Clay bodies:
Agateware, Patterned Agateware, Mosaic Agateware
Handles on cups are rare.
Wood firing preferred.
Slab seams are pronounced, usually with zigzags.
Glazes are clear, ash, or variations of Japanese Shino.
Decorations draw from Asian and Native American art.
Vertical lines are common but not ubiquitous.
Occasionally decorated with gunpowder painting or carbon scarring.
Simplicity of form akin to Shigaraki and Craftsman styles.
Only non-toxic metallic oxides are used.
Always functional.
Made to be loved by their user.
Friday, May 27, 2016
Sunday, May 15, 2016
Five Agateware Paterns for Slab Method Pottery
I was inspired recently in my work by the different patterns in Damascus Steel. Most of my agateware up until 2 days ago was rather random like the agate stone. I have made the shift in my work from the random patterns, to slightly deformed geometric designs. When I figure out how to join the different pieces without any deformation, I will likely write a post on how to do it. The five patterns I will give directions for here are Vertical Bars, Ladder Pattern, Raindrop Pattern, Seigaiha Pattern (AKA "Waves"), and the Cherokee Friendship Pattern (commonly incised on Cherokee Pottery).
Vertical Bars
Ladder Pattern
Raindrop Pattern
Seigaiha Pattern
Cherokee Friendship Pattern
Vertical Bars
Ladder Pattern
Raindrop Pattern
Seigaiha Pattern
Cherokee Friendship Pattern
Wednesday, May 11, 2016
Metaphors in the Story of Taliesin
Taliesin was a Bard and Poet in the 6th century in Wales. But there are many writings that came about after his death which ascribe him Magickal powers and which tell fantastical tales about him. This is how mythology largely comes to be. Usually, when mythology is told or written, there is a purpose to the story; to explain natural phenomena, or teach a lesson most often. Occasionally, it starts out as a story to pass time. The legend of Taliesin's birth seems to be a metaphor for life in general, or perhaps of the changes one must go through to become a stronger, smarter, more inspired person.
This story starts with a woman who is variously attested to be a Goddess or a Witch depending on who is writing. Her name is Cerridwyn. She has a daughter and a son. Her son is slow and has a deformed face. Seeking a cure, she goes to a sacred place called the Ffaeryllt, which is home to the Fae/Sidhe (In romanticised accounts, they look like Tinkerbell, in ancient accounts such as the Book of Invasions, they were said to be short hairy people who were the first inhabitants of the islands before the Celts invaded.) From the Sidhe she learns how to make medicine that will giver her son the Awen (inspiration, wit, intelligence, talent; all rolled into one). The first 3 drops are the medicine and the rest of the pot is poison. Now Cerridwyn had 2 assistants. Gwion the Innocent and a blind man. She makes the initial mixture and puts it on to boil. Her assistants tend the fire and Gwion stirs the pot to keep it from burning. The blind man accidentally added too much wood and the pot boiled furiously. Gwion had to stir it faster, and accidentally got some splattered on his had, unconsciously he licked it. And he gained the cure meant for Cerridwyn's son. Realizing his mistake, he turned into a rabbit and swiftly fled. As he fled, the pot cracked and the poison seeped into a pond where horses were drinking, and they died. Cerridwyn became a dog and chased him. So he turned into a wren, and she turned into a falcon. Then he turned into a salmon, and she became an otter. In a final attempt to elude her, he turned into a grain of sand. She turned into a hen and ate him. You'd think this would end the story, but it's not bound by the laws of science. Cerridwyn gave birth to a son 9 months later. Knowing it was Gwion, she wanted to kill him, but could not do it to one of her own flesh, so she put him in a hide boat and set him adrift. He was caught by a salmon weir belonging to a man named Garanhir. The man raised him as his own and named him Taliesin, and he became the most famous bard. And that's the end of the story of his birth.
Gwion's transformations can be seen as a metaphor for the way people change over time to adapt to their circumstances. And after a period of change and hardship, there is rebirth. It can also be applied to any traditional craft. There are many steps that are involved to shape material into a useful object. And through these changes, a tree is turned into a table, creek mud becomes a bowl, and iron ore becomes a sword. They are all transformed through work and difficulty and reborn as something entirely different from their original form. So it can be applied equally to people and art, and I hope you have enjoyed this little comparison.
This story starts with a woman who is variously attested to be a Goddess or a Witch depending on who is writing. Her name is Cerridwyn. She has a daughter and a son. Her son is slow and has a deformed face. Seeking a cure, she goes to a sacred place called the Ffaeryllt, which is home to the Fae/Sidhe (In romanticised accounts, they look like Tinkerbell, in ancient accounts such as the Book of Invasions, they were said to be short hairy people who were the first inhabitants of the islands before the Celts invaded.) From the Sidhe she learns how to make medicine that will giver her son the Awen (inspiration, wit, intelligence, talent; all rolled into one). The first 3 drops are the medicine and the rest of the pot is poison. Now Cerridwyn had 2 assistants. Gwion the Innocent and a blind man. She makes the initial mixture and puts it on to boil. Her assistants tend the fire and Gwion stirs the pot to keep it from burning. The blind man accidentally added too much wood and the pot boiled furiously. Gwion had to stir it faster, and accidentally got some splattered on his had, unconsciously he licked it. And he gained the cure meant for Cerridwyn's son. Realizing his mistake, he turned into a rabbit and swiftly fled. As he fled, the pot cracked and the poison seeped into a pond where horses were drinking, and they died. Cerridwyn became a dog and chased him. So he turned into a wren, and she turned into a falcon. Then he turned into a salmon, and she became an otter. In a final attempt to elude her, he turned into a grain of sand. She turned into a hen and ate him. You'd think this would end the story, but it's not bound by the laws of science. Cerridwyn gave birth to a son 9 months later. Knowing it was Gwion, she wanted to kill him, but could not do it to one of her own flesh, so she put him in a hide boat and set him adrift. He was caught by a salmon weir belonging to a man named Garanhir. The man raised him as his own and named him Taliesin, and he became the most famous bard. And that's the end of the story of his birth.
Gwion's transformations can be seen as a metaphor for the way people change over time to adapt to their circumstances. And after a period of change and hardship, there is rebirth. It can also be applied to any traditional craft. There are many steps that are involved to shape material into a useful object. And through these changes, a tree is turned into a table, creek mud becomes a bowl, and iron ore becomes a sword. They are all transformed through work and difficulty and reborn as something entirely different from their original form. So it can be applied equally to people and art, and I hope you have enjoyed this little comparison.
Tuesday, May 10, 2016
The $30 Anagama Kiln
The expense of building a kiln to industry standards is extraordinary. I'm not loaded. I have built several kilns out of cinder blocks. While not as good as refractory, it's 99c a block. One block is the size of 4 alumina bricks, which cost about $7 a piece. You can see the savings for yourself. Now, as I am presently renting, I have to be able to move my kiln when I leave. So I can't use mortar. I use cob to fill cracks and make the kiln as airtight as possible. This kiln is designed with mobility and workability in mind. It is not designed to be a large permanent structure or top of the line. It is not a production kiln, it is hobby size, and the cinder and concrete will not hold up to constant use or high fire. That said, when you are limited by cost and need something that can be moved, this is your huckleberry. I will edit this after it is posted as I construct my most recent iteration to add photos and diagrams.
Materials:
3 concrete pavers 2'x1' 4"x2" ($21)
9 solid cinder blocks (a little less than $9)
mud
dried grass clippings
Tools:
shovel
small mattock
bucket or wheelbarrow
trowel
measuring tape
pointed sticks (whittle them)
You want to dig it out like this:
Then start building it like this:
Then put the top on:
Then you want to make cob. Use the dirt you dug out and mix it with dry grass clippings. Add water to make a thick wet mix. Fill all cracks and build the chimney in the back out of the cob until it is about 6 ft high. You want to form the cob chimney into a shallow cone with the top opening about 4 inches wide.
Next you want to form a lip on the top of the front of the firebox to direct the heat up and back. Use scrap wood or branches as supports until the cob dries. After it dries, and you burn out the supports, you can put a steel grate in the firebox to support burning wood and increase air flow.
