Skills For Wild Lives

Bow Drill Scrummage

I spent a couple of hours last weekend at a Sea Cadet Instructor training course run by my friend George.

It was a fairly wet and wild weekend and I arrived in time to see George set the guys to work with the bowdrill. It's in this kind of weather that you really learn about fire making especially using friction. The sets were pre-prepared due to time constraints so were nice and dry but in these conditions moisture is never far away and ready to permeate everything.

George introduced me to the group bowdrill a year or two back. It's a great teambuilder and a good way of learning the process while developing technique, good form and some more muscle! It does make it pretty difficult to get good photos though as everyone is crowded round the action.

A pole is used as a bearing block. Two of the team are put in charge of keeping it braced and everything level. The other two team members are in charge of holding the hearth steady and working that bow! As you can imagine this reduces the strength and stamina needed by each individual but increases the need for good coordination to avoid drills flying around and broken bow strings.

If you ever find yourself in a situation where you need a fire take a while to think about your approach. You may well achieve it first time on your own if you know your stuff and have access to good materials. On the other hand you may not and those calories are expensive once the shit's hit the fan. It's all about risk, playing the odds and above all, if you have the good fortune to be in a group, teamwork.

The guys got an ember after a couple of goes and blew the ember into flame. A great achievement. Well done!

Travelling with bushcraft stuff - the practicalities

January's only a stone's throw away and preparation for my trip to Nova Scotia is underway. As this trip is a bushcraftin' one I'll be needing to pack bit of equipment which the nice people at airport security woudn't like to see on their x-ray machine!

I often see questions about this kind of thing - sometimes including misconceptions regarding carrying cutting tools on aircraft. In the current security climate you can't be too careful but if you are careful you should be fine:


Cutting tools

Gone are the days you could rock up to the security check with a knife in your hand luggage. These days folks are getting pulled up for forgotten items in washbags such as nail scissors and pointy nail files so a sheath knife is likely to cause a bit of a problem. When it comes to sharp stuff there is no ban on taking it on a plane, just make sure it's safely stowed away in your checked baggage. It's a good idea to check trouser pockets and any rucsack pockets for that stray Swiss Army knife before checking your bags. If you reach security check with them you'll have to dump them or go back and check them in (somehow!).

On Eurostar there is a security check. Knives appear in their list of prohibited items although there seems to be a procedure to get the items locked away during the journey. If anyone knows if this works maybe they can share their experience?

Fuel

Stove fuel of all descriptions is a definite no-no on all airlines and also on Eurostar by the look of it. This means taking a stove you know you can obtain fuel for on arrival. Or consider wood stoves such as the bushbuddy?

Other stuff

Most security restrictions, while the idea is sensible, have an element of knee jerk reaction about them. So things you may not dream of using as a weapon are treated as if you would. Take this snippet from Eurostar: "Any article which is inherently dangerous or which could be used to commit an act of violence or threat will also not be allowed. For example items such as imitation, replica or toy guns, ice axes, household cutlery, camping tools, shriek alarms, hypodermic syringes and butane gas canisters will not be permitted.". Now personally I wouldn't call an ice axe or a butane gas canister inherently dangerous but I guess with an idiot in possession either could be used to "commit and act of violence or threat".

Give this some careful thought if travelling with outdoor equipment. Walking poles, ice axes, multitools, whatever. Just because no one's ever whittled their way through cockpit door with a crook knife doesn't mean they won't - right?!

I will ask Eurostar more about their restrictions as for us in the UK this is the perfect and more eco-sound way to travel to Europe and a lovely way to travel to the Alps. No ice axes? Hmmm.

Conclusion

I've never had a problem flying with "hardware". As with anything, a bit of common sense and a friendly, polite manner will go a long way to resolving any problems. If you want to avoid problems check and double check the rules and regs of the airline or rail company you're using and make sure you stick to them. If unsure ask well in advance. 

Autumn

I'm lucky to live just down the road from the Ashdown Forest. It's a large (6500 acres - large for the southeast UK!) area of public access land in East Sussex. Around two thirds of this area is heathland - an important habitat. 

I've just spent a few days just wandering about enjoying autumn. It's really difficult to capture this with a camera but here's a flavour.  

