Time with my Hiking Buddies

[hasco]

I have been getting some great wanders through the forest lately with my two hiking buddies. I love going out to see how things have changed after the recent rains.



Here is my first hiking buddy.

This day we were wandering through the oak woodlands.

This one was covered in a type of lichen called Usnea, communally referred to as old man's beard. It is reported to have medicinal properties.

We were out hoping to find some chanterelle mushrooms that are associated with oaks. I am not a huge mushroom collector, as they don't have a ton of nutritional benefit and can be deadly, but I do enjoy going out and trying to identify what I find. Occasionally, I will take some home to eat if I am sure what they are. It is important to know if they have any deadly look a likes.

We didn't find any that day, but we did find something that might be confused for it if you didn't know what you were doing. This is the jack o' lantern mushroom and it is poisonous. It also has bioluminescent gills and can dye wool purple. It only glows when the gills are producing spores. I want to hike back at night and see if I can see it glowing. If so I will try and take a picture with my glow in the dark bushcrafter!

The chanterelle has primitive gills that are not as defined as these on this jack o' lantern mushroom.

Although we did not find any chanterelles, the oaks were abundant in other ways. There were acorns covering the ground!

If they have any holes in them, then they have already been enjoyed by someone else.

Luckily, there were plenty of intact ones.

In this area, you have to be constantly on the lookout for poison oak. Most of it has dropped it's leaves by now. Even the bare stems can have the oils on them. This one still had it's leaves. Notice the leaves of three and the lack of spines on the stem. There is a lot blackberry around here that has spines on the stems and is also in leaves of three.

Leaves of three, let it be.
If it is hairy, it's a berry.
If it's shiny, watch your hiney.

We stopped for lunch. Yes, you can make thin slices with a scandi.

Here is one of my favorite low growing local plants, Satureja douglasii. It is commonly called yerba buena or good herb. It has a minty taste and makes a wonderful tea that is said to calm the stomach and nerves.

Wild strawberry plants!

This fuzzy leaf shrub is California hazelnut. The straight shoots can be used for arrows or atlatl darts.

I collected one for an atlatl dart, but it later became a battle stick.

Thank goodness I had a light saber to defend myself.

We made it home with a nice batch of acorns to process.

 

[schmittie]

Very cool. Thanks for sharing.

What do you do with the acorns once processed and how do you process them?

 

[Uncle_P]

Very nice hiking budies. Really liking the green striped socks.
I am also curious about processing the acorns as well.

 

[Mistwalker]

Very cool, what an awesome way to spend the day!!

 

[Diomedes Industries]

Yes - but where are the sheath pics?



TF

 

[VANCE]

Great pics
Thanks for sharing an awesome day with your "buddies"

 

[SA Condor]

Awesome time spent! Thanks for sharing. I especially like the light saber dual to cap off the day!

 

[trestle]

That looks like a great day together and thanks for identifying so much flora. It looks like you have a small bamboo forest in back of your yard. Do you process it as well?

 

[Tim the Wizard]

Awesome. Do you clean the HB after cutting the Jacko? Seems like you could cross contaminate your sheath with spores. I only mention because you were also using it for some acorn exploration which based on your post I presume to be edible. Thanks for the pics.

 

[hasco]

Very cool. Thanks for sharing.

What do you do with the acorns once processed and how do you process them?

Thanks schmittie! We have tried a lot of ways to process them. I found that the key to getting the tannins out is to get them crushed to a fine flour. We have a mortar and pestle to crack them and take off the shells. Then we take off the inner paper like layer around the acorn. Next they are ready to be crushed in the mortar and pestle into a fine flour. I tried getting them into small chunks and then boiling and changing the water many times or cold soaking in the fridge and changing the water many times. Even with all the changes of water, they were still bitter with tannins if we didn't crush them up fine enough. There is a great book by Julia Parker called, It Will Live Forever. She explains the process and that is where I learned you have to get it into a fine flour. At that point you can put the flour in cheese cloth and run cold water over it for not too long and it should leach the tannins. We have also had success putting them in a t-shirt and leaving them in a stream for a couple days. You know they are good when they no longer taste bitter. Some acorns are a lot less bitter to start with and therefore need less processing.

You can then use the flour any way you want.

Very nice hiking budies. Really liking the green striped socks.
I am also curious about processing the acorns as well.

Thanks! See above

Very cool, what an awesome way to spend the day!!

Thanks Mist! Your posts have inspired me to take more pictures when I am out in the woods.

Yes - but where are the sheath pics?



TF

I have been using several different sheaths, but I don't have the perfect fit yet. I need to use my skills from your awesome sheath tutorial thread and try to make one for it! Or have one of you great leather benders do it for me.

Great pics
Thanks for sharing an awesome day with your "buddies"

Thanks Vance.

Awesome time spent! Thanks for sharing. I especially like the light saber dual to cap off the day!

It is not the cool arete light saber that Phil scored on fiddleback friday awhile back, but it does glow green in the dark!

That looks like a great day together and thanks for identifying so much flora. It looks like you have a small bamboo forest in back of your yard. Do you process it as well?

That is the bamboo we used for the blowguns and we also used it for darts in the atlatl thread I put up awhile back. I am constantly trying to find new cool projects with it because it grows like crazy. We finally have it contained though after a lot of sweat and money.

Awesome. Do you clean the HB after cutting the Jacko? Seems like you could cross contaminate your sheath with spores. I only mention because you were also using it for some acorn exploration which based on your post I presume to be edible. Thanks for the pics.

Thanks! Yes, I cleaned it up before cutting into that asian pear or the edible acorns. Always good to be cautious.

 

[GooberBoober]

You seem to enjoy your Hiking Buddy (the sharp one) a lot, haha. Great pics again, thanks for sharing!

 

[Mistwalker]

Thanks Mist! Your posts have inspired me to take more pictures when I am out in the woods.

They say memory is one of the first things to fail us. I want to have the images to look back on later, to always remember my favorite moments

 

[schmittie]

Very interesting. Thanks for sharing the details! I've alway heard that there are a lot of tannins in acorns. The process sounds simple to remedy the situation. Have you found that the flour has a unique flavor or texture when baked? Is there more protein? I imagine it would be a little more hearty than the junk white bread most are used too.

 

[hasco]

There is a different taste to it that I like. They definitely are nutritious and were a major food source for the natives of this area as well as many birds, deer, squirrels etc.

 

[velosa]

Awesome post Hasco. Thanks for sharing!

 

[thurin]

A couple of cool Hiking Buddies there Tod. Thanks for sharing. Things seem to be greening up with the rain.