Natural Camouflage

Yesterday afternoon we spent some time working on firestarting before the kids got bored and ran off to play with the hose and the neighborhood kids. I tended the fire feeding it fallen branches and firewood from the pile.

While I was sitting there, smelling of smoke, I decided to see if natural camouflage was as effective as the high-dollar gear available at the outdoor stores today. The back yard was muddy because of the running hose and there was plenty of charcoal and ash from the firepit so I went to work getting dirty.

I crushed charcoal in my hand and then rubbed my hands together and randomly applied it to my face, arms, hands, and legs and then scooped up a couple of fingers of mud at a time and hit other random spots. I must have looked quite the mess sitting there.

I began to understand the Tom Brown theory that the more natural material you put on the more you will blend in with your surroundings. I moved into the cluster of trees at the back of my property to see if my new camouflage job would work and, sure enough, within minutes I had a squirrel hop right past me while looking for acorns.

Around dusk, the mosquitoes came out strong and heavy. I've seen folks use charcoal and/or mud to protect themselves from biting insects in the past so I thought I'd see how my natural covering would work out.

Maybe I did it wrong to prevent bug bites but I've got maybe a dozen bites on my legs and I know I had one or two on my hands that I treated on the spot with some broadleaf Plantain.

Adding a shower to the mud room on the new house was part of the plan for just the kind of day I had today. The stuff I had to rinse off last night when I came in would have caused more than a little pain for me had I trekked it through the house. :)

Thanks for reading,


B