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Learning to "wax" cheese
In an effort to preserve our cheese for the trip... we are trying out the process of dipping cheese in wax. Welcome to "planning and preparation" update number two....
Classes are officially over at MSU. Thesis turned in, and Steph's graduation garb is pressed and ready to go. Three workdays left on the calendar. For most, this would be a time to cut loose and celebrate! For us, it is time to get down to business. We have until May 13th to finish purchasing, rationing, and packaging our expedition food, gathering the necessary gear for our trip, to say goodbye to our friends, and pack up and move out of our apartment. We're surprised that no one has started a pool on how many hours of sleep we'll be getting this week!
Since our last update, we have had many exciting developments:
We recently made a trip to the St. Peter Co-Op to make some enormous bulk purchases for the trip. 15 lbs. of textured vegetable protein, 20 lbs. of 8 grain breakfast cereal, 25 lbs of granola... and the list goes on. We had a great experience, thanks to Margo O'Brien and her fantastic staff- particularly Erik, Megan and Sarah. When we arrived, most of our purchases were already measured, packed and labeled for us! Between this shopping
Dipping the cheese
Use EXTREME caution... it gets slippery! trip and the one we made to the local wholesale club, we have finished (yes, finished) purchasing the food we will take on our expedition.
What will we do with all this food you ask? We will carefully weigh, measure, and pack it up to be sent to us in 10 resupply packages. Have we started this momentous task yet? No. Stay tuned for the next update... We did, however, measure out and package our cheese for the trip. We purchased approximately 40 lbs of cheese over the weekend- focusing on strong-flavored, low-moisture varieties like gouda, asiago, and extra sharp cheddar. With the guidance (and bright red wax) of the New England Cheese Making Company, we cut the cheese into 1-2 lb. blocks, and dipped each individual piece in a red preserving wax. The theory is that as long as no air comes into contact with the cheese, it will stay fresh for a very extended period of time. It took a little while to get our system down, but after some practice dipping and re-dipping the blocks of cheese, we decided that the process is very similar to candle making, and not so difficult to do. All went
Boat outfitting, take two
Jeff putting some fancy touches on the valley smoothly until Jeff's block of asiago cheese slid out of its first coat of wax, splattered into the wax pot, splashed wax on the stove, and started a small fire. No real damage was done and no one was hurt- what did we learn? Use extreme caution when dipping asiago cheese- it gets more slippery than most. We just hope that this wax really does preserve our cheese!
Our gear from Kokatat and Midnight Sun Outfitters has arrived- events worthy of much celebration. It feels a bit like having a second christmas every time a new package shows up. We love the gear, and although we've tried it on and paraded it all over our apartment, we can't wait to actually use it on the water.
The weekend of April 29th we went up to Midwest Mountaineering's spring gear exposition (if you're a midwesterner and you have never been, you should check it out in the fall) to peruse deals on gear, but we had the happy coincidence of meeting up with Al Dorn from Brunton, and got to talking about our expedition. Two days later over a beer at the pub, we worked out a sponsorship arrangement
You know you have a large cockpit when...
Jeff discovering the wonders of a roomy keyhole cockpit... these expedition boats do have their perks, after all. in which we will be receiving some solar panels, weather predicting instruments, and other assorted gear to use on our expedition. We are very excited to be able to add a technological dimension to our trip- we will now be able to keep our VHF radio constantly charged and we will be able to double check our interpretation of the weather, which will increase the safety of our trip, and we will be able to keep our digital camera charged up and ready to go at all times. Plus, what outdoor gear addict doesn't love having some new gadgets to play with?
We also recently revisited our boat-outfitting project that we wrote about in our last entry. This time the focus was on making the space in Jeff's boat larger rather than making the space in my boat smaller. Jeff spent all of last Sunday moving his seat down and back, carving a back rest out of foam, and creating knee and thigh pads. All in all, his boat is shaping up to be a luxuriously comfortable ride (for a sea kayak). While Jeff was thus occupied, I spent some time putting the finishing touches on my boat- installing a new back rest, working on my knee pads, and creating a "trap door" out of foam to use as a storage compartment in front of my feet in my enormous cockpit.
Despite all the preparation and research, sometimes the full reality of what we are about to do in a mere 29 days hasn't quite set in yet. For now, we'll just focus on getting the gear together and moving out of our apartment... stay tuned folks, as we conclude our days in Minnesota and move into the next stage of our adventure!
Many thanks to our growing list of sponsors: Kokatat, Icebreaker, Brunton, Midnight Sun Outfitters, Portsmouth Rent and Ride, New England Small Craft, Kittery Trading Post, Gunstock Ski Resort, St. Peter Food Co-Op, ECHO Food Shelf, Red Fish Blue Fish Dye Works, Portsmouth Flatbread Company, and Nature's Wonders....
If you are interested in becoming a corporate or private donor either to the expedition or to the school, please contact us!
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ivyrobi
non-member comment
Go Team "eff"!
Love your blog thus far, hope my breakfast and photos of your trip North make it in ;) I'm so looking forward to more photos once you get started!.