About midway through the day, we were visited by a group of African students in the country for an educational experience.  Their activities brought them to the museum.  They were most interested in our activity and even wove a bit on the baskets in progress.     

All in all, one of my favorite weaving class experiences.  I thoroughally enjoyed myself and was so pleased with the finished baskets. 

Thanks to all of the CCHA personnel for their hospitality and enthusiasm.  You made this a special day for me.  Kudos to my three weavers!  A job well done!!

Just putting strap sets on baskets, etc. …finishing touches to get ready for Sat. and Sun. in Altona.  Will be a great show.  Three banquet halls filled with over 100 vendors and displays about the great outdoors; hunting,  fishing, hiking, relaxing, and all manner of outdoor pursuits.

This photo shows some of the baskets I’m bringing; all 7 sizes of packbaskets, gathering baskets, birch lidded hampers, creels, magazine baskets and more.

Looking for something to do this weekend, head for the Outdoors Show.

In addition, I’ll get to see the newest exhibit on early Native American settlements in the area, including artifact displays.  Can’t wait for this.  Visit the CCHA website at their web address above and learn about these and many, many more events and resources available.

Packbasket weaving class details:

Weave a 17” or a 21” tall basket of premium reed.  Pine shoes, plywood base and ash handle are included.  For beginners as well as weaving “veterans”.  All materials are included and all       necessary tools are provided.  You will also receive complete written instructions for applying a finish to     your basket.  Approximate time to complete: 6 to 7 hours.  Bring a snack or lunch for our  noontime break. 

Session will also include an ongoing discussion of the history of the packbasket and its eventual role as essential equipment during the opening of the Adirondack Mountain region by the noted guides during the 1800’s and early 1900’s. 

Minimum workshop size: 4 participants 

Maximum workshop size: 10 participants 

Workshop cost:  CCHA Members: 

                                      $70.00 for 17” basket 

                                       $85.00 for 21” basket 

Non-CCHA Members: 

                                 $80.00 for 17” basket 

                                        $100.00 for 21” basket 

 Workshop fee includes adjustable strap set.  Choose from tan, forest green or red. 

 $20.00 nonrefundable deposit required. Make Checks Payable to: “ABHD” 

Location:  98 Ohio Avenue  Plattsburgh, NY 12903 

Date:  Saturday, March 31, 2012 

Time: 9am until all are finished (usually between 3 and 4 pm) 

Register now at the Clinton County Historical Association – 518-561-0340 

Send deposit and basket size choice (17″ or 21″) to the Ohio Ave. address above.

I had a ball.  Lots of laughs, great weaving and fine baskets.  An excellent day in the shop!

I threw my gear into a packbasket, loaded my vehicle and met Howard at the gate of my hunting club’s property.  We drove miles on a logging road deep in the Adirondacks and had a great day on small brooks.  Many were narrow enough to step across.  The water was stained dark with the tannins from the leaves that drop every fall but the sun was bright and temps were in the high        40′s.  A great day to catch small native brookies (an 8″ fish was a trophy) in these cold spring-fed rivlets.  All the fish had vivid color and fought like whales.

Howard and I had often talked about fishing these spots and how tasty the trout were up here…8 miles from the nearest paved road.  I had packed my camping stove and other gear along with a cooler.

We had fished for a few hours and both were approaching our limit.  We pulled up to still another fair sized brook and prepared to go into full fishing mode once again.  I told Howard to head down the brook to a wider spot and try his luck.  As soon as he headed off, I got all my gear out, set up on the porch of another buddy’s deer camp and went to work on our lunch.

When he returned, I had finished cooking the meal.  I’d brought generous helpings of home fries, I’d  cooked in butter with plenty of onion before I’d left home.  They went into the skillet to warm (with a little more butter,    of course, and plenty of salt and pepper).  Into the second buttered skillet went venison steaks smothered in onions.  I then pushed the warming home fries to one side of the first skillet, threw    in more butter and put in our day’s catch of specks after cleaning them and shaking them all in a plastic bag of seasoned flour. 

By the time Howard returned, the meal was done.  We each had fried brookies, home fries, venison steak done medium-rare, cherry tomatoes from my garden and several slices of homemade bread my wife had baked the day before. 

Last out of the cooler…… were two cold longnecks.  Not being twistoffs, I was glad I had remembered a bottle opener.

As we enjoyed the afternoon, we both agreed that this was one of the best tasting meals we’d ever had. This  brook-side version of a shore dinner in a crisp, colorful October setting capped off a great day in the woods.

