Foraging Series - Keeping The Biting Bugs Off

It’s that time of the year along the lower coast.

MOSQUITO SEASON!

The mosquito hatch generally starts here in March. Early March if February was a mild month. It’s not a prolific hatch but they’re out and about doing what the blood suckers do. As the daytime and nighttime mercury readings rise so does the volume of mosquitoes. If we stayed out in the sun in the open we’d rarely notice them. Move to the shade to cool off and they swarm us. The biting boogers, in the cool of the evening, seem to find you no matter where you are.

The closer you are to the damps and bogs the more exacerbated the mosquito problem is … though one source that I read years ago mentioned that mosquitoes do not need standing water in their propagation process – any piece of damp earth, pile of damp leaves, or damp lawn is sufficient for the larvae to mature to fly their way to you.

They are … at the least … aggravating.

They can be a lot worse than aggravating considering the infectious diseases they are capable of carrying. Some of these diseases have been fairly well eliminated through vaccinations and other control means in this country. Others have a way of coming along that pose serious health threats. Like this Zika thing that has found its way here.

Several years ago, on my way to Point Clear to do a lawn for a lady, I picked up a fellow that was hitch hiking.

It was a really hot summer day and he looked like he needed some help. His foot powered locomotion was labored. He looked harmless enough so I pulled over and offered him a ride. He told me, on the short ride to his house, why he was in the physical shape he was in. It was on account of a mosquito bite. Eastern Equine Encephalitis.

Mosquitoes, in less developed countries, pose a much larger health threat than they do here in the United States. Here, for the most part, they are an annoyance that creates a good case of the itches. The smart thing to do is to keep something handy that repels the little blood suckers.

I am not a fan of products containing DEET. I was when it came onto the market. DEET works. No doubt about it. Mosquitoes don’t like it. Ticks don’t like it. DEET, in fact, kills ticks. Then I saw first-hand what DEET does to synthetic materials and plastics … things like the wasted away steering wheel in a truck owned by a turkey hunting friend and that pair of snake boots of mine that were ruined. DEET is potent stuff. I’ll use DEET only if there is nothing else available.

REPEL makes a natural product that is effective against mosquitoes. Cheap dryer sheets rubbed on your exposed skin and clothes are effective. I’ve used Avon Skin So Soft as a remedy against them. I can’t vouch for the effectiveness of Sawyer’s Permethrin used to treat clothing as a mosquito deterrent. It does seem to work for repelling ticks. I’ve used it a couple of seasons in the hunting woods. The highly refined Permethrin supposedly attaches itself to the clothing and lasts for eight weeks and multiple launderings.

There are numerous recipes to be found with a Google search that allows a person to concoct their own natural repellents using essential oils. Ole Nessmuk had his own recipe that he included in his book. I’ve never cooked it up but have always wanted to sample it.

The smart thing … being prepared before we go out … is the best course to take. The smart thing, however, doesn’t always work out like it should.

What do we do then … short of building a smoky fire and staying in the smoke?

We use what’s available in our natural surroundings.

Wax Myrtle leaves, when crushed and rubbed on exposed skin, makes a fairly good mosquito repellent.

Wax Myrtle, also known as Southern Bayberry, grows in climate zones 7 through 11. It is abundant here where we are. Most of us see it every day and have no idea about what it is and what it will do for us. I’ve used it numerous times as a mosquito repellent.

This also happens to be a multi-use plant.

The Wax Myrtle berries can be harvested and boiled to extract the scented wax to use in candle making. Aroma therapy is always a good thing. I can’t help but to wonder about the effectiveness of these scented candles in regard to repelling mosquitoes. 

Looks like I’ll be harvesting Wax Myrtle berries this year and dabbling in candle making this winter.

The leaves of the Wax Myrtle can also be used as seasoning in place of bay leaves.

I’ve not cooked with it yet but do have a few leaves picked to do a culinary experiment with.

I would be curious to hear from folks that have experimented with the Northern Bayberry.

American Beautyberry is an effective natural mosquito repellent.

I find it to be quite a bit more effective than Wax Myrtle.

