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| I remember the generosity of people we knew in South Australia's picturesque Barossa Valley where we lived for some years. It was common for neighbours to freely share their garden produce with each other. |
Home March's challenge is to pack one item each day in a Survival Bag, in order to be prepared for an emergency.
1. my emergency foil blanket, plus silk sheet-bag and a sleeping bag.
2. a mosquito head net and a tube aloe vera
3. my clothing
4. my food and my drink bottles
5. my first aid kit
6. eating and cooking utensils
Today I will pack my Tommy Cooker Hexi-Stove
plus some of those white fuel tablets (made of Hexamine) to burn on the fire platform. I will also pack a small amount of kindling stored in a plastic bag.
Generally people only burn the tablets designed for this cooker, but I have also burned small sticks on this stove, and cooked meat, veges, pasta and rice from a "stick fire".
The Tommy Cooker Hexi Stove
(which burns hexamine fuel tablets) was made famous in WWII by the British Army.
Since that time, it has been well used by hikers, campers, hunters, fishers -
and by my family.
Years ago, I took one small white 'burner tablet', and broke it into small pieces. I had prepared some bread dough which I shaped in to small rolls and popped into a greased frying-pan with a lid (these days I would use cooking paper so that nothing would stick to the bottom of the pan). I put the frying-pan in the sun for an hour or more for the bread-rolls to rise. I stayed with my rolls as they cooked in the frying pan with the lid on, and my challenge was to cook the rolls with only one burner tablet! I slowly and gradually fed the flame which was created only by the tablet, no other burning material was used. Tiny pieces of tablet, just enough to keep the flame alight, were fed to the flame. I probably made that one tablet last well over 1/2 hour. When I took the lid off the frying-pan, I saw that I had cooked a dozen or so very delicious bread rolls! I should do it again one day!
Hexamine is the primary ingredient in the cooker's fuel tablets. These fuel tablets have a very high energy density, burn smokelessly, leave no ashes, and do not liquefy. While fuel tablets are very lightweight and portable, the heat they produce is difficult to control unless a smaller piece of tablet is used, and the fumes it produces are noxious.
Some people are allergic to the compound, which can be absorbed through the skin.
http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-hexamine.htm
Take care not to breathe in the fumes
and do not use the solid-fuel cooker in a confined space, such as in a tent entrance.
A camper can create a home-made can-cooker by
*taking the bottom and the top off a fruit can or aluminium can,
*creating a windscreen if necessary, perhaps by curving aluminium foil around both the stove and the pot,
*making some nail holes in the can for air movement
*supporting the can (perhaps with metal tent pegs),
*burning hexi-fuel tablets at ground level,
*placing the cooking pot on top of the home-made can-cooker!
Alternatively, a fuel tablet could simply be placed on rock or on dirt (after clearing the immediate area) with the pot supported above the flame (perhaps by using rocks).
The Tommy-Cooker Hexi Stove costs around AU$10, weighs 230 grams and is 13x13x2.5 cm in size. It can be bought from camping shops or on-line, is made from durable steel; it folds up into a compact unit; opens up into 2 cooking positions; has fuel tablets which have to be bought separately which burn without odour and easily ignite with a match. In my emergency kit, I wrap the fuel tablets in aluminium because they are inflammable.
http://www.kitbag.com.au/products/%22Tommy-Cooker%22-Hexi-Stove.html
Click on the following link to see a YouTube on using a Tommy Cooker Hexi-Stove.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KmKxsecKiAk
Garden Finger Lime Australian Bush Tucker
3. my clothing
4. my food and my drink bottles
5. my first aid kit
6. eating and cooking utensils
Today I will pack my Tommy Cooker Hexi-Stove
plus some of those white fuel tablets (made of Hexamine) to burn on the fire platform. I will also pack a small amount of kindling stored in a plastic bag.
Generally people only burn the tablets designed for this cooker, but I have also burned small sticks on this stove, and cooked meat, veges, pasta and rice from a "stick fire".
 |
| Bark from a paper-bark tree will be stored in a snap-seal plastic bag, ready to be used as fire kindling in my Hexi-Stove, if I run out of fuel tablets. |
(which burns hexamine fuel tablets) was made famous in WWII by the British Army.
Since that time, it has been well used by hikers, campers, hunters, fishers -
and by my family.
 |
| I made a fire using bark and twigs instead of fuel tablets. |
 |
| My cocoa drink has no sugar or milk, but it is OK if you are not too fussy!! |
Hexamine is the primary ingredient in the cooker's fuel tablets. These fuel tablets have a very high energy density, burn smokelessly, leave no ashes, and do not liquefy. While fuel tablets are very lightweight and portable, the heat they produce is difficult to control unless a smaller piece of tablet is used, and the fumes it produces are noxious.
