Hot tent, sausage and mash, wood clearing, birthday weekend.

[crosslandkelly]

Had a great 63rd birthday weekend. I was able to try out the Outbacker woodstove I was given for xmas, it was brilliant, I'd never been so warm, had to sleep on top of my bag. Being able to cook on it and boil water was an added bonus.



Good weather on the Friday and Saturday meant we were able to (with landowners permission) create a 6m halo around an Oak tree and coppice and cover a load of Hazel and clear out to the ride. This gave us tons of Ash and Hazel for firewood and future projects.



As it was my birthday on the Saturday, I cooked a celebratory sausage mash and gravy meal for 15 and Kev did apple and rhubarb crumble with custard. It was a bit of a challenge but between us all it was a great success.
Towards the end of Saturday evening the wind started to pick up, and we had a very wild night, thankfully we all survived and were able to pack away dry, before the rain arrived.
A brilliant way to spend a birthday weekend.

 

[Dark Horse Dave]

That's a lot of stove in a small tent! Lovely to be so toasty though I'll bet. Happy belated birthday!

 

[crosslandkelly]

Cheers Dave.

 

[Broch]

Happy Birthday! That's one hell of a stove in a small tent

I think it's great to combine a camping weekend with a working party to get some of the jobs done in a wood.

I'm curious as to why you've left the coppice stumps so high - is there a specific reason?

 

[Toddy]

It sounds like you had an excellent birthday so I'll just wish you a really good year to follow

Not unusual in some places to leave high stumps, Broch. Oak, hazel, etc., seem to do fine with them. It also limits them a bit as tripping hazards on sites where folks aren't familiar with pathways. Stops damage to the budding bits on the bark from boots, and it's often easier to cut from them without so much low bending.

Probably horses for courses.

M

 

[Broch]

Mmm... OK, I'm not convinced of the benefits or that it properly encourages new shoot growth from the right parts of the tree (which ideally is below ground). Current coppice advice is not to cut old stools right to the ground but to leave 6 to 9 inches but none of my tutors have ever advocated leaving such high stools for any reason.

Anyway, totally off topic, apologies; I was just curious.

 

[crosslandkelly]

Happy Birthday! That's one hell of a stove in a small tent

I think it's great to combine a camping weekend with a working party to get some of the jobs done in a wood.

I'm curious as to why you've left the coppice stumps so high - is there a specific reason?

The stumps that you casn see in the pics are the Ash we felled, the Hazel was cut 8"-10" high and covered in brash to protect the new shoots from Deer. You can just make out one of the covered Hazels in the last pic.
There is a public footpath close by, and as Toddy said, the Ash stumps were left high for safety. The footpath is rarely used, but there are the occasional dog walkers.

 

[ScottE]

Brilliant way to spend your birthday.
The stove looks great, a bit of hot tenting is on my to do list.
Your firewood/craft wood stack looks full of promise.
Happy birthday......

 

[Woody girl]

Happy birthday
. I'm intrigued by the way you have done the chimney exiting the tent. Is it an ikea cutlery drainer? Sorry if I'm assuming and it's part of the system. It looks a great solution apart from rain getting in.

 

[crosslandkelly]

Happy birthday
. I'm intrigued by the way you have done the chimney exiting the tent. Is it an ikea cutlery drainer? Sorry if I'm assuming and it's part of the system. It looks a great solution apart from rain getting in.

Bang on Woody girl, it is indeed an ikea drainer. It's not ideal but it worked well enough, A Mk2 version is in the works.
There was some rain about 5am on the Saturday, but most seemed to run around the holes seams, what little came through just evaporated.

 

[John Fenna]

Happy Birthday!
It looks like you had a grand time

 

[BJJJ]

Fabulous way to celebrate a birthday. Happy retrospective birthday.

 

[Nice65]

Happy Birthday!
It looks like you had a grand time

Fabulous way to celebrate a birthday. Happy retrospective birthday.

Exactly what they said.

 

[Robson Valley]

Out of the wind and lots of hot food. What a wonderful way to spend a Birthday.
Thank you for the pictures. Your forests are so very different from out here.

 

[Woody girl]

Bang on Woody girl, it is indeed an ikea drainer. It's not ideal but it worked well enough, A Mk2 version is in the works.
There was some rain about 5am on the Saturday, but most seemed to run around the holes seams, what little came through just evapourated.

Cool idea! May have to pinch it! I'm still struggling to find a coyote brown one tigris hot tent. I think they come from China so.... it may be a while!
I have an old argos single skin remove able groundsheet 4 man tipi tent so have been playing with ideas on how to convert that into a hot tent. I have a stove so just waiting for some good weather to play around with it.
It's very heavy and bulky but if I ditch the plastic windows and sew in some bug netting instead and ditch the groundsheet I should have a cool weather tent if not a cold weather tent.

 

[crosslandkelly]

Cool idea! May have to pinch it! I'm still struggling to find a coyote brown one tigris hot tent. I think they come from China so.... it may be a while!
I have an old argos single skin remove able groundsheet 4 man tipi tent so have been playing with ideas on how to convert that into a hot tent. I have a stove so just waiting for some good weather to play around with it.
It's very heavy and bulky but if I ditch the plastic windows and sew in some bug netting instead and ditch the groundsheet I should have a cool weather tent if not a cold weather tent.

Have a look at this guy, about 10 mins in.

 

[Woody girl]

yes I like Simon. Saw that videoa while back and that's what inspired me,and made me want the one tigris.
Trouble is it took a while to get the cash together and by then they were sold out of all but the white ones. Not a lot of good for stealth camping! So then I thought I'd finish the bell tent project but decided it would be a waste of time and money. So back to the one tigris... and the present situation.
so now looking at my new idea!
Old cheapo tent sourced. Door netting removed to make the windows and I'll repurpose one window as a chimney exit.

 

[santaman2000]

Looks like an awesome birthday! Thanks for sharing.