Simply crush the leaves and rub them on exposed skin.

I’ve read some articles on research being done on Beautyberry. It’s quite impressive. What has been discovered in the research is that three different elements in the plant combine to create a compound that not only effectively deters mosquitoes but also deters ticks. One article that I read a year or so ago stated that this compound is as effective as DEET in deterring ticks.

It will be a long time, if it ever comes along, before a product containing this finding discovered in folklore is marketed. There are A LOT of steps and finances involved in getting something like this approved. Knowing about this plant, and having done the experimental archaeology with it, means there is no waiting for approval.

The ripe magenta colored berries are also edible. Tasting them is still on my bucket list.

I need to make a statement here … something of a DISCLAIMER.

This statement applies to all that I have already written, will write, have shared in YouTube videos, and will share in video format.

Make sure that you can positively identify wild growing vegetation before you experiment with it. I assume no responsibility or liability for errors in your identification, judgment, or physical conditions that may result in any kind of allergic reaction.

Having said that, let me say this …

Don’t be afraid to do some experimental archaeology. Have fun with it. Take your time with it. Sample with small bites and build from there.

Knowledge is a powerful tool. Knowledge plus experience is always a powerful team.

Foraging The Coastal Plain Region - Introduction

My outdoor involvement, whether teaching skills classes or simply getting out there to piddle and wander, has been quite limited over the past six months.

Personal priorities came into play. 

Nothing over the course of these months has been more important than helping Shirli through two knee replacement surgeries. The first one was back in November. A week ago she had the second replacement done. Those new knees, as drawn out and painful as the process is, are an important step in our progress in the direction we are traveling toward some important goals.

Foremost, in our goals, is for her to be able to get back out doing the outdoors stuff that she loves to do … outdoor stuff that she and I have always enjoyed doing together as a team as a normal part of our lifestyle … stuff that two excruciating knees have kept her from for far too long now.

There’s quite a bit of personal reorientation going on as we prepare for our retirement adventure that includes a move inland away from the hustle and bustle that surrounds us here where we’ve spent the past dozen years.

I have made the statement before.

More than once.

It is a statement that bears repeating again.

I am not an authority on wild edibles. I have, however, made an intentional point … over the course of several years of time … of learning to recognize and utilize a fair number of the seasonal wild edibles that we have here in this Alabama coastal plain region that touches the Gulf of Mexico.

Now that I have taken the time and keystrokes to repeat myself, I can thus get on with what I am doing here in this blog article.

Ma Nature is a wonderful mother. She is a beautiful mother. She is a diverse mother. Her diversity provides absolutely everything that we need to sustain human life. She is, at the same time, a strict mother and will give us a good spanking if we don’t learn her lessons or fail to pay attention to her changing moods.

It has been, and continues to be, somewhat of a personal quest.

Partly because it is such an interesting personal study. Partly because it seems like the natural thing to do. Partly because of the peace of mind and personal assurance that comes with knowing I can supplement my diet with wild edibles on any given day or depend upon them as a resource in the event the need arises in some sort of dire situation.

It is … in the school of the woods … a quest that has no end. It is a quest replete with many points of arrival … many discoveries … many moments of personal confidence building.

One of the things I have not done … and something that this life-season Shirli and I are in affords me opportunity to do … is to prepare something of a syllabus cataloging and outlining these local wild edible and medicinal plants … those that are already familiarly tucked away in my gray matter mainframe and those yet waiting for familiarization … that are abundant in our area.

Some of these are native.

Some of these are naturalized.

Some were here all along. Others came from points elsewhere with the explorers, pilgrims, and planters. Some of them are peculiar to the area. Others have a range that exceeds our regional limitations.

The important thing, whether native or naturalized, is knowing them and knowing what to do with them.

 Tag along, if you'd like, as we explore what we have around us.

Focus and Change in Direction

Focus.

It has to do with seeing everything in the peripheral while at the same time concentrating on an objective. It has to do with taking everything into consideration in order to determine and maintain a desired … or perhaps necessary … course.

Being able to focus … and maintain focus … is one of the ingredients necessary in making it through survival situations that pose the potential to inflict harm or end physical life.