Edited to reflect changes made after first firing.
Materials:
3 concrete pavers 2'x1' 4"x2" ($21)
9 solid cinder blocks (a little less than $9)
mud
dried grass clippings
Tools:
shovel
small mattock
bucket or wheelbarrow
trowel
measuring tape
pointed sticks (whittle them)
You want to dig it out like this:
Next you want to form a lip on the top of the front of the firebox to direct the heat up and back. Use scrap wood or branches as supports until the cob dries. After it dries, and you burn out the supports, you can put a steel grate in the firebox to support burning wood and increase air flow.
Edited to reflect changes made after first firing.
Monday, May 9, 2016
Advanced Black Pottery
There are a variety of methods for blackening pottery. I will cover 4 methods here.
Smothering is one of the oldest methods. After pottery has reached the critical temperature in a pit firing, you cover it with dry leaves and a layer of soil so that little smoke escapes. You leave it until the pile cools and when you take it out, the pottery is black. This can have mixed results.
Another way is the sawdust method, where in a pit firing or bottle kiln firing you cover pots at critical temperature in sawdust or other finely ground organic matter. This method is the most common.
The modern method is to mix graphite powder with kerosene to make a black stain, this is rubbed into the pot at leather hard and the pot may be burnished afterwards. This method is the most reliable.
The candle method involves holding the thoroughly dry pot in the flame of a candle or oil lamp to blacken it. It may be carved afterwards to reveal the lighter color underneath.
Smothering is one of the oldest methods. After pottery has reached the critical temperature in a pit firing, you cover it with dry leaves and a layer of soil so that little smoke escapes. You leave it until the pile cools and when you take it out, the pottery is black. This can have mixed results.
Another way is the sawdust method, where in a pit firing or bottle kiln firing you cover pots at critical temperature in sawdust or other finely ground organic matter. This method is the most common.
The modern method is to mix graphite powder with kerosene to make a black stain, this is rubbed into the pot at leather hard and the pot may be burnished afterwards. This method is the most reliable.
The candle method involves holding the thoroughly dry pot in the flame of a candle or oil lamp to blacken it. It may be carved afterwards to reveal the lighter color underneath.
Friday, May 6, 2016
Making Kanutsi
Kanutsi is an old food of the Cherokee people. Nobody really knows how old because the 3 ingredients were all available before the 1600s. It remains a staple to this day, with variations. It was typical in times of plenty to add in extra vegetables or meat. I do this more often than eating it straight because it is bland by itself. I use Kanutsi as a base for my chili when I make Indian Tacos because I was fed up to the ears with my fellow Cherokee people not making their own version of it because we have a long tradition of culinary achievement. There are Cherokee language names for over 700 edible plants. Hernan de Soto's expedition of murder reported that the Cherokee had vats of hickory nut oil that they fried food in, and that the farms were so expansive that they traveled among the fields for days before reaching town.
Kanutsi is simply corn and ground hickory nuts cooked in water. There are 2 ways to make it.
1: Put raw shelled hickory nuts in a blender with water. Blend until the nuts are finely ground. Pour into a pot and cook with dried corn until the corn is tender.
2: Grind shelled hickory nuts on a rock with a wood or stone pounder until the nuts are finely ground. Add to water and dried corn and cook until the corn is tender.
If you want to make stew out of it, add the following after the corn is cooked:
Chunks of squash
cooked and rinsed beans
chunks of meat
chopped red chilie peppers
garlic or Svgi
wild onions
Cook until the squash is tender and meat is cooked.
Kanutsi is simply corn and ground hickory nuts cooked in water. There are 2 ways to make it.
1: Put raw shelled hickory nuts in a blender with water. Blend until the nuts are finely ground. Pour into a pot and cook with dried corn until the corn is tender.
2: Grind shelled hickory nuts on a rock with a wood or stone pounder until the nuts are finely ground. Add to water and dried corn and cook until the corn is tender.
If you want to make stew out of it, add the following after the corn is cooked:
Chunks of squash
cooked and rinsed beans
chunks of meat
chopped red chilie peppers
garlic or Svgi
wild onions
Cook until the squash is tender and meat is cooked.
Thursday, May 5, 2016
Ceramics: Beyond the Basics
Today I want to talk about ceramics a little more in depth than the basic step by step instructions I gave in the very first post on this blog. I studied under 2 master potters, and while I don't consider myself a master, I am quite capable of making anything within the two limiters of my imagination and the laws of physics. There is a major difference between me and the people I studied under. One of them was trained in Europe, the other in China. But I've always had a stylistic approach which differs from the perfect lines and perfect glazes they used. I'm inspired mostly by primitive pottery and the work of Kanzaki Shiho. My pottery has a wabisabi aesthetic. Beauty from imperfection. It's not that I can't make it perfect. But rarity is also beautiful, and you can buy perfect pottery made in a factory these days. The imperfections make it rare as they are the tell-tale signs that it was made by hand. I'm not saying to make mistakes that would reduce its usability, I'm saying to deliberately make it unusual.
There are ways to have a stone-like broken appearance on just the outside: by applying slip containing crushed roasted shells.
There are ways to make ashes build up in certain places and make a dappled glaze: by mixing wood ashes and slip 1:1 and applying it, then dusting it while wet with dry ashes.
If you lean wood shavings up against an unglazed pot in the kiln, it will darken that area, and the edges of the dark area will have a wide range of colors.
There is also making agateware. Agateware, as the name implies, looks like agate stone. It has random patterns in the surface. You make it by mixing 2 colors of clay together, and making your pottery, then at leather hard you trim the outer layer off to show the pattern.
This bowl is one of my works in the agateware medium. It is not neat and orderly. It is random. Funny story about agateware, I actually developed it independently without fore-knowledge of it. After I made a few things out of it, my teacher pulled me aside and showed me a book with the same thing. I was shocked. I had actually gone a month thinking that I was the first person to do it. I had been calling it grand canyon ware because the multi-colored rock layers were my inspiration. We all had a good laugh about it. This probably happens every time artists of the same medium are inspired by the same thing.
There are ways to have a stone-like broken appearance on just the outside: by applying slip containing crushed roasted shells.
There are ways to make ashes build up in certain places and make a dappled glaze: by mixing wood ashes and slip 1:1 and applying it, then dusting it while wet with dry ashes.
If you lean wood shavings up against an unglazed pot in the kiln, it will darken that area, and the edges of the dark area will have a wide range of colors.
There is also making agateware. Agateware, as the name implies, looks like agate stone. It has random patterns in the surface. You make it by mixing 2 colors of clay together, and making your pottery, then at leather hard you trim the outer layer off to show the pattern.
The Art of Camouflage
Camouflage is something I think most people don’t give much thought to. There are 5 types I will discuss here.
1. Camouflage of Action
2. Camouflage of Persons in an Urban Environment
3. Camouflage of Buildings in an Urban Environment
4. Camouflage of Persons in the Wilderness
5. Camouflage of Buildings in the Wilderness
1. Most people understand that Camouflage of Action needs to appear random. Random location, random time, random method. What most people don’t understand is mathematical randomness. If you never do the same thing the same way at the same time twice, it’s not random, it’s evenly distributed. But you have to balance that in such a way as to not allow a discernible pattern of actions to emerge. You also want clusters of actions to be varying distances from your home base. Map out all your planned actions. Draw a circle around those actions. If your home base is near the center of that circle, you’re not being random.
2. In any kind of visible Camouflage, you are aiming to blend in with your surroundings. For urban areas, you don’t want to stand out among the population. In the business district, a suit and tie. In the suburbs, jeans and a t-shirt. Act natural. Walk at a normal pace, stay calm. Don’t do anything that would make you seem out of place. When your action is over, fade into the crowd.
3. Once again, nothing out of place. A ton of people coming and going from a house or abandoned building screams illegal activity. But if a bunch of “construction workers” show up and then an abandoned building suddenly has a new sign out front, it could go quite a while without being discovered. Also, never have everybody in one place at one time. Use your secure coms to keep in touch. Have multiple bases of operation.
