Tag: nature connection

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Berry Season

One of my favorite things about summer is the berries. While it is definitely the best season for fruit, berries really jump out as a real seasonal treat. We are spoiled these days with berries being available year round, frozen or shipped in from warmer locations where they can be grown year round, but these pale in comparison to the fruits of summer.

These last two years, I have realized there are buckets of wild berries growing all around us here. There are the blackberries and wineberries along the bike trails, there are blueberries and huckleberries in the woods. Mulberries (usually the non native white mulberry) drip from the trees leaving the sidewalks stained purple. 

Last year, I read M. Kat Anderson’s “Tending the Wild” about how California’s native communities had a cultural relationship with the ecosystem that fostered many of the plant communities in the state while simultaneously providing the resources their communities needed. This got me thinking about my relationship with the berry bushes in my life. I may collect arrow shafts from the blueberry bushes, but I am also pruning them, removing dead wood that may harbor disease, keeping vines off them, making sure they don’t get too shaded out which encourages them to produce more fruit the following year; I might not be able to beat the birds to them but the plant and I both benefit from the relationship. 

While the time of year for pruning and fostering your local berries is past, you can still get out there and enjoy the bounty of the season.

I am going to share my general recipe for berry ice creams. I’d encourage you to go out and forage some berries (especially if you get the wineberries to reduce their spreading) but it works almost as well with store bought berries  If you do not have an ice cream maker, I have successfully made this ice cream by using one large bowl (material doesn’t matter) with ice and salt, a smaller metal bowl nestled inside and a spatula. I will keep it in the freezer and every few minutes scrape the sides of the bowl. I have also heard of people making it in 2 ziplock bags or inside metal paint cans. You can google or find instructions for those methods on youtube. One good thing about berries in the ice cream is they contain pectin which helps stabilize the ice cream, break up ice crystals and make this one of the better ice creams to make without an actual ice cream maker. That said you can often find used ice cream machines at goodwill stores for very cheap.

Ingredients:

1 pint berries

½ cup evaporated milk (you can use condensed milk but omit any additional sugar)

1 cup heavy cream

3 egg yolks

½ cup sugar

Juice of ½ lemon.

In a sauce pan put the berries, a pinch of the sugar and lemon juice over low heat and allow the berries to break up and cook.

While the berries are getting to simmering, whisk together the remaining sugar and the egg yolks, set aside.

In another sauce pan heat up the evaporated milk and cream. You should be aiming to have them be 140° but if you don’t have a thermometer, stop them before they start to froth.

Once to temp, whisk ¼ of the cream milk mixture into the yolks before gradually adding the rest.

If you are making blackberry or wine berry ice cream you need to the berries through a mesh strainer, you can press them through with a rubber spatula to get ALL the summer berry goodness out of them. Blue berries you can strain too, but it isn’t necessary

Mix the berries in with the cream and place in the fridge until it is under 45° or overnight.

If you have an ice cream machine or are using an improvised freezing method follow the instructions from here using your ice cream base instead of theirs. https://www.youtube.com/shorts/oIWAtN4x92Y

Once you have the mixture churned and ready to go in the freezer, this is the time to add any add additional things into the mix. for example a fudge swirl or chocolate chunks which pair super well with berry flavors.

Enjoy beating the heat with your sweet berry treat!

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The Journey Towards Becoming a Beekeeping

I have always been amazed by pollinators and now that we have a great place to house some bees, I put the call out to my friend who has been sharing his honey and wax with me for years. This Spring my buddy Stefano, from Azure Bee Apiaries, helped me catch my first swarm of honey bees.

First thing we did was set a bait hive up on the chimney of the new Ancestral Knowledge Museum and Primitive Skills Research Center. The bait hive we used was a box with 6 frames with a few with old natural comb from some other hives. He also put some queen bee pheromones on a Q-tip that he place in the box. the box was strapped up to the chimney so it couldn’t fall. Stefano was downloading all sorts of information through the whole process, I wish i had a note pad.

