Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category
The Ten Commandments – of Bushcraft
April 30th, 2012 | 
Author: 
These ten commands are passed down from generation to generation within native communities across Canada. I believe they should be taught in school as they represent the core values that are needed to become a Friend of Nature.
Every Day Carry – Some Thoughts.
There seems to be a huge interest in the subject of Every Day Carry or EDC. Youtube is full to the brim of videos of people showing off their EDC equipment. All manner of different bags, packs and pouches crammed with diverse equipment ranging from cotton balls soaked in vaseline to the latest technological breakthrough in GPS systems.
People seem to love discussing the contents of their Bug Out Bags, Woods Bag, Survival Kit, Car/Boat Kit and all manner of other types of kit in-between. I’ve seen fanny packs/bum bags, rucksacks, gearslingers and all sorts described as EDC kit. There of course is a place and a time for these kits. However, I personally don’t think you could class them as EDC.
Horace Kephart 1862-1931
Kephart was born in Pennsylvania and raised in Iowa. He was the director of the St. Louis Mercantile Library in St. Louis Misouri from 1890 to 1903. In these years Kephart also wrote about camping and hunting trips.1 Earlier, Kephart had also worked as a librarian atYale University and spent significant time in Italy as an employee of a wealthy American book collector.
In 1904, Kephart’s family (wife Laura and their six children) moved to Ithaca, New York, but Laura and Horace never divorced or legally separated. Horace Kephart found his way to western North Carolina, where he lived in the Hazel Creek section of what would later become the Great Smoky Mountain National Park:
Windigo
A Northwest Territories Ghost Story
Ojibwa First Nation
retold by
S. E. Schlosser
The storm lasted so long that they thought they would starve. Finally, when the wind and swirling snow had died away to just a memory, the father, who was a brave warrior, ventured outside. The next storm was already on the horizon, but if food was not found soon, the family would starve.
Keeping his knife and spear close, he ventured out upon the most-frequently used game trail, watching intently for some sign, in the newly-fallen snow, of animal footprints or movement of any kind. The forest lay deep and oddly silent under its gleaming coating of ice and snow. Every creature of sense lay deep within its burrow and slept. Still, the warrior hunted, knowing how desperate his family had become.
Cowboy Soup
INGREDIENTS:
2 potatoes, peeled and chunked
1bl ground beef
1 onion, chopped
2 tbs chili powder
1 can corn
bay leaf
1 can peas
1 can green beans
1 can baked beans
1 can tomato soup
1 can tomatoes
1/4 tsp nutmeg
Lyme Disease
Lyme disease is a bacterial infection that is spread to humans by infected ticks. Ticks are small, spider shaped insects that feed on the blood of mammals including humans.
The most common symptom of Lyme disease is a red skin rash that looks similar to the bull’s eye on a dartboard. However, if Lyme disease is left untreated, further symptoms can follow, including:
- A high temperature (fever) 38C or over.
- Muscle pain.
- Joint pain and swelling.
- Neurological symptoms, such as temporary paralysis of the facial muscles.
A person with Lyme disease is not contagious because the infection can only be spread by the ticks.
Thermos Thermax Lightweight Flask
Up until a few months ago I was of the opinion that vacuum flasks were of no use in relation to bushcraft. I believed they were only useful for taking a hot drink to your place of work. Or perhaps a family picnic. How wrong could I have been? After visiting Northern Sweden in mid winter back in January this year I soon learnt the error of my ways…
S.O.D.I.S. Water Purification
From the slums of Nairobi to the most remote corners of the Andes, clean water is a necessity. But without significant investment in sanitization infrastructure, this resource is incredibly difficult to provide. But after years of research and development, a cheap, reusable and nearly universally effective system of water treatment has been developed.
Basic Wilderness Survival Skills
The advances in the development of outdoor clothing, equipment, emergency food and techniques have been growing rapidly in recent years. For those beginners interested in using the outdoors there is unlimited information on wilderness survival skills and equipment available. However, experience is the best teacher in any outdoor situation and your reaction in a wilderness survival situation depends on your education. Always keep in mind that it can happen to you. Those who are mentally and physically prepared to survive are more likely to do so. To deal with an emergency situation one must be able to make decisions, improvise and remain calm.
Candles and Bushcraft
Candles have cast a light on man’s progress for centuries. However, there is very little known about the origin of candles. Although it is often written that the first candles were developed by the Ancient Egyptians who used rush lights, or torches, made by soaking the pithy core of reeds in molten tallow, the rush lights had no wick like a candle. It is the Romans who are credited with developing the wick candle, using it to aid travellers at dark, and lighting homes and places of worship at night.
Like the early Egyptians, the Roman’s relied on tallow, gathered from cattle or sheep suet, as the principal ingredient of candles. It was not until the Middle Ages when beeswax, a substance secreted by honey bees to make their honeycombs, was introduced. Beeswax candles were a marked improvement over those made with tallow, for they did not produce a smoky flame, or emit an acrid odour when burned. Instead, beeswax candles burned pure and clean. However, they were expensive, and, therefore, only the wealthy could afford them.
Colonial women offered America’s first contribution to candle making when they discovered that boiling the greyish green berries of bayberry bushes produced a sweet-smelling wax that burned clean. However, extracting the wax from the bayberries was extremely tedious. As a result, the popularity of bayberry candles soon diminished.