4. In the wilderness, you want to look like part of the landscape. This is where your clothes make you blend in with landscape instead of people. The patterns of homemade camo clothing can be random (see #1). For military surplus or hunting camo, it isn’t. The pattern and contrast matter as much as the color. Look at the types of landscapes that dominate your area of operations. Look at those dominant colors. Now find camo clothing that is closest to those colors with mid-to-high contrast. If you can find that in digital camo, all the better. I personally prefer Predator brand camo because it has both micro and macro patterns with mixed contrast. The military surplus Multicam pattern has good contrast and good micro patterns.
5. Camouflaging a building in the wilderness takes some work. The best way is to bury it away from regularly traveled areas and avoid taking the same path to it very often (which would create beaten trails). You need to keep it out of view of rivers, lakes, roads, other buildings, and aircraft. During construction, you can use camouflage netting to keep your project from being spotted, though it isn’t 100% effective. You should cover the top of your structure with 8” of soil, and a layer of sod to reduce chance of detection by heat detecting cameras. The heating system should be vented a minimum of 100 feet, and up to 300 feet away. The sod on top of your structure should be scattered with branches and leaves in a truly random pattern, not evenly. Nature is random.
1. Camouflage of Action
2. Camouflage of Persons in an Urban Environment
3. Camouflage of Buildings in an Urban Environment
4. Camouflage of Persons in the Wilderness
5. Camouflage of Buildings in the Wilderness
1. Most people understand that Camouflage of Action needs to appear random. Random location, random time, random method. What most people don’t understand is mathematical randomness. If you never do the same thing the same way at the same time twice, it’s not random, it’s evenly distributed. But you have to balance that in such a way as to not allow a discernible pattern of actions to emerge. You also want clusters of actions to be varying distances from your home base. Map out all your planned actions. Draw a circle around those actions. If your home base is near the center of that circle, you’re not being random.
2. In any kind of visible Camouflage, you are aiming to blend in with your surroundings. For urban areas, you don’t want to stand out among the population. In the business district, a suit and tie. In the suburbs, jeans and a t-shirt. Act natural. Walk at a normal pace, stay calm. Don’t do anything that would make you seem out of place. When your action is over, fade into the crowd.
3. Once again, nothing out of place. A ton of people coming and going from a house or abandoned building screams illegal activity. But if a bunch of “construction workers” show up and then an abandoned building suddenly has a new sign out front, it could go quite a while without being discovered. Also, never have everybody in one place at one time. Use your secure coms to keep in touch. Have multiple bases of operation.
4. In the wilderness, you want to look like part of the landscape. This is where your clothes make you blend in with landscape instead of people. The patterns of homemade camo clothing can be random (see #1). For military surplus or hunting camo, it isn’t. The pattern and contrast matter as much as the color. Look at the types of landscapes that dominate your area of operations. Look at those dominant colors. Now find camo clothing that is closest to those colors with mid-to-high contrast. If you can find that in digital camo, all the better. I personally prefer Predator brand camo because it has both micro and macro patterns with mixed contrast. The military surplus Multicam pattern has good contrast and good micro patterns.
5. Camouflaging a building in the wilderness takes some work. The best way is to bury it away from regularly traveled areas and avoid taking the same path to it very often (which would create beaten trails). You need to keep it out of view of rivers, lakes, roads, other buildings, and aircraft. During construction, you can use camouflage netting to keep your project from being spotted, though it isn’t 100% effective. You should cover the top of your structure with 8” of soil, and a layer of sod to reduce chance of detection by heat detecting cameras. The heating system should be vented a minimum of 100 feet, and up to 300 feet away. The sod on top of your structure should be scattered with branches and leaves in a truly random pattern, not evenly. Nature is random.
Wednesday, May 4, 2016
Making Mead for Beginners
The flavors in Mead depend on the honey and type of yeast. There are 2 main types of process, either like beer or like wine. If you buy mead at a liquor store, it is usually the wine type. Depending on the characteristics you want, you use different yeasts. Mead ranges from sweet to dry, may have lots of carbonation, medium carbonation, or none at all. And it's essentially the easiest fermented beverage to make while still maintaining a wide variety of possibility for creativity.
You can make a small batch of sweet beer type to get started making your own the same way I started out. Just take a jar, add boiling water and honey in a 85% water and 15% honey ratio. Stir to dissolve the honey. Let it cool completely, and add 1tsp of yeast. Any yeast will work. If you don't want to spend money on a fancy wine or beer yeast, you can use bread yeast, but it tastes better with the wine or beer yeasts. I suggest ale yeasts for this recipe. After you add the yeast, stir it a bit and put the lid on the jar loosely. Store it somewhere dark. Keep it out of sunlight at least or it will taste like the rear end of a skunk. Within an hour or two, it should be cloudy like yellow milk. After about 2 weeks, the yeast should have exhausted its supply of sugars. When it is ready, it should be clear with sediments on the bottom. Add 1 tsp of honey to another jar the same size. Pour the mead out into the second jar carefully so you don't get sediments in the second jar. Tightly lid the second jar and swirl it around to dissolve the new honey. Leave it for a few days to a week and it's ready. When you pour it, it should foam up like beer. But the taste is more delicate.
Variations:
Hippocras is when the mead is brewed with spices. You boil them in the water. This is something you develop based on your own taste, but I like orange peel, clove, cardamon, and cinnamon.
Hippocras is when the mead is brewed with spices. You boil them in the water. This is something you develop based on your own taste, but I like orange peel, clove, cardamon, and cinnamon.
Melomel is when you add fruit juices to the mead before you ferment them. You must boil the fruit juices if they are not pasteurized already and make sure it's cool before adding the yeast.
Bochet is mulled mead. You pour the mead into a pot after only the first fermentation, then add spices and orange or lemon peel and heat it together. Served hot on cold winter days, it is a repast fit for royalty.
Forging Specialized Blades
Khukri, Sickles, and Saws are all difficult to make for an average newbie smith. Newbies usually learn scrolls, bowie knives, nails, hinges, smithing tools, and some decorative work when just starting out. (I base this assumption on my books and experience.)
Khukri are actually very simple. They are forged first for a reversed distal taper, and then you forge the point like with a Seax. A Khukri's method is essentially the same as a Seax, but the degree of the initial downward sweep and the distal taper are different as is the outcome (a Seax results in a straight blade due to the opposing forces of the flat hammering and the spine hammering). Next you put the blade over the anvil so the edge is directed at the top of the anvil and the spine is facing up. Make sure about half of the blade hangs off the anvil. Strike the spine of the blade starting at the point. Use the same hammer strokes you do for scrollwork. Next you forge the edge, turn the blade so it is flat on the anvil with the edge facing you and so the area being worked is flush with the edge of the anvil's face. This was easy for me since I have a square anvil with no horn. Next you forge the sides to form the taper from spine to edge. If you've made knives of any kind before, this will be easy. I've forged single bevels (like Japanese sushi knives) and double bevels alike. Be sure to keep it all straight so the blade doesn't warp. I use a 4oz ball peen hammer for straightening blades. The deep belly of the Khukri comes from the forging of the reverse distal taper. The distal taper of the finished piece will be regular up to the belly, then taper to the point.
Sickles are essentially the same procedure as the Khukri, but instead of the reverse, there is a regular distal taper. You can forge the end of the tang into a ring (scroll forge into a 9 shape, then forge a right angle in the connection point on the edge of the anvil after quenching the round to keep its shape) for a Kerambit, or forge it into a right angle for attaching to a stick to make a rice sickle.
Saw Blades are another simple one. I use 15n20 spring steel for them. First cut it to size with a hacksaw. 15n20 from New Jersey Steel Baron already comes the proper width and depth for a small saw. I cut it to length, anneal it, drill holes for the handle (totally up to the smith how you want to do that), and break out the sharpie. Draw a straight line about 2-3 mm from the edge. Clamp the saw blade in a vice with the edge up. Take out the triangular chisel and start filing into the blade down to the edge of the line. I make mine to cut on the pull stroke. Compare to a crosscut saw to be sure you are doing it right. Next, heat it up to a dull red and set the teeth. You offset each tooth in the opposite direction as the ones next to it. Try to get them all evenly offset, and try to match the offset of your example saw. Next is the sharpening, anneal the blade again, go back in with your triangular file and sharpen each tooth. Then heat it to cherry red and quench just the teeth in oil, allowing the rest of the blade to cool on its own. Next you clean it. I suggest a hoppes #9 to get rid of the grease, and vinegar and steel wool to get rid of the scale. DO NOT USE A BUFFING WHEEL. It will yank the saw out of your hands and send it flying.
