The Hunting And Gathering Survival Manual
Page 21
If you don’t have two months to wait for an infused oil, a little heat can speed up the process. Place your dried herbs in the bottom of a slow cooker and cover with oil. Turn the heat to its lowest setting, cover, and leave on low heat for 24–48 hours. Cool and strain the oil, and pour it into dark glass bottles for best storage results. Only use dried herbs for oils and tinctures, as fresh herbs release too much water into the medicine.
206 MAKE A QUICK BALM
The outdoors can turn even the toughest hands into a rough, scratched mess. During everyday outdoor activities or an emergency, you can make a balm from several natural oils. This type of topical medicine is thicker than lotion (more like a salve) and typically contains more volatile oils than other skin remedies, working to restore your skin’s health by replacing the oils and moisture it lacks. The balm provides the oil directly, and your skin provides the needed moisture underneath the oily coating. Here are two ways to make a balm that just might save your hide.
PLANT OIL BALM The best field-made balm I’ve ever gotten was made from oily tree nuts. Shell out the nutmeat from hickory, pecan, beech, or walnut, crush it into a paste, and rub it into your dry skin. In a survival scenario, you may be better off eating those nuts for their high-calorie content, but for everyday outdoor activities, you can probably afford this nonfood use. Should you ever need a more refined skin product, simmer the crushed nutmeats in a little water for thirty to forty-five minutes. This will bring the oil to the surface as a liquid, which can be skimmed off and used as a lotion.
ANIMAL FAT BALM The lard, tallow, marrow, and fat of game animals can be the most abundant source of oil in hunting and survival situations. It can be wiped on your skin as a solid or liquid, raw or cooked—although cooked is the safest approach, as it destroys any pathogens. Bear fat is my favorite choice because it penetrates your skin so deeply. It’s also great for conditioning other skins (like leather).
207 MELT SOME LARD SALVE
Although it smells a little strange, lard can make a fine one-step medicinal salve for a variety of uses. The process is easy and the results are healing. Yarrow is an outstanding herb to blend with lard, but many medicinal plants can make friends with this greasy substance. And you thought lard was bad for you!
YOU'LL NEED
1 cup (250 g) lard: organic and preservative-free would be best; vegan-friendly shortening can also be substituted
6 tsp. (30 g) dried herbs: plantain leaf for cuts and burns, chickweed for itching, yarrow for bleeding control and antiseptic, or another herb based on your needs
Cheesecloth
STEP 1 Place your lard into an oven-safe dish (not aluminum) and heat slowly until liquefied. Stir the dried herbs into the oil. Bake in the oven at the lowest possible temperature—no more than 200°F (93°C)—for three hours. You can also use a pan on your stove top on the lowest heat setting for a few hours, or use a slow cooker on low heat for 24 hours.
STEP 2 Allow the mixture to cool just slightly. You’ll want to strain it through the cheesecloth while it's still a warm liquid. Make sure to squeeze all of the oil from the cloth.
STEP 3 Before the lard stops acting like a liquid, pour it into a clean, wide-mouth jar or several small jars. As it cools, the lard will become semi-solid and reach its normal, room-temperature consistency.
That’s it! You’ve created an easy medicinal salve. Store it somewhere cool (if you’re at home, put it in the fridge), and use it or toss it within a few months of production, as lard tends to go rancid pretty quickly (especially in warmer conditions).
208 SOAK UP SOME ALCOHOL
A simple and effective way to preserve the medicinal quality of a plant is to make a tincture from it, using a food-grade alcohol. Tinctures are more powerful and last longer than dried herbs, and you can even mix up your own combination formulas. Just avoid rubbing alcohol or anything with methanol as an ingredient, as these are not safe. All tinctures should be made with food- or beverage-grade alcohols.
STEP 1 Gather the appropriate dried herbs and select a glass jar (preferably wide-mouthed) with a tight-fitting lid. Purchase the highest-proof vodka you can find to act as the solvent and preservative of this tincture. (Moonshine is also acceptable.)
