shelter1

long-term dwellings, most temporary shelter designs revolve around some sort of roof as the main component. Walls and doors come later. With simple survival shelters, the roof is normally also a wall, in that it extends down to meet the floor, so providing a barrier against the elements. Cutting out the bitter wind means you effectively eliminate the risk of having your valuable body heat whisked away by convection and so can create a stable environment where you stand a much better chance of increasing the temperature of the air around you. Body temperature must be kept at around 37 ° C/ 98.6 ° F, with anything lower than 35 ° C/ 95 ° F being classed as hypothermic.

Nettle's - Can they make your happy? or just Urt!?

Urtica Dioica, We've all landed in a patch of these as a child! we would come out crying and covered in patches of raised white bumps. If mum was about we where told to rub a dock leaf onto the affected area. Then after a few days the bumps along with the tears would have vanished. Until the next encounter!

The common stinging nettle is one of the most amazing of our native plants. Of All British plant species, its possibly the only one that can be found blind folded!

Its use by humans goes back through the ages, right back to the Roman era, Some even suggest that it was introduced by the Romans. It was also used during the First world war when cotton was scarce. In Germany thousands of hectares of land was put aside to cultivate nettles to be used as a cotton substitute. Though, nettles used as a fiber for clothing are far softer and more hard wearing than cotton, but a little harder to harvest!

If you failed to identify them from the stinging! then look out for a square stemmed plant with opposite hairy leaves that have little odor when crushed. The mint family also has square stems but all contain aromatic essential oils and have showy flowers, well That's how some describe them, and I suppose in comparison to nettle they are quite showy. Just don't sit them next to an Orchid!

The sting is caused by tiny hairs reinforced by silica that, similar to a hypodermic needle, inject a cocktail of chemicals to cause itching and irritation. It was thought that the main constituent in the sting was formic acid, the same acid present in the 'bite' from a wood ant. Recent studies have found that although formic acid is present, histamine, acetylcholine and 5-hydroxytryptamine are in higher quantities.  If those last  two sound a bit sciencey, then the former is sometime used in the treatment of cataracts and Alzheimer's and is generally a muscle stimulant and neurotransmitter, the latter (serotonin) is another neurotransmitter. Both are naturally occurring in the body and are muscle stimulants. Serotonin however is also known as the happy drug and is involved with antidepressants. People with naturally low levels of this chemical can be prone to depression. Antidepressants tend to increase serotonin levels in the brain. So could nettles induce happiness? wouldn't that be great!? what if i told you it was true? well, it is! Well at least a walk outdoors, in the fresh air is proven to reduce stress, and happiness will be induced into any that witness you rolling around in a patch of nettles listening to the Prodigy!

Joking aside, Nettles do harbor some clever medicinal properties. In one Scientific study ( I'll leave out any big words this time!) nettles where found to be just as effective in reducing pain and immobility in a test on over 200 Arthritic patients as NSAID's ( see http://www.herballegacy.com/Vance_Medicinal.html for a conprhensive list of medicinal benifits )

So medicinally its pretty good, and as a veg, well - its a super food! The dried leaf can contain 40% protein, they contain vitamins A, C, D, E, F, K, P, B-complexes and Thiamine, riboflavin, Niacin and vitamin B6. Thankfully the sting is lost on cooking so we can relish in all their goodness pain free!

Like the Germans using them for clothing, they are indeed excellent for making cordage. To prepare, strip a nettle of its leaves and side shoots, gently bash the stem to separate the fibers along its length and then separate the outer fibers from the inner pith by pealing the outer fibers back, away from the inner pith. These removed strands are then dried to remove moisture and can then be made into cordage at a later time ( They are dried first otherwise the cordage made from fresh stems would shrink )

My best use for nettles is nettle beer, drinkable within a week but best after two. Earlier consumption has a strong nettle taste ( but still very drinkable ) drinking any longer than four weeks after bottling will induce slurring quite quickly! Longer than that and you will have produced some fancy nettle bombs! gas build up during bottle conditioning can be quite high. You have been warned! Below is my favorite recipe based around Hugh Fearnley Whittingstalls - A cook on the wild side, and his online content.

