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The Mini Tinder Bundle

I know this is kind of random, but I was thinking fondly of some old friends the other day. I remembered a very fun little contest we used to have. It was the "Mini Tinder Bundle Contest". You probably have already gotten an idea of how it works. Who can produce a flame with the most tiny tinder bundle possible?? We all got quite good at working small bundles of premium tinder. It was typical to see one little spurt of flame that lasted about 3 seconds from a cotton ball sized tinder bundle.

What's the point of playing such a game?? Well, foremost is the practice of frugality. There are usually many fires contained in the wood of the average fire kit. But there are only so many fires in a bag full of tinder. We always had plenty of fire kits lying around, but we made so many fires that we were always running out of tinder. That's how the contest was born.

We made lots of coals, and couldn't bear to just crush them out or let them starve. So we always made a little flame somehow, before letting the coal go out. Call it an offering to the Creator if you need to qualify it. We rarely spoke of such lofty things. It just never seemed right to try too hard to explain the Chain of Fire Command. Which is, if you were wondering… More

The Arctic Mouth Drill

The Arctic Mouth Drill technique and accompanying fire kit are remarkable adaptations in extreme cold weather Friction Fire Making. They are also testaments to the creativity, toughness and artistry of our northernmost brothers and sisters. The Arctic fire kits in the Smithsonian Institute collection range from raw and elegantly simple utilitarian fire kits - to beautiful and yet functional pieces of art.

These kits were often made from a very limited supply of materials, like bone, leather and driftwood. Sometimes that driftwood was even Oak! A brutal wood for drills and boards! Some would say an impossible wood for friction fire. The kit in the drawing above was collected in the 1800's near the Anderson River in British Columbia by C.P. Gaudet, then added to the Smithsonian collection in Washington DC.

The kit was later examined, drawn, described and possibly tested by Walter Hough. Mr. Hough then wrote a document called "Fire-Making Apparatus In The U.S. National Museum" which was published in a Smithsonian internal document in 1888. This rare document yielded jewels of information like… More

Visit Tim MacWelch's Field Guide to Friction Fire website for more friction fire articles.

Lashings Make Your Shelter Secure

We often get questions on how to build safe and secure shelters.

Well, building a tee-pee, a lean-to or any substantial sheltering structure requires a few simple knots and lashings, rope or cordage (lots of it) and of course the wood or poles. Knots are used to make loops, to connect rope together or to join rope to other objects.

Lashings, however, are used to bind two poles that cross each other at 45 to 90 degree angles, which usually occur in larger shelters. The square lashing is considered one of the most secure methods to lash poles that are relatively the same size.

Below is a lashing how-to and suggestions for safe and secure effort:

Position the poles at 90 degrees angles to each other.




A clove hitch is generally tied on the vertical or load-bearing pole at the bottom to support the horizontal or cross piece.




The end or tail of the clove hitch is twisted around and then tucked under the running end to lock the hitch and finish the knot neatly.




Wrap the rope in a square fashion three times around the poles: over the cross pole, the top of the vertical pole, the other side of the cross pole and the bottom of the vertical pole. Three neat revolutions will provide a solid and strong connection. Crossed turns 'pinch' and may damage the rope.




Make a frapping turn by wrapping the rope over the top of the vertical pole to point the rope in the opposite direction.



Now wrap the rope 3 times in the same square fashion in the other direction.



End the lashing with a final clove hitch or two half hitches on the vertical pole.



If extra rope remains, finished end with a half hitch or two.


Once complete you are on your way to constructing a safe and secure structure.

Happy shelter building. --Jamey

Field and Stream Columnist Learns Wild Edible Plants

Field and Stream’s columnist, Bill Heavey, is learning mid-Atlantic wild edibles jointly from our own Hue through Ancestral Knowledge and Earth Connection. Bill Heavey has come to learn from our hard gained wild edible knowledge to build on his own knowledge-base. Who knows, maybe Ancestral Knowledge and Earth Connection will give him some material for his column.

Bill Heavey’s Column

Bill Heavey has been a professional journalist for over 20 years and our favorite type of journalist too—full-time freelance outdoors writer (there are so few of them left these days).