STEP 2 Cut, crush, chop, or otherwise break up the dried plant material and pack it tightly into the jar. Pour enough vodka over the plant material to just cover it, then lid the jar.
STEP 3 Let the jar sit for six weeks in a cool, dark place, like a cabinet. Take it out once a day to shake it, but avoid exposing your jar to sunlight, as UV rays can have a negative effect on tincture-making.
STEP 4 After six weeks, use a cloth to strain out the plant material and bottle your tincture in a dark glass. Use as directed for your specific ailment (see item 211). You can also use any tincture as a disinfectant, due to its alcohol content.
209 PICK A POULTICE
Plantain (Plantago spp.) is known for being a handy field remedy—and also may be the first thing you grab at home if you get stung or bitten by a venomous insect or arthropod. Take several leaves of any plantain species (the older and more bitter, the better), and grind or chew them into a paste. Put this paste directly on the bite or sting, and the pain will start to ease. Keep the poultice moist, and secure it in place with a bandage or dressing. Change it every few hours or at least once a day—though you probably won’t need to keep it on that long, as beestings and similar wounds should be much better within a day. Based on your needs, you can add fresh red clover flowers, stinging nettle root (an antihistamine), or yarrow to the plantain poultice.
210 BE AN INFORMED INFUSER
As with prescription medicines, often a tincture that’s beneficial for many people can be bad news for a few. Know yourself and your health status, and don’t treat herbs lightly.
IF YOU
May be pregnant
STAY AWAY FROM
Black cohosh, catnip, comfrey, goldenseal, yarrow, barberry, feverfew, juniper, cedar, mugwort, pennyroyal, mint (especially peppermint), pine, pokeweed, thuja, wormwood, angelica, and mayapple
IF YOU
Are nursing
STAY AWAY FROM
Aloe vera, basil, borage, bugleweed, coltsfoot, comfrey, elecampane, ephedra, parsley and sage (galactofuge in both reduces milk flow), and wormwood
IF YOU
Have a heart condition, high blood pressure, or high cholesterol
STAY AWAY FROM
Bilberry (can increase the risk of bleeding with anticoagulants); echinacea (can increase the risk of liver damage with medications prescribed to lower cholesterol); garlic (a natural blood thinner); ginger, ginseng, and St. John’s wort (affect how the body absorbs prescription medications)
IF YOU
Have diabetes
STAY AWAY FROM
Balsam poplar, birch, clover, horse chestnut, meadowsweet, willow, and wintergreen
IF YOU
Have liver problems
STAY AWAY FROM
Black cohosh, colt’s foot, comfrey, pennyroyal, sassafras, and wormwood
211 LEARN TINCTURE TREATMENTS
Make these tinctures to relieve numerous common ailments.
BURDOCK ROOT (Arctium lappa) Burdock aids liver function and treats arthritis and rheumatism, as well as skin problems like psoriasis, eczema, acne, and dandruff.
DANDELION ROOT (Taraxacum officinale) This tincture can stimulate the liver and treat gallbladder problems, digestive upset, hypoglycemia, high blood pressure, and recent-onset diabetes.
ECHINACEA ROOT See item 200.
HAWTHORNE BERRIES (Crataegus oxyacantha) These berries treat both high and low blood pressure, and relieve insomnia, heart palpitations, and arteriosclerosis.
NETTLES LEAVES AND ROOTS (Urtica urens) A treatment for allergies and asthma, nettles can also be used as a tonic for the stomach, urinary system, and lungs.
212 LEARN TINCTURE TREATMENTS
Crush up a few handfuls of oak acorns and boil them in 1 quart (1 l) of water for t
hirty minutes or until the water is dark brown. Soak a clean cloth in this water and, while it’s still hot (105–110°F/40–43°C), apply it to the injury. This can ease the pain of puncture wounds, ingrown toenails, boils, infected hairs, and a host of other ailments. Reheat the liquid and reapply the compress as needed. Do not use on sprains unless you alternately ice the injury.
213 TAP A TREE
The ubiquitous, familiar maples (genus Acer) produce a watery sap that you can use as drinking water—and, of course, to make delicious syrup.