Bring 5 liters of water to the boil
Pour this over a carrier bags worth of young nettle tops in a bucket and infuse for an hour (mash it up a bit!)
Strain into a large pan and add the juice of a lemon or two
Stir in 450g of sugar until dissolved
Wait till blood temperature then stir in yeast
Cover and leave for 3 days stirring each day
Remove any scum
Syphon into beer bottles

Once in bottles, every now and then ( if swing top ) release some gas ( this also checks enough fizz is present! )

Enjoy

Google nettle recipes, They excel in more that beer!, I have made nettle ravioli before which was lovely and there are thousands of other lovely things to do with them!

.......Oh and don't listen to mum..... Plantain is far better at relieving the sting than Dock. Squish it up until juices flow and rub onto the affected area.

Alder and catkins.....edible?

Alder, well thought id carry on the tree theme, and with all the wet weather we have had, Alder sprung to mind! It is a member of the Birch family and is a tree that likes to live near water, quite often, so close that its roots are partially exposed by the flow of a river. Along with snow drops and hazel catkins, Alder adds a nice splash of colour to our landscape this early in the year, it produces some long and hanging almost red/purple female cones along with pale green/purple male catkins.

Its Latin name is Alnus Glutinosa, the latter part of its name probably stems from the the young buds ands leaves being fairly sticky when young as Glutinosa translates to stickiness!

At first glance it may not appear to have anything of use to the forager, but on closer inspection, it is actually a very valuable tree.

Medicinally the Alder is very astringent and the bark can be used as an anti inflammatory, a tea made from the inner bark of smaller branches or the dried buds and chewing small amounts may help relieve Diarrhoea and a tea made of the bark can be gargled against a sore throat. Overdoing it may cause vomiting however and using dried bark is best.

As a firewood alder is pretty poor due to high water content, but it will season quickly. It is very resistant to decay in water, and has been used for water piping, troughs and piles under bridges. Much of Venice was built on Alder Piles! Most parts of the tree can been used to create a natural yellow dye and it is brilliant for making charcoal as it burns with an intense heat and was used by the Celtic to forge weapons.

To make sure you have identified Alder correctly, there are a few helpful key features. most obvious is that it will have both male catkins and female cones on at the same time (as above) The male catkins look almost similar to that of hazel sometimes smaller, whilst the female organs look similar to tiny open pine cones but are approx 2cm in size. Another helpful clue is the orange lichen that grows on the bark. It's leaves look similar to that of hazel, with a much less pronounced tip, in fact it almost looks blunt and square like. Of course a huge give away is its proximity to water!

Early spring the tree will produce catkins, that some say are edible. Certainly the Red alder of the USA is edible, but what of our own version. I new of a few trees local to myself (of course next to water!) and also I spotted one more that had been planted, I'm sure during my local towns development (very handy my towns planning as its provided me with plenty of sea buckthorn too!) There road side tree is possibly a different variety of alder or it could be due to its sheltered location, be in a more advanced stage of spring growth. On the left is the town Alder catkin, the right is the "wild" Alder

Fresh both are very astringent and unappetising , the wild catkins much firmer.
I would give both the same treatment, simmering in changes of water until the yellow that leaches from them reduces. therefore reducing the astringency. However at this point, I thought it better to concentrate solely on the 'wild' catkins, seeing as i was unable to be sure that the town one was the same Alnus Glutinosa and in so be pointless to experiment with as not many people would have access to the same! Anyway continuing with the wild catkins once boiled in changes of water I thought a good test of its edibility would be to dry and then grind to a flour for use. As there was only a hand full of each the amount of flour produced was little, so enabling me to make something worthwhile, I added an equal amount of Rye flour, shaped it into a small biscuit round after adding water and baked it.

 The resulting cake was fairly pleasant. It had the texture of (and you will only understand this if you are a dog owner) a dog treat!..Perhaps a Bonio??, that's not to say it had a meaty taste, but the texture was gritty and bland, however more pleasant than expected. It still retained a hint of bitterness that lingered but not unpleasant. More like the bitterness of unsweetened coco powder (if you have ever tried that!)  On the whole, considering its questionable pallatibility, It came out quite well! in fact much tastier than flour I have attempted to produce from Cattail roots so I was happy with the results!! A success almost, I just hope that the nutritional benefits are similar to its American cousin, Id hate to think id wasted everybody's time!

G'day Giants

I thought I’d share with you something a little different in this blog, its all bushcraft related, don’t worry! But after spending a month in Australia, offering a little insight into the great lands flora and fauna would be a nice change from the norm.

