You bring the beef, I'll get the bullets.

The moon is rising over the tops of the redwoods as the fog rolls in for the night. A few remnant embers smolder in the fire pit sending the smoke dancing up to the heavens serving as the last reminder. For all the weekends of friends and neighbors that pass through this wintery adventure, the one that just transpired was the most educational, uplifting and exhausting. My body aches in places it never has before, as a result of my enthusiasm wielding a chainsaw for the first time, and just when I was starting to think that my ranch hand training was just about over too! You have to realize it's not just a chainsaw; its what it represents, on many levels. Quality firewood means warmth, comfort, and convenience. Motorized cutting tools are paramount to controlling your wild domain out here where the wood is hard and big. And even more visceral than that, being able to hold one's own in the social scene requires at least a brief tutorial on safely playing lumberjack. I am proud to don my Carhartt work jeans, dirty flannel shirt and keep pace with the best of 'em.

Life out here is kind of like a gay republican or fried ice cream. It combines things that seemingly don't really go together and somehow it just works. Its drinking tequila out of a budweiser can. It's the grandma down the street who makes you hot cocoa then invites you out to her shooting range. Imagine a burly, gun toting, forester sitting fireside on Friday night sharing an impassioned feminist rant about laws governing reproductive rights. Crazy, right? Coffee by day, cannabis by night and everything in between. People here might be polar opposites in many ways and typically at least 5 miles apart yet the sense of community here is greater than anywhere else I've ever lived. When life is an active pursuit of basic needs, it doesn't pay to isolate one's self. The pack is your greatest asset. In light of recent history, I'm not nearly as scared of becoming a crazy hermit. 

While I am definitely not a country girl, I'm becoming less of a city girl everyday. The daily intake of learning opportunities seem endless and I have no plans for quitting. Off the grid energy, gardening, mushrooms, hacking up dead trees, and feline husbandry are just a few of my recent classes. There is still the whole arena of woodworking that I haven't even glanced at yet. Only time can tell, as things are mighty unpredictable this side of civilized. All I do know is that I'm surrounded by knowledge and support from these woods as well as its dysfunctional tribe. With the right power tools, I think I might just make it!