The sap flows in the late winter when nighttime temperatures are below freezing and the days are warmer. The sap is slightly sweet right out of the tree, as it is 3–5 percent sugar by volume. You can tap most maple trees, but avoid Norway maples, Acer platanoides, and any others with milky sap.
Bore a hole by drilling through the bark, about 2 inches (5 cm) into the sapwood, angling the hole upward. Any reasonable-size drill bit can work, but 7/16-inch (11-mm) holes match the commercially available tree taps known as spiles. Once you’ve drilled your hole, you can hammer in a spile and hang a bucket or jug on it to collect the sap.
If you can’t find a supplier of spiles, use whatever you have. Half-inch vinyl tubing works well, as will bamboo, PVC pipe, and metal pipe pieces. All you really need is something to channel the sap so it drips into your container. Plastic drinking water jugs are fine for sap collecting, as are the classic metal buckets. In recent years, I’ve started using plastic vinegar jugs, which have thicker walls and are stronger than water jugs, and they are less likely to burst during a cold snap due to freeze expansion.
214 FOLLOW THESE TAPPING TIPS
Collecting the tree sap is pretty easy, but there are a few tricks to this trade. Keep these pointers in mind, particularly when dealing with maples.
TOP TAP TIPS
The sap flows best on the south side of the tree, which gets the most sun exposure.
You can put in one tap for each foot (30 cm) of diameter on the tree trunk.
Younger trees can be more productive than older trees.
If you’re using it for drinking water, sap doesn’t keep long before souring—so treat sap like milk: Keep it cold, keep it clean, and do something with it sooner rather than later.
If the sap has turned cloudy and smells sour (usually after sitting for more than a week), it has become a breeding ground for bacteria and should be discarded.
Collect your sap each day to avoid overflowing containers and wasted sap.
The sap doesn’t run the same every day, even on the same tree.
Make as many taps as you can to make this venture worthwhile.
215 BOIL SOME TREE SUGAR
To turn sap into syrup, grab the largest pot you own and a reliable heat source, and head outside. Boiling indoors is never a good idea, as every surface will be covered with condensed water. Use a wood fire or propane burner to bring the sap to a boil, and keep it boiling until it visibly thickens. It should look like new motor oil (in color and viscosity) when it’s close to done.
Dip a spoon in and allow it to cool for a moment, then see how it pours. If the syrup forms a curtain-like sheet off the spoon edge, you’re done. If it’s still runny, boil off more water. Be aware that there is a fine line between too watery and too dry. If you overcook the sap, it will crystallize into a solid upon cooling. This is fine if you’re trying to make maple candy, but not ideal if you’ve got plans for pancakes.
You’ll need 10 gallons (38 l) of sap to make 1 quart (1 l) of syrup. That may sound like a lot, but each tap into a productive tree can yield 1 gallon (4 l) of sap per day at the height of the sap run. Keep your finished syrup in the fridge to prevent mold, or process the syrup in jars in a water bath canner for long-term storage. Fittingly, sugar maple has the highest sugar percentage in its sap, whereas other trees (including other maples) have about half as much sugar. Regardless of the species used, once the sap is reduced to syrup, it has about 100 calories per ounce (per 30 ml).
216 EXPLORE YOUR CHOICES
Maple isn’t the only tree that can produce sap water and syrup. Sycamores (Platanus occidentalis), birches (genus Betula), and hickories (genus Carya) are also contenders for both, and black birch is particularly delicious. Walnuts (genus Juglans) can also be tapped for drinking water, but they’re not particularly tasty for syrup. You can even mix and match to create your own syrup blends.
217 BREW SOME MAPLE WINE
One of my all-time favorite home-brewed beverages is something I call maple wine. Knowing that the American founding fathers used maple syrup in beer recipes, and being a big fan of mead (a honey wine), I put these two concepts together. Here’s a quick rundown for the best homemade wine I’ve ever had.