Slings: For Combat and Survival
Slings
Slings are weapons that use centrifugal force to lob shot great distances with reasonable accuracy. They are just as deadly now as they were in the old days. You can make them out of fabric, cords, leather, or similar materials. It consists of a "pouch" which is actually an oblong piece of cloth or leather, and at either end a length of strong cord is tied. One cord has a loop that goes around your wrist, and the other cord has a knot tied in it that you grasp between your thumb and forefinger. The cord around your wrist is held by your pinkie finger. Excluding the loop and knot, both cords should be about 1 yard long. The shot is put into the pouch and the sling is twirled vertically like an underhanded softball pitch. You release the knotted cord to let fly the shot. It takes a fair amount of practice to become accurate, but a blow from a slung shot is devastating. There are also methods for sidearm and overhanded shooting, but these are even more difficult to master. You could make one in Jail from a torn up t-shirt and shoot chunks of soap... At close range, it can be used as a garrote or be loaded and used as a flail without releasing the knotted cord. Best of all, it can be rolled up and fit in a pocket or be tied around the waist under a belt.
Staff Slings
Staff Slings are more accurate and devastating though with less range; and were a weapon used in the Ancient Near East during the Bronze Age. You need a replacement broom pole or 4-6 ft long 1" dowel. You could also fabricate this from a sapling. You need a 1-2" spike to stick out of one end. You can hammer in a nail and cut the head off, or use antler or bone spike. It's up to the maker. If you hammer anything into it, use a 1" length of 1" inside diameter pipe as a ferrule to keep the staff from splitting. You make the sling as above, except with different cord lengths. One cord needs to be 22 inches, the other needs to be 18 inches. Make a small loop in the end of the 22" cord and tie the 18" cord to the staff 18" from the end of the staff with the spike. The pouch needs to be 16" long and 4-6" wide. This is like a hand held trebuchet. It slings overhand in a single arcing motion. You can also wrap the sling portion around the staff and use it as a walking stick or melee weapon.
Shot for Slings
Round rocks are the most expedient, but pretty much any dense material can be used. Staff Slings can handle larger shot (about the size of a tight fist) than regular Slings (about the size of an egg). Traditionally, shot has been made from clay and lead, but can also be cast from potmetal, pewter, concrete, or plaster. Spheres are the best shape in my opinion. Ball bearings come to mind. As mentioned, you can also make soap shot, though heavier materials will do more damage.
Slings are weapons that use centrifugal force to lob shot great distances with reasonable accuracy. They are just as deadly now as they were in the old days. You can make them out of fabric, cords, leather, or similar materials. It consists of a "pouch" which is actually an oblong piece of cloth or leather, and at either end a length of strong cord is tied. One cord has a loop that goes around your wrist, and the other cord has a knot tied in it that you grasp between your thumb and forefinger. The cord around your wrist is held by your pinkie finger. Excluding the loop and knot, both cords should be about 1 yard long. The shot is put into the pouch and the sling is twirled vertically like an underhanded softball pitch. You release the knotted cord to let fly the shot. It takes a fair amount of practice to become accurate, but a blow from a slung shot is devastating. There are also methods for sidearm and overhanded shooting, but these are even more difficult to master. You could make one in Jail from a torn up t-shirt and shoot chunks of soap... At close range, it can be used as a garrote or be loaded and used as a flail without releasing the knotted cord. Best of all, it can be rolled up and fit in a pocket or be tied around the waist under a belt.
Staff Slings
Staff Slings are more accurate and devastating though with less range; and were a weapon used in the Ancient Near East during the Bronze Age. You need a replacement broom pole or 4-6 ft long 1" dowel. You could also fabricate this from a sapling. You need a 1-2" spike to stick out of one end. You can hammer in a nail and cut the head off, or use antler or bone spike. It's up to the maker. If you hammer anything into it, use a 1" length of 1" inside diameter pipe as a ferrule to keep the staff from splitting. You make the sling as above, except with different cord lengths. One cord needs to be 22 inches, the other needs to be 18 inches. Make a small loop in the end of the 22" cord and tie the 18" cord to the staff 18" from the end of the staff with the spike. The pouch needs to be 16" long and 4-6" wide. This is like a hand held trebuchet. It slings overhand in a single arcing motion. You can also wrap the sling portion around the staff and use it as a walking stick or melee weapon.
Shot for Slings
Round rocks are the most expedient, but pretty much any dense material can be used. Staff Slings can handle larger shot (about the size of a tight fist) than regular Slings (about the size of an egg). Traditionally, shot has been made from clay and lead, but can also be cast from potmetal, pewter, concrete, or plaster. Spheres are the best shape in my opinion. Ball bearings come to mind. As mentioned, you can also make soap shot, though heavier materials will do more damage.
Preserving the Harvest, Part 3, Smoking
This is a method long used in the Americas for preserving Meats and Hot Peppers. It can also be used for many other vegetables such as garlic and tomatoes, and vegetarian substitutes like tofu and TVP. This article will cover hot peppers and fish specifically. The methods may be used for a wide variety of foods though.
For hot peppers, you select peppers with minimal blemishes and no insect damage. You’re aiming for a warm smoke. Not hot enough to cook, not cold, just warm enough to drive out water. You should use sweet woods like oak, maple, apple, or mesquite. Soak the wood chips or chunks in water overnight. Place whole peppers with a slit in them on a high rack in your smoker. Use in-direct heat. Periodically place soaked wood on a very small charcoal or wood fire. Drying may take several days depending on weather. Be sure there is good airflow. Peppers are done when between leathery and crumbly. This is how chipotle and ancho peppers are made. Works on any pepper, but tastes best on red and orange peppers. To make powder for cooking, you can take out the stem and seeds and run it through a food mill or blender. To make paste, de-seed peppers and boil in water. Run water and peppers in a blender until smooth. To make hot sauce, do the same as paste, but use vinegar, and use enough vinegar to make it runny. For more info on peppers, see the article on peppers.
For Fish, I’m going to walk you through a method used not only by Native Americans, but also by the Ainu people of Japan and Russia. You might be wondering why I’m bothering with fish in a farming/gardening group. The answer is the growing popularity of Aquaponics systems. Those people need to know how to preserve all of their harvest, not just the vegetables. Many of us here are also avid fishermen. So anyways, you take a whole fish, slice open the belly, gut it, rise it out. Run a hook into the mouth and out the gills. Hang it in the smoker. Use small sticks to prop the body cavity open. Smoke cold until the flesh is completely dry. Use woods like alder, birch, poplar, and cedar. I personally favor birch.
Preserving the Harvest, part 2, Salt Pickles
In the previous document, I showed
how to make 2 kinds of Kimchi. While Kimchi are all salt pickles, the
method for them is different than the western method I will present
here. Below are recipes for Garlicy Cucumber Pickles and Sauerkraut.
Making western style salt pickles is very simple. You just pack cut
fruits or vegetables in a moderate amount of salt. You can add spices or
leave them plain. You can experiment with the method and see what works
for other vegetables, not just the ones used here.You can try making
kraut out of other cruciferous vegetables, or try salt pickling peppers.
The sky is the limit.
Sauerkraut
Rinse a head of cabbage, shred or slice into long strips. Into a clean jar, put a teaspoon of pickling or sea salt. pack in a single layer of cabbage. Sprinkle in salt and add another single layer of cabbage. Pack it down tight with an oak dowel each time. Repeat until the jar is full. Cover the top of the jar but don't screw the lid down. Leave it on the counter for a few days. In time, the jar will fill with liquid and the cabbage will ferment and turn sour. When it tastes as sour as store-bought kraut, you can water bath can it or store it in the refrigerator.
