tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-80684825867174785032024-03-06T00:09:28.408-06:00Midwest Bushcraft“High technology has done us one great service: It has retaught us the delight of performing simple and primordial tasks - chopping wood, building a fire, drawing water from a spring”~Edward AbbeyUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger67125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8068482586717478503.post-49240085121765055832012-03-28T14:06:00.002-05:002012-03-28T14:06:19.440-05:00Tarp VersatilityA while back I led a program on the versatility of tarps and tarp variants. I demonstrated how to use a parachute as a cooking fly (which did not go perfectly because it was insanely windy that day). <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-E2-z2UqYqMw/T3NYMqKZZ-I/AAAAAAAAC0g/f_yLdgIJaPQ/s1600/DSC02477.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-E2-z2UqYqMw/T3NYMqKZZ-I/AAAAAAAAC0g/f_yLdgIJaPQ/s320/DSC02477.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Cross-brace and tether in place (Photo by R. Thurman)</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Canadian jam knot tied to tether to raise and lower the parachute (Photo by R. Thurman)</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Upright and guy-line (Photo by R. Thurman)</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Completed (Photo by R. Thurman)</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-kmFiIJlKhc4/T3NYfKmdVAI/AAAAAAAAC1A/Jzt84qReeEU/s1600/DSC02485.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-kmFiIJlKhc4/T3NYfKmdVAI/AAAAAAAAC1A/Jzt84qReeEU/s320/DSC02485.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Demonstrating under the parachute (Photo by R. Thurman)</span></td></tr>
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After we had the parachute up we moved a short distance away to talk about just how damned useful a poncho can be.<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-tigbH0cMqHs/T3NbckbWv7I/AAAAAAAAC1I/efROZZUDodg/s1600/DSC02487.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-tigbH0cMqHs/T3NbckbWv7I/AAAAAAAAC1I/efROZZUDodg/s400/DSC02487.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Tying in poncho liner to make a bivy sack (Photo by R. Thurman)</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ViLWLnMXRng/T3NcKewMNVI/AAAAAAAAC1Q/9CIrmovkONo/s1600/DSC02488.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ViLWLnMXRng/T3NcKewMNVI/AAAAAAAAC1Q/9CIrmovkONo/s400/DSC02488.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Snapping two ponchos together to make a pup-tent (Photo by R. Thurman)</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2HgaTwHrMcA/T3NcM442uNI/AAAAAAAAC1Y/xmAOjQ_pRmA/s1600/DSC02489.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2HgaTwHrMcA/T3NcM442uNI/AAAAAAAAC1Y/xmAOjQ_pRmA/s320/DSC02489.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">More snapping... (Photo by R. Thurman)</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-73H1K64ooow/T3NcPSols4I/AAAAAAAAC1g/ZfGbtKjkok0/s1600/DSC02490.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-73H1K64ooow/T3NcPSols4I/AAAAAAAAC1g/ZfGbtKjkok0/s400/DSC02490.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Sharpening a tent stake (Photo by R. Thurman)</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-w1TclqhO1wQ/T3NcUSRNoLI/AAAAAAAAC1w/fWkuGnUNim8/s1600/DSC02492.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-w1TclqhO1wQ/T3NcUSRNoLI/AAAAAAAAC1w/fWkuGnUNim8/s320/DSC02492.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Almost done... (photo by R. Thurman)</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-bSDQjdpJU8c/T3NcW7EGqMI/AAAAAAAAC14/zF2mL1b2i6Y/s1600/DSC02493.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-bSDQjdpJU8c/T3NcW7EGqMI/AAAAAAAAC14/zF2mL1b2i6Y/s320/DSC02493.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">A Canadian jam knot tied by one of the participants (Photo by R. Thurman)</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bXiANZtoM4Y/T3NcZeWS0xI/AAAAAAAAC2A/oBIPNR0xiFA/s1600/DSC02494.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bXiANZtoM4Y/T3NcZeWS0xI/AAAAAAAAC2A/oBIPNR0xiFA/s320/DSC02494.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">All done except the center pole (Photo by R. Thurman)</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-BPibAwjJPGU/T3Ncb7Ay-DI/AAAAAAAAC2I/8bPWiMumjt8/s1600/DSC02495.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-BPibAwjJPGU/T3Ncb7Ay-DI/AAAAAAAAC2I/8bPWiMumjt8/s320/DSC02495.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">And done! (Photo by R. Thurman)</span></td></tr>
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The last thing we did with the poncho was make it into a stretcher using two <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acer_saccharum" target="_blank">Sugar maple (<i>Acer saccharum</i>) </a>saplings for poles.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-pk4WlA44XqU/T3Ncf09-0RI/AAAAAAAAC2Q/R75oFyc1dPM/s1600/DSC02496.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-pk4WlA44XqU/T3Ncf09-0RI/AAAAAAAAC2Q/R75oFyc1dPM/s320/DSC02496.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Cutting a sapling (Photo by R. Thurman)</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Y92LoyFqCXU/T3Nci9v2yOI/AAAAAAAAC2Y/AWckPOUXf_4/s1600/DSC02497.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Y92LoyFqCXU/T3Nci9v2yOI/AAAAAAAAC2Y/AWckPOUXf_4/s400/DSC02497.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Poncho has been laid out then the saplings were laid out a foot or so apart then the poncho was folded over itself into the center... longest caption ever... (Photo by R. Thurman)</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-a4fKiTV5huw/T3NclFrisGI/AAAAAAAAC2g/1RHNO_VD-Ac/s1600/DSC02498.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-a4fKiTV5huw/T3NclFrisGI/AAAAAAAAC2g/1RHNO_VD-Ac/s400/DSC02498.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Stretcher in use (Photo by R. Thurman)</span></td></tr>
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The last thing we worked on was putting up a diamond fly with a camping hammock underneath. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qWnl6T1yxfk/T3NcnGbv5eI/AAAAAAAAC2o/DTViOUWBJp0/s1600/DSC02500.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qWnl6T1yxfk/T3NcnGbv5eI/AAAAAAAAC2o/DTViOUWBJp0/s320/DSC02500.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Putting up the fly (Photo by R. Thurman)</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FPYJ3D-HSsQ/T3Ncp-YkpuI/AAAAAAAAC2w/aP3vi3ap6Rk/s1600/DSC02502.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FPYJ3D-HSsQ/T3Ncp-YkpuI/AAAAAAAAC2w/aP3vi3ap6Rk/s320/DSC02502.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Continued (Photo by R. Thurman)</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-mBAWnYpfDo8/T3NcsFJMBFI/AAAAAAAAC24/KmNTdFOD-I0/s1600/DSC02503.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-mBAWnYpfDo8/T3NcsFJMBFI/AAAAAAAAC24/KmNTdFOD-I0/s320/DSC02503.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Prepping to suspend the hammock (Photo by R. Thurman)</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MYuPzKXk18c/T3Ncugl9C_I/AAAAAAAAC3A/y2ZSJ5YfBzY/s1600/DSC02506.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MYuPzKXk18c/T3Ncugl9C_I/AAAAAAAAC3A/y2ZSJ5YfBzY/s320/DSC02506.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Finishing suspending the hammock (Photo by R. Thurman)</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-4UXHyffV3go/T3NcxanO9CI/AAAAAAAAC3I/7l3z2_n8ElA/s1600/DSC02507.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-4UXHyffV3go/T3NcxanO9CI/AAAAAAAAC3I/7l3z2_n8ElA/s640/DSC02507.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Camping in style! (Photo by R. Thurman)</span></td></tr>
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<br /><br /></div>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8068482586717478503.post-53954040420143665212012-03-14T15:35:00.000-05:002012-03-14T15:35:28.809-05:00A New Spoon<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-18tInFepLgA/T2D_kQsdY2I/AAAAAAAACy0/4tp44z5xoEw/s1600/Buckthorn+spoon.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-18tInFepLgA/T2D_kQsdY2I/AAAAAAAACy0/4tp44z5xoEw/s400/Buckthorn+spoon.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Buckthorn Spoon</td></tr>
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Just a quick post of a spoon I carved on a hike today. It is made from Common buckt<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">horn (<em style="background-color: white;">Rhamnus</em><span style="background-color: white;"> </span><em style="background-color: white;">cathartica</em><span style="background-color: white;"> L.)</span></span>. From tree to what you see here took about 20 minutes. I will sand and finish it tomorrow. Special thanks to Brittney for letting me use the photo.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8068482586717478503.post-19659199844934651522012-02-21T10:44:00.002-06:002012-02-27T09:46:58.463-06:00Modified Swedish Torch<br />
I have been fascinated by the idea of the <a href="https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C1CHNU_enUS324US325&ix=heb&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=Swedish+torch" target="_blank">Swedish torch</a> for some time, but the found it unpractical since the cuts in the logs were often done with a chainsaw. I should have prefaced that comment by saying when I first came across information on the Swedish torch the ones I saw were made with a <a href="http://www.logosol.us/customer-service/articles/566/make-your-own-swedish-log-candle.html" target="_blank">single block of wood using a chainsaw to make the air channels</a>. Then I saw a blog post (which of course I cannot find now) that showed making a Swedish torch out of small diameter limbs lashed together. Brilliant I thought! <br />
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That was about 2 years ago...<br />
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I have been meaning to experiment with the idea, but I just did not make the time. That happens to me. A lot. That is something I need to work on, but I will blog about that <a href="http://journeytogentelman.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">elsewhere</a>. I find the best way to force myself to learn a new skill, or hone an existing one is to teach a class on it. Then I have others depending on me, and here are the results.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-0fCJbAgnV8o/T0PC-PBC-pI/AAAAAAAACx8/5mWA73HbJE8/s1600/Chris02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-0fCJbAgnV8o/T0PC-PBC-pI/AAAAAAAACx8/5mWA73HbJE8/s640/Chris02.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Batoning the cedar log.<br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Photo by R.T.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-WdnHCkPJ8SI/T0PDDL25LEI/AAAAAAAACyE/QUBcO-v2ob0/s1600/Chris06.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-WdnHCkPJ8SI/T0PDDL25LEI/AAAAAAAACyE/QUBcO-v2ob0/s400/Chris06.jpg" width="336" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lashing split-wood together with jute twine.<br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Photo by R.T.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-8h6DIKm6_P4/T0PDG5nKRMI/AAAAAAAACyM/y8YkoljMe2c/s1600/Chris08.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-8h6DIKm6_P4/T0PDG5nKRMI/AAAAAAAACyM/y8YkoljMe2c/s640/Chris08.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Inserting River birch (<i>Betula nigra</i>) bark as tinder.<br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Photo by R.T.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xdkQx9BUL7o/T0PDMIxVbkI/AAAAAAAACyU/oayvCU6spec/s1600/Chris11.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="326" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xdkQx9BUL7o/T0PDMIxVbkI/AAAAAAAACyU/oayvCU6spec/s400/Chris11.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lighting with my ferro rod<br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Photo by R.T.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-1hKnqC3lMd4/T0PGKizd-4I/AAAAAAAACyc/UvBcG3XLJdI/s1600/Chris13.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-1hKnqC3lMd4/T0PGKizd-4I/AAAAAAAACyc/UvBcG3XLJdI/s640/Chris13.jpg" width="576" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fire started.<br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Photo by R.T.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-s94t0pSFX-8/T0PGNOSZNeI/AAAAAAAACyk/yj9AIldqSAc/s1600/Chris14.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-s94t0pSFX-8/T0PGNOSZNeI/AAAAAAAACyk/yj9AIldqSAc/s400/Chris14.jpg" width="393" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Billy pot on the torch.<br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Photo by R.T.</span><br />
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The advantage of the Swedish torch in wet, or snowy conditions is that it gets your fire up out of the <span style="text-align: center;">moisture and it creates a ready made pot stand so long as the wood you are using is roughly the same length.</span></div>
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<span style="text-align: center;">The only thing I will change the next time is I will use a light gauge wire, like florists wire, to wrap the bundle in. The jute burned through (which did not surprise me) but how rapidly the fire spread into the interior of the torch did surprise me. I can definitely see some huge advantages to the Swedish torch in non-wet conditions to, such as greatly limiting fire scars.</span></div>
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<span style="text-align: center;">Have you ever made one of these? What are your thoughts?</span></div>
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<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8068482586717478503.post-78294287932471448242012-02-03T12:10:00.002-06:002012-02-03T12:32:48.828-06:00A new blog... A new direction...I am going to be starting a new blog. Now worries, I am not abandoning this one. There are just some topics I would like to explore that are not a perfect fit for Midwest Bushcraft. I am going to call my other blog "<a href="http://journeytogentleman.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Journey to Gentleman</a>". On it I will chronicle my attempts at self improvement. <br />
<br />
I was inspired to start down this road by <a href="http://artofmanliness.com/" target="_blank">The Art of Manliness</a>, and while bushcraft fits within what I see as this self-styled "journey", many of the other aspects do not mesh with the theme of this blog. So if you are interested I hope you will consider following my Journey to Gentleman, and possibly give me encouragement, or perhaps direction when I stray along the way.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8068482586717478503.post-2377037114875389752012-01-11T21:05:00.000-06:002012-01-11T21:05:03.978-06:00Winter Camping... The Paragwam!<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-yXeWmMb0Rkk/TvJPAFdx18I/AAAAAAAACuQ/mVCYoXWDzQM/s1600/WinterCamp2011+Finished+Tent1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-yXeWmMb0Rkk/TvJPAFdx18I/AAAAAAAACuQ/mVCYoXWDzQM/s320/WinterCamp2011+Finished+Tent1.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Paragwam</td></tr>
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<b id="internal-source-marker_0.8508639053907245"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">After fol</span><span style="font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">lowing several British </span><span style="font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">bushcraft forums and blogs for years, and seeing how often they used parachutes for shelters at group meets I had really wanted to try one out myself. Then, much to my adulation, I stumbled across a 24’ reserve parachute dating from the late 1960’s in an card board box in an obscure corner of the basement at my work. Needless to say I was giddy.</span></span></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span><br />
<span id="internal-source-marker_0.8508639053907245"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The first time I set up the parachute was during a early fall camping trip I led, and we elevated the the chute by making a hoop out of willow, slightly larger than the hole at the top, reinforced it with cross-braces, then suspended it from a limb in cotton wood that was approximately twenty or so feet off the ground. I pulled the chute up so that the edges were about 5 ½’ off the ground creating a canopy you could easily walk under. We had a communal fire for cooking in the center and that raised the air temperature beneath the canopy a good 5 degrees warmer than the air outside. </span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br />We cut some driftwood we found on the flood plain we were camping on and cut the to 6’ lengths and placed them around the perimeter of the chute and used them to hold the chute edges the desired height, then attached guy-lines to the ground to tighten the whole thing up.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It rained that night, and off-and-on the next morning, but by and large we stayed dry beneath the canopy. I think if we had made more uprights and guy-lines there would have been less leakage. All in all, for not being waterproof it preformed really well. I was sold on the parachute as a warm weather shelter.</span><br /><span style="font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The next test came in mid-December, 2011 when I scheduled a winter camping overnight course. We have had a very mild winter thus far, and that weekend was almost too warm during the day to call it “winter camping”. The high during the night was forecasted to be around 25</span><span style="font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: super; white-space: pre-wrap;">0</span><span style="font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> F, which I thought would be plenty cold since a some of the folks who signed up had never been camping in temps below freezing.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">To set up the paragwam this time I needed to use two ropes. The first rope was thrown over two seperate tree limbs in a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quercus_rubra" target="_blank">Red oak (<i>Quercus rubra</i>)</a> and an<a href="http://www.blogger.com/goog_1683981939"> American hophornbeam (</a></span><i><a href="http://www.blogger.com/goog_1683981939"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Ostrya virginiana</span></a></i><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ostrya_virginiana" target="_blank">)</a> about 15 feet in the air and spaced about 30 feet apart. over this was thrown another rope, roughly in the center of the first rope and it was allowed to hag to the ground. </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Discussion time<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: left; white-space: pre-wrap;">
