Leave No Trace Camping- Latrines and Catholes

Many of the places we camp are blessed with sanitation facilities; however that is not always the case. Getting rid of waste outdoors takes some thought for both health and environmental reasons.

A cathole is a single use toilet that you make yourself.  Find a spot at least 200 feet from water, campsites, and trails.  Dig a hole 6-8 inches deep.  Make sure it is still in the topsoil so that organisms in the topsoil will be available to break down your waste.  Either bury the toilet paper in the cathole, or put it into a resealable bag and carry it out with the rest of your trash.  Fill the cathole with soil (organic organisms) and replace any groundcover  (leaves.....).  Push a stick into the filled up hole to warn others against digging in the same spot.  We are trying to avoid damaging the existing plants, changing the terrain, or negatively impacting the chemistry of an area  (too much urea kills).

A latrine is a group toilet.  The location should also be away from water, campsites and trails.  Dig a shallow trench 3-4 feet long but no deeper than the topsoil.  Remove and save the soil and groundcover.  After each use, sprinkle a layer of soil into the trench to keep away flies and to hold down odors.  When you break up camp, return the rest of the soil to the latrine and replace the ground cover.



Sources:
Camping, BSA 2002 printing

Poison Ivy look alikes

Three views of poison ivy

Poison Ivy - probably the most famous poisonous plant of all.  Even Batman fights it (her).

"Leaves of three, leave it be" is the jingle we have heard universally to help us identify this plant non grata.





BUT, those of you who have been practicing your observational skills, have noticed other plants that have, or seem to have "leaves of three" that are not Poison Ivy.

Wild Raspberry

The one that I have seen adults often confuse is actually wild raspberry.  When the light is low, the wild raspberry becomes very vine like as it sends out tendrils to reproduce.These leaves are lighter in color and not as waxy as the poison ivy leaves.  The margins (outside circumference) of the leaf are also more jagged.



Another plant that can be mistaken for poison ivy to the uninformed is Virginia Creeper.  Virginia Creeper is an aggressive vine that can grow 6 feet in a short amount of time.  It often twines under leaf debris.  While the normal arrangement of leaflets is 5 arranged in a circle (palmate),  the smallest two leaflets are sometimes missing.  Again close observation of the shape of the leaves will help cast doubt on its poisonousness, but the way I end up confirming its intent is to scout around for other stems on the vine that have 5 leaflets.

The big blurry plant is wild strawberry

Finally, wild strawberry is another "leaves of three" plant.  In this case, the leaves while similar in overall shape, are different enough that this plant should not often be confused with poison ivy.  The margins are uniformly lobed.  The big yellow or white flowers and later small red strawberry fruit will help your identification also.


Practice smart outdoorsmanship:  If in doubt "leaves" it alone.

You might try looking online for more information on poison ivy
 kids site for poison ivy

What is the big deal with plant identification?

Gee, it seems as if all the early ranks require you to identify plants. Why is this a skill that is important?

1.  It improves your observational skills which can be used in many settings (including understanding people)

2. It improves your ability to discriminate between slight differences.  This can be important training for problem solving, art, technical pursuits, and logic.

3. It could keep you from suffering from Poison Ivy--and your friends from hearing you complain.

4. It could help you figure out where you are or locate water.

4. It could keep you from going hungry if you didn't pack enough.

5. It could keep you from picking up wood that would not burn well, or not provide heat.

6. In the case of cattail, it could allow you to keep warmer on a winter hike.


Although the requirements do not specify when to identify the plants, take the challenge and see if you can identify plants when they are dormant during winter.  You never know when you might need the various properties the plants can offer year round.

Some useful winter plants:
Willows- grow near water - twigs and inner bark are edible but bitter - makes poor firewood
Cattails - grows near water - fluff can be used for insulation, roots and shoots are edible (supposedly they are calorie dense which is good if you have no food during the winter)
Queen's Anne Lace - roots are edible
Yew - great firewood, burns slowly but with great heat
Ash - great firewood, burns when green
Holly - good firewood, burns when green.

A Dutch Oven for Backpacking

Going backpacking or canoeing and are disappointed you can't make some of your favorite meals because the Dutch Oven is just too heavy and cumbersome to take with you?   Despair no longer!

John G. Ragsdale in Dutch Oven Cooking  describes an oven he made out of aluminum pie pans.

These three are just to show the configuration.
You would want more sturdy pans & painted. 

He took 3 heavy gage aluminum pie pans, painted the outsides black plus one inside, and then assembled two pie pans together  with heat resistant screws so that the concave parts are facing out.

When he uses them, the  bottom pan is placed a bit above the fire on rocks or steel tent pegs and the assembled pie pans become the cover and coal holder.  Make sure the black inside surface is the coal holder, not the side next to the food.

When it is time to pack up, the screws can be undone, the pans nested and the screws reattached so that they don't get lost.

