Earth day, birthday, mirth day and the mystery guest

[DOC-CANADA]

Well as some of you know, today, Earth Day, is my birthday (how cool is that?). A fellow BF member was down this way, for work, and decided it would be more fun (mirth) to play hooky for the afternoon and help me celebrate than to actually work.

I mentioned this to my buddy, Phil, and he decided to play hooky as well, and come and join us. Bear in mind, that I took the day off, too, because of the aforementioned birthday, so here we were, 3 scofflaws, miscreants, ne'er-do-wells out to have a good time rather than fulfill our employment obligations. Some of you might remember Phil who was pictured with Pierre in one of the traps and snares threads.

Anyhow, the mystery guest was interested in making fire by friction, so that was on our agenda. Here's a picture of him getting down to business:

Recognize him yet?

How about now?

BTW, he was successful. Another cool thing for today! Making your first fire by friction on Earth Day!!!!!!!!!

OK, if you haven't guessed by now, I guess I have to tell you. Here he is with his very first bow drill fire -

That's right, our BladeForums brother, kgd! The hat should have been a give away.

So anyway, Phil, Ken and I finished with the friction fire operation, grabbed our packs and went for a hike.

We came across some conifer stumps, so Ken decided he wanted some fatwood.

I didn't know how well this picture would turn out because of the glare off his gloves.

Phil, excited by all the chopping, decided to do some on his own.

We called out to him but he wouldn't stop - he was like a madman! Finally Ken had to go and grab him by the ear and pull him out of there.

Good thing, too, or he probably would still be there.

~more to come~

 

[DOC-CANADA]

Along the way we came across some interesting plants. This is young Mayapple (Podophyllum peltatum) and is generally considered a poisonous plant, with one exception. When the fruit is ripe, it is reportedly edible, but "the roots, leaves, seeds, and green fruit are strongly cathartic and should not be eaten." (source - Edible Wild Plants, Lee Allan Peterson, Houghton Mifflin, 1977, ISBN# 0-395-31870-X, page20.

This is Cut-leaved Toothwort (Dentaria laciniata) and is an edible plant. The rootstock is used as a condiment and an addition to salads.

It is somewhat horseradishy in taste as confirmed, today, by kgd and Phil. (I don't like horseradish :thumbdn. Here's a closer picture of the edible part (and some knife porn )

The boys, not used to keeping up with such a dynamic person as yours truly, decided to take a quick nap to regain some energy.

I gave them a few minutes but then got them up. Ken suggested perhaps they needed some food to pep them up, so I lent him my atlatl and he went-a-huntin'.

HORRORS, HE THOUGHT PIERRE WAS FAIR GAME!!!

Luckily, he was only dazed and has since had a full recovery. So, that's it. That's how I spent Earth Day/Birthday. How was yours?

BTW, I think Ken will be adding some more pictures tomorrow.

Doc

 

[mtnfolk mike]

right on Doc...:thumbup: looks like it was a good day indeed... what a great way to spend your birthday and Earth day... i love the atlatl pics...

 

[tonym]

It looks like you had a blast GP, I am jealous!

The hat and jacket gave ken away in the first pic!
Well the hat in the 2nd pic....

Congrats Ken, on your first friction fire!

Happy Birthday GP, and thanks for sharing the great pics!

 

[Mentor]

Awesome! Looks like you guys had a great time. Glad you were able to enjoy an active Earth Day. Way to go on the friction fire! Doc, you officially get the award for "most likely to be able to make a salad using only local wilderness ingredients".

Thanks for sharing the pics.

All the best,

- Mike

 

[misanthropist]

Wow, that is way more wilderness oriented than my birthday (which was also Earth Day as you may have gathered).

I went to a restaurant, ate a burger (which is all I ever order) then came home. Man, I'm no fun at all!

 

[DOC-CANADA]

Hey Mis, is it really your birthday? If it is, Happy Birthday bro. Is it really...........