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">One end was used to lash together the cross-brace/spacer sticks the were inserted into the hole at the top of the canopy. They served two purposes: 1) to keep the smoke hole open, 2) to provide an attachment point to the rope that elevated the canopy. After the rope was used to square lash the cross-brace the other end was taken one time around a tree about 20 feet away and to be pulled upon, thereby raising the canopy once it was staked out. We made the stakes from some young <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acer_saccharum">Sugar maples <i>(Acer saccharum)</i></a> that I had thinned out doing some TSI (timber stand improvement) work. Because the ground was frozen, and because of the large size of the canopy I made the stake pretty stout. They were about a foot and half in length and 2-inches in diameter (give or take a 1/2 inch) at the blunt end. Once the stakes were sharpened with the axe we were ready to drive them in.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The center of the canopy was elevated by pulling on the rope that is attached to the cross brace holding open the smoke hole. The top center of the canopy was elevated until it was about seven feet off the ground. I thought this would give enough space for the smoke to fill without choking us out inside, and it made moving around a lot easier since one could stand to one's full height.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Staking out the canopy was very simple. There are loop attachment around the outside of edge of the canopy for attaching the parachute lines and the worked perfectly as stake pockets. Stakes were placed about three feet apart, or every other loop. As the stake were driven in the canopy was spread out and tightened. Three loops in a row were left un-staked on the south east side of the canopy to act as a door. The door was held open with a three foot tall stake that was rounded on one end and sharpened on the other. The sharpened end was placed on the ground and the rounded end rested against the canopy. The downward tension of the canopy on the stake held it in place.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">To increase the size of the livable space beneath the canopy springy branches, about four feet long and an inch in diameter at the thick end were placed around the inside of the canopy in the same manor as the stake holding the door. The larger ends of the stakes were rounded, and the narrow eds were </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">sharpened. With this step the Paragwam was set up and ready for habitation.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">We took a old tractor wheel that we use as a fire ring in the the paragwam and built a fire. Even before the fire was built you could tell a huge difference in temperature between the outside and the inside. With the sunlight shine on the material the air inside warmed up quickly.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ktRVt3WKccY/TvJPP9n8jzI/AAAAAAAACug/87LHWukyRZU/s200/Wintercamp+2011+FireRing+%2526Smokehole.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="150" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Campfire and the smoke hole</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">With the fire built in the fire ring we were quickly enticed to begin removing layers of clothing. Soon we were in shirt-sleeves an quite comfortable.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">As the air inside the paragwam began to warm up the canopy "puffed-out" and expanded a bit more from the rising warm air. The rest of our time was spent inside the paragwam discussing skills, traditional lifestyles, history, knives, gear, philosophy and the like. There was also a lot of time spent singing the praises of the parachute as a shelter and discussing other configurations that could be implemented for different situations.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Below are a list of pros & cons of "The Paragwam" put together by my friend and paragwam enthusiast, Trace.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><br />
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<b>Pros</b></div>
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<ul>
<li>About $50 from a <a href="http://store.colemans.com/cart/parachute-24-ft-us-gi-p-1425.html?zenid=0dd56kc78l0j29da23qnqqdlk4" target="_blank">surplus dealer</a></li>
<li>Light-weight, stuffable</li>
<li>Most economical way to sleep 8+ people</li>
<li>Easy to set up in forested terrain</li>
<li>Fire inside</li>
<li>Did I mention it packs to the size of a volleyball?</li>
</ul>
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<b>Cons</b></div>
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<ul>
<li>Fire inside, can get smokey</li>
<li>Tree dependent</li>
<li>Dirt floor (reaching here!)</li>
<li>May require some waterproofing</li>
<li>Smokey fire when sleeping can be a carbon monoxide risk. Keep the flames high and the wood dry!</li>
</ul>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-j6fVKO-gVZ8/TwOxP0jPVpI/AAAAAAAACww/rcYH-irRHIo/s1600/photo.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-j6fVKO-gVZ8/TwOxP0jPVpI/AAAAAAAACww/rcYH-irRHIo/s400/photo.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption">The Paragwam at night</td></tr>
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</div>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8068482586717478503.post-54971211088540453342012-01-04T09:36:00.000-06:002012-01-04T09:36:22.977-06:00An Improvised Day-pack<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-qpYjF09Jp-w/TuT8XgxqbVI/AAAAAAAACrY/wYQsRqJadTU/s1600/SS852663.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-qpYjF09Jp-w/TuT8XgxqbVI/AAAAAAAACrY/wYQsRqJadTU/s400/SS852663.JPG" width="300" /></a></div>
While on a canoe trip in the Boundary Waters this summer my wife and I took a day trip to see the Picture Rocks on Crooked Lake. We took a lunch of crackers, summer sausage, cheese, and trail mix along. My satchel that I use as a day pack did not have quite enough room for all that and my EDC gear so we improvised a day-pack for my wife to carry. Know what it is? It is a large compression sack!<br />
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I shortened two of the straps (facing camera), and lengthened the other two (not seen) to act as shoulder straps. Once the food and a couple of water bottles were stored inside and the drawstring was tightened it is placed on your back and then you tuck the drawstring end beneath the "lid" of the compression sack and you are ready to go.<br />
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It worked great with the light load and we did not have to take along an extra pack that would have been taking up space during the rest of the trip. Let me know if you try it out!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8068482586717478503.post-7847369732852986142011-12-28T20:09:00.001-06:002011-12-28T20:09:30.842-06:00An Uncommon Visitor<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-TmVAv37EZzk/TvVL6V3ai0I/AAAAAAAACwk/WGRvCWxNfOM/s1600/SS852978.JPG"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-TmVAv37EZzk/TvVL6V3ai0I/AAAAAAAACwk/WGRvCWxNfOM/s400/SS852978.JPG" style="clear: both; float: right; margin: 0px 0px 10px 10px;" /></a> Recently my family and I went hiking at a local state park while I was off from work for Christmas. We had heard buzz from a number of bird watcher friends that they had been seeing <a href="http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/northern_saw-whet_owl/id/nc">Saw-whet owls</a> near the bird blind and feeding station. My wife has a special fondness for these tiny owls because she did her ground breaking senior theises on their nest success rates on an aspen plantation in Oregon.<br />
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So on a gray, late-December day we bundled up the squeakers (aged 2 years, and 4 years) and made the trek down the road to the state park. We parked the van near the trailhead that leads to the bird blind and made our way as quietly as one can with a 2 and 4 year old along. <br />
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We sat for a couple of minutes in the bird blind and enjoyed the sights of the common winter feeder birds, <a href="http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/white-breasted_nuthatch/lifehistory/nc">White-breasted nuthatches</a>, <a href="http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/black-capped_chickadee/id/nc">Black-capped chikadees</a>, <a href="http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/dark-eyed_junco/id/nc">Dark-eyed juncos</a>, <a href="http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/red-bellied_woodpecker/id/nc">Red-bellied woodpeckers</a>, <a href="http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/american_goldfinch/id/nc">American goldfinches</a>, <a href="http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Downy_Woodpecker/id/nc">Downy woodpeckers</a>, <a href="http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Mourning_dove/id/nc">Mourning doves</a>, <a href="http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Hairy_Woodpecker/id/nc">Hairy woodpeckers</a>, and <a href="http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Northern_cardinal/id/nc">Northern cardinals</a>.<br />
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We then began to thread our way through a miriad of trails that criss-cross the flood plain forest that is the state park. We were searching for clumps of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juniperus_virginiana">Eastern red cedars (<em>Juniperus virginiana</em>)</a> where the Saw-whets like to roost during the day. We had checked all the prime spots closest to the main trail but my wife, ever the birding adventurer, wanted to follow a deer trail deeper into a stand o cedars that we both agreed looked promising.<br />
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While she tore off in search of the eluzive owl the girls and I stuck with the main trail and more-or-less walked along and the girls shouted to each other and practiced their <a href="http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Barred_owl/id/nc">Barred owl </a>calls (which need <strong><em>A LOT</em></strong> of work). In spite of the girl's best efforts I did see some game. Namely a very nice looking white-tail buck. We continued on our merry way until I felt my wife would have had ample time to check the cedar grove I tried to talk the girls into heading back. No luck. We had been that way already. Then wanted, neigh <em><strong>NEEDED</strong> adventure</em>! So we opted to bushwack it through the timbers and find our way back to mommy and eternal glory! Which we did, and I am very glad. Because if we had not, we never would have stumbled upon our owl.<br />
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We made our way into the backside of the cedar stand when I heard my wife give the <a href="http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Northern_Bobwhite/sounds/nc">family "locator whistle"</a> so we veared in the direction of the Bobwhite call and there we found Mommy who stated she had not found an owl. The girls were getting a tad bit cold so we decided to head back to the van, but with heads held high. For even though our goal had been thwarted by the elusive boreal visitor we had spent time in the woods as a family, and there is no loftier goal than that. <br />
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The oldest and I took off down a deer trail as Mommy helped the youngest with a mitten emergancy. Just before we were about to emerge from the cedars onto the main trail my oldest stopped randomly (she dominates at doing things randomly, ask anyone that knows her) and started to shake a small tree back and forth vigourously. That was when I caught a flas of yellow out of the corner of my eye. I looked to the yellow flash, and there, 4 feet from me was a very surprised little owl. Had it kept it's eyes closed, we never would have seen it.<br />
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I called the oldest back to me and had her sit just off the trail to prevent her from doing anything excessivley random that migh scare off the owl and called my wife up. She was elated, and took the picture you see at the top of the blog from about 6 feet away.<br />
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Needless to say we were some happy hikers on the van ride home, and we were all very excited to see what other adventures awaited us during Christmas vacation...<br />
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<a href="http://picasa.google.com/blogger/" target="ext"><img align="middle" alt="Posted by Picasa" border="0" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif" style="-moz-background-clip: initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: initial; -moz-background-origin: initial; background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 50%; border: 0px none; padding: 0px;" /></a></div>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8068482586717478503.post-39934201184094624422011-12-20T00:00:00.000-06:002011-12-21T14:38:53.186-06:00Stuffed Crust Pizza on the Trail<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Boiling water and making stuffed crust pizza</td></tr>
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This was a largely improvised recipe that turned out to be our new camping favorite. To make one stuffed crust pizza you will need:<br />
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<li>Two flour tortillas</li>
<li>pizza sauce</li>
<li>cheese</li>
<li>toppings of your choice (ours was pepperoni)</li>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-AUj_PD7hdc0/TuUCHd-UHjI/AAAAAAAACrw/Eoqw9oOifHI/s1600/SS852607.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-AUj_PD7hdc0/TuUCHd-UHjI/AAAAAAAACrw/Eoqw9oOifHI/s400/SS852607.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Improvised dutch oven</td></tr>
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I improvised a dutch oven using the two fry pan/lids from our mess kit. The smaller fry pan is about 8" across and the larger is about 10". I placed the smaller fry pan on the fire great off set from the fire a bit so it was not catching the full force of the heat. The ingredients were layered in as follows:<br />
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<ol>
<li>Tortilla</li>
<li>Pizza sauce</li>
<li>Pepperoni</li>
<li>Cheese</li>
<li>Tortilla</li>
<li>Pizza sauce</li>
<li>Pepperoni</li>
<li>Chesse</li>
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On top of the smaller fry pan I placed the large fry pan, right side up and filled it with hot coals. When cooking with a dutch over you usually want to err on the side of more heat on top and less on the bottom. Heat rises as you know so the underside will tend to cook faster than the upper side.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-o0btZNRCHAk/TuUFbZ2cDbI/AAAAAAAACsA/2d3qkjtN438/s1600/SS852608.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-o0btZNRCHAk/TuUFbZ2cDbI/AAAAAAAACsA/2d3qkjtN438/s400/SS852608.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Melting cheese</td></tr>
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Once the cheese was well melted on top , but not fully browned, I slid the smaller pan over the flames and replaced the top pan still full of coals. This causes the bottom tortilla to crisp up nicely while the top brown.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-JSMu1t23aTM/TuUIpMDMkyI/AAAAAAAACsQ/DBZTVOGpcgk/s1600/SS852616.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-JSMu1t23aTM/TuUIpMDMkyI/AAAAAAAACsQ/DBZTVOGpcgk/s400/SS852616.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ready to serve!</td></tr>
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Here you have the finished product. It was one of the most amazing things I have ever dined upon on the trail. Just to be sure it was good as it seemed in the woods we made the same dish again once we had been back home for a week. It was indeed as good, so it was not just deprivation that drove us to crave it.<br />
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I am hoping t make it again soon with alfredo sauce and to add more ingredients. I will let you know how it goes. What is your favorite deceptively simple trail food?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8068482586717478503.post-6192790421667088812011-12-14T16:29:00.000-06:002011-12-15T08:59:55.693-06:00Packing for a Canoe Trip; My Opinion<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A packed and balanced canoe</td></tr>
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Canoe camping is a great way for people who are a little leery of "roughing it" to get started in outdoor recreation. I see it as a perfect next step after car camping. It is also a way for experienced outdoors folks to hone their skills and push their abilities. Hiking a pack with the bare essentials does indeed take skill, but paddling a canoe across a bay with a 20 mph breeze 4-points abaft your larboard beam? That is poetry in motion! (Plus you get to say things like "20 mph breeze 4-points abaft your larboard beam")</div>
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In this post I am going to cover what I took on my last Boundary Waters canoe trip. Did I pack light? No. Why? Because I am big for one, and because I didn't have too because we only had three short portages to worry about. At the end of this post I will go over the items that I did not use and would leave behind next time, as well as the items that I did not use but would take again anyhow.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our gear</td></tr>
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In the above photo you can see the three packs that my wife and I took along on our trip. The grey one on the left was our food pack and you can see our bear ropes daisy-chained and carabiner clipped to D-rings on the front of the pack.</div>
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The red pack in the center is a water proof dry bag made from a rubberized canvas type material that my wife used as her personal pack.</div>
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The green pack on the right is a "Duluth" style pack made from a <a href="http://www.sportsmansguide.com/net/cb/2-used-east-german-military-issue-duffle-bags.aspx?a=792491" target="_blank">East German Army duffle</a> obtained from <a href="http://www.sportsmansguide.com/" target="_blank">Sportsman's Guide</a> that the Amish added leather closure straps and buckles to convert it.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-0dehZXBNGbQ/TuT771ocunI/AAAAAAAACrQ/yu9XrDWtSKo/s1600/SS852776.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-0dehZXBNGbQ/TuT771ocunI/AAAAAAAACrQ/yu9XrDWtSKo/s400/SS852776.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Shelley's pack~33.8 lbs</td></tr>
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My wife carried a vintage Eureka Timberline tent (oblong green bag), poncho liner (camo), sleeping bag (beneath tent and poncho liner), toiletries (in zip-lock bag), compression sack with clothes (black), and Thermarest sleeping pad.</div>
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To pack the dry bag I first loosely rolled the sleeping pad up then inserted it vertically into the bag and allowed it to unroll again. The sleeping pad then forms a tube in which the rest of the content of the bag goes The sleeping pad acts as a barrier between your back and oddly shaped, hard items like mess kits, camp stoves, etc. Works really slick. That is a trick I learned in the Forest Service. At the bottom of the pack I placed the compression sack with the clothes and the sleeping bag, next was the poncho liner, followed by the tent, and topped off with the toiletries. </div>
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When packing up your gear be sure to put the last thing you will want first, and the first thing you will want last. The tent is left near the top so that if you are setting up camp in the rain or after dark it can be the first thing you lay your hands on. If it is raining and your tent is on the bottom you will have to lay everything else out in the rain in order to access it. Bad idea.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My pack~40.8 lbs</td></tr>
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The contents of my pack included (clockwise starting at top left), tool kit bag (made from brown cargo pants leg), first aid kit (zip-lock bag), heavy green wool blanket (beneath & first aid), mess kit, 12'x12' green Etowah tarp form<a href="http://www.bensbackwoods.com/servlet/StoreFront" target="_blank"> Ben's Backwoods</a>, dark blue wool sweater, <a href="http://www.cabelas.com/product/Camping/Cots-Pads-Beds/Sleeping-Pads%7C/pc/104795280/c/104712480/sc/104484780/Cabelas-Self-Inflating-Sleeping-Pads/746419.uts?destination=%2Fcatalog%2Fbrowse%2Fcamping-cots-pads-beds-sleeping-pads%2F_%2FN-1100678%2FNs-CATEGORY_SEQ_104484780%3FWTz_l%3DSEO%253Bcat104795280%253Bcat104712480&WTz_l=SEO%3Bcat104795280%3Bcat104712480%3Bcat104484780" target="_blank">Cabela's <span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 16px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">25" x 76"</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Verdana; line-height: 16px;"> </span>sleeping pad</a>, tent poles (orange bag), tent stakes (small brow bag), my lovely axe, 3 sticks of dynamite (kidding, they are flares), black compression sack with clothes, rubber poncho (under flares & compression sack).<br />
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The wool blanket is folded into a thick rectangle, roughly the length and width of the pack. It is then laid in first to act as a pad between my back and my gear. My compression sack and mess kit go in the bottom, followed by the tool bag, and tarp, then the first aid kit and my sweater and finally the poncho. If the weather gets cool I can easily fish out my sweater to add a layer, and if it begins to rain the poncho is on top to throw over myself, or my gear. We used the poncho to cover our firewood when it threatened rain. When I solo camp and have my hammock I lay out the poncho on the ground beneath it to keep my feet clean an dry when getting in and out.<br />