There’s more to it though.

This business of focusing has a definite application to life in general. Making the application, in whatever circumstance or arena, involves having enough personal fluidity to be able to accept presented conditions without being controlled by those presented conditions.

There are a couple of built in levels that come to mind when I consider focusing. There is a lot more to them than addressed here. Time and space allows for only a brief summary in this blog article.

The first is evaluation.

There is a lot to continually consider.

One day in a wilderness setting presents a multitude of variables … variables that will either assist in the venture or go hard on the adventurer. What, for some, appear as hardships can, for others, work as helpers provided there is a skills and knowledge frame of reference to work from that allows for personal fluidity and adaptability …  a frame of reference that also directs us away from or around potential hazards.

Without this team of skills and knowledge working for us, our evaluations are apt to lead us into dire straits that worsen our condition.

The natural world has its own inherent set of rules that govern it. Learning those rules and finding our role within the perimeters set by those rules is a challenging proposition for modern folk so far removed from them in their daily lives.

The second is discipline.

There is no success, unless it is accidental or Providential success, in anything on its own. The onus, when it comes right down to it, is on us as individuals.

Discipline is a matter of personal devotion to a course and a commitment of time to it … regardless of the course or course content … whether it is wilderness survival or piloting a space shuttle to the space station.

Acquiring a few tools and learning about a few skills are simple. Becoming proficient and efficient with those tools and skills is another matter altogether … one that involves a lot more from an individual than taking a class or watching videos.  

Getting a fire going, even for a novice in the woods, can be a relatively easy thing to do on a fair weather day. Today? With all the woodland resources soaking wet from these days of rain? With rain coming down by the buckets adding wet to wet and rivers of water running on flat ground? These conditions present a Bring Your A Game day that can be prepared for only by advanced preparations and discipline to dress rehearsals in miserable conditions.

A change in direction?

Changes?

Definitely.

I am not entirely certain of what all the changes will be now that I am officially retired from the hamster wheel. I am still slowly fleshing all that out in my mind but, at this point, it’s still a skeleton. There are definitely some serious interests to pursue that involve, in a fuller way, personally practicing skills that I know, learning more, and living more fully these woodcraft and self-reliance skills.  

Our next major steps are to get Shirli on the back side of her second knee replacement surgery that is coming up in a few weeks and then finish up this matter of relocating to Somewhere In The Woods, USA.

There are also woods waiting to be wandered, new trees waiting to be seen, creeks waiting to be fished, and camps waiting to be spiked.

Who knows?

There may even be a Go-Pro in the big picture.

Stay tuned. There's more to come!

Wild Edibles - Smilax

Let me begin with a disclaimer.

I am not an expert or authority on the subject of wild edibles.

When it comes to this business of being an expert or authority on anything … I make no personal claims.

Experienced?

Yes.

I am, in a number of areas, fairly experienced and have been garnering and building upon these experiences for a good long time. I will also, where my own repertoire of experiences is concerned, be the first to admit that there are a lot of people that have more experience and know a lot more than I do about the things of which I write in these blog articles.

I do, with a sense of being careful and exercising as much integrity and due diligence as possible, make it a practice to always continue learning something about how to get along in the particular natural environment that surrounds me. This environment is, after all, the one that will either offer its support or observe my demise on account of my knowledge or my ignorance.

We do not co-exist with the natural environment. No. The natural environment can hang on its own hook without us. It can also, in time, recover itself from all the damage we do to it if we would only leave it alone long enough to do its natural thing. The opposite is not true. We humans cannot exist without the surrounding natural world that supports us. We are, as human beings, totally dependent upon the natural world. Total dependence is a far cry from co-existence!

I do not remember where I read the statistic regarding percentages. It’s one of those seeds that settled into my memory at some point. Of all the vegetation growing in the natural world only three or four percent of it is edible. Quite a lot of the larger 96 or 97 percent will not only give you a bad gut but it can also kill you. This only, when you consider the vast diversity of vegetation in the natural world, amounts to a lot of only.