Bill is currently an editor-at-large for Field & Stream, where he has written since 1993. He has also contributed to Modern Maturity, Readers Digest, National Geographic Traveler, Field and Stream, Men's Journal, Outside, the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, and the Best American Magazine Writing and Washingtonian Magazine. He has been recognized for his written work with two prestigious National Magazine Award nominations and awarded the American Pain Society’s (APS) first journalist award, the Kathleen M. Foley Journalist Award. I even hear he was nominated for president of the United States in 2008 by one of his fans. The only one I know personally besides him being nominated is my Grandmother (okay, so I nominated her in 2000).

Field and Stream has seen fit to bundle some of Heavey's best work into a single volume, If You Didn't Bring Jerky, What Did I Just Eat? (Atlantic Monthly Press, $23). Amazon’s note on his book states, “[Field and Stream’s] first collection of Heavey’s sidesplitting observations on life as a hardcore (but often hapless) outdoors man. Whether he’s hunting cougars in the southwest desert, scheming to make his five-year-old daughter fall in love with fishing, or chronicling his father’s slow decline through the lens of the numerous dogs he’s owned over seventy-five years, Heavey is a master at blending humor and pathos—and wide-ranging outdoor enthusiasms that run the gamut from elite to ordinary—into a poignant and potent cocktail. Funny, warmhearted, and supremely entertaining, this book is an uproarious addition to the literature of the outdoors.”

Funniest outdoor book we've read in a long time. Recommended.

Hue, the LoneNomadic.

Organic “Victory” Gardens Fight Climate Change

Let’s bring back the Victory gardens. Victory gardens, also called war gardens or food gardens for defense, are vegetable, fruit and herb gardens planted in home yards and city lots to change local food habits and help fight climate change. These gardens are in the spirit of our grandparents gardening efforts during World War I and World War II that helped to reduce the pressure on the public food supply brought on by the war effort. Since most of our food travels a minimum of 1500 miles to get to our tables, locally grown seasonal foods reduce the amount of carbon used to produce, package and ship our food supplies. Grow your own food and help save the planet.

Let’s just look at a two small examples, strawberries and butter cookies.

First, Strawberries. It’s January… I have to ask, why do you need strawberries in January? Do you know where they come from? Eighty percent of commercially grown strawberries are from California's farms, where each acre produces about 21 tons of berries. Approximately one billion pounds of strawberries a year are grown in the state. They have to be shipped from California which is over 3000 miles away. Or they likely came from south of the equator like Chile or Peru, which is infinitely farther away than California. Do you really need strawberries? Then, grow them yourself and freeze or dry them for the winter months.

Second, butter cookies. I have seen in the supermarkets butter cookies from Norway. Okay, so we have a great international relationship with Norway, but do we really have to waste precious fuel to ship butter cookies from Norway to the United States when we can make them here? We are killing our grandchildren to feed our children… the death of a thousand cuts. Reduce your reliance on this off-kilter system. Dig up your lawn and plant an edible garden. No lawn??… put plants in pots on your patio or balcony. Live in an a high-rise with no balcony?… use your rooftop, sprout some seeds, or visit your local farmer’s market. The bottom-line is changing your eating habits, eat with the seasons and find ways to beat the food system that is contributing to climate change and global warming.

Let’s fight global warming with a victory garden.

So, with all that said… what if this doesn’t work? What if the change is inevitable? Well, then you are even better off with organic gardening knowledge to help you through the tough times ahead. Expect changes in weather to change temperature and moisture patterns nationwide. The global ecosystem exists in a finely tuned state of balance, and warmer temperatures will dramatically change the playing field for all plants, domesticated and wild. The North regions of the United States are expected to gain as much as a whole hardiness zone or even more.

The National Arbor Day Foundation (NADF) released in 2006 an updated version of the U.S Department of Agriculture’s hardiness zone map, which was last updated in 1990. They have an animation that illustrates the general warming that has occurred from 1990 to 2006. Go to the NADF website to view the updated climate zone map. You can also look up your own climate zone, or compare the old USDA climate zones to the new NADF ones.

Though this may result in the extinction of numerous indigenous species as their growing conditions are modified it will also bring more possibilities for differing plant species. However, change also brings many differing pests and pathogens not seen before because our previously cold winters kept them at bay. Develop strategies to take advantage of the changes like planting more and differing plant species every year.

Adapt, experiment, overcome, and survive.

Learn more with Earth Connection at our Organic Gardening class 18 May.

Friction Fire with Conifers?

