Academic Report: Survival Coal Burning
Tyson Rowley goes for a ride near our Ottawa riverside base.
The New River Academy is unique in the fact that it has classes and opportunities that other schools don’t offer. So when Tyson and Matt approached me with the idea of a Herbology and Survival elective class I was excited to get started. Well over the past couple days they learned a very cool skill, Coal Burning.
Coal burning is something most of us have heard about. Native Americans used to use coal burning methods to burn out logs for canoes. We luckily weren’t burning out kayaks, instead Tyson and Matt learned to choose the correct type of wood for making a spoon. The kind of wood they wanted was some kind of soft wood that had abundant natural oils in it so it had good water resistance. Once the piece of wood was chosen they needed a fire for the burning process so the two survivalists got out their hand drill. A hand drill is a way of starting a fire without matches.
Students in Spanish III learn in an outdoor environment at the Ottawa River.
Following the fire making, we all sat down around the fire, took a coal out and placed it on the piece of wood. Using a twig we held it down and blew on it to make the ember really come to life. This is the cool part because you get to watch the coal burn down into the piece of wood. After about five minutes you take the coal out and scrape away the Char or black stuff. Then go at it again. You keep doing this until the hole you’ve burned in is of the desirable depth and then just carve out the rest of the shape of your piece of coal burned cutlery.
Matt and Tyson caught on super fast to this and both finished their very own spoons, within two class periods. Now it’s on to tea making out of some of the different herbs found up north here. Did you know White Pine Tea has 10 times as much Vitamin C in a glass than a glass of Orange Juice! I can’t wait to squeak in a few more things before the end of the year.
"And that has made all the difference."
Hope everyone is well,
Tino