Sweet essence of riverside air.

 Lately I´ve been feeling stuck, unable to focus and think straight,
life does constantly hit me hard with the harsch truth about how quick things can change,

whether it´s about health, love, work or money. It always seems to make itself noticeable when you are in a comfortable state in mind and in life.

Unable to contribute in your relationship and unable to proceed your career, hobbies etc.
It makes for an uncomfortable situation where ever you´re in life. 

This is where I´m right now, in the past three and a half month - I´ve gone from being an entrepreneur - unemployed and currently a student. I´ve also got diagnosed with depression.
Still I´m able to work hard stay concentrated on school, getting healthy and trying to remain a healthy realtion with my partner. 

The problem isn´t where I fell short on effort it´s where I lack the finacially aid to continue with my medication, education and contribution within the household. 

This tears you apart from the inside out and you don´t know what to do, how to handle the situation, should you keep at it or should you quit school and become unemployed once again - trying to find a job and potentically getting more depressed.

Tough choice and to much to figure out by myself. 

I´ve been having this urge to get out into the bush and be alone for a few weeks now and yesterday I finally manage to find some time and motivation to get out there. 

So I decided to pack my backpack and made sure to bring my fishingrod, went for a little hike by a river where I´ve been fishing a few times.
Found this little spot between mainland and a small island so made myself comfortable haha. 

Bushcraft pot-hanger with teapot over campfire.

The essence of calmness by the river and the distance sound of birds singing, firewood sparkling is the true medication for the soul, not thinking about school, money and relationships. 

Just enjoying the moment, doing camp chores like collecting firewood, gather tinder. deciding whether you should go for birch bark, pine resin or why not make it harder for yourself and strike some feathersticks to start your fire.

Should you craft something for boiling tea or just put it by the fire? 

Simple stuff but still so rewarding and so forfilling for your soul.

Pourly executeed featherstick on birch bark, practice makes
it perfect, haha. 

Made a quick two piece pot-hanger.

Grab two sticks, a long one and short stick preferable one with a twig on it used as the hook where you hang your pot on. (Alt. one straight one then carve your own "hook" to hang your pot on.) 

Then carve a groove in the short stick as demostrated in the drawing below.
Sharpen your longer stick in one end so it´s easier to drive into the ground and in the other end make a straight cut across the stick then flatten the tip of the stick, it shouldn´t be a sharp point but thin enough to hang your pot hook steadily on the tip.

Then drive the stick down into the ground in a angle which allows you to balance your pot-hanger with pot above the fire, some tweeking might require but once you´ve got it right its steady and easy to use. (You might would like to anchor the burried point of the stick with a rock above it to prevent tilting if angle to steep or to heavy pot.)

Excuse my poor drawing but forgot to take photos of the carvings, haha.

Excuse my poor drawing!
Leave a comment if you need explaining! 

Here is the finnish pot hanger, quick, easy and something fun to make by yourself.
I believe strongly in making use of what you can get your hands on, making stuff yourself builds character, giving you a new skillset but mostly, preventing overconsumptions.

(Never cut down a living tree, if you don´t own the land or if you find yourself in a survival situation!) 

Simple and quick two piece pot hanger. 

Here is picture of how it fits together, nothing fancy - just one way to do it.
If you would like to cook some stew or soup then go for a tripod instead, much sturdier and also easy and quick to do.

My trusty Gränsfors Wilderness Hatchet.
Great piece to have for those small hikes and easy to carry in your
backpack, highly recommend! 

As the day progresses and the chors were done,
I found myself sitting on the ground leaning against a tree and listening to the distant wind through the surrounding woods which are shaping the landscape around me - It was the first real autum day without rain, the smell, the colors and the fresh breeze of cold air, a truely remarkeble day.

Enjoying some tomato and carrot soup with grilled sausage.

As the sun started to set I sat my hook and bait while prepareing some food which I brought with me, I´d hope to catch som fresh perch to cook up but only caught two and they were way to small to eat, one day though! 

As I was finishing of my food I saw my how my float were going left and right in a wildly effort to being pulled down in to the depth of the river, so went to check the line and sure there it was the biggest monster I´ve ever seen, if you thought moby dick were big then you haven´t seen what I was glazing opon, a tremendous monster with fins sharp as surgeons scaple. 

The bastard almost drown me but after 30 minutes I finally managed to tame the beast!

The monster from the depth of the river.

