Healing and Protecting Earth

With the arrival of Momma Daughter and Mr. Field and Stream (they are living with us for a while), some nasty little bug has invaded our home.  It started with Mr. Field and Stream.  Now, Granddaughter and Precious have it.  Neither Wendy nor I want it.

I took a walk and gathered some lovely boughs, with only my virtual MooseBoots because I have not made the physical ones yet.

We made tea last night from Eastern Hemlock tree boughs.  We steeped them in hot water for a while.  It makes a nice tea ... no sugar or cream required.  The tea is packed with vitamin C and should help us avoid this bug.  Of course, White Pine and Douglas Fir tea works just as well.  If you live in Maine and want a good book on tree identification, check out Forest Trees of Maine Centennial Edition 1908-2008.  The book is packed with histroic information, identification keys, and great color photos of bark buds, fruit, and the whole tree.  My favorite parts are the Summer and Winter identification keys.  You can also download an older version, but it does not have the winter key or color photos.

Isn't it amazing that nature provides us the cures and tools we need, if we only look.  Of course, that is what this whole MooseBoots journey is all about.  Not only learning these secrets, but using them.

Awakenings

While I may have known Spring has arrived, a few other have noticed.  The Earth is coming alive.  On the way to work two days ago, I saw a large flock of geese returning from "winter vacation."  Yesterday, I was driving to work and heard a red-winged blackbird singing.  And, last night while coming home from dance class, we saw a raccoon crossing the road.

The sugaring season is winding down ... I have collected only 6 gallons of sap in the last few days from 15 taps.  The season was short this year and I didn't trust my gut and tap immediately when I "felt" it was time.  We were still fortunate to be able to boil down about 1.5 gallons of syrup.

It is time to resume hide tanning.  I think I will have to work with Mr. Field and Stream, who seems interested in learning if given some instructive guidance.  There are a lot of hides to work still.  I guess I will need to start posting a bit about the process I am using.  I will also need to keep working on my "practice boots."

Additionally, we will need to continue working on our awareness and begin our work on our foraging this year.  The greens and wild edibles won't be long now.  And so, my MooseBoots journey continues....

More Sugaring and Learning Experiences (a.k.a. Failures)

Today was the latest round of boiling.  I lit the fire at about 0800.  Before that, I made a quick run in the woods to find standing deadwood.  The fire built, it was time to boil.  I did things a little different today ... I have been concerned that we are nearing the end of the season in my area.  It had not fallen beloew freezing for almost a week.  This morning, though, the rabbit water bottles were frozen solid.  I am hoping the season holds a bit longer ... we've only boiled down 6 quarts of syrup; we need 12 to make it through the year.  Notice that the middle bottles are dark ... I think that this, too, is an indication that the season is nearing the end.

While boiling, I tried my hand, not so successfully, at rock boiling.  Perhaps, I had too much sap in the pan and not enough rock.  Or, I didn't let the rocks heat enough.  Or, I had the pan resting on the damp wet ground.  I don't know ... I did get it to steam a bit.  This will take more experimentation.  I tried a few rocks ... one became very brittle and fell apart in sheets in the sap (I may now have some blanks for stone tools), the other two did not break in the same way, but did crack after a while.  Better luck next time!

As I worked, I tried to make a set of thongs by carving the belly of a stick and bending the wood over.  I carved too deep ... the stick broke instead of bending.  So, next time, I will not carve so deep and I will steam the wood before trying to bend it.  Additionally, I cut a few pieces of grapevine to play with basket weaving ... another skill I have no experience with.  These seem a little too brittle too ... perhaps they need to be soaked in boiling water or steamed.

I believe that it is wonderful to learn.  I also believe that unapplied knowledge is useless and that the best way to learn something is to do it.  I tend to learn more from my mistakes so I am not too disappointed overall.