Last weekend I (Wes from Earth Connection – North Carolina) and my daughter (age 11) headed into the mountains of NC where I have a cabin for some cold weather friction fire training. My original idea was to try out three types of conifers, found almost everywhere here, as friction fire components; boards, spindles, and hand-holds.

“Conifers?” you say… Well, I know they are not the normal choice for friction fire kits because of the resins in the wood, but what if it is all you got? The three trees species I was planning to work with on this trip were the Carolina Hemlock, Eastern Hemlock and the White Pine that are indigenous to the higher elevations in the north western part of NC.




















As I got closer to the mountains the temperature dropped to a frigid 13 and there was a slight wind that brought frigid down to bone chilling. Six inches of snow still covered the ground from precipitation earlier that week. I took a two-mile hike into the mountain woods and along the way I gathered my materials.

I decided early on to go without gloves to simulate a potential survival scenario and test myself. It’s so much harder to grab and hold on to things when your hands are affected by the cold. I remember Tim’s MacWelch’s class on hypothermia and performed the hypotheria check--tapping a one handed tune between fingers and thumb… yup, no problem. I remember as a kid coming in after playing hard for hours in the snow that I couldn’t unzip my own jacket. Tim says, “that the first sign of encroaching hypothermia is loss of dexterity in your hands along with shivering.” I wasn't shivering, but still I was cold.

As I gathered my friction fire kit materials I also gathered my tinder and kindling giving me lots of stuff to hold that kept my hands out of my warm pockets. My daughter was very helpful in finding and gathering and preparing the tinder bundle that ended up working perfectly. After about one and half hours of collecting we returned to the cabin to begin the friction fire experiments with the three types of conifers. My hands and fingers were mostly numb by then making this exercise most difficult. The only tool I used to make the kit was a small Swiss army knife that I carry on me at all times.

I spent about half an hour making a few boards and spindles with cold numb hands before beginning to spin with my ready-made bow. I was surprised with the results. I was successful at making a coal and blowing into flame using both types of Hemlock as either board or spindle. However, the White Pine was not much of a success. My observation is that the Hemlocks have far less pitch than the White Pine affecting coal creation.



My daughter also gave the bow drill kit a go, but all she was able to get was smoke... no coal formed. I think she had only hot chocolate on her mind, and to be honest, I did too; my hands were freezing by this point. Time for cocoa.

Learning note for the friction fire crew: You should try all different types of wood as various parts of your friction kit and have your own database on available wood material that work in your area. Or, as I like to call them, my “Go-To” wood. In addition, try your skills in adverse conditions because if you are ever in a survival situation it will probably not be 75 degrees and sunny. Oh, and have the hot chocolate already brewing on the stove before you get started. ;-)

Wild Oyster Mushroom Soup

Oyster Mushrooms (Pleurotus ostreatus) usually appear in a cascading shelf from the surface of dead hardwood trees after the first rains of the fall season. I was lucky to have found a small crop growing from a small fruit tree stump near my home in Baltimore. I immediately snarfed them up into the plastic bag I had in my pocket that was originally intended for cleaning up after the dog. Someone else had to deal with the dog pile that day. I admired the mushroom up close and smelled them to be absolutely positive that it was an Oyster Mushroom. Yup, there was the slightly delicate asian aroma of what some describe as anise that is typical of this mushroom. I’m off to make lunch!

The Oyster cap is, not surprisingly, oyster or scallop shaped, sometimes with wavy edges, has a variable color from white to gray or tan to dark-brown and has a slight anise-like aroma. Oyster mushrooms contain a small amount of arabitol that is know to cause gastrointestinal distress in some people. The likely culpret is arabitol, a sugar alcohol similar to xylitol, manitol and sorbitol that are widely used food additives. What makes this such a prized mushroom is that this sweet quality is not lost in cooking.

Cleaning. Cut off the lower part of the stems of all oyster varieties to remove any shreds of wood or debris. The stems tend to be tough, so discard them unless you are processing your mushrooms in a blender. Be certain to flush out the gill spaces with water because they can be filled with soil and, especially, insects (unless you want that kind of extra protein in your food). Use a minimum amount of water and gently dry with paper or cloth towels. All species of Pleurotus are cleaned in the same manner.

