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It used to be a dinner party game on the fireplace hearth. You get birch bark, ferro rod, knife and a block of magnesium metal. How fast can you make a substantial flame to start a bird's nest of grass tinder? This should never take more than a minute.

Correct. Our robins are big thrushes, plus the fact that my grapes are small, like a Pinot Noir. Destemming 40 kg of those is a labor of love. One hard, sharp peck in the top of the head and a Raven will kill a robin. They gang up to dismember it and fly away with pieces. Damnedst thing I...

Nobody put their hand up for the last of my grapes so the robins coming through were in the vines this morning when I got up. Won't take them 12 hours to clear them off. I'll leave the pruning until March. In turn, I'll teach the pruner how to start cuttings/prunings that they can sell in the...

Possibly so. Here in my district, robins are a relatively rare bird in the village. The vast majority are what we call "bush robins" from the boreal forest which congregate in impressive migration flocks now into October. I'm sure that behavior is similar to that of your European species...

Apple tree reproduction: As you all know, the flowers are commonly in clusters. The first blossom past the pink stage to open is the "King Bloom." It produces the biggest apple. The rest of the flowers produce smaller apples of varying sizes. Big apples are the money-makers. Most...

Harvest time here, too. I gave away the apples from my 2 trees. In return, I got 2 liters of absolutely wonderful apple juice, from MY APPLES! I found wine makers who really appreciated picking off my vines. In return, I've been given bags of veggies like Brussels Sprouts, potatoes, carrots...

I discovered that I like to fine dice the fresh leaves for salads and stir-fries. As grape leaves taste like grapes, ginger leaves have a fragrant mild ginger smell and taste. The plant lives in a 30cm pot in a south window.

Welcome. I hope that your woodland becomes a campsite. That way, you can turn your attention to all sorts of other "bush craft" camping utilities. Of course, the main thing is always just to get far away from the cities.

Hoisin-honey-garlic prawns, saffron rice and whatever rabbit foods I can find for a salad thing. Never made saffron rice. My education has been lacking.

After 2000 when I bought my home here, I was buying local bison, a side at a time. I have eaten 6-7 of the critters. Often cut-it-with-a-fork-tender. Raw, it cuts beautifully with flint edges. Since it is so lean, it is not forgiving for cook times. Might look rare but it's well done. Taste...

Billy-O: You need to be under the mass flyways when the Canada's really get moving. Tens of thousands, the sky is black for days. Find Kindersley, SK on a map. My uncle was a very well-to-do goose guide for decades (10 ga Ithaca.) There may be 12,000 birds in a single flock of Snow Geese...

The Canada geese are beginning to flock up here at 53N. It's been freezing up top, tightening up, so the Fraser and tribs are dropping low. Most deciduous trees are showing hits of color, a few are bright but mostly drab yellows. My grapes have colored up. Still as sour as pickles. Cold...

I can enjoy a slurp of Gran Marnier after I do the thirst-quenching bit with a good brand of Club Soda.

1. Hot off the press: "Out Of The Fire". A lavishly illustrated selection of 24 metal workers that you will find around the Salish Sea*. I'm 10 mm into it, looks like welders and blacksmiths so far. * Salish Sea: That part of the Pacific Ocean sort of between the south end of Vancouver...

There's a reason for stripping the bark which Toddy didn't mention: Go ahead and weave your magnificent fruit basket. Wait a week or two. All the willow twigs will sprout and you will have quite a shrub growing in your kitchen corner.

Two more power failures of a couple of hours each in the pitch dark and I have bought a pair of glass oil lamps from Home Hardware #4360-907 12" oil lamp pair $21.99 Recommended lamp oil fuel #4360-383 710ml clear lamp fuel $12.99 They sell replacement wicks and chimneys, too. Their...

You are bound to have suitable emergency pyrotechnics approved for your country. Maybe a phone call to your nearest chandler on the coast would turn up some marine pyro devices.

Pick and freeze, pick and freeze. Let the cache build up. I'd cook some down as a condiment over birds, ice cream and pancakes.

Accelerant to turn a weak smoldering fire into a torch. Big hydrocarbon like paint thinner or car parts washing petrol. Even in the boat, back with the fuel tanks, Dad always had a bottle of "Varsol," shop cleaner to start fires no matter how wet the wood was. Big red highway emergency flares...

I guess it's 15 years or more now. My little photovoltaic system has helped me many times. 12VDC solar panels connected through a charge controller to a bank of deep cycle storage batteries. 24/7, those supply the juice when you need it. The batteries supply 12VDC (more like 13.7VDC when...