Samstag, 15. Februar 2025

It's that time of year again: Hazel catkin candy!

Recently I noticed that the hazel catkins are in full swing, and so I went out to get myself some for candy, tea and maybe whisky.  
Got a full bag of hazel catkins.  
I took 250g of butter, melted it on low heat, put in 250g of powdered sugar, stirred it in with a whisk and added the catkins.  Put in another 100 g of powdered sugar and added 200ml of water.  Reduced to a brown gooey texture, while constantly stirring on low heat. 
I put the warm catkins aside to dry to a crispy texture.  


Hazel catkins have been used as natural remedies for quite a long time.  They are reputed to have a diuretic and adstringent effect and to enhance blood circulation.  They are sweat-inducing and can be used to fight mild fevers, enhance bile flow and help with liver and gall bladder problems.  If you suffer from allergic reactions to hazel, I strongly advise you not to use it.  

In Celtic folklore, the tree is connected with wisdom, poetry and divination. According to Damian McManus: Irish Letter names and their kennings, Eric 1991, the Ogham name is Coll, with the Kenning connotations "fairest tree", "tree of sustenance" and "friend of nutshells". In poetic mythology, the nine hazels of fine mast at the well of wells of the Boyne nourish the Salmon of Knowledge.  Hence it is the tree of sustenance.  



This is a song by my lovely magic troll, Tríona nì Erc, you might enjoy.  

Stay sane, and until next time!

 

Mittwoch, 18. Dezember 2024

Some thoughts on flint and steel firecraft

A fire. 

After shelter, it is one of the most essential human comforts. Warmth is crucial for survival, but there is more to it.  Maybe the fact that we love to mindlessly scroll on Tok or elsewhere could be traced back to a primeval yearning- to stare into a fire, without a thought or a worry at all, warm and safe.  I cannot know.  That those platforms rot one's brain and hack your mind is a neurological and psychological commonplace, and it is also a commonplace that this is intentional. 

A fire, however, is proven to have a rather wholesome effect on the human mind. 

Now do not get me wrong.  In my EDC, there are matches, a lighter, a ferro rod and a tinderbox.  And flint and steel, although I am getting better at it, would be pretty much my last resort in a emergency situation.  

But just as a fire is more than just a survival necessity, starting a fire always had sort of a ritual character for me. And of course, you should know how to have the capability to start a fire at the tip of your fingers, with as many different methods and techniques as possible. But that is not all there is.  Starting a fire with flint and steel has a certain beauty to it that is hard to fathom.  

To me, it is a form of reconnecting. That is a pretty big word, but I do not apologize.  

For flint and steel success, you need to know where to find means to catch a spark.  You need to know how to (sustainably) harvest tinder conk and process Amadou and/or make charcloth. You need to not only know where the mushroom grows, you need to know the local ecosystem, you need to know how to process the material.  In order to do that, you need to know why it works. If you know why that might work, you are also capable of learning about the medicinal properties of the mushroom. You will also realize that the mechanical properties of the Amadou lend themselves for the material to be used for a leather substitute. And first and foremostly, you learn how to respect and value your resources, for they are rare and precious. 

Then you light a fire with it.  It is not exactly easy, and there certainly was a learning curve involved for me, and still is. I want to be honest to you: I am not always sure whether or not I will succeed.  I do succeed most of the time, and I still do practice a lot.  It is good fun, even though there is still a certain element of doubt involved. 


Getting a fire going that way feels empowering. 


 Please keep in mind that I am a certified fire brigade assistant and that I have permission by the local authorities.  Because a rather essential part of firecraft that few people show you in those cool 15 second Videos on the interwebs, is how to watch a fire, control it, and put it out, and when not to start a fire at all.  How to be able not to set the whole forest on fire. 

And here is the culprit. I guess some of you got a bit infuriated because of what I said, but it actually wasn't meant as an offence. Quite the opposite. 

Most people cannot know. Because we are not just disconnected, we are being actively separated from nature.  Our primeval yearnings are abused in order to profit. And do not get me wrong, I am not a stranger to mindless scrolling myself. 

