Last saturday Albus Culter, Teepee and myself went for an over nighter up my woods,
Albus arrived at mine around mid day, after being attacked by Jake and catching up with Lisa we threw my kit in the car and off we went.
First we went to the world of bushcraft in bedford as Albus wanted to nip in beings as he was in the neighbourhood, needless to say we were very restrained and spent hardly anything...
on the way back we stopped in the local pine plantation and gathered some birch bark for one of the skills Albus wanted to do
Whilst there we saw an odd looking fungus growing on a dead standing birch tree anyone able to help with an ID?
it looks like insulation foam but I am pretty certain that woodpeckers don't insulate the holes they drill
so we got to the campsite and set up for the night
my set up
Albus' set up with the lesser spotted Teepee lurking in the back ground
Teepee rigging up his hammock for the night no pic of it up sorry folks
Albus proceeded to stuff a paint can with loads and loads of birch bark to make some birch oil, its something we both saw demonstrated when we attended the campcraft course where we met but its the first oppourtunity for Albus to do it since then
Albus then buried a pipe baccy tin beneath the paint can in the fire area and balanced the birch bark filled paint can on top
Teepee's currently on a mission trying different hearths and drills for the bow drill technique
here you can see the lesser spotted Teepee setting up his nest....well tinder nest
Half an hours work and with only the bow and bearing block brough in Teepee had a lovely wee ember using Ivy for both the drill and Hearth all foraged from my woods
Of course you have to have the obligatory smoky shot
it was a real education watching Teepee do the bow drill I know i picked up some pointers
We spent a while playing with the fire for a decent lay, chatted a while and had a couple of brews
then it was time for our dinner to be prepared
Me and Albus had collected some pigeon from World of Bushcraft when we were there, however on the way back we both realised neither of us were entirely sure how to go about prepping them, a quick text to Teepee had confirmed he knew what he was doing-unbeknown to us in fact what he did was phone barethrills and get it explained to him over the phone (cheers Paul)
A quick demo from Teepee
before we both had a go
Excuse the blurry shot here i am not entirely certain what happened
once we had removed the breasts from the pigeons i took the feathers and remainder of the carcasses and put them in a quiet spot for the local foxes and stoat to benefit from them
we then pan fried some chorizo, added the pigeon breasts and some venison whilst we filled a billy can with half the contents of Teepee's allotment
this was put over the fire whilst we had a couple more baileys coffees a few pipes and generlly enjoyed the woods, we also did a bit of tree and plant ID but no pics sorry folks, there is quite a few wild edibles/wild medicinals around my permission at the moment. Yarrow, Greater and Ribwort plantain, Burdock, hawthorn, sloes, rosebay willow herb to name but a few
after waiting a long while it was time for the game stew
apart from the sheer amount it was really tasty eaten with some tiger bread
thats all the photos from the evening, we sat around drinking baileys choffee (thats coffee with chocolate in not a spelling mistake) had some fascinating conversations ranging from heavy weight science, genetics, the arctic and all sorts of other topics.
( As an Aside how many here who love/thrive in the winter were born in the winter? it would add to a topic we were talking about)
eventually we bedded down for sleep, i was using my Czech bed roll with a Dutch blanket and a british blanket and slept comfortably and warmly until the morning. Apparently we had rain which woke Albus and Teepee but i slept through it.
Albus and Teepee were awake before me-no surprise as i have worked a hideous amount of hours at work recently and was absolutely cream crackered
before we rekindled the fire Albus rescued the paint can and baccy tin
The end result Birch oil useful for all sorts of things as it is including leather treatment or it can be reduced down have beeswax and charcoal added and become a glue
we then rekindled the fire got a brew on and had egg on crumpets for breakfast
Teepee then went and collected his van and headed off to work (on a sunday! gutted!)
whilst Albus and I had another brew and packed up at a more leisurely pace
A cracking night out, few skills learnt or practised, good company, good food
thanks for sharing with us
Albus arrived at mine around mid day, after being attacked by Jake and catching up with Lisa we threw my kit in the car and off we went.
