Answering Your Earth Skills Student Questions

Every so often, I will get questions by email that pertain to the Earth Skills Correspondence Course, and as I answer them, I think to myself 'I bet other students have questions similar to these, too.'    So I thought I would share them so they are available to all of you out there who are into wilderness skills. Feel free to send me your own questions and I will answer them here when I get a chance.

From EW, from the Rochester, NY area (Now relocated to North Carolina):

Question 1:  Weather - I'm having a heck of a time learning clouds - do you have any learning devices that help? I feel I'm just going by rote memory- read the book, look at the sky, and then try to memorize both for later reference - days pass and I'm looking at the sky unable to remember is that a 'this cloud' or a 'that cloud'?! Any thoughts on what to learn first and how?

Okay, this is a good question.  It reminds me a lot of people first learning about trees, and how at first, they all look the same, so it is overwhelming.   However, the key is to divide and conquer.  (Just like learning your trees!)   You want to start with the easy ones, the big ones, and learn those first.   For example, Cirrus clouds are easy.  They are wispy, thin clouds that are high in the atmosphere, made up mostly of ice crystals.  They are also called Mare's Tails, because they look like the long tail hairs of horses.   They appear at the uppermost edges of a new weather front, and often bring a change of weather.  

Barry Keegan prepares a fire for our primitive pottery class, under
a sky of Mare's Tails (Cirrus clouds).  Autumn, 2007

Read about them in your weather resources, or look them up on Wikipedia, or Google them for different images, and then look for them every chance you get.   As you get familiar with Cirrus clouds, you will start seeing them all of the time.   And that will get you going.  Next you can add Cumulous clouds, which are big, white, fluffy, cotton candy type clouds that aren't all that high in the atmosphere. Start researching and checking out pictures and you will see them everywhere too...

Classic Cirrus clouds, or Mare's Tails, over the
Hawk Circle Barn last summer...

A bone harpoon with fluffy Cumulous
clouds in the background.

The basic idea is to start small, and ask yourself questions like, how high up is that cloud or cloud system?   What direction is it coming from?   How fast is it moving?   Does it look like it contains a lot of moisture?   Is there light penetrating or illuminating it from within, or is it dark and thick?   (Usually the darker a cloud, the more dense and moisture filled it is.)

Weather is something that you can learn but it helps to do some journaling and see what happens after you start seeing different clouds.   It is a practice in awareness, and it will aid your skills of tracking, survival and every other skill, because the details of the weather are part of every skill, and the weather changes all the time.   But start slow and take your time with each aspect of understanding.

Cumulous clouds over the
Tablelands at Gros Morne
National Park, Newfoundland

Special Note:   Many times, your sky will have two or three different types of clouds at the same time, in different atmospheric levels, moving in different directions.  So be aware that you might be seeing a number of things going on, and don't get too confused or frustrated about it.   Just go with the flow!

Question 2:  This question was inspired by a post on one of your blogs - snow on a debris shelter in the winter - if you're confident in the shelters strength (good ribbing and ridge pole - lots of leaf matter, etc) -should the snow that falls on the shelter stay or be removed??

Musician and Wilderness Guy Sean Rowe digs through the snow
 to get to his shelter during a snow storm...

If you have a good shelter, with a strong ridge pole, and you know you have good, sturdy sticks as part of your shelter, then having snow covering it will be extra insulation (snow is an excellent insulator) and make your shelter very warm.   Snow will cut out the little leaks and places where the wind pulls warmth from you.   Snow will actually form a shell around it as it grows and thickens, and it will be warm, quiet and snug.   Even two or three feet of snow should still be fine on your shelter.  

One concern would be wet snow, which is very heavy and you could always take some of the snow off if you notice your ribbing or ridgepole getting pushed down or in.

The big concern with adding snow over your shelter is making sure you have some air holes and air flow in your shelter so you don't suffocate.   You need to make sure your door opening has some space to let air in and out...   Be sure to check it if you start getting some snow falling heavy that your doorway air hole is clear and open.

