Footloose Forays is a small travel business begun in 1983 while I was still in graduate school at San Francisco State University. It has grown slowly and organically through the intervening years. I have taken over 10,000 people on various natural history outings ranging from 4-hour night hikes on Mt. Tam to three week adventures in Ecuador. I have enjoyed nearly every minute of this work. The Buddhists refer to the importance of right livelihood and I have been lucky enough to find that. I lead every single trip. Footloose Forays = Michael Ellis. I have no staff except when I enlist my lovely wife to help me. I have a very high repeat business and most trips fill up way in advance. One of the many blessings is the lovely relationships that I have with my fellow naturalists all over the world.
Currently I am concentrating on international travel and only offer a few of my favorite Footloose Forays trips in this country, mostly week-long camping in the mountains or deserts. If any of these trips interest you please feel free to contact me.
In addition to my own natural history forays, I often lead trips for a number of Bay Area organizations. I have a BS in Botany and Masters in Marine Biology. Though I firmly believe that formal schooling is only a small part of the educational process. I have been a regular contributor to the KQED-FM Perspective Series since 1988 and write the Ask the Naturalist column for Bay Nature Magazine.
May, 2012
Hello:
I am off to Bhutan until May 28th and out of
email range. YEA!! There are now
two openings in the Baja trip next March and two openings in the second
Tanzania trip next February. Plenty of room in all the BIRDS X 3 trips. Lakes
Basin and the Great Basin National Park camping trips this summer are wait list
only.
On
a personal note my son, Hunter, graduated from Lewis and Clark in Portland
(summa cum laude) with a degree in Ancient Greek Literature. He will be with me in Thailand, Bhutan
and Belize. What a rare delight for a father to be able to spend this kind of
time with his grown son. It is much appreciated by me.
Take
care and enjoy the beautiful days of spring. Below is my latest Perspective for
KQED, San Francisco’s NPR station.
Perspective
By Michael Ellis
SOAPROOT
There is a plant that the
native California Indians use that really reminds me of that old Saturday night
live commercial from years ago.
“Try New Shimmer! It is a
dessert topping. No it’s not it is a floor wax, a dessert topping, no a floor
wax…whoops!! Clumsy me!! WOW look at that shine and you know it tastes so good
too!”
Wavy leaved Soap root, a
member of the lily family, is quite common in grasslands and open woodlands throughout
northern California. The leaves are long and strap like with curly margins. The scientific name is Chlorogalum
pomeridianum. The latter name means flowers that open in the late
afternoon, also called vespertine flowers (like the vesper choir). Mostly
bumblebees pollinate them.
As the common name indicates
you can make soap from the root. Crush the bulb, mix with water and presto –
lather. This lather not only cleaned your hands and washed your hair but also
was used to catch fish! These same suds could be put into slow moving streams
where it interfered with oxygen transport across the gill membranes and
stupefied the fish. They would float up to the surface and be easily collected.
The fibrous hairs that surround the bulb were made into brushes and combs. There
was even glue made from the bulb that attached feathers to arrows. The bulb
itself was slow roasted and eaten. Poultices made from the bulb relieved the
pain from sores and skin irritations from poison oak and was said to cure
rheumatism. The young leaves could
be eaten raw and the older tougher leaves were used to wrap acorn mush into so
it could be cooked directly on the fire.
“ Try new soaproot.. It is a
fish poison; no it’s a roasted vegetable. It is a hairbrush, no it’s glue. Wow
this fish tastes good; my hair is so clean, my aches and pains gone, my
feathers never fall off now. YES new Soap Root it is everything you’ve always
wanted in one California wild plant.”
This is Michael Ellis with a Perspective.
For the original SNL
commercial
http://www.hulu.com/watch/61320/saturday-night-live-shimmer-floor-wax