Garlicky Cucumber Pickles
Slice fresh ripe cucumbers into rounds about 1/8 inch thick. Back them into a clean jar with salt in the same manner as the kraut, except that you also add garlic along with the salt. If the liquid that accumulates in the jar does not cover after 1 day, add some distilled water to cover. As with the kraut, let set out on the counter until they are quite sour. Then you can refrigerate or can them.
Sauerkraut
Rinse a head of cabbage, shred or slice into long strips. Into a clean jar, put a teaspoon of pickling or sea salt. pack in a single layer of cabbage. Sprinkle in salt and add another single layer of cabbage. Pack it down tight with an oak dowel each time. Repeat until the jar is full. Cover the top of the jar but don't screw the lid down. Leave it on the counter for a few days. In time, the jar will fill with liquid and the cabbage will ferment and turn sour. When it tastes as sour as store-bought kraut, you can water bath can it or store it in the refrigerator.
Garlicky Cucumber Pickles
Slice fresh ripe cucumbers into rounds about 1/8 inch thick. Back them into a clean jar with salt in the same manner as the kraut, except that you also add garlic along with the salt. If the liquid that accumulates in the jar does not cover after 1 day, add some distilled water to cover. As with the kraut, let set out on the counter until they are quite sour. Then you can refrigerate or can them.
Preserving the Harvest, part 1, Making Kimch'i
Waya's Kimch'i Base (Use one recipe of base for each of the recipes below...)
1 cup boiling water
1 tsp sweet rice flour (It says もちこ on the box it comes in.)
1/4 cup shiracha chili paste
3 tbs patis (Filipino fish sauce, I use it because it's darker and stronger tasting than Korean fish sauce.)
1/2 tbs minced garlic
1 vidalia onion sliced into crescents
2 tsp ground ginger (mature)
1/4 cup shredded mu (daikon, depending on the store the sign will say 大根 or 무. If you can't find it, use 3 red radishes)
1/4 cup shredded carrot
2 tsp sugar
1 tsp roasted yellow or white sesame (black would discolor the kimch'i)
Dissolve the rice flour in the hot water, add all other ingredients and mix it together.
Baechu Kimch'i
dissolve 1/2 cup of sea or kosher salt in 1 gallon of drinking water (spring, distilled, filtered, etc... just don't use tap unless it's well water. fluoride is bad for fermenting because it hinders the growth of L. kimchii, the bacteria responsible for kimchi's sour taste. There's nothing to fear, that bacteria is related to L. acidopholus in your yogurt. A recent study in South Korea has shown that eating Kimch'i regularly can decrease the risk of contracting SARS and Influenza. Kimch'i is also thought to be the reason that Diabetes and most Cancers are less common in South Korea than in China and Japan.) Rinse and quarter a Nappa cabbage, submerse in the salt water, cover and let stand overnight. Remove from the water (reserve this brine, you'll need it later) and rinse the cabbage. Put it in a container with the Kimch'i base (the one above, buying it is not an option) and mix it well. Cover air-tight, and store in the refrigerator. In 4 days it is ready to eat. It lasts forever in the fridge and sealed. I'm told (by a friend) that 20 year old Kimch'i is considered a delicacy.
Pa Kimch'i
Remove the roots and any wilted leaves from 9 or 10 bunches of green onions. Submerge them in the brine leftover from the cabbage and cover. Let rest overnight. Remove the onions from the brine and rinse them off. Mix them in a container with the kimch'i base and cover air-tight. Let rest in the fridge 4 days before eating it.
1 cup boiling water
1 tsp sweet rice flour (It says もちこ on the box it comes in.)
1/4 cup shiracha chili paste
3 tbs patis (Filipino fish sauce, I use it because it's darker and stronger tasting than Korean fish sauce.)
1/2 tbs minced garlic
1 vidalia onion sliced into crescents
2 tsp ground ginger (mature)
1/4 cup shredded mu (daikon, depending on the store the sign will say 大根 or 무. If you can't find it, use 3 red radishes)
1/4 cup shredded carrot
2 tsp sugar
1 tsp roasted yellow or white sesame (black would discolor the kimch'i)
Dissolve the rice flour in the hot water, add all other ingredients and mix it together.
Baechu Kimch'i
dissolve 1/2 cup of sea or kosher salt in 1 gallon of drinking water (spring, distilled, filtered, etc... just don't use tap unless it's well water. fluoride is bad for fermenting because it hinders the growth of L. kimchii, the bacteria responsible for kimchi's sour taste. There's nothing to fear, that bacteria is related to L. acidopholus in your yogurt. A recent study in South Korea has shown that eating Kimch'i regularly can decrease the risk of contracting SARS and Influenza. Kimch'i is also thought to be the reason that Diabetes and most Cancers are less common in South Korea than in China and Japan.) Rinse and quarter a Nappa cabbage, submerse in the salt water, cover and let stand overnight. Remove from the water (reserve this brine, you'll need it later) and rinse the cabbage. Put it in a container with the Kimch'i base (the one above, buying it is not an option) and mix it well. Cover air-tight, and store in the refrigerator. In 4 days it is ready to eat. It lasts forever in the fridge and sealed. I'm told (by a friend) that 20 year old Kimch'i is considered a delicacy.
Pa Kimch'i
Remove the roots and any wilted leaves from 9 or 10 bunches of green onions. Submerge them in the brine leftover from the cabbage and cover. Let rest overnight. Remove the onions from the brine and rinse them off. Mix them in a container with the kimch'i base and cover air-tight. Let rest in the fridge 4 days before eating it.
Soil Composition and the Nutrient Cycle
Soil consists of Inorganic Matter
(sand, silt, and clay), Organic Matter (fallen leaves, roots, and
decomposing plants), and Microbes (bacteria and fungi). In addition to
the soil, there needs to be plants and leaf litter (mulch) for a healthy
system. If it lacks any of these things, the Nutrient Cycle plants rely
on will be incomplete. The inorganic matter contains all the minerals
needed for healthy plants. But in most cases they are not water soluble.
The microbes convert them to water soluble forms. But microbes have
several needs that have to be met first. They mostly eat the sugars in
dead plant matter, and break them down into a sort of compost as a
byproduct of this action. They need this matter to live. They also need
shade, from either plants or from the leaf litter; preferably both. They
also need water to live. Leaf litter holds rainwater by shielding it
from evaporation. Organic matter in the soil also holds water like a
sponge. Fungi form mats of mycelium that may extend over very wide
areas. The world's largest living thing is a single fungus that lives in
the Pacific Northwest of the US.[See "6 ways mushrooms can save the
world" by Paul Stamets.] Those mycelial mats in the Mychorizae family
distribute water and soluble minerals to plants in exchange for sugars.
Meanwhile, some types of bacteria turn nitrogen (N2) from decaying plant
matter and the air into ammonium (NH4+). Without this function, plants
could not grow at all. They need ammonium to grow leaves and produce
chlorophyll.
In places where people have destroyed the nutrient cycle by depleting the organic matter in soil by ploughing, chemical fertilizers dominate. However, this has lead to more problems than solutions. The problems with chemical fertilizers are several. Firstly, they contain salts, and salting the soil kills remnant beneficial microbes. Secondly, chemical fertilizers are water soluble as is and most are not time released. When it rains, these run off and more fertilizer must be applied. The runoff presents its own set of problems. Besides increasing salinity in freshwater streams, it also causes algal blooms*. *http://www.epa.gov/nutrientpollution/harmful-algal-blooms
In places where people have destroyed the nutrient cycle by depleting the organic matter in soil by ploughing, chemical fertilizers dominate. However, this has lead to more problems than solutions. The problems with chemical fertilizers are several. Firstly, they contain salts, and salting the soil kills remnant beneficial microbes. Secondly, chemical fertilizers are water soluble as is and most are not time released. When it rains, these run off and more fertilizer must be applied. The runoff presents its own set of problems. Besides increasing salinity in freshwater streams, it also causes algal blooms*. *http://www.epa.gov/nutrientpollution/harmful-algal-blooms
Composting Tips
Composting seems pretty simple on
the surface. You pile up dead plants and wait for them to decay into
black dirt that you use to fertilize the garden; but it is actually a
complex ecosystem in action, and there are some things you can do to
make it work better.
