Campfires and Cooking

The Lure of a Campfire

For me, campfires have always been an important part of camping. I love the smell of the wood smoke, (unless it’s in my eyes). The dancing flames are the best hiker TV you can find, and the warmth is always welcome on a cool evening in the woods. 

Cooking on the fire has become a common occurrence in our camp. We started cooking meals on the fire shortly after starting RVing full time and plan to continue as long as we keep camping in areas that allow fires. 

So far, it hasn’t been anything elaborate. Usually chicken thighs, pork chops, turkey burgers or fish. We like to put corn on the cob, unshucked and soaked in water. The water turns to steam and cooks the corn as the leaves protect the kernels from being burned in the flames. 

People leave a lot of stuff behind when they are camping, so we have accumulated a few things that we could use. One is a small grill that is on legs that sits over the coals of the fire. At first we thought it would be too close to the flames, but we have found that it cooks pretty good if the flames have calmed down some. 

We make the fire and feed the logs in until we have a good bed of coals. Throw the grate on after spraying it with some pam and then place the meat on the grill. 

Gathering Wood

Processing wood has become a new hobby for me. I love gathering wood in the forest for the campfire. We have yet to purchase firewood on our travels. If I’m able to gather and process my own wood for free, that is what I’m going to do. I have a bow saw a hatchet and a 2.5 lb maul. I like to process the wood into sizes that will burn efficiently in the fire. If the log is too big, it takes a long time to burn and usually it doesn’t burn with a good flame. I will cut and split the wood in to a size that will burn well. 

When we were camp hosting, one of the benefits of cleaning camp sites is getting to collect the wood that the campers purchased and then left behind. We got a lot of wood that way during our time at The Manor. I would also collect the half burnt larger logs that were left in the firepit and burn them to ash in my firepit. Sometimes I would split the half burned stuff to make it burn a little better. 

There is nothing more comforting than staring into the dancing flames of a crackling fire that you have built. It is mesmerizing. The warmth is always nice and using the fire as a tool to cook a meal is the utmost in self reliance. 

Fire Starters

Usually we can get the fire started by saving burnable trash and using that to get the kindling going, but I have been making nice fire starters for quite a few years. 

They are simple and based on the cotton ball/petroleum jelly concept. I got the idea from a fellow bush crafter that I met on line several years ago. The recipe is simple. Take those round makeup remover pads and dip them in melted petroleum jelly. Let them cool off and put them in a tin or zip loc bag. I can usually get all the ingredients at a local dollar store. I but those foil pie tins to melt the PJ in and the makeup pads come in like a pack of 100. I have found that half a pad is usually good enough to get dry wood burning, so I cut them all in half before dipping them. 

The pad will burn for several minutes and you can even dip it in water before lighting it. The PJ makes the pad practically water proof. If I am trying to start a fire with damp wood, I might use two halves. You can even get them flaming with a fire steel. You just scuff the pad up a little to get something that will catch a spark and they will flame right up. 

A few years ago, I went a whole year or so, lighting dozens of fires and never used a match or lighter. It was just fire steel and the pads or natural tinder like broom sedge or birch bark. Bush crafting is another hobby of mine. I like to learn the primitive ways to thrive in a forest environment. 

Fire Safety

Fire making skills is an important part of bush crafting and camping. Even if you are in a trailer or other RV and staying in campgrounds all the time. It brings me close to nature. 
Of course fire safety is always of the utmost importance. I always check the fire danger in my area and will keep a good eye on the fire. Dousing it with water or dirt when I’m done is an important part of the process. Windy weather always makes me more cautious. 

A daily ritual of sharing marshmallows with Ginger

When I was long distance hiking, I didn’t make fires very often. Usually after walking all day up and down mountains, my energy was at a very low level at the day. What I usually did was set up camp, get water, eat dinner using a cook stove and go to bed or relax for a while. There were several times when I would gather wood with the intention of making a small fire before bed, but after doing the other chores, I was so spent that I didn’t have the energy to make the fire. The times that I did make a fire though, I never regretted. The magic of a fire is very rejuvenating. 

So, I will keep making those fires as we travel around the country. I’m sure there will be times when we are in places that don’t allow fires. Camp Lejeune, for instance, where we are at the time of this writing. They don’t allow any open fires or flames. I’m sure when we get out west, we will encounter other bans in the tinderbox of those western states. No worries. I’ll just wait for the next time were in a lush, damp forest and then I’ll stare into those flames and think about what I can cook on the fire next. 