The day after we set up the bait hive I had to go to the Mid Atlantic Primitive Skills Gathering site to start setting up. When I came back to the cabin, to my delight, i noticed the box was covered in bees!!! We attracted a swarm!

Now that we have a swarm of bees, we needed to move them from the chimney to the ground. The bees have been in their new home for over a week so this was a very slow process. We had to move it off the chimney to the roof first, allowing the bees to find its new position, then to the edge of the roof, then to the ground, then across the yard. After about 6 weeks and 6 moves, it was finally in its final resting place.

Meanwhile I visited my other buddy Tony at Red Sun Tea company in Asheville NC. He has an amazing apiary that pollinates his tea plants. I went there to tell him about my exciting new hobby, and absorb any tidbits of knowledge he wanted to drop for my. While I was there, one of his colonies split and swarmed, so I was able to help catch a swarm and put it into a new hive. What a crazy experience, to be completely engulfed in bees flying all around us, landing on our faces and bodies, and not stinging us.

The bees swarmed and gathered on a branch about 12 feet off the ground in a small tree that we could bend down over a large trash can. With one big, jolting shake the swarm fell in a big clump into the large trash can below it. One of the neatest things about this, besides standing in the midst of 1000’s of bees going absolutely crazy, was the transfer from the can to the hive box. As Tony lifted the trash can and slowly dumped it over the hive box, the bees poured out of the trash can like a liquid, flowing in waves as they rolled out of the can into the hive box. It was mesmerizing. I was so excited to go home to visit with my new bee friends.

I came back to my new swarm, fired up to become their buddy. Every couple days I would go out and open the hive, let the bees land on me, letting them get a feel for who I am and that I was not a threat. Over the next couple of months I would randomly go out and watch their vigorous activity, leaving and returning with pollen packed legs, observing their different dances they did and trying to learn from their behaviors. One of my favorite things to do was put my face near the entrance and just breath in the sweet earthy smell that emanated from the hive. One day, my son and I opened the hive and pulled out the individual frames to see if we could find the queen. Early on Stefano and I couldn’t locate here, so I had yet to meet her. As we pulled frames and carefully observed, Nick spotted her. I couldn’t have been any happier about this journey that I had set out on.

After a while Stefano told me that I should start feeding the bees to help prepare them for the winter. He talked me through how to do that and I set up a feeding bag in the top of the hive. The bees took to it immediately. a couple weeks went by and I added more food, it was all natural honey from Stefano. I went out one day to check on its supply and I immediately noticed that there wasn’t as much activity, as I approached the hive I could smell this odd, fermentation like smell. When I opened up the hive there were no bees, no honey, just larvae and beetles. All of the honeycomb was dry and half gone.

The hive had been raided by other bees and infested with wax moths and hive beetles. I was at a complete loss of words, the feelings I was experiencing were like none I had felt before, anger and sadness jumbled together stirring in my head. I called Stefano and he said, yeah, welcome to the beekeeping journey. He shared that the way to be a successful beekeeper is to have many hives as invasions, collapse, and other things contribute to the failure of a hive and the more you have the more successful you will be.

I found something in common between Stefano and Tony, that commonality is that they both focus on capturing and raising wild bees that are untreated with strong genetics. Neither of them where the classic Bee Suits, and Stefano doesn’t use smoke to subdue them. They both stay very calm and move very slowly and deliberately. Watching them work on hives is pretty amazing to see.

Since the loss of my first swarm, Stefano has brought me 3 more hives to tend over through the fall and winter. I am looking forward to more learning experiences and adventures with the bees.

If you or a friend has been wanting to explore the world of beekeeping, Stefano is teaching a workshop in October here at the Ancestral Knowledge. You can join me and we can journey together as he shows us how he works his magic and shares what he knows about the art of beekeeping.

