The Fire God

The ability to make a warming fire is one of the most important skills in wilderness living.

Fire gives a sense of place and community for campers. The campfire provides a circular council which invites people to talk, tell stories and share both the warmth of the fire and each others company.

Each fire is individual and special, my Father "the fire god" delighted in showing his skill during this one!

See you soon


Andrew

Penny Bun Bolete Mushroom

This Penny Bun Bolete mushroom (sometimes called a CEP) was collected this morning by Carrie in our local woodland under a Beech tree, we fried this up with crispy bacon for breakfast!

Mushrooms are in real abundance at the moment, but be sure to positively identify them before you consume any. photographic guides are no substitute for first hand identification training, your local mycology or fungal club will be able to give you information on fungal forays near you. Alternatively, please consider our wild-food weekend course!

Rest assured that this mushroom was delicious!

Come back soon

Andrew

Westonbirt National Arboretum

This afternoon Carrie and I took a walk amongst the trees of westonbirt national arboretum. The arboretum is just off Junction 18 of the M4 and is open all year round, perfect for families and quiet walks. We use westonbirt to hone our tree knowledge, we prefer the Silk wood, which is a network of paths through unmanaged broadleaf woodland where wildlife abounds.

We always take a few stuff sacks in the rucksack to take advantage of the seasonal productivity of the woodland, This time of year in early September, wild foods are in abundance, today we collected blackberries, elder berries and wild apples which we will make into a fruit crumble later in the week (we quite often do this in a dutch oven on courses at this time of year).


Westonbirt really comes into it's own in the autumn already the nut harvest of hazelnuts and sweet chestnuts are well on the way, signalling the telltale signs that autumn is soon upon us. The amber tinge on the sycamore leaves is pointing to the oncoming season, the golds and browns will soon be joined by the vibrant fire of the japanese maples and the red osier dogwoods.

In addition to our fruit haul, this afternoon's walk yielded a number of sycamore bowdrill sets, some tinder fungus, 2 bags of birch bark for firelighting on the foundation course in two weeks time, a couple of walking staffs and a few spoon blanks which will become spoons over the winter months. just in time for the new course season!

Back soon

Andrew