is the bushcraft dream over ?

[william#]

this has been a great thread to read - i thought twice about posting the question as i was feeling jaded plus i thought i would get crucified.
however i find that many who have responded to the post echoes my thoughts and are much better at articulating the point than i ever will be able to.
i thnk its very important to as best we can keep it a grass roots thing and avoid the comercial
trap which will certainly kill it all off .
on that point i congratulate bushcraft uk for its moots which are as far away from comercial and have the warmth of love of the activity

 

[Steve R]

Conditions have to be taken into consideration as well.

For example, Bushcraft (generic term) is basically about living outside using natural skills, which would mean cooking over an open fire. However, open fires are not allowed at most places we can camp out, so a stove of some sort has to be used, a stove is kit, so its a 'must have'.

Hamocks.

I use a hammock, its comfortable and no way would my body allow me to sleep on the ground, I would get no sleep at all, so for me, a hammock is a 'must have' for comfort.

That word 'comfort' has a lot do do with the situation too. Our ancesters and Bushmen of today were/are much hardier than we are, we are used to comfort and conviniences, so we have a tendency to collect what makes life easier, even while 'getting back to basics'.

Many of us don't have the ability to make what we need (a knife made over an open fire in the woods for example) so we buy, our decision of which knife mainly based on marketing and recommendation.

Given where we (in the UK) live, and the rules we live under, a compromise is the best we can aim for.

 

[xylaria]

this has been a great thread to read - i thought twice about posting the question as i was feeling jaded plus i thought i would get crucified.
however i find that many who have responded to the post echoes my thoughts and are much better at articulating the point than i ever will be able to.
i thnk its very important to as best we can keep it a grass roots thing and avoid the comercial
trap which will certainly kill it all off .
on that point i congratulate bushcraft uk for its moots which are as far away from comercial and have the warmth of love of the activity

I have been major league jaded recently with the bushcraft commercial product. this thing we do is a very broad scope of different skills, which can't be packaged in to sellable product successfully or safely. There is a whole host of skills that are ommitted from the sold product such as wicca work, fur processing etc. The bit that is getting me most down is I feel that there are those that think you pick a skill off a shelf, by watching a tv program, or reading something, or a short course and then some how think that they can magically learn it without trying. It is a killer attitude of modern culture, life is too easy, and knowledge can't come from tescos it has to be worked for. Getting something that is pimped out, is not a substitue for a deep understanding and love for subject. I know from my love of plants and fungi that the level of understanding that is required to decide if the plant in front of you is safe to eat can only be safely learned with years of study in my opinion.

 

[BOD]

... this thing we do is a very broad scope of different skills, which can't be packaged in to sellable product successfully or safely. There is a whole host of skills that are ommitted ... I know from my love of plants and fungi that the level of understanding that is required to decide if the plant in front of you is safe to eat can only be safely learned with years of study in my opinion.

its all about plants ultimately whether you are carving, fire making, hunting with traditional technology

 

[xylaria]

its all about plants ultimately whether you are carving, fire making, hunting with traditional technology

Yes it is, but why can't anyone understand the most basic bits of plant toxicology. Something that so vital to understanding how to use plants, yet there is very common misunderstandings. If I carved unfamilier woods I would have a safety list with sap and dust handling procedure, because i feel a responiblitiy to my own safety. I know not burn Yew and Elder. I never take any single opinion on plant safety as red, why should anybody else?

Sorry I am getting very jaded with ' I bought my self into the ray mears dreamland but can't be bothered with learning anything myself '. Real knowledge takes graft is not cheaply bought. It is all about plants, like some modren re-inactment of ethnobotany, but it takes research.

ta ta for now
grumpy old battle axe out in the potteries

 

[w00dsmoke]

Sorry I am getting very jaded with ' I bought my self into the ray mears dreamland but can't be bothered with learning anything myself '. Real knowledge takes graft is not cheaply bought. It is all about plants, like some modren re-inactment of ethnobotany, but it takes research.

ta ta for now
grumpy old battle axe out in the potteries

To be fair for alot of people it's not all about plants. For me it is very definately a living dream or aspiration, a goal to endeavour to learn more about living with my environment in an almost spiritual way. Yes it is for me an escapsim that I've used as a constructive coping strategy since childhood, yes it is an alternative to my mundane income generating job and yes it is very much part of me and my identity. It means more to me than any profession and brings me no silver or gold, yet it generates more wealth inside of me than any can buy.

 

[Nightwalker]

yes it is an alternative to my mundane income generating job and yes it is very much part of me and my identity. It means more to me than any profession and brings me no silver or gold, yet it generates more wealth inside of me than any can buy.

Very well said, tis something I relate to.

 

[Tengu]

Im not too sure, I dont like `pop` things.

Next year a new cartoon will be in the cinemas, its new, and will supposedly be groundbreaking, but its a property thats older than I am (and Im no spring chicken)

The hardcore fans have been waiting three decades for this.

We are happy as sandboys, but at the back of it all is the publicity, the new fans who will gush on how they liked it (or hated it, and believe me, the uber conservative will be in that catagory) making themselves out to be experts.