As we toasted the deer and fish that made this meal, we clinked the longnecks, sat back and enjoyed the glow of good food, good fishing, beautiful weather, friendship and “Adirondack Surf and Turf”.

Birch Bark Weather Center

 This attractive weather center is 6″ wide and 12” tall. A solid pine blank is covered with birch bark and surrounded by rough sawn pine framing.  This weather center provides the temperature, humidity and barometric pressure with one glance.  Great rustic accent piece!  $65

Birch Bark Inset Clock

This simply crafted, rustic clock is made with birch bark covered pine. It complements the Birch Bark Weather Center very nicely. The same rough sawn pine trim as the weather center and gold toned clock dial trim mirrors the look of the components in the weather station.  This piece is 9″ X 9″.  The clock dial is 4.25″ in diameter.  Clock battery is included.    $45

Birch Bark Lidded Hamper

Constructed from an authentic packbasket, this piece makes for great storage in your camp or in any rustic themed room. Woven with a 15” packbasket pattern, it is topped with a wooden lid covered in birch bark with twig accents. The lid is secured with a brass hinge and has a hardwood knob for easy opening.  It has facsimile web straps with copper rivets and d-ring buckles.  $85

Creel Toilet Paper Holder (double roll)

This is my traditional style fishing creel with a difference! Basket is hand woven of premium reed and is finished in red oak stain. Instead of an oval opening to drop the fish through, as a traditional creel would have, this basket has a slotted pine lid with two spring loader roller assemblies inside that insure smooth delivery of the paper through the slots. Has a leather wall hanger. The solid pine lid is finished with multiple coats of polyurethane, wet sanded, waxed and buffed to a smooth lustrous shine and is secured with a brass hinge and a rawhide thong and peg closure.  A great conversation piece!  $135

Recently, however, after some in-depth conversations with mushroom collectors, I have made some specific modifications for this specialized pack and have gotten a great deal of positive feedback about my design changes.

The mushroom hunting pack now ends up the same size as my canoe pack or my large packbasket but with a few tweaks.  Like the canoe pack, I use the same size base as my medium  packbasket but weave the basket somewhat fuller and shorter.  While I leave the canoe pack fairly wide at the top, I do narrow the top of the mushroom basket more so the opening is smaller than the base.  That way, when you bend to collect your favorite fungi, the mushrooms don’t all spill out on to the ground.  You end up with a fairly large diameter basket about 15″ to 17” tall.  For mushroom collectors who prefer a larger basket, I have also used the same design modifications to my large (21”) packbasket.

Also, rather than use a solid plywood base inside the basket along with the pine exterior shoes (as I do with my regular and canoe packbaskets), I just use two narrow plywood bands inside the basket which simply serve as a way of attaching the pine shoes. This keeps the bottom of the basket mostly open and leaves the spaces between the horizontal and vertical spokes for good air circulation and, since mushrooms should be put in the basket with the gills down, the open spaces in the bottom allow the mushroom spores to fall back into the soil as you move around.  And, you still have the pine shoes to keep the bottom of the pack from direct contact with the ground.

Also like the canoe pack and my standard large pack, the mushroom packbasket has a sturdy ash or oak handle and extra stitching in the rim. This makes the basket easy to carry by the handle for short moves while gathering and greatly improves the basket’s strength.

While the canoe pack has a strap set, it is not intended to be used for carrying the basket; the wooden handle is for that.  The adjustable cinch strap allows the pack to be secured to the thwart of your canoe so it won’t tip over.  By contrast, both of the mushroom packs have a set of regular carry straps which has proven popular as this leaves both hands free when moving from one spot to another in the mushroom woods.

Since mushroom gathering is almost always a group activity, loading the harvested mushrooms into this modified packbasket is easy.  If you keep it on your back, there is no twisting and going into all kinds of contortions to try to get your own harvest into it, just have your picking partner place them into the basket.  Or, if you prefer to remove the pack when you find a field of mushrooms, it’s easy to slip off, set on the ground, fill and slip back on when ready to move to a new spot.

And, since most mushroom gathering is done in dry weather, the necessity of a finish that protects the basket from moisture is lessened somewhat.  A few customers have opted for no finish at all (but the reed can become brittle over time and lose its flexibility and untreated reed will mildew eventually).  Most customers have had me apply my standard mixture of stain and boiled linseed oil (which gives the baskets a nicer appearance and keeps them more flexible as well as moisture resistant).  Still others have chosen to varnish theirs themselves (which protects it well but does sacrifice flexibility as the basket becomes quite rigid).  So, there are several options for the basket’s final finish treatment.

