Overnight Lows

Wednesday's Words

noreply@blogger.com (mel) — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 11:00:00 +0000

Monet Refuses The Operation
by Lisel Mueller

Doctor, you say there are no haloes
around the streetlights in Paris and
what I see is an aberration
caused by old age, an affliction.
I tell you it has taken me all my life to
arrive at the vision of gas lamps as angels,
to soften and blur and finally banish
the edges you regret I don't see,
to learn that the line I called the horizon does
not exist and sky and water,
long apart, are the same state of being.
Fifty-four years before I could see
Rouen cathedral is built
of parallel shafts of sun,
and now you want to restore
my youthful errors: fixed
notions of top and bottom, the
illusion of three-dimensional space,
wisteria separate
from the bridge it covers.
What can I say to convince you
the Houses of Parliament dissolves
night after night to become
the fluid dream of the Thames?
I will not return to a universe
of objects that don't know each other,
as if islands were not the lost children
of one great continent. The world is
flux, and light becomes what it touches,
becomes water, lilies on water, above
and below water,
becomes lilac and mauve and yellow
and white and cerulean lamps,
small fists passing sunlight
so quickly to one another
that it would take long, streaming hair
inside my brush to catch it.
To paint the speed of light!
Our weighted shapes, these verticals,
burn to mix with air
and change our bones, skin, clothes
to gases. Doctor,
if only you could see
how heaven pulls earth into its arms and
how infinitely the heart expands
to claim this world, blue vapor without end.

Image Source

Poem via Dragonfly's Poetry and Prolixity
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Bandit

noreply@blogger.com (Drew) — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 17:08:00 +0000

I Declare Today National "Whack A Bike Thief With A Blunt Object" Day

noreply@blogger.com (Drew) — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 15:53:00 +0000

Too bad Yehuda wasn't around to witness the Great Singlespeed Heist of '09.

Shame

noreply@blogger.com (mel) — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 15:53:00 +0000

'Shame' by the inimitable PJ Harvey:

Willie

noreply@blogger.com (mel) — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 20:28:00 +0000

Oh, Willie -- how I love you.

Hot (Mountainboarding) Action

noreply@blogger.com (mel) — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 20:26:00 +0000

Rippin' it.

HOT ACTION Teaser from one 5 media on Vimeo.

Flow in the Wasteland

noreply@blogger.com (mel) — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 20:24:00 +0000

Awesome.

Wednesday's Words

noreply@blogger.com (mel) — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 11:40:00 +0000

To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.
-Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.”
-Oscar Wilde

"Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind."

"Today you are You, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is Youer than You."

"Sometimes the questions are complicated and the answers are simple."

"Think left and think right and think low and think high. Oh, the things you can think up if only you try!"

"You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself, any direction you choose."

"Today is your day! Your mountain is waiting. So... get on your way."
-Dr. Seuss

Image Source

Is Facebook a CIA Data Warehousing Tool?

noreply@blogger.com (K2) — Sun, 24 May 2009 12:06:00 +0000

Judge for yourself...

Avon, CO Chief Wants Forced Blood Tests For DUI‎

noreply@blogger.com (K2) — Sun, 24 May 2009 11:57:00 +0000

Via the Denver Post

By Kevin Vaughan
The Denver Post

One Colorado police chief is preparing to launch a controversial practice in the fight against drunken driving by seeking search warrants that would give his officers the power to have blood drawn from uncooperative suspects.

To Chief Bruce Kozak of the Avon Police Department, the blood in a suspected drunken driver's veins is no different than a gun next to a murder victim — evidence that must be collected by investigators.

"This is actually a search warrant to search a person for evidence of a crime," Kozak said of the plan he intends to implement this summer. "We believe the blood, of course, of a suspected drunken driver is very important evidence."

Kozak's plan is part of the "100 days of heat" crackdown on drunken driving by law enforcement agencies across Colorado. Kicking off this Memorial Day weekend, the unprecedented summer-long effort will involve 150 sobriety checkpoints and increased enforcement around holidays.

