Mungo's Canadian Bushcraft

Saturday, April 19, 2008

Edible Backyard Flora

Well it's nice to be able to spend some time outside - now that the weather has turned for the good. I spent much of the morning and afternoon in the backyard - first off I roamed about the backyard with my camera searching for edible flora.

Now, you wouldn't normally figure there would be a lot of plants to eat in a backyard, unless you had a vegetable garden. And I don't - but what I was interested in finding was edible plants within a very small and newly growing lawn. I figure that if I can find them here, then tomorrow when I make it down to the valley, I'll be able to find 10 times the variety down there.

To begin with, this is - I think - wild carrot. Now, I have to be careful.

My Peterson's Guide to Edible Plants in Central/Eastern North America is a great guide. I sat and read it in the sunshine, and tried to memorize as many plants as possible - much more study required though. Regarding the photograph of what I think to be a wild carrot above - there are many phenotypically similar plants that are a) tasty and good for you and b) tasty and tend to cause your liver/kidneys/nervous system/ etc... shut down, and kill you.

The poisonous Fools-Parsley and Poison Hemlock look a lot like Wild Carrot (also known as Queen Anne's Lace). The various growth stages can fool experts. I think I found a wild carrot. Can someone confirm this for me? The white root smells like carrot. I'd rather find a full grown Queen's Anne's Lace - I can make a positive identification from this for sure.

I am better at identifying wild plants than identifying simple backyard herbs. Pathetic. At least I know that this is a herb. It smells nice. I diced some up and added it to a potato/green pepper stirfry I made later that day. My kidneys, my liver, my cerebrospinal fluid and other vital bits of my biological machinery did not shut down, curdle, break apart or melt - this is a safe herb.

The peach tree is beginning to bud, and evidence of last year's crop lays about in the soil. I like the look of peach pits. In a way they remind me of skulls - there is an animal look about them.

Now I am a fan of dandelions. I haven't harvested a bucket full of dandelion roots or made an elaborate salad of young dandelion leaves. But I do pick them when I find them and nibble away on them. They are so young right now, there is hardly any bitterness to them - they taste so fresh and if anything all you need to do is swish them about in a bit of water to get any grit off of them.

Try a couple handfuls of young washed dandelion leaves in your next salad - you'll be surprised how good they are. We think of them as only virulent weeds. But you could be thinking of them as lunch. You can grind and dry the roots and make a flour. You can batter and fry the young flower heads. You can eat the leaves of course, or boil them up to make some cooked greens. You can even roast up the roots to make a chicory/coffee like drink. Mmmm - Starbucks Dandelion Brew.

You can eat violets - the flowers can be tossed on salads - or you can add sugar syrup to them for a fragrant dessert. Sounds kinda weak, I know. But I do like the look of them. I could sit and eat a Mars bar while watching violets. That would be rather nice.

Last year I planted potatoes. I don't know if they are perennial - I am kind of hoping that I'll get a crop without having to plant a new crop. I am so new to having a garden - remember, this is my first spring with a new garden. The condominium only had a large galvanized steel bin full of soil planted with some very green lawn grass. I am thinking that the crack in the ground in the picture above is evidence of a potato expanding beneath the soil and engaging in an active social life - dances, parties, drinking contests, twister, country-dancing - with a whole clique of other potatoes a few inches beneath the surface - all waiting for that day when I heel up the earth with a spade and a fork and discover a bounty of plump potatoes.

Well - hope you enjoyed your day.

Cheers,

Mungo

Thursday, April 17, 2008

Breaking a Habit with a Match Coat

Last night, in lieu of watching television, I got a wool blanket that I had picked up at Value Village for $4.00 and went out into the backyard with a book and the beagle.

I made a quick match coat from the blanket, and read a Tom Clancy book until the light fell and my eyes began to strain. My chair began to feel uncomfortable so I ran downstairs, grabbed a closed-cell foam camping mattress, and brought it outside. Using Monty's toy as a pillow, I lay on the mattress, wrapped in my wool blanket match-coat, watched the stars and the high blinking jet planes track across the dark night sky. Monty sat all cuddled up against me, watching for raccoons and cats.

