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| Tips for Keeping Warm (Continued) Keeping Feet Warm I always wear two pairs of stockings (cotton and then wool above). The cotton wicks away the perspiration and the wool, even damp/wet, holds the warmth. My little ritual starts about 15 minutes before turning in. I take off my shoes/mocs and hang my socks out to dry. I massage my bare feet and then dry/warm them by the fire. In cold weather, I always carry an extra pair of wool socks and put these on with my dried pair over these. I sleep with my cotton pair between my legs to keep dry for the next day. Having tender, "city boy" feet, I've only wear-soled shoepacks. I have found that another great way to keep feet warm is stuffing mocs/shoepacks with some type of material that will trap dead air space and that your body can heat. Crushed up dry leaves, grass, or even animal hairs are all amazing insulators that are easily replaced. Very messy, but I keep a huge bag of elk hair for this very purpose and swear by the stuff! On a side note, the aforementioned tip works well anywhere on your body. In an emergency, a thin hunting shirt can be made into a three-layer capote, by following the same method. Wear those mocs loose! A foot needs to bend to keep warm, that is why many are cold in big boots that weigh a ton. Tossle-lines (a fuzzed up piece of rope or cordage running under the arch to gain traction) or creepers will grip the moc's tighter, as will snowshoe binding (SO...don't have them to tight to begin with!) Wearing too many liners or socks in loose moc's can cause this problem as well. Dry a pair at end of day, have a camp pair and a day-tripping pair. Dry 'em slow, listen, when they are dry....they're not! Dry them some more, you often get a false reading on cold nights while drying. Warm liners are NOT always dry liners! Liners can be wool blanket liners, rabbit skin, deer hair, elk hair, heck, some even use wool felted sorel boot liners inside their moc's (and it works!) Sleep with a pair between your legs at night to keep em warm, and keep them from stiffening. If you wear socks at all, make them wool! In the book Canadian Wilds, HBC employee Martin Hunter wrote that knitted socks always caused him pain, he liked soft brained fawn skin socks and blanket liners under his mocs. Knitted socks keep the feet too warm, overheated feet are COLD feet. Winter kerchief trick Unless you're one of the few who finds he has blanket length to spare, you may enjoy this trick. On a cold night, augment your wool cap by covering your face and ears with your neckerchief. Mine is large enough to do this and tie it off too. Keep it fairly loose to allow your exhaled breath room to circulate about your face. The neckerchief traps in this heat (remember your internal temp is nearly 100 degrees!) and yet, should not be so tightly woven as to not allow some to escape. This way you stay warm without waking up with splitting headache from mild oxygen starvation. Cooking First, as a boiler is a staple to all trekkers, a few comments need be make. Almost all period boilers are of copper, and secondly of tin. Copper boilers/pots needed to be tinned inside. Certain acidic foods react with the copper (even worse the zinc in brass) and form verdigris. Verdigris can be very poisonous. The next comment is on boiler placement in the fire. Solder melts at a relatively low heat. Because of this, make sure to place boilers along edge of the fire, and with the soldered seam facing out. Cooking small chunks of meat, use a forked green twig. Make sure to leave space between chunks to cook faster and better. Stick end of fork into ground and use another for to support. Angle the support twig back and forth to control elevation of cooking twig. Cook fish gutted and belly up, either skewered alongside fire on resting against flat rock. Done when skin slips free easily and flesh is fairly dry and flaky. When frying up salt pork, save grease in a tin, allow to cool and thicken (cold weather is best for this). Store grease for future cooking, making sure to wax the lip of the tin to make it tight. Reheat oil in a pan to deep fry chunks of fresh game (squirrel is really good this way). Cooks really quickly and adds salty bacon flavor to meat! Good Measuring Estimations for Cooking: 1 open fistful = 1/2 cup, Five-finger pinch = 1 Tbs, Four-finger pinch = 1 tsp, Two-finger pinch = 1/8 tsp Food On the trail suggested food items- 1) hunk of salt-cured bacon (use oil from bacon to cook Johnny cakes), 2) bag of corn meal, 3) bag of parched corn and jerk, 4) brick of chocolate, 5) cone of muscavado sugar (this is the byproduct/cheap sugar left over), and 6) peppermint, or sassafras for tea. For living "high on the hog," bring a small tin of powdered mustard (documented as having been taken on Braddock's fateful march!) Bean & Jerk Soup- Add beans (my mix is lentils, lima and great northern) to hot water and bring to a rapid boil for two minutes. Remove and let stand for one hour. Drain the soak water and refill. Add the broken jerky and boil together with beans for 10 minutes, adding corn meal to thicken (if desired). Coco-mush- dissolve a hunk of chocolate and some muscavado sugar in boiling water- add corn meal to thicken. (Buy "El Popular" 100% authentic {ingredients are sugar, chocolate, cocoa, almonds and cinnamon"}, "Abuelita" - is another good brand, but has artificial flavors and additives.) Popcorn Pudding- This is an Iroquois recipe, the name of which escapes me. Still, it's easy to make and sure tastes good. Pop some regular popcorn and flatten it out with a rolling pin. For a snack, or a nice breakfast, add to a cup of boiling water and maple sugar. Stir until the consistency is like pudding and eat! Pocket/Portable Soup- This is the P.C. equivalent of instant "cup o' soup." Both are basically soups boiled down into a thickened paste, then either cut into cubes and dried or powdered. Portable Soup- Boil down the meat to a thick jelly, season it with salt, spices, and wine, or brandy; when cold cut it in square inches, and dry then in the sun. Keep them in a tight tin vessel and when you use them put a quart of boiling water to one or two of the cakes, vegetables can be added. |
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