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The axe, tent poles, and sleeping pad were all tucked under the three leather straps that close the pack up.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-usfK_QKT6s4/TuUFgCFSY6I/AAAAAAAACsI/7ntqZBDhry8/s1600/SS852613.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-usfK_QKT6s4/TuUFgCFSY6I/AAAAAAAACsI/7ntqZBDhry8/s640/SS852613.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The food pack and Lil' Bastard...</td></tr>
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And then there was the food pack. I will go a little bit into our favorite dish on the trip in a future post.<br />
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Items taken and to be left behind next time:<br />
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<ul>
<li>Some extra clothing was superfluous. I wore the same thing the entire trip and washed it every night. I had an extra set of lighter weight clothes that I only used as a pillow at night.</li>
<li>Snacks; for some reason when I am in the woods I do not get as hungry as often as I do at home. Leaving behind trail mix and the like would have greatly decreased the weight of our food pack.</li>
<li>File and stone for axe/knife; I need to invest in a small, lightweight, high-quality stone for sharpening in the field. Any suggestions?</li>
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Items taken, not used, to be taken again:</div>
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<ul>
<li>First aid kit; fairly self explanatory I think</li>
<li>Flares; the flares could be used for signaling, or starting a fire in an emergency</li>
<li>Sweater; bulkier than it is heavy, if it had gotten cold I would have been happy it was taking up space.</li>
<li>Tarp; had it rained on our trip the tarp would have been priceless. It can be stretched over the cooking area to provide cover. If you have ever spent rainy days trapped in a tent you will understand why it is worthwhile to pack a rain-fly.</li>
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Items we wished we had:</div>
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<ul>
<li>Water purifier; we boiled the entire time which worked out well because our trip itinerary was so laid back. It might have been nice to have a purifier on our day trip though.</li>
<li>More pizza ingredients! This will make more since later...</li>
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<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8068482586717478503.post-4540847430522271572011-12-10T15:07:00.001-06:002011-12-21T09:17:38.407-06:00Deer Camp 2011<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7c4qWkjtUUs/TuPGH7XfsPI/AAAAAAAACqo/7XbjbuQTL5I/s1600/SS851926.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7c4qWkjtUUs/TuPGH7XfsPI/AAAAAAAACqo/7XbjbuQTL5I/s640/SS851926.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
We had another successful deer season this year that, yet again, has given us a full larder. My wife and I each took two deer. In the picture up above you can see a portion of the crew from this year. At one point we had 14 hunters*<br />
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*<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">Did you know you can fit 14 people in a 4-door Dodge Dakota, armaments included. Impressive, I know...</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My buck</td></tr>
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Here you can see the buck I took through the neck (the ONLY place to shoot a deer) at about 40 yards with a .50 caliber flintlock long rifle. Dropped where he stood.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-D48QlW8fKCs/TuPholwcj0I/AAAAAAAACq4/-yFuf8b_nZA/s1600/SS851906.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-D48QlW8fKCs/TuPholwcj0I/AAAAAAAACq4/-yFuf8b_nZA/s400/SS851906.JPG" width="292" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Shelley's buck</td></tr>
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Shelley took this buck with a .50 caliber in-line. The ballistic tip bullet she used did amazing amounts of damage from the shock of the bullet. This was another neck shot and the buck didn't even wiggle.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qnkz24HFyig/TuPjNdO_gcI/AAAAAAAACrA/BaUexgesQd0/s1600/SS851939.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qnkz24HFyig/TuPjNdO_gcI/AAAAAAAACrA/BaUexgesQd0/s400/SS851939.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dad's buck</td></tr>
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My Dad broke from tradition and took this buck literally between the eyes from a whopping 6' away. How did he get so close? The trick is all the camo and scent blocking equipment he uses. If you don't use that stuff you will never get a deer. Obviously...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8068482586717478503.post-91083900902780867582011-11-21T12:09:00.001-06:002011-12-21T09:18:13.178-06:00The Bushcraft BeardIf you have ever considered growing a beard but were not sure it was a good idea I would encourage you to visit this site.<br />
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<a href="http://www.biggerbetterbeards.org/">http://www.biggerbetterbeards.org/</a><br />
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All the claims are true, I can attest to that...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8068482586717478503.post-37992420374424672932011-11-11T20:30:00.001-06:002011-12-21T09:19:29.272-06:00Bushcraft vs. Leave-No-Trace: A ResponseBrian of "<i>Brian's Backpacking Blog</i>" fame had a <a href="http://www.briangreen.net/2011/10/bushcraft-vs-leave-no-trace-lnt.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+bfgreen+%28Brian%27s+Backpacking+Blog%29" target="_blank">post </a>semi-recently asking his readers to chime in on whether buschcraft and leave-no-trace (LNT) are compatible. I started to write my response in the comment box but then it started to take up A LOT of space, so I decided I would use my own blog as a soap box for my opinion. And here it is...<br />
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Bushcraft for me is the act of participating in nature while taking an "extreme" (my words) view of the LNT principles is the act of passing through nature. I believe that following the LNT principles as they are <i>written</i> makes them completely compatible with bushcraft. In order to prove my point we are going to explore the 7 principles and my interpretation of them with the juxtaposition of how some LNTers interpret them.<br />
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<b><a href="http://www.lnt.org/programs/principles.php" target="_blank">The Seven Principles of Leave-No-Trace</a>:</b><br />
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<ol>
<li><b>Plan and Prepare Ahead:</b> Fairly straight forward. If you are camping in winter, don't pack Bermuda shorts, that would just be silly. But seriously, learn as much as you can about where you are going before you go there and pack accordingly. Think of possible scenarios and make sure you are ready for the probable ones.</li>
<li><b>Travel and Camp on Durable Surfaces:</b>What's a durable surface? Refer to Principle One and learn if there are any fragile soil types that you need to avoid. When I was a ranger in the Boundary Waters I always slept on exposed granite. Pretty damn durable stuff that granite...</li>
<li><b>Dispose of Waste Properly: </b>Another straight forward guideline. Do not litter. Idiots litter. Do not be an idiot. We will revisit Principal One here, find out if there are backcountry latrines, if so use them, if not find out if cat holes are sufficient, if not maybe you need to pack out your feces. For me, if I can't get by with a cat hole I do not need to see it.</li>
<li><b>Leave what you find:</b> This is one I struggle with. I am who I am today because when I was a boy I filled my pockets with rocks, and acorns, and skulls, and *gasp* picked flowers for my mother. If I had not done those things, or if I had been told not to do it I think there is a really good chance I would not have developed such a fondness for the outdoors. I see this a lot in my line of work. Teachers are often screaming at the kids not to touch anything in nature because they might hurt it or it might be poison ivy. Which brings us back to Principal One, I'm detecting a pattern here. Learn if there acceptable things to pick up an take home as souvenirs. You will be impacting the environment less by taking a pebble home as a reminder than if you buy a cheap petroleum based knick-knack that traveled in excess of 5000 miles to arrive at the tourist trap you picked it up at. In Iowa, on public lands nuts, fungus, and berries are fare game. In National Forests shed antlers are ok to pick up, but antlers attached to a skull are to be left. I once let a young gentleman who was about 11 years old carry a moose skull with moderately sized spoons out of the Boundary Waters. Illegal? Yes. But if you had seen the pride in that little guys eyes as he passed me on the portage with that skull balanced on his pack you would understand why I did not. His scout leader said he had found it early in the trip and had carried on each portage, including one portage that was over 500 rods (one rod= 16.5 feet). I console myself in that now he may be majoring in natural resources at a major university because of his experiences on that trip.. There are non-native/invasive flowers, trees, shrubs, etc almost everywhere you go. Learn what they are an let your little ones pick the flowers and you can cut the trees and shrubs for your spoon carving and buck saws. You will be things out of the forest and leaving a trace, a positive trace. Educate yourself and make a difference.</li>
<li><b>Minimize Campfire Impacts:</b> Note that it does not say "never use a fire" which is how some folks interpret this principal. Keep your campfires small. Harvest dead and down wood away from your campsite. Use grate when they are provided. If you want to use a stove look into making your own like one of my <a href="http://woodtrekker.blogspot.com/2010/12/guest-post-diy-wood-gasification-stove.html" target="_blank">woodsman heroes</a>. If you think you are "leaving no trace" by using a white gas stove you need to visit a bauxite mine and an oil refinery sometime...</li>
<li><b>Respect Wildlife: </b>Another straight forward principal I think. Leave wildlife alone when camping. Other wise you could end up like <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timothy_Treadwell" target="_blank">Timothy Treadwell</a>... Oh yes, I just went there...</li>
<li><b>Be Considerate of Other Visitors:</b> Be peaceful and respect other recreational users. If they are compiling with regulations keep off your soap box. If you are a hardcore LNTer please do not accost a bushcrafter for practicing there craft if they are not breaking rules. It is a bad idea. We carry insanely sharp knives and axes all the time. (That's joke you realize, sometimes the knives and axes are only moderately sharp).</li>
</ol>
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And that is my take on implementing LNT into bushcrafting. I'd love to hear your thoughts on the topic, even if the conflict with mine. I will just be sitting here...sharpening my axe...</div>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8068482586717478503.post-50989775441678544242011-10-12T13:04:00.002-05:002011-10-12T13:04:45.792-05:00Part II: 30 Miles There & Back<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-xYQJHcsTC6I/TpTmURVmByI/AAAAAAAACo4/035XDXwqqfY/s1600/SS852683.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-xYQJHcsTC6I/TpTmURVmByI/AAAAAAAACo4/035XDXwqqfY/s320/SS852683.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Soloing with the Ancients</i></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> The wind did indeed die down and we were able to break camp on an absolutely beautiful clear morning. The type of morning where the surface of the lake is quite literally like a mirror. After we broke camp and repacked the canoe I took a minute to plan our route the short distance the a campsite above the upper falls on the Basswood River.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-z9eYBZXOGxg/TpToGbjUtbI/AAAAAAAACpA/dno_gpU8zys/s1600/SS852650.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-z9eYBZXOGxg/TpToGbjUtbI/AAAAAAAACpA/dno_gpU8zys/s200/SS852650.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Planning the Route</i></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> We were in very familiar territory for me because I had worked as a wilderness ranger for the Forest Service in this area while I was going to school in Ely. As a matter of fact the last campsite I stayed in when I was working on the Forest Service trail crew my first summer as a ranger was the last site my wife and I stayed on during this trip.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-wrHAefh040U/TpOeqOO_RSI/AAAAAAAACnw/KjxYex4ux0s/s1600/SS852661.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-wrHAefh040U/TpOeqOO_RSI/AAAAAAAACnw/KjxYex4ux0s/s200/SS852661.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Portage Break</i></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> The paddle to the campsite was easy, just a couple miles on a glassy surface. Setting up camp was <i style="font-weight: bold;">MUCH </i>less eventful seeing as how no bear visited us this time. With camp set up we paddled the short distance (maybe 50 yards) to the Basswood River </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">portage which is close to a mile long. With nothing more than our water bottles, lunch, and day-packs the portage was a breeze.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-VY8bLDAuAik/TpOgkzCRsPI/AAAAAAAACn4/OFnjljojwGQ/s1600/SS852666.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-VY8bLDAuAik/TpOgkzCRsPI/AAAAAAAACn4/OFnjljojwGQ/s320/SS852666.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Portaging...Like a Boss!!!</i></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> I did rest the canoe against a short pine snag at a point that turned out to be about 70 rods from the end of the portage. Good canoe rests, where you can simply step out from under the canoe are often hard to find. Visitors use to lash poles in-between trees at regular intervals on longer portages but the Forest Service takes them down because some feel it diminishes their wilderness experience. I've been on portage with and without canoe rests and I love them. They do not do a bit of harm to my wilderness experience, but I'll save that bully pulpit for a later post i think.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> I am not the only one to portage on the trip. My wife, who weighs only slightly less than our canoe, took more than her fair share of turns participating in this glorious torture. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> At the end of the mile long portage we sat on the rocks listen to the river flow and gurgle by, took in the beauty of our surroundings, talked and laughed while enjoying our lunch of summer sausage, cheese, crackers, and trail mix. Then it was time to get back on the water and make our way down the rest of the Basswood River to our ultimate goal of Crooked Lake and the Picture Rock located there.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-JTfNvWK6Awg/TpObXqamb-I/AAAAAAAACno/0lsGOMzTEfo/s1600/Copy+of+SS852669.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-JTfNvWK6Awg/TpObXqamb-I/AAAAAAAACno/0lsGOMzTEfo/s200/Copy+of+SS852669.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Lower Basswood Falls</i></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The rest of the paddle down the Basswood River was largely uneventful other than my wife's first chance to step on Canadian soil at Wheelbarrow Falls. She said it felt a lot like American soil but just a little different, eh.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> When we reached the end of the Basswood River at Lower Basswood Falls we took a moment to take advantage of the timer on our camera and snapped a quick picture for posterity. Then it was time to hoof it over that last portage on the river and into Crooked Lake.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> We were approaching the terminus of the farthest I had ever been in this part of the Boundary Water so that every new experience that we had was a shared one. Around each corner, and in each new bay our eyes took in new sites for the first time together. I love that feeling.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-B2o0_8WFRhE/TpOkXvvcaMI/AAAAAAAACoI/kUqjYoqAnXM/s1600/SS852671.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-B2o0_8WFRhE/TpOkXvvcaMI/AAAAAAAACoI/kUqjYoqAnXM/s400/SS852671.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Pictured Rock on Crooked Lake</i></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> What we got to see next was the overarching goal of the entire trip, the<a href="http://collections.mnhs.org/MNHistoryMagazine/articles/29/v29i02p130-136.pdf"> Picture Rocks on Crooked Lake</a>. We have a <a href="http://collections.mnhs.org/visualresources/image.cfm?imageid=133151&Page=1&Subject=Voyageurs%2E">painting</a> over our fireplace by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Lee_Jaques">Francis Lee Jaques </a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">that depict the rock with a group of Voyagers paddling by. It was gift from my parents and it ties our urban lifestyle nicely in with our </span><a href="http://www.upress.umn.edu/book-division/books/the-wilderness-life" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">wilderness life</a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> philosophy, and serves as a constant reminder of that fact for me.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-s7ki72_OCLc/TpOmOCCEnjI/AAAAAAAACoQ/0AJShrrEmvk/s1600/SS852689.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-s7ki72_OCLc/TpOmOCCEnjI/AAAAAAAACoQ/0AJShrrEmvk/s200/SS852689.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Canadian Border Marker</i></td></tr>
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<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> We snapped a few pictures of the various hieroglyphs on the rocks. I have included a picture of one of my favorites which looks like a pelican and a large watercraft, which I think looks suspiciously like a viking long ship, but I am biased. Do I think that vikings painted on these rock? Absolutely not. Is there a chance that the ancients that did the paintings had seen a long ship on some distant trading sojourn to the coast and recorded their memory for countless generations to see? Possibly(hopefully).</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-qfAf80zPYT4/TpOoCN3CIbI/AAAAAAAACoY/DMTuBxX-nLQ/s1600/SS852708.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-qfAf80zPYT4/TpOoCN3CIbI/AAAAAAAACoY/DMTuBxX-nLQ/s320/SS852708.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Looking-up the Lower Basswood Falls</i></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Before we made our trip back to our campsite on Basswood Lake my wife took a few pictures of me paddling solo past the Picture Rock to compare to the painting in our living room, then I paddled back over to pick her up next to the border marker I left her by. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">While we we taking in our last look we heard a strange rushing noise that sounded a bit like a jet engine just over our heads. It was loud enough and close enough that I physically ducked. It turned out to be three <a href="http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/bald_eagle/id">Bald Eagles</a> fighting over a fish, and the strange noise was the wind rushing through their wing tips as they would dive bomb each other. One of the coolest experiences I have ever had in the woods.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-DICRsKoz6ok/TpOpuTeZFRI/AAAAAAAACog/4Mjdg4kDA9E/s1600/SS852713.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-DICRsKoz6ok/TpOpuTeZFRI/AAAAAAAACog/4Mjdg4kDA9E/s200/SS852713.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Heading for home</i></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">We loaded back up and retraced our steps up the Basswood River to our campsite. We spent a uneventful evening in camp running over the experiences we had shared, and talked about ours hopes for future trips together.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The following morning we packed up our gear and made the long paddle back to the Fall Lake Campground and our vehicle, stopping at an island on Pipestone Bay for lunch where I took a moment to get a shot of our faithful canoe loaded on the water.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YwjVV74HBNM/TpOrXXwVqDI/AAAAAAAACoo/dxUog_zJ7_w/s1600/SS852732.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YwjVV74HBNM/TpOrXXwVqDI/AAAAAAAACoo/dxUog_zJ7_w/s320/SS852732.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>The Last Portage</i></td></tr>
