...and a strange trip. Got room for a prodigal son by the fire?
-Blast

Welcome back, boss!

GREAT TO HEAR FROM YOU!!!!ALWAYS WELCOME!!!

Where have you been?

Welcome back!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

THANKS!!!

Where have I been? Well, believe it or not I got kind of famous.

For those who don't know, my real name is Dr. Mark "Merriwether" Vorderbruggen. Among other things, I ended up writing Idiot's Guide Foraging which opened all sorts of doors. Along with that book I contributed to a bunch of others and even have been writing a monthly foraging column in the TX-based magazine CHARM East Texas since 2016. I left (aka was laid off) from the oil field industry in 2016 and became the lead chemist/R&D Battle Mage (they let me pick my own title) for Workman's Friend Personal Care Products. That was a lot of fun but in January of this year I was offered my dream position of being the medicine man for Medicine Man Plant Co.

Simultaneously, I was building the Foraging Texas social media empire. Facebook's Foraging Texas currently has over 25,000 followers/fans. Each weekday morning 7:20am-8am central time on that page I do a Facebook LIVE streaming show called "Donut Shop at the Beginning of the World" that has a free-flow discussion format between me and the audience. On Thursday evenings I do a 1-hour Facebook LIVE show called "Merriwether's World!" where I have a specific, pre-chosen topic or guest. The topics are either plants (edible/medicinal), emergency preparedness stuff, or bushcraft (cookware, knives, etc). The guests range from one of the top elephant handlers in the US to post-apocalyptic sci-fi authors. My old blog "Into the Borderlands" was retired and removed from the internet.

Meanwhile, I managed to stay married even though (maybe because?) I'm gone just about every weekend teaching foraging, wilderness survival, or urban/suburban survival. My two itty-bitty babies are now high schoolers!

Anyway, after years of working for companies that banned surfing the internet and taking part of online forums, Medicine Man Plant Co. actually encourages me to do that, so here I am!

How are all y'all? It seems like ChaosMagnet has done and EXCELLENT job of running things. I'm quite happy to turn in my gun & badge and just set up a little farm out on the edge of the forum.
-Blast

Good to hear from you again. I was wondering what happened to you.

Hey, your book sounds like something my daughter would really be interested in. Sounds like I might have a good choice for her next birthday present. Does your book, by chance, cover anything that can be found/foraged on Hawaii (the Big Island)? That's where she lives now.

Hey Haertig! Yes, the publisher wanted the book to be useful to anyone in North America, not just my adopted home of Texas. Luckily, many of the tree and weeds are found everywhere, including Hawaii.

For more info on Hawaii's special flora your daughter should check out the Hawaiian forager Sunny Savage. She rocks!
https://ediblehi.com/foraging-hawaii-sunny-savage/
http://sunnysavage.com
If your daughter does score a class with Sunny, send the message "Merriwether says Hi!"
-Blast

Damn, it's good to be home!

Welcome back! We can say we knew you when you were just a humble forum overlord!

Does your media empire and so on allow you to blow stuff up?

It didn't take long for my wife to figure out the best time to ask me for something is just as the fire department leaves. Pretty much contractually forbidden to say "No." at that point, aren't I? But since she understands the personal value of these activities to herself she encourages them...much to the delight of social media
-Blast

Humble?! Damn, it really has been a long time if that's the descriptive word you use to describe my overzealous iron fist!

<manly>Hug</manly>
-Blast

With the utmost respect, sir, as my recently retired Sheriff and friend, I have to ask you: Why would you blow anything up where your wife would find out about it? I mean, really. Mrs. Magnet has MUCH less visibility into my activities than you apparently provide to MissusWether.

Are you on HF at all? If so we should probably try to arrange a QSO.



73 de chaosmagnet

If I had known there would be so much talk about blowing things up, I would have joined this forum when I was still dating my first boyfriend. Maybe he could learn some safety.

Jeanette Isabelle

It's actually a lot harder to make a small boom than a really big bomb...plus big bombs are a lot more fun.

I usually am scanning the TX Saltgrass Houston repeaters (2m & 70cm) on my drive to/from work. Usually 8:30am-9am and whenever I finish working in the evening. I just bought a 25W rig but haven't programed it yet. It could be fun to try making contact with it.
-Blast
-Blast

From me?! Not likely.
-Blast

I’ll look into what Houston area repeaters use IRLP or EchoLink. It’s not something I’ve done before, but I’d be happy to learn.

Most of my ham radio experience has been with 2M and 70cm but I have an HF rig that allegedly can reach all of the US and a good chunk of Europe from my QTH. Honestly I don’t know, but I’m willing to try.

Here are the Houston 2m & 70cm "saltgrass" repeaters I scan:
https://repeaterbook.com/repeaters/feature_search.php?system=Saltgrass%20System&state_id=%&type=systems

And these are the Harris county repeaters that I also scan:
https://repeaterbook.com/repeaters/location_search.php?type=county&state_id=48&loc=Harris

If you aren't familiar with Repeaterbook.com you should look ito it.

I have Echolink on my iPhone and iPad but haven't done anything with it. I better start studying those.
-Blast

Long time indeed !

Welcome back Blast

Hey Chisel! Good to see you're still here.
-Blast