Oct 19, 2014
Wow. What a lovely day. Somehow today everything seems sharper; the light brighter, the air more fragrant - pine scents, and tens of flowers, warmth from the sun and cool breezes. Maybe I'm drugged. Everything is dreamy.
I've been hanging about in the area, but this morning decided to come into Gulgong to get more water.
Tip: If your GPS suggests Perseverence Lane as a route. Skip it. Lots of sand.
After making my mind up to skip the road kill for now, this mornings ride in had dead everywhere; roo here, lizard there, bird on the side, snake off the edge (people really really go out of their way to run over snakes!), another bird, a second roo. So many dead animals. I rode past them all. Bought a jar of peanut buttter instead.
Bit of indecision happening. Yesterday a tooth started aching. What to do. Weekend; so nothing open. Need to wait for Monday. But I could cycle somewhere before then. But where - Mudgee, Wellington, Dubbo, Sydney? Will wait till tomorrow and then decide. Today it feels a bit better. I tell myself this is good - pain decreasing means its going to heal up. Hahaha I can hope. It will need attention sometime. I'm getting a theory that exercise helps - why I cycled into Gulgong today, and will cycle back out again later.
But for now, the day is so gorgeous! Going to lay back and let it soak in some more.
Oct 17, 2014
Lately, I've been havesting road kill for hides. I wanted to try out brain tanning. It has been an interesting exercise. While I've learnt a lot, I doubt I'll keep going. Why? In short, its a lot of work, a lot of gear I need to carry, I need to change my travel to fit in the processing, and I've no use for the hides anyway.
The process:
I find a fresh road kill, then string it up and start skinning. (People driving past slow down seeing me do this.) I then salt the hide so I can process it later. I need to make sure I have no cuts or scratches on my hands before I start. Afterwards I wash my hands with soap and water. The salted hide goes in a plastic bag. For a small wallaby I needed almost 1kg of salt. The water, is water I'm carrying for drinking.
Check the hide daily and add more salt. Make sure the edges are done, and that the edges have not roll up and miss out on salt. Wash hands after touching.
Stay somewhere with access to clean water. Flesh the hide. I did this with a knife and a piece of water pipe I found.
Rub in the tanning mixture. I tried eggs, but didn't like the the smell of working with them. So switched to soap and oil mix. Also easier for me to carry. Eggs kept breaking, or I'd eat them and not have enough to use on the hide. Work the mix into the hide. I'd spread the hide out and layer with oil, then rub in the soap with a bit of water. Eventually the hide goes white. While it is damp and until it is completely dry, keep pulling and stretching the hide. If it isn't completely dry, don't stop. If you do it will go hard. This will take a few hours. Any hard spots afterwards can be moistened and worked dry again. At the end of this - one tanned hide. Still needs smoking to finish it off, else if it gets wet, it will need all the stretching again to soften it. I've not smoked any yet. Places I've stopped have had no fire rules.
Problems:
So for me, I have to make sure I've no cuts or scratches on my hands. With setting up camp, taking it down, finding spot in the bush, I do get small scratches or nicks. When I do - no playing with hides. I could get gloves - but then another thing to carry, and more rubbish to carry afterwards.
I need to carry salt. At least 1kg of it. I'm currently carry 2kg to ensure enough. Salting is important, as it stops the hide rotting before its processed. Not enough salt, and it rots, or the hair starts to fall out.
I need to use water for cleaning the hide, and washing my hands. This is water that I had planned on drinking - so have to watch how much I use, and get to somewhere with more water if I'm going to run out.
Carrying the salted hide - its bulk and weight. Also need to not break the bag.
Fleshing needs time. And no cuts, nicks on my hands, and water.
The tanning process is time consuming. I have to be camped somewhere with water for a couple days to finish it. It also needs to be reasonably fine weather. I could do it in showers, but its easier in fine weather.
At the end of it I have a tanned hide.
There is a limit to the size hide I can do. Small wallabies, rabbits are about it. I think a large roo and I wouldn't have enough salt to salt the hide. I could flesh it immediately and dry it. But it would be awkward on the bicycle with a dried, stiff hide.
What am I going to do with the hides when done? I don't know. One is not enought to make a pair of gloves - not that I need fur lined gloves. Would take a lot for clothing - but I like my current wear. So I've no use for the end product.
Been fun learning though.
The hide in the photo, I trimmed. Lost bits to damage when it was killed, and not salting the edges enough.
Oct 17, 2014
Well, it looks like chicken. It's small; not much bigger than a quail. Organic? No way. With all the farms here; pesticides and herbicides abound. Free range? Most definitely.
Fresh. No broken bones. It was in good shape, so I plucked and gutted it. A wash to get the blood out, and done.
Boiled, with veggies, lentils, fresh peas, pasta and a touch of curry.
My meat cooking is improving. This was very tender. Almost falling of the bone. Then it was a young bird, and I didn't cook it long.
It gave a slight flavor to the pot, or maybe I imagined that. Not much meat. The breasts had the most, with the legs next. Though not even a mouthful all up. Lots of sucking on bones really.
Was this worth it?
Probably not.
Washing the carcass, knife and hands used 1.5 litres of water. The clean up of the cooking gear used more water than normal to get the oil/fat off.
Two plastic bags to keep it till I cooked it. Both have blood on them, so are now rubbish.
If it was a quail, it would have provided at most 200 calories. Most estimates are less and work on about 100 grams of meat after removing bones. I think I had less than that.
A quarter cup of sultanas is 145 calories.
A tablespoon olive oil is 119 calories.
A tablespoon of peanut butter is around 100 calories (depends on brand, and how heaped the spoon:-)
A medium apple is about 100 calories.
So it's not providing major calories. Not major anything really as its to small to contribute much.
Doing not a lot, the average person needs about 2000 calories a day. Ten birds and it would make their basal calorie requirements. Exercise, and that increases. I pedal between four to six hours a day. I'd need a whole flock.
Since it was showering here, I'd think no spraying recently, lowering the birds recent pesticide/herbicide intake. If there was a lot of spraying happening, it could have high levels if it was feeding in the sprayed areas. Impossible to know how much your eating.
All up, for the time, effort, water and calories, there are better choices to be had.
Oct 16, 2014
After sitting about all day, doing not a lot. I decided not to go to the reserve yet. My hand was quiet sore, red and a bit swollen. I worried that it was getting infected.
By the next day it was clear that it wasn't. So I headed out. Nice day. Top of 31C, warm enough to brave a swim.
Lucky I did then. Later in the day it clouded over and the temp dropped.. Been quiet nippy since then. Cloudy, showers, wind. Cold snap. Was 2C this morning when I woke, and I was on a hill.
With that sort of weather, I lay about alot. Didn't do much. Watched the the traffic go past.
Worrying sight: father driving 4x4, with daughter(?) sitting on bull bar.
Oct 11, 2014
Reluctant to throw things away, I spend a lot of time mending.
My normal task is sewing patches in my pants. They wear just in a few spots at first; where the seat rubs. Later, as the fabric starts to fail, patches sprout all over. Even patches on patches. Until, I have to concede defeat. I try to salvage some of the fabric for patches, but usually it's not worth it. The combination of sun, sweat and dirt is the end of the cloth.
Lately been darning my socks. The heels and the toes wear fastest. Right foot faster than the left, or maybe that sock is older. Not sure. All my socks are black. They don't stay in pairs, so the current right could be newer.
As you can see, my work is functional, with an arty look.