The widowmaker

Widowmaker is an old logging term for a limb or tree top which will drop when the tree is felled, quite possibly killing the logger. The name sums up the reality pretty well and is one worth remembering if you're camping out in the woods - a mature branch is something you don't want dropping on you during the night (or any other time I guess!). This picture shows the scene a few years ago when some late wet snow brought this Scots Pine branch crashing down onto our garden bench. I wouldn't fancy my chances underneath this thing! Using a top line on a tarp with a decent breaking strain will probably deflect a few twigs but it's not going to stop one of these!

So what precautions can we take? In woodland get into the habit of checking the condition of surrounding trees before pitching camp. Look for any obviously dead trees and limbs. If it's dark and you're in an area with big trees and/or it's windy it might just be worth finding somewhere less risky. It's your call.

Some tree species are prone to a phenomenon called summer branch drop or sudden branch drop. They drop seemingly healthy branches without any noticeable cause generally in wet weather coming after a spell of calm, dry weather. The reasons are still hotly debated by arborists but it seems to be due to the changing moisture content in the branch upsetting the normal stresses on the wood. Among the species in the UK affected by this are beech, oak and horse chestnut. Most often the branches affected are large and growing near to horizontal. 

The beech shown here is a prime candidate with this huge limb held out at ninety degrees to the trunk. I certainly wouldn't risk camping under this one! 

Seasonal foraging... in Ikea

A seasonal favourite in Sweden is Nyponsoppa or rosehip soup. Made from rosehips and sugar and thickened with potato flour it's fairly sweet and resembles fruit juice more than the soup you're probably used to. Swedes serve it as a hot dessert often with ice cream or meringue, watered down a bit as a cold drink or just cold.

If you fancy making a batch, recipes are available on the web or in Roger Philips' excellent Wild Food (p.143). If you haven't got time or just fancy trying it they currently have stacks of it in the wee food shop bit in Ikea! 

The commercial stuff, as usual, does contain some ingredients you wouldn't add yourself but not too many. It's delicious and it's packed with the vitamin C from all those rosehips. One 250ml glass provides 150% of your vit. C needs so great for heading off those also seasonal coughs and colds.

Rose hips

Another seasonal goodie is the good old rose hip. This year, like most things fruity, they seem to be in abundance. 

The hips of the wild rose, or dog rose, have been used for centuries as a sweet addition to the winter diet. Reacquainting myself with the squashy flesh of a ripe hip fresh off the rose this morning I can understand why. They're incredibly sweet!

They contain a huge amount of vitamin C and were used in the second world war to make enormous quantities of rosehip syrup to counter the lack of fresh fruit in the wartime diet.

They can be used to make a nice vitamin packed tea perfect for the long dark winter days as well as the usual soups, syrups and jellies.

Just make sure you remove all the little hairs surrounding the seeds. They can really irritate the throat and digestive tract.

Dreaming of a sloe Christmas

Everyone who writes any sort of wild food stuff is saying the same thing this week and I totally agree with them - go and pick sloes before it's too late!!!! There are still plenty around if you find a good patch. Some are already past their best so don't leave it long.

If you've never tried sloe gin then make this the first year you do. These days I do very little in the way of drinking and I've never been much of a one for spirits but an exception I'll always make is sloe gin. It's gorgeous and dead easy to make:

• Simply collect yourself some sloes (after the first frost is best and fortunately here in this wee corner of Kent we've had a couple of frosts so far this year).
• Find a bottle or large jar.
• Half fill the bottle with sloes plus half their weight in sugar. Top it up with gin (any old gin will do - probably not worth using any of your fancy gin if you have such things) and firmly seal.
• Leave for about two or three months giving it a shake every no and then. If you do it now it should be OK for Christmas.
• You can either strain the sloes out and rebottle it or leave the sloes in - they're nowhere near as tart after their steeping in gin and sugar!

If the sloes have been frosted it makes them sweeter and they give up their juice more readily. If they haven't don't worry - either stick them in the freezer for a night, defrost and use as above or prick each sloe. This is a bit tedious to be honest but worth it. Tradition has it that the sloes should be pricked using only a thorn from the bush they are taken from or a silver fork. If you have neither handy then improvise!

Sorry, no pictures of the finished product - don't ever seem to get round to photographing it for some reason. hic...

The fallow deer rut

Broken trees and bushes, scraped earth and tracks that look like someone's been pacing up and down all night can often be found at this time of year in areas with fallow deer. Somewhere around mid-October is the start of the annual rut. Bucks will establish an area which they scent mark and use to challenge other bucks and attract does. I'm fortunate to have one of these areas on my patch. Thought I'd share some observations and deer-related info with you folks.