It was a nice evening, and the stars began to come out in a sky illuminated by a bright gibbous half-moon. I am reminded that I watch too much television, do too little reading, and even less watching the stars these days. I seem to watch TV a lot these evenings, it's become a bad habit of mine. I guess the winter months reinforce the habit. But sitting outside away from the television screen, and reading - well, this is a habit that I would like to develop.

Before I sign off, let me quickly write about match coats. A match coat is a covering made from a single wool blanket. A match coat may have derived its name from robes and blankets made from matching pieces of fabric, stitched together so that they match. Europeans made their match coats from thick wool blankets which were commodities in the early 1600s in North America. An extremely useful item, the wool blanket can be used as a shelter, a sleeping bag, or quickly converted into a 'match-coat' with little more than a sash or a rope, and a wooden pin. I just picked up a thin dead twig from the lawn, smoothed and sharpened it using a small piece of rough stone, and pushed it through both edges of the blanket where I drew it together at the chest. I then used a small piece of garden twine that I found in the grass to secure the pin in place. I could have carved a C-shaped pin from wood and not have needed the twine instead.

The History and Present State of Virginia, in Four Parts
Beverley, Robert, ca. 1673-1722. has a nice illustration (above)

"Figure 1 wears the proper Indian match coat, which is made of skins, dressed with the fur on, sewed together, and worn with the fur inwards, having the edges also gashed for beauty sake. [...] Figure 2 wears the Duffield match-coat bought of the English [...]."

I found a pictorial describing the process. The instructions there are to simply drape the match coat over your head and down your back, with the center of the edge at your forehead - keeping enough to form a bit of a hood in case of inclement weather. Secure the blanket at the the waist with rope, belt, sash, pin, etc., and then form a hood and secure at the chest with pin, stick, etc. Note that you can cover your pack or equipment on your back with the match-coat. As it warms up just drop the blanket off the shoulders.

Dave Canterbury of the Pathfinder Training School on his Wilderness Outfitters Archery web site has a great video entitled One Blanket Tricks demonstrating a match-coat - check out his other videos too:

Cheers,

Mungo

Monday, April 14, 2008

The Action Will Answer Your Questions

Last November I attended a bushcraft course taught at Tim Smith's Jack Mountain Guide & Guide Service in New Hampshire - instructed by both Tim and Mors Kochanski. I read his blog post early this morning and read a perfect distillation of Tim's stance on experiential learning. I'll let his words do the telling (below). I am tempted to show my interest in the Quebec trip he is advertising - I highly recommend his courses.

Focus On Doing

Last summer I guided a trip to northern Quebec where we spent a week with Cree guides David Bosum and Lawrence Capissit. They were born in the bush and have spent their lives living off of the country there. One day one of guys on the trip was asking David some questions about winter trips. David answered a few questions, but as they started to get more involved he said;

“The action will answer your questions.”

People are hungry for knowledge. Our culture has taught us to ask questions until we get verbal answers. But it might not be the best way to learn something. Through the act of doing it and having the experience, many more questions will be answered than could be by a verbal explanation. The hard part, for most modern Americans, is that this way is foreign to them. It’s not how they learned to acquire knowledge in school.

I get a lot of questions about our programs, and about bushcraft and survival and guide training. I often feel like I have a foot in each of two different worlds. I try to answer as many questions as I can, but I know that David was right. If you do it, you’ll know. You’ll know better than anyone could ever tell you. And you’ll know even better if you do it several times.

We’re heading back up to northern Quebec for a canoe and bushcraft trip running August 10-16. If you’re interested, more information is at:

http://www.jackmtn.com/quebec.html

You can also check out the video and photo gallery from the 2007 trip.

cheers,

Mungo

The Action Will Answer Your Questions

Focus On Doing

Last summer I guided a trip to northern Quebec where we spent a week with Cree guides David Bosum and Lawrence Capissit. They were born in the bush and have spent their lives living off of the country there. One day one of guys on the trip was asking David some questions about winter trips. David answered a few questions, but as they started to get more involved he said;

“The action will answer your questions.”