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<br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Four days, 3 nights, 30 miles, and 12 portages later and we were, well a picture is worth a thousand words so here are two-thousand for me to send this post out on...</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Jw9rQS1Vj-U/TpOtBOj1ycI/AAAAAAAACow/Rs3VoIu964k/s1600/SS852726.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Jw9rQS1Vj-U/TpOtBOj1ycI/AAAAAAAACow/Rs3VoIu964k/s400/SS852726.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>I Love You Shelley!</i></td></tr>
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<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8068482586717478503.post-30970421172901485892011-09-27T22:12:00.001-05:002011-10-04T14:15:37.911-05:0030 Miles There & Back: A Boundary Waters Adventure<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-BMfjoyf4PSg/TmvSLeJHfrI/AAAAAAAAClw/u9pvEOxX-0U/s1600/SS852647.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-BMfjoyf4PSg/TmvSLeJHfrI/AAAAAAAAClw/u9pvEOxX-0U/s400/SS852647.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A glass-calm bay in the Boundary Waters</td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">We moved away from <a href="http://elyminnesota.com/">Ely, MN</a> eight years ago when we transferred to the <a href="http://www.uidaho.edu/cnr/css">University of Idaho</a> (U of I) after graduation from <a href="http://www.vcc.edu/explore/programs/wilderman/index.cfm">Vermilion Community College</a> (VCC)and we had not returned since. But not for a lack of desire. Finally after all these long years it worked out that I had enough vacation days, money set aside, and children old enough to leave with their grandparents for a week that we were able to return.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">So on August 20th, 2011 after I worked my job's booth at an area farmers market I raced off to my parents where my lovely wife (and the best paddling partner I have ever had the pleasure of sharing 16 feet of Royalex with) was dropping off our two lovely daughters. Upon arrival, I was pleasantly surprised that my wife had actually come to a complete stop before unloading the kids. We parted from the children with some sadness and reservations which my wife exhibited in the somewhat strange reaction of doing a combination of cartwheels mixed with wild sprinting and shouts that might otherwise be construed as joy.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">And thus began our 8-hour drive from Iowa to Ely, MN. The drive up foreshadowed much of how the entire trip (and following weeks) would go: almost non-existent arguing, lots of laughing and conversation. We arrived in Ely a touch later than we hoped and found the <a href="http://www.forestcamping.com/dow/eastern/supcmp.htm#fall_lake">Fall Lake Campground </a>to be completely filled up and, as luck would have it, so were ALL the hotels in Ely. We ended up staying in a little cabin at the <a href="http://www.silverrapidslodge.com/">Silver Rapids Lodge</a> for the night; the only place available within an hours drive.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-CxaupdWH0xw/TmvjZ8yklaI/AAAAAAAACl8/GU_iGyetiKk/s1600/SS852560.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-CxaupdWH0xw/TmvjZ8yklaI/AAAAAAAACl8/GU_iGyetiKk/s320/SS852560.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Silver Rapids Lodge Cabin</td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The cabin was nice but the bed was a touch short for my 6'4" frame, but it was nice to have a shower in the morning. We had time before we had to check out so we ate a breakfast of bacon and eggs on the porch then went down to the lake (Garden Lake) to drink coffee and watch for loons. Didn't see any.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/--afdHoOqVeM/ToJyJcMZk0I/AAAAAAAACnQ/WEm1Rr58WZU/s1600/SS852562.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/--afdHoOqVeM/ToJyJcMZk0I/AAAAAAAACnQ/WEm1Rr58WZU/s320/SS852562.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Vermilion Community College</td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Once we had finished our coffee we packed the van back up and drove into Ely where we were going to visit old haunts, pick up souveniers, and basically kill time until 1:00 PM when the campsites at Fall Lake would start to open back up again.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">It was amazing how many people that we ran into that we knew and remebered us after eight long years.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">In the above photo you can see me standing outside of VCC where I obtained my A.S. in Wilderness Management.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-pY1GOm1SGh0/ToJ0AEzUP-I/AAAAAAAACnU/iQw_rk3yB3Y/s1600/SS852565.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-pY1GOm1SGh0/ToJ0AEzUP-I/AAAAAAAACnU/iQw_rk3yB3Y/s320/SS852565.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">View from Fall Lake Campsite</td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">After lunch we drove back out to Fall Lake and found a BEAUTIFUL campsite with good access to the water for forays in the canoe, we also saw and heard our first <a href="http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Common_Loon/id">Common loon </a>of the trip. No matter how many times I see and hear them it never gets old.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">While we camped at the Fall Lake Campground we had several friends that we went to school with at VCC, and later on , the U of I, stop by for a visit. We cooked up venison steaks on the fire and I made bannock in a reflector oven, but I'll save that for a future blog post.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3ptoxRJlCjM/ToJ1q87IpgI/AAAAAAAACnY/6tR49NpUJzo/s1600/Happy+Paddler.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3ptoxRJlCjM/ToJ1q87IpgI/AAAAAAAACnY/6tR49NpUJzo/s320/Happy+Paddler.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Paddling across Newton Lake</td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The following morning we loaded our car camping gear back in our van and our wilderness gear into the canoe and took off paddling on our glorious 4-day trip into the Boundary Waters.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">We paddled across Fall Lake to our first portage of 90 rods ( a rod is 16.5', or roughly the length of a canoe) and double portaged our gear into Newton Lake.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-lsy3dCjxaJk/TmvVoa28leI/AAAAAAAACl4/m7NuRoR_C80/s1600/Shore+Lunch+First+Day.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-lsy3dCjxaJk/TmvVoa28leI/AAAAAAAACl4/m7NuRoR_C80/s320/Shore+Lunch+First+Day.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lunch spot below Pipestone Falls, Pipestone Bay, Basswood Lake</td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">After the relatively short paddle down the length of Newton Lake we arrived at the Newton-Pipestone Portage of 80 rods where we double portaged agin then had a nice lunch on the rocks where we could listen to the Pipestone Falls behind us.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Normally the </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Newton-Pipestone Portage is as busy as an interstate, but this day it was very quiet, which I liked.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Once we had finished our hasty lunch below the falls we started our long paddle up Pipestone Bay of Basswood Lake, then into Jackfish Bay where we turned to the east, passed through the narrows and into Basswood Lake proper. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Here we debated whether we should continue paddling up the west shore of Basswood nearer to the Basswood River (and busier campsites) or opt to camp at the first nice site we came to. We opted for the latter.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xpJYvSgHwtY/ToJ3MYshzrI/AAAAAAAACnc/eUF0PMepKLk/s1600/SS852628.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xpJYvSgHwtY/ToJ3MYshzrI/AAAAAAAACnc/eUF0PMepKLk/s320/SS852628.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Campsite #55 Basswood Lake</td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">We chose a campsite that connected what would have been a large island to the mainland except for a narrow stip of land no more than 30 yards wide. It had two beautiful sandy beach landings on either side of the isthmus and I thought it would have a good breeze to keep the bugs down. Did I ever hit the nail on the head, but more on that will come later.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ywtHp9Dzre4/ToJ4zdrXFEI/AAAAAAAACng/DaHck1Sdr_w/s1600/SS852629.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ywtHp9Dzre4/ToJ4zdrXFEI/AAAAAAAACng/DaHck1Sdr_w/s320/SS852629.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Campsite #55 Basswood Lake</td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">My lovely wife started water to boil to purify it, and got supper on the fire while I started on the tent. Once she had everything going she came over to lend me a hand. As I got things more under control she turned to check on supper when she said in an amazingly calm voice "Oh look honey, there's a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_black_bear">Black bear</a>" and she was right. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The not too terribly large bear (I guessed it to be around 200 lbs) was bee-lining for our food pack so I bee-lined it for the bear. I ran straight at the bear, my heart pounding in my ears and I was mildly disconcerted that the bear wasn't leaving yet. I wasn't sure what I was going to do if I arrived at the food pack and the bear didn't leave but I thought I could take it. I mean <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Davy_Crockett">Davy Crockett</a> killed one when he was only three. How hard can it be really? But here I jest. The bear ran like it's ass was on fire once I was in 6' of it an thankfully didn't make off with a morsel of food.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Needless to say I felt like a real badass during supper having defended my wife in the wilderness from a wild animal that eats mostly berries and insect larve(I'm hoping someone over at <a href="http://artofmanliness.com/">The Art of Manliness</a> will read this and want an article).</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-N-RVYG7Qzz4/ToJ60kJTh0I/AAAAAAAACnk/hwdag88pqkQ/s1600/SS852630.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-N-RVYG7Qzz4/ToJ60kJTh0I/AAAAAAAACnk/hwdag88pqkQ/s320/SS852630.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Campsite #55 Basswood Lake</td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I'd like to say the rest of our stay at Site #55 was uneventful but it wasn't. Remember how I mentioned I picked the site due to the good breeze it would get to keep the bugs away? Well it did a bang up job. Point of fact there were NO bugs our first night, or the entire next day as the breezes picked up to 40 miles per hour with gusts up to 60...</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Luckily our tent withstood the wind and no trees fell on us or our gear. Late the second day in camp the winds died to nothing and the following morning we began the next leg of our trip which I am going to save for another post. Until then here is a <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF&msa=0&msid=%20209622130714472759439.0004ac82a4531290f673f">route map</a> of the trip we took. Stay tuned...!</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Upper Basswood Falls, Basswood River</td></tr>
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Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com4Ely, MN 55731, USA47.9032372 -91.867087347.8819477 -91.9065693 47.9245267 -91.827605299999988tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8068482586717478503.post-64077632731307270702011-07-15T14:44:00.000-05:002011-07-15T14:44:03.089-05:00Look at me... I'm sailing!!!A few years ago I went to a movie featuring Russel Crowe and Paul Bettany called "<i><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0311113/">Master and Commander: The far Side of the World</a></i>" and instantly wanted to sail on a tall ship. A good friend of mine we'll call "Morgan" informed me that the film was based upon a series of books know, collectively, as the <i><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8432716-patrick-o-brian-s-aubrey-maturin-series">Aubrey-Maturin Series </a></i>by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5600.Patrick_O_Brian">Patrick O'Brian</a> which only furthered my desire to sail on a tall ship. But alas it is my lot to live in land-locked Iowa where tall ships are exceedingly, nay exasperatingly rare. So what is a bushcrafter to do when he has sailing blood coursing through his Scandinavian veins? Why he needs to improvise a sailboat!<br />
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So I did, during a summer camp at work.<br />
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The kids, other naturalists, and I took a couple of canoes down to a lake found near our Nature Center and then set about to find sticks to use in lashing the canoes into a pontoon and for the mast for our sail. The sail in this case was my ever present surplus poncho.<br />
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We lashed the two canoes together with assorted ropes and 550 p-chord and three, wrist diameter sticks each about 3'-3.5' long.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-mKzPzLNSZ8M/TiCPGC5GsAI/AAAAAAAACk4/JzZBbmV30gI/s1600/Thwarts+lashed.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-mKzPzLNSZ8M/TiCPGC5GsAI/AAAAAAAACk4/JzZBbmV30gI/s320/Thwarts+lashed.jpg" width="320" /></a></div> The sail was supported by a frame made by lashing together four wrist-diameter <a href="http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=CEOC">hackberries (<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><em>Celtis</em> <em>occidentalis</em> L.</span> )</a> that were being shaded out by some old cottonwoods. In this picture you can see me and two other naturalists lashing the starboard (right-hand) mainmast to the thwart located abaft (behind) the bow seat.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Lw2K0P_YebM/TiCQVU-golI/AAAAAAAACk8/O9s0RgmPoAE/s1600/Lashing+Mast.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Lw2K0P_YebM/TiCQVU-golI/AAAAAAAACk8/O9s0RgmPoAE/s320/Lashing+Mast.jpg" width="240" /></a></div> Once we had securely lashed the cross-braces to the canoes thwarts and attached backstays to the mainmasts, and the sail lashed to the spars it was time time to see if she was sea worthy.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/--_JTNOmIBFM/TiCRFtFPKJI/AAAAAAAAClA/CYVY_vj3iQQ/s1600/Prepping+to+launch.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/--_JTNOmIBFM/TiCRFtFPKJI/AAAAAAAAClA/CYVY_vj3iQQ/s320/Prepping+to+launch.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-JuMvrAfOcNU/TiCRYkt-aBI/AAAAAAAAClE/Kj90HfOjagY/s1600/In+the+water.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-JuMvrAfOcNU/TiCRYkt-aBI/AAAAAAAAClE/Kj90HfOjagY/s320/In+the+water.jpg" width="240" /></a></div> Here you can see two other naturalists lowering the sail after we'd paddled into the wind and swung the pontoon around. The top spar (not in photo) is square-lashed to the two up right masts. The bottom spar is lashed to the sail only and is longer than the distance between the two masts. The overlap of the lower spar pushes into the mast when the wind fills the sail and pushes the whole thing forward.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mGTnERtGizA/TiCRihlZBYI/AAAAAAAAClI/CPmyHDYXlNY/s1600/Lowering+the+sail.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mGTnERtGizA/TiCRihlZBYI/AAAAAAAAClI/CPmyHDYXlNY/s320/Lowering+the+sail.jpg" width="320" /></a></div> Look at me.... I'm sailing!!!<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ANBVs0lXhE8/TiCRqtQ3YMI/AAAAAAAAClM/QMAR_5QHSYY/s1600/Look+at+me+I%2527m+sailing%2521.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ANBVs0lXhE8/TiCRqtQ3YMI/AAAAAAAAClM/QMAR_5QHSYY/s320/Look+at+me+I%2527m+sailing%2521.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>We didn't get going to fast, slightly slower than an easy paddling speed largley because of the way the wind acted on the lake that day. With a larger body of water where the winds are steadier, and less erratic we could have gone much faster than if we had paddled. I look forward to trying it again soon.<br />
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Anyone else ever improvised a sailboat? I'd love to hear about it!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8068482586717478503.post-85009744954799791372011-01-13T11:14:00.000-06:002011-12-21T09:21:09.509-06:00My Guide to Field Guides and Journals<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">I did this post a while back on a now defunct blog. I was pretty happy with it so I’d thought I resurrect it here. The post is about my choices in field guides for identifying flora and fauna while out in the field. In it I explore print media, free on-line sources, and also show some of the ways that I use to help me ID plants and animals that are new to me. </span></div>
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Print Media</div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small; white-space: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">There are a wealth of books out there that cover plant and wildlife identification in very broad terms covering entire continents such as the<a href="http://www.blogger.com/goog_640069822"> </a></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small; white-space: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15832.The_Sibley_Guide_to_Birds" style="text-decoration: underline;">Sibley Guide to Birds</a> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small; white-space: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">to highly specialized books that focus on one family, or species like </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small; white-space: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1776112.Stokes_Field_Guide_to_Warblers">Stokes Field Guide to Warblers</a></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small; white-space: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small; white-space: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Selection of a good field guide depends entirely on what you...(wait for it!).... want to identify in the field! If you are interested in birds alone, pick out a book that covers birds in your region (i.e., Western U.S., or Eastern U.S., etc...). A little later I will give my recommendations for the series of books that I use. At this point I would like to give a disclaimer; this is an opinion piece. These are the books that I prefer to use. I strongly dislike some books that people better at identification swear by (I am thinking of the Audubon and Peterson guides send hate mail here(include link for email address, do research and find what works for you. I suggest going to your local library and to check out book layouts. If they don’t have the ones you are looking for try getting them through a inter-library loan. </span></span></div>
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OK, so now to the subject.</div>
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Birds</div>
