot more come spring, but I found a few green ones I recognized and a few I am identifying. (No, I'm not posting the pics until I ID the plants. I'll do my own homework. Until I get stumped.)

One negative: A portion of the trail is boardwalk around the wetlands and the park doesn't allow dogs on that part of the trail. I was very annoyed about that. Sasha the Dog and I ended up doing a lot of doubling back. It upped the mileage, but not the exploration. I'm not much of a fan of trails I can't take my dog on with me. She's my hiking buddy. (Okay, she's not real useful and pees on every tree, but she is cute and she keeps me company.)

I am not sure if I will go back to walk the trails I didn't get to walk because I couldn't take Sasha, but I might when more plants green up this spring. I suppose it depends on my mood.

Just a neat stump

Where Am I Going? (And Could Someone Please Give Me a Map?)

One of my least favorite things to do at work is our annual performance goals. Every day I go to work, I do my best and I work hard. I strive to do my job to the best of my ability. Part of me argues that should be enough, but I can also see the value in setting goals. It gives you a target to shoot for, and on any journey, you need at least two of the following three things: a starting point, a direction, and a destination. With any two of the three, you can derive the third. (I find it disturbing when I can talk myself into doing things I hate because it is good for me. Tea and cookies would be so much more fun.)

One of my favorite sources of information for bushcraft, Paul Kirtley (@pkirt), posted about joining the route to mastery and one of his suggestions was setting positive constraints for yourself when it comes to bushcraft. Essentially, setting goals. (I think he's in cahoots with our HR department. It's a conspiracy to get me to write the damned things. Thank goodness he didn't start in on SMART goals...) He threw out the added challenge of putting your goals out in public so that if you blow it, everyone will know. He said it much nicer than that, but he end result is the same.

I started off learning more about prepping/bushcraft/survival with the two vague goals: getting back to nature and learning. I'm a huge fan of knowledge for knowledge's sake. In the case of skills like fire making or identifying edible plants, books and blogs aren't enough. That was apparent to me about five pages into one of my books, so I found a class on wild edibles. I'm kinda hooked now. More learning. I wants it. Practice. I needs it.

(I have the misfortune of living in a condo in a suburb of Washington, DC, with a homeowners' association that objects to me starting fires on my patio. I think they're worried I'll set the golf course ablaze. Practice is a challenge.)

The trick is there are so many paths on the journey. Knife skills, shelter making, plants, natural navigation, and on and on. I can't run blindly down all of them, so I should probably pick a trail to start with. I thought about it a while and I need all of the basics to support honing individual skills. It doesn't do me any good to know all the edible plants in the woods if I freeze to death because I can't start a fire.

So, goal number one: Learn the bushcraft basics. Learn how to start a fire, build a rudimentary shelter, find my way out of a paper bag, improve my knife skills.

After that, I really need something to focus on. With such a wide array of topics to choose from, I thought it would be good to start with something for which I already have an affinity.

Goal number two: Hone my edible plant knowledge. This one dovetails with one of my existing hobbies. I love plants. I raise herbs, orchids, and African violets and if I could, I'd have a snake-free jungle in my house. Learning more about the flora around me is fun and I'm always looking for new plants to cook with. (Homeowners won't let me have a garden on my patio either.)

I have a third big goal, but I'm not quite ready to put that one out there, partially because it is heavily dependent on my soon-to-be-a-college-graduate daughter not getting more expensive, and partially due to security reasons. A girl can't give away all her secrets.

Who to Follow for Fun on #FF and Why

Not too long ago, I wrote about some of the more amusing people I've encountered on Twitter since following survivalists and preppers and goat farmers, Oh My! I also find that there are quite a few not really worth following. I'm pretty particular about who I trust and who I turn to for information.

There's a hashtag trend on Fridays to get people more followers (#ff). It's a great idea, but I always wonder why I'm being told these people are worth my time. I hate having too much chaff in my Twitter feed while I figure out if the names after #ff really are worth #ff.

So instead of just a random list of names, these are a few people I've learned quite a bit from and believe are worth your time. You should #ff them. Wow, that sounded much dirtier than I thought it would. Just follow them on Twitter and keep the other stuff to yourself.

A few are survivalist pros, You'll learn something from everyone of them and you'll get a chuckle or two as well. (In some random order...)

Tim MacWelch uses the lure of Maple wine to entice students to attend his classes. (It works, by the way. I took Winter Wild Edible Plants. The wine? It was awesome!) (@timmacwelch) I've already signed up for two more wines - I mean classes - and his tweets include links to his blog posts for Outdoor Life Magazine.

John Hudson is often called "the professor" by fellow Dude You're Screwed star Terry Schappert. It fits.You'll absolutely learn something from every tweet and link he posts. He's a great source for interesting articles and the occasional music tip (the Stone Roses were a nice Christmas pressie). He also makes puns that would make even my father, the master of all things punny, proud. Truth be told, Mr. Hudson is to blame for at least three pun wars on Twitter between Becky Jo and me. This could be considered a strike against him if you follow our Twitter feeds. (@jhsurvival)

Terry Schappert doesn't describe himself as a survivalist, but as a U.S. Army Special Forces, Ranger, Templar and Dog Lover. He is one of the most thoughtful, wise warriors I've read in quite a while. He encourages discussion and is respectful of those who disagree with him respectfully. He always has links to articles you should read, even if you disagree. Besides, any man who will carry a puppy for four days through Romania deserves a follow or 50. (@terryschappert)


A couple are everyday people who have plenty worth saying...or are crazy goat farmers. (Please note, I only included in this section those who gave me permission.)

Chris Griffin is the guy I affectionately call the Crazy Goat Farmer. I'm pretty sure he's the one in the hat. He's really not crazy, but he is funny and full of sage advice on everything from animals to soap to knives. He runs a micro-farm in Virginia and has a website for his farm, Griffin's Ark. The farm also sells amazing goat milk soaps. (@griffinsark)

Becky Jo is one of my favorite pun sparring partners on Twitter. She's sharp, a Dude You're Screwed fan, punny, and full of interesting recipes and homesteading tips. Her current mission is to get the Discovery Channel to pick up the show for another season, thus the profile pic. (It was either this or a raging Xena, Warrior Princess, and I'm not sure that was quite appropriate.) Mostly, she's punny and we have a lot of fun going back and forth. She wins most of the time, but every once in a while, I slip in a good pun. (Is there such a thing?) (@BeckyJoSpray)

And saving the best for last...

You HAVE to follow Rosie! Rosie is the awesome puppy that Terry Schappert carried through Romania for Dude You're Screwed and she totally won the game (use #RosieWinsTheGame)! She lives in Colorado with the cameraman now, but she peeks in from time to time on Twitter to say hi. (@RosieDYSStar)