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I’d Tap That! (Maple Tree that is.)

February 27, 2013 By 2 Comments

It’s February.  You’re lost in the woods.  You didn’t properly prepare for the hike – shame on you.  You hydrated before you left but didn’t bring a canteen.  You are starting to feel early warning signs of dehydration - dry mouth and headache.

Have you been listening to ANYTHING I’ve told you?

All you have is a snack pack of survival Funyuns in your pocket.  In a slight panic about your situation, you eat them.  Now, you’re really thirsty.  And, you’ve got horrible breath.

You try to remember everything you’ve read at WillowHavenOutdoor.com and even on their awesome FACEBOOK PAGE (hint, hint) about what Creek writes in regards to finding water.  You proceed to go through a mental checklist of sorts:

  • There’s no snow on the ground for you to melt and drink, the temp is about 50 degrees outside
  • There’s no rain in the forecast for you to collect
  • There are no lush water rich wild edible plants like bull thistle to help with hydration
  • You can’t find any fresh water seeps or springs
  • There is a stream nearby but you know you can’t drink from it because of water borne parasites and you don’t have a way to purify it.  You’re not that desperate yet, even though you really want to wash out that Funyun taste.

What else can you possibly do?  How can you hydrate?

Late winter and early spring are the perfect time of year to tap a variety of trees for fresh, nutrient and sugar rich, drinkable sap that does not need purification.  The #1 candidate of choice is the maple tree – which can be found almost everywhere.  Any maple will work, but the Sugar Maple is best.  You can also tap birch trees, walnut trees and sycamore trees for drinkable sap.

Each year, 1000s of maple trees are tapped for their sugary sap.  This sap is then boiled down to make Maple Syrup.  Did you know it takes 40 gallons of maple sap to make 1 gallon of maple syrup?

So what do you do?

Remember those Funyuns?  That’s the perfect container to collect fresh drinkable maple sap.  I used my axe to gash into the sap layer of this big sugar maple.  You can drill in with your knife or even gash it open with a rock.  You have to go about 1/4″-1/2″ into the tree.  You must break through the first few layers of bark.  You’ll know it when you hit it – the sap will start dripping.  You’re not going to have a modern spile in your pocket so you’ll have to use a little piece of leaf or bark to direct the flow of sap away from the tree and into your container.

These slices filled this package in about 20-30 minutes.  Not bad at all.

Get to know your Maples!

The maple tree is one of the easiest trees to identify – WITH THE LEAVES ON.  But, to the inexperienced, all trees start to look alike in the dead of winter with no leaves.  If you can’t ID maple without the leaves this winter, don’t let another summer pass you by without studying the bark of your local maples so that you can ID them without the leaves.  This knowledge could one day save your life.  Sycamores are easy to identify.

Got a Maple Tree in your back yard?

Tap that Maple!  The sugar content of maple sap averages 2.5% and is one of nature’s perfect energy drinks!  One maple tree can yield up to 10 gallons of sap in one season.

Did you know?

Natural latex rubber is also the tapped sap from a tree called the Para Rubber Tree.

These trees are native to South America but Malaysia is now the #1 latex rubber producer and it all comes from TREES!

Pine sap can be used to make an incredible survival epoxy.  See the post how to do it here:  Creek Makes Pine Sap Glue

From life-saving water to natural rubber to awesome glue, sometimes it’s just about knowing WHERE to look.  What other TREE SAPS have you heard of using?

Remember, it’s not IF but WHEN,

Creek

 

About Willow Haven Outdoor & Creek Stewart
Creek Stewart is the Owner and Lead Instructor at Willow Haven Outdoor - a leading Survival and Preparedness Training Facility located on 21-acres in Central Indiana.  For more information on Survival Courses and Clinics offered at WHO, click HERE.  Creek is also author of the new book Build the Perfect Bug Out Bag: Your 72-Hour Disaster Survival Kit.  His book is currently available for preorder on AMAZON.COM for only $11.20 - LIMITED TIME ONLY.  If you enjoy Creek's Blog Posts, you will also enjoy his new book.  You can contact Creek directly at creek@willowhavenoutdoor.com.
 