Being familiar with some of the only can make a difference in being able to stretch things out and get along better in the food department during a short-term situation. Having this familiarity can mean the difference between life and death in a long-term situation. These two reasons would be enough.

I find another reason though … learning.

The school of the woods has a vast curriculum. One that is so exhaustive that not one among us has time enough to learn everything it has to teach.

A cram course in survival skills can be taught in a weekend. I’m not knocking cram courses. They are a good thing considering they introduce folks to certain skills and tools that possess the potential to help them get along in a bad situation. I can and do host these courses when there is interest and commitment. The problem I find with cram courses is that folks can go away afterward thinking they are ready for the big exam when, in fact, all they’ve learned to do is hack a rough point on their pencil.

Smilax is one of our readily available wild edibles and one well worth our attention.

I graze on it raw during the active growing months. It can also be cooked as a vegetable or added raw to salads.

The tips, tendrils, and tender young leaves are edible. I find it difficult to describe the taste of wild edibles. It’s kind of like trying to tell someone what a frog or a raccoon tastes like when they’ve never tasted them. Things have their own particular taste and it is really unfair to compare everything wild to things domestic or cultivated. But, for lack of a better description, I’ll go along with what others say about the taste of smilax … something of a cross between a green bean and asparagus.

I’ve also dug and chewed a few of the small roots. The roots get woody and tough. It’s hard for our systems to digest woody fibers.

It’s the starch that we are after in the roots ... something that can be added to soups as a thickener.

I have never, until yesterday, did any real experimental archaeology with smilax roots. Shirli and I dug this one yesterday in the yard. This one is really still on the small side. These root masses can grow as large as a bushel basket. I processed one small tuber in about a pint of water on the stove for twenty minutes or so then poured what turned into a soft jelly-like substance through a strainer.

How does the soft jelly-like substance taste?

It is rather bland with a smilax taste.

There are a lot of other elements in the smilax root as well. Some of them are considered medicinal. Studying up on smilax makes for interesting reading.

DISCLAIMER ... There are numerous manuals, websites, and youtube videos on wild edibles. Be certain of your identification before eating anything wild. Also, go about experimenting with wild edibles SLOWLY and keep a record of what you are experimenting with. If you have an allergic reaction, you (or someone that finds you) will have a clue as to what your condition is related to. Be advised, I am not responsible or liable for errors in your plant identification or personal judgment. 

Shave Horse Project - Getting Started

This project was not occupying my mind at the time. It’s one that’s been an interest for quite a long time now. It has, in fact, been an interest for years. Time, and matters that seemed to take priority, have always been the issues that would run interference where tackling the project was concerned.

I was not looking for a hunk of wood for a project. I was on a firewood gathering errand for that retirement-birthday soiree Shirli has scheduled for me to attend next month … the one that coincides with my 62nd birthday and this thing called retirement.

I put the oak on the ground. By the time I sawed my way to the log I had all I cared to haul across some rough spots before I would be back onto good level ground with the truck. My plan was to return the next day, saw the log into firewood lengths, then haul it home and split it for the woodpile.

The plan changed when I got back to the log the next day and started looking it over. A good four feet at the small end was straight and without any serious knots. A good four feet at the larger end was also straight and without any serious knots. The six or so feet between the ends had some knots and qualified as firewood. I stood there studying on the log and hatched an alternative plan that would utilize the smaller end section to construct a rustic shave horse. The larger end section? I may split it and make a couple benches from it.

I used my chainsaw to rip the log in half. This is the last time a non-human powered tool is used on this project. 

I’ve built a lot of stuff over the years using an assortment of tools associated with several trades. Carpentry tools. Masonry tools. Tools used in shipbuilding and repair. No. My name isn’t Jack. I’m not quite as diversely skilled as him but I have developed quite a repertoire of skills over the years of scratching out a living.

I’ve bought a lot of tools over the years to utilize in these areas and still have a good assortment of them. A good many years ago I started selectively collecting “old school” tools at estate sales, yard sales, flea markets, and wherever I could find them without paying an arm and a leg for them … tools that require no power other than human power to operate them. 

