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Autumn walk in the woods

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Tag: tree buds

Autumn walk in the woods

Posted on November 1, 2015February 22, 2018

It’s always nice to take people out for a walk in the woods, it’s something I really enjoy and look forward to doing each month. I particularly like introducing them to the trees; helping them to recognise the different specifies. Continue reading “Autumn walk in the woods”

About

Bushcraft with David Willis provides fun, informative and educational courses that teach wilderness living skills, nature connection and woodland crafts, with activities to suit all ages, abilities and needs!

Location

Scheduled courses and events are provided in the Chilterns, Buckinghamshire, and just a short drive from neighbouring home counties Hertfordshire, Berkshire and Oxfordshire, or a train ride from London on the Metropolitan or Chiltern Line, the local station being Chalfont & Latimer.

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Adventure - somewhere on the side of a mountain on Adventure - somewhere on the side of a mountain on Thasos. Exploring ancient paths and goat trails, and sometimes no path at all. Mad dogs come to mind, so as midday arrives it's nice to sit peacefully on a cool rock in the shade 😊
A beautifully nature residency - a walk through th A beautifully nature residency - a walk through the gorge into the mountain behind the village of Kazaviti, with lovely friends @leah.heming and @abigailmcdougall_fineart, and artist @rebeccahowardartist. To escape for a while to a Greek island, where buying fresh fruit and vegetables from the local market followed by a swim in the sea is the normal. And yes today we bathed in this wonderfully cool pool in the gorge, and walked higher, searching for orchids, the fragrance of the flowers and herbs was wonderful, and following what is probably a Roman aquifer back down to the village, whilst listening to the birds 💚
Oh what a beautiful day to be carving spoons and c Oh what a beautiful day to be carving spoons and chatting to visitors about this craft 💚 I'm at the Chiltern Open Air Museum 💚 @chilternoam 💚
Just received this lovely review "Superb day out f Just received this lovely review "Superb day out for the whole family! My husband had so enjoyed his first Bushcraft experience with David, I decided to send him back with 4 children in tow! David is an exceptional teacher with great instinct, meeting each child exactly where they are. It was a thrilling experience and one they  certainly wish to repeat. Thank you so much David. Can't thank you enough."
More fishy experiments - I've been experimenting w More fishy experiments - I've been experimenting with softening the salmon skins, one with olive oil, and another with leather balm. They ended up a little crinkly - but reasonably happy with the early results. I had another skin that I shocked in a sweet chestnut tannin, I think it was to strong, so having rinsed it lots put into a weaker solution, and this is what you can see here. This time worked with a little fat. It all started out nicely, with lots stretch, but slowly became crispy as it dried out. The good news is this skin looks lots better, with more stretch and nice shapes where the scales were attached. Time to get some more skins...

#fishyexperiments #salmonskintanning #primalskills #salmonskin #notforeating #salmonskinleather
Lunch - tasty lamb rump, sprinkled with a little r Lunch - tasty lamb rump, sprinkled with a little rock salt and black pepper, and cooked on a stick over the campfire, served with a few garlicky leaves; jack-by-the-hedge and ransoms, leaves and flowers, simple and delicious. Locally sourced here in the Chilterns from @nativebeefandlamb 💚
It's a little bit chilly in the woods this morning It's a little bit chilly in the woods this morning, so lovely to feel the warmth of the campfire, the kettle is simmering ready for a brew and the dutch oven is warming ready to prove and bake bread. It's a family bushcraft kind of day, so we'll be building a shelter, and whittling a few sticks too.
Salmon leather experiments - removed from tannin s Salmon leather experiments - removed from tannin solutions, rinsed in fresh water, gently stretched and drying a little before a little more tender loving care.

The sweet chestnut tannin definitely produced a darker colour than the tea solution, but the tea appears to have penetrated the skin more deeply, and have resulted in a better tanned skin (well it appears that way so far).

Sadly a couple of the skins were a little more fragile, guessing from the same fish, and there are a few tears as a result, but it's a learning process. I'm guessing wild salmon will have thicker and hence stronger skins than these farmed fish.

Update: I think the sweet chestnut solution may have been to strong, and perhaps this hasn't worked so well, darker but maybe this has made the skin fragile?

#fishyexperiments #salmonskin #tanningfish #primalskills #sweetchestnut
Tumbling salmon skins - next stage of my fishy exp Tumbling salmon skins - next stage of my fishy experiments, each salmon skin has been soaking in a jar of tannin solution for 10 days. The paler colour were soaked in a tea tannin, and the darker coloured was is a tannin made from the husks of last year's sweet chestnuts. I've been tumbling the fish skins each night, to evenly distribute the tannin. And it's interesting to see how as the solutions become paler the ski s become darker 🙂

#salmontanning #hidetanning #fishskintanning #primalskills #fishystuff #science #fishyexperiments
Good morning from the woods - listening to the bea Good morning from the woods - listening to the beautiful dawn chorus since 5am, such a lovely way to start the day. Put a few larch sticks on last night's campfire and blew the remaining embers back into life, and now the kettle is simmering. Wishing you a wonderful day 💚

#campfire #chilterns #woodland #snapcracklepop #earlymorning #lifeinthewoods #birdsong #chilternexperience #flickeringflame
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