A few years ago I discovered a lovely little hobby called letterboxing! It started in England in 1854 and was introduced to America via the Smithsonian
Magazine in 1998.
As a hunter of a letterbox, I carry a log book, a signature stamp (usually hand carved), ink, and the clues. As a planter, I need a waterproof container, a stamp, a logbook, and a decent location. Many have said, "Oh, like geocaching!" No, better in my opinion!
You get to use your brains as you hunt for the box, not just get
led there with GPS. You get to find a waterproof container, not with just bits of "junk" for trade, you get to find, usually, hand carved bits of
art! I SAID
ART!
There can be a bit of nuance, but the most important is leave nature as you found it or better (not trampled or littered), re-hide the box to ensure that it's not found by someone who is
NOT looking for it (even if that means that you leave it better than you found it), and be
STEALTHY!
I know of boxes that are within walking distance of my house in the
city and I know of boxes that you have to walk 15miles after finding the trail head half way up the mountain to get, some even need more skills than the average person has, like diving equipment...
Some folks can't get out of their house for health reasons or harsh seasons or they live in a letterbox 'desert', so they've even started sending them through the post, "postals" of
course. Hitchhikers are smaller sets of stamp&logbook that when found in a letterbox, you nab it and take it to the next letterbox you visit (unless it's got a tricky rule, like only boxes with an animal theme! I've got one working it's way to San Jose, CA from Tacoma, WA and it's made it all the way to Georgia, not the most direct route!)
You can learn more about it at
Atlas Quest
Paul may even like to check out the site as a computer guy, it's run by a computer geek who likes to hike and his forums, etc are pretty awesome. He lives in Seattle and every now and again pizza brings us together.
He has a map that shows the location based on the "planter's" info, some very specific, some general. Made me think how awesome a map of
permaculture sites would be, especially for those who are looking to buy,
sell, or rent a
permaculture property. (permiesrealestate.com hehe)
If I think that no one has read this last bit with the map idea, I may re-post it some time.
Atlasquest has a
gardening forum and I will post about permies.com over there.
P.S. Clover is a play on my name and Love
is my last name. I do it because I share my name with a notorious person.
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