rachel quist

In 1911, an unusual aviation competition occurred at what is now the Salt Lake International Airport. The Great International Aviation Carnival was to be held at the new Salt Lake aviation site, located at Basque Flats (named for the Spanish-French sheep herders who worked the near desolate area west of Salt Lake City) which had recently replaced the old Buena Vista airstrip located near the Utah state fairgrounds. The new aviation site was barely more than an open field with a cinder-covered landing strip but it was still an improvement over the old field.

That same year on April 5-10, brought aviation pioneers representing Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company and a team representing the Wright Brothers to Salt Lake City.

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So, for about a year or so I have been freelance writing.  Mostly environmental or historic type articles.  Here is one of the articles I wrote last year based on a fishing trip we took. Enjoy.

What Camping Can Teach Us About Sustainable Living

Last week my family and I decided to go out for a weekend offishing and camping. We decided to only eat the fish that we caught and takesome produce from our home garden; we would not bring any store-bought food provisions.  This idea seems rather simple but in practice it was rather nerve-racking and somewhat difficult butit showed us how being self-sustainable, even for a weekend, takes planning and determination.

First we packed our gear: fishing poles, water filter, firstaid supplies, tent, sleeping bags, firewood, and one cast iron griddle.  We packed a small cooler with garden produce, frozen water containers that would melt into drinking water, and dry ice to ensure the fish would keep fresh.  We loaded up and headed out into the mountains to a small lake with reports of good fishing.

Although the cooler was loaded with cucumbers, tomatoes,onions, potatoes, blackberries, and a few chicken eggs, frankly, I was a little nervous about the venture.  While we try to practice sustainable living at home it felt completely different to be entirely reliant on what we grow and what we catch for food – no grocery store or farmers’ market for backup, no electricity or natural gas for cooking, and no running water.  We would need to conserve our supplies and preserve what we caught.

We set up camp at a primitive campground – an established metal fire pit and a picnic table was provided, but no running water or other amenities.  We were the only ones there.  Fishing was slow until dusk arrived and then the fish started hitting the surface, feasting on insects that covered the lake.  We easily caught several fish but only kept the three largest trout for our dinner.

Cooking on an open fire, even with a cast iron griddle, is a much different experience.  It takes patience to create the hot coals,  observation to spot the griddle hot spots, and a certain amount of skill to navigate the flare-ups.  Our dinner consisted of fresh caught trout, roasted tomatoes, and a side of garden cucumbers and tomatoes.

As we ate our dinner, alone in the primitive campground, we discussed how people are growing up so far from nature and the outdoors that they no longer have any sense of what a natural experience, such as camping, is like. They are unaware of the natural cycles and balance that humans share with the Earth’s natural ecology.

Seasonality of produce is lost to generations as are the concepts of sustainable hunting and fishing. Food preservation and storage,once a major emphasis of all families, is a skill that most households no longer practice.  Home canning, pickling, drying, and even the method of proper freezing of produce, fish, meat, and sauces has been replaced by the convenience of the grocery store.

The fish dinner with our homegrown garden produce was certainly an example of the local food movement and one of the best meals I had eaten in a very long time.  Our family camping trip rekindled my desire to eat fresh, sustainable, and local and tocontinue our efforts at water conservation and urban homesteading.
 

I Drink for a Reason by David Cross
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

This was horrible! I could not get through more than the first... say 20% of the book. I kept on thinking it would get better but all it really is David Cross spewing his hatred for everything and in a manner that is not so funny. I really wanted to like the book but it was just awful. Pass.

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My poor kitty Spumonia was infected by a carrier cat who we fostered for 3 weeks. Spumonia, who is about 12 years old, was exposed by the carrier cat (who showed no symptoms).

Feline calicivirus (FCV) is an upper respiratory infection of cats. FCV can cause a rapid epidemic, with a mortality rate of up to 67%. Initial clinical signs include discharge from the eyes and nose, ulceration in the mouth, anorexia, and lethargy, and occur in the first one to five days. Later signs include fever, edema of the limbs and face, jaundice, and multiple organ dysfunction syndrome.

Go to her GIVEFORWARD site to help out.  Many thanks.

One of the earliest forms of recreation for the Salt Lake Pioneers was the use of hot springs, of which the Wasatch Front had an abundance of.  The nearest mineral hot spring to Salt Lake City was Warm Springs along what is now known as Beck Street.

In 1885 mining entrepreneur John Beck developed a pleasure resort on property near Beck's Hot Spring. The spring the largest, hottest and farthest from the city, became a major resort in the west until a disastrous fire in 1898. Although the area continued to be used for recreation under various owners for the next several years, the glory days were over.

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 I love how the mountains slowly come into view as I drive closer, and then eventually past them.

So, I accidently was subscribed to recieve the magazine Newsweek... long story, don't ask.  I just recieved my first issue and now I figure I have enough information to cancel the subscription. 

I mean really, why would I want to read a cover article on Following Jesus.  LAME.

DO YOU KNOW HOW HARD IT IS TO CANCEL NEWSWEEK??

So, first of all, Newsweek does not have its own URL. You would think if it were a reputable magazine it woudl have a URL like newsweek.com... but NOOO... The best I can figure is that Newsweek is now controlled by The Daily Beast.  WTF?