As I’ve found over the years as a weaver, I’m only bound by the constraints of my imagination and the specific needs of a particular basket-user.  This unique, specialized use again shows the versatility and adaptability of the centuries old, basic packbasket design.

PACKBASKET WORKSHOP 

Weave a 17” or a 21” tall basket of premium reed.  Pine shoes, plywood base and ash handle are included.  For beginners as well as weaving “veterans”.  All materials are included and all necessary tools are provided.  You will also receive complete written instructions for applying a finish to     your basket.  Approximate time to complete: 6 to 7 hours.  Bring a snack or lunch for our     noontime break.

Session will also include an ongoing discussion of the history of the packbasket and its eventual role as essential equipment during the opening of the Adirondack Mountain region by the noted guides during the 1800’s and early 1900’s.

Minimum workshop size: 4 participants

Maximum workshop size: 10 participants

Workshop cost:  CCHA Members:

                                      $70.00 for 17” basket

                                       $85.00 for 21” basket

Non-CCHA Members:

                                 $80.00 for 17” basket

                                        $100.00 for 21” basket

 Workshop fee includes adjustable strap set.  Choose from tan, forest green or red.

 $20.00 nonrefundable deposit required. Make Checks Payable to: “ABHD”

Location:  98 Ohio Avenue  Plattsburgh, NY 12903

Date:  Sunday, November 6, 2011

Time: 9am until all are finished (usually between 3 and 4 pm)

Register now at the Clinton County Historical Association – 518-561-0340

Send deposit and basket size choice (17″ or 21″) to the Ohio Ave. address above.

Names like; Adirondack Murray, Alvah Dunning, Mitchell Sabattis, Old Mountain Phelps and others became well known to those seeking a true wilderness experience deep in the Adirondack woods.

This old postcard shows a typical camp set-up.  The main feature was the rustic lean-to which      was kept somewhat warm in colder weather by the fire burning near its open side.  The anglers shown here have hung their days catch of trout.  The three packbaskets carried by the men are prominently featured in the scene.  These packs were most likely made of hand pounded ash splints.

The guides carried most of the supplies needed by their clients.  The packbasket became one of the most essential pieces of the guide’s arsenal of supplies and tools.   The photo below shows  Mitchell Sabattis ( between trees) with two other guides, Farrend Austin and Johnny Keller.  Their clients, often referred to as “sports”, are shown in the foreground.  Their packbaskets again appear in the scene.

These hunting clients were most likely in the woods for several days and were fed, led and protected by the guides who did the cooking      and all other tasks that ensured that the group of “sports”  had a comfortable trip and successful hunt.  Some guides were more     sought after than others; the ability to provide successful hunts      or fishing trips and to      make the whole experience a comfortable and memorable affair varied and some became more in demand than others.

To the more “citified” sports, the guides often appeared to be crude and disheveled.  Again, some more than others.  Orson “Old Mountain” Phelps (shown at the right), for example, is said to have believed that “Soap is a thing that I hain’t no kinder use for.”  Others were his opposite and were considered more “civilized” by the sports.

Guides were considered to be fearless, resourceful and the ultimate woodsmen.  Their principal duties consisted of making camp, cooking, seeing to the comfort and ease of their clients and guiding them to the best fishing and hunting areas so the clients went home with either trophies or stories that spoke of their good time and eventful wilderness adventure.

The packbasket, as seen in the three photos here, was a prominent part of  the tools and gear the guides needed to carry out their duties.  This extraordinary group of men were most at home in     the wilds of the Adirondacks and most clearly enjoyed sharing their passions with visitors to the area.

Adirondack Murray wrote “Adventures in the Wilderness of Camp Life in the Adirondacks” in 1869.  In it, he summed up the philosophy and life of himself and the other Adirondack Guides:  “This wilderness is their home.  Here they were born, here they have lived and here it is that they expect to die.  Their graves will be made under the pines where in childhood they played, and the sounds of wind and wave which lulled them to sleep when boys will swell the selfsame cadences in     requiem over their graves.  When they have passed away, tradition will prolong their virtues and their fame.”

The packbasket helped them, in a small way, to live the life they chose and to succeed in their wilderness tramps and adventures.