How to Plaster Cast a Track
Ingredients:
Plaster of Paris
Water
Mixing Container
Stick
Thin Cardboard (optional)
Paperclip (optional)
WARNING! Casting tracks can be addictive. You can plaster any track you see from dog to bird, human to lion. Once you start, you will rarely go on a hike or wander without a container of plaster.
Once you have found a track that you want to plaster, it is time to frame the track and make your mix. You can frame the track by putting down sticks around the track or you can make a ring using the pieces of cardboard you brought with the paperclip. Gently press it into the substrate surrounding the track.
Now, time to mix it up. This can take a bit of practice because if your mix is too thin, it could chip easily and too thick of mix makes the track soft and lacks detail. Weather plays into this a bit as well. I usually use an old sour cream or cottage cheese container but anything will do. A Ziploc bag works well too. The ratio is ABOUT 2 parts plaster to 5 parts water. You want to make enough mix so that it will cover your entire track. Mix it up with your stick until it is clump free. You are looking for a thick pancake batter consistency.
Pour your batter into the track, covering the entire area up to your frame. Now leave your track for 20-40 minutes. If it is a really hot day it will dry quicker. Once your track is dry scoop it from underneath and pack it home carefully. I usually let it sit overnight before dusting the extra dirt from it. The next day you can scrape away the dirt and give it a wash with water.
 ACORN BREAD
INGREDIENTS
1 cup Acorn Flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
2 TBL Baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3 TBL sugar
1 Egg
1 cup milk
3 TBL Oil
Preheat oven to 400º
Sift together acorn meal, flour, baking powder, salt and sugar
In a separate bowl mix egg, milk, and oil. Combine dry and liquid ingredients.
Stir just to moisten dry ingredients.
3.
Pour into greased loaf pan and bake for 30 minutes. Slice and top with butter and honey.
How To Process the Acorns Into Flour
Once you have gathered a healthy bowl of nuts you can crack the shell and start pounding your acorns into a course meal or use the tools of modern technology and get out your food grinder. Pour boiling water to cover the nuts and let stand in this water for at least an hour. Drain this water and repeat the soaking process with new boiling water. Every time you drain the water taste the acorn. The more rinsing of the acorns, the more you leach out the bitter tannin and the sweeter the nuts will taste. Rinse as many times as you like. Once you like the taste, the meal should dry before use. I have also used the meal wet but make sure you adjust the recipe. To dry the acorn meal, place in a dehydrator or on a cookie sheet in a thin layer. You can put this in the sun or in the oven (Don’t turn the oven on, the pilot light is warm enough). Once the meal is dry you want to pound it into a finer meal or place back into your food processor. Now the acorn flour is ready to use. If you are going to store it for future use, make sure the flour is COMPLETELY dry or it will mold. Below you will find an acorn bread recipe that is best right out of the oven with some butter and honey. HAPPY SQUIRRELING!
PAST RECIPES:
Elderberry Tincture
Plantain Salve
Elderberry Tincture
Ingredients
- Quart jar with lid
- 3-4 cups fresh or dried Elderberries
- 80 proof vodka
- Clean your jar with hot water
- Put the Elderberries in jar
- Pour the vodka in so the berries are just covered
- Lid the jar and shake shake shake
- Label and date your jar
- Try to shake it once a day.
- Let it sit for at least 30 days before you strain it. You can let it soak for longer, up to a year.
To take as a preventative use 1 teaspoon 3 times a day. If you have symptoms of a cold or flu take 2 teaspoons 3-4 times a day for 2 weeks. For kids, cut the dose in half.
Used for the common cold and flu
WARNING: Elderberry is a wonderful plant and one that deserves our respect. The ripe berries and flowers are edible but leaves, twigs, unripe berries and bark are all poisonous. They contain cyanide and can do harm to humans.
CAUTION: Make sure you use Sambucas nigra or Sambucas mexicana. All parts of Sambucas racemosa (Red Elderberry) are poisonous.
Elderberry has a very high Vitamin C content and is a great immune booster, especially during the winter months of cold and flu season. This tincture can be used as a vaccine before you feel any symptoms, as a preventative when you start to feel the symptoms or as a way to boost your immune system when you are in the thick of a cold/flu.
You can harvest Elderberry and use the fresh berries. Make sure you are harvesting in an ethical way and somewhere safe (i.e no pesticides, heavy exhaust, etc).
You can also order the herbs. By ordering your materials for Elderberry tincture from the link below you are supporting Wilderness Youth Project!
Click on these links to order your Elderberries from Mountain Rose Herbal. It is a great way to support Wilderness Youth Project programs!
PLANTAIN SALVE
INGREDIENTS
1 ½ oz. dried or 3 oz. fresh Plantain leaf powder
½ to 1 oz. Beeswax
½ tsp Vitamin E oil
1 cup Olive oil
Small jar or tin
- In a saucepan, mix Plantain with olive oil Simmer over a low heat for about 20 minutes
- In a separate pan melt the beeswax Carefully pour into the herbal oil and blend well
- Add the vitamin E oil which serves as preservative
- Last, check for consistency. Dip a spoon into the Plantain Salve and let cool. If it is too hard, add more oil... If too soft, add more beeswax... When it is just right pour into a small jar or tin and cover tightly.
- Use your plantain salve for cuts and scrapes and share it with friends!
Known to WYP kids as the band-aid plant this Plantain salve is great for bee stings, cuts and scrapes, and Poison Oak!
Common Plantain came to the United States with the Europeans. The Native Americans, observing its spread, named it "white man's footprint" or "Englishman's foot" because wherever the white man stepped, Plantain seemed to grow. Plantain is found everywhere in Santa Barbara . I have seen it in gardens, lawns, along trails, in sidewalk cracks, and in freeway medians. The very young leaves can be added to salads, or cooked as greens. The older leaves are still edible but I don't think as palatable as they become tougher and a little bitter. Plantain is very high in beta carotene (A) and calcium. It also provides ascorbic acid (C).
You can harvest Plantain and use the fresh leaves. Make sure you are harvesting in an ethical way and somewhere safe (i.e no pesticides, heavy exhaust, etc).
You can also order the herbs. By ordering your materials for Plantain Salve from the link below you are supporting Wilderness Youth Project!
Click on these links to order your Plantain, Beeswax and Vitamin E Oil from Mountain Rose Herbal. It is a great way to support Wilderness Youth Project programs!
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