Paddling across the Atalantic in a boat fashioned out of willow and cow skin I should think!
Bushcraft equipment
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Paddling across the Atalantic in a boat fashioned out of willow and cow skin I should think!
I'm getting too old for being uncomfortable.
When I was young I did this sort of thing with just a blanket tied over my shoulder and a penknife in my pocket.
These days I take what I need for the trip at hand, sometimes that's a lot as I'm working out of my van and sometimes it's a little because I'm off the beaten track.
I don't often build natural shelters because I don't want to destroy the environment I enjoy.
At the moment I'm making a lot of new gear that I'll be using on the Arctic courses next March because if I don't I might freeze to death.
I don't get hung up over what to call it and I'm the first to say I'm not really a "bushcrafter" because I don't actually know what one is.
When I was young I did this sort of thing with just a blanket tied over my shoulder and a penknife in my pocket.
These days I take what I need for the trip at hand, sometimes that's a lot as I'm working out of my van and sometimes it's a little because I'm off the beaten track.
I don't often build natural shelters because I don't want to destroy the environment I enjoy.
At the moment I'm making a lot of new gear that I'll be using on the Arctic courses next March because if I don't I might freeze to death.
I don't get hung up over what to call it and I'm the first to say I'm not really a "bushcrafter" because I don't actually know what one is.
"Any fool can be uncomfortable"
I too have done the minimalist bit, run survival courses, literally walked the length and breadth of England (Lands End to Scotland and North Sea to the Irish Sea, trekked in Mountains, snow and deserts...
These days the body hurts too much to enjoy going ultra light, I too am disinclined to destroy the environment I love just to prove a point and therefor tend to go "heavy" on equipment.
However I do think of myself as a practioner of some of the skills of "Bushcraft" ...including conserving the environment, peace and quiet and renewable resources of the woods, fields and meadows I spend half my life (or more) enjoying...
As I like making things (such as much of my clothing and equipment from canoes to knives, shirts to shoes) mainly from recycled or recyclable materials, sourcing a lot of my fuel, food and drink (at home as much as in the field) from the wild and neglected resources and most of my income streams are based on either writing about aspects of the outdoors that many would see as "bushy" (including gear, walking, wild plant recipes) or teaching skills ("bushcraft" and canoeing)I think of my "bushcrafting" as more than just "camping" but as forming a big part of my way of life ...but then "Bushcraft" is a broad church and one mans definition of the word may differ widely from anothers ....
Ultra light backpacking with wild camping fits well into the "bushy" bracket in my opinion, as does heavywieght basecamping with loads of gear you have made on other camps or in your workshop - even "Glamping" fits in there somewhere if you are practicing skills of self sufficient backwoods living
I can go the "buckskin loincloth and flint blade" route - but I choose not too as the body hurts too much these days so I strike what I find to be a comfortable medium - kit enough to keep me comfortable, which I can afford, which I trust and which allows me to apreciate the land around me
Being out there with an open mind and a willingness to learn from and about the natural environment is the basis of what I think of as "Bushcraft" and I will never stop learning until my ashes are used to fertilse a patch of soil somewhere!
Time to stir this one up a bit.
The way I go bushcrafting is the correct way in every meaning of the word.
There we go sort that one out.
Yes - we do!
didn't someone famous once talk about "being prepared"? Whether that's with knowledge, or equipment, or both - does it really matter. You can't pigeon hole me, I aint shaped like a pigeon.
Another one said - "If you are uncomfortable, then you are doing something wrong!"
Another said "I am what I am - and thats all that I am!"
I like all three
Well,
I respect that you voice your opinion and that is always helpful, personally i find different views help to keep me open-minded. But i disagree with what you have said.
I would say I practice bushcraft. Most of this practice takes place about 20 metres from where I type theses very words, a small wooded area that separates the garden of my house from a golf course. It is not the vast forests of Canada nor the open plains of Australia but it's a nice wee spot where i can sit and have a fire and do some bushy activities, like whittling. I enjoy It. I often go out with my knife, a small axe, bahco laplander and my crusader cup. I find this equipment helps me to learn about and enjoy the resources that nature provides ,or the 'mud, leaves, sticks, stones' as you put it. To me, the resource and knowledge of it is more important as the equipment that you carry with you. The resource gives the material and the equipment allows you to process it into something that will help you to live more comfortably. From doing this, I begin to learn, respect, nurture and grow closer to nature.
We once lived from and with nature, you might even say we were nature, when we were hunting for food with a bow, when a home was the space around the fire. Many years gave passed since then and that way of life is forgotten, modern society does not support it. But I believe we can still become closer to nature, start to see the forest as our ancestors did and try to respect it as they did, through bushcraft. Using the resources around us and less equipment is one of its principles of course, but i think that the more unnecessary bushcraft equipment that is available to us gives us somewhere to start and develop from. For example; you may start off lighting fires using a bic lighter to ignite your tinder, so that you can learn how to configure a fire properly. Once you have mastered that skill you may move onto lighting fires using a ferro rod, so now you can start to learn more about types of tinder etc. after that you may move onto using flint and steel fire lighting, perhaps the most reliable but hardest to master. Obviously some tools will always be used like a knife or axe but as we develop our knowledge and learn about the resources available to us, the less equipment we will need.
I hope some of this makes sense,
outdoorpaddy
I respect that you voice your opinion and that is always helpful, personally i find different views help to keep me open-minded. But i disagree with what you have said.