This post was submitted by our Executive Director, Bill Kaczor

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Great Cordage Materials in the Mid-Atlantic Region

As we move into the cooler months, we’re all looking to spend more time outdoors. Increasingly, one of my favorite ways to connect with nature is by making cordage with natural materials. Cordage or rope making has been one of humanity’s fundamental skills since prehistory. Outside of survival uses like shelter building, fishing line, and bowstrings, simple rope has been instrumental in seafaring, construction, and even mathematical calculations.

I find hand twisting simple 2-ply cord to be incredibly relaxing, it clears my head and keeps my hands busy. It truly feels like what your hands are meant to do. By learning the local plants to use this skill with, I have been able to develop a tactile connection with nature that I wish to share.

Below is my guide to some of my favorite materials cordage I’ve found around the DC-Maryland area:

Wisteria:
You either know this vine for its large purple drooping flower or being one of the most destructive, tree-killing invasives on the east coast. What you might not know is that the vines hold an incredibly strong inner fiber.

Where to find it: ANYWHERE. Roadsides, forests, suburban parks, your backyard. This stuff is incredibly invasive. I find that the ground runners work best but whenever I can I try to cut wisteria off from trees.

How to process it: After cutting down the vine,I find that the easiest and fastest way to process the fibers is by making two shallow cuts at the cut end with a pair of clippers in an X pattern. This allows you to get your fingernail under the bark and start peeling. Once you’ve finished peeling, you can scrape away the outer bark with a knife and then separate the fibers lengthwise.

Dogbane:
If you were a Native American living here 1000 years ago, this would be your fiber of choice. Dogbane( also called Indian hemp due to its use in ropemaking) is an incredibly widespread perennial plant native to North America. Due to this and the high tensile of its fiber, dogbane was used for everything from bowstrings to nets to bags on this continent. All parts of the plant are highly toxic when ingested to most animals including humans by way of the cardiac glycoside, apocynamarine, which can cause cardiac arrest. But unless you plan on eating your rope, this is not a concern.

Where to find it: Dogbane likes wet soil and direct sunlight. Look in open fields, hillsides, and weedy roadsides. Dogbane is best harvested dead in the fall. I like to clip off any branches off the stem for easier transport, I always leave the seed pods in tree branches to help the seed better disperse.

How to process it: Take the woody stem and crush it flat using either your hands or a hard surface/rock depending on the strength of the stem. Afterwards, split the stem down the middle, you will now have four segments. You then break the woody stem away from the fibers in one direction and peel away in the opposite direction. For a finer cordage you can remove the outer red bark from the inner fibers, the easier way to do this is just by rubbing the fiber in your hands.

Pawpaw:
The pawpaw may be the ultimate survival tree. This small understory tree is native to most of the southeast and has become increasingly popular with foragers and gardeners The pawpaw fruit is high calorie and packed with nutrients, the wood makes for an amazing friction kit, and the inner bark makes for an incredible cord.

Where to find it:
Pawpaws grow in rich moist soil, I commonly find them on the slopes of floodplains, creeks, and marshlands. Something to note is that pawpaws grow in a type of grove called a clonal colony; meaning you can usually find dead standing trees among the living ones.

How to process it:
I look for dry standing dead pawpaw trees, ideally the bark should peel right off the wood. You can then simply peel the inner fiber away from the bark. Another possibility is collecting the bark green and retting it in water. Retting is the process of separating fibers by way of a controlled rot. This should be done for at least a day but your results may vary.

Now those were just a few plants I have experience with in the area but there are dozens more! Some that I would also look out for include: Evening Primrose, Stinging nettle, marsh mallow, and Milkweed. So get out, explore, learn a new plant and twist some cord!