The pile needs to have enough nitrogen to decay quickly. Forms of nitrogen include manure, grass clippings, and any other green material. You need a balance of brown material such as fallen leaves, and either green material or manure. Different people suggest different ratios, but you can't go wrong with 50/50.
Next is moisture. You need to keep the pile moist so fungi and bacteria can do their jobs. But you don't want it sopping wet or it will smell like a swamp from lack of oxygen. If it doesn't rain for more than 2 weeks, wet it down with the hose.
Air. The fungi and bacteria that predominate in a healthy compost pile require oxygen, so the pile should be turned at least once a month, but more often is fine too. Turning also helps equally distribute the water, and helps distribute fungal spores.
Introduction of microbes is one way to get a new pile off to a good start. One way is to make compost or manure tea and drench the new pile in it before giving it a turn to mix it up. Another way is to take water from a pond or fish farm and water the pile with that. Water that contains fish poop also contains nitrogen-fixing bacteria that turn the green matter and manure from ammonia into bioavailable forms of nitrogen. You can also buy "mushroom compost" which is just decomposed matter seeded with spores from beneficial fungi, and mix that with the pile the first time you turn it, and those will turn the whole pile into mushroom compost.
The pile needs to have enough nitrogen to decay quickly. Forms of nitrogen include manure, grass clippings, and any other green material. You need a balance of brown material such as fallen leaves, and either green material or manure. Different people suggest different ratios, but you can't go wrong with 50/50.
Next is moisture. You need to keep the pile moist so fungi and bacteria can do their jobs. But you don't want it sopping wet or it will smell like a swamp from lack of oxygen. If it doesn't rain for more than 2 weeks, wet it down with the hose.
Air. The fungi and bacteria that predominate in a healthy compost pile require oxygen, so the pile should be turned at least once a month, but more often is fine too. Turning also helps equally distribute the water, and helps distribute fungal spores.
Introduction of microbes is one way to get a new pile off to a good start. One way is to make compost or manure tea and drench the new pile in it before giving it a turn to mix it up. Another way is to take water from a pond or fish farm and water the pile with that. Water that contains fish poop also contains nitrogen-fixing bacteria that turn the green matter and manure from ammonia into bioavailable forms of nitrogen. You can also buy "mushroom compost" which is just decomposed matter seeded with spores from beneficial fungi, and mix that with the pile the first time you turn it, and those will turn the whole pile into mushroom compost.
Till-Free Corn Growing
This is the way my Grandpa (1/2
Cherokee, 1/4 Norsk, 1/4 Svensk) said to, and I grow corn this way
without a plough, tilling machine, or shovel.
In the fall, pile leaves and pine needles 6-8 inches deep over corn patch. Introduce worms if there aren't any that you can find. Night-crawlers dig deep burrows and drag decaying leaves into them. Red Worms tend to do their munching right at ground level. Compost worms tend to stay in the general root zone. Worms don't eat dirt; they eat the fungi and bacteria from decaying stuff. The leaves decay over the winter providing the worms with an above-freezing haven and food. Decay produces just enough heat to keep the ground workable for them. The worms make paths in the soil for roots, improve drainage, and tend to make nutrients more available to plants through the digested bacteria in their castings (poop).
In the spring when you are ready to plant the corn, remove the leaves and pile them up for composting elsewhere or use them as mulch elsewhere. Corn buttress roots can't go through them.
As soon as the leaves are removed, make a planting stick of good hardwood such as locust or hickory. It should be about 3/4 to an inch thick and long enough so you don't have to bend over to stab the ground with it. It should have a gently tapered point at one end and a peg through it about 2x the length of the kernels being planted from the tip. Go about stabbing the ground at a measured distance of about 10-14 inches apart. The peg stops the planting stick from going too deep. Corn grows best in blocks rather than rows. Rows of corn tend to have pollination issues if there aren't enough adjacent rows.
Take your corn gathered up in a pouch at the waist or slung over the shoulder, and take a length of pipe or hollowed out cane and you can use this tube by sticking it in the holes, dropping in 1 kernel of corn, and moving on to the next hole as you kick a bit of soil over the hole with your shoe or if barefoot, can pinch the hole shut with your toes.
I prefer the latter, I do most tasks in the field barefoot. Only time I don't is when around the squash. Been doing it since I was a kid. Only ever did it with shoes in school. I try to avoid stepping on frogs and if I accidentally do, I can feel them and stop myself from putting weight on them. Frogs are a farmer's best friend. They can easily rid the field of most unwanted 6-legged guests that get within a foot of the ground. I've seen at least 4 species of amphibians in my field. Other beneficials are non-poisonous snakes, lizards, wasps, ladybugs, mayflies, spiders, mantids, and assassin bugs. You can add chicken manure if you need more nitrogen; I like to add rockdust and ashes as well, but in the winter so it doesn't harm spiders.
When the corn is 1 ft tall, plant the pole beans between the corn stalks. My family's pole beans are little speckled brown things with no wrinkles and our corn is blue and white with a dent in the end. If you plant squashes or melons around the corn and beans, the four-legged visitors tend to stay out because of the prickles. I've never used a plough or turned soil for corn and beans. My corn is regularly 10-12 ft tall with sturdy stalks and a good yield of large and full cobs. They don't fall down as often as the farm next door that ploughs. I think it might be because the soil is still firm instead of loose.
In the fall, pile leaves and pine needles 6-8 inches deep over corn patch. Introduce worms if there aren't any that you can find. Night-crawlers dig deep burrows and drag decaying leaves into them. Red Worms tend to do their munching right at ground level. Compost worms tend to stay in the general root zone. Worms don't eat dirt; they eat the fungi and bacteria from decaying stuff. The leaves decay over the winter providing the worms with an above-freezing haven and food. Decay produces just enough heat to keep the ground workable for them. The worms make paths in the soil for roots, improve drainage, and tend to make nutrients more available to plants through the digested bacteria in their castings (poop).
In the spring when you are ready to plant the corn, remove the leaves and pile them up for composting elsewhere or use them as mulch elsewhere. Corn buttress roots can't go through them.
As soon as the leaves are removed, make a planting stick of good hardwood such as locust or hickory. It should be about 3/4 to an inch thick and long enough so you don't have to bend over to stab the ground with it. It should have a gently tapered point at one end and a peg through it about 2x the length of the kernels being planted from the tip. Go about stabbing the ground at a measured distance of about 10-14 inches apart. The peg stops the planting stick from going too deep. Corn grows best in blocks rather than rows. Rows of corn tend to have pollination issues if there aren't enough adjacent rows.
Take your corn gathered up in a pouch at the waist or slung over the shoulder, and take a length of pipe or hollowed out cane and you can use this tube by sticking it in the holes, dropping in 1 kernel of corn, and moving on to the next hole as you kick a bit of soil over the hole with your shoe or if barefoot, can pinch the hole shut with your toes.
I prefer the latter, I do most tasks in the field barefoot. Only time I don't is when around the squash. Been doing it since I was a kid. Only ever did it with shoes in school. I try to avoid stepping on frogs and if I accidentally do, I can feel them and stop myself from putting weight on them. Frogs are a farmer's best friend. They can easily rid the field of most unwanted 6-legged guests that get within a foot of the ground. I've seen at least 4 species of amphibians in my field. Other beneficials are non-poisonous snakes, lizards, wasps, ladybugs, mayflies, spiders, mantids, and assassin bugs. You can add chicken manure if you need more nitrogen; I like to add rockdust and ashes as well, but in the winter so it doesn't harm spiders.
When the corn is 1 ft tall, plant the pole beans between the corn stalks. My family's pole beans are little speckled brown things with no wrinkles and our corn is blue and white with a dent in the end. If you plant squashes or melons around the corn and beans, the four-legged visitors tend to stay out because of the prickles. I've never used a plough or turned soil for corn and beans. My corn is regularly 10-12 ft tall with sturdy stalks and a good yield of large and full cobs. They don't fall down as often as the farm next door that ploughs. I think it might be because the soil is still firm instead of loose.
