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The Various Musings of Don Wing
Submitted by Don Wing, USA.
3. Wood, Cold Weather and Things
Have you ever wondered about how our ancestors got along in areas where there was little or no wood for heat or for cooking? I remember reading about an old lady that supported herself, in the 14th or 17th century, by bundling sticks for sale, in some book years ago. I remembered this because at the time I had no idea what the sticks were gathered for. I got to see a 1600's home in Scotland some years later. It turns out they cooked and heated with these sticks. Cutting down a growing tree was not heard of.Here, not a mile from my home, you can get sticks, but for miles there is not a tree to be found. Lots of sage and scrub oak can be found. The American Indians did not cut trees down for fire. Most cooking was done on a small fire and heat was from a small fire in their lodges. You can hover over a fire that is small and warm yourself. With a blazing fire you have to stand back and the heat to your body is poor at best. Let's not forget burning all the food you try to cook. The early travellers crossing the plains used dried horse and buffalo dung for cooking. Camel dung works well too.
I love reading about the Ultra Light Guys fighting about the lightest or best stove. Now tell one of these guys that a wood fire would be better then his chosen stove. The fight would be on. I heated and cooked over an open fire, for months on end, when I was travelling the world. We did not cut trees down. We gathered twigs and down branches along our trip. Coals were used for cooking and we heated rocks for under our sleeping rigs.
Adapting to our environment can mean survival. Sometimes the old ways seem strange. But most would work today just as well as they did way back when. It is said that if we do not learn from our mistakes we are bound to repeat them. I would say that if we forget the old ways we are bound to suffer the learning of them again.
Here is another way our ancestors adapted to their environment. I do this every year. I get in a sauna or sweat lodge till my body is comfortable with the 120 degrees I am sitting in. Then I go outside in the sub zero weather and wait till I am shivering badly. I then go to the heat again and back out in the cold. I do this several times. It adapts my body to the winter weather. I have not had a cold in a lot of years. I do not feel the cold as much as I would if I had not adapted myself for it.
I have taken guys who transferred to Fort Colder Then All Get Out and made them do this. From being in the tropics and +95F in the winter to several feet of snow and -40Fin a matter of weeks is not an easy thing to do. All those that trusted me admitted that they were glad I taught them to quickly adapt to the cold. I am not saying they were warmer, but they could function with out their noses running or shaking so bad they could not be still. The same works the other way. Go from -40F to +95F is not easy. Find a freezer. Get in and get very cold! Hop out and wait till you are burning up. Hop back in the freezer. Do this several times and in no time you will be able to take the heat better. Drinking hot coffee or hot tea in hot weather is another way to adapt. It is slower but it heats your core and helps you to adapt to the heat.
Page 3 of 4 Previous Next [Top of Page]
Page 1: Stoves and things
Page 2: Stealth and things
Page 3: Wood, cold weather and things
Page 4: Axes and things
Page 2: Stealth and things
Page 3: Wood, cold weather and things
Page 4: Axes and things
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