Mistwalker
Gold Member
- Joined
- Dec 22, 2007
- Messages
- 19,051
Well my first day out with the Bushcrafter Jr. was a bit less than I had hoped for. Three days of severe storms and flooding have drenched everything. It has also kept me working inside and has prevented me from capture some of the images I need. We got a break from the rain for a few hours yesterday, so I headed out to what stage things were in. I figured I would post some of the pics here.
First off, the BC Jr. is freakin' awesome! It is exactly the size, profile, blade geometry, and handle contours I had wanted / needed, and feels just as I had imagined it would feel. It fits my hand perfectly. I don't think Andy could have nailed this model any better. Once again, thank you Andy, and thank you Kris!
The first thing I saw were that some of the blackberries were getting ripe.
But make sure you look before you munch...
and it is also a good idea to watch where you put your hands...
The passion fruit, or Maypops, is one of my favorite wild snacks. Is just getting started. Only a few of the flowers have popped open.
The passion flowers get a lot of attention
The ovary, the part here that looks like a tiny light-green olive, is the future passion fruit.
Soon there will be a progression like this running along the vine.
Then mature fruit ripening
The inside is somewhat like a pomegranate, with gel covered seeds. To me it has a sweet somewhat citrus-y taste. Spit the seeds out of course.
Lots of wild garlic and garlic seeds. I like to add some crushed seeds to soups and stews I cook in the field to add flavor.
A couple of other useful plants are Lamb's Ear and Mullein. The leaves of both make the best field-expedient toilet paper here.
Lamb's Ear
Mullein. Another use for Mullein is that the dried stalks can be used for spindles in friction fire. It also has some medicinal properties from what I have read, but I am still researching that.
Later on this year, this gall will have a fully developed larvae, not sure of what, that can be handy as fish bate in a pinch. There are still some from last year in the area.
There are also some very dangerous plants like Datura Stramonium, one of the nightshades. Whose accidental ingestion has caused liver failure and even death. It has been used in the past by shamans for a couple of different applications, but I would strongly advise against experimentation with it. The price could be very high.
Horsenettle is another dangerous nightshade.
But while all nightshades contain Solanine, not all members of the nightshade family are deadly. Potatoes, tomatoes, and peppers for example. Such is the case with this Ground Cherry from what I have read, but I still want to research a bit more before testing that...
It seems a lot of plants can have split personalities. Queen Anne's Lace is also known as wild carrots, and the roots of the first year plants are edible and taste like carrots. In older plants the root is more woody and rigid.
Though the seeds of this plant have a long history of being used as a morning after contraceptive. It is still being used today for that application in some parts of the world, as well as being studied by modern pharmacologists in relation to those properties.
.
First off, the BC Jr. is freakin' awesome! It is exactly the size, profile, blade geometry, and handle contours I had wanted / needed, and feels just as I had imagined it would feel. It fits my hand perfectly. I don't think Andy could have nailed this model any better. Once again, thank you Andy, and thank you Kris!
The first thing I saw were that some of the blackberries were getting ripe.
But make sure you look before you munch...
and it is also a good idea to watch where you put your hands...
The passion fruit, or Maypops, is one of my favorite wild snacks. Is just getting started. Only a few of the flowers have popped open.
The passion flowers get a lot of attention
The ovary, the part here that looks like a tiny light-green olive, is the future passion fruit.
Soon there will be a progression like this running along the vine.
Then mature fruit ripening
The inside is somewhat like a pomegranate, with gel covered seeds. To me it has a sweet somewhat citrus-y taste. Spit the seeds out of course.
Lots of wild garlic and garlic seeds. I like to add some crushed seeds to soups and stews I cook in the field to add flavor.
A couple of other useful plants are Lamb's Ear and Mullein. The leaves of both make the best field-expedient toilet paper here.
Lamb's Ear
Mullein. Another use for Mullein is that the dried stalks can be used for spindles in friction fire. It also has some medicinal properties from what I have read, but I am still researching that.
Later on this year, this gall will have a fully developed larvae, not sure of what, that can be handy as fish bate in a pinch. There are still some from last year in the area.
There are also some very dangerous plants like Datura Stramonium, one of the nightshades. Whose accidental ingestion has caused liver failure and even death. It has been used in the past by shamans for a couple of different applications, but I would strongly advise against experimentation with it. The price could be very high.
Horsenettle is another dangerous nightshade.
But while all nightshades contain Solanine, not all members of the nightshade family are deadly. Potatoes, tomatoes, and peppers for example. Such is the case with this Ground Cherry from what I have read, but I still want to research a bit more before testing that...
It seems a lot of plants can have split personalities. Queen Anne's Lace is also known as wild carrots, and the roots of the first year plants are edible and taste like carrots. In older plants the root is more woody and rigid.
Though the seeds of this plant have a long history of being used as a morning after contraceptive. It is still being used today for that application in some parts of the world, as well as being studied by modern pharmacologists in relation to those properties.
.
Yeah, I love the passion fruit, and seem to be fascinated with the various nightshades. With so may being edible, while other are deadly. and considering the challenges of identification these days, l can only imagine how interesting life was for our ancestors..., 