I would say I practice bushcraft. Most of this practice takes place about 20 metres from where I type theses very words, a small wooded area that separates the garden of my house from a golf course. It is not the vast forests of Canada nor the open plains of Australia but it's a nice wee spot where i can sit and have a fire and do some bushy activities, like whittling. I enjoy It. I often go out with my knife, a small axe, bahco laplander and my crusader cup. I find this equipment helps me to learn about and enjoy the resources that nature provides ,or the 'mud, leaves, sticks, stones' as you put it. To me, the resource and knowledge of it is more important as the equipment that you carry with you. The resource gives the material and the equipment allows you to process it into something that will help you to live more comfortably. From doing this, I begin to learn, respect, nurture and grow closer to nature.
We once lived from and with nature, you might even say we were nature, when we were hunting for food with a bow, when a home was the space around the fire. Many years gave passed since then and that way of life is forgotten, modern society does not support it. But I believe we can still become closer to nature, start to see the forest as our ancestors did and try to respect it as they did, through bushcraft. Using the resources around us and less equipment is one of its principles of course, but i think that the more unnecessary bushcraft equipment that is available to us gives us somewhere to start and develop from. For example; you may start off lighting fires using a bic lighter to ignite your tinder, so that you can learn how to configure a fire properly. Once you have mastered that skill you may move onto lighting fires using a ferro rod, so now you can start to learn more about types of tinder etc. after that you may move onto using flint and steel fire lighting, perhaps the most reliable but hardest to master. Obviously some tools will always be used like a knife or axe but as we develop our knowledge and learn about the resources available to us, the less equipment we will need.
I hope some of this makes sense,
outdoorpaddy
Interesting commentary really. Also one that will never really be settled.
What I think of as "bushcraft" isn't something I can even DO really. I CAN go camping. I CAN go hiking. I CAN go canoeing. I CAN go hunting. I CAN go trapping. I can go fishing, etc, etc, etc. I CANNOT GO "bushcrafting." Bushcraft is not an activity per se. It's a knowledge aand skill to do the other activities. Do you know how to find your prey and kill it (whatever equipment you're using) Do you know how to set up a camp? Can you build your own shelter? If you use a tent do you know where to pitch it so that you're not washed away with a sudden rain flooding the wash? If you pack in all your equipment do you know how to pack it so you can carry it without injury? Can you pack it so that your pack animals can carry it? Can you care for those animals?
These are all knowledge and skills. Today the collective activities we do while practicing these skills are called "bushcraft." No, it may not really the proper definition but it is the popular one at the moment.
What I think of as "bushcraft" isn't something I can even DO really. I CAN go camping. I CAN go hiking. I CAN go canoeing. I CAN go hunting. I CAN go trapping. I can go fishing, etc, etc, etc. I CANNOT GO "bushcrafting." Bushcraft is not an activity per se. It's a knowledge aand skill to do the other activities. Do you know how to find your prey and kill it (whatever equipment you're using) Do you know how to set up a camp? Can you build your own shelter? If you use a tent do you know where to pitch it so that you're not washed away with a sudden rain flooding the wash? If you pack in all your equipment do you know how to pack it so you can carry it without injury? Can you pack it so that your pack animals can carry it? Can you care for those animals?
These are all knowledge and skills. Today the collective activities we do while practicing these skills are called "bushcraft." No, it may not really the proper definition but it is the popular one at the moment.
I generally agree with this approach but be careful. Tarps are usually synthetic and synthetics are usually made from petroleum products; natural fiber tarps are made from fibers that were farmed (and pesticides probably applied while growing) Our metal equipment was originally mined as ore. In short, everything we use has some footprint on the environment.
Sadly true - but tarps are reusable hundreds of times, a tree once cut soon rots/is burned .....
I prefer my kit to be made from recycled or organic materials - but this is rarely possible.
However, many of my knives are handled with wood headed for the skip/builders fire, most of my leather pieces are from recycled leather garments that were too ragged to sell - even in charity shops - and other fabrics I use are others discards ..like the Merino wool blanket I bought for 50p in a charity shop and turned into a wool shirt, the canvas from a wrecked tipi that became bags, a smock, trousers and more....
Reducing the footprint is the aim, to help the wilder places survive as long as possible
John your skill and dedication far exceeds mine. But it would appear that we are in agreement on the theory.
Like John says, I re-cycle and re-use a lot of the stuff that becomes my gear and I expect it it to have a very long life.
I have just replaced the zips in my canvas gaiters and hope to get another 25 years use out of them. My new snow parka has a ruff re-cycled from a Victorian fox stole. Some of my gear is even older than that.
I drive a van that has almost a quarter of a million miles on the clock, not because I cannot replace it but because it still does it's job well and sails through it's emissions check every year better than many newer vehicles.
To say that the only approach that has green credentials is the direct use of natural resources is a slightly limited view.
I have just replaced the zips in my canvas gaiters and hope to get another 25 years use out of them. My new snow parka has a ruff re-cycled from a Victorian fox stole. Some of my gear is even older than that.
I drive a van that has almost a quarter of a million miles on the clock, not because I cannot replace it but because it still does it's job well and sails through it's emissions check every year better than many newer vehicles.
To say that the only approach that has green credentials is the direct use of natural resources is a slightly limited view.
That's got to be a smilie face Transit, mines a rust bucket but it sails through emissions after 270,000 miles. Great engines, body's affected by metal worm.
If they had galvanised them they would all be on the road still.
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