They just use normal black tea, I think, but then add milk (possibly yak), and yak butter to it. They then churn it in something that looks too much like a toilet brush in one of those cylindrical holders so the end product tastes exremely buttery but barely has any signs of oil on the surface. the place is on the same latitude as morocco, I guess, but even in summer it get's cold up that high, so they don't worry about getting fat! It's a good way of getting more calories when there's little meat around.
Chinese trad. skills
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I'm back in my wife's home town, and have just been out on a hill where she used to play as a little kid. It sounds like most of her play time was spent looking for free food! She picked some wild fruit, covered with little spikes, that had a sweet and sour taste (no pun intended!), and showed me how they pulled the pith from the twigs of little bushes to make straws. She said that they used the little straws to drink the dew from tea tree flowers in the mornings. Confusingly, the name in chinese is identical to the tea that they drink, but is a totally different plant. I think it could be where the medicinal 'tea tree oil' comes from, but oddly my wife didn't seem to know anything about that. She says that this kind of oil is what people in china used throughout history before the arrival of vegetable oil. The whole countryside here is covered with oil seed rape right now, and looks beautiful. The people here eat the rape plants when they are young, before they get bitter, which I never heard of in the uk. They still plough with cows and water buffalo here and some people in the town still walk to collect firewood because they can't afford coal or gas. I saw a couple of ladies out with something like hedging billhooks collecting what I can only describe as long twigs rather than actual pices of wood.
She even told me about how they used to 'fish' for frogs in rice fields using a baited line, and one time caught a snake by accident.
I don't know if these little observations are very informative for you, but seeing how much people here can do with so little has inspired me. Maybe at the full members meet (I fly back on march 10th!) I can show some photos and tell people about traditional skills here. It also made me think that perhaps children are an untapped resource for learning bushcraft. They have a kind of culture of their own making things like straws, but they forget these things as they grow older.
She even told me about how they used to 'fish' for frogs in rice fields using a baited line, and one time caught a snake by accident.
I don't know if these little observations are very informative for you, but seeing how much people here can do with so little has inspired me. Maybe at the full members meet (I fly back on march 10th!) I can show some photos and tell people about traditional skills here. It also made me think that perhaps children are an untapped resource for learning bushcraft. They have a kind of culture of their own making things like straws, but they forget these things as they grow older.
BOD
Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
philaw said:
George is right but sometimes you want it squared off at 90 deg.
In that case place it flat on some soft ground and bring your machete (never tried an axe) straight down from a high guard position. If sharp even 1cm thick green bamboo will be neatly cut without splintering.
I'll take machete advice from anyone that lives in Borneo!
Incidentally, I got myself a little chinese type billhook a couple of days ago from a local blacksmith. It has about a 6" straight edge with a hooked end like a hedging hook, I think. I'm gonna bring it to the full member's meet so people can play with it (and maybe show me how to use it)
Incidentally, I got myself a little chinese type billhook a couple of days ago from a local blacksmith. It has about a 6" straight edge with a hooked end like a hedging hook, I think. I'm gonna bring it to the full member's meet so people can play with it (and maybe show me how to use it)
Well, almost. My wife just told me another cracker about when she was little in China, that I thought you'd all like.
Apparently, whilst the biggest fads at my school were marbles and yo yos, my wife's school friends developed a thing for eating the grubs of something like a cicada, that would be burrowed into the soil amongst roots during winter. The adult insects sit in trees chirping at night in summer.
The best bit is how they cooked them: on a lid from a glass jar, with a candle under it, during lessons! How's that for improvisation and initiative!
The way she told it, they found piles of them and everyone was doing it at play time, so much so that the next summer nights were much quieter.
Apparently, whilst the biggest fads at my school were marbles and yo yos, my wife's school friends developed a thing for eating the grubs of something like a cicada, that would be burrowed into the soil amongst roots during winter. The adult insects sit in trees chirping at night in summer.
The best bit is how they cooked them: on a lid from a glass jar, with a candle under it, during lessons! How's that for improvisation and initiative!
The way she told it, they found piles of them and everyone was doing it at play time, so much so that the next summer nights were much quieter.
Thanks, Anthony! You should try hearing it straight from my wife; she's hilarious.
Last night she was telling us that her classmates also kept pet silkworms, and had to collect leaves to feed them from a specific tree. She said kids would feed them in class when they got bored. Sheer brilliance.
Last night she was telling us that her classmates also kept pet silkworms, and had to collect leaves to feed them from a specific tree. She said kids would feed them in class when they got bored. Sheer brilliance.
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