People are hungry for knowledge. Our culture has taught us to ask questions until we get verbal answers. But it might not be the best way to learn something. Through the act of doing it and having the experience, many more questions will be answered than could be by a verbal explanation. The hard part, for most modern Americans, is that this way is foreign to them. It’s not how they learned to acquire knowledge in school.

I get a lot of questions about our programs, and about bushcraft and survival and guide training. I often feel like I have a foot in each of two different worlds. I try to answer as many questions as I can, but I know that David was right. If you do it, you’ll know. You’ll know better than anyone could ever tell you. And you’ll know even better if you do it several times.

We’re heading back up to northern Quebec for a canoe and bushcraft trip running August 10-16. If you’re interested, more information is at:

http://www.jackmtn.com/quebec.html

You can also check out the video and photo gallery from the 2007 trip.

cheers,

Mungo

Sunday, April 13, 2008

Canadian Bushcraft Course - Theory, Fire and Camping Gear

Sorry I haven't been writing much recently - preoccupied with other matters I suppose. My main writing is at Mungo Says Bah, so be sure to drop by and see it.

Here are the final set of pictures that I took at the Bushcraft Course taught by Mors Kochanski at Tim Smith's Jack Mountain Bushcraft & Guide Service in Wolfeboro, New Hampshire that I attended in early November of this year.

Among the various topics that Mors taught was the 'triangle of capability' as it pertains to tools in the bush.

The three aspects that make up the triangle are:

what you know
the tool
the material on which you're working on

To be successful in your application of a tool, you must consider these points: Skill-knowledge, the quality and appropriateness of the tool, and the material upon which you are applying the tool all fit together as you make camp, or undertake survival or living in the woods. I suppose this could apply to everyday life too - or as I practice everyday: project management.

The course was more theory than practicum, which initially surprised me. But in retrospect, and indeed during the course itself, I was most grateful - I suppose I had previously been putting the cart before the horse in my outdoors experiences. Buy a tool, learn to use it, make mistakes, try again. I think learning comes first, application comes second.

Mors Kochanski stresses that we need to develop a knowledge-base, an education, and that we need to focus on the following elements in Bushcraft:

flora
fauna
minerals
technology (of which the following elements are crucial):

fire
bindcraft
shelter
bushcraft

Here is Decado sitting happily by the fire - he had a terrific time as well.

During the classroom time, we discussed the compilation of a survival kit, and learned to ask the main questions:

Is this item crucial to fire, shelter, or food/water? If not, what can I substitute it with? And of course once you have compiled a kit, you need to test it to verify its value. A survival kit is just that: something to allow you to not die. Survival is defined as a situation where there is a severe stress, that if it is not relieved, you die.

A parallel-lay fire kept us warm, as the temperature dipped to minus 2 degrees Celsius at night.

Living in the bush is a different matter entirely, and now we need to consider comfort, long-term sustenance etc... Morale has always been one of my main considerations when camping and I think this is important in both survival and simple camping.

I was able to ignite an ember of true tinder fungus using steel and a piece of chirt (a hard stone like flint). I wrapped it in a tinder bundle of grass and pine-needles and pretty soon I had a fire going. This was an amazing experience. It was the first time I had made a fire without matches or my normal ferrocerium rod, and with just a piece of steel file and a stone, and an orange spark.

Mors stated that if you have been able to tackle the fundamental survival concepts - i.e. if you have everything you need to deal with survival circumstances - "anything that happens to you that is lethal is not your fault". Neat concept to wrap your brain around, I think.

Tim Smith added a valuable point during the teaching to counterbalance all of the theory. He reminded us that "having done is more important than knowing how". I suppose knowledge and experience have to be attained hand-in-hand.

Here is the fire I made, I had scrambled to get my camera to record it for posterity... At least for my own satisfaction and memory! I know. I am a geek.

I won't get into the following list now, but some of the important items in a survival kit are as follows:

properly conceived set of season-appropriate clothing
means for fire
sharp knife that can be sharpened in the field
1st aid kit and mirror (real glass mirror, not one of the plastic ones)
navigation tools - compass, etc...
sleeping bag is 2/3 of the need and mattress comprises the remaining 1/3 of the need
metal pot
shelter
a knowledge of bindcraft
signals (whistle, flare)
more items (saw, axe etc...)
pack

I have had a bad cold this past week, and once it has cleared up I intend to do some day time winter hikes into the woods. Should be fun - a campfire in the pine woods, a hot meal and a hot drink.

