How to Cook in a Steam Pit

The steam pit is one of those traditional cooking methods that is a fair bit of work, but it's also worth the trouble. If you've been to a real Luau, you have enjoyed the results of a steam pit (or steam mound). These cooking techniques use a hole or mound with hot rocks at the bottom, with layers of dirt, vegetation and food above the hot rocks. The heat of the rocks produces steam from the dirt and vegetation, cooking great tasting food that stays hot for hours until you're ready to eat it.

To start out, a pit of varying depth and width is dug in the dirt, clay or sand. The pit can be as small as one foot deep and one foot wide, or as big as you need if you have enough hot rocks and food to fill it. I typically dig two feet wide and a foot and a half deep to cook for a few people, but I once dug a steam pit as big as a grave to cook 72 fish for a large group.

Next, you'll need rocks and lots of firewood. Select suitable rocks from a high, dry location. These rocks are placed in the bottom of the pit to see how many it will take and where the stones fit best. You have a choice now of leaving the stones in the pit and building the fire on top of them, or taking the rocks out of the pit and placing them in a big fire. Either way, the stones should be heated for two hours.

If you heat the rocks in the pit, you must scoop the remaining wood, charcoal, coals and ash out of the pit when the rocks are hot enough. The wood, ash and charcoal will give the food an unpleasant "wet smoked" flavour otherwise. If you heat the rocks outside of the pit, you can use a shovel to scoop them up and move them into the pit. You can also just roll them or slide them with a stout pole.

Once the pit has the hot rocks in it, cover them with an inch or two of dirt or sand. Then place 6 to 8 inches of vegetation over the dirt. Next, put your food in a single layer, with the things that need the most cooking in the centre and the other foods around the edges. Leave a few inches of space between the foods and the wall of the pit for even cooking. Then cover your food with another 6 to 8 inches of vegetation.

Once you have your food in the pit between layers of vegetation, you can cover the pit with the dirt from digging the hole. A layer of bark, mats or cloth could go on before the dirt to make dirt removal easier when the cooking is done. When the final dirt goes on, your work is done. Just come back three or more hours later, dig up your food, and enjoy.

Tips for working with a Steam Pit:

• A "rock kettle" can make a good steam pit, but you'll still have to dig up some dirt to cover it.

• Work quickly to get your vegetation and food in the pit so that your hot rocks don't cool off too much before you seal the pit.

•  A few cups of water poured over the top layer of green vegetation will generate more steam and conduct heat to your food more efficiently.

• Use enough dirt on top so that no steam is seen escaping.

• In freezing cold weather, you may need to build a fire on top of the pit.

• If the ground is cold and/or very wet, use a thin layer of small or thin rocks before putting in the bigger hot rocks. This will keep the soil from conducting away too much of the rock's heat.

A wide variety of non-toxic vegetation can be used in Steam Pits. Here is a partial list of materials that are good -- and some materials to avoid.

Good Steam Pit Vegetation:

• Grasses, sedges, cordgrass, cattail leaves, reeds and rushes edible weeds like amaranth, lamb's quarters

• Leaves and leafy branches of mild smelling and tasting trees like maples and willows

• Good tasting and smelling leaves of sassafras and spicebush

• Seaweed (but watch out for sea lice and other little sea creatures)

• White Pine needles (and most other pines, except for ponderosa and loblolly pines which may be toxic)

Toxic or Foul Tasting Vegetation:

• Oak, walnut and tulip poplar leaves -- Foul tasting

• Buckeye and horse chestnut tree leaves -- Toxic

• Cherry tree leaves -- Become deadly poison as they wilt

• Pokeweed leaves and stalks -- Toxic to poisonous

• Rhododendron, laurel and most evergreen shrubs -- Toxic to poisonous

• Iris leaves and jimsonweed leaves -- Toxic

• Some ferns -- Toxic

• Any unknown herbs, weeds, wildflowers or shrubs -- Potentially toxic

Please tell let me know in the comments if you have done this technique, or just enjoyed the results of this great outdoor cooking method.

3 Tips for Better Tinder

Tinder is the dead, dry plant-based material that is capable of turning a coal, ember or spark into a flame. Tinder is one of the foundation pieces for fire making, and you can often find excellent tinder in the form of grasses, leaves, pine needles, fibrous tree bark, weed tops, seed down, wood shavings, and more unusual stuff like palm fibre and certain mosses. Whatever you choose, these natural materials should have several things in common.