First we went to the world of bushcraft in bedford as Albus wanted to nip in beings as he was in the neighbourhood, needless to say we were very restrained and spent hardly anything...
on the way back we stopped in the local pine plantation and gathered some birch bark for one of the skills Albus wanted to do
Whilst there we saw an odd looking fungus growing on a dead standing birch tree anyone able to help with an ID?
it looks like insulation foam but I am pretty certain that woodpeckers don't insulate the holes they drill
so we got to the campsite and set up for the night
my set up
Albus' set up with the lesser spotted Teepee lurking in the back ground
Teepee rigging up his hammock for the night no pic of it up sorry folks
Albus proceeded to stuff a paint can with loads and loads of birch bark to make some birch oil, its something we both saw demonstrated when we attended the campcraft course where we met but its the first oppourtunity for Albus to do it since then
Albus then buried a pipe baccy tin beneath the paint can in the fire area and balanced the birch bark filled paint can on top
Teepee's currently on a mission trying different hearths and drills for the bow drill technique
here you can see the lesser spotted Teepee setting up his nest....well tinder nest
Half an hours work and with only the bow and bearing block brough in Teepee had a lovely wee ember using Ivy for both the drill and Hearth all foraged from my woods
Of course you have to have the obligatory smoky shot
it was a real education watching Teepee do the bow drill I know i picked up some pointers
We spent a while playing with the fire for a decent lay, chatted a while and had a couple of brews
then it was time for our dinner to be prepared
Me and Albus had collected some pigeon from World of Bushcraft when we were there, however on the way back we both realised neither of us were entirely sure how to go about prepping them, a quick text to Teepee had confirmed he knew what he was doing-unbeknown to us in fact what he did was phone barethrills and get it explained to him over the phone (cheers Paul)
A quick demo from Teepee
before we both had a go
Excuse the blurry shot here i am not entirely certain what happened
once we had removed the breasts from the pigeons i took the feathers and remainder of the carcasses and put them in a quiet spot for the local foxes and stoat to benefit from them
we then pan fried some chorizo, added the pigeon breasts and some venison whilst we filled a billy can with half the contents of Teepee's allotment
this was put over the fire whilst we had a couple more baileys coffees a few pipes and generlly enjoyed the woods, we also did a bit of tree and plant ID but no pics sorry folks, there is quite a few wild edibles/wild medicinals around my permission at the moment. Yarrow, Greater and Ribwort plantain, Burdock, hawthorn, sloes, rosebay willow herb to name but a few
after waiting a long while it was time for the game stew
apart from the sheer amount it was really tasty eaten with some tiger bread
thats all the photos from the evening, we sat around drinking baileys choffee (thats coffee with chocolate in not a spelling mistake) had some fascinating conversations ranging from heavy weight science, genetics, the arctic and all sorts of other topics.
( As an Aside how many here who love/thrive in the winter were born in the winter? it would add to a topic we were talking about)
eventually we bedded down for sleep, i was using my Czech bed roll with a Dutch blanket and a british blanket and slept comfortably and warmly until the morning. Apparently we had rain which woke Albus and Teepee but i slept through it.
Albus and Teepee were awake before me-no surprise as i have worked a hideous amount of hours at work recently and was absolutely cream crackered
before we rekindled the fire Albus rescued the paint can and baccy tin
The end result Birch oil useful for all sorts of things as it is including leather treatment or it can be reduced down have beeswax and charcoal added and become a glue
we then rekindled the fire got a brew on and had egg on crumpets for breakfast
Teepee then went and collected his van and headed off to work (on a sunday! gutted!)
whilst Albus and I had another brew and packed up at a more leisurely pace
A cracking night out, few skills learnt or practised, good company, good food
thanks for sharing with us
