The Mighty Birch Polypore, King of The Bracket Fungi!

originally posted by: skalla
a reply to: Soloprotocol

Awesome, i figured the climate up there would be more favourable for the stuff. Well if you do get some, i'd really appreciate a piece, i'd be more than happy to send you something interesting/useful in a primitive/woodsy way in return

Nothing sharp i hope..
I'll see what i can do tomorrow. I know i've seen this stuff somewhere, just cant remember where...probably everywhere.
i live within a mile from a really old man made woodland (300 + years) so i'm pretty sure if i'm going to find any it will be down in those woods.

a reply to: Soloprotocol

lol, yes, probably sharp.... but hey, you still have ten fingers - i'm sure you wouldn't miss one

So, here is an idea about Otzi the Iceman's Belt and Pouch, i first read this idea in this thread elsewhere and give credit accordingly.

Here is a pic of his actual belt:

The Iceman’s belt was made from a 4- to 5 cm-wide strip of calf’s leather. The fragments found show that the belt was originally almost two metres long and could therefore be wound twice around the hips and knotted.

South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology

This contains a pouch in it's construction.

And the pieces of Birch Polypore:



usually tentatively identified as medicine:

The Iceman also carried a modest first-aid kit.

His implements included two hide strips, on to each of which a round lump of material had been threaded. The strips were attached to Ötzi’s clothing. Analysis showed that these lumps consisted of the fruiting body of the birch polypore fungus.

Same source...

But why threads the stuff when you could carry the hard, damage resistant material in your pouch?

Well see these loops/drawstrings?


The idea is that these are a quick release carrying system for tools like his sheathed knife and pressure flaker, and small game etc, using the polypore lumps as toggles to hold items in place.

Here is a modern example:





That's pretty neat in my opinion, as well as practical. It could be what they were really used for if you ask me.

I studied this subject quite a bit before yet still found some new stuff in this thread. I studied the chemistry that can help a person fight cancer and where it originates initially. I like grinding some dried fungi and adding it to the coffee grounds in the drip coffee maker, it gives it a pleasing flavor once in a while.

Why does medicine have to be made special and called medicine. Why do we need to rely on Pharma companies to stay healthy? I guess we have been conditioned to believe this.

Overconsumption of anything, or constantly taking medicines or even related food groups is not good. You can use this twice a week in small amounts for maintenance and if you feel like something may be brewing, make tea for a week or more. Most of our ancestors knew of the properties of this fungus, they passed the knowledge on to their female offspring most times and maybe guys would pass it on special parts of information to their sons. But we were told there is no evidence that these sort of things worked. I suppose if the medical and Pharma industries avoided officially testing things like this there would be no evidence. You do not have to provide evidence of trade secrets origination though so that means there was no available evidence. In Europe they have tested this stuff considerably, but that evidence is not accepted in the USA because none of our health scientists are taught this officially.

There is quite a bit of Scamming in the Pharma industry, I know this because I researched the basis of many medicines and the side tracking of information that occurs in this field. There is a lot of misinformation all over the place though. People believe that a medicine needs to make you better when you take it, sometimes medicines actually cause an uptic in immune response and make you feel lousy for a day. Now, some of these remedies may actually cause a cykotine storm but I do not think that the one we are discussing will do that myself. I did not get any cykotine activity like I experience with the flu vaccines or the dtap shot. Smelling birch bark burning can also trigger the body to fight cancer, how can such a nice smelling thing be a medicine. Too much is not good though.

originally posted by: skalla
a reply to: Soloprotocol

lol, yes, probably sharp.... but hey, you still have ten fingers - i'm sure you wouldn't miss one

I play guitar, I'm sure the audience would notice.

a reply to: rickymouse

Fascinating reply, Ricky, thank you for posting

a reply to: skalla


Ummm...too cool Skalla...

Threads like these IMO are the real meat of ATS...(or the fungal equivalent for you vegans)...

I'm sure you know about their artistic properties as well...or rather...that many creative people have used them to record their artistic vision on the underside of them with a stylus...They're quite beautiful with subtle degrees of shading and depth......

It's been a long while since I was out collecting the edible wild varieties of fungi.....

I transplanted some morels onto my property about a decade ago...they haven't fruited yet but the surrounding vegetation is certainly benefiting from their symbiotic relationship.....The "weeds" are freaking huge...some of them well over seven feet tall...Sorry no pics as they're hibernating at the moment (the weeds) in their dormant...winter state.

Thanks again...

Too cool










YouSir

a reply to: YouSir

Thank you very much indeed!

I do know you can draw on the undersides of some bracket fungi and i've tried it with these and didn't get any difference in colour - i think Ganoderms are much better. I've seen truly exceptional art on the variety known as "Artist's Conk" though

Glad you enjoyed the thread

Thanks for a great post , very informative! i will be looking for these all the time now ,

I had hoped you would post a pic of the one you should not eat the slimy one ... or a crash course on how to distinguish the trees.

can't wait to go and look for some!

Q

a reply to: Quantum_Squirrel

Look for silver birch dude, you know, with the papery white bark

ps: check out my thread on tinder fungus today :p i could do with a bump and you can get that one and polypores on the same tree

a reply to: skalla

Was searching up on birch polypore a few days ago and ironically your post here on ATS showed up on my google search, sadly,I had done most of this same reading elsewhere prior, ATS is clearly not a google "choice" reference.

I did grab some "tinder" fungus this weekend...maybe it wasn't dried out enough, but I did not manage to have it catch fire as easily as I would have expected. Still exploring this one.

No mention of Chaga here, will look to your other threads and see if it has come up and if not maybe post something about it at some point...but it also grows on white birch and yellow birch. Birch trees seem to be a very strong medicinal tree!

a reply to: UndeadWarrior

I have a thread on tinder fungus too.. and not the kind you get dating.

You need to get peel/cut the hard surface off, leaving the leathery/felty/velvety layer below. set the core aside for ember carrying and drill hearthboards.

Then usually boil that felty layer in a wood ash solution for a day or two to soften it. maybe soak or boil it in piss too lol.. then beat the resultant slab of weirdness with a bone or stick for ever until it magically turns to downy felt.

And it will.

Then this will catch a spark real good. Be it a piece, or fluffy shavings of it.

Takes practice, obvs

ETA: this is for tinder hoof, not chaga, may have misread you.

a reply to: Soloprotocol

i love mushrooms of all types, i've grown a few edibles very neat life form

Great thread Skalla. I hope this will generate interest in other fungi that can be useful in so many ways - especially in Northern arboreal forests where beech, birch and conifers are about all one has to work with. There's a really fine book by Mors Kochansky called Northern Bushcraft; he has chapters not only on the useful plants but also on using and maintaining knives, axes and saws as well as how to use them correctly. Given the number of injuries mentioned in this thread it sounds like a must read for some of us here, eh?

Giant puffball are edible when white and the spores make an excellent styptic to stop blood loss. It acts as a coagulant. I didn't know about the honing uses for Piptoporos. Improvised sharpening tools are hard to come by in nature.