Finding Water
1709 Words
"Hey Guy, look at these berries will you for a second? Do you think this could be eaten at all?" The Guinness showed a handful of berries that they had found from some nearby shrubs and was elated to find such bountiful food within the forest.
Guy looked at the berries and took one as he pinched one and tasted at the tip of his tongue. Finding that the berry does not have a bitter or acidic taste, he swallowed the Berry whole and lauded the Guinness efforts.
"These berries could be poisonous while many could be eaten as such. First, you need to do a test before you popped one in your mouth. As long as it tasted sweet and pleasant then it's alright to consume these."
"If the berries gave you a kind of sting or have a very funny taste when you taste at the tip of your tongue, then these berries were definitely a poisonous one."
"Besides, you can see the textures of these berries. If it's a kind of waxy feeling then these berries are good to be thrown away and be forgotten."
"These berries are good. Thank you for finding these and you may begin to look for more. We could have sweet berry tea and also make some spread with these. Do you want to know how to do it?"
The Guinness was excited to find that the berries that had been discovered by the were edible and could be made into a tea and also a spread for the remaining of their bread.
At least their food could last slightly longer and this could even add more flavour to their bread after all. Coupled with the rabbit and woodchuck meat that Gillian was preparing, they do not have to worry about food much for the days to come.
The Guinness went to collect as many berries as they could because these tiny fruits could be eaten as is and be made into spreads and tea.
How wonderful could nature offer to them right now...!
The Guinness watched what Guy was doing as he held the popped corn bag underneath a tree while he had made a small gorge from a birch tree near the base of the ground.
After making a small gorge in the tree, he stuck a piece of shaven wood into the gorge and then aligned the popped corn bag underneath the stick.
Within minutes, the Guinness saw trickles of water coming out from the stick and into the popped corn bag...!
"You can get water from these two trees which are found abundant in these lands. Birch and maple and you could get maple syrup with this process too."
"What I use is the popped corn bag that Gillian had bought from the food wagons before. Since the bags were linen cloth soaked in beeswax, this makes the bags to be waterproof and an ideal place to collect water."
"Gillian is dressing the rabbits and woodchuck so she would need water to clean off her hands and also the knife that she was using as well as the dressed meat."
"We would be having roasted meat with some condiments since Gillian had brought some pepper and salt with her as well. Hehehe. We can never be too unprepared in this expedition, am I right?"
"The water collected here could drink and used for washing up. Besides, we can't rely on the water from our leather skins. Those were reserves and we need to find water no matter how and where we are in the wilderness."
Guy explained to the Guinness and they were pleased to hear such knowledge being taught by Guy and made a note of it in their minds.
Furthermore, Guy had explained to them that water could be collected in this manner in Spring, Autumn and Winter but Summer would be best to avoid since there's not much water from the roots and also the water collected might be a bit unpleasant to drink.
The Guinness noted of this since they knew the reasons why Guy was guiding them as they might be separated to accomplish other tasks in the near future and they would mean that the would-be leaders for the young and inexperienced members soon.
"Come along now, bring those berries with you. We would first make ourselves some tea and then run another batch of mashed berries with some water to make a spread for our bread."
Guy beckoned the Guinness back to the small encampment and they watched how Guy deftly prepared some berries to make tea in one small pot of water while another small pot to make the spread for the bread.
Since there was meat, they would savour the meat as is and then just store the bread for tomorrow's breakfast or midday dinner. It's weird to term midday as dinner since they were so used to have midday lunch and dinner would be by dusk.
A small fireplace was made to boil the water and Guy explained how an underground fire could serve just like a rocket stove.
Then he arranged the campfire just beside the fireplace at about 2 feet high and placed them in such a way that it would be a top-down fire. Guy packed some earth in between the thick woods so that the fire would burn slowly and provide warmth throughout the night.
"Different woods offer a different kind of foliage and warmth. Here we would be sleeping on the ground which would be not good so we would be sitting up instead and used our blankets the same manner as last night."
"If we have many hours to spare, we could line the ground with leaves so the earth would not pull out body warmth at all. But we do not have many hours left and it would be dark pretty soon."
"Gillian, the water from the birch tree is ready. You can wash up the meat and stuff and get ready for supper then. We're making some Berry jam to spread in the read for tomorrow's breakfast and meals. We would be eating barbecued meat tonight and the rest would be smoked and kept."
Gillian looked up and flashed her sweetest smile at her brother as she completed her task at hand deftly. It's so surprising that a young girl would be able to wield a knife in her hands so efficiently.
"Alright, brother. The meats are all done now. We would eat half and smoked the other half. There some more left in my knapsack that had been smoked last night and we could have them as well."
"Meat that had been smoked well would last longer even if kept inside the knapsack and away from heat and moisture. Besides, it tastes greater when it's being smoked once more or thrown over the fire later on."
"Of course, if the meat turns bad, it would be best thrown away. Don't risk eating bad processed food because it would lead to severe food poisoning."
"I heard that those squiggly things floating in your eye if you closed them up, were actually those worms living in your body. It might come from some foods they had not been processed properly like undercooked meat or fish."
"That's what we had learnt in school too...!" Gillian added as the Guinness heard what she was narrating and this entices them more to attend school after the tasks had been completed.
So far they had visited one village and there's another 11 more to go before they would begin the march back to town.
Soon when dusk falls and turned the forest into pitch-black darkness, Gillian scooped some embers from the fireplace and place it on top of the top-down fire of the campfire.
The small pots of tea and the Berry spread had been made and were set aside since its too dark for them to spreading the Berry jam over their bread. Instead, they would do it tomorrow when there's light.
The Berry tea tasted quite alright since it was sweetened naturally. The previous night smoked meat was still alright and was smoked once more by Gillian.
There was plenty of meat and the innards of the rabbits and woodchuck were skewered and roasted over the open fires like how they usually would do it with fishes.
"Guy... Do you have someone in your sights and mind that you would one day settle down?" The Guinness asked as it was a bit awkward for newlyweds to be joining the Adventurers Guild as a member.
"Not at the moment. Usually, we Irish Travellers would marry with one another but right now what I would like to do is to save enough coins. I have my little sister here so maybe I would like to see her married off first."
The Guinness was surprised that Guy would let the younger to marry off first despite having complete parents. Unlike the ones they came in as the second batch, the men of the household had perished along with some of the daughters, most of their sons and some of the womenfolk too.
It was a harrowing experience that the second batch of Irish Travellers had gone through and they wished that more could be done to save these people.
Gillian removed her incandescent pebble from her knapsack and used one of the popped corn bags to hang it high above their heads. Also, the party of four had already removed their outer adventures uniform and hang them on the clothesline.
After a sumptuous meal of roasted game meat and cups of Berry tea, Gillian made sure that the leather skins would be filled with water collected from the birch tree that had been slowly trickled down and filled the waterproof popped corn bag.
They chatted for some time before Guy suggested that they have an early night. Since there were no signs of life in the direction of where they were going, it seemed that the journey ahead would be further than expected.
They each find a tree trunk to lay against as everyone shrouded themselves in their own blankets as the lull of the crackling fires soon brought the party of four to sleep.
- Writer