</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div style="text-align: left;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small; white-space: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">For birds I have a couple of recommendations. For a true field guide I carry the </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small; white-space: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/680650.Birds_of_North_America">Kaufman Guide to Birds of North America</a></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small; white-space: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. I like the Kaufman Guide because of the artwork. Rather than artists renditions, they are digital photographs, which I find a little more useful in the field. There are other books in the <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/73605.Kenn_Kaufman">Kaufman Guides</a> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small; white-space: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">series now covering insects and mammals and that are of the same high quality as the bird guide. I’ve looked at them but have not purchased them yet.</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small; white-space: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">You’ll notice above I mention Kaufman being a “true field guide”. By that I mean it’s reasonably sized to be comfortably carried in the field either in a day-pack, shoulder bag, or if you’re built like me, a cargo pocket. For my “desk guide” I use the </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small; white-space: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15832.The_Sibley_Guide_to_Birds)">The Sibley Guide to Birds</a></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small; white-space: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. The <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/9798.David_Allen_Sibley">Sibley guides</a> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small; white-space: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">are excellent and go above and beyond simple bird ID by including text on bird behaviors that you may observe. The wealth of information included in the Sibley books make them a touch prohibitive for use in the field, but they make a great reference to cross check your findings once you are home.</span></span></div>
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Plants</div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small; white-space: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">For plants the books I prefer are a bit specialized and focus on the tallgrass prairies because of my location. I don’t use an ID book for trees because I was taught those by my Grandpa and Dad growing up. The prairie book I use is the Falcon guide </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small; white-space: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/955554.Tallgrass_Prairie_Wildflowers_2">Tallgrass Prairie Wildflowers</a></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small; white-space: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. It is broken up by the colors of the flowers rather than my families which makes it nice for beginners.</span></span></div>
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</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div style="text-align: left;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small; white-space: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">When it comes to wild edibles I have to go with Sam Thayer’s </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small; white-space: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/303836.The_Forager_s_Harvest">Foragers Harvest</a></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small; white-space: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. I have been lucky enough to meet Mr. Thayer on a couple of occasions through work and the man knows his stuff backwards and forwards. Mr. Thayer’s books are focused on the Upper Midwest, but a lot of the plants he covers can be found throughout North America. The layout of the book, the text, and the art work are the best and most concise I’ve ever seen in a book on wild edibles.</span></span></div>
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Budget Buys</div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small; white-space: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I, like many others in the survival/bushcraft world, tend to be a touch on the frugal side. So I thought I might take a moment here to endorse some books you can get on a budget. For a great source of field guides that can easily fit in your back pocket I recommend the small <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Guide">Golden Guide</a></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small; white-space: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. There is a Golden Guide for just about every thing you could come across on a hike, day or night such as; insects, birds, trees, flowers, stars, weather, geology, weather, and the list goes on.</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small; white-space: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">One of my favorite desk references, and one of the most important books in my life, is the </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small; white-space: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/432102.Readers_Digest_North_American_Wildlife">Reader’s Digest North American Wildlife</a></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small; white-space: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. I can remember a copy of this sitting on a shelf in my Grandma’s living room. I always loved to sit on the floor in front of the kerosene heater on winter evenings after a night of coon hunting and just pouring over the pages. I think I can safely credit this book with a good portion of my interest in the natural world.</span></span></div>
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</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div style="text-align: left;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small; white-space: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">By searching around you can get <a href="http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_0_12?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=golden+guides&sprefix=Golden+Guide">these guides</a> at very reasonable rates</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small; white-space: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. If you are a patient lot and as thrifty as I am I recommend setting up an account over at <a href="http://paperbackswap.com/">PaperBackSwap.com</a></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small; white-space: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. When you set up your account you will get two credits to order books for free; after that you have to mail books out to receive credits (one credit per book). All you have to do is pay the media mail postage. You can pay your postage in advance on the site and then print your mailing label with postage right at home. It isn’t as always as convenient as ordering from an on-line book seller, or going to a local bookstore, but it is low cost and sort of adventurous. When you set up the wish lists of books you are looking for you receive an e-mail notifying you if one of them has been posted then you just request it and it will be mailed out to you. You never know when that book you’ve been trying to find will suddenly be within your grasp.</span></span></div>
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On-line Resources</div>
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If you are R-E-A-L-L-Y cheap and aren’t looking to shell out money there are a wealth of websites out there that are very useful for plant and animal ID. This is all the better you you are tech savvy and have an internet capable phone. Below you will find a list of my preferred websites and a terse description of what you can find there.</div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small; white-space: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/index.html">Animal Diversity Web</a></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small; white-space: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> is a excellent source put together from reaserch done by students at the University of Michigan. Lots of in-depth information no all aspects of the ecological niche’s that animals hold.</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small; white-space: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="http://www.enature.com/home/indexNew.asp">eNature</a> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small; white-space: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">is a loss scholarly website geared more towards the layperson interested in animals in there area. At eNature you can search plants and animals that can appear in your zipcode. </span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small; white-space: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="http://www.allaboutbirds.org/NetCommunity/Page.aspx?pid=1189">All About Birds</a> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small; white-space: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">is one of my favorite websites, largely because I love to identify birds. All About Birds is run by the prestigious Cornell Lab of Ornithology so you can count on the validity of the information you will glean from there site.</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small; white-space: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="http://americanmushrooms.com/">American Mushrooms</a></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small; white-space: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> is a site maintained by mycologist an author, David Fischer. The site has ton of rich photography an text on every fungi imaginable. Mr. Fischer has also been very good about IDing photos of fungi that I have sent him via e-mail, which is listed on the site.</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small; white-space: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="http://www.kswildflower.org/">Kansas Wildflowers</a></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small; white-space: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> is a great place to ID a lot of grasses, flowers and trees, even if you are not from Kansas. Most of the plants listed on the site occur in my native state of Iowa, and there for can be found across a wide expanse of the Midwest. The site is affiliated with Kansas State University.</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small; white-space: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="http://www.insectidentification.org/">Insect Identification</a></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small; white-space: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> is a site I just stumbled across in writing this post. I had been using a different site for a few years, but i always found it a bit cumbersome to navigate. In the brief while that I have been looking over Insect Identification it seems that a lot of the problems with my old standby have been worked out. I am happy about this...</span></span></div>
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The Importance of Field Notes</div>
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When I go hiking I don’t like to carry a ton of ID books with me because of the added weight. If I carry any ID books at all it will usually be my bird book, or maybe my wild edibles book if I’m on a foraging expedition for new food stuffs. Instead of carrying a book to ID each new thing I may come across I have taken to carrying a couple of small notebooks that I use for sketching and note taking. I have found that this technique has greatly improved my powers of observation when traversing the wilds. </div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small; white-space: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I carry a small <a href="http://www.moleskineus.com/mc51118w-moleskine-18-month-pocket-soft-cover-weekly-planner.html">Moleskin notebook</a> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small; white-space: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">and pen in my shirt pocket where ever I go. All day, every day. Lot’s of important people have done so, <a href="http://artofmanliness.com/2010/09/13/the-pocket-notebooks-of-20-famous-men/">just look here</a></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small; white-space: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. Then in my satchel (It’s a satchel, not a purse. Indiana Jones carries a satchel.) I carry and unlined hardcover notebook that I picked up at a local art supply store. It has a small elastic strap you hold it shut, and a loop on the side where I keep my pencil.</span></span></div>
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</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div style="text-align: left;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small; white-space: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In addition to my satchel notebook I carry an inexpensive set of water colors. I started out with a set marketed towards children and I had really good luck with it, like this <a href="http://midwestbushcraft.blogspot.com/2010/02/new-medium.html">Belted kingfisher</a></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small; white-space: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. I purchased my first set of water colors at the lowest possible price for fear I would royally suck at it. I have since purchased a nicer, yet still modestly priced set of water colors from a company called <a href="http://www.dickblick.com/products/reeves-watercolor-pan-set/?wmcp=google&wmcid=products&wmckw=00320-1009">Reeves</a></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small; white-space: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. This kit was appealing to be because of the nice mix of colors it has and it had white, which I have found to be useful for blending and muting colors, etc.</span></span></div>
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To demonstrate some of the different ways I use field sketches and notes I have included a few of the things I have done over the last few years. Each sketch was selected to highlight different mediums and different attributes to look for when sketching.</div>
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Sketch 1:Pencil Sketch of Bird</div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small; white-space: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I was leading a hike in western Iowa for a group of grade schoolers focusing on Lewis & Clark and the journals they kept when an unidentified bird lit into the top of a nearby tree. TEACHABLE MOMENT!!! I deftly reached into my ever present satchel and grabbed my trusty notebook an whipped up this sketch. I made notes as to field marks that i knew would probably appear in my bird book back home. I promised the kids I would e-mail their teacher when i knew what it was and we continued on our hike. Upon returning home I was able to easily identify the bird I saw as a <a href="http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Harriss_Sparrow/lifehistory">Harris Sparrow</a></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small; white-space: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.</span></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_u85pmgG0xh4/TKaWqyyydeI/AAAAAAAACeo/RDvxS7oicEc/s1600/1+Harris%2527+Sparrow.BMP" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_u85pmgG0xh4/TKaWqyyydeI/AAAAAAAACeo/RDvxS7oicEc/s320/1+Harris%2527+Sparrow.BMP" width="241" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Harris Sparrow</td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 15px; font-weight: bold; white-space: pre-wrap;">Sketch 2: Pen Sketch of Hawk Tail</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small; white-space: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">One day while my assistant and I were scouting some areas for potential prescribed fires she spotted an unidentified hawk circling above us. As I stared at the distant hawk through my <a href="http://www.nikonusa.com/Find-Your-Nikon/Product-Archive/Binoculars/7430/Monarch-8x42-ATB.html">binoculars</a> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small; white-space: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">(don’t scrimp on your optics, cut cost elsewhere) I looked for an distinguishing markings like the shape and length of the wings and tail, and markings on the birds chest. What stood out most of all was the hawks tail. So I sketched it in my Moleskin notebook/planner and sketched it. I also jotted a note next to the picture that the hawk in question was a “Buteo”. Buteo’s are soaring hawks that have relatively long wings, and short tails that specialize in hunting over open ground. The “opposite” of a buteo is an accipiter, which generally have short wings and long tails and specialize in hunting in forest environments.</span></span></span></div>
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</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div style="text-align: left;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small; white-space: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I bring this up because while the hawk in question had the body type of a buteo, and was soaring high above a grassland the tail was marked with distinctive bands, a trait common among accipiters. Needless to say I was intrigued. When I was able to look the bird up I learned it was a buteo that has adapted to forest hunting. Hence the crossover markings on a buteo body of the <a href="http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Broad-winged_Hawk/lifehistory)">Broad Winged Hawk</a></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small; white-space: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.</span></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_u85pmgG0xh4/TKacbWspR1I/AAAAAAAACe0/7mo5tbuRi4o/s1600/2+Broad-winged+Hawk.BMP.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="242" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_u85pmgG0xh4/TKacbWspR1I/AAAAAAAACe0/7mo5tbuRi4o/s320/2+Broad-winged+Hawk.BMP.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Broad Winged Hawk Tail Detail</td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Sketches 3-4: Pencil and Watercolor Plants</span></div>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Here, side by side, you can see how adding water colors to a sketch can really make a difference when IDing a plant. Both drawings were done with a No. 2 pencil with notes pointing to where certain colors appear on the plant. The drawing on the left is a <a href="http://www.kswildflower.org/flower_details.php?flowerID=255">Prairie Larkspur</a> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">and the one on the right is <a href="http://www.kansasnativeplants.com/plantdetail.php?plnt_id=204">Toothed Evening Primrose</a></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_u85pmgG0xh4/TKdLZCv2DfI/AAAAAAAACfw/SP7aid331UI/s1600/3+Prairie+Larkspur-Toothed+evening+primrose.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="249" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_u85pmgG0xh4/TKdLZCv2DfI/AAAAAAAACfw/SP7aid331UI/s320/3+Prairie+Larkspur-Toothed+evening+primrose.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Left:</i>Prairie Larkspur <i>Right:</i>Toothed Evening Primrose</td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Sketch 5: Pencil and Watercolor Bird</span></div>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Finally I have included an example of a practice painting I did in my kitchen. I sat down with my bird book and my paints and chose to do a <a href="http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Black-throated_Blue_Warbler/id">Black-Throated Blue Warbler</a></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. As with any skill it is important to practice to keep yourself sharp. It’s not always easy to go birdwatching (i.e. the birds are out when the 11 month old is napping, etc.), so I cross train. When I can’t make it out I spend time looking over field guides memorizing characteristics and range maps. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_u85pmgG0xh4/TKam6hJ9fmI/AAAAAAAACfA/jV4xz7EV8yo/s1600/4+Black-throated+Blue+Warbler.BMP" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_u85pmgG0xh4/TKam6hJ9fmI/AAAAAAAACfA/jV4xz7EV8yo/s320/4+Black-throated+Blue+Warbler.BMP" width="238" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Black-Throated Blue Warbler</td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 15px; font-weight: bold; white-space: pre-wrap;">Conclusion</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I hope that this post will be helpful to beginners and experts by showing just some of the resources out there. I believe that survival is all about observation, and awareness of your surroundings, and that it is arguably the most important skill to have. Get guide books you are comfortable with, get a note book and a pencil, start taking notes, and sketching. Paint a picture of a flower. You will notice intricacies you never before noticed and I believe it will open your eyes and your heart to a world around you that you may have missed. I hope that you will share your ideas about field guides that I have missed and that it will open a dialog about perception and awareness as it pertains to bushcraft and survival.</span></div>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8068482586717478503.post-82351668654260903942010-12-31T16:21:00.000-06:002010-12-31T16:21:51.925-06:00The Other Side of Lost...<b>Situation Report-Tuesday, Dec. 28th 2010 4:45 PM</b><br />
