Not a Pitdog hike!

Doc, the scenery isn't all that different than here in SW Tennessee. Your photograpy is better than mine though. Thank you for the plant ID's too. I wish you would do this more often! You will be showing us how to make a basket soon?

Codger :thumbup:
 
Very informative, too bad I still can't tell most of them apart.

I also had a hike last weekend, but all I can pay attention to was the smell of dead salmon in my dog's breath. :(
 
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, I actually prefer grassland, rolling hills and canadian shield in the long term to mountainous regions. Although I must admit Banff never ceases to amaze me. Awesome post by the way, very informative!
 
Being from southern Ontario myself I found this post very interesting and informative. I am going to have to pick up a guidebook to the local flora to take with me next time I am out birding.

Thanks!
 
Great post indeed! I have always been good at the "brute force" end of survival, hauling stuff around, making stuff out of it, and killing and eating stuff, but in my opinion all of that is the easy part!

This kind of knowledge is really worthwhile. Great job!
 
Wow, I'm blown away by all the positive comments. Thanks guys! One correction - I noticed that I said the seeds of Viburnum lantana were edible, actually, it's the fruit. Once again, I haven't tried them.

I mentioned it once before, but I'll say again, if anybody here in the forum is going by this way (Hamilton, Ontario) and are so inclined, give me a few days notice and maybe we can do a hike and play with some of these goodies. Days off are Sunday and Monday.

Codger: You will be showing us how to make a basket soon?
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Did I say I was going to do this? :confused: Anyway, I guess I could give it a shot. When I do wicker style baskets, I do them with green material, usually Red Osier Dogwood because of its availability, and this is best (for me at least) when gathered after the leaves are gone, usually early in the spring, before the sap is rising but I could try it this fall, once the leaves drop. That'll be interesting because I've never used material at this time of year before. I'm curious if it works any differently.
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This would be best, anyway, because if you were in need of a basket in a survival situation (remember baskets can be containers, fish and bird traps, strainers, and a whole lot of other things), you would be working with green wood.

What kind of basket making were you interested in? Wicker? (these are Red Osier Dogwood - Cornus sericea)
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Twined? (the one on the left, from Cattail, on the right - dollar store jute)
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Coil? (still haven't finished it :()
Coiledjutebasket1.jpg
Coil baskets were originally done with Pine needles or grasses etc. for the core and cordage for the stitching. In this one, I'm using plastic cord that they tie bundles of newspaper with. My wife worked in a variety store and being the hippie-at-heart that she is, asked me if I could use it for something - she didn't like to see it go to waste. The wrap is dollar store jute (tinder :))

I have yet to do a plaited basket. Maybe soon, I have a bit of material :rolleyes: laying around my apartment.

BTW, Codger, when did you say you were going 'walkabout'?

Doc
 
BTW, Codger, when did you say you were going 'walkabout'?

Doc

This will be in late December or early January. Typically the coldest part of the year here. Nothing like the cold experienced in Canada, so I don't expect to be building igloos! And it will be a "canoe-about", a voyage of a hundred miles or so through a National WIlderness area with few or (hopefully) no portages. Hopefully I can get a decent camera by then. I don't plan on making daily trips out to post though and I'm not soliciting funds, so unless I do something really stupid (and make national news), you'll all have to await my return for a report with photos.

Plaited baskets I think would make the fastest containers, though not the tightest. I like all of those you've shown us though. With cattail leaves, are they used green or dried? Do they need to be soaked first?

Codger
 
Codger_64 said:
Plaited baskets I think would make the fastest containers, though not the tightest. I like all of those you've shown us though. With cattail leaves, are they used green or dried? Do they need to be soaked first? Codger
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I've never worked with them green. They shouldn't be soaked, but rather what they call 'mellowed' - you take the dry leaves and spray them down with a hose, watering can, etc., then shake off the excess water and spread them out very thin between 2 damp towels (for example). You leave them this way over night and they are flexible enough to use the next day.

Many years ago, I wanted to learn how to make Cattail hats, so I heard about a woman who taught basketmaking and contacted her. I told her what I wanted and she said, "Sure, no problem". The day I went to her place, I found that she had cut down a bunch of Cattails from a drainage ditch in front of her house. She then soaked them in a bathtub overnight. She brought them out to me (in her front yard) so limp that not even Viagra for plants would have helped.

She also didn't really show me anything - she was more concerned about a couple of women who had also signed up and wanted to do artsy basketmaking. I messed with it for awhile and finally gave up, thanked her and left. That was one of the very few times I sought out personal instruction and probably the last. From then on, books became my teachers. Doesn't work for everybody, but I'm glad it does for me.

Anyway, later on I'll try doing a basic wicker tutorial with pictures and we'll see how that turns out.

Doc
 
Thanks! I know what you mean about learning from books. I suppose I am a "read-a-holic" if ever there was one. Sure enough, if you look hard enough, someone has written a book on just about every subject imaginable. SOme of them inspire me to try to duplicate their efforts, and some inspire me to outdo them. I did this with flintknapping and pottery making. You should have seen my deer hide boat. Like the old VW commercial it would definately float, but not float indefinately! Yeah, I skipped the grease/oil part. But I certainly learned from it. Deer hides are not big enough for a bullboat. And wild buffalo are hard to come by.

I look forward to your post about wickering. And more woodswalks too...Doc Ewell!

Codger
 
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