
Yam, cultivate and cook - nikolay
https://primitivetechnology.wordpress.com/2018/06/15/yam-cultivate-and-cook/
======
beat
There's a lot of sophistication in "primitive" agriculture. Humans have always
been as intelligent and ambitious as they are today; they just didn't always
have today's tools.

Yams always make me think of _Gone with the Wind_. The climax of Act III (not
labeled as such, but stories are stories) is Scarlett O'Hara at her family's
plantation. Yankee soldiers have come through and taken every scrap of food,
but they didn't recognize the yams as food, because it's a Southern thing
(yams in the South came over from Africa with the slave trade). So after they
leave, she goes outside, digs up a yam with her bare hands, and starts eating
it raw. And then she gives this amazing speech... (edited for book-quoted
text)

"As God is my witness, as God is my witness they're not going to lick me. I'm
going to live through this and when it's all over, I'll never be hungry again.
No, nor any of my folk. If I have to lie, steal, cheat or kill. As God is my
witness, I'll never be hungry again."

And that's the Scarlett O'Hara of the rest of the book/movie, the relentlessly
resourceful one who will never allow herself to be victimized by anything or
anyone.

~~~
debacle
Humans have always had the same/similar capacity for intelligence, but the
modern world creates people with IQs significantly higher than the median
would have been only 150 years ago.

~~~
jfz
Because IQ is a measure of abstract analytical and pattern-matching
intelligence, our economic shift towards more analytical/intelligence-driven
work causes us to practice those skills more. I could say that FQ (factory-
production quotient) has decreased over the last 150 years, but that doesn't
mean that people are more or less intelligent, only that they practice
different things.

~~~
peterwwillis
It's interesting how this simple truth is not obvious to most people, and we
somehow think that people with skills or knowledge have some special quality
we don't, when really they're just experienced.

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michaelbuckbee
A tip: turn on captions. The creator somewhat famously doesn't talk, but does
provide really informative captions for each step of the build/experiment
process.

Related: if you like this and want more I recently read a book series called
Bonesetter that has a protagonist who lives in primitive times and it tells
the story of a person kicked from their tribe, but who prospers by building
Primitive Technology type inventions.

[https://www.amazon.com/Bonesetter-Book-1-Laurence-Dahners-
eb...](https://www.amazon.com/Bonesetter-Book-1-Laurence-Dahners-
ebook/dp/B003ODI7Z0/)

~~~
mabbo
Another tip: watch it once without the captions, then again with them.

There's more 'wonder' this way.

~~~
chucksmash
Would also recommend. I watched nearly all of these videos without captions
when I first came across the channel before I realized there were captions.

It's fun to "play along at home" and try to figure out why he's doing
something without the captions.

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hjorthjort
I clicked this fully expecting "yam", "cultivate" and "cook" to be archaic
Unix tools. Instead I got this. Such a happy surprise.

~~~
int_19h
My guesses from the title were, in order: 1) A new JavaScript framework; 2)
something to do with code quality; and 3) a new build system. Probably all
related.

I was pleasantly surprised, as well.

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blisterpeanuts
What a great idea, to feature this fellow's Primitive Technology blog (and his
outstanding Youtube channel) here on a high tech news site.

Fire making, clay pots, mud huts, stone axes, rope, hunting weapons -- these
are what kept people alive for eons, and ironically in our modern high tech
era, many if not most of these skills are largely forgotten by all but a few
remaining primitive tribes and archivists like him.

These videos are worth watching not just to celebrate these high achievements
but also to disseminate and preserve the knowledge. Should you find yourself
stranded in a forest hundreds of miles from civilization, you may indeed need
to build a friction fire, knap a stone knife, weave some cordage, rough up a
shelter, and hunt for food.

As a "primitive survival skills" fan (I'm a viewer, not a doer) I have learned
so much that I feel a certain confidence that were I to somehow fall off
civilization's ship, and be forced to fend for myself, or to help a group of
stranded individuals to survive, we would somehow make it.

~~~
mljoe
I think it is interesting to reflect on the idea that high technology builds
on top of primitive technology. Just as he uses past tools to make more
complex tools, every human era of technology builds upon the last. You could
say primitive stone tools are in the recipe for developing an ICBM or a
semiconductor if you go back far enough.

~~~
wool_gather
Brings to mind the famous bone club -> space station transition from the 2001
film.

~~~
dvtv75
I think that's actually meant to be an orbital nuclear launcher, making the
comparison even more appropriate.

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dccoolgai
I've followed this channel for a few years. It's fun to watch his whole series
from the beginning, because he builds on what he made in previous videos. Like
one video will show how to make a kiln and the next will be pottery in the
kiln.

~~~
Waterluvian
There was one video where in the same video he went from some very basic tool
to an advanced version of that tool, using each iteration to build the next. I
think it might have been a drill but I can't recall.

It was surprisingly inspirational.

~~~
lazysheepherd
I definitely agree. I think this is the video you mentioned. I have watched it
myself many times as well. "Primitive Technology: Cord drill and Pump drill" >
[https://youtu.be/ZEl-Y1NvBVI](https://youtu.be/ZEl-Y1NvBVI)

~~~
blisterpeanuts
The pump drill/firestarter is a particularly interesting bit of tech; it dates
back to at least the Phoenicians (1000 BCE).

------
atipmt
I stumbled on his videos a couple of months ago. Sadly, I only realized
yesterday that there were captions that described his process, but watching it
without isn't too bad either. He does things in a very evident manner and it's
pretty relaxing just watching him do his thing.

~~~
distances
I prefer without captions, it's more relaxing and I'm not planning to
replicate the feats anyway. :)

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IIIIIIIIII
My favorite thing this guy does is not talk, for some reason.