Does this make sense?   Also, if you live in an area with lots of wet snow and freezing rain, the snow might keep your shelter from drying out when the weather gets warmer, so in that case, you might want to scrape off most of it as the weather changes.

Remember that your shelter should be built with strong sticks and brush, a good ridgepole that doesn't flex or has Y-stick supports under it, and about three feet thickness of leaves, ferns, grasses, pine needles or other natural material to insulate it from the elements.   Built properly, you wouldn't even know it snowed outside if you were inside when the storm started...

Stay warm and dry and hope this answered your question.


Question 3:  On cordage - do you have a good resource about the various plants used for cordage and when is a good time, better time and bad time to collect the plant material? Tree bark - good in the fall, okay in the summer? What about nettles? Or cattail leaves? It would be nice if the resource also noted what materials might be good for what projects- cattail (from what I've read) in not as strong as tree bark - How to process each plant would be great too! Too much to ask for from one book?!

Milkweed stalks found by the roadside,
mid February, 2012

This is a great question and I don't think there is a definitive answer to this one.   There are a lot of guides that list wild edibles and when they are best collected for use by season, and I think Tom Brown has a guide to utilitarian plants in the back of his "Living with the Earth" field guide, but I am not sure if they will tell you what season to gather and all that.   In many cases, it is something you have to learn about in your particular area, as you go.   Maybe there are other resources that some readers of this blog or the students in the course can recommend.   Anyone?

Dried milkweed stalks
ready for storage!

I have on my list of books to write these very subjects so all I can say is that they are in the works, and I will try to complete them as I can, and until then, try to learn which plants and trees have cordage fibers in your current location, and if you get those to me, I can tell you how and when to gather and process them for the particular project that you have in mind.   I also did a blog post last winter about gathering materials, which might help a little.

Soft, silky milkweed fibers,
ready for twisting...

And yes, cattail is definitely not as strong as most tree barks or even other plant fibers!   But woven, they are nicely tough if they are treated well, so they are a wonderful source of good, warm fibers!   Makes good mats, bedding and shelter thatching (the leaves, that is).   Good luck and thanks for asking these great questions!

Insects and Debris Huts: An Earth Skills Question

And Now, a Question about Debris Shelters!

Dear Mr. Sierra,

Hi, I've been practicing debris hut making for a while and the past several times I've had a problem with spiders getting settled before I do. I've been trying to find out how to get rid of them and came across this quote in the posted comments over You Tube but I don't understand what the instructor is talking about.

"Insects and spiders are driven out by 'smudging' VERY carefully so as not to burn down your shelter with you in it. Maine has no venomous snakes and a few spiders that cause localized necrosis. Even so, follow normal snake protocols as if using a modern sleeing bag in the dessert south west in snake country. The walls, while strong enough to climb on after settling, are easily pushed out for a ginger or explosive escape."


What exactly is "smudging"? "Smudging" with what? If you could give me any other insights into how to get rid of unwanted campers in my huts (ie smoking them out??? or anything else) I'd really, really appreciate it very much. Thank you for all your help!!!
Sincerely,
Seriously Suspicious of Snakes & Spider Smudge

Dear SSSS,

First of all, thanks for your question. This is a good one and very important to earth skills students in many parts of the country where poisonous snakes and spiders are a real threat to your safety and health. It only takes one bad spider bite, or a close encounter with a rattler to make anyone run for the Red Roof Inn and stay the heck out of the woods! That being said, there are a few answers to your question that can help you with your situation and concern.

One thing I might add before I begin is to ask where you are located? That does play a factor in this in terms of materials that you typically use for your shelter. Do you use leaves or pine needles? Grasses and cattails? Forest or desert? In any event, you may have to modify these answers to fit your location and available materials.