Cooking. Asian chefs are famous for using Oyster mushrooms in stir-fried dishes, since the cap is thin and cooks quickly. You can tear the mushroom into minute sizes before adding it to your oiled wok or pan at the last stage of cooking whatever stir-fry you have going, they cook quickly. I particularly like them in a blended soup.

Preserving. Oyster mushrooms will dehydrate quickly and store easily in your pantry. When used dry, they are usually added to a dish without rehydration.
What’s for lunch? Well, I like a hot creamy soup during the cold months to keep me warm from the inside and we still had some surviving thyme in our herb garden that might not survive much longer if the temperature falls again. Taking what I had in the herb garden, pantry and fridge, I easily decided on wild mushroom soup with thyme.

Here is what I prepared:

Ingredients

· 4 tablespoons butter ( ½ stick) – I like butter too much
· 1/3 cup minced shallots – you can use wild onions or wild garlic
· 1 ½ pound fresh wild mushrooms – we had some shiitake and crimini in the fridge that I added
· 1 tablespoon minced fresh thyme
· 3 garlic cloves minced
· 8 or so cups chicken broth
· 1 pound potatoes, peeled and chunked
· ¼ cup dried porcini mushrooms – we had these in the pantry which were added for additional flavor
· 2 glugs of Madeira – cooking wine with an interesting history (Madeira a particularly stable wine with a shot of brandy, designed to last long ship voyages, was a favorite of Thomas Jefferson and it was used to toast the Declaration of Independence.)

preparation

melt butter in large pot. Add shallots and saute 1 minute. Add fresh mushrooms; saute until tender. Add thyme and garlic; saute another 15 or so minutes. Add 6 cups of broth, potatoes and died porcini, bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer covered until potatoes are falling apart, maybe 25 minutes. Puree in a blender and return to the pot. Add Madeira and the rest of the broth. Season with salt and pepper… bring soup to simmer and serve.

This article is making me hungry for Oyster Mushrooms again... Happy oyster hunting!

EC Blog Now Open for Comments

We have decided to open our blog to comments from anyone who desires to leave them. Tell us what you think, tell us what you want us to write about, tell us what you are up to in skills development, tell us... well, you get the idea.

Cheers!

Earth Connection Field Training

On December 27th some of Earth Connection’s Staff (Tim, Wes and Hardy) hit the road to do a little field training in the mountains of North Carolina near Grand Father Mountain. The weather was very favorable for December. At 4000 feet it was sunny and a balmy 60 degrees. We hiked into the wilderness and headed down to a known water fall about one mile from where we parked the vehicle, descending about 1200 feet. On the way we saw lots of wildlife sign, but few wild edible plants. Typical for a forest with little edge area.

After a short stay at the waterfall we noticed the waning daylight and decided to locate a good camping site. After another hour or so of hiking we found a great little overhang to make camp. We built up one side of the overhang to act as a wind break, then we did what we do best, make friction fire (maybe).

The problem was that our fine sunny 60 degree day turned into overcast and damp, which was not totally unexpected because we were in is a temperate rain forest. But, it is a good place to put your friction fire making skills to the test. Things started off well with a coal in the first few minutes. But, it went south from there.

The first coal was very small; we added degraded wood dust to extend its life and decided to go with it. No luck and no flame because our tinder was too damp. Also, to add to our troubles, no more coals. After a couple of hours with no coals and broken down bow drill kits we decided to use a less then primitive way to start a fire (a ferrocerium rod, the magic sparking metal-match or "flint" found in lighters).

Remembering Tim MacWelch’s friction fire class adage, “And that is why you should always have two or more ways to start a fire on you at all times!”

The night was quiet and uneventful, mostly because Tim would not let anyone give up ghost stories. As morning came so did the steady rain. The over hang we had slept in worked great we were all dry as a bone due to making shelter as our first priority even before the hours of the friction fire fiasco. After a quick bite to eat we hiked out and headed out of the high country.

“Survive smarter not harder.”

Earth Connection North Carolina (EC-NC)

Some of you who have been following the posts on this blog are probably wondering... who are those two we don't recognize in the holiday greetings picture that are part of the EC Family? Well, we have great news!

Earth Connection is expanding!

Starting 1 January 2008, Earth Connection will have a budding satellite school in North Carolina.

