Hunt, Gather, Stretch: Yoga & Hunting

I am an avid reader of the Women’s Outdoor News (WON). Not only are they a great news resource for what is going on in the worlds of hunting and shooting as it pertains to women, it is also like any other outdoor magazine, with the tiny modification, that instead of articles all about men and written by men, it is written by and about women. It’s about time :)

Recently I read an article about Yoga for Duck Hunters, and I quickly remembered how I had turned to Yoga this spring during my long days in the turkey blind. There is an altogether different kind of fatigue that comes from sitting quietly in a confined space for 12 or so hours. The relief that even a few imperfect Yoga poses can bring cannot be overstated. Since I was hunting in a “dog house” style blind (and had not yet learned the importance of a seat with a backrest) I needed poses that stretched my back, my legs, got my blood moving around my body, and yet could be done in a very confined space. I had about 60 x 66 inches, and I found that taking some of the yoga from my normal practice and modifying it to fit my space, really gave me the kind of relief I needed, that allowed me to be able to stay out in my blind all day long. I managed to squeeze in a mini (arms not extended overhead) Sun Salutation, a few Warrior & Warrior II poses and several of the Wide Legged, Forward Bend variations. I do think that each person should only attempt poses they are already very comfortable with when out in the middle of nowhere in your blind. It would be an altogether different kind of tragedy if you were to, say pull a muscle trying to stretch, than having to pack it in a little early from fatigue. In short, please use caution.

Awareness of your body, it’s needs and how to meet them is vitally important for any activity you engage in that challenges your boundaries. Yoga is an amazing way to get connected to your body and help you understand those boundaries. Spending time, getting committed to a yoga practice in your daily life will pay out big dividends, not just for the hunting season, but also in terms of your knowledge and connection to your own body, a centered focus of mind and a kind of clarity and flow in your everyday life that cannot be overstated.

It is also really important to prepare your body for the challenges you want to take on. Getting in shape for the hunt is just as important as scouting the perfect location. Challenging myself is definitely a big part of the joy I get out of hunting, but I need to be sure that I am reaching for those challenges in a safe way. WON also published an excellent article about getting in shape for stalk hunting, a great resource for how to get ready. Another way I get ready is to spend as much time as I can hiking in and out of similar areas to the areas I will be hunting, or going out “scouting” even if I don’t need to, as a way of insuring that I am not going to be taxing myself too much just getting in and out of the areas I want to hunt.  This can also give me ample opportunities to forage for non-meat foods in these areas. Last year I found bushels of feral apples while out scouting squirrel territory. Along with several delicious fungi.

Get up early, get in some yoga, then get outside, get some exercise, adventure & maybe even get some food.

Preserving the Bounty

Near the beginning of my journey into helping my family have a healthy diet, I reached a point where I felt overwhelmed by the task of finding out what was in everything we wanted to eat, where it came from, how it was packaged, etc etc…. And I thought, “well hell, I will just have to grown everything myself and can it myself, and hunt my own meat and bake all of our bread from grains I grow myself… wait is that even possible? how much land am I gonna need?” Thankfully that is not exactly how it turned out. I learned a few important things on the way to where we are now.

1. There are a few great companies that source their products carefully, package them relatively responsibly & safely.
2. I can make some compromises, not everything, always has to be the best of the best… better is better & that is sometimes plenty.
3. If I go to the farmer’s market I can just ask the person at the table (who has to be the one growing the food at my market) about their food, instead of having to do a lot of internet research and writing letters to customer service departments that never respond.
4. I can grow and put up some of my own food, it is really not that hard, especially if you start small and grow as you go.

When I started canning, I began by only doing small batches of jam in my waterbath canner. Now I have a large pressure canner that I sometimes fill with a double stack of pint jars. and I need two bookcases in the basement for our canned food. I also learned that some things are better frozen and still others are best dried, so I do a fair amount of freezing and dehydrating too…

Apples on the dehydrator tray

I am currently in the thick of my canning season. I’ve been a little behind this year, and missed the sweet cherry harvest entirely, but have still been able to get a lot of produce put up, and I think there is still more to come. I have found that, in the gardening space available to me, I am not able to grow enough of most foods to can them, especially tomatoes. My family eats a lot of tomatoes when they are in season, so the amount I grow, we tend to gobble up before I can collect enough to do a batch of canning. It is, fortunately very easy to find local producers selling organic and often heirloom tomatoes in half bushel boxes for canning, enough so that I can even shop around for a good price.

Some of the tomatoes from my garden

I did manage to grow more than enough tomatillos for canning this year, in fact I had so much, I had to give several pounds away to friends and family. I almost always buy about 5 dozen ears of corn to freeze, and love to make as much salsa as I possibly can, since we always eat through it and then some.

Merle inspecting about 20lbs of tomatillos from my garden this year

We like to U-Pick most of our fruit, which begins in May with strawberries and generally ends in September or October with raspberries, so fruits get put up all throughout the year. I’m going to share a few of my favorite methods for putting up food and will post recipes in the next few posts.

Strawberries: Frozen, Dried & Canned in Jams and Sauces or Juices

Peas & Asparagus: Blanched and Frozen

Rhubarb: Frozen & Canned into Jam with other fruit (mainly strawberry)

Tart Cherries: Frozen

Blueberries: Frozen & Canned in Jam (I sometimes dry some for baking, granola or tea, but they do not dry well for me in terms of making a good snack)

Greens: Blanched and Frozen, or Dried (dried greens are superb in smoothies, soups, sprinkled into spaghetti, or even added to muffins)

Sweet Cherries: Dried (one of my favorite snacks), Frozen or Canned in Jam

Cucumbers: Fermented into Pickles, or Canned Pickles

Broccoli: Blanched and Frozen

Red Peppers: Roasted and Frozen

Tomatoes: Roasted and Canned, Canned in Salsas, and Sauces and Dried (especially cherry or grape tomatoes)

Peaches: Frozen or Canned in Syrup (my family doesn't eat a lot of canned peaches, so I mainly freeze them now) or Jams

Melons: Dried (they taste like candy!)

Apples: Dried (my family LOVES to eat them dried as a snack, it is difficult to make enough) or Canned in Sauce or Spiced Rings

Herbs: Dried & Frozen in Oil or Pesto

Carrots, Beets, Kohlrabi, Cabbage: These all make excellent Fermented Pickles / Kraut (my family and our friends devour Pickled Carrots)

Wild Mushrooms: Dried or Sauted in butter & Frozen

Corn: Blanched or Grilled and Frozen or Canned in Relishes or Salsas

I also like to Can some Chili & Soups, to have on hand for “emergencies”

Here is a Link to Basic Canning Instructions from the USDA

Using a handy tool my dad gave me for cutting the corn off the cob