First, it should all be dead—but usually not rotten—plant based materials. Rotten plants usually lose more and more of their fuel value as they decompose. But there are always exceptions. Just remember ... dead plant-based materials.

Second, it should be as dry as it possibly can be. In rainy weather, this may mean finding a few scraps of tinder at a time, even one leaf at a time, and KEEPING the tinder dry while you search for more.

Finally, it should be light, airy and have a lot of surface area for its mass. In other words, it needs to be fluffy. Materials that are not fluffy should be processed in some way to increase their surface area so that they can reach their combustion temperature as quickly as possible.

Not every tinder type is “ready to use” when you find it in nature. It may be too coarse, too flat, or too solid to burn effectively. But with the right processing technique, we can change this vital material - increasing its surface area and enabling it to burn quickly and easily. Here are three ways you can get your materials in shape for fire starting.

1. Shred It

That’s right, tear it apart by hand! Start by tearing at large sections, and then tear the remainders into shreds. This technique works well for tree bark fibre (like tulip poplar, basswood, cedar, pawpaw and many others). You can also shred weed tops and seed down into a fluffier form.

2. Pound Away

Easy and therapeutic, pounding your tinder with a rock can separate the fibres nicely (and give you a constructive place to vent your rage). Most of the fibrous dead inner tree barks and plant stalk fibres work really well with this trick. Wad up the fibres into a ball or fold them into a linear bundle, and pound them with a rock or similar hard object. Turn the bundle often, and you’ll cover all of your surface area with no trouble. Pound your tinder on a hard log or a stone for best results. Keep working until your tinder has the desired fluffiness. If you don’t have a dry place to work, shred the tinder instead of pounding. By pounding on damp or wet surfaces, you’re driving moisture into the tinder and reducing its flammability.

3. Scrape and Scratch

When dealing with trees that have a fibrous outer bark (like cedar, cypress and juniper), you can use your trusty knife or even a sharp stone to scrape off fibrous tinder. This can even be done on live trees, without harming them. Just scrape off some of the fibrous outer bark, and collect the fuzz you remove. You can also scrape wood to make wood shavings if no other tinder is available (or dry).

Can Bushcraft Save The Planet?

I think there is one particular outdoor activity which might be more effective at helping people learn to care for the environment than any other. Could bushcraft be that activity?   

Environmental Education (EE) as it exists now is a relatively new field, developed as a result of growing concern that the environment was suffering from pollution, deforestation, desertification etc. as a result of human activity. Although the  Schools Councils 1974 Project Environment discussed the difference between education  ABOUT, FROM and FOR the environment, EE was not addressed on a global scale until the Tbilisi conference in 1977. Organised by UNESCO the conference brought together delegates from  66 nations and representatives from UN agencies and NGOs to participate in the world's first intergovernmental conference on environmental education. 

As a result of this conference, a declaration was adopted, after a unanimous agreement that EE had an important role in the preservation and improvement of the global environment. This declaration included the following goals; 

• to foster clear awareness of, and concern about, economic, social, political, and ecological interdependence in urban and rural areas;
• to provide every person with opportunities to acquire the knowledge, values, attitudes, commitment, and skills needed to protect and improve the environment;
• to create new patterns of behaviour of individuals, groups, and society as a whole towards the environment.

Traditionally Outdoor Education has included EE among its aims and objectives, although it could be argued that actually most outdoor education does not directly meet the goals of EE instead focusing on the acquisition of technical skills, team building or confidence. But I think there is one particular outdoor activity which might be more effective at delivering the goals of EE than any other. 

 BUSHCRAFT AS A TOOL IN ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION

Bushcraft is one of those activities which takes place out of doors which I think has the most potential to allow for the delivery or inclusion of EE. In my opinion, the most important aspect of bushcraft is gaining the knowledge that allows you to practice whether as a hobby or a professional instructor. This knowledge is far more important than the kit you own - whether your knife is a £300 and custom made or a cheaper £15 model. 

Practising bushcraft pulls you right into the environment, it can't be carried out in an artificial setting, it can't be separated from the environment and in fact, you could say it is symbiotic with it. Think of the skills that you use to sustainably harvest resources from the woods, coppicing for example. Coppicing has been carried out in the British Isles for hundreds, if not thousands of years and maintains many broadleaved woodlands which exist in the state we see them in today. 

