[pct-l] Coyote Fodder

["Bel&Karen" <rookie@olypen.com>]

	I'll try to make a long ramble short.  Here to enlighten the populus on
getting good, varied trail food packed with nutrition without having to own
a gold mine or have a college degree.  First, clue in on sources:  I
ordered the majority of my food at distributor-direct cost (no 15-40%
retail price jack, which just about compensates the cost of mailing supply
boxes) trhough a West Coast-wide distributor known as `Mountain People's
Warehouse' that can be accessed through many major natural foods stores.  
	Foodsw are packed down to 1/2, 1, and 2-pound bags.  Ingredients kept
mostly separate so I can mix'n'match as I go along.  Most important food on
the trail is what you can munch when you hike to avoid carbo crashes - when
new to backpacking, I surfed blackouts from not eating enough AS I HIKED. 
I ordered dried fruits in 5 and 10 pound lots, includes apples, bananas,
figs, apricots, coconut, papaya, pineapple, and dates.  I repacked them
into 1-pound quart-sized bags, mixing some together.  Also: 25# granola,
same to mixed nuts, and hummus mix.  I'll be eating different fruits on
different days, some days nuts, some days hummus, etc & so on.
	Dried beans are a lifesaver to break pasta boredom.  A nationwide organic
foods/herbs distributor known as `Frontier' carries dried vegetables in
5-pound bags at about a retail cost of $30/bag - well worth it, takes only
a small handful to make pasta or rice more interesting.  Same distributor
also carries dried cheese at about $11/pound,  I guestimated one pound per
twenty of pasta... to bootleg Kraft add about a 1-to-4 ratio of buttermilk
powder to cheese powder plus about a tablespoon of soy lecithin granules
per serving and a little powdered milk.  Sundried tomatos are worth their
cost.  
	Try incorporating a grain called quinoa into your breakfast mash, it's a
quick-cooker and complete protien.  I'm throwing soya milk powder (not a
beverage) into all cooked foods.  Barley malt is a good alternative to
refined sugar (which strips your body of its minerals) and has a rich
savory taste to it, also I made `breakfast bags' in pint-sized ziplocks
with sunflower seeds, raisins and Craisins to throw into hot cereals.
	Remember, we don't choose to hike 2,650 miles because of the gourmet
dining.  Getting bored with the food happens, but isn't it worth the
sacrifice?  Most people in this world live on very plain, mushy, monotonous
diets, us Americans are spoiled!!!
  Thoughts on supply packages versus supplying along the way - most
boondock villiages have little to offer as far as nutritious backpackable
food goes, and the prices of what is available are often very high.  I am
still spending a little more by sending myself supply packages, but not
much, considering how much I've saved through wholesale, and I will be
eating a balanced diet - though it may get boring.  Keep in mind I have
enough hot chocolate powder to get me through six months of trail mornings,
plus several cases of candy bars!  `Emergen-C' is good stuff to have for
vitamin/mineral/elecrtolyte replacement, `Ligatend' or a similar
deriviation for joints....  my bulk food weight is between 2 and 3 pounds a
day, 2 on the long, grueling stretches, 3 for the easier ones.  Most supply
pick-ups will be ten to fifteen pounds, which diminishes rapidly, as we all
know!
	This is just information, subject to conflicting opinions, concerning the
issues with `netiquette' (whatever happpened to love and forgivenesss,
anyways?), use it or ignore it.

		Henry David Thoreau:
				"it would be well perhaps if we were to spend more of our days and
nights without any obstruction between us and the celestial bodies, if the
poet did not speak so muich from under a roof, or the saint dwell there so
long."

me:
	"Courage"
   this wintersong sorrow
   softly rutted like the
wizened folds of a sge's brow
shall not seal this countenance
     much longer,
   bound only to the
slow periods of reflection
that bounce from pools within-
   there are new eyes
with which to see through
Anticipating awakenings from
  dreamstates long drifting....
 A yearning from belly soul longs
  to devour up new mopuntains
   to climb, through it all
courage summoned unknown from
veins carrying mighty rivers
through this embodiment known as
	  flesh
-run deeper than what is shown
the source bound to limbo between
     Heavens and Earth-
I will hold such fire in my hand
  When darkness grows cold
  When there is no ear to hear
  the whimpers or mighty roar
  Nor hand to feel the mystery
  of a tear, a word unwhispered-
     the stars lift me on
         
		Beauty be your own     -Shoshanna Coyote-Rains
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