Tallow and Pemmican

 I'd ordered a bag of beef fat from a butcher for a forthcoming camp with the view to making tallow. I intend to make an oil lamp on a primitive pottery course I've booked for next year, soap and more immediately some pemmican. The first stage was to generate some venison jerky in my dehydrator

I've never been much of a fan of pemmican but maybe that's because the meat is usually dried unadulterated so I marinaded the meat overnight using soy sauce and a shop purchased jerky rub. At the same time I dried some chopped Blueberries to add too. Once dried I blitzed both.

 

To finish the dried ingredients off I roughly blitzed some pine kernels. The kernels are then added to the mix which is about 50 g of jerky, about a dozen Blueberries chopped into small pieces and Pine Kernels as per the picture above.

Back in the day when researching pemmican there was so much variation in the ingredients, methods and thoughts on how to make that I just tried to tread a central path though them I guess beef would mimic Bison and Venison, well Venison. The Blueberries are in to replace Saskatoons (June berries) which occur a lot in recipes and seem very similar , and Pine Kernels may have been available in certain areas to the Native Americans depending where they were. The dry mix was processed through my vacuum sealer for my forthcoming camp. 

I picked up the beef fat to process whilst out. It was noticeable just how much textural variation there was depending where the cut came from and indeed some recipes suggest that internal, rather than muscular fat was to be used (i.e. the fat around major organs). 

Whilst the powdered jerky mix was having a bit of a  brief dalliance with some Oak smoke in my Pro Q Cold Smoker which I'd brought with me mainly to do some cheese I cut the pieces into half inch chunks to speed them on their way in a timely fashion. I try and remove any larger pieces of meat but a hundred per cent clearance isn't necessary.

To get tallow you need to add the chunked fat into a billy and on to some embers top get a steady boil going. This batch took around two hours but you'll know when the time is right because the fat pieces reduce in size and brown up...Time to remove them

To capture the now golden liquid you use a muslin or a sieve to get out the smaller bits and any bits of the wood that have made their way in. I find a muslin gets pretty much everything that's not wanted.

Whilst it is still in liquid form carefully add some tallow to the powdered pemmican mix so that the mixture is saturated but not overrun. The smaller greaseproof container shown above was made using this pattern.

As it cools down you'll have yourself a 'brick' of pemmican, wipe off any excess tallow before it sets. It's still something I can take or leave, especially as it is a bit of effort, but this isn't too bad. I wonder if the marinade on the jerky has made a difference or maybe my previous experiences and tastings were Beef? Just one final meat suggestion for the future is dried salmon which I've seen listed and again, would have been plentiful across the pond in certain areas.

And  your remaining tallow will form into an off-white easily stored block when it finally cools down. all ready for me to store away for the other projects mentioned.

Vivobarefoot

I often find online recommendations and comments about goods can be a blessing and a curse; Typically you'll get a one star review that complains that a product arrives broken but these things happen and may not reflect the supplier getting another out double quick and the replacement being superb, or the five star review that says something looks shiny out of the box and may well be a lame product.

I try and give a product a decent amount of time/ use before committing any thoughts but my Vivobarefoot barefoot walking shoes are a slight exception.

Ed Stafford and Ben McNutt from Wild Human are big fans of the brand but initially I  became aware of this brand through JP and Pablo from Woodlife Tracking and Bushcraft School who did some initial trials with there footwear. I therefore tried to get some in the summer of 2018 but the above picture was a general state of affairs across all the designs I liked.

I then revisited in late Spring of 2019 and quelle surprise, more of the same lack of availability. I doggedly stuck at it, checking the website and finally, in early August, I got hold of some black Primus Lite minimalist shoes. With such a convoluted pursuit of a pair, along with a hefty price tag,  I was hoping for big things. By the way the above picture is from Autumn 2019 so the lack of stock at certain stages seems cyclical.

Another grumble: I logged in and looked at my purchase history to double check that I was putting the correct type as my purchase, the sites suggests that I haven't ordered any!

I paid for express delivery because I was close to going on holiday to Crete and wanted them with me for a workout, but I will usually have them on in an urban and woodland setting but more on that later...I want to talk about my holiday.

  

 It was a holiday by the coast with mixed shingle and coarse golden sand shoreline and initially I found the sensation of the cellular-like sole took a little getting used to  but once I got to grips with them I was off and running (but not literally).

Despite the cost and the difficulties experienced whist buying I have to say that they do live up to their billing and they became my go to footwear pretty much all the time save the odd bit of flip flop action by the pool. The mesh on the top of the shoes does help to keep your feet fresh but it also acts as an effective sand trap as the above left hand side picture demonstrates.

They are supremely comfortable over smooth ground and when transversing rough or stony terrain you find that you sense the unevenness rather than feeling it as an uncomfortable experience.

Whilst by the sea I decided to test them in the drink. They functioned rather well as beach shoes but I didn't stay in long because the laces keep coming undone repeatedly and I didn't want to lose one. I am a decent knot tyer however laces are my perpetual downfall but tied rightly or wrongly these laces don't stay secure for long. I double tie them but I'm seriously considering using some plastic cord locks as it is getting on my nerves.

Do you know your double looped reef from your double looped granny when it comes to laces? This  knotting blog covers it towards the end.

When I returned home the left hand inner sole started to come away and then detached, I can't say for sure if this was due to the one-off dip in the sea but it is now a bit more of a job taking the shoe off without pulling the inner totally out. Even if I hadn't been in the sea surely dew and rain would have a cumulative effect in time?

 

Back in blighty I will be using them mostly in the British countryside as I'm not near the coast. Much like the rough or stony ground experience uneven woodland isn't a problem. I took the footwear on this recent overnighter and whilst investigating a new piece of woodland it dawned on me just how quiet and lightfooted it is possible to be in a pair.

I also used them in the evenings when mooching about camp, I certainly wouldn't recommend any axe work with them on but they are the perfect tonic to a day wearing walking boots or hybrid cross trainers. They are also a light option to hang up on a cord run just under my hammock if you need to get up in the night.

 

In an urban setting they are great too but the one surface that I've found you can really feel through them is the raised slabs that indicate to a blind or partially sighted person that they are near a drop kerb by a road.

With all this constant wearing of the Vivos I feel justified in reviewing them. The experience of using them out and about is exactly what I had hoped for, the wait for them, the laces and the detached inner do rather tarnish the purchase. There are also online reports some of the sealed sole shoes (like this) coming apart in time, this could be good honest wear and tear but it would be good if the company could offer a re-soling service which would re-enforce their green credentials.