Archive for March, 2010
Badger Facts
March 30th, 2010 | 
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Badgers, occasionally referred to as Brocks, are short legged, heavy set omnivores in the weasel family. There are eight species of badger, in three sub families. Melinae (badgers of Europe and Asia), Mellivorinae (the honey badger) and Taxideinae (the American badger).
Their lower jaw is articulated to the upper by means of a transverse condyle firmly locked into a long cavity of the cranium, so that dislocation of the jaw is all but impossible. This enables the badger to maintain its hold with the utmost tenacity, but limits its jaw movement to hingeing open and shut, or sliding from side to side without the twisting movement possible of most mammals.
A male badger is called a boar, a female a sow and a young badger a cub. A collective name suggested for a group of badgers is a cete. But, badger colonies are more often called clans. Badger dens are called sets.
Geronimo – his own story – early life
I was born in No-doyohn Canon, Arizona, June, 1829.
In that country which lies around the head waters of the Gila River I was reared. This range was our fatherland; among these mountains our wigwams were hidden; the scattered valleys contained our fields; the boundless prairies, stretching away on every side, were our pastures; the rocky caverns were our burying places.
I was fourth in a family of eight children– four boys and four girls. Of that family, only myself, my brother, Porico, and my sister, Nah-da-ste , are yet alive. We are held as prisoners of war in this Military Reservation (Fort Sill).
As a babe I rolled on the dirt floor of my father’s tepee, hung in my tsoch (Apache name for cradle) at my mother’s back, or suspended from the bough of a tree. I was warmed by the sun, rocked by the winds, and sheltered by the trees as other Indian babes.
how to apply your homemade Greenland wax
I have treated my Swedish quilted trousers and my gas mask bag so far.
I love my gasmask bag its great for day trips but it is unbelievably not waterproof – in fact in a massive down pour water leaked in (a lot) and the leather base meant it pooled in the bottom of the bag. To rectify this i treated it with wax as below.
Lost – A Bushcraft Poem
Black is the sky, but the land is white–
(O the wind, the snow and the storm!)–
Father, where is our boy to-night?
Pray to God he is safe and warm.”
“Mother, mother, why should you fear?
Safe is he, and the Arctic moon
Over his cabin shines so clear–
Rest and sleep, ’twill be morning soon.”
The History of the Match
Learning to control fire was perhaps man’s greatest achievement. It allowed him to live in places formerly uninhabitable, to cook his food, change his landscape, and make weapons. The ability to create fire whenever and wherever it was needed was essential to the advancement of technology, and it could be argued that the invention of matches marked the birth of modern society.
Homemade Greenland Wax
Ok some of you may already do this or may know of it but some of you may not know how to make greenland wax, or if you prefer, waterproofing wax. To buy waterproofing wax its around 7 quid for a small block which is quite a lot. its easy to make so save money this way! The paraffin was £1 for 400g and the beeswax £1 for 50g and this is enough to make a lot of greenland style wax – i have a massive block now and am probably not ever going to use it all!