~~~
tootie
There's another channel called kiwami japan about a guy who mostly is making
knives out of things or other silly metal crafts. He also doesn't talk in most
of them. I think the sound of banging wood or polishing metal is just very
relaxing.

~~~
m0nty
Ishitani is also very good.

[https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7FkqjV8SU5I8FCHXQSQe9Q](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7FkqjV8SU5I8FCHXQSQe9Q)

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ivankirigin
This is probably my favorite youtube channel.

~~~
evmar
Buy him a coffee each time he releases a video:
[https://www.patreon.com/user?u=2945881](https://www.patreon.com/user?u=2945881)

(I have no particular connection to the channel or Patreon, I just like that I
can support this channel because I also love it!)

~~~
vinceguidry
Man I love that Patreon exists. Just by the collective weight of $1-2
donations, this guy can support himself just by making these videos. $6k per
video isn't amazing, but it ain't too shabby either.

We live in wondrous times.

------
equalarrow
Oh yay, someone posted this! I’ve been a subscriber to the primitive
technology channel for quite some time. The things this guy makes are truly
awesome. I put his videos sometime for my kids because they’re actual
worthwhile to talk to them about what he’s doing.

I often think of perception of time when I watch him work. Tens of thousands
of years ago, when humans worked like this, their concept of time was
completely different than ours. I’ve read comments by the guy that says some
of these projects have taken many weeks. With our instant gratification
culture, it’s good to reflect on his achievements and timescales.

I’ve also practiced making fire with hand drill and it’s hard. But when it
works, it’s awesome. A primal connection to the past.

I recommend watching the video on how he makes lime. Really good stuff.

------
hyperpallium
Interesting, the enclosure need only be big enough to cover the tubers
themselves.

> ...conventional farming practice of clearing trees to make fields. Instead
> the yam vine uses the trees as scaffolding to climb on, allowing it to reach
> the light in the forest canopy.

The vines would have to climb a long way, depending on tree height.

(Obviously unacceptable for "primitive technology", but) cooking in aluminium
foil avoids loss to charring, and is reusable,

~~~
albertfrostt
Interestingly, aluminum is a really really new material for us. Wasn't really
available until ~1950, and used to be more rare and valuable than gold.

~~~
Cthulhu_
How's that? Hard to refine? I did hear elsewhere that aluminium is one of the
most common metals on the world, possibly even moreso than iron.

~~~
salty_biscuits
Made with electrolysis of a molten aluminum salt. Requires a lot of
electricity. Back in the 1850s they made it with expensive chemical reactions
and the french elite used to wear it as jewellery.

~~~
hycaria
I've read the real thing was to have aluminium cutlery.

------
fouc
He made it sound like his yams aren't that tasty, I guess it depends a lot on
the strain and growing conditions.

~~~
newnewpdro
Are yams ever tasty plainly roasted? Most people wouldn't enjoy eating a plain
baked potato.

Some salt, paprika, and butter makes a world of difference.

~~~
whistlerbrk
Paprika on a yam? Yeah, yams are unbelievably sweet when exposed to direct
fire, like candy sweet. But I'm talking about the Garnet and Japanese
varieties, this might just be a less cultivated specie he found locally and
just went with it.

~~~
newnewpdro
Paprika on _everything_

But I was referring to plain potatoes, I've never had a real Yam, my
understanding is that sweet potatoes are not the same thing.

~~~
cirgue
No, they aren’t. Sweet potatoes are extremely flavorful when roasted by
themselves, yams not so much.

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craftyguy
It would be interesting to see a way to scale up production to produce more
than just a couple of meals.

~~~
loeg
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1ajkzVf-
VM](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1ajkzVf-VM)

~~~
craftyguy
.. using the same (or similarly 'primative') technique.

~~~
loeg
It doesn't scale up. That's why it isn't used.

~~~
craftyguy
False. Tribes in Papua New Guinea still grow food without industrial
equipment, using technology that has changed little in the last tens of
thousands of years.

No shit it doesn't scale to feed millions, but it scales in some way to feed
more than one guy on youtube.

------
loeg
> This form of farming is a good way to get around the conventional farming
> practice of clearing trees to make fields.

Yeah, you harvested two yams (less than a day's calories) over a six month
period. That doesn't scale up the way modern farming practices do.

~~~
gcb0
the primitive tech blogger guy is not trying to live off the land. he just
have a Survivor/Bigbrother kinda of tv show for survival nerds. he probably
live off the proceeds of paracord bracelets and pocket knife banners :)

~~~
loeg
Again, I was commenting specifically on this claim:

> This form of farming is a good way to get around the conventional farming
> practice of clearing trees to make fields.

It's not a good form of farming, because it's both low density and expensive.

~~~
ekimekim
Depends on your criteria. If you only aim to feed a small group, it is
significantly less cost to make a handful of enclosures than to clear a large
amount of space for a field, even if the field is more efficient at scale.

~~~
DougWebb
The point is that "a handful of enclosures" would only provide a few meals for
a small group but would take six months to produce them. The group needs to
eat for the entire six months.

Let's say each enclosure produces three-days worth of yams in six months. To
feed one person for a year you need 100 enclosures, and you need to stagger
their planting so you can harvest them continously.

Each enclosure takes up about one square meter, so you need a line of them
100m long for each person in your group. You also need space to walk between
them, so you need 3m for each two lines of enclosures. For a ten-person group,
that's a 100m x 30m yam farm.

~~~
iamnothere
You would eat more than yams. The enclosure would be a "build-and-forget"
thing to ensure you have some food down the road when times are lean.

Other videos show the guy fishing, among other things.

