the man - tim macwelch
the place - wilderness somewhere near fredericksburg, va
the reason - to learn how to cook meat using fire and rocks, primitive style
the season(ing) - none. we enjoyed the full flavor of the food without embellishment
jennifer told me about a foraging/plant id class she and her daughter took through
earth connection and invited me to join her for primitive cooking. i'm so glad she did. it was a gorgeous-weather day, out in a forested area where we could find all the woods, water, rocks, and clay we needed.
fourteen people and an instructor can eat a lot for lunch and dinner, so we had our work cut out for us. actually, we had to cut the wood ourselves!
we learned about and cooked with: skewers, a spit, a greenwood grill, a steam pit, a stone oven, and directly on coals/ash, along with clay baking and rock frying methods.
about half of these photos are mine, the others (especially the ones with me in them) are from jennifer.
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| the morning drive |
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| kindling & rocks |
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| tools |
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| starting with a blowtorch due to wet ground conditions |
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| cutting greenwood grill saplings down to size |
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| greenwood grill in progress |
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| reflecting support rocks surround hot coals |
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| prepping zucchini |
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| tending the grill |
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| lowering the grill |
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| getting more heat to the sausages |
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| done! |
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| lunch is yummy |
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| water source |
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| clay-ful mud pit |
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| shaping mud around apples |
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| baking with clay |
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| almost there |
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| happy camper |
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| mushy applesauce inside |
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| greensnake frend |
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| spot the toad |
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| steam pit |
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| heating the rocks |
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| making tongs |
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| using tongs to lift and transport hot rocks |
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| dawn can do it, too |
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| covering food with vegetation |
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| food is revealed |
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| eggs are hard-cooked |
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| ribs |
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| ribs nearly done |
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| chickens on a spit |
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| rock frying |
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| bacon! |
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| pork chops |
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| beef roast in rock oven, pork chops staying warm |
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| ash cake cooking |
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| not bad at all |
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| dinner is served |
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| we can cook with fire! |
