Our world was wet with dew.
That hard rain we got Thursday
evening put a good dampening on fire making resource material. I built a smoking fire down in the bottom to chase the mosquitoes across the property
line, got what I needed together for the class, then sat around waiting for the
guys to show up.
I enjoy spending time with them.
There is a lot of personal reward involved here that pretty much defies
description … one of those old dog
teaching young pups new things. The stretch in their ages makes for some
interesting teaching dynamics.
It stretches me and that is good exercise. I joke that working with these pups is what keeps me young looking.
Repetition is part of the class.
Constructing shelter … making fire … handling and using basic tools like knives,
folding saws, and axes … developing proficiency and efficiency … building
confidence.
Rote.
It is how we learned the
alphabet.
It is how we learned arithmetic.
It is how we embed things in our
minds so that recall and recitation happens in an instant.
Our time together is an
opportunity for the guys to practice. It is an opportunity for me to observe
them doing, show again where necessary, and introduce something new as we go
along.
Steps. Simply taking steps at a
casual yet calculated pace.
The mosquitoes? As long as you
stayed in some smoke they left you alone. Move out of the smoke and they honed
in pretty quick. One of the guys commented about the mosquitoes. I told them to
come with me and I would show them something provided by nature to deal with
the mosquitoes.
Here you go guys. This is the Wax
Myrtle.
I pulled a handful of leaves,
rolled them around in my hands crushing them, and rubbed the crushed leaves on
my arms, backs of my hands, and face explaining that the Native Americans in
this part of the world used the Wax Myrtle as a natural insect repellent.
Once that impromptu lesson was
over I had the guys build their shelters then work together to construct a
cooking fire that would cook their noon meal.
Whittling.
It is part of the class. I had
shown them once before how to make a pot hanger from a branch and had them
watch again as I whittled one for my cook pot. I adjusted its length so my pot
was at the desired height over my fire. Close enough to catch the heat but not so
close that it would make a mess of things.
Then it was their turn to whittle
their pot hangers and get their pots hanging over their fire.
On the menu?
I told them it was dog at first.
Showed it to them. Then told them
it was some deer jerky I had made. We were going to cook up some deer stew for
our noon meal.
Easy recipe for the trail that
packs light and takes up little room … jerky, dehydrated mixed vegetables,
rice. Add a little salt and crushed red pepper to the pot with the jerky. Let
it simmer for a half hour. Add a handful of the dehydrated vegetables. Let that
simmer 15 minutes. Add a handful of rice and let that simmer another 15
minutes. What you have as a finished product is a heck of a meal.
Handful?
Sure. It is small, medium, or
large.
I have mentioned them several
times over the course of our classes. Time for a pop quiz. While our noon meal
was simmering over the fire I asked the guys if they could tell me what the
Rules of 3 are.
That one had not quite stuck with
them.
3 minutes without air.
3 hours without shelter.
3 days without water.
3 weeks without food.
Reiterating the Rules of 3 gave
me an opportunity to talk about priorities and utilizing the contents of our
kits.
It also gave me an opportunity to
talk about SALT … how especially in our normally hot environment we need to
intake salt … how to procure salt from salt water … and how to extract salt
from the roots of hickory trees. I know of only 1 hickory tree in our general
area but we have multiplied thousands of pecan trees. Pecans are members of the
hickory family.
How did the stew turn out?
It was flat fit to eat.