Continued

Maddow on Obama's "Indefinite Detention" & Unconstitutional Power Grab

noreply@blogger.com (K2) — Sun, 24 May 2009 11:00:00 +0000

The New Boy Scouts of America

noreply@blogger.com (K2) — Sat, 16 May 2009 12:18:00 +0000

Via the New York Times

It is all quite a step up from the square knot.
The Explorers program, a coeducational affiliate of the Boy Scouts of America that began 60 years ago, is training thousands of young people in skills used to confront terrorism, illegal immigration and escalating border violence — an intense ratcheting up of one of the group’s longtime missions to prepare youths for more traditional jobs as police officers and firefighters.
“This is about being a true-blooded American guy and girl,” said A. J. Lowenthal, a sheriff’s deputy here in Imperial County, whose life clock, he says, is set around the Explorers events he helps run. “It fits right in with the honor and bravery of the Boy Scouts.”
The training, which leaders say is not intended to be applied outside the simulated Explorer setting, can involve chasing down illegal border crossers as well as more dangerous situations that include facing down terrorists and taking out “active shooters,” like those who bring gunfire and death to college campuses. In a simulation here of a raid on a marijuana field, several Explorers were instructed on how to quiet an obstreperous lookout.

All photos by Todd Krainin for The New York Times

Wednesday's Words

noreply@blogger.com (mel) — Wed, 13 May 2009 11:45:00 +0000

Listener up there! Here, you! What have you to confide to me?
Look in my face, while I snuff the sidle of evening;
Talk honestly—no one else hears you, and I stay only a minute longer.

Do I contradict myself?
Very well, then, I contradict myself;
(I am large—I contain multitudes.)

I concentrate toward them that are nigh—I wait on the door-slab.

Who has done his day’s work? Who will soonest be through with his supper?
Who wishes to walk with me?

Will you speak before I am gone? Will you prove already too late?

The spotted hawk swoops by and accuses me—he complains of my gab and my loitering.

I too am not a bit tamed—I too am untranslatable;
I sound my barbaric yawp over the roofs of the world.

The last scud of day holds back for me;
It flings my likeness after the rest, and true as any, on the shadow’d wilds;
It coaxes me to the vapor and the dusk.

I depart as air—I shake my white locks at the runaway sun;
I effuse my flesh in eddies, and drift it in lacy jags.

I bequeathe myself to the dirt, to grow from the grass I love;
If you want me again, look for me under your boot-soles.

You will hardly know who I am, or what I mean;
But I shall be good health to you nevertheless,
And filter and fibre your blood.

Failing to fetch me at first, keep encouraged;
Missing me one place, search another;
I stop somewhere, waiting for you.

-Walt Whitman

Image: mikebaird

Happy Birthday, Stevie Wonder

noreply@blogger.com (mel) — Wed, 13 May 2009 11:40:00 +0000

A wonder indeed:

Hawkeye Perspective of Flying Through the Woods

noreply@blogger.com (K2) — Sun, 03 May 2009 01:15:00 +0000

So cool...

Louisiana Purchase - Early Constitutional Dilemma - May, 2 1803

noreply@blogger.com (K2) — Sat, 02 May 2009 23:11:00 +0000

We've been dealing with Constitutional dilemmas since the beginning...

France' offer to sell the vast Louisiana Territory to the United States in 1803 sparked a constitutional dilemma. President Thomas Jefferson wanted to purchase the territory, which would double the size of the United States. But Jefferson also favored a narrow interpretation of the Constitution—and nowhere did it provide for acquiring additional territory. Because of the need to act quickly on the deal, there was no time to amend the Constitution. Instead, the Jeffersonian Democratic-Republicans in Congress passed legislation that gave the President permission to sign a treaty to receive the territory, and Congress appropriated the money to pay for it. Congress acted under the provision of the Constitution (Article 5, Section 3) that gave Congress the power to regulate the territories, arguing that that power included the right to purchase new territories. Congress and the President therefore stretched the Constitution to fit new circumstances and solve their dilemma.

Sources

* Marshall Smelser, The Democratic Republic, 1801–1815 (New York: Harper & Row, 1968)

G.W. Obama

noreply@blogger.com (K2) — Sat, 02 May 2009 13:16:00 +0000

Okay, so I'll come right out and say it...

I voted for Obama - and I'm deeply disappointed, concerned and fairly pissed.

Not only has he robbed us blind and given bankers more money than we can print - he's continuing Bush's policies - even expanding them.

The govt is still listening, cataloging, and archiving your phone calls - your internet traffic - your credit card transactions - everything.