After about an hour of trying to figure out how to cancel the subscription on The Daily Beast site, I decided to simply search for "cancel newsweek subscription" and the first site that comes up is cancelwizard.com.  OK, I think, this must be a service implimented for people just like me... people who want to cancel this dumb ass magazine but cannot find the correct customer service webpage.  You know, something like the "how to get a real person" when you dial a 1-800 number.

Well, here is the message I got when I tried to cancel through cancelwizard.com:

To complete your cancellation, we charge a $34.95 convenience fee.  WTF?  I got the subscription for FREE but I need to PAY to cancel it.  I'm simply trying to be green and not use paper I will never read, but at this rate it is cheaper to be watefull.  

So, to date, I can't figure out how to cancel the STUPID MAGAZINE (NEWSWEEK).  Please send help!

And here are some of my favorites...

  

 

   

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
A review of the unabridged audiobook.

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I had never heard of this book before the previews of the movie starting coming out, and once I saw the preview I just said WOW. I immediately downloaded the unabridged audio book so I could listen to it during my long commutes. Unlike other books/stories/podcasts, I could not get this book out of my head and I continued to listen to it while I worked and around the house.

I finished to book today and the way it ended made me very perturbed. I want to know what happens next. I had to restrain myself from immediately ordering the next book. Knowing how much I got sucked into this story, I best leave the next book for the weekend.

Regarding the quality of the narration of the audiobook - superb.

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The old Casto House in Holladay may not be around much longer.  The city of Holladay is seeking public comments on whether it should be demolished or moved to a new location (again).

Read more about Holladay City's plans in my article here.  Comments are due March 22, 2012.

Read more about the history of the Casto House in my article here.

...and I'm not sure it is a good thing.

I recently stumpled upon my own work on an economic analysis page so I decided to google myself and see what else came up.  Here are the first few pages of the results:

• Architect: The Magazine for the American Institute of Architects: Utah's historic architecture goes digital
• Parterns 4 Prosperity:  Inflation Distortions
• Cambium Online: January 2012 Newsletter, HOW WILL THE ‘GREAT RECESSION CHANGE YOUR PERCEPTION?
• My articles on GIS Lounge
• Waymarking.com Snelgroves Double Scoop - Sugarhouse, Utah
• The Lincoln Highway Assocaition: Mapping the LIncoln Highway Through the Utah Desert
• erichmendelsohn.com: credits
  

The New York Regional Mormon Singles Halloween Dance by Elna Baker
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I love Elna Baker!  Half way through this book, I gave it 4 stars. Now I have finished the book and I give it 5 stars.  A funny and honest memoir worth reading but not one I would necessarily recommend to friends.

Now having finished the book, the last few chapters are truly amazing. i love her quest for love in New York (and Utah) and her sheer honesty of self.

You have probably heard Elna on This American Life and The Moth. She is truly wonderful. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

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I think this is the first pie that I have baked that has actually turned out.  Perhaps it is because it such an easy receipie... I found this receipie in a 1931 newspaper article titled Helping the Homemaker with Thanksgiving.

i will be planting Yampah in my front garden strip this year...

One of the most important food sources for Native Americans in Utah and the Western United States was the root of the Yampa plant.

Quite delicious and tasting very similar to carrot root, the Yampa plant was an important food sources for many tribes living in the Great Basin including the Ute, Shoshone, Paiute, and Goshute peoples.  Each dialect of these closely related tribes had a slightly different way to pronounce this important food source:  Yampah, Yamp, Yam’pa, Yomba, or Ya’pai.  The plant was also known as Epos, Ipos, Wild

Carrot, Wild Anise, Wild Parsley, and Indian Potato among other peoples in the region.Yampa was held in high regard with the native peoples of Utah.  Chamberlain wrote in 1909 that “among the most highly prized of all food plants among the Goshute was yamp  or yam’-pa, which occurs in  abundance in favorable places in the higher  mountains.” 

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One of the projects I have embarked on this summer is to make a pottery stain from Beeweed (Cleome serrulata).  This is the most common material used for the black paint in the traditional Anasazi black on white pottery.  Mineral paints were also used but the beeweed works better and was the most commonly used prehistorically (at least in Southern Utah).

Rocky Mountain Beeweed (Cleome serrulata) is a horribly stinky plant that smells remotely liked overcooked spinach, especially when processed and boiled for a paint stain.  It is sometimes refered to as "stinkweed" for this reason.

A very large patch of Beeweed was flowering in Skull Valley and Jon and I left a few minutes early from work in order to gather a box full for me to process into a paint stain.

The process of turning Beeweed into a paint stain is rather simple; it really is just boiling down the plant material until it resembles the consistensy of mollasis.  It can dry out more for storage purposes and you can add a little water to make it more paint-like whe in use.  Beeweed is also an edible plant - sometimes called wild spinach -- and the dried paint can be eaten in emergency situations.

   

The process is to simply boil down the flowers and stems into a thick brown liquid. 

Beeweed is also edible.  When cooking it smells like spinach. 

Once the liquid has cooked down it needs to dry out.  Iallowed the liquid to fully dry for preservation because I was not anticipatingusing it for a few months.  However, the best consistency for paint isthat of molasses.