Bushcraft skills in everyday life?

[g4ghb]

Over the weekend we were landscaping part of the garden ready to lay gravel. This involved manually removing about 5 ton of soil/clay to level the ground ready. All this and the Sun decided to do it's best to cook us!

the bushcraft skills?

well a spark of inspiration, an old blue tarp and some cord and 5 mins later we had a sunshade :umbrella:

anyone else used bushy skills in the 'real world' recently

 

[Northsky]

Simlar thing with a cheap tarp for my lads Birthday BBQ, had a bit of rain the other week.

 

[Peter_t]

we light alot of fires when doing dutch elm desiese work but that usually involves petrol
is cutting firewood bushcrafty? probably not with chainsaws but we do use AXES lol

pete

 

[Shewie]

I lit the bbq on sunday with feathersticks and a firestick, does that count ?

Not much call for anything else midweek though, I sometimes find myself tying some bushy knots in network cables when I'm tidying up.

 

[Toddy]

Dug out some nettles from in amongst the meadowsweet, made cordage and used it to tie up the clematis and support the lily stems.

cheers,
Toddy

 

[Prawnster]

Using a firesteel, knife and natural tinder to light the fire and the barbecue.

Chopping up firewood with my SFA.

Preparing woodpigeons I've shot with the air rifle.

Does sharpening kitchen knives with a DC3 count as a bushcraft skill?

Can't really think of anything else. I suppose that shows how far removed from nature my 'everyday life' really is. I'm sure there are some members here whose everyday lives involve a lot more bushcraft skills but then they probably wouldn't call them 'bushcraft skills', rather 'life skills'.

 

[Toddy]

I suspect that the 'potential use' that we acknowledge is as important though.

For instance, in the last couple of days I've noticed:

The smell of the first elder flowers and thought of champagne and fritters and jellies and gathering some for Winter tisanes.

I knew that half the weeds that ended up in the compost bin were really good food

I saw the long straight wongie shoots from the willows and thought about basketry.

I saw the fallen tree that came down covered in Ivy and know that in a week or so I'll gather berries for dye and take a big chunk of the stem that crashed for firebow hearths.

I see the chestnuts are starting to round out in their spiny shells.

I'm watching the docken and plantain seeds ripening and know I'm going to have them later

I'm delighted to see so many wild roses in bloom, 'cos that means rosehips later on too

And if going by the number of bees happily buzzing around the honey ought to be good this year


I think it's not necessarily just about using the resources and the skills, it's often about just being aware of them and their potential

atb,
Toddy

 

[Shewie]

I suspect that the 'potential use' that we acknowledge is as important though.

For instance, in the last couple of days I've noticed:

The smell of the first elder flowers and thought of champagne and fritters and jellies and gathering some for Winter tisanes.

I knew that half the weeds that ended up in the compost bin were really good food

I saw the long straight wongie shoots from the willows and thought about basketry.

I saw the fallen tree that came down covered in Ivy and know that in a week or so I'll gather berries for dye and take a big chunk of the stem that crashed for firebow hearths.

I see the chestnuts are starting to round out in their spiny shells.

I'm watching the docken and plantain seeds ripening and know I'm going to have them later

I'm delighted to see so many wild roses in bloom, 'cos that means rosehips later on too

And if going by the number of bees happily buzzing around the honey ought to be good this year


I think it's not necessarily just about using the resources and the skills, it's often about just being aware of them and their potential

atb,
Toddy

Hmph, not fair

That sounds like a successfully planned weekend trip for me, not just a few hours knocking around in the garden.

 

[Mikey P]

we light alot of fires when doing dutch elm desiese work but that usually involves petrol
is cutting firewood bushcrafty? probably not with chainsaws but we do use AXES lol

pete

Tree surgeon? Didn't realise there was still much work around on Dutch Elm - are we still finding cases?

 

[Toddy]

Hmph, not fair

That sounds like a successfully planned weekend trip for me, not just a few hours knocking around in the garden.

I suspect I just have a bit more time than you, that's all.

Maybe we ought to be thinking about what we should be noticing 'cos it won't be there soon.............like where the bluebells grew so that we know where they are for glue (that might be illegal to take from the wild now, I'm not sure, my garden is awash with them )
Or the comfrey and the lesser celandine, and pignuts.

Or even watching the rivers when they're lowish, where *do* the fish lie ? Where's best to cast a line...... or the trails the rabbits leave in the grasses.

cheers,
Toddy

 

[ChrisW]

Recently carved a butter knife from some Cherry for a friend at work (it's from his Cherry tree). Currently carving an F1 out of Cherry for no. 1 son, and have a Bayley S3 to do next for no. 2 son (for when they play Bushcraft)

3 weeks ago, whilst on holiday, tied a bowline in the painter on the canoe that the misses and no. 2 son were in so no. 1 son and myself could try to tow them behind our canoe through a particularly nasty head wind to get back to the beach.

Does that count?

 

[milius2]

One good skill I use is AWARENESS. It came from camping out, when you have to be aware of things you take and things that is happening if you don't want to stay hungry
In "real life" it is showing itself as a resource of when I'm much more aware of a bigger picture that lets say my uni mates. They don't really think too far ahead as where I'm able to project many more things that may or will happen in near future, so I turn them to my favour.

If my english didn't fail me, I think you get the point

 

[Peter_t]

Tree surgeon? Didn't realise there was still much work around on Dutch Elm - are we still finding cases?

yeah tree surgeon

imo we will never be able to get rid of it, its been around for thousands of years after all it was particularly bad in the 80s but because of control work (felling and burning) its not so bad but pretty much all the big elms have gone now new trees are being produced through root suckers and then being diseased again once the bark gets thick enough for the beetles to burrow into it spreading the fungi.

pete

 

[Purdy Bear]

I practice my knife skills when carving meat and doing the vegetables. When out walking, I walk aware, noticing everything around me.

 

[Tony]

For me it's a general thing, i'm more able to accommodate situations and make the most of them, be that knowing a knot (I don't know many!), knowing the nature of the wood i'm splitting or burning, putting up tarps (as has been said) on the spur of the moment, throwing something into the cooking pot, handling a dead animal, improvising tools, knowing what's safe and not.

But my view of bushcraft is that it's anything that helps you be more comfortable in your environment, although we lean to an outdoor environment the same principle apply.

This week i've used cordage that I just grabbed and made, sharpened a couple of wooden fish slice things... improvised a gathering hook for getting berries, picked a load of elderflowers that are now 7lt of cordial, slung up a make shift tarp when it was raining, made veg poles from some hazel we've cleared and improvised a skim out of a t-shirt for a little pool the kids use that's got some green in it

I'd be lost without my pocket knife, string, torch and tweezers that I always carry on me.

 

[wanderingblade]

When the ignition spark went on the cooker I used a ferro rod and steel to light the gas.

SWMBO wan;t very impressed. Kids thought it was great!

 

[Ditch Monkey]

had to go take down a curtain rail from a property the other day, the only instructions I had was that it was in the South East bedroom. Obviously I didn't have a compass on me but I could see where the sun was and I knew what time it was so the correct curtain rail was taken down, I hope.