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of sedge & salt

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of sedge and salt BLOG archives

the ofsedgeandsalt blog ran for many years from 2016-2021. find new writings on the ground shots substack, here. scoll down to the bottom to peruse the blog archives by year.

Fritillaria corms and cormlets - the tiny cormlets you see mixed in the dirt disperse themselves and make new plants when dug.

Fritillaria corms and cormlets - the tiny cormlets you see mixed in the dirt disperse themselves and make new plants when dug.

a wild-tending walk on the Colorado Trail summer 2020

June 28, 2020
wild onion

wild onion

So the botanical research and place-based exploratory portion of the Ground Shot Project is finally taking the work out on foot for a few months hiking the Colorado Trail this summer.

But, this walk, which will include forager and wild-tender Gabe Crawford (a recent Ground Shots Podcast guest) will be slower than the kinds of walks gung-ho thru-hikers are planning for with their ultra-lite gear and aim to conquer. Both of us are interested in ethnobotany and plants, and both of us have also completed thru-hikes in the past.

I walked the Camino de Santiago back in 2008, as well as pranced on sections of the Appalachian Trail, and Gabe completed the Colorado Trail a few years ago. Both of our experiences with thru-hiking, or pilgrimages, felt much too rushed. Even with our attempts at going a lot slower this time around on our walk, I’m sure we’ll still be wishing we had more time in some areas. The thing is— we can decide how long we want to take in certain areas, as we are overly allotting ourselves food at resupplies for this possibility, and aren’t attached to ‘finishing’ the entire route of the trail. Our goal isn’t about completing an arbitrary route, but to fully experience the land we walk through as best we can.

Contrary to the advice of ultra-lighters who won’t even bring a stove to cook on (nor will they cook on fire) we are bringing a plant guide book relevant to the area, binoculars for birding, notebooks to take notes, a smart-phone macro lens for plant photography and other video gear, and most importantly— native first food seeds for planting along the trails creating or adding to the diversity of pre-existing wild gardens planting in the past by indigenous peoples. The Colorado Trail specifically is based on old Ute trails, so is not actually a newly created trail —though supposedly it was ‘created’ in the last few decades, a group of nature-loving citizens figured out how to traverse this through public and private land designations. It would make sense that these trails would also contain stands of wild gardens tended long ago by the Utes. Why wouldn’t they? Why wouldn’t wild gardens be tended, planted and taken care of? When people question me on if this was possible, I think to ask them— what do you think people ate? Random plants they just happened upon?

Our resupplies contain caches of seeds and their planting is our primary goal for the walk: to disperse them and attempt to be a little more reciprocal in our human-land relations.

Too, on the podcast this past Spring, we have been visiting themes with our guests around the topics of ‘wilderness’ and defining ‘wild’ and ‘cultivated’ and diving into the history of agriculture and human interaction with the land.

Particularly the episodes with Kollibri terre Sonnenblume and Zach Elfers are scholarly and insightful dialogues surrounding these subjects.

twispwawild2019-99.jpg
a kind of Dogwood

a kind of Dogwood

Walking for me has also always been a meditation, a kind of journey where some moments feel hard, others blissful and putting one foot in front of the other is a metaphor for the inner journey and also our other journeys in life. To simply walk, traverse, take things at a slower human pace, feels significant to me.

me, second from left, with friends, walking the Camino de Santiago in 2008. Photo credit: Mike Zang

me, second from left, with friends, walking the Camino de Santiago in 2008. Photo credit: Mike Zang

me, walking the Camino de Santiago in 2008 - photo credit: Kip Redick

me, walking the Camino de Santiago in 2008 - photo credit: Kip Redick

twispwawild2019-31.jpg

I’ve been facilitating aspects of the Ground Shots Project on the road out of my vintage late 60’s slide in truck camper for the last few years and often find myself chasing people or places for thousands of miles to meet up (not literally chasing in a creepy way but you know what I mean) or taking my body out into the middle of Nevada to hang with the Piñon trees there. I’ve been jumping to and fro sitting in a car all of the time to then land in places where I can be intimate for awhile.

It has been enlightening, rewarding and yet jarring to say the least. Taking it slower, being around less humans (and Covid has also forced this needed slow down on me), and letting my body process information at the speed it is meant to— feels like a worthy goal, and a good thing to do for myself and body/mind. And the land craves our slow, focused and curious attention too.

Fritillaria corms being dug for replanting and dividing, as well as eating for dinner!

Fritillaria - Yellow Bell corms being dug for replanting and dividing, as well as eating for dinner!

Gabe and I filmed a short video while cacheing seeds last week, and put it on Youtube, explaining what seeds we are bringing and a little bit on why we want to do an intentional walk engaging wild-tending. You can view it below.


Gabe processing Acorns

Gabe processing Acorns

Gabe planting Camas bulbs

Gabe planting Camas bulbs

Gabe planting Wapato

Gabe planting Wapato

You can follow us along on our walk on Instagram (@goldenberries and @plumsforbums) or on Patreon where we will make occasional updates when we can. We will also be publishing a few audio journal entrees for the Ground Shots Podcast airing through September woven into other podcast episodes.

Wish us luck!

