Clamping

Storage Clamp

Squirrel Midden/Larder

Clamping is a technique used to store food for long periods of time without the need for electricity or refrigerators.

Grey and Red Squirrels use a type of clamping when they store large amounts of pine cones. These clamping piles are called larders or middens when squirrels make them and clamping piles or clamping storage when humans make them.

[Storage clamp:  From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia-  A clamp is a compact heap, mound or pile of materials.[1] A storage clamp is used in the agricultural industry for temporary storage of root crops such as potato, turnip, rutabaga, mangel wurzel, sugar beet etc.

A clamp is formed by excavating a shallow rectangular depression in a field to make a base for the clamp. Root crops are then stacked onto the base up to a height of about 2 meters. When the clamp is full, the earth scraped from the field to make the base is then used to cover the root crops to a depth of several inches. Straw or old hay may be used to protect the upper surface from rain erosion.

A well-made clamp will keep the vegetables cool and dry for many months. Most clamps are relatively long and narrow, allowing the crops to be progressively removed from one end without disturbing the remaining vegetables. The use of a clamp allows a farmer to feed vegetables into market over many months.]

Coming across a large midden in a survival situation can give one a golden opportunity to catch a squirrel or two by setting traps and snares or shooting them with a bow, sling shot, blowgun or rifles.

Keep an eye out for large piles of pine cone debris as this will indicate that there are squirrels in the area. Squirrels will normally start their middens in the late fall to prepare the winter days ahead.

Also, where there are squirrels and large middens, there may be a water source near by. The midden shown in the video above was located in the Sacramento Mountains in Southern New Mexico.

Stay Prepared! Stay Alive!

Charlie