Beaked Hazelnut

     

Twigs drying for future basket making, left to right: red-osier dogwood, ash-leaved maple and beaked hazel

    The last two weeks my focus has been on Beaked Hazelnut (Corylus cornuta). The kids and I have been harvesting various parts of the tree/bush for both material and food. We are planning to learn how to weave baskets this year so we have harvested some branches for that project. They are now drying to avoid shrinkage when we start to weave. When we start on that project I will document and share how it goes.

    We have also harvested fresh beaked hazelnut twigs to make our own play bow and arrows. Bows and arrows are great toys for developing patience, accuracy and strength. We chose twigs that were as straight as we could find them (diametre of an adults thumb, give or take). We whittled away the bark and steamed the wood to enable us to bend it without it snapping. Since we were doing it outside in the snow, the cold quickly cooled down the wood. I used a rag with boiling water added and wrapped it around the wood where I wanted it to bend. Once you have made a C shape you are happy with, the bowstring is fastened. A small groove on either side help the twine to remain in place. You want the bowstring to be under quite a bit of pressure without snapping the bow. I'm sure there are many technical and precise ways of constructing proper bows. For us, ease of construction by the kids, as well as the end product being a usable toy was the goal so we were less particular. We used hemp string for our bow string. 

    When we had our bows we went looking for hazel twigs (about the size of an adult pinkie) to make arrows with. Again we aimed to find the straightest twigs. We whittled away the bark and sharpened the point. The back end got a cut groove to be able to rest it into the bowstring. To decorate and add better aerodynamics, sturdy feathers at the back end of the arrow is great.  Now all that remains is practice, practice and practice and more practice.

 

    While we were out in the woods hanging out with the hazel we came upon a ruffed grouse (Bonasa umbellus) balancing on the cascading branches. She was eating the hazel catkins and seemed undisturbed by us. The hazelnuts are long gone, they are quickly collected by the squirrels and mice and put into caches. The hazel catkins however are plentiful and they are a good source of protein. We were inspired by the grouse and harvested a cup's worth of the catkins and took them home to add to our homemade energy chocolate bar.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Catkin bar

 

    Melt 2 cups dark chocolate in double boiler. When liquidy, take off heat and add 1 tablespoon coconut oil. Stir in chopped up hazel catkins, cereal of choice (we used organic oat o's) and seeds if you want (sunflower, chia and plantain seeds are nice). Mix together and spread out thickly on parchment paper on a tray. Cool down on tray in fridge. Once it has hardened, cut into bite sizes. The kids loved it!

Next time I think I will try to pan-roast the catkins and grind them up before putting them into the chocolate bar. I think that would make the flavour even nicer and avoid the dryness of the catkins. You can eat the catkins raw too. They taste good, but I have a slight allergy to them raw. For some reason I don't seem to react to hazelnuts or catkins when they are covered in chocolate. I know... that sounds a little made-up but I assure you it's true;)

Harvest of cedar leaves, ponderosa pine needles and beaked hazelnut catkins