STEP 1 Boil down 10 gallons of sap to 1 gallon (4 l) of fluid. Check the sugar content with a triple hydrometer (if you have one, the specific gravity should read 1.100 or near it; if you don’t, just hope for the best). Let it cool to room temperature, and sanitize a 1-gallon (4-l) glass jug, a stopper, and a wine lock (available at home-brew supply stores).
STEP 2 Pour the syrup water into the jug and add a small packet of red wine yeast. Plug the jug with the stopper and a water-filled wine lock. Keep the jug in a dark place with a 60–70°F (16–21°C) temperature for two months. It should bubble for weeks, and finally start to settle after a month and a half.
STEP 3 Pour the wine off the sediment into a new container. If it hasn’t cleared, add a hot wine finings mix (again from the supply shop) and wait a week. Pour off the sediment again, then bottle or drink, and enjoy this smooth and silky wine that tastes of caramel.
218 MEET THE BEES
Humans have craved and collected honey for thousands of years—an ancient Spanish cave painting (dating back around 8,000 years) depicts people collecting wild honey. All this time, and our love of this sweet food hasn’t changed at all. At 304 calories per 100 grams (about 5 tablespoons), it’s also a very valuable wild-food source. Whether you are a beekeeper or a wild honey collector, it pays to know the bees that are working hard for you.
THE QUEEN One solitary queen bee is the ruler and mother of her hive. She may lay 2,000 eggs each day when at the peak of her fertility. The queen is the largest bee in the hive, about 1 inch (2.5 cm) long, and she can live for several years. Her welfare affects that of the entire hive—so take good care of your queen.
THE WORKERS The worker caste of bees makes up the main population of any hive—and, as their name implies, they do all the work. These busy bees are almost half an inch (12 mm) in length and are responsible for gathering pollen and defending the hive. They carry the pollen from flowers on their hind legs, make the honey, build the combs to store the honey, and take care of the eggs and newly hatched larvae. The worker’s sting is painful to humans and other hive raiders, but it is fatal to the bee that delivered it. (Wonder why? Well, some of the bee’s innards are torn out as the barb lodges in its foe. Aren’t you glad you asked?)
THE DRONES Drone bees are few in number in any hive. They are about the same size as the workers, but are generally stockier and have larger eyes. The stingless drones spend all their time near the queen, as their only job is to mate with her. Might sound fun, but it’s typically fatal for the drone.
219 GET THE RIGHT GEAR
You may not need any specialized equipment to purchase a “super” (short for superhive) full of honey bees and set it up on your land. But when it comes time to collect the honey, you’ll need a few unique items.
BEE SUIT A bee suit is a set of coveralls, generally white or light-colored. The suit should have a wide-brimmed hat with a veil to protect your head and neck from stings. I recommend gloves.
HIVE TOOLS You’ll need a smoker to calm the bees as you start to dismantle their home, and a small pry bar to pry apart the lid and frames. Grab an uncapping knife to cut the beeswax combs open so you can extract the honey.
EXTRACTOR Getting honey out (without comb damage) is tricky unless you have access to a centr
ifuge. This can be a motor-operated device or a hand-crank model. The extractor spins the combs, releasing the honey via centrifugal force.
220 SET UP A COLONY
Beehives have come a long way from the coiled-straw skeps and hollow logs that our ancestors used. Since the 1850s, most beekeepers use specialized boxes called supers. Supers hold a number of frames with wax foundation sheets stamped in them, upon which the bees build combs for raising their young and storing their honey.
These bee boxes and frames have about 1/5 inch (5 mm) of open space between them—just enough room for a single bee to get through. This “bee gap” keeps the bees from gluing all the frame parts together with propolis, a gummy substance they create from plant resins.
Some beekeepers will sell the super with a colony of bees already inside, allowing a beekeeping beginner to get off to a quick start.
Whether you’re a beginner or already maintaining your flock (or swarm), follow these tips in order to maintain your super and keep your bees healthy.
PRO TIPS
Set up your hive in a dry location, and in an area with good drainage. Use blocks, bricks, or posts to create a stand to support the super. This keeps the colony drier, discouraging disease and mold.