 

Filed Under: Featured, General Survival, Harvest & Processing, Water Purification

Creek’s Top 2 Wild Edible Plant Reference Books: Thoughts & Review

October 9, 2012 By 9 Comments

If you’re into survival, then you need a few good Wild Edible Plant titles in your survival library.  Finding the right ones can be a little overwhelming – trust me, I’ve bought about every wild edible plant guide there is over the past 15 years.  Some of them are completely worthless, some are vague and some contain downright wrong information.  There are 2, though, that stand out in the crowd and have become integral references in my study of Wild Edible Plants over the years.  These 2 guides are:

  • Peterson Field Guide of Wild Edible Plants by Lee Allen Peterson (I use the Eastern/Central North America Guide but they make guides specific to other parts of the country)  We sell these in the WHO Store HERE.
  • The Forager’s Harvest by Samuel Thayer (or any other book by this author – they are ALL good)

I like these 2 guides for completely different reasons and they complement each other well.  Below is my 2 cents on each one along with PROS & CONS.   At the end of this post I’ll also list a few great web-sites for referencing wild edible plants.

Peterson Field Guide of Wild Edible Plants

As far as Wild Edible Plant reference guides go, this one is the most detailed and complete of any manual I’ve ever seen.  Not only does it list pretty much every edible plant in this region but it also lists poisonous look-a-likes as well.  Each plant is illustrated by a black and white line art drawing – which is a huge frustration for me.  However, the illustrations are really well done and the color photo supplement in the middle does show some of the most popular edibles but it certainly doesn’t list them all.

The Peterson guide includes the following information in each plant description:

  • Names – common and scientific
  • Description with Line Art Illustration
  • Where found
  • Parts Used
  • Season of Availability
  • Use and preparation

However, all of this information is listed in one small paragraph for each plant.  Thus, the information is limited to just the absolute basics and necessities to be accurate.  After reading the very factual and to-the-point descriptions you are left wanting something more substantive and personal.  This guide almost feels like a science book instead of a real world experience with the plants.

PROS:

  • Includes a lot of plants – a very comprehensive listing
  • Includes poisonous plants as well
  • Lists all edible parts and also the ideal season of harvest
  • Small Color Photo Supplement in middle of book

CONS:

  • Black and White Line Art Drawings versus color photos
  • Includes only the facts and nothing more
  • No photos about harvesting or preparation

 

The Foragers Harvest

As far as reading goes, this is by far one of my favorite books on wild edibles.  It is clear that the author, Samuel Thayer, is passionate about this subject.  There is no doubt he has a personal experience with every plant he discusses.  Many wild edible books are just regurgitated information from other sources and you can tell the author hasn’t really harvested and prepared the plants they are discussing.  Thayer is the complete opposite.  His very detailed accounts of harvesting and preparing various wild edibles are evidence of years of experimentation, study, trial and error.  This guy knows what he’s talking about and can back it up with very personal relationships with each plant.  Unlike the Peterson Guide which just lists what parts are edible, Thayer details exactly how to harvest the plants and gives very specific advice, tips and tricks that can only be learned from experience in the field.  He has a deep appreciation and reverence for wild edibles which comes through in his writing.

And, this book contains color photos of the plants in a variety of stages and harvest.  Thayer also talks about exactly how he eats many of the edibles.  For example, he writes ” I most often consume butternuts in hot cereal.  A simple recipe, fit for the gods, is cooked wild rice with uncooked butternuts, served hot, sweetened with maple syrup.”  And he does this with every plant he talks about.  After reading his book(s) there are no mysteries how to eat the plants that he lists.  He tells you exactly how he does it and it doesn’t get any easier than that.