But I will sit back and look smug, `I told you so`

 

[Arth]

Bushcraft is about being closer to nature.

My equipment is cheap, a mora knife £10, two parachutes which cost a tenner each off ebay I made the poles myself for the tipi. A cheap axe and a folding saw from the garden centre £20, a metal fold up bed from argos £20 and a sleeping from argos £20. We also keep a AGA kettle over the woods for a brew £30 which will out live me. I also brought two of those metal flower border things from homebase a joined them together with jubilee clips and use it as grill over the fire. All the pots and pans are old ones from the house.

It's the experience that counts not what equipment you have.

 

[spamel]

I'm starting to get a bit concerned about these doom and gloom threads. 21st of january is meant to be the most dreary day of the year, due to the long winter and not as much sunlight, etc, but for Gods' sake people, CHEER UP!

I propose an end to these miserable threads, and that the next person that starts one needs whipping at the next meet with a bramble and nettle whipping device!

if we had as many informative posts as we did about "it's all kit posts" and "I think bushcraft is gonna end tomorrow, do you want to flog all your gear to me for 20 p?", the bandwidth usage on this site would be through the roof!

Come on folks, do something constructive. Get out to your local woods and carve yourself a little wooden chisel (a spud) and collect some birch bark off of a fallen birch tree and make something with it. It could take you a week to do it, or even a month, but you'll have something to show off and then there will be a post that people can look at and say "Nice one!" instead of "Oh no, not this again!" Alternatively, cut a few staves and make a simple bow, or a walking staff. Collect some nettles and make some cordage. Split a large log and make a chopping board. Gather some decent birch and carve a kuksa. Paint your bum red! I don't care, just do something to keep the community happy and to stop us all slitting our wrists!

Togue in cheek rant is now over, but seriously, stay happy people.

 

[Tengu]

Since I seem to have an embarrasment of riches in the rucksack dept, Im going to test them all out.

Hopefully Ill remember to take my camera (Dads just bought a new digital, so Ill scrounge the old off him. My camera, which I have taken all those pics I post, is embarrassingly crude...also it registers OG as brown.) and if I see something interesting Ill take a pic.

 

[bikething]

I propose an end to these miserable threads, and that the next person that starts one needs whipping at the next meet with a bramble and nettle whipping device!

ooooh !! - is that another bit of kit I can buy?

 

[spamel]

ooooh !! - is that another bit of kit I can buy?

Do you want to be the first person to be publicly flogged, bare ersed, by Mr Stinging Swishy?

 

[bikething]

Do you want to be the first person to be publicly flogged, bare ersed, by Mr Stinging Swishy?

not a second time...no

 

[william#]

I'm starting to get a bit concerned about these doom and gloom threads. 21st of january is meant to be the most dreary day of the year, due to the long winter and not as much sunlight, etc, but for Gods' sake people, CHEER UP!

I propose an end to these miserable threads, and that the next person that starts one needs whipping at the next meet with a bramble and nettle whipping device!

if we had as many informative posts as we did about "it's all kit posts" and "I think bushcraft is gonna end tomorrow, do you want to flog all your gear to me for 20 p?", the bandwidth usage on this site would be through the roof!

Come on folks, do something constructive. Get out to your local woods and carve yourself a little wooden chisel (a spud) and collect some birch bark off of a fallen birch tree and make something with it. It could take you a week to do it, or even a month, but you'll have something to show off and then there will be a post that people can look at and say "Nice one!" instead of "Oh no, not this again!" Alternatively, cut a few staves and make a simple bow, or a walking staff. Collect some nettles and make some cordage. Split a large log and make a chopping board. Gather some decent birch and carve a kuksa. Paint your bum red! I don't care, just do something to keep the community happy and to stop us all slitting our wrists!

Togue in cheek rant is now over, but seriously, stay happy people.

firstly can i point out that a lot of are English on here and moaning is a national pass time for us .
not called winging poms for nothing you know .
iits not doom and gloom threads it open honest discussion and is very important to air many ideas ?
is it moaning doom and gloom or is it exploring an idea or ideas .
hope this is not too gloomy for you polly anna

 

[Tiley]

Bushcraft never was a dream: it was a series of practical skills that, for a good number of people through history, made life possible, in the first instance, and more comfortable in the second.

Because we no longer have to struggle to be warm or find food or shelter, we have turned it into a pastime or leisure activity - and a mighty fine one it is. It can be viewed as typically cynical that there are already folk who believe that the integrity of their leisure activity has been compromised by commerce or television, but that is the thrust of the twenty-first century. It is unattractive but we are all victims of it.

The solution, as Spamel says, is just to get outside and do it. Stop looking over your shoulders for what might happen and enjoy what you have and what there is today.

 

[rancid badger]

not a second time...no

Bikething......You CAN'T be the first a second time.....er, Now wait a minute...nah!!..or can you? :theyareon

Regards
R.B.

 

[John Fenna]

If several people have been done once then you could be the first for the second time.....or if you are the first to be done and get done for a second time.... so technically.....