Now, that is one resourceful camper!

Chicken Provolone Scaloppine for 6

This might be one to try if you anticipate needing to release some frustrations

6 skinless, boneless chicken breasts --pounded to 1/4 inch thickness
1 1/2 teaspoon crushed sage
1/2 teaspoon pepper
6 slices provolone
4 Tablespoon butter, melted
1/3 cup bread crumbs
2 Tablespoons Romano cheese, grated
2 Tablespoons parsley

Sprinkle chicken with sage and pepper.  Place Provolone on chicken and role up, jellyroll style.  Secure with toothpick.  Dip chicken in butter.  Coat with bread crumb, Romano cheese, parsley.  Bake 45 minutes at 350.

Chicken Fricassee with Dumplings for 8

5-6 pounds of fryer chicken cut up
4 teaspoon of salt
2 teaspoon paprika
1/4 teaspoon pepper
2 Tablespoon  shortening
2 cans cream of chicken soup
3 cup milk
4 Tablespoon butter
2 cups Bisquick
1/2 teaspoon poultry seasoning
1 teaspoon parsley flakes
Water

Mix salt, paprika and pepper in plastic bag. (Could use Shake and Bake or other premixed seasonings) Shake 2-3 pieces of chicken at a time in bag to coat.  Melt shortening and butter in large skillet or Dutch oven.  brown chicken on all sides.  Remove chicken and stir in soup and milk and replace chicken.  Cover and simmer about 1 hour or until thickest pieces are tender.  Twenty minutes before the end of cooking, prepare dumpling dough.  Drop dough by spoonfuls onto hot chicken.  Cook uncovered 10 minutes, cover and cook 10 minutes longer.  Yield 8 servings

Dumpling:  Add poultry seasoning, parsley and Bisquick with enough water to make a soft dough.


Recipe courtesy of Cathy Laskowski from Feeding the Flock, pg 57

Dutch Oven Heat Control

Heat control or temperature control is going to be the art to cooking with a Dutch oven.  Everyone agrees that is better to err on the side of lower temperatures and cook longer, than to cook too hot and end up with charcoal inside and outside the oven.

Things to consider when establishing the heat.

• Weather conditions
• Placement of coals vs. what is being cooked
• To preheat the oven or not  (don't put cold items in a heated oven or it might crack)
• Use of charcoal briquettes vs. fire coals
• Aluminum vs. iron ovens  

Weather conditions:  Cold, wind, and rain will all make maintaining the temperature more difficult.  Aluminum foil could be used as as a insulator blanket if the ground is cold or wet.  Foil can also be used as a windbreak, or to reflect heat back towards the oven.  Depending on what conditions and helps are used, you might need to use more coals, or check the cooking times more frequently.  Altitude can increase cooking times.

Placement of coals vs. what is being cooked: There is some contradiction between sources as to what is the proper placement of coals.  I am using, for this article, the two internet sources as they are more recent and are more closely related to regular cooking.

• Frying-all heat from bottom
• Stew, soups - 2/3-3/4 heat on bottom, 1/3-1/4 heat on top
• Roasting meats, vegetables, cobblers - even heat on top and bottom
• Baking bread, cookies, cakes - 1/3-1/4 heat on bottom, 2/3-3/4 heat on top.

Preheating:  While preheating is normally done for frying or roasting of meat in order to create an instant "crust" which retains the meat juices, the requirement for preheating other dishes is contradictory.  Perhaps cooking times might be increased without preheating, or more fiddling with coals and temperatures of the items going into the oven might be encountered with preheating.  The BSA source states, 

"I have found with the oven set over 27-30 charcoal briquettes and the same number of briquets on the lid, the temperature in a 12 inch diameter oven will reach 450 degrees F or higher within 12 to 15 minutes.  This temperature can be maintained for 30 minutes or more with the number of briquets under the oven reduced to 12 and with the number on the lid reduced to 9."

Dutchovendude has a method to estimate temperature on his website called the hand test.

The Cooking merit badge book also describes placing a teaspoon of flour onto a oven safe plate which is then placed in the Dutch oven.  In five (5) minutes, the color of the flour will estimate the temperature of the oven.

Use of charcoal briquets vs coals: Charcoal briquets are often what cookbooks will recommend because it is easier to specify how many briquets to use.  Unfortunately not all briquets are of the same quality.  One way to double check the recommendations or your briquets is to double the size of your oven and use that number of briquets.  Lay them around the circumference of the cover and  base.  For a 12 inch oven, you should get a complete circle with about 15-16 briquets on the top and a complete circle with the remainder on the bottom.  This will result in a 350 degree oven.  If you do not get this, or if it is not similar to the cookbook, it is possible that a different quality briquet is being used.  Dutchovendude describes how to modify the temperature of the oven by adjusting the circle of briquets.