If you are coppicing for shelter poles, material for

construction projects, walking sticks, stocks of firewood to be dried for later in the year or material for carving and whittling you are using your knowledge of when to cut to encourage regrowth, how to cut to prevent or reduce the chance of disease, which species are suitable for coppicing and for your desired use. Also, whether or not you realise it or not, you are actually creating a niche habitat in a woodland.  You are demonstrating a greater understanding of your local environment than most people (as long as you are carrying out your bushcrafting responsibly and sensitively in places where you have permission). But I also feel strongly that although involvement with the natural environment, outdoors, can promote an appreciation of the environment, this is by no means automatic nor, if it does occur, does it always extend to the environment as a whole but possibly only to a very limited area where a person feels they have responsibility or a vested interest. So as a bushcrafter do you only have a vested interest in that small piece of the 'environment' where you have permission to practice? 

I would argue that as bushcraft is such a broad topic which draws on the knowledge and skills of first nations and traditional skills from all over the globe, bushcrafters are in an excellent position to broaden our own minds and the minds of those we teach as to issues beyond our normal stomping grounds. In fact, the following quote sums up a lot of my reasoning as to why bushcraft could be so valuable in EE;

“Within the context of their own lifestyles indigenous peoples have been practising ‘environmental education’ for thousands of years.” (S. Sterling, Sustainable Education,  2001).

So much of what we practice is based on these skills because quite simply indigenous people relied ENTIRELY on their environment for their subsistence and over-hunting, over-fishing, pollution of water sources, the decimation of woodlands or other habitats due to fire, natural disaster or exploitation could literally cost them their lives. However they chose to teach the next generation to respect their environment, it was effective. The Tukano Indians of South America believed in a 'Master of Animals' who would punish them for over hunting. The Australian Aboriginal cultures tell stories of 'Dreamtime' or the creation which teaches lessons about how to live. Every other culture has its unique traditions and beliefs which govern how they live and how they interact with their environments. As bushcrafters, we have a responsibility, and a better opportunity than many to deliver engaging activities outdoors which bring people into direct contact with the environment on a level which means they have to think about how to care for that environment. 

We need to rekindle that indigenous knowledge and pass it on as there aren’t many people now who seek as close a relationship with the natural environment as we enjoy.      

How to Make Your Own Primitive Fish Hooks

Gorge hooks may well be the oldest style of fish hooks on earth. They can be made from a wide range of materials and they can be surprisingly effective, though they are not suitable for catch-and-release. But that's okay: We're going to talk about them as a survival tool, so throwing back fish would be counter-productive.

The function of these hooks is pretty straightforward. Your goal is to entice the fish to swallow a pointed object that will lodge in the soft tissues of its stomach or oesophagus, allowing you to land the fish. Bait is usually involved, but the technique is different from those employed in modern fishing. When a fish nibbles at the gorge hook, give outline and wait. This is very contrary to the quick tug most of us are used to when setting our standard fish hooks. With the gorge you give out 10 to 15 feet of line, wait 30 seconds, and then gently retrieve the line (and hopefully the fish). Use a net (or a basket tied to a stick) to lift the fish from the water. It might throw the hook if you try to lift it without the aid of a net. Tear the gorge free, re-bait if necessary, and cast it out again.

Here are three different styles of gorge hooks, all of which can be fished in the same manner.

Single-Point Hook

The simplest style. Hawthorn, honey locust, hardy orange, and many other trees and shrubs have thorns that are sharp and ready to go without modification. Broken bone shards and wood splinters with a single point can be used, too. Tie your fishing line to the blunt end of the gorge, and insert the hook into a chunk of meat or a fat grub. Position the gorge so that it makes a "V" shape with the fishing line. This positioning enables it to act like a hook. Inch-long thorns are usually the right size for trout and panfish.

Double-Point Hook

This style of gorge is often made from bone shards that are sharp on both ends. Tie the fishing line in the centre of the gorge, like a toggle. Insert the gorge into the bait so that it is parallel to the fishing line. The "V" shape will either hook into the fish's innards, or the hook will turn perpendicular to the fishing line and hang up that way. A two-inch gorge like this can land fish up to five pounds.

Composite Hook

The composite hook is the closest match to a modern fishing hook. It comprises a sturdy yet thin shank of wood or bone and a thorn or bone shard to create the "V" shape and provide the point. Since damp wood, thorns, and bone aren't sharp enough to pierce through jaws and scales, the composite hook needs to be swallowed like the other gorge hooks. A one-inch barb on a two -inch shank can catch fish up to 10 pounds.