Hot Peppers
Peppers are one of those foods that have something for everybody. For
folk that don't like it hot: there's Bell, Paprika, Anaheim, Guajillo,
and Smoked Red Jalepeños. For those that like it zesty but still
manageable for children and the elderly: there are Green Jalepeños,
Serranos, Tabasco Peppers, Yatsufusa/Japones, Wax Peppers, and Cayenne.
For those that like it hot enough to be worth the effort but not so hot
as to put them in the hospital there are: Thai Mouse Dropping Peppers (I
grew these this year), Sambal, Korean Green Pepper*, and anything else
in the 20,000-100,000 SHU range. SHU is "Scoville Heat Unit". Bell
Peppers average between 2 and 5 SHU. Green Jalepeños are approx 2,000.
Serranos are about 20,000 SHU. Mouse Dropping Peppers and the low end of
the Habenero group is about 100,000 SHU. And the as yet unmentioned
category of peppers for those who like the sensation of swallowing
flaming ethanol, runs between the Habenero's 100,000 SHU and the
Trinidad Scorpion's 2.1 Million SHU (Current World Record). Other
peppers of the notorious category are the Bhut Jolokia (Ghost Pepper)
and the 7 Pot.
*These resemble the Wax peppers that become pepperoncinis; but they burn the skin, and the waxy residue "...cometh not out but by prayer and fasting." Wear Chem Resist industrial gloves when handling them.
So, you've selected a variety and ordered the seeds... What do peppers need to grow well? They need good drainage and plenty of water. They need shade during part of the day. They need calcium, though not to the extent that tomatoes do. It also helps to companion plant with them.
Pepper Plant Companions:
Tomatoes
Basil
Cilantro/Corriander
Marigold
Onions
Garlic
Carrots
Celery
Parsley
Thai Basil
Leeks
Radish
Cabbage
Mustard
Pepper Plant Enemies:
Corn
Beans
Squash
Birds may be a problem, but a wire cage will negate that. A rabbit lives in my yard and took a nibble once... Never happened again.
Bumble Bees are a pollinator of Peppers and Tomatoes among other things. Don't kill them. Peppers don't need pesticides. Peppers seem to repel crickets to some degree since they proliferate in my garden but are seldom seen among the peppers. Inter-plant Peppers with Cilantro to repel aphids.
Pepper Preservation:
Drying is probably the best way of preserving peppers long term. To dry peppers, cut off the stem with a pair of dollar store scissors and lay the pepper whole on a drying rack and dry them until they are easily broken. It takes 2-3 days for my Thai Mouse Dropping Peppers in an electric dehydrator. The seeds may be removed easily after the peppers are dry, but I prefer to leave them in my peppers for making chili powder in the blender. I add a touch of rice flour to prevent caking.
Chile Paste or Juice can be frozen either en masse or in measured 1 tbs amounts on a cookie sheet or in an ice cube tray. To make Chile Paste, just cut off the tops, and pop them in a blender and blend them up. To make Chile Juice for sauces, marinades, and cocktails, cut the tops off and juice them in a juicer. I did this with Ginger and froze it in an ice cube tray in measured 1oz quantities.
Hot Sauce
Take some Chili Powder or Chile Paste in the amount of 1oz, and put it in a bottle, add 1 tbs of garlic powder, 1 tsp of sea salt, and add 1 cup of your favourite vinegar. Cap it and have your kid or hyper sibling shake it.
Chile Vinegar
Slice 2-5 peppers lengthwise and stuff them into a bottle or jelly jar. Add a 2.5 inch piece of lemon grass and a few cloves of chopped garlic. Fill the jar with Rice vinegar and let it set for a week or so.
The Cocktail from Hell
Pour 1oz of ginger juice, 1/2oz of hot pepper juice, and 1oz of vodka into a shotglass. Get someone else to try it. It will wake you up no matter how tired you are.
*These resemble the Wax peppers that become pepperoncinis; but they burn the skin, and the waxy residue "...cometh not out but by prayer and fasting." Wear Chem Resist industrial gloves when handling them.
So, you've selected a variety and ordered the seeds... What do peppers need to grow well? They need good drainage and plenty of water. They need shade during part of the day. They need calcium, though not to the extent that tomatoes do. It also helps to companion plant with them.
Pepper Plant Companions:
Tomatoes
Basil
Cilantro/Corriander
Marigold
Onions
Garlic
Carrots
Celery
Parsley
Thai Basil
Leeks
Radish
Cabbage
Mustard
Pepper Plant Enemies:
Corn
Beans
Squash
Birds may be a problem, but a wire cage will negate that. A rabbit lives in my yard and took a nibble once... Never happened again.
Bumble Bees are a pollinator of Peppers and Tomatoes among other things. Don't kill them. Peppers don't need pesticides. Peppers seem to repel crickets to some degree since they proliferate in my garden but are seldom seen among the peppers. Inter-plant Peppers with Cilantro to repel aphids.
Pepper Preservation:
Drying is probably the best way of preserving peppers long term. To dry peppers, cut off the stem with a pair of dollar store scissors and lay the pepper whole on a drying rack and dry them until they are easily broken. It takes 2-3 days for my Thai Mouse Dropping Peppers in an electric dehydrator. The seeds may be removed easily after the peppers are dry, but I prefer to leave them in my peppers for making chili powder in the blender. I add a touch of rice flour to prevent caking.
Chile Paste or Juice can be frozen either en masse or in measured 1 tbs amounts on a cookie sheet or in an ice cube tray. To make Chile Paste, just cut off the tops, and pop them in a blender and blend them up. To make Chile Juice for sauces, marinades, and cocktails, cut the tops off and juice them in a juicer. I did this with Ginger and froze it in an ice cube tray in measured 1oz quantities.
Hot Sauce
Take some Chili Powder or Chile Paste in the amount of 1oz, and put it in a bottle, add 1 tbs of garlic powder, 1 tsp of sea salt, and add 1 cup of your favourite vinegar. Cap it and have your kid or hyper sibling shake it.
Chile Vinegar
Slice 2-5 peppers lengthwise and stuff them into a bottle or jelly jar. Add a 2.5 inch piece of lemon grass and a few cloves of chopped garlic. Fill the jar with Rice vinegar and let it set for a week or so.
The Cocktail from Hell
Pour 1oz of ginger juice, 1/2oz of hot pepper juice, and 1oz of vodka into a shotglass. Get someone else to try it. It will wake you up no matter how tired you are.
Ecologic Restoration and its importance to Bush-crafters
As bush-crafters, we rely on the natural world... that same world is being destroyed at an alarming rate by pollution, logging, current agricultural practices, and urban sprawl. Also, the less deciduous trees, the more extreme the weather worldwide because they regulate temperatures by shielding the ground from the summer sun but not the winter sun. Individually, not much of a difference, but the cumulative effect is the difference between a thunderstorm and an f5 tornado, or between abundance and famine due to rainfall (it has been long known that the cooler air under a canopy of trees can cause water to condense out of the air and fall as rain or appear as dew).
So, what can we do to stem the tides of destruction of our habitat, and by extension, our way of life? Lots of simple things actually. I'm not going to suggest use of the so-called "green technologies" or any other high-tech solutions because those are just money-making schemes. The solution to our problem is to restore the damaged systems to their former glory by planting seeds and mulching. It really is that simple. We can also coppice trees for lumber instead of clear-cutting. What you see in the picture below is an area in my backyard where I grow squash. Looks more like a forest floor than a garden bed. This is intentional use of fallen maple leaves and twigs in soil remediation. the soil there has not been dug or loosened in any way, and is currently so lush in the planted ground-cover that I have to prune the stuff back to keep it from choking out the more slowly-growing zucchini. Wherever I look under the leaves, there are worms and pill bugs (they prefer to eat the mulch, but will settle for your crops when none is available, so mulch). What does a mulch do? It holds water like a sponge, adds soluble minerals to the topsoil as it decays that were brought up from the water table by the tree, promotes populations of beneficial microbial life, provides food and moisture to all 3 types of earthworms thereby loosening and blackening soil up to 8 feet deep over time, shields the soil from rain thus preventing erosion and from the sun thus preventing evaporation, and provides living space for insectivorous animals (a good thing in any garden or field). Okay, but what to plant? Start out with native taproots, legumes, fast-growing trees, and fast-growing drought-tolerant perennials. Mulch the areas immediately around the bases of the plants if you can't do the whole area. Also toss seed balls around made of compost, potters' clay, and seeds collected from local grasslands. These plants tend to perform the function of succession of woodlands. They pave the way so to speak. Bringing leaves from an established woodland and grassland can help seed the proper microbes and insects more quickly. Chop and drop the field plants until the trees are tall enough to shade them. Come back in a few years, it will have transitioned without you into a functional woodland. You can tweak it by bringing in plants and seeds that you find useful so you don't have to go looking for them in the woods. The act of propagating useful wild plants in a woodland is called Forest Gardening. It was the first type of agriculture practiced by humans. The concept of Permaculture (Sustainable agriculture and society using natural processes to produce abundance.) is based on this successful strategy. Not turning the soil is important because soil has layers. In each layer, there are different mechanisms of nutrient production that benefits plants. Some deep-soil bacteria will die if exposed to oxygen, and mycelial mats that move nutrients and water die when they are dug into smithereens and exposed to bacteria from layers they wouldn't naturally venture into. Soil will be adequately aerated and dug by worms and other burrowing creatures. Fungi and bacterial films can handle small amounts of stress, but nothing can really survive overwhelming stress of being ripped to shreds, infected, and starved at the same time.