The adz is an old heirloom from the farm that I laid claim to. It was sitting on a concrete floor rusting away. It's got some deep pits but the cutting edge is still solid and takes a good edge.

As electrically powered tools give up the ghost I simply reach back in time, pull out its predecessor, and press it into service. The non-electrical versions are not unfamiliar to me. I became quite familiar with them as a child growing up on the farm. It’s what we had and what we used day in and day out.

Removing the bark with an antique draw knife that I picked up somewhere along the way. I'm working off the bark and outer growth ring. Sharp. I once learned that it's smart to wear leather gloves when working with one of these.

From time to time, if you take your time, you can happen across some good old tools that need a little cleaning up and TLC to put them back into good condition. The alternative to going the slow route is to shell out a lot of cash for new human powered tools. 

Good new tools are expensive. 

Cheap ones are more often just that. 

Cheap. 

The quality is poor, they are a bane to work with, and they just don’t hold up well for the long haul.

I used an old axe head to get the split started. Wood wedges and a maul did the rest of the job of splitting off a plank.

Why this project?

One of the reasons for this project has to do with my interest in keeping history alive in a world where the past is easily forgotten and replaced with all the modern “flip the switch” conveniences associated with life in modernity. There is a broad learning curve where tools and processes are concerned. There is a lot of learning where particular natural materials and how they behave are concerned.  A large part of the learning involves space within my own personal interior life … an area that can always stand some improvement.

Crafting. Add whatever prefix you prefer to the beginning of the word. A major part of this crafting, for me anyway, is about being able to take some raw material from the surrounding environment and process it into a functioning product that will serve a purpose. Process. There’s not much self-reliant process in going to the store or ordering a readymade product off the internet.

Another reason has to do with uncertainty and the issue of personal preparedness in this modern world where uncertainty seems to be the only real certainty. Possessing the skills and tools to return to an 18^th Century lifestyle simply makes sense to me.

The wood is still too green to plane well but I worked on the two pieces a little with the old Stanley to clean them up some. 

The Art of Self-Reliance - Deer Bone Soup

I remember when I was a kid growing up on the farm.

We raised practically everything that we ate. Money was always in short supply where our small hardscrabble farming family was concerned. Spending money was scarce. Food wasn’t. Though we were some of the poorest of the poor in our community, I never once missed a meal. Meat was always on the table. When it started running low in the freezer we loaded something up and took it to the slaughterhouse.

One of the things that stands out in my memory is that even the bones came home with us when the processing had been done. Those packages were labeled “Soup Bones” and soup, with biscuits, corn bread, or, if my mom had time, yeast bread on the side made for many a winter meal for us.

One of my objectives, where subsistence hunting as a part of self-reliance is concerned, is to utilize as much as possible from the animals that I kill. I feel like I owe it to the animals. In fact, I was telling Shirli the other day that if we didn’t need the meat I wouldn’t kill another deer. I would still sit in the woods and watch them. But, for the two of us, these deer feed us in the same way those domestic animals fed our family when I was a kid growing up. Similar self-reliant way of life. Different animals. Different feedlots.

This is the first year to cook deer bones.

I’m pretty good with a sharp blade. There’s honestly not a lot left on those bones when I’m finished with the blade work. Regardless of my efficiency with a blade, there is always some meat left on those bones. Until this year I would simply haul them to the farm and contribute them to the diet of the possums, coons, buzzards, and coyotes. I have, for years, felt bad about that. Not feeding the critters. Deep inside of me I knew I wasn’t getting all I could from those bones in the nutrition department.

Down through the ages folks used those bones in their diets. Why am I not doing the same today?

So, rather than tossing them into a bucket to go to the farm, once the major meat was off them and in the sink, the bones went into the big pot. Once all the bones were in the pot I set it on the stove to simmer while I finished all the steak slicing, burger grinding, vacuum bagging, and moving finished products to the freezer. Then I let them simmer some more. I suppose they spent around three hours on the stove doing the simmering thing.

Those bones? I picked a pound or better of nice lean meat from them and added the meat to the 3 quarts of nutrition rich stock that resulted from those hours of simmering.