Lighting a fire with flint and steel, with a fire drill or other friction fire techniques, is not exactly efficient. If you are in a survival situation, and you got other means of lighting a fire, use them.  But it is great to have a Plan B, C and D. And the most important thing is that it is a really valueable means of reconnection- and empowerment. 

Because there is a war going on, not only on culture, but on humanistic values, and the human species per se.  A war for profit. Don't fall for the fearmongering, though.  Just switch off your phone from time to time and maybe get a campfire going, brew yourself a cuppa trailcoffee or tea and breathe a bit deeper.  Take care of your fire, of course, but I trust you do anyway. 

Never forget: To date we still do have a choice to choose a more wholesome activity over mindless brain rotting.  

All the best to you all! 

Donnerstag, 12. Dezember 2024

A little foraging hack- how to harvest resin


 When you are just carrying a pocket knife into the woods, and you come across that perfect blob of resin, that can be sort of a challenge. Because you don't want to get your SAK all gooey and sticky, of course.  

The solution is dead simple of course.  

I also improvise a way of transporting your harvest back home.  

Spruce, pine and fir and mountain pinion resin has a million of uses. Resin has a lot of medicinal properties. The tree using it to cure wounds in the bark, already hints of its antibacterial, antibiotic and anti-inflammatory properties. Traditional uses of pitch salve and resin ointments date back to ancient Egypt:

"oldest accounts of the therapeutic effects of coniferous resin stem from ancient Egypt, where salve prepared from resin was used to treat burns., In the Nordic countries, especially in Finnish Lapland, ointment prepared from the Norway spruce (P. abiesFig. 1) resin has been used for centuries to treat acutely and chronically infected wounds, sores, pressure ulcers, punctured abscesses, suppurating burns, onychomycosis, and paronychia. Although treatment with resin is an old folkloristic therapy and empirical experience over time has shown the effectiveness of resin treatment, only at the beginning of the twenty-first st century have researchers conducted systematic studies of its effectiveness and mechanisms of action." 

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4827294/

But also in the global North, pitch, pitch salve, refined resin ointments and raw resin have been successfully used in the treatment of wounds, skin irritations and ulcers.  (https://www.researchgate.net/publication/6485920_Resin_salve_from_the_Norwegian_spruce_tree_a_'novel'_method_for_the_treatment_of_chronic_wounds)

The medicinal properties are due to a very high content of Terpenoids (which is pretty commonplace, because resin has always been used to make Turpentine and Colophonium, which is a by-product of making Turpentine),  mostly Diterpene acid (DRA). There are several clinical studies confirming the success of said traditional applications. 

The said Diterpenes also make for the awesome properties as a fire-starting agent, because they are highly flammeable.  

Another application of spruce, pine, mountain pinion, and fir resin (or any resinous coniferous plant, actually), is to easily make a glue. When melted with a bit of fat, especially animal fat, and dried manure, it makes for a surprisingly strong bond for e.g. hafting tools. The big advantage over birch pitch is that you could also use the resin unprocessed, as opposed to a rather complex process of destillation of birch bark.  

Resin is something every woodsman should know as nature's multifunctional resource.  

It is important, though, to harvest sustainbly. Don't hurt the bark. There is no problem if you take what is on the surface, and if you use a wooden spatula, you can not hurt the tree. 

That said,  I hope to provide you with a recipe for my ointment soon.  

All the best, thanks for watching, and take good care! 

Freitag, 29. November 2024

Another assault on democratic structures and human culture per se

Recently the magic troll and myself had the utmost privilege to attend a lecture organized by the MCAW (Marburg centre for Antique Worlds) and held by this very honoreable Gentleman. 
Professor Dr. Müller-Karpe offered an archaeological perspective on the topic  of war and peace and provided rather detailed evidence, beginning in the paleolithic, that. - in stark contrast to the narrative used by altright, conservative and centre-right to centre-left political forces, even the greens worldwide and some of the left and extreme left- war is in no way necessarily a natural state. There is no evidence whatsoever of warfare for the most part of human history. The first evidence of weapons of warfare, i.e. stone maces, is found in the late Mesolithic and Neolithic. Warfare seems to be linked to the concept of immobile personal property. So, if you permit this abbreviation and summary, because this is only part of the culprit of this post, there is no way war would be a natural necessity, but a lot of evidence that war is linked to the accumulation of immobile personal property. 

