Here at Two Leaves and a Bud we refer to this month as NOLSvember, in honor of the National Outdoor Leadership School. We live in the mountains and environmental stewardship is extremely important to us, and our CEO/Founder served as a NOLS instructor for several years. Did you know that we have linked our Alpine Berry herbal tea with NOLS? Glance at a box of Alpine Berry sachets, and you'll discover that one percent of annual sales of this tea contributes to a NOLS scholarship.

But wait, there's more: This year NOLS is celebrating its 50th anniversary! In 1965 it was a mountaineer named Paul Petzoldt who decided to train leaders and teach people about caring for the environment, as well as creating competent wilderness travelers and providing young people with a chance for real adventure. So on June 8 of that year at the base of the Wind River Range in Wyoming, he issued the first NOLS students their food and gear, and they embarked upon a month in the mountains.

For five decades now, NOLS has been teaching students how to work as a team, practice technical skills, communicate effectively and be confident leaders. The school's grads have returned to their home communities as business leaders, engaged citizens and dedicated stewards of the land.

We want to make sure you feel great about supporting a scholarship for someone to have that sort of incredible experience when you sip Alpine Berry! We picked that tea because with its distinct flavors of hibiscus, blackberry and citrus, it reminds us of a ramble through the mountains, and is the perfect tea to sip by a campfire, or iced when it's hot out.

What could you pair with Alpine Berry? Well, just about anything, but anniversary celebrations seem to cry out for baking a cake so ... how about a recipe for chocolate cake that you could actually make around the campfire?

(Baked in an orange. How awesome is that?!)

Campfire Chocolate Cake

Ingredients:

10 oranges

1 pre-prepared chocolate cake mix (boxed would be just fine. You're camping.)

Directions:

• Cut the tops off the oranges and scoop out the pulp.
• Fill the oranges three-quarters of the way with the chocolate cake batter (or cake mix) of your choice, then put the orange tops back on and wrap each orange in aluminum foil.
• Place directly onto the smoldering coals of the campfire, avoiding any intense flames, and cook for about 30 minutes, turning once or twice.
• Unwrap and enjoy with a cuppa' Alpine Berry!

(Thanks to www.chowhound.com for this amazing recipe.)