<b>Temperature: 22 Deg. F</b><br />
<b>Substrate:snow/light powder, approximately 2'</b><br />
<b>Physical description: Female, average build, 5'4", blonde, wearing light blue jacket</b><br />
<b><br />
</b><br />
<b>Became separated from group of 6 cross country skiers while visiting 300+ acre woodland reserve in urban area...</b><br />
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</b><br />
A while back I was looking for inspiration for a blog topic, so I asked some friends what they'd like to see. <a href="http://www.briangreen.net/">Brian</a> suggested I write about what I do in a normal day in my job. I got to thinking about how in my job as a naturalist there are no normal days. Which brings to to this post about my Tuesday.<br />
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Most of my day was pretty mundane, some program planning, some research, answering phone calls about injured Kestrels, renting out snowshoes, roof raking the nature center in preparation of some freezing rain in the forecast, helped a young couple get over their fear of snakes, the usual 9-to-5 type stuff. <br />
<br />
I was wrapping everything up, and stowing away some of the last snowshoes returned at the end of the day when I looked up to see a coworker talking to two other women on the trail that leads to the parking lot. Sound travels fairly well when it is cold, and the ground is covered with snow so I picked up bits and pieces of the conversation even at close to 100 yards distance. Something about "She's wearing a blue jacket... on skis... was right in front of me... separated somehow..."<br />
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My co-worker came a ways back down the hill and related to me that a family had been out skiing on our trails when one of their daughters became separated from the group and the family, with help of some other hikers were out looking for her. While my coworker came to tell me this the women she was speaking to turned and went back up the hill towards the parking lot. I hoped in my truck and headed up the access road that leads from the nature center to the main parking lot and there I saw the two women I had seen before and another woman in a light blue jacket on cross-country skis.<br />
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Since I was officially done for the day, and the woman in the blue coat was found, I thought about just continuing on home, but I didn't. I stopped my truck and walked down and asked "Everybody found now" to which a very worried looking woman replied "No, my daughter is still lost". Turns out the women in the blue coat was the lost womans sister. The mother explained that the family, six in all, had been out skiing. Being of different skiing abilities the group had become spread out on the trail. The woman who was lost had been somewhere in the middle of the group and it was assumed that she had taken a wrong turn that led her away from the rest of the group.<br />
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After a few questions and some clarifications of directions I had a fairly good mental picture of where the group had bee skiing, and a plausible mental scenario as to where the missing women might be. I followed a set of protocol I have developed through personal experience an some training, grabed snowshoes, and took off to where I thought I might find the missing woman. Which brings me to my inspiration for this post...<br />
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<b>Coordinating Initial Search & Rescue (</b><i>S&R Triage</i><b>)</b><br />
Am I an expert at S&R? By no means, no. I have however done a few, and I learned a lot about what needs to be done initially to get things rolling and hopefully find the person(s) fast because time can be of the essence.<br />
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<i>Remain calm and appear confident:</i><br />
When you find yourself in a situation where you are assisting someone else in searching for a missing person you must at least <u><i>appear</i></u> clam and confident. Whomever you are assisting will likely be on the verge of panic (even if they don't show it). Your relaxed demeanor will help to calm the people you are assisting.<br />
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<i>Establish lines of communication:</i><br />
It is important to exchange cell numbers (and to find out if the person you are looking for has a phone). You'd be surprised how many people don't even think to call the persons phone. Maybe they don't realize they are lost yet and are just having an enjoyable time outdoors. Don't bother getting everyone numbers, exchange yours with one or two member of the party. Now you can relay communications with developments as you go along.<br />
<br />
While you are exchanging numbers find out what the missing persons name and what they are wearing (ask in the present tense i.e. "What are they wearing?" not "What were they wearing?"). Find out there approximate height, weight, and footwear. Why foot wear? If there is a good substrate, and you have tracking skills you can get a pretty good idea of what tracks to look for which can help with your search.<br />
<br />
<i>Establish last point of contact:</i><br />
Find out where the person was last seen if they were part of a group. You may be able to find their specific tracks and follow them. <i><b>DON'T WALK ON THEIR TRACKS!!!</b></i> Walk to the side so if you lose the trail you can go back and pick it up. If they were not part of a group find out if there was a trail they used a lot, or a circuit they liked to follow. People are creatures of habit.<br />
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<i>Start looking:</i><br />
Spread out, watch for signs, call out the <b>persons name</b> (then stop and listen). Before you call out give three loud whistles to attract attention. If the person is just lost and not hurt they should answer back, if they are unable to answer you need to keep your eyes out for parts of a person, not a whole person. I'm not saying that they are so hurt that the forest will be littered with their parts, I'm saying odds are some of their body will be obstructed from view by trees, shrubs, tops, etc...<br />
<br />
With luck you will find someone that simply took a wrong turn, or lost track of time. They may be in need of first aid of some sort so it is important that you are prepared and know what you are doing. If you spend much time outdoors it's a good idea to get some formal training in CPR and First AID. Also keep in mind others when putting together your kit, it may not be you that needs it in a survival situation, but rather someone less skilled or prepared than yourself.<br />
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What do you do if you find someone and indeed the worst has happened? To be honest, I don't know. Most of the limited training I have received when I was with the U.S.F.S. didn't cover it. We would just radio in our coordinates and wait a plane with a LEO (Law Enforcement Officer) to arrive and take over. In a situation where I was on my own (not part of an agency) I would call 911 before I even thought about contacting the friends or family that asked for my assistance.<br />
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Back to the woman I was looking for. While I was out on the trail my phone rang and it was the womans mother. The other members of her family returned, unable to find her and she asked if she should contact the police. I told her that the more people we could get looking, the better. It was getting colder and we were losing light fast. If our skier was injured and or unconscious this could get dire fast. I suggested that the more people we could get in the woods the better. She decided she would wait a touch longer before contacting them. She hung up and I continued scanning the floodplain timber and calling the womans name. A few more minutes passed and my phone rang again. The missing woman had just called, she was in a neighborhood to the south of the preserve and she had found a woman that was giving her a ride and letting her call her family with her phone. Happy ending, yeah.<br />
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Most of the S&R's I've been involved in. scratch that, ALL the S&R's I have been involved in came about because people were not prepared, well informed or stupid (yes I said stupid). Needless to say sometimes people get lost, or hurt on accident just no one I have ever had the pleasure of looking for. So here are a few simple guidelines for staying found so I can go home to my family at a decent hour, and you don't return to yours "bagged and tagged".<br />
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1) Whenever possible travel in a group.<br />
2) If you travel alone let someone know where you will be going, and when you will be back. I'm talking specifics, not generalities. Highlighted trail maps, etc...<br />
3) Learn to read a map.<br />
4) Learn to use a compass.<br />
5) Hope for the best; plan for the worst (make a simple light wait survival kit, learn to use it AND CARRY IT!)<br />
6) When in a group the slowest member of the party always leads. ALWAYS!<br />
7) If you have a cell phone, carry it, and turn it on.<br />
8) If you have a GPS mark waypoints, especially where your car is parked. (Be sure you have extra batteries)<br />
9) Learn CPR/Fist Aid<br />
10) Again, make a simple light weight survival kit. Practice with it and carry it. If it's too big you'll leave it behind. The best survival kit you have is between your ears. Be sure to use it. Pay attention to your surroundings. Don't just head to the woods to see how fast you can do the trails, that's what running tracks are for, my opinion I know, but still slow down, enjoy the woods, and pay attention. If you are paying attention you won't get lost because you'll know where you are.<br />
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Any of my readers have experiences with S&R or (heaven forbid) getting lost they'd like to share? I myself have never been lost, I have however been powerfully confused fro a couple of months (name the movie).Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8068482586717478503.post-14525791980196172652010-11-22T15:18:00.003-06:002010-11-22T16:14:13.636-06:00Guest Post from Wood Trekker: A Cheap Alternative to the Gransfors Bruks Small Forest Axe<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>Today's guest post is from Ross over at </i></span><a href="http://woodtrekker.blogspot.com/" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>Wood Trekker blog</i></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>. Ross' blog is currently in my top five favorite blogs to read and I was very excited when I asked him if he would be interested in a guest post and he came back with this. This post is very timely because I hope to be doing a post about my own personal axe (which is not a Gransfors Bruks). Enjoy! </i></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">We are all familiar with the Gransfors Bruks Small Forest Axe. It is arguably one of the most popular bushcraft tools, and is the axe of choice for many. One of the reasons why it has become so popular is that it is very compact and easy to carry. It has a head weight of 1.5lb and a handle length of about 20 inches. The big down side of the Gransfors Bruks Small Forest Axe is the price tag. It costs well over $100.00. For many it is worth the price, but not everyone can afford it.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">That is why I decided to try to find a lower cost alternative, which would provide a reasonable level of performance. After a lot of searching, I’ve reached the conclusion that there is no production axe other than the Wetterling ones, now also owned by Gransfurs Bruks which come close to the same specifications.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Recently I looked at the Collins Hunter’s Axe, but the quality was too low, and I found the 18 inch handle to be too short. For me, a small axe must have a handle of at least 20 inches. Snow and Nealley makes an axe with an 18 inch handle as well, but since I’ve found that length handle to be too short, I will not be testing it. Besides, the Snow and Nealley is not cheap at all.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Since I was not able to find a low cost production alternative to the Small Forest Axe, I decided to look at old axe heads and see if a particular type can be refurbished. Unfortunately, most old axes are of the full axe type variety, with a head of over 3.5lb. There certainly aren’t enough 1.5lb heads out there for people to start refurbishing them.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I did however luck out during one of my hatchet tests. I tested the <a href="http://woodtrekker.blogspot.com/2010/11/northern-tool-24oz-camp-axe-review.html">Northern Tool 24oz Camp Axe</a> as a hatchet, but noticed that the head was 1.5lb. That was too heavy for a hatchet, but the quality of the head seemed good. That is why I decided to try to do some work to one of them and see if I can easily make a Small Forest Axe substitute from it. I know that not everyone has access to a workshop, expensive tools or specialized skills, so I wanted to get it done with just basic tools.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">After some work, the finished product was this:</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgM0FGsJBiz8EPNhyWmyZSP5OVN3cYarEfbHMv6a_0nht_S9WdJGNFUquzU0l6iCP5VKYxFTpgdgaJOB7MmAHrxI7BTfXfwJqENKM7bfTWTyGvNGyDGPOqwXyitcvoYClKO7FPknaAaduY/s1600/020.JPG"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5542024976511391890" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgM0FGsJBiz8EPNhyWmyZSP5OVN3cYarEfbHMv6a_0nht_S9WdJGNFUquzU0l6iCP5VKYxFTpgdgaJOB7MmAHrxI7BTfXfwJqENKM7bfTWTyGvNGyDGPOqwXyitcvoYClKO7FPknaAaduY/s400/020.JPG" style="cursor: hand; height: 267px; width: 400px;" /></span></a><br />
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<strong><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Specifications:<br />
<em>Manufacturer:</em></span></strong><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Head by Northern Tool + Equipment, Handle by Gransfors Bruks</span><br />
<strong><em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Axe Head Weights:</span></em></strong><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> 1.5 lb</span><br />
<strong><em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Axe Length:</span></em></strong><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> 20 inches</span><br />
<strong><em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Axe Head Material:</span></em></strong><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Unknown carbon steel</span><br />
<strong><em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Handle Material:</span></em></strong><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> American hickory</span><br />
<strong><em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Cost:</span></em></strong><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> $23.00</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi742DBBrNAFfavJtq0B517WfdbRYEXDCShyphenhyphenbFRkE-fGrDaHvL5ZdARx_yyzQO-ir4CZTdW_w52yg4hdpJV5d72j7PRPOzxmt0w5CCA1Dg4yx5s1ox2t9Mrn89blraW5eEXn9cSkrCucaE/s1600/009.JPG"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5542025573310192882" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi742DBBrNAFfavJtq0B517WfdbRYEXDCShyphenhyphenbFRkE-fGrDaHvL5ZdARx_yyzQO-ir4CZTdW_w52yg4hdpJV5d72j7PRPOzxmt0w5CCA1Dg4yx5s1ox2t9Mrn89blraW5eEXn9cSkrCucaE/s400/009.JPG" style="cursor: hand; height: 267px; width: 400px;" /></span></a><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Here is how I made it:</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I took a Northern Tool 24oz Camp Axe. It cost me $10.00. I used a drill and a chisel to remove the head from the handle. It was very well glued so it took me some time to remove. I then used some sandpaper to remove all of the paint from the head.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">One of the things that I noted during my review of the Northern Tool 24oz Camp Axe is that I thought the convex of the cutting edge itself was a bit too thick for my liking. The cheeks of the axe were the right thickness and the head overall had the right proportions, but the last 3/16 of an inch before the cutting edge was a bit thick. I’m sure that for many that thickness would be fine because it makes the edge more durable, but for the high performance axe that I wanted, it was too thick.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I remedied the situation by filing it down a bit. I used a 200 grit 8 inch file to do the job. It took me about 15 minutes of work. I would strongly recommend getting a file if you will be doing any work with cheap axes. It makes the sharpening process much faster, and you can pick one up for about $3.00. I then used a set of sharpening stones to get it sharp enough to cut paper. The thickness with which I ended up was very similar to that of the Gransfors Bruks Wildlife Hatchet, and was noticeably thinner than the Gransfors Bruks Small Forest Axe (right).</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEit0z71tVO-dEiHSU_sDTkqcqQ5K9mwbsT_Hk4NjV6PzkHN6NalLWmf8ZgeFfEreCjdL4Q8fRUiF7iZfrC6QFVzN2_q3E4J4mvAVhFQON1aXtgrS889Kh0reev1AU7UHI8n0iQpL5iABg4/s1600/3+%25285%2529.JPG"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5542031249725395026" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEit0z71tVO-dEiHSU_sDTkqcqQ5K9mwbsT_Hk4NjV6PzkHN6NalLWmf8ZgeFfEreCjdL4Q8fRUiF7iZfrC6QFVzN2_q3E4J4mvAVhFQON1aXtgrS889Kh0reev1AU7UHI8n0iQpL5iABg4/s400/3+%25285%2529.JPG" style="cursor: hand; height: 267px; width: 400px;" /></span></a><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Now that the head was ready, it was time to find a handle. I looked high and low for a good 20 inch handle, but could not find one. I eventually decided to just buy a Gransfors Brucks Small Forest Axe handle. They are very hard to find in the US. I found only one store (<a href="http://www.countryknives.com/store/dept.asp?dept_id=10406&depth=3">Country Knives</a>) that carried them, and they were selling them for about $45.00, way too much for the intended goal. In the end, I ended up buying it from a UK site for $13.00.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I bought my handle <a href="http://www.sportslinkup.com/shop/0-Gransfors-bruks-1.html">here</a>. They seem to however be quickly running out of stock. Some other sites where you can find a Gransfors Bruks handle are <a href="http://shop.ebay.com/i.html?_nkw=gransfors+bruks">here</a>, <a href="http://www.fine-tools.com/grans.htm">here</a>, and <a href="http://www.proadventure.co.uk/acatalog/Gransfors_Bruks_Axes_Spare_Handles_and_Sheaths.html">here</a>. Keep in mind that the price will fluctuate depending on the exchange rate. When you are shipping it from over seas make sure to use airmail rather than UPS. If you use UPS, it will cost you over $30.00. It is a waste of money. You may be able to find 20 inch handles by other manufacturers which I am sure will work fine. One good source can be found <a href="http://www.tennesseehickory.com/products.shtml">here</a>.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Now came the time consuming part. I spend about two hours sanding and filing the handle so it would fit well in the axe head. I didn’t use any epoxy on the head itself, but I did use some to secure the wedge into the handle.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">When the epoxy was dry, I took the axe into the woods for some testing. My hope was that I had made an axe that would not fall too far behind the Gransfors Bruks Small Forest Axe.</span><br />