Wes Massey andHardee Merritt (not in the holiday greeting picture) will be offering EC classes in 2008 near the North Carolina Raleigh/Durham area. Their classes will have the same Earth Connection tried and true curriculum, but flavored with the kind of wild spice only these three gentlemen can offer.

Wes and Hardee
See their introduction bios here.

Stay tuned for more about EC-NC in future blog posts।

Sleeping Bags For The Homeless

Drop- Mail-Bring a Sleeping Bag for the Homeless

Hundreds of people in Earth Connection School area rely on urban survival skills to stay fed and warm. We are making a choice to help provide a warm sleeping bag for the New Year to those less fortunate.

The local shelters that we are donating sleeping bags to have requested 0 degree bags, new-or-used & washed, and in Child-to-Adult sizes. The sleeping bags should be synthetic fiber fill that stay warm even when wet (unlike down), but any bags will do.

You can help in three ways:

• Drop off a bag: Sunday,December 30 from 12 noon to 4pm at our Earth Connection camp near Fredericksburg, Virginia
• Mail in a bag: to Earth Connection, PO Box 32, Somerville, VA 22739
• Bring a bag: to one of our classes in January, February or March

Please email tim@earth-connection.com to RSVP if you are coming out on December 30.

We will have hot chocolate and roast marshmallows by the campfire. There will be coupons for discounted EC classes and other tokens of our thanks for each bag donated.

We will be thinking other ways to help throughout the year.

Stay Warm... and Help Others Stay Warm Too.
Tim and Hue

EC Bumper Sticker On The Road

We are working hard to keep your car bumper covered with either mud or EC stickers. I prefer both EC Sticker and mud, in that order.

Earth Connection operates mostly by word-of-mouth advertising. Here is your chance to help us spread the word every time you go on the road. Heck, you don't have to limit yourself to your car bumper; plastering them all over the mid-Atlantic region on street signs, city bill boards, homeless shelters, the neighbors car, your bike, and even your front door is a better option.



Get your own EC Bumper Sticker here!

Happy Holidays

Happy Holidays from the Earth Connection Family

Thanks to all that took Earth Connection classes in 2007.
We are all excited about next year's classes and look forward to seeing you again.

Survive smarter... not harder!

2008 EC Class Schedule is Posted

Hot off the press... 2008 class schedule is up on Earth Connection's website.

Lots of new classes and all the favorites.

New Classes Offered:

19- 21 Jan - Winter Wilderness Survival (16-18 Feb is no snow backup date)
Experience winter firsthand and learn to stay alive and comfortable in Earth Connection’s Winter Wilderness Survival class. This new 3 day long winter version of our trusty old Wilderness Survival class will include basic principles of cold weather survival, cold weather survival strategies, dressing for the weather, winter fire (making, using, and living with), shelters applicable to the winter environment (including snow shelters like the Quinzee), making improvised snowshoes; useful wild plants available in winter; frostbite and hypothermia awareness and treatment, and more. The Winter Survival Class will be held at Abram’s Creek Campground near Mount Storm, West Virginia to take advantage of snowfall not normally found at the Earth Connection’s School in northern Virginia.

7-9 Mar and 26-28 Sep - Primitive Village
This class has been a dream of ours for years. We have always wanted to offer a venue for our students to have a primitive survival experience, in which they can practice their skills, pick up some new ones and do it all for REAL. The Primitive Village course offers students a chance to practice their skills, and still benefit from our coaching and guidance in a structured survival scenario. Prerequisites - Earth Connection's Wilderness Survival or Primitive Skills courses - or any two of Earth Connection's other courses.

26 Apr - Land Navigation
This class provides the basic skills required to navigate cross-country day and night using modern (sorry no GPS) and primitive techniques of direction finding, and how to use these skills in the field for day hikes or long-range outings. The class includes basic navigation principles (maps, compasses, declination, the forms of navigation, and route planning, day and night land navigation techniques), as well as advanced instruction in the skills of intersection and resection (triangulation), hand-drawn maps and using terrain features like "road signs." We are also currently making plans to add an optional cross-country course in the Shenandoah Mountains as a group the next day, Sunday April 27, that may include possible diversions like wild edible foods, water procurement, and sight seeing. There will be a small additional fee for this learning opportunity.