Diced an onion, 3 large carrots, and about 2 cups of celery for the pot.

Seasonings of salt, coarse black pepper, a little garlic powder, and about a dozen drops of liquid smoke. Once the vegetables were cooked I stirred in a cup of rice and set the timer for 14 minutes.

Deer bones? As the primary animal matter in a soup or stew?

I’ll tell you this.

I can’t think of a good reason why I should ever haul a bucket of deer bones to the farm to feed the critters again.

Oh. I figured some bread would go good with the deer bone soup so I made a pan of molasses muffins to go along with it.

Molasses muffins?

My own recipe.

But that’s a recipe for another day.

Self-Reliance ... A Weird Lifestyle

One of the fastest ways to start an argument in the woodcraft-bushcraft-survival community is to get into a discussion about tools. Particularly a discussion about knives and axes … which ones to carry and what or what not to do with them. There are a few more carry item discussions that can invoke quick arguments.

I’ve been engaged in a few of those discussions and have learned to avoid them.

Let me be so bold as to say something here about kits and the items that make a kit.

You can build an entire, good, usable carry kit for the cost of 1 fancy knife or 1 Swedish axe or 1 oil cloth tarp or 1 fancy pack to carry all that you will normally carry on your person … despite all the well-intentioned amateur reviews on youtube and despite all the slick marketing techniques of manufacturers and marketers that enjoy our hard earned dollars rolling in.

Now don’t get me wrong.

I’m not intentionally poking anyone in the eye with a stick. I’m not downing any of the toys that folks are playing with. Folks can purchase and use anything they want.

I’m just saying. I’m just trying to keep it real. Especially for the common person clawing and scratching their way with a limited amount of cash in their budget … for folks that don’t have $300.00 to throw at the latest knife that has pretty two-tone scales.

Pardon me for saying so, but I think that … and mind you this is just my personal perspective … when it comes right down to it, a lot of people are missing the boat when it comes to this issue of self-reliance.

The last thing I want to do is to delude anyone into thinking that having a 10-plus piece kit, along with the knowledge and skills to use the items in their kit, is going to make them self-reliant or turn self-reliance into an easy project. A good kit makes for some great outdoor weekend adventures. A good kit can turn an otherwise bad short-term situation into an adventure. Self-reliance, however, as a lifestyle … particularly a lifestyle in a long-term situation whether it is chosen or SHTF … involves a lot more than a kit that can easily be assembled and pressed into service over the course of a weekend.

In this lot is a total mindset change and the psychological adjustments that accompany it. This change and these adjustments are not purchased from any tool vendor. This change and these adjustments are in our psyche. They are reasoned, sought out, fought for, and earned every step of the way. Folks that surround us, folks that we have to do with on a normal daily basis, are ok with what we are doing as long as we are hobbying around with this woodcraft-bushcraft thing. They are good with it as long as we are dabbling in areas of self-reliance.

Their impressions of us begin to change drastically when our hobbying around begins to take on the appearance of a genuine lifestyle. We become weird to normal folks. Our circle of true friends and associates goes through a shrinking process. Partly because our priorities change. Partly because a lot of friends and associates cannot accept or handle the change in our personal priorities. We simply do not fit into their social scheme of things and discover ourselves, for lack of a better word, ostracized.

They move on.

We move on.

I’m not sure who coined the phrase. 

It’s one that sounds good. It’s one that holds some truth. It’s also one that has become something of a standard cliché in the woodcraft-bushcraft community, one that is thrown around a lot in the tool and skills department. You know how it works. Somebody says something. Somebody repeats it. Then all the parrots start their parroting.

“The more you know the less you need.”

The playing out of the cliché might get you through a short-term thing. I would not want to depend upon it in a personally chosen long-term or SHTF situation. The latter requires more than a 10-piece kit.

There is a self-reliance side to this that applies to more than the tool and skills department. This is the side that is in our psyche. It is a side that applies to the people department … especially to that part of the people department that moves on because we have become too weird for them to handle.

We move on because we have changed.

They move on because they haven’t.

And we are comfortable with the moves.