PROS:

  • Incredibly detailed information in all respects
  • Color photos of the plants in the wild, during harvest and during preparation
  • Very personal accounts of harvesting and preparing each plant

CONS:

  • I’d love to see him list MORE plants.  This book, for example, lists 32 plants and I was left wanting more…  The book is 350 pages so you get an idea about how thorough he is when discussing the wild edibles

 

How I use the Guides

By now, I am very familiar with nearly every wild edible in this region and consume them on a regular basis – some more often than others.  With that said, it’s still wise practice to cross reference harvesting with a couple of solid field guides.  As you can see in the photos below, I study my wild edible guides and make my own personal notes in the margins.

I am in the process of building an on-line photo reference library of wild edibles in different stages/seasons for free reference here on the web-site.  This has been a work in progress for 3 years and I’m hoping to have it on-line by next fall.  I have taken meticulous photos of many wild edibles in all seasons, during harvest and during preparation.  I think it will be a very useful reference guide for those of you interested in incorporating more wild edibles into your daily diets.  For now, though, below are a couple of great web-sites that have some good free wild edible references:

Harvesting wild edibles is one of the most rewarding survival skills I practice and for those of you who have been looking for a couple of good field guides I hope this post has been helpful.

How about you – what are your favorite Wild Edible Field Guides?

Remember, it’s not IF but WHEN,

Creek

About Willow Haven Outdoor & Creek Stewart
Creek Stewart is the Owner and Lead Instructor at Willow Haven Outdoor - a leading Survival and Preparedness Training Facility located on 21-acres in Central Indiana.  For more information on Survival Courses and Clinics offered at WHO, click HERE.  Creek is also author of the new book Build the Perfect Bug Out Bag: Your 72-Hour Disaster Survival Kit.  His book is currently available for preorder on AMAZON.COM for only $11.20 - LIMITED TIME ONLY.  If you enjoy Creek's Blog Posts, you will also enjoy his new book.  You can contact Creek directly at creek@willowhavenoutdoor.com.
 
 

Filed Under: Featured, General Survival, Harvest & Processing, Product or Company Spot Light, Survival Movie and Book Reviews, Wild Edibles & Recipes

Now all I need is some camel hair, a girdle of skin about my loins and some locusts…

April 23, 2012 By 7 Comments

So this post is not instructional, just an event that I thought you would appreciate.

I’ve spent the past few weeks clearing for and digging a pond here at Willow Haven – which is some exciting news for those of you scheduled for courses this summer and fall.  I’ll be taking primitive fishing skills to the next level!

With this project, we have had to clear a lot of brush and trees to make room for the pond.  I tried my best to only clear large trees that already had some issues – either previously damaged or signs of dying.  One of these was a huge Sugar Maple.  I absolutely love Sugar Maple trees.  They are one of my favorite.  This one, though, was dying.  You could see way up how it was seeping and hollow.

Long story short, though she was dying, something… or I should say 1000′s of somethings were very much alive in her hollow middle.  HONEY BEES!

Once the tree was down and moved out of the way, I came back a few days later to collect with chainsaw in hand…

I could’t wait to see what was inside!

It just kept on going…

All this work was zapping my energy levels.  I needed to refuel…

I tried, but I couldn’t eat it all myself.  So, I decided to jar some up for later.

I have a ton of honeycomb left over that I plan on using for other projects.  I’ll keep you posted.

And John was clothed with camel’s hair, and with a girdle of a skin about his loins; and he did eat locusts and wild honey;
 

Remember, it’s bot IF but WHEN,

Creek

About Willow Haven Outdoor & Creek Stewart
Creek Stewart is the Owner and Lead Instructor at Willow Haven Outdoor - a leading Survival and Preparedness Training Facility located on 21-acres in Central Indiana.  For more information on Survival Courses and Clinics offered at WHO, click HERE.  Creek is also author of the new book Build the Perfect Bug Out Bag: Your 72-Hour Disaster Survival Kit.  His book is currently available for preorder on AMAZON.COM for only $11.20 - LIMITED TIME ONLY.  If you enjoy Creek's Blog Posts, you will also enjoy his new book.  You can contact Creek directly at creek@willowhavenoutdoor.com.
 
 

Filed Under: Featured, General Survival, Harvest & Processing, Wild Edibles & Recipes

Is that 253 Maple Seeds in your mouth or are you just happy to see me?