17 May - Primitive Trapping
Earth Connection’s Primitive Trapping class will teach you how to put your hard earned tracking skills to task by constructing simple traps to secure wild animals for food. Students will learn the basic principles behind traps and how to construct them focusing on the more familiar (and using less cordage) deadfalls and snares including the figure-four, Paiute deadfall, wire snare, and their variations. In addition, more complicated trapping methods using kinetic engines (and much more cordage) will be demonstrated including many variations of the toggle stick and spring pole traps. This class harms NO animals and all local trapping laws are adhered to.

26 Jul - Nature Observation
This Nature Observation class will return you to your senses and to the vivid experience of living in the moment, experiencing nature with a sense of awe and wonder. The skills taught in this class are the foundation for all nature studies and primitive skills classes that we offer. The class includes nature observation through heightened senses, self awareness/observation, methods of immersing oneself in nature, natural movement techniques, camouflage and blending, understanding animal senses, animal/plant transition zones, pattern association and life long learning exercises. Making field notes and basic sketches in a field notebook is an essential part of this class.

27 Jul - Avoiding Nature's Dangers
Avoiding Nature’s Dangers class is like a mini how-to-survive anything class. We face a multitude of dangers every minute of our life, but recognizing and avoiding them takes education and, sometimes, active mitigation. This class highlights the dangers/risks found in nature and how to mitigate through Risk Management (the human activity which integrates recognition of risk, risk assessment, developing strategies to manage it, and mitigation of risk using managerial resources). The class covers a variety of risks from poisonous plants, insects and animals, contaminated water, animal attacks, knife/axe/machete safety, wildlife diseases, surviving extremes (hypo/hyper-thermia), fire behavior, and much more.

For the personal touch, Tim is still offering private classes as well.

Primitive Skills Weekend - Venison Fest

2-4 November Primitive Skills Class was a perfect weekend for rekindling knowledge in the old ways of living.

This course is designed to provide skills for living primitively in the wilderness; a student and staff favorite every year. The course includes building a leaf hut shelter that most slept in each night; friction fire making with the bow drill that everyone had success in making; primitive tool making; primitive water gathering and purification and we drank our purified findings too; primitive trapping; hunting with the infamous rabbit stick; and the skinning, cleaning and cooking game (thanks for the venison). The course also covered edible plants, primitive cooking, food preservation and storage, wicker basketry from vines, plant and tree bark string, and burning out wooden bowls and spoons.

Hue and Jamey, running a day late, made a tragic error. They forgot the squirrel for the wild game butchering demo and subsequent squirrel feast in the freezer. We had to quickly adjust our teaching plan and schedule. Tim gave a frantic call to his cousin, the mighty hunter, and by evening we had fresh hunter culled venison hanging from our primitive camp. We demonstrated butchering into the wee hours by lantern and flashlight. Everyone got to eat some venison ribs the next day and each took home some fresh venison for home cook'in. All I can say is... "I'm going to conveniently forget the squirrel again next year."

All in all a VERY successful weekend. New skills learned by all. Plenty of venison and a great night of campfire conversation.

Note: EC had two new instructors from the future expansion of EC, Wes and Hardee, and a very energetic helper, Russell, who has attended most every class we teach that deserve much thanks for the successful weekend!

Monkeysee-dot-com meets Tim and Hue

James from MonkeySee-dot-com came out to EC to film a few how-to video clips to Earth Connection's "Living in the Outdoor" series.



MonkeySee is a new destination website providing free access to a large collection of professionally-produced and user-generated how-to videos. Soon you can SEE how the experts (Tim and Hue) do it, through a collection of professionally-produced "how-to" videos on the Web.

Hue even help James start a friction fire the Earth Connection way!

Check us out on MonkeySee in about three weeks.

Hide Tanning Class - now every other year

Fleshing, racking, drying, scraping, braining, stretching, and smoking... lots of 'ings," make for lots of work... and it is that four letter word "w-o-r-k" too!

EC's Brain tan buckskin class is a very physical and demanding exercise that, as a primitive technology, has a sole purpose to clothe yourself. All the work is for creating a soft and comfortable cloth from the deer hides left over from the hunt that fed your family.

Speaking of spelling words out... It is also an exercise in R-E-S-P-E-C-T, where we use all the animal, wasting nothing. Ask anyone who took our class about how much work went into making their buck skin. You got to respect the animal. Life is not cheap!

