Bushcraft News

our new News-blog

Nomad Bushcraft — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 12:36:44 -0500

Hi and welcome to our news-blog!

on this blog we will keep you up-to date with news, course information and lots of interesting bushcraft tips and tricks.

We also hope to show you what the Nomad team are up to in between courses and shows.

Thanks for dropping by, and please come back soon!

The Nomad Team!

Wilderness gathering

Nomad Bushcraft — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 13:04:37 -0500

Last week we spent 4 days at the UK wilderness gathering festival in west knoyle wiltshire. info at www.wildernessgathering.co.uk

Our instructors were involved in a number of actrivities over the 4 days including teaching classes in primitive skills and knife skills to large groups of people.

The weather stayed sunny and warm for most of the weekend and the attendance was over 800 people. Many other bushcraft and country skills professionals were in attendance and over £3000 was raised by auction for survival international by our friends at survival school. We donated a fallkniven knife and a weekend course for 2 people to the auction.

Nomad Team.

Westonbirt National Arboretum

Nomad Bushcraft — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 06:53:09 -0500

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

Penny Bun Bolete Mushroom

Nomad Bushcraft — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 06:53:41 -0500

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

The Fire God

Nomad Bushcraft — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 06:54:22 -0500

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

Soda-can stove

Nomad Bushcraft — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 09:27:15 -0500

Sometimes, either due to local laws or restrictions, it is not possible to have (even a well managed) open fire in a wilderness area. Under these circumstances, many hikers and travellers will resort to hiking stoves and these stoves bring problems with them in terms of weight, reliability and bulk.

The backpacking style we favour is the ultra-lightweight kind (base load of less than 7kg). For ultra-lightweight backpacking, the alcohol stove is king. Requiring no more than 2 tablespoons of fuel to heat two cups of water, these stoves are literally worth their tiny weight in gold! The picture shows the same type we make with students to use on our Bushman course. Teamed with a small metal mug these really are the ultimate in lightweight brew kits.

The whole stove is made from a single discarded drinking soda-can and a piece of insulation tape (optional) in about 20 minutes from start to finish and requires only the simplest of tools. The complete stove weighs in at around 25 grams (that is less than an ounce). The stove burns denatured ethanol, Isopropyl “rubbing alcohol” , 140 proof liquor or common household “meths”. These fuels are readily available in most hardware stores, drug stores or camping supply centres.

The Soda-can stove has no moving parts to go wrong and can be lit with a firesteel, match or lighter. A separate pot stand is not required as the cooking pot sits right on the rim of the stove, the side jets heat the contents of the cooking pot evenly and the stove will bring 2 cups of water to a rolling boil in around 5 minutes. A 200ml store bought bottle of meths (ensure you have a tight fitting lid when carrying this in your pack) will give you around 12 - 15 boils.

This is an easy and efficient way to make a warming drink and it uses recycled materials which is very satisfying when you consider that the cheapest lightweight gas stoves cost at least £ 30 plus the canisters. Even trangia style alcohol stoves cost £7-10, this stove is yours for the price of a soda.

These stoves very accurately meet our motto of “travel light but right”

Come back soon

Andrew

September foundation course

Nomad Bushcraft — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 13:00:56 -0500

This weekend we ran our september foundation course, fortunately the weather stayed dry and a good time was had by all.

The enthusiastic students learned about primitive stone tools, knife skills, woodcarving, shelter craft, tracking, navigation, traps and snares, firelighting techniques and much more over the two days whilst drinking us completely out of tea!

As usual the students we were accompanied by the resident tawny owls during their evenings which were spent sharing the warmth of their campfires toasting marshmallows and carving spoons from hazel. Congratulations to Jim who won the spoon-making competition, I am sure there is a small business there one day Jim! Students also had a go at making soda can whistles, lanterns and stoves from re-cycled materials.

Most pleasing for me was the student's successful attempts at stone tool making and fire by friction with the Fire-bow. All students successfully produced a number of pebble tools and blades from river cobbles which were used to great effect preparing fish for their lunch. The firebow is a difficult technique to master involving a lot of co-ordination and stamina but those who kept at it were rewarded with the flickering flames of success!