April 2, 2012 By 5 Comments

Maple Syrup is a DIVA and get all the glory and fame!  The humble Maple Seed sits quietly in the shadows and gets absolutely no credit for the fruit of its labor.  Not only are the helicopter wings an aviation and architectural wonder, but the seeds they strategically transport inside the built-in cockpit are an under-rated and often overlooked Wild Edible.

Different Maple Tree varieties drop their seeds at different times – and it can range from Spring to Fall.  They all pretty much look the same, though.  Some call them Helicopters, some call them Whirly-Gigs.

A recent wind storm here in Indiana left my yard littered with thousands on these little pods of goodness.  I quickly gathered them up before all the critters and had a bowl full in about 30 seconds.

How to harvest the inner morsels, you ask?

Maple seeds remind me of peas.  If you are following me, just think of the helicopter as the pea pod and the seed as the pea.  Below you can see how I’ve ‘hulled’ the seed from the pod.

 

 30 Minutes Later…

 

You can eat them raw, but they are slightly bitter.  Boiling them for a few minutes in water just as you would peas or carrots improves the flavor.

After 5 minutes or so in boiling water, these will make a perfect side dish to any main entree.  A little Sea Salt and they are good to go…  They actually taste like peas too but have an after taste that is specific to Maple Seeds.

I wonder how they would taste with a little Maple Syrup drizzled on top?  Hmmmm…

 

Conclusion

So the Maple Tree isn’t just for breakfast.  Put it on the dinner menu as well.

Remember, it’s not IF but WHEN,

Creek

About Willow Haven Outdoor & Creek Stewart
Creek Stewart is the Owner and Lead Instructor at Willow Haven Outdoor - a leading Survival and Preparedness Training Facility located on 21-acres in Central Indiana.  For more information on Survival Courses and Clinics offered at WHO, click HERE.  Creek is also author of the new book Build the Perfect Bug Out Bag: Your 72-Hour Disaster Survival Kit.  His book is currently available for preorder on AMAZON.COM for only $11.20 - LIMITED TIME ONLY.  If you enjoy Creek's Blog Posts, you will also enjoy his new book.  You can contact Creek directly at creek@willowhavenoutdoor.com.
 
 

Filed Under: Featured, General Survival, Harvest & Processing, Wild Edibles & Recipes

That Wild Flower Is So Cute I Could Just Eat It – The Spring Beauty Wild Edible

March 20, 2012 By 1 Comment

The best season for Wild Edibles is fast approaching – SPRING.  For many of us, Spring is coming early this year and many wild edibles are already popping up all over the place.  One of the first wild flowers to show up is The Spring Beauty.  I’ve been around this little flower my whole life and never knew it was a Wild Edible until a few years ago.  I can remember the forest floor on my parents farm being covered with thousands of these little flowers.

To my knowledge there isn’t a spring wild flower that looks like this one.  It’s pretty easy to identify.  It has 5 petals with noticable pinkish-purple veins.  Each stem typically has 2 leaves that are opposite each other.

They are small – only getting about 6 or so inches tall.  The edible parts are the leaves and the tubers.  The leaves don’t have much of a flavor – very mild.  The tubers (root) has a earthy radish like flavor.  The tuber size can vary from the size of a pea to the size of a quarter.  Often, several flower stems will lead to 1 tuber.

 

How to Harvest the Tuber

I use a digging stick – actually an elk tine – to dig up the tubers.  I just follow the delicate the stems down in the ground a few inches and then thrust the elk tine nearby and pry upwards.  You want to make sure to follow the stems all the way and make sure they are connected to the tuber.  These things grow around all kinds of other plants and you want to make sure you are collecting the right root.

You can see in the photo above how the skin on the tuber has come off.  This is exactly how you prep them for eating.  Just wash and peel off the skin.  I just rub them vigorously between my fingers and it comes off pretty easy.

You can boil these for a few minutes or cook them in soups and stews.  Or, you can just eat them raw.  In this instance, I decided to make a fresh spring green salad with Spring Beauty Tubers.  In the mix below I have dandelion leaves, garlic mustard, wild onion tops, dandelion buds, spring beauty leaves, mint leaves, clover and sorrel – all from right off the back step in my yard.