Actually, in a manner of speaking, none of our hides were bucked (soaked in lye) in a process called wet scrape tanning. We used an older method of dry scrape tanning that uses the brain from the animal. Even more so, we actually used egg yolks instead of deer brain because we had no access to deer heads this year. It serves the same purpose.

We even had a fur-on tanning piece to the class this year with one student (Stu) tanning a beaver pelt.

This class takes so much work and preparation that we have opted to offer it only once every other year during the fall season when deer hides come available due to hunting season or by private class . Call three weeks in advance for rates and schedule your class (minimum of two people).

Chronic Wasting Disease Risk?

The good news…

There is no evidence that Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) is linked to disease in humans or domestic livestock other than deer and elk.

According to 2004 research, the risk, if any, of CWD transmission to humans is low. There have been no documented human cases of prion disease with strong evidence of a link with CWD.

To date CWD has not been found in Virginia. The closest eastern state is West Virginia, next is New York.

What is CWD?

CWD is a transmissible spongiform encephalopathy in the same genetic family as mad cow disease, scrapie (affecting sheep) and Creutzfeldt-Jacob disease (affecting humans) that is found in White-tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus), Mule Deer (O. hemionus), and Elk (Cervus elaphus) populations mostly in the western states. Visible manifestations of CWD include weight loss over weeks or months, behavioral changes (show little fear of humans) and excessive salivation (may look like slobbering). In some animals, head tremors may occur. Most animals gradually die within several months of illness.

The disease has forced the slaughter and incineration of thousand deer and elk in the West since 2000. CWD is known to occur in free-ranging deer or elk in Alberta, Colorado, Illinois, Kansas, Nebraska, New Mexico, New York, Saskatchewan, South Dakota, Utah, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. CWD also has been diagnosed in captive deer and elk in Alberta, Colorado, Kansas, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, New York, Oklahoma, Saskatchewan, South Dakota, and Wisconsin.

The bad news…

The 2005 discovery of CWD in New York is causing immense fear and loathing amongst Eastern State's wildlife resource officials, hunters and primitive skills enthusiasts. This should serve as a warning to those of us primitive skills practitioners that regularly harvest deer by hunting and occasionally by picking up fresh road kill for either hide or meat. It would be wise to look for the signs of infection before butchering and using the animal, especially in the case of using the brain for primitive hide tanning.

Furthermore, research “evidence suggests that, provided sufficient exposure, the species barrier may not completely protect humans from animal prion diseases including CWD. CWD does not appear to occur naturally outside the cervid family. However, the passing of CWD to a secondary host (domestic animals, such as cattle and sheep) by infected deer could not only increase the extent and frequency of human exposure, but also alter its infectious properties, increasing its potential for becoming more pathogenic to humans. Because CWD has occurred in a limited geographic area for decades, an adequate number of people may not have been exposed to the CWD agent to result in a clinically recognizable human disease. Because of the long incubation period associated with prion diseases, convincing negative results from epidemiologic and experimental laboratory studies would likely require years of follow-up. In the meantime, to minimize the risk for exposure to the CWD agent, hunters should consult with their state wildlife agencies to identify areas where CWD occurs and continue to follow advice provided by public health and wildlife agencies. Hunters should avoid eating meat from deer and elk that look sick or test positive for CWD. They should wear gloves when field-dressing carcasses, bone-out the meat from the animal, and minimize handling of brain and spinal cord tissues. As a precaution, hunters should avoid eating deer and elk tissues known to harbor the CWD agent (e.g., brain, spinal cord, eyes, spleen, tonsils, lymph nodes) from areas where CWD has been identified.”1

1. Belay ED, Maddox RA, Williams ES, Miller MW, Gambetti P, Schonberger LB. Chronic wasting disease and potential transmission to humans. Emerging Infectious Diseases. 2004 Jun. Available from: http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/EID/vol10no6/03-1082.htm

What you need to know about Earth Connection Brain Tanning Classes:

The hide itself will not be infected and can be used for hide tanning. All the hides used in our classes come from local sources and are not affected by CWD. We will make the decision whether to use the deer’s brain for the traditional hide tanning class or some other hide tanning alternative like pig brains or egg yolk after consulting local wildlife officials of the current risk.