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<div><div><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEij-IacOFHaMoojj2oKESLIO_r1e1NThXtbhyphenhyphennTuIyi6IhlZixMi9krp_gFDXVVj2u-laCwqgBxWh2FziKxydXMZVGJZbNuU7cK27M9NwmxH7tA0AgoLuO7R8upsnNfXiQEhp03QAvI0Bo/s1600/003.JPG"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5542030739560020722" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEij-IacOFHaMoojj2oKESLIO_r1e1NThXtbhyphenhyphennTuIyi6IhlZixMi9krp_gFDXVVj2u-laCwqgBxWh2FziKxydXMZVGJZbNuU7cK27M9NwmxH7tA0AgoLuO7R8upsnNfXiQEhp03QAvI0Bo/s400/003.JPG" style="cursor: hand; height: 267px; width: 400px;" /></span></a><br />
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<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The result was shocking. The axe I made noticeably outperformed the Small Forest Axe. So much so, that I decided to go back to a location where I had done some testing with the Small Forest Axe on a piece of 3.5 inch hickory. The last time I tested it, it took me 60 seconds to chop through it with the Small Forest axe. It took me 45 seconds to go through it with the new axe.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I believe the added performance comes from the thinner grind of the new axe. It is still convexed, but comes very close to the grind of a competition axe. Of course, my worry was that because the edge was thinner, after being used in hard wood, it would dull very quickly. When I came home, I tested it on a piece of paper, and it had no problem cutting through it. That was after going through an 8 inch piece of oak. </span></div><div></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The new axe is a bit more likely to stick to the wood than the Gransfors Bruks Small Forest Axe because it has more of a wedge shape, but I did a lot of chopping with it, and it was not a noticeable problem.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The balance of the axe is as good or better than the Gransors Bruks Small Forest Axe.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsGVwn1popN8DkAFst2S79We0L3a1MIyOdYiyX5-BCycKif56pv6_SRxQ4glmYLYrybAlrCAic4jUoUEijjH4FsGly0xXkYQPoroGvPRP0ooObHZnN6uw2fM7ha0HJvSDuzAmk200Zk3Q/s1600/012.JPG"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5542031678543121234" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsGVwn1popN8DkAFst2S79We0L3a1MIyOdYiyX5-BCycKif56pv6_SRxQ4glmYLYrybAlrCAic4jUoUEijjH4FsGly0xXkYQPoroGvPRP0ooObHZnN6uw2fM7ha0HJvSDuzAmk200Zk3Q/s400/012.JPG" style="cursor: hand; height: 267px; width: 400px;" /></span></a></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Other than the drill and chisel I used to remove the head from the old handle, these are all the tools I used to put together this axe: Gorilla glue epoxy, sandpaper, a 200 grit unidirectional grind 8 inch file, a hammer, and a set of sharpening stones.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCoSZ0eJ43PWj4KtyVDkW7-19LQKGLaVbEE_wBLWAHq5i-Vrl2pGljQ69ruXjTS5dwvEXyvbw3EAmYQv4TQQlIDO-OyFKbUx52DHNipxOiYBKqkI9vdNLx-4uwimfDUi4sIdK3U2iPuok/s1600/3+%252821%2529.JPG"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5542032189753161346" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCoSZ0eJ43PWj4KtyVDkW7-19LQKGLaVbEE_wBLWAHq5i-Vrl2pGljQ69ruXjTS5dwvEXyvbw3EAmYQv4TQQlIDO-OyFKbUx52DHNipxOiYBKqkI9vdNLx-4uwimfDUi4sIdK3U2iPuok/s400/3+%252821%2529.JPG" style="cursor: hand; height: 267px; width: 400px;" /></span></a><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I made a cheap sheath for it from some canvas material I had around.</span></div><div></div></div></div></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifSm742bF9YkZZhxt9sCRIea-8VVOqrzbiKOUv1-RwwRDhYJkMSWepcQMiGpnxpMo267_T_VdONLCgXDTxIlHYNNJt16f4A0tUkv7sf58FgyGifgFCNe6ZxSg5xP2-HMU9dmAyCk1QeN8/s1600/5+%25283%2529.JPG"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5542032719961824866" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifSm742bF9YkZZhxt9sCRIea-8VVOqrzbiKOUv1-RwwRDhYJkMSWepcQMiGpnxpMo267_T_VdONLCgXDTxIlHYNNJt16f4A0tUkv7sf58FgyGifgFCNe6ZxSg5xP2-HMU9dmAyCk1QeN8/s400/5+%25283%2529.JPG" style="cursor: hand; height: 400px; width: 267px;" /></span></a><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The total cost was $23.00 and took me probably about five hours of work time to put together. This is not something that I do all the time, so my skill level is not high, nor did I use any special tools and equipment. The result is a $23.00 axe that can outperform the Gransfors Bruks Small Forest Axe. Try it for yourself and see.</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8068482586717478503.post-8949662825054684842010-11-18T14:06:00.002-06:002010-11-18T14:09:24.493-06:00Common Useful Plant Profiles: Common Yarrow<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_u85pmgG0xh4/TOV97ok-4MI/AAAAAAAACg4/s6pMLZb5XuQ/s1600/Common+Yarrow_small+%25281%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_u85pmgG0xh4/TOV97ok-4MI/AAAAAAAACg4/s6pMLZb5XuQ/s640/Common+Yarrow_small+%25281%2529.jpg" width="411" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">Common Yarrow ( </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #228622; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;">Achillea</span></span></span></em></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #228622;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"> </span></span><em style="color: #228622;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;">millefolium</span></em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #228622;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"> </span></span>L.)</span></span></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"></span><br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small; line-height: 19px;">The artwork for today's post is a pencil and watercolor original by<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><a href="http://johnnyburn.blogspot.com/" style="text-decoration: none;">JohnnyBurn</a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.</span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small; line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
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<div style="text-align: left;">Today's plat profile is <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;"><a href="http://www.plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=ACMI2">Common Yarrow (<em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Achillea</span></em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> <em>millefolium</em> L.</span>)</a>. </span>Yarrow is another common plant found in yards and in the field. Yarrow is in the Aster family although the shape of the leaves and their scent I find reminiscent of carrots. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">The two most useful functions of Yarrow that I am familiar with is the use of the leaves as a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coagulation">coagulant</a>, and the use of the flowers and leaves in teas as a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diuretic">diuretic</a>. For staunching the flow of blood from a bad cut in the field, say from your surprisingly sharp hatchet going into your left knee (it happens when you get lazy) yarrow can be very useful. Simply crush up the leaves and place them beneath your bandage and over the cut. If you can't get somewhere to get stitches quickly this could be <i><b>VERY</b></i> handy. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">For you hunters out there that want to reduce your scent while out trying to put food on the table make a tea from the yarrow plant and drink it while eating organic foods to flush impurities out of your system thereby making your sweat a little less potent. But be sure to be careful and don't allow yourself to become dehydrated. DRINK LOTS OF WATER!</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><u>Be sure you have safely and confidently identified any plant that you are going to use as an edible or medicinal</u>! <i>Yarrow can be confused with some herbaceous hemlocks.</i></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><i><br />
</i></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;">Now that that has been said grab your favorite guide book and head for the door!</div>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8068482586717478503.post-21236121168259802082010-11-12T16:08:00.002-06:002010-11-18T14:09:56.747-06:00Common Useful Plants Profiles: Common Plantain<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_u85pmgG0xh4/TN2jfmwtjzI/AAAAAAAACg0/4UMd4_ldb5E/s1600/Common+Plantain.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_u85pmgG0xh4/TN2jfmwtjzI/AAAAAAAACg0/4UMd4_ldb5E/s640/Common+Plantain.png" width="409" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Common plantain (<i>Plantago major</i>)</span></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The artwork for today's post is a pencil and watercolor original by<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><a href="http://johnnyburn.blogspot.com/">JohnnyBurn</a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.</span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">This will hopefully be the first in a series on wild edible and medicinal plants that are commonly found in your yard. It is important in bushcraft to keep your skills sharp, after all skills are what it's all about. We can't always make it to the "real" wilderness as much as we would like so it's a good idea to practice when and where you can. Back yards, city parks, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera are great places to get out in the evening after work with your family and do a little exploring, and that is what this series will hopefully encourage you to do.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The first plant in the series is </span><a href="http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=PLMA2" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Common plantain <span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 13px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 13px;">(</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 13px;"><i>Plantago major</i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 13px;">)</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">. It grows in disturbed areas and is a super easy edible/medicinal to identify. It is also a non-native and invasive plant so you you shouldn't feel bad about eating every one you see. Plantain is best eaten when the leaves are small in the spring. They are edible all year, but they are more palatable early on. As the growing season progresses the leaves of plantain become bitter and the conspicuous "veins" on the plants leaves become pretty stringy. I would liken the taste of plantain to spinach. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">For it's medicinal value plantain works wonders on cuts and scrapes when antibiotic ointments are not available. I have had great luck preventing some pretty nasty cuts from getting infected by applying chewed up plantain leaves to them. One cut in particular required 7 stitches. I was smart enough to remove the plantain leaves BEFORE I got to the E.R. though. I'm sure some questions would have been raised. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">On a separate occasion I received two equal sized scratches from a thorn on a </span><a href="http://www.plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=ZAAM" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Prickly ash (<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 15px;"><em>Zanthoxylum</em></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 15px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 15px;"><em>americanum</em></span>)</a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> and decided to do a little experiment. I applied a chewed up plantain leaf to one scratch and held it in place with a bandanna, the other scratch I simply covered with a bandanna. The scratch that I applied the plantain to did not become infected, heeled days sooner, and left no scar. If you've ever gotten into Prickly ash you can attest to the fact that the scratches ALWAYS get infected (not gangrene mind you, but pink and warm to the touch). I know it's not the most scientific experiment, but it's good enough for me.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">So, to make a short story long. Get a good ID book head out the door and find Common plantain before it's covered with snow. Let me know how your explorations go, and if you turn up any thing you had missed before!</span>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8068482586717478503.post-19805036602934119662010-11-10T17:21:00.000-06:002011-12-21T09:22:11.480-06:00Deer Camp 2010<div>
THis is a video of the deer I took this year during Iowa's early muzzleloader season in October. The shot was made at about 25 yards with a .50 caliber flintlock Blue Ridge rifle firing a round ball pushed by 90 grains of Fffg black powder. The shot was a complete pass through, from one end of the buck to the other. Until this deer I had only gotten one other buck, and that was 20 years ago. The spot I was standing when I took this buck was less than 20 yards from where I took the first one. This spot is one of the best producing spots on the family farm. So much so that has earned the moniker "<i>The Pooching Rock</i>" because standing here almost makes it too easy.</div>
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<br /></div>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8068482586717478503.post-87892997392000026622010-10-15T00:35:00.000-05:002010-10-15T00:35:57.239-05:00Blog Re-post: Kit fever,healing from it,to honour the gone days of the Finnish woodsmen.In the spirit of letting other great bloggers do my work for me I have gotten permission from <a href="http://perkelesblog.blogspot.com/">Perkele</a> to repost something from his blog that I read a while back and found to transcend international barriers. I have been following Perkele's blog for awhile now, and I hope you will consider doing the same.<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Again today i got to thinking about this never ending kit hoarding,and my struggle with it :)</span></i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
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</span></i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Every time i see these old men,who have been relly living from the woods,from fauna and flora,by fishing,hunting and gathering,just to live,not for fun...i am ashamed of my self somehow. These gents,in most cases,havent ever been into "kit" stuff,like i have grown with em. Usually here,you see an old hunter,with worn,but clean simple wool & cotton clothing,pair of rubber- or leatherboots,an old pack with loads of stories in it. In their packs that sometimes look more like empty,youll most likely find an old beat-up coffee pot,a frying pan of some type,sometimes even a cast iron model. The following items are usually an old wood handled axe,maybe some saw,or just a saw blade,a pouch containing some salt,sugar,tobacco and maybe some hard butter piece,alomg with piece of bread and a slice of pork meat. Hell be carrying a simple handmade puukko or just a plain cheap mora,and in some cases an compass in some pocket. And besides the kit,these old school heroes carry the most important things like will,strength,endurance and knowledge,that replace the need ( ? ) for heavy load of mostly non-vital gear.</span></i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">This is something ive always,and now again, cant look bad at all.No sir,i can only admire and envy these old chaps,theyre never complaining,never whing about anything,except for their old ladies:). Juts a day ago i sat next to the fire,with this old man,who came there with his old dog,asked if he could sit there for a coffee and we got to talk about all sorts of things. I was fascinated about his stories,and his spirit,and i just couldnt stop feeling bit silly,wearing all my gear,and fancy outfit,although mine aint even close to modern or hi-tech by any means. He just sat there,talked slowly and stared at the fire,and his dog slept against his knee,till he had his cup empty and he said that he had to go his home,and he has to walk there cause his driving license was taken away due to poor eyes...though he still was hunting with success,legally.He packed up his few items,a pot and his cup,and off he went.</span></i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">And i cant stop thinking about the "good" old days that he told me about.</span></i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I have recently started to get ridd off my gear,i have given,traded,sold something etc,and after that i feel like sick,and i realise its all because we men like to possess stuff just for the sake of it. But after day or two i feel quite happy about the fact that my shelves,boxes and packs are bit less heavy and less filled,and i realise that i.e. i have carried my trustworthy Sabre pack all this summer and fall,and i havent taken a lot out of it,nor havent i added much into it,except for occasional portion of food,filling water bottles,and a pouch filled with dry socks and such. The "kit" itself has been the same all the way and i trust it,it fills my needs more than well,for day hikes and even for two night-long trips as well.</span></i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">But i am stripping it more in next few days,maybe ill be writing about it too.</span></i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Its a kit thing,yes,and for that i am truly sorry,but hey,atleast its about getting to bare bones,getting rid of unnecessary weight & worry :)</span></i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Like it says on my favourite sticker... </span></i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">"No School Like Old School"</span></i></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Again I'd like to thank Perkele for letting me repost his work here. I am working on some of my own posts at the moment so you will hear from me soon, but until then i think I'll continue promoting other bloggers. </span></span>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8068482586717478503.post-49023233509742586622010-09-27T23:53:00.001-05:002010-09-29T07:49:18.085-05:00Guest Post by Oz; Bushcraft Inc<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 13px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>I'd like to welcome my good friend I've never actually met, Oz Muskratt, of <a href="http://www.canadianbushcraft.ca/">Canadian Bushcraft</a> fame to Midwest Bushcraft. Since my muse has apparently taken temporary leave of absence I have asked Oz to do a post for me, and here it is.... </i></span></span><br />
