Ground Ivy also Known as Catsfoot (Glechoma hederacea)

Has been introduced to North America and is now common in most regions other than the Rocky Mountains.
Leaves and stems appear much like much like MINT to which ground ivy IS RELARED.

Ground Ivy isn't related to true Ivy (Hedera helix), but it trails along the ground in a similar way, albeit on a much smaller scale. A perennial member of the family Lamiaceae, which includes herbs such as Mint, Marjoram and Thyme, Ground Ivy has the square stems and pairs of round, blunt toothed leaves that are characteristic of many members of the family. 

The leaves are slightly aromatic and in full sun they are sometimes tinged with red. The flowers have three lower and two upper petals and are a pretty shade of blue/violet, often with darker blue or mauve blotches. The flowers are popular with bumblebees.

Ground Ivy is just one English name. Others include Alehoof, Gill-over-the-ground, Gill-go-by-the-Hedge, Creeping Charlie, Haymaids, Tun-hoof, Hedgemaids, Lizzy-run-up-the-Hedge, Catsfoot and Robin-run-in-the-Hedge. The name Alehoof was given because Ground Ivy used to be the most common flavouring in beer (before hops were used, from the 16th century onwards). Most of the other names refer to the plant’s low, spreading habit as it grows in wooded places and hedgerows.

Ground Ivy is reported to have several medicinal properties and these are described on a number of websites, including Plants for a Future, A Modern Herbal, Rowan Remedies, and Health from Nature, including treatments of headaches, inflamed mucous membranes, bruises, ear infections and kidney disease. One website refers to several interesting pieces of research which suggest that Ground Ivy has antibacterial and insecticidal properties and can stimulate platelets, inhibit tumour production and boost the immune response. 

There is also a variegated form of Ground Ivy, Glechoma hederacea ‘Variegata’, which is often grown as a low-maintenance plant for hanging baskets.

• Ground Ivy leaves are rather bitter but are edible when young. They can added to salads for a slight aromatic tang or cooked like spinach, added to soups or used as a flavouring; however, ground Ivy is poisonous to horses and is avoided by rabbits 
• Leaves are suitable as a flavouring agent or in smaller quantities,as a potherb
• Grows in thickets, disturbed sites, and open woods.©Al (Alex-Alexander) D Girvan. All rights reserved.

Fire Safety

This depends on three things: a safe spot for the fire,a safe fire (not the kind often built by a bunch of Nuts, playing survival/adventure games), making sure your fire is out after use. Remember the old Canadian Pioneer/Survivor slogan "Just as you would an innocent daughter, chaperone your fire, don't let it go out alone".

WITH WATER

1. Don't pour water on it, which can actually spread the fire, sprinkle with back of fingers.

2. Spread the sticks and  coals.

3. Sprinkle again. Don't leave it, until coals are cool enough to put your hand on.

WITHOUT WATER

1.Spread sticks and coals

2. Scrape burning embers from large logs and sticks.

3. Cover with dirt.

CHECK AND BE SURE THE FIRE IS DEAD, OUT.

OF COURSE, YOU KNEW ENOUGH TO HAVE BUILT THE FIRE ON ROCK OR MINERAL EARTH TO BEGIN WITH.

©Al (Alex-Alexander) D. Girvan. All rights reserved.

To Make Your Fire Go

Tinder:
Some kind of flammable material that will flare up when touched with the flame of a burning match--or, preferably, you remembered to carry a mini-torch in you personal survival kit. The tinder can be bark from cedar, birch, basswood, elm or willow trees, most any such dry material. Weed tops from aster, thistle, goldenrod,  milk weed, or cattail are also excellent. Fuzz sticks whittled from dry wood, leaving the shavings attached are good fire starters. Fluffed bark of juniper, birch bark, dry dung, dry grass could be used as tinder. Tinder is any kind of material that takes a  minimum of heat to catch fire.

Kindling:
This is the thin branches of split wood that will catch the flame from the tinder and in turn  ignite the heavier fuel. Kindling is mainly procured from trees, evergreen twigs, squaw wood,  which is the dead wood still on trees, that can be collected by simply breaking it off. Willow, alder, and aspen are also excellent. Again, remember the saying: "if you can't snap it, scrap it. Gather a couple of handfuls of this kindling, pencil thin or thinner.