A few students took home standing dead wood from willow and field maple to make their own sets, so no doubt they will soon master the technique for themselves. I doubt that they will ever look at a river pebble the same way either!

Our thanks to the students Jim, Peter, Gary, Ben, Adrian , Fiona, Tony, Ross, Tim, James, Brian and Ronnie for their particiaption in all the course activities.

Hopefully we have inspired them to carry on with their bushcraft and no doubt we will see one or two around the campfire again soon.

See you

Andrew

Christmas course offers

Nomad Bushcraft — Sun, 11 Nov 2007 08:50:24 -0600

Christmas Offers

For Christmas 2007 we have a limited 15% discount offer for our Foundation Bushcraft course if booked between now and December 20th 2007

Next course dates 28th -30th March 2008. Our courses book up very quickly so make sure you take advantage of our christmas offers now!

We accept all major credit cards, personal cheques and we also accept paypal.

Bookings can be made by email on mail@nomad-bushcraft.com or by phoning the office on 01454615418

Regards the Nomad Team

New - Jungle-Jane Women's bushcraft Course

Nomad Bushcraft — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 06:19:38 -0600

Our Jungle jane course is specificlly designed by women, for women and is led primarly by our female instructors in broadleaf woodland in wiltshire.

In this 2 day course you will cover all the bushcraft skills of living in the woods such as fire-lighting, navigation and shelterbuilding. Time is taken to ensure that skills are effectively passed to you in a way that builds your confidence in your outdoor skills. Plenty of time is given for you to practice the techniques in a hands on way. We also cover various traditional skills such as basketry, wilderness cooking and nature awareness.

This course is suitable for women and girls over 12 years old - (under 18s must be accompanied by full paying adult) we cater for all fitness levels and skills backgrounds including complete novices!

Cost £130 includes insurance, meals and carbon steel knife which you may keep!
To book or for further dates & details please contact mail@nomad-bushcraft.com or telephone 01454 615418.

Nomad Bushcraft — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 06:18:07 -0600

Hello again,

Our latest graduates from our 4day bushman course left us on monday afternoon relaxed and refreshed after spending 4 days ion the backwoods learning primitive survival skills!

The bushman course teaches self sufficiency. Empahasis is placed upon natural shelter construction, reliable friction fire skills and woodcraft. Students made frame saws, compasses, spoons. The 4 day course allows plenty of time for students to get stuck in with projects. No tents or tarps are allowed on the bushnman course, so as part of their training, students must construct brush hut shelters thatched with branches and leaf litter. A fire is lit in the centre of the structure which keeps students warm all night and is used for cooking their meals.

Part of the course involves the students making a ground oven to pit roast legs of lamb, turkey, cabbage, sweet potatoes, wild greens, burdock and pumpkin. The students thought the results were fantastic. Meat cooked in this way absolutely melts in your mouth! The pumpkin, cabbage and sweet potato are gently steamed and retain all their natural flavours. Students were also surprised at how delicious the burdock was! On the last day, students and instructors construct a sweat lodge. This is somewhat of a tradition on bushman courses. The sweat lodge really relaxes students and leaves them feeling clean and invigorated. Several students suggested that we ought to run a bushcraft spa weekend as a side line - I'm not sure....maybe next year guys! A good time was had by all. Our thanks to the students whose enthusiasm made the course so very much fun.

Andrew

Why not have a go yourselves? details of our bushman courses are available on the website:

Interview with Carrie

Nomad Bushcraft — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 06:24:21 -0600

We are proud to announce that our instructor Carrie-Ann features in Issue 12 of Bushcraft and survival skills Magazine. Carrie was interviewed as part of a feature on female instructors. you can read the article in the magazine on sale now in the UK from Borders bookshops.

Alternatively please visit the link : www.bushcraftmagazine.co.uk

Podcast

Nomad Bushcraft — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 11:15:24 -0500

Last weekend saw the first of this year's Nomad Bushcraft foundation courses.

The weather was very wet but the students had great fun learning, We invited Bob Cartwright along from the theoutdoorsstation.co.uk to join in the fun.

Listen to how they got on on the course plus interviews with our staff courtesy of our podcast "a weekend with nomad bushcraft" by following the link below:

http://www.theoutdoorsstation.co.uk/Nomad_Bushcraft.htm

See you on the trail! Andrew