Doc

 

[HikingMano]

Awesome birthday Doc! :thumbup::thumbup:

I, too, recognized KGD right off the bat from the jacket, pants, and hat

 

[TheGame]

Sounds like you had a great time! Especially like the Atlatl, always wanted to try one of those.

 

[Fonly]

Haha, looks like it was a great time for sure, nothing wrong with fire by friction ken, Good job!:thumbup:

 

[Diomedes Industries]

1) What a great time that must have been!
2) I DID spot KGD by his hat - I was SO hoping it was him and he was getting good advice on making a bow drill fire.
3) SUCCESS BROTHER! Good job.

I at first saw that LONG and fairly large spindle and worried it would be tough getting the head speed you needed - then I saw where Doc had you cut back the tip to make it a smaller diameter - I should have never questioned!

That is SO friggen awesome. I am jealous.

TF

 

[Rupestris]

Thanks Doc! Awsome post. Glad you all had fun.

Thanks for the post on the Mayapple too. I had planed on getting some pics of the huge patch of that stuff growing behind the office and asking for some info/ID here. Looks like I don't have to now. :thumbup: I'll wait 'til they're up a bit more and covering the ground like a miniature rain forest canopy, then post some pics.

Congrats Ken on the bow drill fire.:thumbup:

Chris

 

[tknife]

Now that looks like a fun birthday :thumbup: I hear those wild stuffed rats can be pretty filling.

 

[kgd]

I have to say a special thank you to Doc for inviting me along on his hiking trail and tutoring me into my first successful friction fire. It was a super experience. Doc and Phil are great and patient teachers and their knowledge of botany and primitive uses of plants is fantastic.

Here is Phil showing me how its done with the bowdrill. Phil is a quiet and contemplative person who just exudes enthusiasm for skills.

Making the hearth with my new Breeden

Doc demonstrating the Egyptian method - which he claims is so easy that it is cheating. The advantage here being that the bow doesn't have to be wrapped as tightly and you can use a somewhat weaker bow.

Later, Doc demonstrating the hand drill with tweezle as the drill. Both Phil and Doc managed to get a coal from the hand drill. My technique wasn't so good and I just tired myself right out before I could actually get the coal going. This is one where I'll have to build my technique up.

Doc, using his Bravo-1 to trim the notch after the initial drilling. Damn, those Bravo-1's are nice knives!

Phil, showing how it is done.

 

[hollowdweller]

I can't see any of the pics but Happy Birthday:thumbup:

 

[tknife]

Awesome stuff. Primitive fire making is my all time favorite skill.

 

[kgd]

Phil creating a baton for some stump digging for fatwood. Fortunately, Doc brought his Linder small machete along.

Some of the scenery around the Escarpment, it really is quite fantastic that Doc has this almost in his backyard.

Some basswood - used to make all parts of the bow drill

 

[kgd]

Some more of the wildflower shots - blood root

Here is that horseradish-tasting like cutleaf toothwart

Doc also showed me how to find punkwood for use in place of tinder fungus as a coal extender (insurance) with the friction fire. This hollowed out, standing tree had nice punkwood that readily caught a spark and held the ember.

Of course tinder fungus could also be located. According to Doc and Phil, true-tinder fungus can be found on living birch while the false tinder fungus can be found on dead or alive birch. Here is the false tinder fungus.

 

[Rupestris]

You Canadians got some funny lookin' dirt over there.
I've never heard of any practitioner of bushcraft going out for some "asphalt time" .

Great pics as usual K. :thumbup:

Mmmm... smell that fatwood!

 

[kgd]

Doc - was showing us his water bottle (he was adamant that it in fact contained water).

A couple of shots of the creek in the area

So, overall it was a great day! I learned the bow drill technique, how to identify and use tinder fungus, first finding and processing of fat wood from a fat wood stump and a bunch of plant lore. Great Earth Day indeed. Hope you had a great B-Day Doc and I wish I could have enjoyed that coffee with you and Phil at the end of the day.

Ken