BLOG Post was submitted by our field instructor Ben Kamm

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Tracking: A Story Waiting to be Read

“Tracks occur where the sky touches the earth” The Tracker – Tom Brown Jr

I have this vivid memory of taking a cardboard box, some string and a carrot into the woods across the street from my house.  As seen in the cartoons, I found a stick, tied the string to it and propped up the box with the stick and put the carrot underneath.  With the opposite end of the string in my hand, I laid in the brush several feet, watching, waiting.  I don’t remember how long I laid there, but I had nothing better to do, so it was quite a while. I was feeling good about this attempt as cartoons made it very clear that carrots were a rabbits preferred food, not to mention I would always see rabbits along the edge of the woods. I was hoping one would come along and go for the carrot at which point I would pull the string and trap it under the box.  To my surprise, and disappointment, nothing came and I didn’t understand why.

If only my grandfather, or even my “great” “great” grandfather had been taught the old ways of their “great” “great” grandfathers, so that my father could pass them onto me.  But unfortunately, that is not my history.  However I had this deep passion to learn the old ways at a very young age. 

Life went on, time passed, and thanks to the skills my father possessed and could pass on, I learned the ways of being a successful “modern” man, modern awareness and how spot the predators of the city and suburbs.  Then one day, thirty years ago, I read a book changed my life.

I was given a copy of The Tracker written by Tom Brown Jr. I couldn’t put the book down. Next thing I knew read his next 5 books and had a more questions about who I was and what is our purpose as humans on this earth.  At the end of each book there was a note in the back saying something along the lines of “if you’re interested in learning more about these skills, contact the Tracker School…”

Without telling the long version of the story, I ended attending the Standard class (a level 1 class) at the tracker school.  There I learned, with 125 others, the sacred order of survival and our basic needs to live; shelter, water, fire, and food.

During the standard Tom taught hours and hours of animal tracking, down loading enough information to fill a college credit course.  I couldn’t believe how much information was stored in a single track on the ground. Throughout the week It became very clear Toms passion was tracking and he was a tracker.

Reading that book, finding the Tracker School, and attending that class filled a void within my being that I had no idea existed.  Everything about my childhood started to make sense.  My passions, how I learned, the things that made me feel alive all came together within my being and I began to feel complete, with a drive to learn more about who I am and what my purpose was through learning the “old ways”. 

Tom said, “tracking is like reading a book, there is a story that is being told with each track being a word, The trail a paragraph, and the story ends when you find the final track.” He also said “when you’re tracking an animal, you become the animal and begin to “see through their eyes,” living their story.”

With each track you can learn so much. How fast they were moving, which way were they looking, if they were comfortable or on alert, hungry or satiated and so much more. The more you more you track, the more questions you ask, the more you ask more becomes apparent, sentences, and paragraphs of the story would become clearer. If only I was taught how to read tracks at the same time, I was introduced to the written word… if only.

Bill Kaczor – Director/Co-founder

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Barbie is Dead!

“One must still have chaos in oneself to be able to give birth to a dancing star.”

Nature empowers females (Notice that we call her Mother Earth, not Father Earth.). Although there are certainly laws of nature that must be “obeyed,” we generally don’t think of the planet in paternalistic terms. It’s difficult to behold the abundance of life brimming forth from every nook and cranny of this bizarre space rock and not feel the power of the womb, and realize that the forces at play are the maternalistic ones of nurturing, caring, and giving.

Every time a parent gives us feedback about how their daughters come home from our programs more animated, capable, and confident from climbing over rocks and roots, getting dirty, carving with knives, making things with their hands, learning about plants, and all the other things we do out in the woods, it is a truly heartwarming experience. We live to receive emails like this:

“So proud of my daughter, Sophia. She started off the week not sure if she wanted to go to Ancestral Knowledge Wood Wise I Camp, anxious at first that she was the only girl until a few more girls showed up. She came home every day with a layer of dirt and a smile on her face. Today she was so proud that she had earned her bead for going out in the woods alone, sitting quietly for half an hour, and observing animals. I’m grateful to the young women who were her role models as counselors this week. Sophia seems stronger and more confident. Ancestral Knowledge Camp seems to be an effective counter to princess culture. (See https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2016/06/24/princess-culture-is-bad-for-girls-now-theres-proof/) Let’s hope she carries these lessons with her. Wood Wise II is next week! She is on her way to becoming a strong young woman. Thank you!”

