Following my last post about a college outing that didn't survive contact with the students ... we have had a number of further bushcraft sessions at a local woodland.
Part One
I took the same second year group out but this time I had thinned the dead wood from the group and was further blessed when only half of them turned up for the day! 7 of them came out and we practised debris shelters, setting up a variety of different tarp rigs, setting up my preferred hammock rig and lighting a variety of tinders with (what I cant stop calling 'flint and steels') ferrous rods. I decided to take a chance and bought the Safety Knives recommended from Heinnie Haynes and the students had an outdoor lesson on the safe use of the knives as well as a quick tutorial on feathering sticks and shaping tent pegs.
The students who came had a really good day, they engaged well and seemed to get a lot out of it ... oh, and for those of you who asked why I don't trust them with knives ... one of them managed to cut his index finger to the bone:
Happily, when we left the site looked exactly as it did when we arrived:
The proof of their achievements will come tomorrow when they take a group of Supported Learning students from the college on an Intro' to Bushcraft day tomorrow, making shelters, tinder fires and cooking a stew over a large open fire!
Part Two
I took my first years out to the same location (recognisable to some of you by now) and they had a superb day. It ran on similar lines to the story above but knowing that they are keen as mustard I had shot a rabbit the night before and they had a tutorial on gutting, skinning and preparing the meat before cooking a rabbit stew (and a pasta dish for the vegetarians) on the open fire. To show the difference in the groups: 25 students out of 25 turned up for this day!
Now these students have persuaded me to organise a group buy from DD Hammocks for them to use on their next four expeditions! I just hope we can get the numbers needed for the bulk order!
Tim
P.S. Todays problem, I have a number of really good ferrous rods but no strikers for the students to use - I have tried mini files but they take too much rod with the strike, I tried mini hacksaw blades but they were too brittle ...any other ideas?
Part One
I took the same second year group out but this time I had thinned the dead wood from the group and was further blessed when only half of them turned up for the day! 7 of them came out and we practised debris shelters, setting up a variety of different tarp rigs, setting up my preferred hammock rig and lighting a variety of tinders with (what I cant stop calling 'flint and steels') ferrous rods. I decided to take a chance and bought the Safety Knives recommended from Heinnie Haynes and the students had an outdoor lesson on the safe use of the knives as well as a quick tutorial on feathering sticks and shaping tent pegs.
The students who came had a really good day, they engaged well and seemed to get a lot out of it ... oh, and for those of you who asked why I don't trust them with knives ... one of them managed to cut his index finger to the bone:
Happily, when we left the site looked exactly as it did when we arrived:
The proof of their achievements will come tomorrow when they take a group of Supported Learning students from the college on an Intro' to Bushcraft day tomorrow, making shelters, tinder fires and cooking a stew over a large open fire!
Part Two
I took my first years out to the same location (recognisable to some of you by now) and they had a superb day. It ran on similar lines to the story above but knowing that they are keen as mustard I had shot a rabbit the night before and they had a tutorial on gutting, skinning and preparing the meat before cooking a rabbit stew (and a pasta dish for the vegetarians) on the open fire. To show the difference in the groups: 25 students out of 25 turned up for this day!
Now these students have persuaded me to organise a group buy from DD Hammocks for them to use on their next four expeditions! I just hope we can get the numbers needed for the bulk order!
Tim
P.S. Todays problem, I have a number of really good ferrous rods but no strikers for the students to use - I have tried mini files but they take too much rod with the strike, I tried mini hacksaw blades but they were too brittle ...any other ideas?