The govt is still waging an endless war against a nebulous enemy.

The govt is still denying your Constitutional rights 100 miles in from every US border.

Habeas Corpus?

Posse Comitatus?

Fuggetaboutit.

It's time to wake up! Obama is not the savior that everyone thinks he is...he's just a puppet and a politician. He's a pawn and a pitchman.

just.

like.

Bush.

If you don't believe me, check out the (legit, mostly mainstream, from all sides of political spectrum) links on the following points:

Patriot Act & Warrantless Wiretapping - Obama decried warrantless wiretapping in the campaign, and pledged to filibuster in Congress, only to vote to reinstate it. http://voices.washingtonpost.com/44/2008/06/20/obama_supports_fisa_legislatio.html

Iraq/Afghanistan- Obama said, if elected, he would immediately withdraw the troops. He has since changed his plan many times, and now is saying he will leave 50,000 troops in Iraq indefinitely, and has sent 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/02/06/iraq-withdrawal-obama-wei_n_164801.html 24

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=98987

http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5g8uvlFL1xJlpcGiBAlk5w_P3xhCg

Guantanamo – He said he would close the camp, yet writes an executive order that says he’s only thinking about it, and will continue the Renditions (transporting prisoners to other countries who then endure torture).

The press then read the Executive Order, and were shocked to find that it said Obama was thinking about closing Guantanamo in a year, but the worst of all, the Executive Order continued the practice of rendition which the LA Times called “secret abductions”. http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE51O3TB20090225

http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=6664947&page=1

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-rendition1-2009feb01,0,7876017.story

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/majornews/4513620/US-accused-of-threatening-Britain-over-terrorism-torture-evidence.html

NSPD 51 - Obama won’t rescind. This directive gives the President dictator status in event of any emergency, and the Congress becomes ceremonial.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Ur271j9650 - CSpan

http://z4.invisionfree.com/The_Great_Deception/index.php?showtopic=6146

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Security_and_Homeland_Security_Presidential_Directive

Lobbyists & Donors. The Cornerstone of his campaign was keeping donors and lobbyists out of his administration; he’s elected and does the exact opposite, has the most of any administration

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0109/18128.html

http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/2009/01/09/obama-appointments-a-lobbyist-as-deputy-defense-secretary/

http://moneyline.cq.com/flatfiles/editorialFiles/moneyLine/obamafds.html

http://hotair.com/archives/2009/02/03/the-list-of-lobbyists-in-the-obama-administration/

Bill Passage - Obama had pledged on campaign trail to wait 5 days before a bill could be voted on, so the congress and people would have time to read it. Later he said “the stimulus was too important and had to be passed before anyone could see or read it, or the crisis would turn into a catastrophe.

“Sunlight Before Signing: Too often bills are rushed through Congress and to the president before the public has the opportunity to review them. As president, Obama will not sign any non-emergency bill without giving the American public an opportunity to review and comment on the White House website for five days.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UidUpr63c0w

http://www.barackobama.com/issues/ethics/

and then there's this from today:

Obama may revive Guantanamo military courts - MSNBC / New York Times 5/2/09

The Obama administration is moving toward reviving the military commission system for prosecuting Guantánamo detainees, which was a target of critics during the Bush administration, including Mr. Obama himself.

Officials said the first public moves could come as soon as next week, perhaps in filings to military judges at the United States naval base at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, outlining an administration plan to amend the Bush administration’s system to provide more legal protections for terrorism suspects.

HELLO PEOPLE!!! WAKE UP!!!

You are being fooled.

Obama is a fraud - he's as bad as Bush - or worse.

I mean, WTF?! -

These things weren't okay under GWB - they're not okay under Obama.

I'm voting my conscience in every Presidential election from now on.

Happy Birthday, Willie!

noreply@blogger.com (mel) — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 02:16:00 +0000

We love you!

via stillisstillmoving:

Some reports show Willie’s birthday as being on the 30th of April, but daughter Lana tells this story. I say, start celebrating early and carry it through the weekend!

