Chaga

Whilst out hiking in Sweden at the beginning of October I came across one of the biggest Inonotus Obliquus fungi I have ever seen. Approximate dimensions were 8x8x5" with a weight of around 1kg.

I. Obliquus is a black parasitic fungus that grows on Betula (birch trees) in the Northern Boreal forests or Taiga regions. It has long been used as a folk medicine in East European countries including Russia, where it is referred to as Chaga. It is highly regarded as a Panacea, a cure for many different conditions and scientific studies have found it to contain betulinic acid that has a highly significant effect in treating cancers, high blood pressure and diabetes.

Chaga was traditionally ingested in tea or powder form, inhaled from smoke and applied to the skin. I. Obliquus appears as a blackened burnt area on birch trees, and as such is also referred to as Cinder Conk due to its charred appearance. Another identifying feature is the orange hue of the inner that is visible through fissures on the roughly cracked surface or when the fruit body of the fungi is removed from the tree.

I. Obliquus develops on living trees, killing the sapwood and facilitating the fruition of the fungus inside the bark. Although most common on Betula, it is also occasionally found on Alnus, Fagus, Populus, Tilia and Sorbus.

Chaga tea is simple to prepare and has a pleasantly organic taste. The fungi is scraped or ground to a powder and a small amount is added to hot water and allowed to infuse.

Another name for I. Obliquus is True Tinder Fungus, which, as the name suggest has traditionally been used in fire lighting. My initial experiments with it as tinder have produced poor results and I find there to be much conflicting information on the process of preparing it for use. Many reports state how it takes a spark easily and without preparation, and that it will smoulder for a very long time however I have so far been unable to ignite it with either ferro rod or a traditional flint and steel striker and further tests are required.

Some useful links:

http://www.chagamushroom.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaga_mushroom
http://www.mushroomhunter.net/chaga_recipes.htm
http://mushroom-collecting.com/mushroomchaga.html
http://www.rogersmushrooms.com/gallery/DisplayBlock~bid~5349.asp

Mushrooming Without Fear

Mushroom season is well underway and very soon I shall be heading off to one of the most pristine environments I know to indulge in some fungi foraging. I will be taking along my copy of ‘Mushrooming without Fear’ by Alexander Schwab, which in my opinion one of the best fungi field guides available.

This book takes a different approach to any other I have read in that the author concentrates on only twelve of the most common (and delicious) mushrooms available and emphasises a set of rules to ensure safe and accurate identification. This book is well presented, easy to understand and the advice and pictures are very descriptive. The author advises the reader to peruse the book twice before going out and to learn the set of rules by heart.

Also included is a folding field identification guide so that you don’t have to take the book along with you, there is also an accompanying website.

The mushrooms covered in this book are

Cep, Red-cracked boletus, Larch boletus, Bay boletus, Birch boletus, Hen of the woods, Chanterelle, Trumpet Chanterelle, Hedgehog fungus, Common puffball, Horn of plenty and Cauliflower mushroom.

Good stump, Bad stump

A good tip I picked up from the sagacious Mr Wale from Bearclaw Bushcraft...

Good stump - The stump from a felled or fallen pine tree is easily identified as it rots from the outside in leaving a jagged protrusion from the forest floor. This can be an excellent source of the extremely resinous wood known as Maya or fatwood. The pitch-saturated parts of the 'good stump' appear bright orange with resin when you cut into the wood and a few slivers of this make an excellent addition to your fire-lighting kit. It can also be scraped to produce Maya dust which will easily take a light with a spark from a firesteel.

Bad stump - The stump of a spruce tree is differentiated as it rots from the inside out often leaving a complete ring of bark with a hollowed out centre, it is of little use as it is usually too saturated to use as punk wood for a coal extender.

Primus Litech Coffee Kettle

In a previous post I have spoken of the importance of cutting tools to the outdoors person, however another item that I regard as being equally important to have with me whenever I venture out in The Nature is a metal pot or some other means of boiling water and cooking food.