Some people are allergic to the compound, which can be absorbed through the skin.
http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-hexamine.htm
Take care not to breathe in the fumes
and do not use the solid-fuel cooker in a confined space, such as in a tent entrance.
*taking the bottom and the top off a fruit can or aluminium can,
*creating a windscreen if necessary, perhaps by curving aluminium foil around both the stove and the pot,
*making some nail holes in the can for air movement
*supporting the can (perhaps with metal tent pegs),
*burning hexi-fuel tablets at ground level,
*placing the cooking pot on top of the home-made can-cooker!
Alternatively, a fuel tablet could simply be placed on rock or on dirt (after clearing the immediate area) with the pot supported above the flame (perhaps by using rocks).
The Tommy-Cooker Hexi Stove costs around AU$10, weighs 230 grams and is 13x13x2.5 cm in size. It can be bought from camping shops or on-line, is made from durable steel; it folds up into a compact unit; opens up into 2 cooking positions; has fuel tablets which have to be bought separately which burn without odour and easily ignite with a match. In my emergency kit, I wrap the fuel tablets in aluminium because they are inflammable.
 |
| Tommy Cooker Hexi-Stove ready for some fuel tablets |
Click on the following link to see a YouTube on using a Tommy Cooker Hexi-Stove.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KmKxsecKiAk
Garden Finger Lime Australian Bush Tucker
I recall my first taste of the Finger Lime which I was given some months ago - a finger-sized, elongated lemony citrus fruit. I decided then that I would soon buy a finger-lime bush to grow in our home garden.
Microcitrus australasica, the Australian finger lime, is a hardy, spiny, shrub or small tree which is closely related to the domestic citrus. The long and narrow fruit has a sour taste and is probably best used for Thai cooking, jams, garnishes, sauces and drinks.
Best climate: Limes grow well in the warmer areas of Australia. Worth a try in cooler zones, but protect from frost when young.
Citrus care: A position in full sun is best. Keep trees well watered when the fruit is forming in spring and early summer. Trees growing in the ground should be fertilised in August and February. Complete Citrus Food alternating with Dynamic Lifter would be suitable. Feed citrus growing in pots every six to eight weeks. Once again alternate Complete Citrus Food with Dynamic Lifter, or use 3-4 month Osmocote applied in spring and early summer. Feed Australian finger limes with an organic fertiliser in late winter and spring. Water well before and after fertilising. Keep the area beneath your trees free of grass and weeds. Mulch with compost or other organic material, but make sure that the mulch does not touch the trunk of the tree.
Getting started: Expect to pay around $25-$30 for an Australian finger lime.
Australia has six species of native citrus, with the most well known and cultivated species being the finger lime. The Australian finger lime (Citrus australasica) is native to the rainforests of the border ranges of SE Queensland and Northern NSW.
In its natural habitat the finger lime grows as an understorey shrub or tree up to 6 metres in height on a range of soil types.
Trees are thorny, producing distinctive finger shaped fruit up to 12 cm long with a typically green-yellow skin and pulp. There is also a naturally occurring pink-red fleshed form of finger lime known as Citrus australasica var. sanguinea.
In the wild, finger limes are genetically very diverse, with trees and fruit varying in size, shape, colour and seediness. The pulp of the fruit is unique with separate juice vesicles that resemble caviar. The individual juice vesicles (sometimes referred to as crystals) are compressed inside the fruit and burst out when the fruit is opened.
In the wild, finger limes are genetically very diverse, with trees and fruit varying in size, shape, colour and seediness. The pulp of the fruit is unique with separate juice vesicles that resemble caviar. The individual juice vesicles (sometimes referred to as crystals) are compressed inside the fruit and burst out when the fruit is opened.
Demand for finger limes has grown steadily over the past decade, mainly as a result of its bush food status, unique caviar-like pulp and attractive colour range, with most interest coming from the restaurant trade.
Fresh fruit are mainly used as a garnish for seafood and the pulp is used for processing into sauces, jams and jellies.
At present most commercial plantings of finger limes are confined to northern NSW and southern Queensland, with a few plantings dotted along the coast as far south as Sydney. Trees can probably tolerate a wide range of climatic conditions including light frosts, but ideally sites should be frost free and
trees protected from prevailing hot or cold winds.
http://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0016/320272/growing-australian-native-finger-limes.pdf
May we all have the pleasure of discovering Australia's native bush tucker
from Robyn
painting of robin by Brenda, my mum.