                If you are unfamiliar with Australia, I don’t blame you. I don’t mean its existence, more what it’s about, aside from Dingo’s, Boomerangs, Corked hats and Crocodile Dundee!  Australia sits many miles from our shores and its links with us becoming thinner and thinner, and really not much exceptional goes on there that is worth being noted in our news. That’s not to say it is not an exceptional country. Far from it! It is most exceptional. To give you a brief familiarisation, ill quote an out take from Bill Bryson’s book ‘Down Under’

“Australia is the world’s sixth largest country and its largest island. It is the only island that is also a continent, and the only continent that is also a country. It was the first continent conquered from the sea, and the last. It’s the only nation that began as a prison. Its home to the largest living thing on Earth, the Great Barrier Reef,  and the most famous Rock-‘Uluru’ or Ayers rock. It has more things that will kill you than anywhere else. Of the worlds ten most poisonous snakes, all are Australian”

Zoologically its worlds apart too, Eighty percent of all that lives there exists no-where else on Earth. As an environment it is abundant with some of the worlds Driest, Flattest, Hottest, infertile continents, yet teems with life. It is thought to contain over 25,000 species of plants, whilst our small island is home to a comparatively meagre 1600. At least a third of those species have never been named or studied!

What I’d like to share with you is just one of these species, they exist in a tiny area of South Western Australia. It was some 400K from where we stayed in Perth to An area known as ‘The valley of the giants’ home to the Great Red Tingle tree along with numerous other rather large trees. Most of the trees in Australia are Eucalyptus or ‘Gum’ trees of which there are up to 700 varieties and these are no exception. They are of course exceptionally large however! Some reaching up to 70m in height and over 25m in girth and can live up to 400 years.

They gained their name from the aboriginal word for red, owing to the colour of the timber. As a resource the Gum trees are quite valuable, and to the indigenous people of Australia-The aboriginals they were highly regarded. The whole species is very fast growing, and also quite dense, most providing many medicinal and culinary uses, along with being used in carving for many tools and of course hollowed out and used as a Didgeridoo! They are all a Part of the Myrtaceae Family. The most famed product of the species being Eucalyptus oil which uses range from an antibacterial and a decongestant (If you have ever used Vicks VapoRub then you have experienced the benefits of this oil) Of course its extraction is now an industrial process achieved by steam distillation, but the aboriginals would have used infusions of the leaves steeped in hot water as a traditional medicine to treat body pains, sinus congestion, fever and colds. They are full of said oils and in so being highly flammable idea for firewood, tinder and friction methods of ignition. The Bark of many of these species can easily be peeled off in small sheets similar to our London Plane; others have an even more papery bark much like our silver birch, and like the silver birch, due to the natural oils present are ideal for firewood. I suspect although I have not tried that you could extract the oil from the bark again in a similar way to you would with silver birch bark however care would need to be taken as the resultant oil is more volatile than birch resin (if you are unfamiliar with this useful process click here) The pure oil will take a spark from a fire steel instantly. The aboriginals would have definitely used the fallen dried leaves as tinder. The nickname for the species being Gum tree is due to the sap that they extrude. Aborigines where known to chew this gum, and many of the species had gum that had high concentrations of sugars, others had very astringent qualities and where used on wounds and for the relief of diarrhoea.

 I am sure that the Red tingle had many other useful medicinal and edible properties however it is hard to say with it localised to such a small area in such a huge and diverse country, little specific information on traditional uses now remains.

 The Red Tingle struck me as an awesome tree. It easily dwarfs most other trees, it is fast growing, long living and highly use full. It is almost fire resistant yet is great to start fires, it can be wide enough to drive a car through the hollowed out living trunks. Its dominance over the forest leaves you with a huge respect for these ancient giants, yet its shallow and delicate roots mean that it is a with all it grandeur even giants have an Achilles heel  

Mighty Ash

Well I had to choose somewhere to begin, Some species that would warrant the attention of this blog above all other plant species. Well I had to choose, but i did so not just based on its alphabetical position, not because of its easy identification or even because of its unfortunate new found fame as potentially becoming the new Elm in our countryside. That is, it is being threatened by an invasive parasite on par with Dutch elm (http://www.forestry.gov.uk/chalara) Lets start with the Ash  because as a forager, a bushcrafter or anyone with a interest in the British countryside, The Ash quite literally gives you the 'Keys' to start your journey as a forager!