In March 2009 I participated in a sub-arctic WEISS course where I gained first hand experience of the psychological and moral boosting benefits that come with being able to prepare a warm drink, particularly to the lost or stranded person.

The crusader type cups are a popular choice with many outdoors people and I have a dutch army issue equivalent that has served me well, but nowadays I prefer to use a small kettle. I have been using a Primus Litech Coffee Kettle for around 4 years and I find to be an excellent piece of kit. It is lightweight, extremely robust and well made. It is also very efficient and will boil a comparable amount of water twice as fast as a crusader cup.

I prefer the kettle over other cooking implements mainly owing to the fact that the majority of the foods I pack for a trip require no preparation other than re-hydrating with boiling water. Also, whilst it is fairly compact, I can still pack a folding cup, spork, brew-kit and butane lighter inside.

From the Primus website - Litech is made from ultra-lightweight, hard anodised aluminium, with a surface harder than stainless steel. It has a non stick finish for cooking. Litech also has an extremely even surface, with very shallow pores so there is little space for bacteria and dirt to collect in making it more hygienic than ordinary cookware and easier to clean. It has a folding handle and comes with a mesh bag. Weight: 150g.Volume: 0.9lt. Dimensions: 153 x 77mm.

Robert W. Service (1874–1958)

Some of the most inspirational poetry I have read. Robert W. Service's Rhymes of a Rolling Stone. My personal favourite is titled I'm Scared of it All.

http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Author:Robert_W._Service

New Axe

I have recently acquired a Gransfors Bruks Scandinavian Forest Axe which is the big brother to the renowned Small Forest Axe. Gransfors Bruks, a Swedish company based in the North East of the country, produce some of the best hand forged cutting tools available. I have been using a Small Forest Axe for several years and I find it to be a very efficient and capable tool that can be used to easily fell and limb small diameter trees and to process firewood. Despite this, I wanted something with a little more reach and heft so opted for the Scandinavian Forest Axe.

The Scandinavian Forest Axe is a traditional pattern professional limbing axe with a thin, curved 8cm face sharpened specifically for cutting into fresh, resinous wood and is ideally suited for use in the boreal forests of the north. The handle is 64cm long and the head weighs 1.2Kg. The longer handle and heavier head is a more practical choice for extended trips out or for cold weather usage where large supply of fuel wood is required.

I have used this axe against some well seasoned sycamore logs and also to fell a large birch tree of approximately 2ft. It is a comfortable axe to use and works well for finer tasks such as carving and splitting. The axe is relatively simple to sharpen and maintains a durable cutting edge.

Included with each Gransfors Bruks axe is a copy of The Axe Book that contains information on their ethos, some interesting historical facts as well as extremely practical information.

In my opinion the axe is an invaluable implement to the bushcrafter but as with any edged tool there are negative issues, namely safety and weight, however I feel these are outweighed by what can be accomplished with an axe. I have said before that if I had to choose a single tool to take into The Nature, without any hesitation it would be an axe.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Axe

http://www.bushcraftuk.com/downloads/pdf/woodsmanship.pdf

http://www.bushcraftuk.com/downloads/pdf/mclarenmanual.pdf

Fire with a water bottle?

A while back I watched a DVD by Thomas J. Elpel called Canoe Camping in which he demonstrates how to make fire using what he refers to as a 'puddle lens'. This involves using an upturned plastic drinks bottle as a makeshift magnifying lens to ignite dry, fibrous material. The concept of making fire with this method may seem unlikely, however the same principle applies to using a magnifying glass - the suns rays pass through the bottle and converge at a specific point, the emitted heat increases and creates what is referred to as a hot-spot.

During the recent hot weather I was reminded of this technique and decided to attempt it. I used a half-filled clear plastic bottle, held upside down to focus the suns light through the rounded top part onto a tinder bundle. Very quickly the finely teased dried grass began to produce a wisp of smoke that steadily increased before igniting into flames.

This proved to be a relatively simple method of fire lighting that required little preparation other than good, dry tinder and whilst it may not be a reliable means of producing fire in our temperate climate it remains a viable technique to use in hotter countries.