My family dropped my small lens - irreparable - so just as well that one of my scout leaders had his camera there. His son was on strictest instructions to keep shooting no matter what - and that only lasted so long - so after a while I grabbed his digi camera and continued to shoot the pictures.
To cut a long story short - the sacrificial lamb (Larry) who's real name was Burt (the pet lamb)
has been gutted and was almost ready to be toast. Before we could do that we had to get ready the fire pit! Obviously the scouts where not to sure of them selves and can here be seen working out the shortcoming's. Yep you where right need more timber right there!!!
When all was ready we lit the fire. Of course a open fire in the wild has to be watched, the perfect excuse by scouts, after a hard day working, to just sit round and take a breather. Funny how the age old tradition of men sitting round the fire and yakking away is still alive and kicking. Only thing missing was a cool blonde (Speights I think) or if you're after refined taste a glass of red medicinal grape juice!!
And while one crew was working hard sitting guard, the others ended up rubbing in fresh cut herbs from the garden. I bet you "Burt" never smelled so nice in his life - current or previous.
There was rosemary/sage/coriander/mint and others that escape me for now. Rumor has it that a certain Colonel Sanders was interested in obtaining our 11 secret herbs and spices for further study. Can't imagine that a lamb burger would sell well in America - but hey each to their own!
Yah - we are finally cooking. timber has burnt down to a white embers, and each scout had to do 10 min on the crank handle. Mind you at times it was more like see how fast we can spin this thing round. We had to remind the scouts that just cause he is doing 100 rpm's that does not mean he cooks faster.
We lit the fire at 7 pm - mainly because the bulk of research said it would take at minimum 4 hours to cook and while a midnight feast was not out of the question - I did not want to stretch it out any further past that time.
Of course the embers only last so long and for Larry - our sacrificial lamb to be perfectly cooked we had to constantly feed the fire. Believe me that is an art form in itself. We started by having a extra area either side of the beast where we could burn the timber down to to white ashes and then shuffle that round and keep feeding it that way. Eventually we needed to stoke the fire right under Larry and keep the fire going in that manner. Flame grilled meat has a new meaning now!!
Ok - the boys where really very good - I only heard it once - "is he cooked yet?" and that was after only 30 minutes of cooking. Most kids these days are fed on microwave meals where everything zips round in 20 seconds flat - and even then the thought of having to w a i t 20 seconds . . . . . Anyhow after about 2.7 hours the front of Larry was done and we used a battery and inverter to power our way through the meat. Oddly enough the prepared veggies who cooked just as nice in a dutch oven did not get eaten at all. The kids where to busy stuffing them selves with prime meat!! Yiiiiiah - Lamb never ever tasted so good! Yumm.
After we had the most srumptuous meal we sent the kids into their bivouac where they could do anything they wanted - sleep was only one option! Naturally they did not, and continued to tell tall stories all night long.
Next morning the 2 leaders staying out over night at camp got a hot cup of tea in bed!! Yumm - room service in a bivouac - we will have to go back there!!!! This was followed by eggs on toast!!
We will not do this activity again for another 2 or 3 years - but believe me - we have a waiting list of scouts. There is also no shortage of parents wanting to help out. Sorry Venturers - you will have to organise your own Larry - the sacrificial lamb event. I cannot be bribed (although a years supply of chocolate might do the trick! hehehe). IO now have the task of dealing to the pelt, and the head has been boiling away for the last 48 hours!! We mount both on a timber board and hang it in our Scout hall as a permanent reminder of this crazy group of people who have enjoyed the experience!
Next event to organise is our annual westcoast trip in June - a long weekend away and some 10 lucky scouts will experience part of NZ Reefton history/ goldpanning/and perhaps blacksmithing! We'll see . . .
Meanwhile - have fun
I am feeling a bit under the weather at the moment.