All that being said, it’s important to keep a balanced perspective and remember that our young men face plenty of their own challenges in the modern world. In an age where the masculinity of our young people is pathologized, criminalized, and medicated out of existence, time in nature is more important than ever for all our children, regardless of gender. Just like our daughters need Mother Earth to bring forth their strengths and cure them of timidity, our sons need Her to teach them lessons of empathy and connectedness.  Wild nature is the perfect antidote for Ken, too. Plastic people don’t seem to fare too well out there, and good riddance.

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Are you Prepared to Get Out and Play this Winter?

We encourage everyone to get out and enjoy the outdoors during the winter time.  However everyone responds to cold temperatures differently. Keeping feet, hands, and clothing dry is very important because toes and fingers are most susceptible to damage from the cold. Whenever possible carry an extra pair of socks in case your feet get wet and a couple plastic shopping bags to put over the dry socks to avoid the boots saturating the dry socks. Wet feet, hands, and clothing need to be addressed in a timely fashion because wet clothing will cause you to lose warmth. If you get wet its best to get indoors or change those layers. If that’s not possible build a fire to warm up and dry out those wet clothes.  Being prepared and dressing properly will allow for hours of winter fun and exploration!

The follow descriptions will help you dress for various cold weather conditions.

The Base Layers – The first layer of clothing closest to the skin should be a type of long underwear or base layer. They should be lightweight, comfortable and cozy. Try to avoid cotton because it holds moisture and can become heavy and cold if wet. Wool or synthetic blends of clothing are the best materials. You’ll find long underwear available at various prices and styles. One trick is to use synthetic sweat pants or tights if you don’t have a base layer available.

The Extra Insulation Layers – The insulated layer of clothing is worn over long underwear for extra warmth. Materials such as a fleece jackets or wool sweaters are great. Again avoid cotton if you can because its fibers soak up water and become heavy making you feel wet and cold. During the coldest temperatures multiple layers may be necessary.  The best thing about layering is that you can add or shed a layer depending on your comfort level.

The Outer Layer (Outer winter coats and Snow pants) – The outer layer or shell should be waterproof, providing protection from wind, rain and snow. Waterproof shells typically have minimal insulation so they can be worn over the inner layers without being too balky . You’ll find outer shells in both jackets and pants, making them ideal for a number of cold-weather activities. Your winter coat should have a hood, be wind-resistant, water-repellent and breathable. Down jackets, filled with goose feathers, are excellent for warmth but need to be protected in wet weather with a rain jacket.  Fleece-lined ski jackets are excellent also. One-piece snowsuits might be appropriate for kids who spend all day outdoors in the winter. Snowsuits are highly water-resistant and provide the maximum protection from the wet snow.

Winter Hats, Neck warmers, and Face-masks – Half of your body heat is lost through your head. Traditional scarves, neck warmers, hats and face masks help keep your face and body warmer by stopping valuable heat loss from the head and neck. Wool, synthetic or fur are the preferred materials.

Gloves and Mittens – Cold hands can ruin a day. It best to have water-resistant mittens, which keeps hands warmer than gloves.   Gloves, however allow for more dexterity. In wet snow or rain water resistant material is important. Fleece and wool mittens become useless when wet.  Wet gloves don’t keep hands warm unless you dry them out.  Insulating your wrists aids dramatically in keeping you hands warm. Old wool socks with the toes cut out and a thumb hole added make great wrist gators.  Wearing water proof mittens with a glove liner gives you the ability to have both warmth and mobility when needed.

Socks and Boots – Instead of cotton socks opt for polyester and wool-blended socks that keep toes insulated even when damp with sweat or wet from snow. You want waterproof or resistant boots. Make sure they are not too snug. Go up a size when buying winter boots to compensate for thick wool socks.

REI has a good reference page on layering.