My main writing is at Mungo Says Bah, so be sure to drop by and see it.

More posts are here:

Cheers,

Mungo

Saturday, April 12, 2008

Picture Gallery

I was poking through some old pictures - thought I'd share some. Just click the main picture to move on to the next one.

Cheers,

Mungo

Wednesday, April 9, 2008

A New Job, a Root Canal, Slab Bacon and Camping

I haven't posted for a while - it's been quite busy for me. My recent news is that I have started a new job within the organization at which I was already working, as an I.T. manager (I had previously been a project manager). Very exciting, lots of new faces, names, projects, applications and responsibilities.

Spring and I went out for dinner last night, and I suppose in part it was to celebrate the new position. I had smoky ribs and a baked potato with bacon bits on it. Spring had a curried chicken dish. She enjoyed her curry, and the bacon bits on my baked potato were very tasty. And in the spirit of many of my posts, I shall now write a bit about bacon and camping.

Taking normal bacon (streaky or rasher bacon) on camping trips can be a bit messy, I find. It's good when you first open the package, but I'm not sure how long it lasts before it goes off, and if it is warm then I find it gets rather messy and melty. Prior to modern day preservation, campers would not have had the luxury of fresh meats and streaky bacon. I have in the past brought a frozen steak or a frozen package of bacon and devoured it on day one or two. But a pound of bacon is a lot to eat in a short time and so I thought a bit about what I could do to have bacon on a camping trip, without these problems.

Slab bacon is the answer. Slab bacon is a solid chunk of pork belly bacon (belly, as opposed to 'back bacon' which is the loin, the ovoid shape of lean meat in back-bacon - in Canadian Bacon and in center-cut pork chops etc...). It is heavily salted and smoky and nitrate-laden, and has little moisture in it. It can be transported in a single piece. You can cut it with a knife and add chunks to a soup, or cut it in slices and fry it up. Slab bacon generally comes with the rind or the skin on it, and the trick is to slice down the subcutaneous fatty layer and peel the rind off - easier said than done in my experience. You could fry up the rind too and make crunchy crackling too, or hand it to the dog for a long-chewing treat, one for which your dog would be eternally grateful. You can also roast it up by putting a chunk of it on a stick and holding it over a fire for a while.

To prepare the bacon as you might with typical store-bought rasher bacon, you might want to remove some of the salt by putting some slices in the frying pan with some water - and then pouring out the water once it has cooked a little bit.

My mouth is watering just thinking about it. To store and transport it you can wrap the bacon in cheesecloth and put it in a paper bag - it will transport easily and safely in warm weather. It would probably be best not to store it in a plastic bag or container as you should let it breathe a bit - the salty bacon is hygroscopic, i.e. all that salt attracts moisture from the air. I'd be comfortable transporting slab bacon on a camping trip for at least a week at ambient temperatures. In a pinch you could eat it without cooking, as it is fully cured - it just wouldn't be all that appetizing.

My mouth might be watering now, but last week is was sort of dribbling as the local anaesthetic began to wear off after one of my teeth had a root canal. Some time ago one of my molars that had a filling in it decided to crack a little, and to allow the oral flora that hang around in my mouth (oh yes, and yours and your friends' mouths) access to the fleshy, pulpy, vascularized and enervated center of the tooth. Eventually I developed symptoms of this infection which included sharp electric pains, dull throbbing intense pains and concomitant moaning, groaning, thrashing, hair-pulling and the occasional release of tears. I was unable to chew much of anything, and could only drink liquids if they were not too cold and not too warm. Analgesic tablets only did so much for the pain. So - no bacon for me.

After urging my dentist to hurry up with a specialist appointment, I got in and had the procedure. The procedure itself was quite painless and all went well. I have a temporary filling in there now, and in a couple of weeks my regular dentist is going to prepare the tooth for a crown. Once that is ready, I will again be ready to eat some bacon.

Cheers,

Mungo