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<div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 13px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Now, I don't want to make this sound anti-Bushcraft Schools, because</span></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 13px;"></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 13px;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">well, that would be counter-productive to a person like me, being a</span></div></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 13px;"></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 13px;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Bushcraft Instructor and all! And I am not against store-bought items,</span></div></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 13px;"></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 13px;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">or else I wouldn't be typing on a laptop, nor would I be the owner of</span></div></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 13px;"></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 13px;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">so many items that range from Bivy Bags to big fancy knives.</span></div></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 13px;"></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 13px;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 13px;"></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 13px;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> However, I have noticed a steady increase in people in this business</span></div></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 13px;"></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 13px;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">increasing the prices of basic tools, because they have a Bushcrafty</span></div></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 13px;"></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 13px;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">theme to them. For instance, the Bushcraft-model Mora knives for the</span></div></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 13px;"></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 13px;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">most part are much pricier at a lot of stores (both in person and</span></div></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 13px;"></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 13px;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">online), than the regular models of Moras. Why? Yes the handles are</span></div></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 13px;"></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 13px;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">formed differently, but does that mean the knife must triple in price?</span></div></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 13px;"></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 13px;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Personally and professionally I promote Mora knives because they are</span></div></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 13px;"></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 13px;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">able to be bought by anyone. I know a young lad just last week who</span></div></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 13px;"></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 13px;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">bought a Mora knife as his very first bushcraft knife. As well, Bahco</span></div></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 13px;"></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 13px;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Laplander saws are (in most stores here in Canada) $50.00 or more. Yet</span></div></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 13px;"></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 13px;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">the Bahco Sandvik (really no difference at all except for handle</span></div></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 13px;"></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 13px;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">colour) is usually $30.00, and sometimes less!</span></div></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 13px;"></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 13px;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 13px;"></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 13px;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Don't get me started on name brands. Oh fine, you started me. Ray</span></div></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 13px;"></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 13px;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Mears' books, clothing, cookware are all very high-end and pricey.</span></div></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 13px;"></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 13px;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Bear Gryllis isn't any different, and really no one in this business</span></div></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 13px;"></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 13px;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">that puts their name on a product is any different (Tom Brown Jr, Ron</span></div></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 13px;"></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 13px;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Hood, myself, etc). This is a business now for many people, and the</span></div></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 13px;"></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 13px;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">best way to make the business run is to sell something. Whether that</span></div></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 13px;"></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 13px;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">be an extremely expensive course, or an extremely expensive knife is</span></div></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 13px;"></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 13px;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">no different. It is no longer just bushcraft, it is Bushcraft Inc.</span></div></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 13px;"></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 13px;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 13px;"></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 13px;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Growing up, when I didn't have something, I wanted it badly. I would</span></div></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 13px;"></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 13px;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">save money up for the biggest, most pricey item for the woods I could</span></div></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 13px;"></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 13px;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">find, and than expect it to do everything for me, for so-and-so uses</span></div></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 13px;"></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 13px;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">one. Only by my mid-teens did I realize that it wasn't who endorses</span></div></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 13px;"></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 13px;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">the item, or how expensive the item is, but who uses it. I made my own</span></div></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 13px;"></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 13px;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">buckskin and wool clothes, made my own billy cans, and though I had a</span></div></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 13px;"></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 13px;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">nifty blacksmithed strike-a-light kit, I began to carry a hacksaw</span></div></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 13px;"></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 13px;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">blade with a chunk of quartz instead.</span></div></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 13px;"></span><br />
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</span></div></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 13px;"></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 13px;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The point of bushcraft at one time was wilderness self reliance, but</span></div></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 13px;"></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 13px;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">now it has gained popularity and grown. As things grow, they become</span></div></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 13px;"></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 13px;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">more corporate. Ask Grunge Rock or anything else that claims to be</span></div></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 13px;"></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 13px;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">anti-establishment, and then suddenly becomes the big thing. People</span></div></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 13px;"></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 13px;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">will continue to sell knives and certain pieces of gear for</span></div></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 13px;"></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 13px;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">extraordinary prices, and courses will continue to be offered at</span></div></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 13px;"></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 13px;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">unheard of rates.</span></div></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 13px;"></span><br />
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</span></div></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 13px;"></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 13px;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">But do we have to give into it? Though I do like a really nice knife</span></div></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 13px;"></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 13px;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">or posh anorak, I have overtime returned to my mindset of</span></div></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 13px;"></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 13px;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">“do-it-yourself” for a great deal of gear. Do I expect to make</span></div></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 13px;"></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 13px;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">everything myself? No, but I remember that the further I pull away</span></div></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 13px;"></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 13px;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">from a corporate mindset, the more I gain an independent heart.</span></div></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 13px;"></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 13px;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Bushcraft Inc. is not going away, but it doesn't have to rule us or</span></div></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 13px;"></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 13px;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">our decisions. Yes, I still have high-end gear. But now I partner it</span></div></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 13px;"></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 13px;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">with handmade kits, with grassroots knowledge.</span></div></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 13px;"></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 13px;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Be smart about the marketing you see regarding certain outdoors gear.</span></div></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 13px;"></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 13px;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Sometimes it's true, and sometimes it's not. Read in between the lines</span></div></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 13px;"></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 13px;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">and make sure your money goes to something that is worth it. Make</span></div></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 13px;"></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 13px;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Bushcraft Inc. work for you.</span></div></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 13px;"></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 13px;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>Thanks for stopping by, and thanks again to Oz for covering for me. I look forward to the discussion this post will generate. I for one am in agreement with Oz. Many of the products endorsed by bushcraft "celebrities" are way to expensive, and go against everything that I believe is important in bushcraft. I would like to insert a disclaimer here though... I really like Ray Mears...</i></span></div></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><span style="color: #888888;"></span></span>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8068482586717478503.post-54815951500425697692010-08-25T14:24:00.001-05:002010-08-25T14:25:45.176-05:00Mr. Harn's Paradox (and my response)<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I just read a thought provoking post over at </span><a href="http://thecountrysideround.wordpress.com/2010/08/25/trout-fishing-and-walking-with-a-writers-mind/#comment-66"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The Countryside Round</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> blog of Casey Harn (who some of you may remember from </span><a href="http://wanderingowloutside.wordpress.com/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Wandering Owl Outside</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> fame). Mr Harn's post raises an interesting question that I've rehashed a thousand times in different ways while getting my degrees in Conservation Social Science and Wilderness Management. What is the best way to protect a resource? Close it off from the public, or open it up and educate the public? </span><br />
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</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">As an environmental educator and blogger I feel some of the same struggles when doing my job, or writing for this blog. As a naturalist I am supposed to tell children to stay on the trails, don't pick flowers, and leave the acorns, rock, leaves on the ground but I just can't do it. Which does more harm to the resource? Protecting it from the children? Or fostering a curiosity about the resource by telling them to get off the trails, pick the flowers, take home the rocks, acorns and leaves.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I lean toward the former being more harmful in the long run because of how I was raised. I am passionate about the outdoors <i><u><b>because</b></u></i><b> </b>I was allowed (or rather encouraged) to fully explore the fields, streams, and woodlands and to immerse myself in nature.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Am I doing the wrong thing? I know what I think. I want to hear from you... (and be sure to let Mr. Harn know your thoughts at <a href="http://thecountrysideround.wordpress.com/">The Countryside Round </a>too!)</span>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8068482586717478503.post-83036963144775282392010-08-05T12:10:00.000-05:002010-08-05T12:10:31.559-05:00Weather Predictions through Nature ObservationI don't believe I am the first person to have said it, but I often start off the hikes I lead by saying "The forest has a story to tell, if you are just willing to listen". The story that the forest tells is very adeptly written and has a mind boggling cast of characters and countless subplots. Today we are going to delve into one of those subplots, the weather.<br />
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I have been using nature to help me predict the weather ever since I was a boy bailing hay as a hired hand during the summer months. More often than not the only way I would get a day off was if it rained. Since I hated watching the news I needed another way to learn the likelihood of impending changes in the weather. My Grandma Emma always used to say "If you see a <a href="http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/northern_cardinal/id">Cardinal</a> it will rain within a day". I thought it sounded dubious, but i watched for cardinals regardless. The amazing thing is that she appeared to be right! Every time I saw a male cardinal it would usually rain within 24 hours.<br />
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Over the years as I have observed nature more acutely with the help of a barometer I have adapted my late Grandmothers folk weather prediction. Whenever you hear a male <a href="http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Northern_Cardinal/sounds">Northern cardinal sing</a> there will be a change in the weather;usually rain. I know you are skeptical, everyone is when i tell them. All I ask is that you observe it for yourself and get back to me.<br />
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Now I don't simply rely on the Northern cardinal for weather predictions when I'm in the field, I also look to the trees. The two trees I rely most heavily on are the <a href="http://www.blogger.com/goog_498271375">Silver maple (</a><i><a href="http://www.blogger.com/goog_498271375">Acer saccharinum</a></i><a href="http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=ACSA2">) </a>and the genus <a href="http://www.blogger.com/goog_498271379">Oak (</a><i><a href="http://www.blogger.com/goog_498271379">Quercus spp.</a></i><a href="http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=QUERC">)</a>. As there is a change in the weather, or more specifically, a change in barometric pressure the leaves of the Silver maples and oaks will turn over showing their lighter colored undersides. The reason for this is that the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petiole_(botany)">petioles</a> (the stem that attaches the leaf to the tree) is thinner on one side than on the other. This causes the petiole to stretch, or shrink at different rates with changes in barometric pressure which in turn "flips" the leaf to show it's underside.<br />
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It takes only a slight change in barometric pressure for the Silver maple to turn it leaves which I use as an early warning system. Used in conjunction with the singing of the cardinal I can give myself advance warning of impending shifts in the weather. Now if I look to up a little later and see that the oak leaves have turned over I K-N-O-W that I am in for a serious change and I should start to look for shelter.<br />
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Now I'd like to put this all in the context of a scenario:<br />
I am out hiking on relatively calm, pleasantly warm summer day. As I move down the trail I here a male cardinal start to sing his "What cheer! What cheer! What cheer!" song so I look for a Silver maple and notice the silvery green undersides of the leaves, I also note the the prevailing breeze is from the south. An hour later I come upon an<a href="http://www.blogger.com/goog_498271392"> Bur oak (</a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 15px;"><em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/goog_498271392">Quercus</a></span></em></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 15px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/goog_498271392"> </a></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 15px;"><em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><a href="http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=QUMA2">macrocarpa</a></span></em></span>) on an upland and I can see that it's leaves are turned over too, and that the breeze has picked up and shifted to the north. I decide to shorten my hike and head for the car. As I am driving home the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cumulonimbus_cloud">anvil shaped thunderheads</a> are looming on the horizon bringing with them rain, wind, and lightning.<br />
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So to wrap it up. Does the singing of the male cardinal guarantee rain in 24 hours? No, but I'd say that it works close to 90% of the time for me (yes, that high). Does the turning over of Silver maple a,d oak leaves always mean rain? No, it does however mean a change in the weather (i.e. It's hot and humid today, it will be cool and dryer tomorrow. It's not raining now, it will be later. It's been raining for two days, it will stop soon, etc...)<br />
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Of course there are other predictors of weather like if there is dew on the grass in the morning it won't rain that day, and I hope to visit these with you more in the future. Until then get outside!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com11