“Dad celebrated his birthday on the 29th of April until he was 18 years old and went into the Air Force. He had to finally get a birth certificate and it said he was born on the 30th. Not to argue with the government we celebrated his birthday on the 30th for about 40 years

One day while visiting with his cousin, who was there the night he was born, Mildred said no, he WAS in fact born a few minutes before midnight on the 29th and Dr. Simms didn’t record the birth until after midnight. As it turns out we get TWO days to shower Dad with love and tell him how much he means to us.”

TSA to Replace NYPD on Subway Bag Checks

noreply@blogger.com (K2) — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 11:56:00 +0000

I guess it's taxis and my own two feet for me...

via the Gothamist and MyFoxNY

The city's overall budget cuts are apparently hitting the NYPD right in the subway bag check area. MyFoxNY reports that with few police officers available, "Transportation Security Administration bag screeners from Kennedy, LaGuardia and Newark Liberty airports will be replacing most NYPD cops in the subway that screen bags for explosives." The TSA wouldn't confirm the plan (but did say taking TSA screeners from airports and putting them underground wouldn't effect air safety) and the NYPD says these are just talks. However, sources tell MyFoxNY it's likely to happen—and it'll work this way: "About 30 TSA screeners a day will be pulled from the three area airports Monday through Friday to inspect bags at various subway locations throughout the city. At each location they'll be teamed up with one police officer instead of the two or three officers you currently see at inspection sites." Naturally, the Patrolmen's Benevolent Association says this is a terrible idea and says budget crisis or no, the NYPD needs more cops.

Wednesday's Words

noreply@blogger.com (mel) — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 11:40:00 +0000

Texas When I Die
by Tanya Tucker

When I die I may not go to heaven
I don't know if they let cowboys in
If they don't just let me go to Texas, Boy!
Texas is as close as I've been.

New York couldn't hold my attention
Detroit City couldn't sing my song
If tomorrow finds me busted flat in Dallas
I won't care, 'cause at least I'll know I'm home.

When I die I may not go to heaven
I don't know if they let cowboys in
If they don't just let me go to Texas, Boy!
Texas is as close as I've been.

I'd ride through all of Hell and half of Texas
Just to hear Willie Nelson sing a country song
Beer just ain't as cold in old Milwaukee
My body's here, but my soul's in San Antone.

When I die I may not go to heaven
I don't know if they let cowboys in
If they don't just let me go to Texas, Boy!
Texas is as close as I've been.

When I die I may not go to heaven
I don't know if they let cowboys in
If they don't just let me go to Texas, Boy!
Texas is as close as I've been.

Bluebonnet - Brenham, TX by MVX on Flickr; CC

GOP Heartburn

noreply@blogger.com (Phadraig) — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 04:28:00 +0000

In one of the most shocking political moments in recent memory Arlen Specter, one of the most respected and few remaining moderate Republicans in the senate summarized my entire view regarding the current direction of the party I once considered myself a part of.....then he switched parties all together becoming officially a Democrat.

Watch the video below.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Wow

noreply@blogger.com (mel) — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 03:19:00 +0000

Yesterday's incredible sunset:

The pic doesn't do it justice at all, but I like it anyway. :)
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Swine Flu Revisited - 1976

noreply@blogger.com (K2) — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 10:13:00 +0000

Swine Flu vaccine commercials - 1976

Ron Paul gives some reasonable perspective:

Free Will

noreply@blogger.com (mel) — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 04:09:00 +0000

Absolutely loved today's BOASAS:

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Surviving It

noreply@blogger.com (mel) — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 00:18:00 +0000

Image Source

I may not be adventurous enough to eat fried squirrel just yet... but a friend of mine sent me this really great article from MSN:

Live off the land -- in the city

Wild greens, mushrooms, fruit and even fish and game can be harvested in America's urban jungles. Dandelion salad, anyone? Or some batter-fried squirrel?

[Related content: savings, save money, groceries, food prices, Donna Freedman]

By Donna Freedman

MSN Money

Feeling squeezed at the supermarket? Maybe you should be looking for food in the parking lot, or in your neighbor's yard.

We're talking dandelions, feral mushrooms, gleaned fruit, local fish or even those wascally wabbits that overrun city greenbelts. Ingenuity plus a little sweat equity can put fresh, healthful food on the table and possibly provide other benefits as well: exercise, relaxation and a different way of looking at your neighborhood.

For example:

* Chauncey Niziol fishes for bass and bluegills in downtown Chicago.