In the late summer, in readiness for the forthcoming rut, fallow bucks rub the velvet off their new antlers on conveniently placed trees and bushes. Velvet is the name for the soft covering containing the blood vessels for the growing antlers. This can cause quite alot of damage to young trees. Where deer are abundant you'll find many trees with missing or deformed bark.

During the rut bucks may thrash young trees and bushes. This is a display of aggression as well as an opportunity to scent mark with glands on the deer's brow. Trees treated to a damn good thrashing are unmistakable. They will often be surrounded by a bare patch where the buck has scraped the grass or leaf cover away with his legs and antlers. You'll find hoof marks and the sharp score of the buck's brow tine. The bucks may also use this as a stamping ground.

These behaviours, especially the rubbing (also known as fraying) are one of the reasons deer can be so destructive to forestry when they're around in numbers. The fraying and also nipping off the tasty, tender young tops of saplings renders them useless for timber production as they'll often grow into more of a bush than a tree due to the constant "pruning"!

As well as the thrashing and stamping patch you may find wallows. Other deer species use them more often but they're not all that frequently used by fallow deer who only ever use them in the rut. The buck will scrape out an area of earth - again you'll find cleat marks and much vegetation tossed around. Semen and urine are added and the buck uses the wallow for scent marking and enhancing his own scent. The notable things if you find one are, as you'd expect, the scent - very strong, and the amount of hair you'll find compared to a thrashing or stamping place.

As you can imagine, this whole thing is about dominance and aggression. Look at the photo on the right. It looks like a bomb's hit the place! As soon as you enter an area being used in the rut you'll notice an enormous amount of disturbance - The results of running, chasing, digging, thrashing and more besides. I've been really frustrated trying to capture this with a camera. It really doesn't convey anything like you'd see by being there and even worse, whenever anything exciting happens it's too dark to take photos! Back to the drawing board on this one.

If you have the chance to go poking around in woodlands for this sort of thing you won't be disappointed. There's some incredible stuff out there. You just have to look for it.

Bushcraft In Nova Scotia

Last year Ian, a good friend of mine, finally had the official conversion from Scouser to Canadian and moved to Nova Scotia permanently with his wife Lisa and their two dogs. He's a skilled bushcrafter, accomplished craftsman (this should earn me some brownie points!) and now due to necessity tractor driver, snow shoveller, lumberjack, pizza chef and odd job man. In addition to this he's complied with Canadian immigration law and got himself a friend called Chuck and a pickup truck. 

I'm very lucky to be popping over in January for a few weeks for some snowy shenanigans. Watch this space! In the meantime Ian's started a blog describing some of his adventures in Nova Scotia. Take a look. It should be good! 

Bushcraft - what & why?

Tim Smith over at Jack Mountain Bushcraft posted a nice article on his blog this week pondering the question "why study bushcraft?". Folks on internet forums often seem to ask "What is bushcraft?". These are both interesting questions.

Some people think that going camping once in a while and driving a big shiny off road vehicle is bushcraft. Some people think that being able to make fire by friction is bushcraft. Some people think that foraging for wild foods is bushcraft. Maybe they're all right. I don't think you can write a list of things that "are bushcraft" as bushcraft in it's purest sense is not a "thing" (and if you did you'd be writing for a long time - how wide do you cast the net?).

I think bushcraft is something quite abstract -a way of life, a way of thinking, call it what you will. I don't need to be swinging in my (insert maker of today's preferred bushcrafters hammock) hammock by the side of a lake with my  (insert maker of today's preferred bushcrafters rucsack) rucksack full of expensive kit to be doing bushcraft. I can be walking the dog; I can be driving the car; I can be in the middle of town when I spot something that is useful to me in the life long learning adventure that for me is bushcraft - something that reaffirms my connection with the earth and/or increases my understanding of it. And it's the fact that it's an idea inside my head that makes it such a personal thing that maybe just can't be answered.

This I guess this brings us (in a roundabout way) to my answer to the question "why study bushcraft?" or "what's the point?".

It's not so long ago that we relied on an entirely different skillset to live. The surprising thing is that genetically we haven't developed all that much since then so these skills are pretty much what we're designed for. While modern life has it's benefits, stuff that calls on our primitive side - staring into the flames; making cordage; foraging - whatever you call bushcraft - nourishes us like nothing else and touches us in the deepest way possible.

Just my opinion though! What's yours?