FUELING FIELD TRIPS: A DUTCH OVEN PRIMER

What are the items essential for a successful geology field trip? The answer seems obvious - topographic and geologic maps, rock hammers and hand lenses, note books and sample bags, food and water, and, of course, a first aid kit. As geologists, our major emphasis is on preparation to do science rather than to provide for creature comforts. As a result, how many field trips are labeled unsuccessful, not because the outcrops were poor or the weather inclement, but because the meals were inadequate - in amount and/or in quality? During the American Civil War, Union General William Tecumseh Sherman stated, "I'd like to set the record straight. Some say an army travels on its feet or on its seat, but it really travels on its stomach!" Field trips, particularly those with an overnight component, are the same. On a field trip, students, like an army, travel on their stomachs. You need to feed your students well, so they can work hard and enjoy the field experience.

When you are "on the go" all day, hearty meals are necessary to maintain energy levels. Sandwiches, cold cereal, and mac 'n' cheese from a box do not provide enough fuel to adequately maintain high energy levels. Dutch ovens have been an outdoor cooking standard since frontier times. You can prepare easy, nutritious, and relatively inexpensive "one-pot" meals cooking in Dutch ovens. Your own imagination is the only restriction when planning Dutch oven meals for your students or colleagues. The general rule of thumb is that anything cooked in your home oven can be cooked in the field in a Dutch oven, from pizza to beef Wellington. Besides, we all know what ever you cook will taste better in the field, even when it isn't perfect.