News from Reevis Mountain School

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News from Reevis Mountain School

January 2010
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A Division of the PAAK Foundation, an Arizona 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization
Peter Bigfoot, Founder and Director / Patricia Sanders, Office Manager and Editor

In this issue

Coming Events

Winter Count Primitive Living Skills Rendezvous

Oriental Touch Healing Class

Useful Plants Class

Wilderness Survival Class

Nature Retreat at RMS

Homestead Living Class

Stone Masonry Class

How to Purchase RMS Remedies

What We're Growing, Harvesting, and Eating

Wilderness Retreats at RMS

If you've been a friend of Reevis for a while, you might remember the flood of '93. That December, it rained on and off for weeks, and the road became so badly damaged that we could not get a vehicle in or out until May. We hiked in and out with supplies and Country Store orders.

Well, last week's storm was the worst since '93. We got between ten and twelve inches of rain in four days, and Campaign Creek swelled from about six feet wide to sixty, at its peak. The picture here is of Bigfoot's swimming pool, which as you can see was completely submerged.

During the storm two orientation groups from Prescott College - one that had just passed through Reevis, and another on their way from Peralta - were backpacking in the Superstitions. One group holed up in the cliff dwellings at Angel Basin, but the other - the group that was on their way to Reevis - was on the Reavis Gap Trail when the worst of the storm hit. One member of their group had been camping on the west side of Pine Creek the night the creek came up, while the rest of the group had crossed to the east side, so the group was unable to move on until the creek level decreased. We were happy and relieved when they arrived at Reevis, with wet gear but safe and sound. And we are extra grateful to that group for their incredible help with road repair work the following day!

Pictures do not do justice to the damage in the road. One section is zigzagged with eroded ruts that are over five feet deep. Beyond Carkiller Hill, there is no road. Bigfoot has managed to get out on the Unimog, but it is now taking us one to two hours to get out to Hwy. 188 rather than the half hour it used to. The Unimog is a Mercedes off-road truck with a higher clearance than a Humvee. It is so amazing in how it can go through deep water, over sand, and over boulders.

We'll be asking the county and forest service for assistance in repairing the road when the water dries up ... in the meantime, we'd like to send out a call for aid from any friends who might have access to a 4X4 tractor loader.

A highlight of January was meeting Joseph, aka "Butter," an intern who stayed with us just two weeks but will long be fondly remembered. He brought a variety of skills, both practical and unusual, and his lightheartedness was a joy to be around. We wish him happy trails as he travels east.

And we are delighted by the return of Travis, an intern who stayed with us for two months last winter and has come back after WWOOFing in Japan and Missouri. Last year he taught us to nixtamalize corn - among many other useful skills - and we are excited to find out what he will teach us this time. Travis joins our current crew of Mary and David. They make a fantastic team, getting the work done with good vibes.

We would like to correct one item in our December newsletter that was somewhat misleading. On Christmas Eve, we wrote that the holiday turkey was "ready to go in the oven." The truth is, the turkey was ready for the oven, but the oven wasn't ready for the turkey!

A few days before Christmas, we found that the thermocouple had failed and couldn't be fixed. On Christmas Eve, Bigfoot drove to Globe to buy a replacement. But one couldn't be found anywhere in Globe. We ordered a thermocouple, but it wouldn't be in until a week later. Bigfoot was visiting our friend Sarah in Globe (at Simply Sarah, the clothing boutique where Sarah sells our produce in season on Thursdays), telling her that he was considering driving down to Phoenix - at two in the afternoon on Christmas Eve. Sarah said, "Don't do that - pit roast it!"

So that's what we did! Bigfoot and David dug a pit and lined it with stones, and we filled it with fuel wood to make a bed of coals. That evening we lowered the fifty-pound turkey into a very hot coal bed, in our big covered roasting pan, covered it with coals and a layer of dirt ... and crossed our fingers. The next morning at 11 a.m. we anxiously unearthed the turkey, uncertain whether we would find a chicken-size ball of charcoal or an undercooked bird. It was perfect!

We also experimented with Dutch oven cooking. We set up a mini-stone oven at the edge of the fire, and baked our favorite cornbread and a pie in Dutch ovens surrounded by hot coals. (The pie took two tries - we learned that it doesn't work to bake the crust right inside the Dutch oven; the sides are too steep, so the crust falls down, and the heat is too intense. Instead, we baked the pie in a pie plate raised up on small stones inside a big Dutch oven.) We wrapped a big winter squash in a few layers of foil and buried it in the pit.

We had a wonderful supper with all our favorite dishes, and the fun of cooking by fire. We may not do this every year, but it's good to know we can get along just fine without an oven if we have to! And a thousand thanks to David and his extensive camping experience for the Dutch oven tips!

For more information (and pictures!) about the farm, Peter Bigfoot's herbal remedies, and classes and events, please visit www.reevismountain.org.

Coming Events

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