So, what can we do to stem the tides of destruction of our habitat, and by extension, our way of life? Lots of simple things actually. I'm not going to suggest use of the so-called "green technologies" or any other high-tech solutions because those are just money-making schemes. The solution to our problem is to restore the damaged systems to their former glory by planting seeds and mulching. It really is that simple. We can also coppice trees for lumber instead of clear-cutting. What you see in the picture below is an area in my backyard where I grow squash. Looks more like a forest floor than a garden bed. This is intentional use of fallen maple leaves and twigs in soil remediation. the soil there has not been dug or loosened in any way, and is currently so lush in the planted ground-cover that I have to prune the stuff back to keep it from choking out the more slowly-growing zucchini. Wherever I look under the leaves, there are worms and pill bugs (they prefer to eat the mulch, but will settle for your crops when none is available, so mulch). What does a mulch do? It holds water like a sponge, adds soluble minerals to the topsoil as it decays that were brought up from the water table by the tree, promotes populations of beneficial microbial life, provides food and moisture to all 3 types of earthworms thereby loosening and blackening soil up to 8 feet deep over time, shields the soil from rain thus preventing erosion and from the sun thus preventing evaporation, and provides living space for insectivorous animals (a good thing in any garden or field). Okay, but what to plant? Start out with native taproots, legumes, fast-growing trees, and fast-growing drought-tolerant perennials. Mulch the areas immediately around the bases of the plants if you can't do the whole area. Also toss seed balls around made of compost, potters' clay, and seeds collected from local grasslands. These plants tend to perform the function of succession of woodlands. They pave the way so to speak. Bringing leaves from an established woodland and grassland can help seed the proper microbes and insects more quickly. Chop and drop the field plants until the trees are tall enough to shade them. Come back in a few years, it will have transitioned without you into a functional woodland. You can tweak it by bringing in plants and seeds that you find useful so you don't have to go looking for them in the woods. The act of propagating useful wild plants in a woodland is called Forest Gardening. It was the first type of agriculture practiced by humans. The concept of Permaculture (Sustainable agriculture and society using natural processes to produce abundance.) is based on this successful strategy. Not turning the soil is important because soil has layers. In each layer, there are different mechanisms of nutrient production that benefits plants. Some deep-soil bacteria will die if exposed to oxygen, and mycelial mats that move nutrients and water die when they are dug into smithereens and exposed to bacteria from layers they wouldn't naturally venture into. Soil will be adequately aerated and dug by worms and other burrowing creatures. Fungi and bacterial films can handle small amounts of stress, but nothing can really survive overwhelming stress of being ripped to shreds, infected, and starved at the same time.
Primitive Pottery: Step by Step
You should prepare some tools in advance. You will need a digging tool such as a pointed stick or shovel, and a pounding tool such as a rounded rock that fits in your hand or a large hammer. You will also need a more or less flat surface to work on, a pointed twig, some kind of scraper (shell, bone, wood, piece of sheet metal, lid from a snuff can), and a way to fire the pottery (many options from hole in the ground to a complex naborigama kiln). If you want a shiny polish, you will also need a stainless steel spoon, polished rock, or glass marble.
First step after gathering the above tools is to dig your clay. If there isn’t clay in your immediate vicinity, you can find it on river banks. Dig the clay out and carry it to your work area. Crush this up with your stone or hammer so that it is a fine dust. Pick out any rocks or twigs. You should get some gritty sand or crushed broken pottery that is the same size as large sand grains (called grog) and some sifted wood ashes and mix them into the powdered clay. I’d estimate a handful of each should be added to each 4 cups of powdered clay. This prevents stress cracking during the firing phase. Mix very well, then add water. Mix it to a consistency like a tough dough with some stretch to it. It shouldn’t break by rolling it into a snake. If it does break, then it is too dry. If this happens, knead in more water and let it rest for a day covered by plastic or oilcloth. You will learn through practice, the best consistency.
Next you make your pottery. Use the pointed stick to score the edges of 2 pieces of clay that will be joined together, then use a few drops of water between the pieces, and smear it together. It takes a bit of practice, but if the pieces are at least as thick as your thumb, it is very easy. Thinner pieces are harder to join smoothly. If you don’t add the ash and sand or grog, this would be the weak points where your pots break in the fire. The less joining you do the stronger the pottery.
Next you let it dry just until it will not move by being pushed lightly. It should not be totally dry. This is called “leather hard”. You take your scraper and go over the surface scraping off high spots so it is somewhat smooth. Then, if you want to, take the marble or smooth stone and give it a high polish by rubbing. If you have a knife or wood carving tools, you can also lightly carve the surface for decoration. If you did not polish it, you can apply glaze to it. If you want to glaze it naturally instead, the instructions will be in the next phase. Let it dry absolutely.
For the next phase you will be firing your pottery. This is needed to keep it from disintegrating in water, or being very easily broken. If you opt to glaze it, it will also hold water better and be less prone to breaking when used to cook food. To glaze it, you have several options:
Applying an even coat of liquid glaze during the previous step
Salt Glazing
Soda Glazing
Ash Glazing
The latter 3 only work if the clay has a medium to high iron content. Most clay does, other than the pure white clay used for making porcelain, so it shouldn’t be a problem. There are hundreds of methods for firing the clay. The fire pit methods are workable, but you almost always lose at least one item due to uneven heating and low temperature drafts from wind. If you need a higher success rate and better fuel efficiency, you should build a kiln. The two simplest are the bottle kiln and the anagama kiln. In a bottle kiln, you have a fire pit with side access on the bottom, a brick or fired ceramic grate above that for pottery to sit on, and a cylinder of walls above that with access from the top for loading and unloading the pottery. On top of that, you dry stack bricks to form a dome with a hole in the top as a lid. In an anagama kiln, it is a place for the fire that is dug into the ground, the pottery is several inches higher on the flat ground set up on little plaster cubes so it doesn’t touch the cool floor. You can make the plaster bits in an ice cube tray. There is a tunnel running from above the fire pit, along the full length of the pottery area, to a chimney that is head high. I built my last anagama kiln out of cinder blocks and loaded it from the top by removing bricks. You have to warm the pots slowly. You build up the fire very slowly. It should be 2-3 hours before you have a blaze. Once you have a blaze going, you need to hold it for a minimum of 6 hours. If you want an ash glaze, you need to fire it for 8-10 days. If not, then the optimum is 8-10 hours of blazing fire. There should be fire coming out the chimney. When you look into the kiln, if the pottery is glowing orange, you can add salt or baking soda and it will react with the clay to make a glass on the outer surface. Once you are done with the time needed for the firing, you close up all holes in the kiln with bricks and mud and let it sit for several days until it is completely cool. This is tempering. The longer it takes to cool, the less chance of cracking and the less chance of breaking during use. Once it is cool, you can unload it. The pots may still be warm, wait until they are room temp before you wash the ashes and dust off. Once washed, they are ready to use.
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