Who would have thought teaching could be so fun!

So it's been busy busy busy here!

I had my first bushcraft teaching session with some school children that have been removed from the main school system for various reasons.

I have been acting as a freelance member of staff for a adventure training company, for about
two months now and one day out of the blue they asked me to run a Bushcraft session as they knew I am training to become an instructor when I leave the Armed Forces.

Great I thought happy days!! what a great experience this is going to be.

When do you want me to do it I asked, oh we are picking up the lads in 20mins could you just throw something together!

So in a mild panic I raided my car boot and grabbed my bag, which luckily had a full set of bushy type things in it as I had only just got back from a trip and set off to pick up the boys.

When we got to the woods I set about teaching and what a buzz it was, I just loved it, passing on knowledge and watching these teenage kids engage which bushcraft was such a good feeling.

They set about setting up a tarp and hammock using knots which they had just learned and then gingerly test the hammock out to make sure it did not just slide to the floor was a joy to watch. They had a great time using team work and helping each other out which for theses lads is a big deal!

Next up was fire lighting I showed them how to use a fire steel and showed them the best way to prep a fire. Then showed them how to make a feather stick, by the end of the fire prep lesson I had more good quality feather sticks than you could....... Well, shake a stick at!

So out came the bow drill and the best part of the day for me. I gave my lesson on how to light fire by friction and demoed how it should be done. Then I handed it over to the lads, one after one they all had a go and one after one they all got a good strong ember going, the look on their faces was priceless. They had learnt a new skill and archived there goal and what's more experienced how fire can be made with with out man made items.

I am not sure how gained the most out if the session, them or me, I came away with a stronger resolve to make teaching bushcraft my living when I do the the Forces and a warm fuzzy feeling, I had passed on some knowledge and in a very small way passed on a little bit of the bushcraft bug to some troubled city kids, and the kids well if I understand slang and street talk it was SICK BLOOD, PROPER GOOD MATE!!

Bushcraft Photo Session

So it's been a while since I last had the time and opportunity to update this blog. Things have been ever increasingly busy with my day job and family life, but the other day my good friend Nathan and I got together for a bushcraft Photoshoot. Nathan is a professional Photographer and website designer  and as such thought it would be fun to get together and take some bushcraft themed photos. I was up for it as it was a good reason to dig out my kit and head to the woods. So here are a few of the photos he took.

First Trip off the year

So last weekend I took my first trip of the New Year and ventured out to the local woods. This Trip was going to be a chance for me to try out my new hammock and rigging technique so I was a little nervous as I set off from the car park, not knowing whether I would be getting a good night’s sleep or not, but hey oh, in for a Penny in for a pound as they say!

 I walked through the woods enjoying the peace and quiet and thinking about how I was going to get this hammock off the ground, I was interrupted by a “TAP TAP TAP” sound just above my head; I looked up just in time to see a Woodpecker fly off. What better time to take a break, hide myself away and see if it would come back.       

This is the Wood Pecker nest it had built in the trunk of a dead pine tree.

woodpecker nest; see the hole about a foot from the bark line

I waited for about 30 minutes but it did not come back, so I set off again to try and find a good place to set up camp.

I came across a nice little corner of woodland and set about making camp.

As the weather was nice and dry I went about hanging the hammock, as it turned out my pervious worries had been unfounded. I tied a Bowline knot in one end of some old climbing rope I had packed and then tied a timber hitch round the trunk of a suitable tree, after a few downwards tugs on the rope to make sure it did not slide straight to the floor I tied a Marlin Spike Hitch in the Hammock cord and clipped a carabineer though it and the Bowline and HEY PRESTO!

All I had to do then was stick up the tarp and camp was all set up and ready to go.

                                                                                               

With camp all set up, off I went to explore and see what wildlife and goodies the wood had to offer. It was not long before I came across this little fella.

It just seemed to make me smile a Rhodendrum shoot growing out of a felled pine tree, on its own nothing magnificent but it made me think of natures endless cycle of life and death...Wow that’s deep man!     

Right less of the hippy stuff! I moved on and got off the beaten to see what I could find and came across a load of Sliver Birch trees, If you don’t already know birch bark makes a great tinder and easily takes a spark so I peeled a small amount off a tree and put it away in my pocket to dry out as it was still a bit damp. Removing the already peeling bark does no harm to the tree at all, but with all things in bushcraft you should do so responsibly, only take what you need.

Further in to the Birch wood I found a fungus growing on the side of a standing dead Birch tree.

Birch Polypore (Piptoporus betulinus) is also called Razor Fungus and can be used as a strop to give a blade a Razor sharp edge.

As well as giving your blade a super sharp edge it can also be turned in to a plaster. By slicing out a piece of the underside of the fungus and peeling it off you can make yourself a bushcraft plaster!

Funny how nature works the same thing that keeps your knife sharp also keeps your blood in when you cut yourself!!

I started to make my way back to camp and came across loads of deer tracks, I followed them for a while but unfortunately I did not catch sight of any, but that’s how it goes sometimes, It is always a real treat to see a large wild animal in its own habitat and I must confess to being a little disappointed as I made my way back to camp. 

 

   

Just as I was nearly back at camp, I found an Owl Pellet, I could not believe my luck, I have never found one, out and about and this made me forget all about my lack of deer sighting success.

On opening up the pellet it had two skulls inside it, one looked like a squirrel but I have no idea what the other one was.

I got back to camp and got a small fire going in my homemade Hobo stove and got a brew on the go, whilst I was waiting for the water to boil I made myself a little pot hanger to pass the time, it is a great little project to practice some cutting techniques and at the end of it you have a nice little pot hanger to hang your bushcraft billycan on!!

    

So with the fire on, a warm meal and hot drink inside me I retired to my hammock for the evening    (which I am glad to say held) to listen to the birds and the sounds of the forest, this is one of the best times of the day when I am out in the woods, it is a time to reflect on the day’s events, jot down a few notes and reminders about things I have seen or things I need to look up and learn more about and just be.

As the Sun set and the fire burned its self out I laid there swinging gently in my Hammock all warm and content with the world and drifted off to sleep. I woke in the morning with the sunrise and the sound of a Deer calling out and more importantly a great big smile on my face.

I packed all my kit away and made sure everything was as I found it and that no one would ever know I had been there and left, feeling refreshed and revitalised.

So guys if you have not ventured out for a overnight camp yet, get out there and enjoy, relax and if you’re really luckily spot that deer that was teasing me!!!