Hello from the soggy NW edge of Wisconsin!
A brief intro... I have wandered careers and countries, following my enthusiasms and giving back what I could. Medicine brought me from urban research early on, to living frontier medicine in the sub-arctic with the Cree. Honeymoon in 1970 was 14 days by canoe with only flour, oil, salt, and beans. Time now in retirement is split between a farm in the woods, and travel to dig gems and stones all over the planet. Gardening and hunting produce 80-90% of all food my wife and I eat. [Darn well wish I could grow a good olive tree here in WI]
Woodland life here offers natural dyestuffs, mushrooms, maple syrup, and critters. I make lots of antler/obsidian knives, but prefer to slice and shape agate slabs as handles for steel or damascus blades. My agate buttons are found in most quilting/yarn shops in our state. When it is cold here, I hunt sapphire and opal in the outback in OZ. Gems may not help you survive - but as my wife points out, they can sure make your remains glitter nicely when some future archaeologist digs you up!!
DocDick