Now Professor Dr. Müller-Karpe, whose merits in examining central and near eastern archaeology might as well be one of tthe reasons that modern archaeology works the way it does.  He might as well be the proverbial giant on whose shoulders the next generations of archaeologists stand. 

I personally hold him in exceedingly high esteem for his kind, but firm way of teaching, his passion for the subject, and his firm scientific values. 

He most certainly deserves his meriteable discharge and a life as a pensioner, and I feel obliged to thank him very much for his kind acceptance of my person into his lectures, and to wish him all the heartfelt very best for his leisure. Which might not be that leisurely at all, because of course, he will not stop investigating our history. Because you do not become a scientist, you are one.  

The same applies to one Professor Dr. Rita Amedick. As head of the Institute of Classical Archaeology, she is one of the giants on whose shoulders the upcoming generations of archaeological scientists stand. Her merits for the subject have made the subject what it is and paved the way to important discoveries that would further our understanding, not only of our past, but also of contemporary challenges our society is faced with. 

Enter the economists and presidial administrative employees, whose only concerns seem to be to render the humanistic sciences more cost-effective. Which is a contradiction. This shall be undertaken by removing both professoral positions, to replace them with lesser-qualified tutors in a position of  half-employment. 

Plus, personally, and please take note, that this is just my personal opinion, based upon the information I have, I cannot help but assume a rather dystopian political agenda behind the endeavour. Because, while officially and on paper, the subject will not cease to exist, the quality of academical tutoring and mentoring will suffer in such a way that dedicated studying 
will be made difficult, if not impossible. 

That said, please remember my referring to the emeritation lecture of Professor Dr.  Müller-Karpe. Keep in mind the current atmosphere of political warmongering and the provided, rather commonplace, evidence, that the scientific evaluation offers quite the opposite of the narrative used by altright propaganda worldwide and you might come to similar assumptions as myself. 

But enough of this. The Archaeological Institute in Marburg is in danger.  If you want to help, I would like to propose you sign this petition. 


That said, while researching potential international partnerships, we came across another rather disturbing development.  

In the Netherlands, there is a current move by political forces and economical administration to axe e.g. the humanistic sciences at the university of Utrecht. This includes not only foreign languages like French, English and German, making Dutch studies mandatory, but also cultural studies like Celtic culture and language (https://www.facebook.com/share/p/14ttPKU5tb/).

If you want to protest this move towards a dystopian future, please consider joining this petition as well: 


The thing is, that these developments are not limited to cultural and archaeological sciences.  During the pandemic, an atmosphere of science denial and pseudomythology became part of public and political discourse.  Antidemocratic forces from the entire spectrum of the political landscape are trying to acquire the sovereignity of discussion. And we are talking about heads of state suggesting drinking Chlorox in order to cure an infection with SARS-Cov.19.

I know that a lot of you guys might not be students or in any way part of the academical context, and you hopefully know that I have a lot of respect for every craftsman. I have learned a lot from masters of crafts, but also from professors, martial arts masters, hobos, bums, travellers, artists and musicians. 

And this is my point.  This is only possible in a society, where such an exchange is possible.  Freedom isn't free.  

A vast percentage (more than 40%) of people in leading political positions or leading economy are suffering from narcisstic or psychopathic mental disorder.  The outcome can be barbarism as yet unheard of. 

The foundation of democracy is humanistic education. Remove humanistic sciences and this education is no longer possible, removing one foundation of democracy. 

Given the recent introduction of the "legal reason" in Germany, the removal of the benefit of doubt, and the invulnerability of home, as a context, this paints a rather worrying image.  Add to this the current assaults on personal data security and the inflationary distribution of fake news, and you can only acknowledge that the time to act is now.  

The good thing is, that not everything is lost...

yet.  


I sincerely hope that you get my point.  Maybe something I stated sounds a bit bold.  But trust me- I would very much love being wrong. I would be grateful, whether you are 100% agreed with me or not, if you found it in you to support these causes by signing those petitions. It is not about preserving an ivory tower. It is about protecting a pluralistic, open, inclusive, humanistic and democratic society.  About defending human society against fascism.  