Watching a Forest for a Season

 Living in a Forest

I consider myself somewhat of an outdoorsman.  I love being out in nature and experiencing the weather, the flora and the fauna as it goes about its business. For the first time in my life, I have spent the turning of the seasons, living inside a forest. Watching it change and come to life as the days grew longer and then shorter again. 

We arrived at the foot of Bob's Hill, part of Catoctin Mountain, at the end of March. Spring was getting underway, but still had some way to go.  The day we arrived a sleet that turned into a snow squall blew over the mountain and dropped the first flakes on my shoulders that I had avoided the whole of the winter.  

Site 15

We settled into Site 15. It was close to perfect.  The site was plenty big enough for the coach, and level.. There was a nice running stream named Muddy Run right behind the site that Ginger would use to cool herself off later in the season.  The bathhouse was just down the path and we really didn't have any close neighbors. 

Spring

The forest was still mostly asleep when we arrived.  We were at the base of a mountain and Spring was underway, but still coming on.  You could easily see through the whole campsite at this time, since the undergrowth hadn't started growing yet.  

Easy to see through the trees

Mayapple

Daffodils

The stream was running fast and full. Some of the trees were starting to bud and a few of the flowering type were sending out their blooms.  The forest felt like it was slowly waking up.

Summer

As the trees began to leaf out and the undergrowth came out, the campground started to close in.  Where we used to be able to see easily across the campground, was now just a wall of trees.  You had to actually walk around the camp to see all the sites and campers. 

Ferns

Ginger cooling in Little Hunting Creek

The stream slowed to a little more than a trickle, but was present the whole summer. 

With the warm weather, came the cicadas. Brood X was hatching and early on, we saw many signs of them coming out. Small holes in the ground under the leaves and one or two here and there.  This trickle soon became a torrent and the cute bugs with bulging red eyes took over the forest. Their cacophony filled the hillside and they were everywhere.  We enjoyed them being around.  They were harmless and fun to play with.. 

Cicada Love

Drawn to the only light source in the forest

I named this one Clyde

Lisa would pick up the ones that came dive bombing into camp and release them on a tree.  We would spend the next several minutes watching it climb to the top.  

Wildlife

From day one we started seeing several deer that lived on the hillside and routinely moved from up the hill through the camp to the open grass down below.  There were also several female turkeys that would walk through camp. Later their brood could be spotted moving from one campsite to the next, looking for bugs and scraps as they followed their mothers up the hill. The snakes and bears also came out as the season changed.  We started seeing different snakes. Garter and Black snakes at first. Then copperheads and rattlers.  I had a copperhead slither into my camp one day as Ginger and I were sitting outside enjoying a lazy afternoon.

Rattle Snake

Copperhead

Garter

On another day, Ginger and I were outside and i spotted a bear moving along the creek on the hillside above our camp.  It crossed the creek and passed about 100 feet away. When Ginger saw it, she started barking and scared it up the hillside.  It was an exciting experience.

I became proficient at picking up snakes with the tools the ranger game me and releasing them across the creek and up the hill.  

The forest came alive with the warm, summer weather.  

Relaxing by the fire

Our nomad garden

A Break From the Forest, Then Fall

In July, we left the Manor and went exploring in the general area, but we came back in late September and got to experience the forest changing from high summer to fall.

When we left, the wine berries were just getting ripe.  We had been waiting for them to get ready for several weeks. They are so good.  

Wine Berries

As the year moved on, the leaves started turning and falling and covered the forest floor with another carpet of leaves that would eventually add to the duff that helps nourish the plants and trees.

Fall arrives

The fall also brought out another insect. This one not as cute as the cicadas.  The dreaded stink bug.  These MF'ers got everywhere in their quest to avoid the colder weather. They found their way into our trailer and found all the places to hide.  Several months later, we are still finding their hiding places and throwing them out into the cold.  

The days became shorter and colder and when November rolled around, it was time to go.

The Circle of the Year

When we pulled out of site 15 in early November, Fall was in full swing and the forest was preparing to go back to sleep for the winter.  It was a very nice experience to see the forest go through its annual changes and to be sitting in the middle of it as it happened.  Everyone should spend a year and a day or some long part of a year inside a forest.  Just to see how it lives.  

Our flag display

Black Squirrel