* Steven Rinella traps squirrels and catches pigeons in Brooklyn, N.Y.

* Jeff Yeager harvests shoots from bamboo that grows in his suburban Washington, D.C., yard.

* Katy Kolker harvests tree fruit that otherwise would have rotted in Portland, Ore.

* "Radical ecologist" Nance Klehm plucks salads out of city sidewalks and leads urban foraging walks around her home city of Chicago. A few clients are survivalists, she says, or foodies who are looking for "unusual tastes." But most are simply "curious about the world around them." Foraging is "about a connection and an interaction with an environment," she says.

Chowing down on chickweed

According to her Spontaneous Vegetation Web site, Klehm grows or forages nearly everything she eats. The wild greens she harvests are what most people would think of as weeds: wood sorrel, mallow, chickweed, wild mustard, and the like. Some can be eaten only at certain times of the year; dandelions, for example, are best when very young.

Klehm recommends using wild plants in moderation at first, because their flavors can be strong. Besides, "if you don't have a very flexible or curious palate, you might not find them tasty" in large quantities.

What's most important, however, is knowing what you're eating. The difference between the right plant and a look-alike is the difference between a nice salad and a trip to an emergency room. Where you find your food is important, too, because you could be sickened by food from polluted soils or waterways.

Klehm recommends buying a reputable field guide to local flora. It's also smart to seek out community-college classes or local plant walks; if neither exists, get a group of like-minded folks together and pay a local botanist to educate you on what and where to pick. Keep that field guide handy whenever you go out on your own, though.

Mushrooms, bamboo and ferns, oh my

Books by the late naturalist Euell Gibbons introduced Yeager, aka "The Ultimate Cheapskate," to wild edibles. Yeager, who grew up in Ohio and now lives about 20 miles south of Washington, doesn't harvest as many wild things as he once did. But he still keeps his eyes peeled when walking or bicycling.

For example, why pay for chicory when you can find it growing volunteer? "The wild stuff is much more potent," says Yeager, whose mom and dad were pleased when he brought home this coffee enhancer. They were also fond of the wild onions that he dug up and pickled: "My parents liked those in their martinis." (Yeager preferred the onions in a cream soup.)

Sometimes a "wild" plant is a cultivated variety that jumped a fence or was spread by birds or carelessly dumped garbage. Yeager has found asparagus, zucchini, black raspberries and even watermelons growing in fields and along roads. His own yard is "packed with bamboo" -- an increasingly common landscape plant -- so he cooks the young shoots in the spring.

While Chicago native Niziol focuses mostly on fishing and hunting in his weekly ESPN radio program, he's not strictly carnivorous. Niziol swears by a good plate of fiddlehead ferns, fresh wild carrots(aka Queen Anne's lace) or a mug of sassafras tea ("it tastes like root beer").

And mushrooms? Don't get him started. "I use them every which way I can. I put them in stews, I dry them, I make a killer mushroom soup," says Niziol, a former outdoors columnist for the Chicago Tribune.

Mushrooms must be picked with care, he notes, because some fungi are poisonous. A good field guide is essential. What's even better is to find a local mycological society and start taking walks with experts.

Catfish are jumpin'

Some people assume fish from urban waterways are poisonous. At times this reputation is justified; check your state's department of fish and wildlife for advisories. But many metro areas have healthy fish and healthier fisheries: Anchorage, Alaska; Grand Rapids, Mich.; Miami; Detroit; and Phoenix, for example.

Phoenix? Seriously?

Seriously. The Phoenix area has 16 lakes stocked with trout, catfish, bass, sunfish and carp, and you can keep up to 17 fish a day. Demand for fishing licenses is up 18% this year, according to the Arizona Game and Fish Department.

Crab and shrimp cost a bundle at the market but can be had for free in some regions. Nancy Leson, who writes the All You Can Eat blog for The Seattle Times, recently pulled up a dozen Dungeness and rock crabs from the waters near her home in Edmonds, Wash., population 40,000.

"Hugely expensive had we bought it at the store," says Leson, who notes that some of the best shrimp hauls she's seen were pulled up in homemade traps made out of hardware cloth.

Outdoors expert Niziol concurs that you don't need to spend a bundle on gear. Rods and reels can be found for pennies on the dollar at yard or estate sales. Some Illinois libraries lend fishing gear to kids for free. That plus Illinois' $13.75 annual fishing license equals "lots of cheap protein," Niziol says.