Thank you, and all the best. 







Donnerstag, 7. November 2024

Quick and easy carving inspiration-carving a little dwarf with a Victorinox SAK

This is a really nice carving inspiration I came across on the Greencraft Bushcraft YouTube channel: 

https://youtu.be/Bcv2hZcZrcw?si=FfyR4utixpuBizIF

I find, that the basic technique involved, can be applied to a lot more projects. So, this was sort of an epiphany. 

Because it starts with putting an angle on the stick, it makes carving anything with a face so much easier and faster. In fact, those are just about 15-20 cuts you have to make.  

Carve a notch for the nose. 
carve two more to define the nose and mouth. 
Make a cut to define the hat. Define the nose further. 
Work on the eye area. 
Define the eyes with a chip carving technique. 
Refine the eyes by scooping. 
Define the moustache.
Carve a hat.
Refine the beard. 
Have a cuppatree.  😉

Play safe, watch that video tutorial (because it is awesome), enjoy your cuppa, and take care.  Giving your hands something to do helps a lot.  Carving is especially good for you: https://www.sperorecovery.org/5-psychological-and-social-benefits-of-woodworking/

https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/A-phenomenological-study-of-the-therapeutic-of-Hamilton/86900b3562de26705a83036dad2976c241fe792a

 All the best, see you next time!

Mittwoch, 6. November 2024

A natural band aid from birch polypore


One of the most important skills in the woods is first aid. You know that I am not too fond of the term "survival". It is not what I claim to do. What I do is enjoying the woods and crafting stuff in the silence and peace of the green. If you have to say "survival" in a realistic scenario, like the upcoming World War III (or IV, I lost count), chance is, you are fooked big time and will NOT succeed in coming out in one piece.  There are things that can help you, of course, but chances to survive the nuclear war are rather dim. In fact, it is maybe waged in order to exterminate most of the populace of the world, because it is no longer needed.  I do not know, and I could not change it.  Old fellas like me almost certainly will not survive it. But I do not know, either.  And I actually don't want to ruin what little time is left with gloomy thoughts of doom. We all will die, what a circus. Of dying and pain I am afraid, of course, but not of death.  

That said, I love the woods. I love carving, and I love having good food in the forest. All of this involves tools that are generally quite sharp, and fire, which is generally quite hot. And sometimes you get eager or nervous or lost in the process, and your knife slips, and you bleed. I always carry an IFAK and some band aids, but I once forgot, and bled all over the place. Good thing there was some spruce resin in my pocket and a birch polypore growing nearby! I cut a band-aid from the porous underside and used spruce resin and a piece of cloth to fix it. 

You can leave the mushroom intact, by the way. In the picture, you can see what I mean. 
Actually you only need the porous part, and it is possible to cut the band-aid quite thin. The pictures were obviously taken for demonstration purposes. The injury was already healed and well at that point.  

Now please keep in mind that this is an emergency remedy. If you have a first aid kit, please, at least use proper disinfectant before treating any wound at all.  I am not to be made liable for any healing impairment or deterioration of the healing process to to the application of natural remedies. I share this as a merely cultural evaluation and for entertainment purposes exclusively.  

That said, the use of birch polypore in indigenous cultural heritage as a natural remedy goes back to the paleolithic age. A later, and rather famous find from the late neolithic/ copper age, showed the multifunctional use of birch polypore. Otzi, the "iceman" carried, amongst other things, a piece of birch polypore as tinder, but probably also as medicinal. Studies have found traces of the mushroom in his digestive tract:

 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1879981718300883

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0378874114003183

and presumeably he had taken this remedy for its anti-inflammatory and immune system modulating properties:

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5380686/

The mushroom has many uses and preparation methods.  The dried powder was also used as a painkiller (see: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5380686/). 

Relevant for the use as a band-aid are of course said anti-inflammatory properties. Responsible for these properties are mainly the Tri-Terpenes and Tri-Terpenoids. On the other hand, the wound-healing process might also be furthered by the poly-saccharids in its composition. Hydrogels with Saccharides and Glukose are a therapeutic remedy for necrosis even today. At least, those polysaccharides in the mushroom are said to offer a moisturizing environment for the wound to heal.  For the same reasons, the fresh tissue from Fomitopsis Betulina can be used for skin care and hygiene. The dried mushroom must be rehydrated first.  The dried powder might be best for the purpose.  