Most of these items can be found at thrift stores. If you wish to purchase new items, REI, Dick’s Sporting Goods, Hudson Outdoor, Gander Mountain, and other outdoor and camping stores all sell these items. Target sells poly-pro long underwear in kids sizes.

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Ancestral Knowledge Battles Against Nature Deficit Disorder

Our main goal here at Ancestral Knowledge is to bring the inner-city youth back to nature through programs like the ancient skills demonstrations we have held at the Washington D.C.’s Capital Hill Day School and other youth focused programs.  In addition, we help maintain connections to nature with adults through our partnership with the Wilderness Survival program a Georgetown University.  And, have provided experiences to adults who have lost touch with their childhood memories of the outdoors and want to regain that healthy relationship. Our youth and adult programs are helping reduce Nature Deficit Disorder.  We have seen some of the results with the kids we have continual contact with and it is encouraging.

Nature Deficit Disorder?

Almost two years ago the National Conservation Training Center in Shepherdstown, West Virginia, hosted the National Dialogue on Children and Nature Conference. The focus of the conference was on saving our children from nature deficit disorder. You may have heard of this phrase before, it is the title of a book by Richard Louv, Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature Deficit Disorder.  Louv in his acclaimed book argues that today’s children have lost their connection to the natural world because of the addictive character that the modern world of television, computers and video games has on our children.

Some of the actions, solutions, and opportunities that the conference participants suggested are still useful, but we have not seen much progress in making them reality other than limited research on the benefits of exposing children to nature.

Health-related actions: Conduct research on the benefits of exposing children to nature instead of pharmaceuticals; incorporate the health benefits of nature into medical and nursing school curricula; and encourage pediatricians to prescribe nature time for stress reduction and as an antidote to child obesity.

Education actions: Assure that every school utilizes nearby; offer students in-nature time during teacher in-service days; create new partnerships between schools, farms, ranches and public parks; establish a national Nature Bee; and ask each student to be personally responsible for one living thing.

Societal actions: Create a “Take a Child to Nature” day; persuade AARP to create a nature-mentor program; establish a child-nature impact assessment for all built environments; and engage religious organizations.

Locally, AK has been fruitful in establishing at least one of the possible solutions–ancient skills educational and nature programs–to local schools and universities. Parents can have a voice too by calling teachers, school boards, and congressional representatives to encourage more funding and focus on getting our children out in nature and, of course, signing up their children for outdoor experiences.

Let’s work together for a better future.

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Travel Without Time or Destination!

So many people talk about wanting to connect with nature, achieving oneness, or grounding themselves. There are so many programs and organizations advertising nature connection (we sure have them). I don’t want to be the bearer of bad news, but in my opinion no program or workshop can make that happen, it’s too personal of a journey.  However, I do believe that workshops and programs can lead you to the trail head, point you in a direction, or give you the vehicle to get you there, but there is a catch!  It definitely isn’t as easy as a click of a mouse and it won’t happen overnight!  I can say, learning wilderness skills and increasing my awareness have been part of the best years of my life! When I experienced the feeling of oneness and connection for the first time it was only for a moment!  And it wasn’t in a program or class, it was with a group of friends practicing what we learned from a program we all had attended.  Once you experience it, what then?  You want more, you need more, you want it to last longer, but how?  In my experience I have found that I feel one with the earth, myself, and connected to those around me when I am regularly working on skills and projects from the days of our ancestors. Whether it’s bow making, animal tracking, or studying wild plants, these skills form a direct connection to the earth, our ancestors, and our deeper selves. Another way to achieve this is by venturing out without time or a destination.These traditions are some of the keys that open the doorways to the past, present, future & inner peace! Take the journey, leave the watch and phone behind. Learn to travel without time or destination and most importantly enjoy yourself!

At Ancestral Knowledge we are dedicated to helping people find their passions!  If you would like to get started on the personal journey of a lifetime let me know how we can help you get started. 
Thanks for reading!
Bill
PS-  Check out one of our programs below! They are perfect for all skill levels from beginner to advanced.  They will surely add some fun and adventure to your life!