I sliced the Spring Beauty tubers and tossed them on top with a little olive oil and balsamic vinaigrette.

Later in the summer and fall, many of these salad greens get a little bitter but in the spring when they first pop out they make a perfect salad before any meal.  It took me about 5 minutes to gather the ingredients – including the SB tubers and another 5 minutes to wash and prepare everything.  And, it was all FREE.

Now I’ll admit, the SB tubers are a little work for their size.  And, the plant does die after you collect them.  However, it’s a fun edible to mix in every spring.  And, your harvest window is only a few weeks while you can identify the plants with the flowers.

Let me know if you have any questions at all.  As always with Wild Edibles – don’t eat it unless you are 150% sure you know exactly what it is.

Remember, it’s not IF but WHEN,

Creek

About Willow Haven Outdoor & Creek Stewart
Creek Stewart is the Owner and Lead Instructor at Willow Haven Outdoor - a leading Survival and Preparedness Training Facility located on 21-acres in Central Indiana.  For more information on Survival Courses and Clinics offered at WHO, click HERE.  Creek is also author of the new book Build the Perfect Bug Out Bag: Your 72-Hour Disaster Survival Kit.  His book is currently available for preorder on AMAZON.COM for only $11.20 - LIMITED TIME ONLY.  If you enjoy Creek's Blog Posts, you will also enjoy his new book.  You can contact Creek directly at creek@willowhavenoutdoor.com.
 
 

Filed Under: General Survival, Harvest & Processing, Wild Edibles & Recipes

How To Field Dress a Squirrel – an article by Creek Stewart on ArtofManliness.com

January 17, 2012 By 4 Comments

Today, ArtofManliness.com published an article I wrote titled How To Field Dress a Squirrel.  In this article, I walk readers through a step-by-step way to field dress a squirrel.  If you are interested in knowing how to do this or would just like to see how I like to do it you can read the article by clicking on the link below:

http://artofmanliness.com/2012/01/16/how-to-field-dress-a-squirrel/

Here is also a link to a related article I wrote titled 2 Tricks to Spit-Roasting Small Game Over an Open Fire that you may find interesting.

This squirrel had a beautiful thick hide.  I took it to a local taxidermist to be tanned so that I can use it as well.  As soon as he gets it back to me I will post some photos of it here for you to see.  As you will see in the instructional photos I skinned the squirrel in what is called a TUBE and the hide is almost fully intact.  I can readily use it to make a pouch or container.  I haven’t yet decided exactly how I will use it but it will not go to waste.

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Remember, it’s not IF but WHEN,

Creek

About Willow Haven Outdoor & Creek Stewart
Creek Stewart is the Owner and Lead Instructor at Willow Haven Outdoor - a leading Survival and Preparedness Training Facility located on 21-acres in Central Indiana.  For more information on Survival Courses and Clinics offered at WHO, click HERE.  Creek is also author of the new book Build the Perfect Bug Out Bag: Your 72-Hour Disaster Survival Kit.  His book is currently available for preorder on AMAZON.COM for only $11.20 - LIMITED TIME ONLY.  If you enjoy Creek's Blog Posts, you will also enjoy his new book.  You can contact Creek directly at creek@willowhavenoutdoor.com.
 
 

Filed Under: General Survival, Harvest & Processing, Survival Hunting: Know How & Tools, Wild Edibles & Recipes

Creek’s Survival Fall Harvest: Mullein, Yucca & Milkweed

December 14, 2011 By 3 Comments

I will be spending much of my time from now until spring preparing for the line-up of Survival Clinics I have scheduled for the summer and fall of 2012.  There is a lot of “behind the scenes” work that goes into planning a series of courses.  I thought I would share with you one aspect that you might find interesting.  I call it the ‘Pre-Harvest’.