Its latin Name Fraxinus Excelsior kind of sounds like a name that this tree deserves. Fraxinus meaning Spear in both Latin and old English, and Excelsior Meanining 'Ever Upward' In Latin. Both conjour images of strength and power. It no wonder that Ash Lends itself to so many uses with such a name.

It is a hard wood which is very dense, whilst being very tough, strong and elastic, and therefore is great for creating Archers bows and tool handles.

As a fire wood ash is golden! you can burn it seasoned or green. There is a short ditty which explains the burning properties of fire wood by an unknown author which reads;

Beechwood fires are bright and clear
If the logs are kept a year,
Chestnut's only good they say,
If for logs 'tis laid away.
Make a fire of Elder tree,
Death within your house will be;
But ash new or ash old,
Is fit for a queen with crown of gold.

Birch and fir logs burn too fast
Blaze up bright and do not last,
it is by the Irish said
Hawthorn bakes the sweetest bread.
Elm wood burns like churchyard mould,
E'en the very flames are cold
But Ash green or Ash brown
Is fit for a queen with golden crown.

Poplar gives a bitter smoke,
Fills your eyes and makes you choke,
Apple wood will scent your room
Pear wood smells like flowers in bloom
Oaken logs, if dry and old
keep away the winter's cold
But Ash wet or Ash dry
a king shall warm his slippers by

So not only is ash great for Tools and Weapons. but also is the king of fire woods! but what else?

Well Medicinally the Ash has a few tricks up its sleeve. The inner bark can be prepared into a tea which can help combat Depression. A Tea of the dried leaves can be used as a laxative this can also be used on slow healing infected wounds if made slightly stronger.
Its Keys can be made into something similar to lime pickle and all the wood is food safe for use in spoon carving etc.

So this all sounds great but how can I find it? Well luckily its a fairly easy tree to identify...even in the depths of winter. It has large black buds almost looking like a birds bill that are dissimilar to any other tree bud

And its branches look like the leering hand of a menacing child catcher, motioning its big black nails upwards in a come hither motion

In the Spring the ash's compound, pinnate leaf. Of which the central stem of the compound leaf bears 9 – 13 leaflets in pairs, with one at the tip. There are no stalks to the side leaflets. The leaflets are pointed and toothed, with hairs on the lower surface.

They leaves appear relatively late in Spring, and are amongst the first to be shed in Autumn. But its seeds or keys can remain on throughout winter and look like this

Here is a recipe for ash key pickle taken from the web

One thing to make sure is that you pick your Ash Keys when they are very young, and the small seed within the ‘wing’ has barely developed. You can see the seed if you hold the Ash Key up to the sunlight. 

Ingredients

§ 2 cups of Ash Keys without stalks

§ 1 tsp ground cloves

§ 1 tsp ground cinnamon

§ 4 bay leaves

§ 8 peppercorns

§ 1 tsp allspice

§ 1/2 tsp ground ginger

§ 1 tsp salt

§ 3 tbsp brown sugar

§ 2 cups cider vinegar

§ water

Suggested Instructions

1. Wash your Ash Keys, then place in a pan covered with cold water and bring to the boil. Simmer for 5 minutes.

2. Strain off the water and return to the pan with some fresh water, then bring back to boil and simmer a further 5 minutes.

3. Drain off the water again, allow to ‘dry’ slightly and then pack into warm dry jars, but allow an inch of space from the top of the jar.

4. Put the spices, salt and sugar into a bowl and add the vinegar.

5. Put the bowl into a saucepan (cover it), add some water (not to the bowl but just into the pan) and bring slowly to the boil. I’ve never been very good at this so my one splutters and bubbles furiously, even when its on simmer. I’m sure there’s some scientific reason, but as I failed miserably at science I don’t have an answer. Allow to gently boil for about 5 minutes, then remove the bowl and let it sit for about 4 hours or until it is cold.

6. Strain the liquid through a muslin or sieve into a jug and pour over the Ash Keys filling the jars right to the brim.

7. Screw on the tops or better yet use the kind of jars I have in the picture above.

8. Store for 3 months and let the pickle ‘mature’.

9. Give your friends a shock when you serve this up as an after dinner treat, along with some fine cheese.

In the beginning.....

Welcome to Wild food Wild times! Ive started this blog and my page, with the aim of being able to share knowledge on the subject for not just other benefit, but also my own!

Watch this space for weekly facebook updates with Helps on plant ID, Plant uses, History, Recipes etc!