If you wish to use coals instead of briquets, the circle technique described above can be used to get the correct temperature.

Aluminum vs  Iron ovens:  Cast iron ovens are very traditional.  They heat  up slowly and evenly.  Aluminum ovens are going to heat up faster and cool down faster.  The various references I looked up did not have any modifications in the amount of coals, timing, or temperatures for the different types of oven.  Although the sources said they did not have any troubles using aluminum ovens, try out the recipe and monitor it closely to ensure the temperatures are correct before entering into a cooking contest.


Once you have the heat established, there is one more aspect to controlling the heat: Rotation.
There is a natural variation in the amount of heat that either a briquet or coal gives out.  To ensure even heating, it is important to rotate the oven and cover.  One way to do this is:
  1. Lift the whole oven off the campfire by the wire bail and rotate clockwise 1/3 of a revolution.
  2. Set the oven back down (it should fit in the same spaces in the coals)
  3. With a lid lifter, lift the lid and rotate counter clockwise 1/3 of a turn ( logo should be where it started.)
You might want to do this every 10 minutes or so.

With these tips, you are on your way to preparing feasts that will amaze your fellow campers.

http://www.dutchovendude.com/campfire-cooking.shtml
http://whatscookingamerica.net/Information/DutchOven/DutchOvenCooking.htm
Cooking, BSA 1999 printing
Camp Cookery for Small Groups, BSA 1986 printing

Dutch Ovens

If you are going to be campfire or charcoal camping, then the Dutch oven will become an invaluable resource to allow you to make a great variety of meals.  Stews, roasts, lasagna, or pies can all be made in a Dutch oven.

A Dutch oven used in camping differs in a few significant ways from one you might find in your kitchen.  The first difference to notice is three legs that allow the oven to sit above the coals.  Look for sturdy legs approximately one inch high.  The second difference is the lid.   A Dutch oven lid for camping is going to have a raised lip around the outside that allows coals to be placed on the cover for more efficient heating.  This lid should fit snugly, without any rocking,  Also look for a strong wire bale handle for moving the oven, and a looped handle on the lid which is not riveted.

Dutch ovens can be made from either cast aluminum or cast iron.  While cast aluminum can be used and washed like normal cookware, cast iron cookware requires some special care.

The first thing to do with a brand new cast iron Dutch oven is to "season" it.  Seasoning is basically cooking layers of grease into the pan to protect it from oxidation and water.   This will benefit both the taste and the cleanup as it acts like a non-stick layer when done well.  Both websites in the source section offer procedures on how to season, condition, or break-in cast iron ovens.

A big question that newbies to cast iron cooking often ask, is "How do we clean this, so that it does not need to be re-seasoned all the time.  1. Remove as much food as possible.  2. Pour a few inches of water in the oven ( make sure it is neither too hot nor too cold for the present temperature of the oven otherwise it could crack) 3. Put the lid on the oven and heat it up.  The water and steam will soften any remaining food residue.  4. Remove from heat until it is safe to handle and then using either plastic or a sponge, scrape off the remaining food. 5. Discard the water and rinse. 6.  Thoroughly dry the oven.  Setting it near the fire for about 5 minutes will help evaporate the moisture  7.  Allow to cool to a safe working temperature and use a paper towel to rub a small amount of vegetable oil over the interior and exterior. There are many warnings about using soap because it will degrade the seasoning and even impact the taste of food cooked in the oven.  

If someone did not do a good job cleaning the oven, and fuzzy life is now inhabiting your oven, fear not, it can be reclaimed.  Dutchovendude in the sources section has a description on reclaiming your oven by the use of fire.








Sources:
Camp Cookery for Small Groups, BSA, 1986 printing  pg 14
http://www.dutchovendude.com/camp-cooking.shtml
http://whatscookingamerica.net/Information/DutchOven/DutchOvenCooking.htm

THE Award Winning Recipe

Congrats to Assistant Scoutmaster Capan who took 2nd place in the dessert category for the Scoutmaster Cookoff at Custaloga Town Scout Reservation!  Many of you have tasted this when Mr. Capan made it during one of the meetings.  He has graciously given the recipe to the blog so that any scout can consider making this for a cookout.

Per Mr. Capan: The recipe is simple:

 

Well oiled Dutch oven

1 can of Sprite or 7Up

2 cans Cherry Pie filling

1 box white cake mix (no eggs, milk, or butter)

Charcoal

 

Put pie filling in Dutch oven.  Mix Sprite with white cake mix and pour over top.  Light charcoal and place ten coals on the bottom and twenty on top.  Rotate the bottom clockwise one third turn and top counterclockwise one third turn.  Cooking time can be from 60 to 90 minutes depending on humidity.  Check cake batter on each turn to make sure it doesn't burn.

 

Feel free to change filling, soda, and batter types for different flavors!

Don Capan