Okay it might not been that big but none the less it´s always fun to hook a fish whether it´s a small one or not! Let it go and hopefully I´ll catch it again when it grows up! 

As dawn started to sit, I started to pack down my stuff, put out the reminder of the coals and covered my trace of ever being there, one rule I make sure to follow, leave no trace of ever being there. I started to hike back through the forest feeling for filled and a life felt a little bit less heavy. 

/Andy 

Sunset by the river, really need to get a real camera.

The smell of acorns in the morning?

I've been reading and seen videos on youtube for a couple of years ,were people are talking about acorn coffee and how tasty it is, but I've always been a little doubtful towards it sence all the tannin in them.

But last week I decided to try to make some to see what all the fuzz was all about.

So a quick search through the internet led me to a couple of recipes so I made the best I could with what I found and here is how I did it. 


(I have to say that I did a batch before this one and I just boiled the acorns one time and it was horrible haha.)

Step 1. 
Gather the acorns.

A handful of acorns, luckily acorns are easy to come by here in Sweden!

It's best to pick them up from the ground when they are brown,
 Beware of hungry squirels and damaged or maggot eaten acorns this will make next step much easier.
(If it's damaged by a maggot there is a black hole on the shell. )

Step 2.
Sorting out the nuts.

Grab your partners pink bowl and go a head.

Take a bowl or two and start going through the acorns to make sure you don't any maggot eaten acorns in your coffee. 
(I washed them before to make it a little bit easier for myself to spot the holes in the shell)

Step 3.
Deshelling

I swear, you will hate acorns for a while after this.

This step is the most time consuming of them all. 
Lets enter a journey of never ending nut cracking and peeling.
I found it easier to slice them in half with a knife and then peel out the nut with another knife or my finger nails, do whatever that makes it easier for you. 
(Make sure to look for maggots or rutten acorns. Have fun, haha)

Step 4.
Chop/slice them up. 

It´s just like chopping onions, just a little bit harder.

Just go on and slice them or chop them into smaller pieces this will make next step a little bit
easier on you. 

Step 5.
Boiling.

I was so excited to se how much tannin it would
come from these.

Put all your acorns in a pot and drench them in water then bring the water to a boil and keep them boiling for a couple of minutes depending on the amount you collected.

I didn´t save the water but you can see how much
tannin the acorns released after just one boil!

Drain the nuts from the water and make sure to wash the nuts before you put them back in the pot and repeat the processes of boiling them and draining them 4-6 times before you´re done.

If you are out in the woods doing this, then you could put the acorns in a bag in a river/creek with flowing water for 24h.

This process gets rid of all maggots and pulls out the tannin from the acorns which will make them safe to consume. 

(It does smell alot so make sure your fan is on or open a window or two! If you want to dye some natural materials like cord, rope or leather then pure the boiled water into another pot and save it for later. 

Step 6.
Roasting.

 I painted our bedroom as I roasted my acorns,
multitasking is my thing! haha

(If your in no rush, let the acorns air dry for a couple of days in a dry room. I left mine over night.)

Take a frying iron and start to roast them on medium heat, make sure to stir so you don´t burn them.

If you want to roast them in the oven then.
Preheat your oven to 180°c (350°f).
Spread your acorns on a oven trey and begin to roast them in the oven.
Make sure to stur the acorns as you roast them so they don't burn.

(They should look like dry nuts and a little darker in the color without getting burnt when they are done.)

Step 7.
Grinding.

How it came out after a few seconds in the
coffee grinder.

Grab your coffee grinder if you have one or just use a blender/mixer of some kind to grind up
your acorns. 

If you´re doing this in the woods, then sanitize two rocks with boiling water, a flat one and one that is rounded then just go a head and mash your acorns with the rounded rock on the flat one.

(It should be a little bit thicker than pregrind coffee when you´re done.)

Step 8. 

Boil yourself a cup of acorn coffe/tea andjust enjoy!

Enjoying myself a glas of fresh acorn coffee.

If you have a coffe press then use it as you would with regular coffee, grab 2-3 tables spoon for a cup and wait 5-10 minutes before drinking.

Alternative, use a cloth tea bag and put it in boiling water for 5 minutes before pouring yourself a freshly made, cup of acorn coffee.

(You can get an allergic reaction from acorns even if you aren't allergic to nuts. Try to put some on your lip or tounge before you start drinking it.!)

Hope you enjoy this recipe and try it out it´s free! 

/Andy