There is an amazing array of skills in bushcraft, some we use constantly in everyday life in the woods, and some that rarely get to be used in practice. Recently, on our axe and tree identification weekend, we had the chance to try out something I’ve wanted to experiment with for a while to see how well it works in reality. A tree that was being felled got caught up in some small branches, and despite our efforts to safely free it, in line with the Lantra chainsaw felling techniques up to 200mm, it wasn’t budging. So, thinking of another winch method led to the idea of using a flip flop winch ..read more

We all know that the cost of living has skyrocketed recently but it’s that time of year when good cheer should flow.  Here at Woodland Ways we’re also passionate about highlighting the massive difference supporting any independent businesses can make so we thought we’d marry the two occasions up to provide a rather special offer.  One lucky person will be walking away with a £1,000 voucher to use against any workshops, courses or expedition of their choice in 2023. In order to be in with a chance of winning it’s simple – just shop direct.  Any ..read more

We all have different views on what being connected to the natural world means to us as individuals, couples, family groups and more broadly as human beings. I know that during the course of my some almost fifty years on this earth my thoughts on this have shifted as my world views have grown and matured. It is not a static philosophical view point, it evolves, ebbs and flows with the influences you come in contact with during life experiences. During a recent course I was running I posed this question to the family group I was instructing. The parents and young people all had their own insigh ..read more

Often on expedition things don’t go according to plan, be it local availability or in many cases non availability, this leads to some ingenious out of the box solutions to problems. I like to think I’m a bit of an “original prepper” given that I’ve held, and hosted various scout roles and our motto is to “be prepared” Many years ago, a much younger but more experienced mentor of mine, who was to become and still is a very close friend, introduced me to an idea that he had made part of his own skills development. Trangia and variuos potential fuels Every trip he went on he would deliberately le ..read more

In the last blog of this series, we looked at seasoning, and how it concerns our greenwood carving projects. With that in mind we can now move onto any treatment we may with to apply to both enhance the aesthetic qualities of our work as well as adding a protective coating to help protect it from changes in humidity, read on as we explore one of these options in the use of oils. Spatula soon to be oiled (Image Jay Jenner) Oiling Ok, so once your project has seasoned and you are happy that all carving and abrading has been completed you may like to choose from a variety of oils to help protect ..read more

In this greenwood carving aftercare series we covered abraiding and burnishing last time and in this weeks blog we will be looking at how to allow our projects to dry out after carving them in greenwood, commonly referred to as seasoning. After this process we can then look at applying a finish which can help protect it and enhance its aesthetic qualities in the next blog in this series. A selection of kuksas at different stages of carving & seasoning We need to take care with seasoning because if our projects dry out in a way that causes stress in the wood it will lead to either cracking ..read more

For most of our history, humans have lived off the land through the hunting and gathering of wild foods. Today, foraged food can be a valuable and tasty addition to our diet. But what would it be like to live only off foraged food? Could the wild foods available in the 21st century provide a balanced diet? With these questions in mind, in this blog I begin to explore how the macronutrients needed for one person for an entire year could be obtained. There is a personal dimension to this research, as I plan to gift myself 2024 as a year off, living off the land. (Photo Nicola Strange) How many n ..read more

With the weather starting to turn a little cooler and the turning colours of the vibrant autumn leaves sparkling like gems throughout the forest I realised that summer had slipped silently out the door and autumn was merrily on its way. With recent focus on the increase of respiratory problems, colds, flus and coughs forecasted for this winter I was thinking about what I could have in store for any such occurrence in the household and whilst gazing out of my window I found my inspiration. Found in a multitude of places the trusty plantain could be seen happily growing through the cracks in our ..read more

Now I’m sure most of you are familiar with the concept of bow drill friction fire, especially with some of our previous blogs. It’s one of my favourite skills to play with and one that often gives me an overwhelming urge to knock out an ember or two and it’s that urge that led to the topic of this blog. Aspen end grain ember Let me set the scene, it’s about 1:30 in the morning and I can’t sleep, my wife and kids are tucked up in bed and I get the urge to have a play with a piece of European aspen I found recently (I’d never used aspen for friction fire before). Given that it’s approaching two ..read more

The story so far, we have identified 10 things that might not be quite right about the ground before we even started looking at our bow drill set, 4 things to consider about the ember pan and the 18 things to perfect on the hearth board. If you have found this blog and not read the previous two that dealt with the ground & ember pan, and then the hearth board I suggest have a quick read of those. This time lets focus on the drill. The set I am describing is the hazel drill in to a lime hearth board. The first few things to consider are to do with the quality of the wood itself, so are the ..read more