Pignuts (Conopodium majus) are in the carrot family and can be found in woodlands (where I mostly find them) as well as sometimes in hedgerows and grassland. They have a small chestnut like tuber that is edible. Remember that in the UK you must have the landowner’s permission before you uproot any plant. Also think […]
When we’re running our foraging courses we often get asked whether we’re looking at hawthorn or blackthorn. So in this short video I take a look at the differences between the two. It’s worth knowing the differences between them as whilst they both produce an edible fruit, what you might do with those fruits is […]
A tripod is a really useful device when we’re out and about practicing bushcraft. They have many uses, not least of which is to suspend a pot over a fire to cook or boil water. In this video I demonstate a lashing to make a tripod that’s easy to tie and, equally importantly, easy to […]
Yesterday saw me in the woods making a saw horse. Whilst not a particularly portable piece of equipment, in a semi-permanent or permanent camp setting they’re really useful for processing fire wood and provide a degree of safety by reducing the risk of cuts to the supporting hand. In this video I show you how […]
A little while back I wrote a post on sqaure lashings, this time around it’s about tying a diagonal lashing. Examples of where we might use diagonal lashings are to provide support to a square or rectangular frame, or maybe for making a saw horse. We look at diagonal lashings on our Institute for Outdoor […]
A quick video on igniting char cloth, including with traditional flint & steel, fire steel, parabolic mirror, fire piston and a lens. Of course, it doesn’t have to be char cloth, it could quite as easily be other charred material such as birch polypore or punkwood. You might also want to take a look at […]