© 2022 Kelly Moody
In travelogue, pilgrimage, plant profiles, photo diaries, musings Tags plants, walk, colorado, colorado trail, wild tending, wilderness, wild foods, planting, wapato, camas, biscuitroots, yellowbells
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Featured
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Apr 7, 2021
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Apr 7, 2021
Apr 7, 2021
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Jun 28, 2020
a wild-tending walk on the Colorado Trail summer 2020
Jun 28, 2020
Jun 28, 2020
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Mar 20, 2020
Experiments in fish smoking by the Gila River in New Mexico
Mar 20, 2020
Mar 20, 2020
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Dec 6, 2019
Fall on the road in the west, Camas and Wapato planting, Piñon Pine nut harvest
Dec 6, 2019
Dec 6, 2019
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Sep 13, 2019
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May 22, 2019
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Apr 19, 2019
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Feb 3, 2019
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Jan 10, 2019
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Dec 17, 2018
Photo Diary : Falling Leaves Rendezvous October 2018 plant walks with Luke Learningdeer and Doug Elliott, South Carolina
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Jul 29, 2018
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Citrus : A plant profile
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Citrus : A plant profile
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  • 2021
    • Apr 7, 2021 one dark night in snowy Colorado Apr 7, 2021
  • 2020
    • Jun 28, 2020 a wild-tending walk on the Colorado Trail summer 2020 Jun 28, 2020
    • Mar 20, 2020 Experiments in fish smoking by the Gila River in New Mexico Mar 20, 2020
  • 2019
    • Dec 6, 2019 Fall on the road in the west, Camas and Wapato planting, Piñon Pine nut harvest Dec 6, 2019
    • Sep 13, 2019 teaching hide tanning at jim croft's 'old ways of making books' class Sep 13, 2019
    • May 22, 2019 an Oakland glimpse : watching in transit from one world to the next May 22, 2019
    • Apr 19, 2019 hawai'i : walking below cliffs of ‘ūlei and lantana Apr 19, 2019
    • Feb 3, 2019 Blueberry: A Plant Profile Feb 3, 2019
    • Jan 10, 2019 high sierra photo diary Jan 10, 2019
  • 2018
    • Dec 17, 2018 Photo Diary : Falling Leaves Rendezvous October 2018 plant walks with Luke Learningdeer and Doug Elliott, South Carolina Dec 17, 2018
    • Dec 15, 2018 Oil and Rust VI: Where Are The Plants? Elders in prisons. Dec 15, 2018
    • Dec 9, 2018 Reflections on Over-giving and a Year of Output Dec 9, 2018
    • Nov 11, 2018 Juniper Plant Profile Nov 11, 2018
    • Oct 23, 2018 Artist Profile: Tilke Elkins + Natural Pigments + the importance of investigation Oct 23, 2018
    • Sep 28, 2018 Wallowas photo diary Sep 28, 2018
    • Aug 14, 2018 Elderberry (Sambucus) plant profile Aug 14, 2018
    • Jul 29, 2018 questioning maps and names Jul 29, 2018
    • Jul 20, 2018 Citrus : A plant profile Jul 20, 2018
    • Jul 5, 2018 Joshua Tree photo diary + Sun Ritual + sheepskin tanning Jul 5, 2018
    • Jun 28, 2018 Utah photo diary + Sundial Medicinals' Apothecary Jun 28, 2018
    • Jun 13, 2018 Creosote Bush, Larrea tridentata: A plant profile Jun 13, 2018
    • May 20, 2018 Rose Family Plants: A Plant Profile pt. 1, featuring Multiflora Rose, Rugosa Rose and Blackberry May 20, 2018
    • Apr 11, 2018 'The Cottonwoods,' Populus : A plant profile Apr 11, 2018
    • Apr 1, 2018 Oil and Rust V: My Grandmothers Gave Me Plants Apr 1, 2018
    • Mar 15, 2018 Self-care on the Road #2: Practicalities & a note on churning Mar 15, 2018
    • Mar 5, 2018 Yerba Santa: A Plant Profile Mar 5, 2018
    • Feb 15, 2018 'The Redroots,' Ceanothus: A Plant Profile Feb 15, 2018
    • Feb 1, 2018 an attempt at self-care on the road : an expansion Feb 1, 2018
    • Jan 19, 2018 A spell for the year Jan 19, 2018
    • Jan 14, 2018 FLIP, DIG, TURN the dirt Jan 14, 2018
    • Jan 9, 2018 Persimmon : a plant profile Jan 9, 2018
  • 2017
    • Dec 7, 2017 Piñon Pine : a plant profile Dec 7, 2017
    • Dec 6, 2017 Point Reyes & the privilege of finding peace Dec 6, 2017
    • Nov 11, 2017 a nevada moment Nov 11, 2017
    • Sep 30, 2017 a summer of Fire in the west Sep 30, 2017
    • Sep 12, 2017 Wind/Storm/Wild: a wilderness solo Sep 12, 2017
    • Sep 2, 2017 Signal Fire residency and 'Ground shots' Sep 2, 2017
    • Jul 22, 2017 old ways at Jim Croft's in northern Idaho Jul 22, 2017
    • Jun 24, 2017 good medicine, moab, mormons: travel notes Jun 24, 2017
    • Jun 20, 2017 Great Basin travel notes Jun 20, 2017
    • Jun 12, 2017 home as a purgatory of remembrance Jun 12, 2017
    • May 19, 2017 plants stories from the sagebrush salve May 19, 2017
    • May 8, 2017 sadness and the sea May 8, 2017
    • Apr 28, 2017 yuba poem Apr 28, 2017
    • Apr 20, 2017 An unexpected death in the redwoods Apr 20, 2017
    • Apr 2, 2017 Safer Apr 2, 2017
    • Mar 14, 2017 gathering branches from the far and wide Mar 14, 2017
    • Feb 27, 2017 tan oak study and the alchemy of understanding through process Feb 27, 2017
    • Feb 20, 2017 Post-Imbolc Ode to Lingering Darkness Feb 20, 2017
    • Feb 14, 2017 s t o r y o f p l a c e : oil and rust II Feb 14, 2017
    • Feb 5, 2017 Why Care about the Land? Feb 5, 2017
    • Jan 6, 2017 Resilience is Bristlecones Jan 6, 2017
  • 2016
    • Dec 21, 2016 Cast in white Dec 21, 2016
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