So, while obviously cutting a band-aid from some old shroom in the woods can, in that situation, only be an emergency remedy, with a bit more attention to care, hygiene and attention, it could be far more than just that. The mushroom shows a lot of promising characteristics in a lot of fields of use.  

Please harvest the mushroom sustainably.  Take only what you need, and if at all possible, keep the mycelium intact.  As a rule of thumb, take just 20% of the mushroom in order for it to regrow.  Leave the Trama intact, too.  Of course there is nothing wrong with harvesting a whole fruiting body where the mushroom is abundant, too. Just use common sense is all. 

All the best, and take good care! 






 

Samstag, 19. Oktober 2024

Helle Knives Skóg blade blank- and the modern relevance of archaeology

This is a fun little project I started in the magic troll 's living room.  Actually there are few things that I love more-we were sitting there, after having some lovely, simple food, with our snacks and cozies and a hot beverage. I mounted a knife blade from Helle Knives, she made her beautiful Naalbindning needles, while there was some sort of documentary on the TV. To me, this is not only the perfect wintertime pastime, but it conveys a lot of meaning to me.  I do think that this, or something very similar, was what our forebears did when the weather was grim, way back to the paleolithic. Well, without the telly, obviously. 😉 If you want to see her work, drop by Koboldkerker.blogspot.de, well worth the visit. 
Anyway, I really do love Helle Knives. The blades always come in razor sharp, and most of them get the task done admireably. We had those Skóg/Fjellmann blades lying around for ages. It is made from H3LS, a three layer laminate steel with a carbon steel as a cutting layer and arming steel sides from 18/8 stainless steel, which offers rust resistance from hell, but cannot be hardened.  It offers a bit of spring resistance, though, when forged.  Blades like that are made by Helle since time immemorial and have been proven to be really resilient. 
I mounted that little blade (80x2,7 mm) with a handle from reindeer antler and birchwood burl. At the first glance, it doesn't look any special, but it is  
A while ago, I made some trial pieces for a replica of the Trollstein knife, a knife unearthed by Norwegian archaeologists at Lendbreen glacier, near #Trollsteinen.  Look here for my thoughts: http://fimbulmyrk.blogspot.com/2024/04/thoughts-on-trollstein-knife.html
This is the original find.  The pictures are copyright by @vegardvike and museum of culturalhistory, Norway. On the pictures you can see that the knife has a rather interesting handle shape, with sort of some diamond cross section and sort of a bevel towards the edge line of the handle. And testing my sample pieces, I found this to be a real game-changer for a lot of applications, from food prepping, to skinning, and it really excels at wood carving.  

 On the picture below, you can see what I mean. 
I wanted to incorporate this idea in a more modern handle design.  Because, while the handle on the Trollstein knife is actually really efficient, it also makes the sheath design a bstd to get right.  Also, I do like a little more contour and purchase in the handle.  So I put those facets on a more modern design.  It is obviously not a replica, but really works awesome. It is about the principle of signalling your brain and body which way you hold the blade.  And what I want to say is, that I would not have known had I not tried to make a replica of the find.  

Archaeology gives us insight into the knowledge of the past. The principles that people applied historically still are relevant.  

In Germany, there is something going on that can only be called a culture war against all things of cultural heritage, science and craft. I do know it is even worse in the US.  At the Uni, there is currently a move of the administration, and behind that, possibly altright political forces, to close down entire ethically relevant faculties like Archaeology, literature and philosophy, but also actively defunding medicine, mathematics and physics.  

Think about the relevance for your actual life situations.  For Archaeology, it might not seem obvious, but the relevance actually is pretty commonplace. Call it "the knowledge of the ancestors" if you want.  

I am not actually asking "cui bono" yet, because I do not need to. Suffice to say that this handle design is really a rather enlightening experience.  

And it was first designed in the iron age. 

If you possibly can, try it out to get my meaning. 

All the best, and take care! 

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