Cal Roiget

Several aleppo pines have died after a one year drought (240mm in 2023).

My frirst ever tree cutting had to be an easy one.

Since this one had grown in diagonal, there was no doubt about its trajectory.

It had a much larger bark than expected with external carbon marks from the 1985 fire.

Two worn out shirts serve for this nest’s rag making.

A small broken blister makes good excuse for the aloe poultice.

First, the spiky leaf edges were cut, then split by the gel.

Finally the knife was used as a razor to extract the gel.

The used ingredients are dried rosemary leaves and hot water.
The infusion took ten minutes to get a stronger flavor.

The ingredients are dried rosemary leafs and apple cider vinegar.
The infision took five minutes at 95 degrees celsius.
The result was filtered some weeks later.

Walnut oil is very uncommon here, so I used organic flax oil instead.

Our land produces large amounts of wild rosemary, the neighbour takes advantage with his beekeeping.

The oldest ones, when died, have a diameter 3 inches at the base.

Sometimes we find big living ones in the middle of a path to be cleared, then we have a large harvest.

This time the harvest is small to document this PEP BB.

This is an old beekeeping face protection that had thin soft leather belts to tighten it properly.

The leather belts were delicate and thay were lost due to the lack of propper leather maintenance.

Jane Mulberry wrote:That's the most interesting thing about old tools, I think. Not just that they are more task specific, but that they likely were made for a specific user. And the tool itself will tell you plenty about the user and how they worked with the tool. It really is a fascinating part of history!

Hi Jane, this topic has become an interesting talk with my father, now eighty, who never used these tools although he took care of them.

Nevetheless, he remembers very well how they were used seventy years ago by my grandfather.

For example, now I know that previous picture was a bricklayer’s adze used in house building to cut excess hard material.

My grandfather was one foot shorter than my father, hence the tool angle and short handle; he also added the sharp extensions to repurpose the older tool.

I will try to post some story behind the pictures to illustrate them.

What is difficult for me is to express that there is a specific vocabulary associated with each tool.

These are words I had never heard before, neither the object, the purpose, nor the actions involved, so I need to take notes.

Somehow, it is like uncovering a lifestyle.

Good morning,

here is the fresh cut of mastic (pistacia lentiscus) wood that had a dark hardened core.

Mastic wood has a pleasant scent to work with, soft wood but consistent strength.

Leaves, gum and fruit are all edible which is safe to bulid a cooking spoon.

Opted for a square handle for a better grip and keep the two wood colors display.

It will be flax oiled in another PEP BB.