Let me tell you how thoughtful my little girl Eloise is. She knows daddy has been making all sorts of videos lately about preparing and eating acorns. She was looking over my shoulder the other day as I was editing a video about making acorn flour, and she asked me, “What is your favorite video that you have done?”
I thought about it for a second and said, “Probably this one.” (The newest video of whatever I’m working on is always my favorite.)
She said, “It’s my favorite, too.”
A day or so later she was taken to the park by her mother. Today, she handed me this small, modest bag of acorns that she had collected for me while she was there.
Her time at the park was her time - time to lose herself in the things she likes to do and be self-absorbed. And yet, she thought of me and took the time to collect these acorns for me.
The effort for her to collect this modest amount of acorns for her at eight years old is a much greater investment than it would be for me, or you, as adults. Three weeks ago I collected about 8 times this amount, and I remember that being a big expenditure of time and energy for me.
I’m really grateful to her for this kind act of genuine love. I hope it’s a memory I never lose.
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There has recently been an influx of new visitors to The Practical Woodsman YouTube channel, something I’m really grateful for! Welcome!
With any large new swarm of visitors also come the critical, disgruntled, haughty ridiculers.
This is a special message for them that I’m posting around as fair warning.
I agree that it can be real nice to have along friends for these sorts of things.
And believe me, I always try to invite a few to join me.
But let me tell you what has been my experience as l've gotten older (I'm in my early 50s): It gets harder, and harder, and harder to find people to join me.
When I was 30, I could find people to join me with the snap of my fingers.
Now, finding somebody to join me who will actually follow through is almost impossible. Everybody's set in their ways, they've got other things going on in their lives, nobody wants to give up their bathrooms and air conditioning or central heating. Other folks my age fear sleeping on the ground and getting dirty.
They don't know what they're missing out on. They don't understand that these experiences alone with God in the backcountry rejuvenate one's soul - hard ground or not.
I'll have to do a video where I talk about the realities of aging and how difficult it becomes to get other people to join you, just to see how many others ...
How's about some help preparin' for an upcoming weeklong river kayak adventure. What would you be more interested in seeing?
It'll be peak fall/autumn. Brilliant scenery. Frigid nights, warm or even hot days. Long days on water, evenings and nights finding places to create camps, and various activities there in evenings and mornings.
1: Complex, lots of interesting gear, tarp shelter, elaborate cooking, all-out comfort approach
2. Simplicity, bare bones, traveling as light as possible, making do with little.