Fuel:
For doing a real job of providing heat or light. This, FUEL, can range from THUMB THICK BRANCHES for cooking a simple meal; to heavy logs, for keeping a fire going through a long, Canadian, winter, night. use whatever wood you can get from a fallen limb or a dead tree branch from a tree. Break, or chop, if you are lucky enough to have an axe or hatchet in your available survival gear, into pieces of suitable length for your fire.--about a foot or so long. Some woods burn burn more easily than others--but,most any wood is usable for a quick meal. Fuel from such trees as hickory, oak, beech, birch, maple, and ash are excellent long burning woods. Make sure you have more than enough fuel wood. It burns more quickly than you think and you don't want to leave your fire, or your cooking while looking around for more more. wood..

Teepee Fire Lay:
Is one of the oldest known fire-lays and was used by primitive and tribal peoples world wide.  This ancient method got it's North American name from  the way it somewhat resembles a native shelter. You will find that it is still one of the easiest and quickest to build and that it is especially good if you intend to do any boiling or frying.

1. Place a large handful of tinder on your prepared fire place.
2. Push a stick into the ground on a slant over the tinder.
3. Now lean a circle of kindling sticks across the slanting stick with their tips together and with an opening towards the wind.
4. Crouch don in front of the prepared fire, set your back to the wine. Strike the match, let it burn into a real flame, then touch it to the tinder, close to the ground.
5. Let the kindling get a good start; then feed the fire, first with thin pieces of fuel wood; then, gradually, with thicker pieces. 
6. Continue feeding until the fire has reached the size you need.

Criss Cross Fire Lay:

This is one of the best methods, when you need a bed of coals for broiling (roasting) or baking.

1. Place two pieces of wood ,about as thick as your wrist, and about a foot long on the ground parallel to one another, about a foot length apart.
2. Place a good handful of tinder on the ground between them.
3. Lay a number of thin kindling sticks crosswise on top of this base  leaving spaced between each stick. Continue building up the cross layers, increasing the thickness of the wood from layer to layer. but always placing the pieces a distance apart This allows the flames and the draft to move upward.
4. About eight layers is enough.
5. Follow instructions 4-6 for teepee fire lay. When properly laid, the criss cross fire sill flare up with a blaze, then quickly turn into a bed of glowing embers suitable for most cooking

©Al (Alex-Alexander) D Girvan. All rights reserved..

Basic Firecraft

If you must eat, if you need warmth, if you just wonder what nameless thing crouches in the night, ready to pounce and make you pay for your indiscretions or sins,; if you fashion tools, if you would signal and communicate with others, or just enjoy social networking you can use fire. And when you have the skills necessary to provide fire when you need it, in any kind of weather, you are  in the way to becoming a true SURVIVOR. Just remember The Mother's rules and that though it can be called Canada's true national game and belongs lock, stock, and barrel, to Canada, it is not the most popular of-- Let's forget the BS--it is NOT a game or at least not one that anyone really WANTS to play.

The ability of making fire is important; it can even save your life. If you can't already light a fire, learn to do it-correctly and efficiently:

 A fire can provide warmth on cold days and nights.

 You can cook your food.

Purify (or at least disinfect-they are not the same thing) water.

You can signal for help (signal fire)

It can help you make and temper tools

It acts as a moral boost in an emergency situation. I'm sure you know the feeling one gets just gazing into a fire at night.

Our early Canadian pioneers-those of European or mixed European native decent- as did the earlier purely indigenous (first migrant) predecessors used fire as a basic survival tool. Whatever our distant racial heritage, fire helped all our ancestors develop this country, at the forge, clearing the land, cooking their meals, heating their homes and shelters, and in many other ways. The very first migrants, those we often called Indians of course, used it for warmth and cooking, making tools and weapons and as a signalling method as well as just a tool of survival.

Although obviously not made in their own image, to most primitive peoples of the world, fire was a god; and this is quite understandable as it raised them- in one way- somewhat above the so called dumb animals and made what we now call "civilization possible. The Greeks regarded fire as a gift from the gods they had created and come to worship. From away back in time, fire has been held in awe by man--even men who did not directly use it for warming themselves, cooking their food, lighting their way, melting their metals, or any of the basic needs. You only have to stare into the curling flames, to be lost in many dreams of comfort, fellowship, and safety in the dark.© Al (Alex-Alexander) D. Girvan. All rights reserved.

Survival, Sleeping Warning and Tips

Rule:
Have little or no clothing on, but much insulation underneath and over you.

• Sleeping in clothing will hold moisture, which, in cold climates, chills the body. For this reason, the Inuit and other peoples who built or lived in all snow igloos generally slept completely naked.
• Contrary to popular belief; you will not freeze to death in your sleep; cold awakens you unless you are very tired or drunk. Drinking alcohol -hot or cold-will not warm you up but in fact will bring more blood and heat  to the skin surface. The heat is then dissipated or radiated off, chilling the body.  

©Al Alex-Alexander) D. Girvan. All Rights reserved.