While I live in the Northeast, which doesn't have many threatening snakes or spiders where I live, I have traveled through the Midwest, West, desert Southwest and the Pacific Northwest, where many of these hazards are real. When I go to an area I haven't been to before, I usually research how the native peoples lived there for thousands of years, studying their shelters carefully, either through books or in the local natural history and native culture museums. In many cases, there are important ways that these shelters protect their people from the local hazards. In the Southwest, many cultures lived in cliff dwellings with clay or sandstone floors which were swept clean, and bedding used was furs or woven rabbit skin blankets, which could be shaken out each day outside to remove spiders or scorpions. Food scraps would be kept to a minimum in these locations, to discourage mice and rats, which attract snakes as predators.

In the coastal foothills of California, tribes like the Tipai-Ipai, Chumash or Cahuilla lived in family dome shelters made from poles of saplings covered by woven palm fronds, mats of grasses, cattails or tules, with shade arbors of brush and sticks. They slept on grass or cattail or tule mats, which could also be shaken and kept clean.

The point I am trying to make is that debris shelters, from a survival point of view, were used in extreme cases, when there was no fur, gathered grasses, cattails or tules were available for long term bedding. They were used in emergencies only. In those environments, all of the available debris is home to insect and spider infestations, including scorpions, too. There just aren't that many options in the foothills and deserts for habitat, and the dangerous critters are predators hunting for food in those areas. Palm trees have lots of fibers, but in the dead fronds, that are clustered along the main trunk, they are loaded with all kinds of insects.

If you build a debris hut with those kinds of materials, it is going to be loaded with 'visitors'. It doesn't matter if you smudge or not. They are going to be there, or move right back in as soon as the smoke clears.

Smudging, by the way, is where you take a bowl, pot, clay pot, wooden bowl or a slab of bark, fill it with hot coals from the fire, then place green leaves, bark, sage, pine or cedar needles or grasses on top of the coals, where they will smolder with intense, thick smoke. Place that container in the shelter and let it fill with smoke so it will drive the insects away. This works very well with mosquitoes and smaller spiders up here in the Northeast.

You have to be very careful, as the coals can heat up the material and then spontaneously burst into flame when it gets dried out. That's when your shelter goes up in a hot, smoldering furnace blast of fire. Not good.

Most native shelters had fires in them, and the smoke from those fires kept the spiders and other insects at bay. It also helped preserve their hides, any food or gear stored there as well. It solved a lot of problems, as well as provided the usual warmth and cooking heat too.

In the wilderness, in an emergency, you might have to make a debris shelter, or a scout pit shelter, and sleep in it right away, and hope for the best. Think good thoughts and hope the spiders and scorpions and snakes don't feel hungry, and make it through the night. If you leave it for any length of time in those kinds of environments, you will have to pull all of the debris out and try to air it out and get the rest of the critters out or you will be unpleasantly surprised.

Native peoples generally had deer, wolf, bear, buffalo or other large animal skins that allowed them to sleep warm and not have to use infested debris.

In 1986, I was living in the high desert plateau forests around Prescott, Arizona, while I was attending Prescott College, and I built a great scout pit in the woods behind our house. I filled it with soft grasses, pine needles and cottonwood leaves and covered it with soil so it was perfectly camouflaged. I built it planning to sleep in it that night, but something came up and I had to wait for about three days before I could head out.

I took a flashlight with me (thank you, backup gear!) and shone the light around inside before I went in. I saw the tell tale crazy webs of about three black widow spiders inside, very comfortable in the almost pitch black darkness. I pushed a stick in to try to hook my wool blanket and get it out, and as it came out, I heard the squeaks of some small mice in the grass, and the telltale sound of a rattlesnake warning. I was glad I checked before going in, and at the same time, I was bummed out that I built a great shelter for a bunch of mice, spiders and snakes! That was a lot of work, but lesson learned!

I hope this answers your question, SSSS, and helps you make a great shelter that you can use for your expeditions and adventures. I invite all readers to add their comments and ideas so we can all learn and grow! Good luck!