By definition, HARVEST is the process of gathering mature crops from the fields.  The crops I have been harvesting the past few weeks are not food related, however.  They are for MATERIALS that we will be using in our Survival Classes.  Several of my favorite Survival Plants for teaching are best harvested in the fall.  Three of my favorites are Mullein, Yucca & Milkweed.  Each of these plants grow in abundance on our Willow Haven property but not in numbers to support hosting 10-12 survival clinics with 15 or so people per group.  If I waited, we would decimate our immediate plant resources after just a few clinics.  Consequently, I must pre-harvest these materials in advance so that each class group has adequate materials on hand to learn how these plants can be used to provide life-saving survival needs.  With this process, I can use the living plants ‘on-site’ to show students how to identify them in their natural environment and then we can use the pre-harvested plants for our hands-on survival training work.  Below is a brief description of why I love these 3 plants so much.

MULLEIN

Common mullein is my woody stalked plant of choice for making bow drill spindles for fire by friction.  Mullein (and forms of it) can be found in almost every region of the US.  After the plant has matured and died, it is normally ready for harvest around mid to late November.  It is also not uncommon to find last-years-mullein plants still standing well into the spring and summer.  If I can find a dead standing mullein plant then I feel very confident I can get a fire going.

I use the Mullein plant extensively when showing people how to build a bow drill fire set.  I am always on the look-out for Mullein when driving down the road or exploring new areas.  I have thousands of Mullein seeds in storage and have plans to actually plant a small Mullein plot at Willow Haven this spring.

YUCCA

While the Yucca plant is not native to the mid-west or eastern woodlands, it is one of my favorite survival plants.  Not only do it’s fibrous leaves make excellent cordage material, but it also has an amazing central woody flower stalk that is the perfect candidate for bow drill and hand drill spindles.  I am always on the look-out for dead yucca spikes each fall.  Old country cemeteries are perfect places to find these.

Milkweed

The Milkweed plant is my GO-TO cordage plant.  Milkweed is a woody stalked plant with long fibers that run the entire length of the stem.  These are also best gathered and processed after the plant has matured, died and dried in late fall/early winter.  I harvest 100′s of milkweed plants each year to use for cordage training during survival courses.  The dried stalks can be processed in such a way to extract the fibers which can then we worked into natural cordage that is just as strong as any comparable store bought rope.  The ability to make cordage is a critical survival skill.  I teach exactly how to do this in my SurviVacation clinics.

Attributes vs Names

When it comes to identifying plants to use for bow drills or cordage, many people get very hung up on trying to find an exact species or specific plant type versus looking for ‘plant attributes‘.  Many times I’ve seen people pass up an “unknown” woody stalked plant in the field in search of Mullein – when the plant they passed would have worked as a bow drill spindle just fine.  My point is this: For Survival Applications, LEARN THE PLANT ATTRIBUTES.  I enjoy learning plant names, but knowing a plant’s name isn’t going to do SQUAT for you if ever faced in a survival situation.  Knowing whether or not it’s attributes can be useful is what is really important.

When teaching, I focus more on ATTRIBUTES.  When you know what attributes a plant must possess in order to be a good bow drill spindle or a good cordage plant, you can become adept at using similar plants in all parts of the world.  Whether you are in the desert or in a jungle, you will know what attributes to look for.  This is a CRITICAL survival lesson.

It’s OK if you can’t identify every plant in the kingdom by name.  Neither can I.

Remember, it’s not IF but WHEN,

Creek

About Willow Haven Outdoor & Creek Stewart
Creek Stewart is the Owner and Lead Instructor at Willow Haven Outdoor - a leading Survival and Preparedness Training Facility located on 21-acres in Central Indiana.  For more information on Survival Courses and Clinics offered at WHO, click HERE.  Creek is also author of the new book Build the Perfect Bug Out Bag: Your 72-Hour Disaster Survival Kit.  His book is currently available for preorder on AMAZON.COM for only $11.20 - LIMITED TIME ONLY.  If you enjoy Creek's Blog Posts, you will also enjoy his new book.  You can contact Creek directly at creek@willowhavenoutdoor.com.
 
 

Filed Under: General Survival, Harvest & Processing