Hi all,i went out on Tuesday for a night in the woods and rather than taking the hammock,tarp set up,i decided to just take a blanket,billie and a knife. I started by building a lean-to shelter using branches that were lying around,once the shelter was built and covered with debris i made my bed up,i put 2 logs along the front to keep my bedding from spreading under me whilst i slept,the bedding consisted of small branches topped off with dry dead grass,turning it into a posture sprung mattress.
Once that was done it was time to collect some water from the burn that was no to far from camp,after filling up the billie with water i went for a wander to forage some edibiles,its still pretty spartan up here as Spring is not quite in full swing, anyway i managed to find some sprouting Ramsons,luckily the rain had washed away the leaf litter exposing the shoots, so i gathered a handful to feed myself,next on my list was some Pine needles to make some tea, i found a wind fallen branch of Scots Pine to which there was some cones still attached,i gathered a twig for the needles and a few cones to experiment with.
When back at camp i collected enough fire wood to keep me going all night as it was an open fronted shelter,the temp did drop down to -4 to -6 during the night. I collected some more dry grass and some shedding Birch bark for a tinder bundle and then started a fire using the bowdrill,once the fire was going i boiled up the water to purify it,as the water came up to the boil i put the Ramsons into the ashes to bake slowly,then chopped up the Pine needles ready to make tea. The cones were popped next to the fire to make them open up,once they opened up i started to pick out the tiny little seeds and i mean tiny.The Ramsons were soon ready,and washed down with the Pine tea,Lovely.
As darkness fell i re-arranged the fire into a long log fire,climbed into the shelter pulled the blanket over me and fell asleep,i did wake a couple of times during the night to build up the fire as the cold woke me telling me the fire needed stoking.
All in all it was a great night listening to the Owls,Foxes calling and Roe deer barking.
Oh i did say the Pine cones were a bit of an experiment,i found that Scot pine cones are not really worth collecting for food as the seeds are tiny. Oh well every day is a learning day
.
Well thanks for reading
Once that was done it was time to collect some water from the burn that was no to far from camp,after filling up the billie with water i went for a wander to forage some edibiles,its still pretty spartan up here as Spring is not quite in full swing, anyway i managed to find some sprouting Ramsons,luckily the rain had washed away the leaf litter exposing the shoots, so i gathered a handful to feed myself,next on my list was some Pine needles to make some tea, i found a wind fallen branch of Scots Pine to which there was some cones still attached,i gathered a twig for the needles and a few cones to experiment with.
When back at camp i collected enough fire wood to keep me going all night as it was an open fronted shelter,the temp did drop down to -4 to -6 during the night. I collected some more dry grass and some shedding Birch bark for a tinder bundle and then started a fire using the bowdrill,once the fire was going i boiled up the water to purify it,as the water came up to the boil i put the Ramsons into the ashes to bake slowly,then chopped up the Pine needles ready to make tea. The cones were popped next to the fire to make them open up,once they opened up i started to pick out the tiny little seeds and i mean tiny.The Ramsons were soon ready,and washed down with the Pine tea,Lovely.
As darkness fell i re-arranged the fire into a long log fire,climbed into the shelter pulled the blanket over me and fell asleep,i did wake a couple of times during the night to build up the fire as the cold woke me telling me the fire needed stoking.
All in all it was a great night listening to the Owls,Foxes calling and Roe deer barking.
Oh i did say the Pine cones were a bit of an experiment,i found that Scot pine cones are not really worth collecting for food as the seeds are tiny. Oh well every day is a learning day
.Well thanks for reading
But seriously, nice post and good little spot you set yourself there.
Now i know why the vampires left me well alone that night