Recommended precautions outside of class:

• Do not shoot, handle or consume any animal that is abnormal or appears to be sick. If you see a sick deer, please contact the local Wildlife Department immediately.
• Wear latex or rubber gloves when field dressing your deer carcass.
• Bone out meat from your animal. Do not saw through bone and avoid cutting through the brain or spinal cord (backbone).
• Minimize the handling of brain and spinal tissues or fluids.
• Wash hands and instruments thoroughly after field dressing is completed.
• Avoid consuming brain, spinal cord, eyes, spleen, tonsils, and lymph nodes of deer. Normal field dressing coupled with boning out a carcass will remove most, if not all, of these body parts.

Fall Edibles Class Hampered by Southeastern Drought

The normally water rich south-east region of North America is drying up, so the weather forecasters have commented. So much so, that the drought conditions have impacted Earth Connection's wild edible classes, minimally this summer and gravely this fall. The plants we rely on for fall survival are suffering from lack of moisture on the Earth Connection School's land which is usually so close to the water table that we are not be able to dig a hole without water seeping to fill it almost as fast as we dig. Now the water seeps not.

Hue and Jamey attempted to teach a wild edibles class for Ancestral Knowledge in Maryland, but the drought has effect the wild edible crop there too. It is a sorry state when a class cannot happen because the weather conditions effect nature in such a way. All they got for their trouble was a million chigger bites and two weeks of intense itch. No fun!

Despite the harsh conditions and lack of any indication of coming precipitation there still were a few choice wild edibles available to talk about for the EC Wild Edible class on 13 October. Only Acorns were in enough abundance this year and we took advantage of this making this our main attraction. Drought also produced a pretty good wild grape crop this year.

For the wild food offerings this year we made Acorn Bread and Wild Grape Jelly (picture is of green spring grapes). Jen also made us all a sweet Acorn Pumpkin bundt cake that was delicious.

What can we expect in the future?

Weather forecasters are not offering much rain for the winter and are predicting a warmer and drier winter than what is usually expected. The dry conditions that range from Washington DC into Maryland down to the tip of Florida and out to western Tennessee are designated as severe. The Department of Agriculture's drought monitor indicates that 32% is in exceptional drought not seen but once or twice in a century. We wonder what this will bring for our next crop of wild edible that are normally hardy enough to survive a few weeks without much moisture. Maybe there is some validity to our fear that global warming will make droughts more common.

What Classes Do You Want to See EC Teach in 2008?

EC staff are currently working on the 2008 Class and Adventure Schedule. No worries, we will have the same curriculum as always, but we looking to give a wider variety and increased value to both our new and returning students.

We are kicking around many new ideas and are looking for what you want to see us teach or what you want to experience. Send an email with your ideas or what you like below to Hue and Tim at earth-connection.

Here are few we have been thinking about:

-- Primitive Trapping Class
-- Basic Land Navigation
-- Winter Survival Weekend
-- River Living Kayak Weekend
-- Shennandoah Walkabout Weekend
-- Primitive Pottery with professional potter Gernoble
-- Coastal Beach Survival at Assataegue 3-4 days
-- Homesteading Skills (soap, beer, canning, candles)
-- Primitive (knife and blanket) Living or Survival Week 5-6 Days
-- Primitive village (similar to above just shorter)
-- Wild Edible Plant Banquet; Free - all bring a dish and a story to share
-- Scout Skills Weekend
-- Tracking Intensive - 1 day - Off site
-- Sweat Bath (non-religious) Lodge construction and use
-- Plants for medicine (very basic)
-- Nature Observation and Awareness
-- Primitive Hunter
-- Avoiding Nature's Dangers
-- Wandering Skills Weekend
-- Survival Combatives

Primitive Cooking or Primitive Glutony -- You Choose!

Gluttony -- Derived from the Latin gluttire, meaning to gulp down or swallow, gluttony is the over-indulgence and over-consumption of food, drink, or intoxicants to the point of waste. In the Christian religions, it is considered one of the seven deadly sins. We are dreadfully sorry for the sinning part, but that is unfortunately part of the primitive cooking class... we eat and eat and eat. Just cannot stop. Especially when we are cooking for eight hours... biscuits anyone? We had so much food this past weekend that I will have to go on a diet to get back to fighting weight.

I cannot wait for next year so see how much food we will prepare over a green stick grill, in a steam pit, or a "Snowbear" oven, by clay baking, or in a stone oven, rock boiling, or just plain throwing it in a fire.

Get your ash cakes and hot biscuits!