"There's this thing called catch and release," he says. "But I also believe in hookin' and cookin'."

Pigeons in the 'hood

In recent years cities such as New York, Cincinnati and Washington have had special archery hunts to thin out deer herds. Some areas of Arizona are experiencing nuisance populations of rabbits.

"We have got bunnies galore," says Arizona Fish and Game spokesman Rory Aikens. Rabbits can be taken in the city limits with a bow and arrow or slingshot. So can "very edible reptiles," including the chuckwalla, a large lizard that Aikens describes as delicious when barbecued: "high protein, zero fat." Pigeons are also fair game, he notes; as a domestic species gone wild, they are not classified as wildlife, and no hunting license is needed.

Steven Rinella, the author of "The Scavenger's Guide to Haute Cuisine" and "American Buffalo: In Search of a Lost Icon," catches pigeons in his Brooklyn neighborhood. (Because they carry mites, he recommends they be cleaned and plucked outdoors.) Rinella also traps squirrels, which isn't strictly legal because in New York you're supposed to hunt them. He doubts anyone will press charges, given the huge population of the rodents.

"I like to catch some squirrels and pigeons and do them up in nice ways," says Rinella, who's hunted since his Michigan boyhood. The best pigeons are the flightless young ones, also known as squabs, which taste "just amazing."

Aikens, who grew up in Los Angeles, says that in his boyhood he and pals would swipe young pigeons from nests under bridges. Then they'd sell them to "two very famous restaurants where the movie stars went."

Many cities host decent populations of other animals once commonly eaten, such as opossums, raccoons, muskrats and armadillos. Though these may seem a little gamey to some, there are plenty of Americans who'd gladly throw a possum on the barbie or roast up a "Hoover hog" (a Depression-era nickname for the armadillo). Detroit retiree Glemie Dean Beasley finds plenty of takers for the raccoon meat he sells to supplement his Social Security checks.

Check your state's department of fish and wildlife to see which species can be hunted, and how it can be done legally, in your area. (Here's a place to poke around for squirrel, squab and opossum recipes.)

Lastly, many states offer families, churches and charities the chance to salvage game animals (such as deer, moose and elk) that have been struck by cars. A moose can yield hundreds of pounds of meat. Of course, you can't be squeamish, but it's fresh, and it's organic. Make sure you check locally on the rules, because salvage is illegal in some places.

Free fruit for the picking

If sautéed fiddleheads or batter-fried squirrels are a little too adventurous for your palate, how about a freshly picked apple? An organic fig? A juicy pear or a handful of black cherries?

"Urban gleaning" programs such as the Portland Fruit Tree Project help put fruit that would otherwise go to waste into the hands of hungry people. Co-founder Kolker says that in 2008 the group harvested more than 4,500 pounds of fruit with the blessing of homeowners who couldn't use all their backyard bounty. Half the fruit goes to Portland food banks and the rest to those who do the picking; at least 50% of those pickers are low-income residents.

"There are so many people who can't afford to buy fresh fruit," Kolker says.

No urban gleaning in your area? Craft your own. Last summer I posted a Freecycle ad offering homemade jam in exchange for the fruit with which to make it. I proposed the same deal to a neighbor, whose response was, "I'm glad someone wants it." Thus, a little chutzpah landed me with the makings for several dozen pints of jam plus enough apples, pears and plums to preserve in jars.

This year, I'm hoping the ad will net me somebody's surplus raspberries. Don't neglect sources of wild berries either. In Seattle, that's mainly blackberries -- they grow just about everywhere. In Anchorage, I picked blueberries and cranberries. No wild nuts grew there, but they're abundant in some cities. Ask around.

Want to live off the land? Here are a few more tips from the folks I interviewed:

* Obey local fish and game laws.

* Don't pick without permission. Check local regulations about harvesting on city, state or federal land.

* Don't take more than you can actually use.

* Don't try to memorize the entire field guide overnight. "Get to know one or two (plants) well," Klehm advises. "Then you can add to that (knowledge)."

* Search online for local sources such as Urban Edibles, a "community database of wild edibles" in Portland, Ore.

ARTICLE CONTINUES

Published April 15, 2009