Fundamental Bushcraft course

The leaf shelter
Originally uploaded by grazulis.

Last week went on a bushcraft course with Ray Mears' company Woodlore. The course is a week long and covers a lot of basic survival and bushcraft info. It is one of the most challenging and intense things I think I've done but it was also extremely rewarding. From natural cordage (using nettles and roots) to wood carving and starting fires the number of skills and projects through the week just kept increasing and I'm going to need some time to absorb it all. The head instructor, Juha, was really good, as were all the other instructors as well, pushing you on with a mixture of encouragment, advice and bloody-mindedness.
It's given me a lot to think about when I'm out walking now about the land around me and how it can be used. In fact I can't wait to get out again, although I may have to wait until I've stopped aching quite so much...

Reference Card

Reference Card
Originally uploaded by grazulis.

A happy accident. I printed out a sheet from Douglas Johnston's DIY Planner for hipster but didn't realise that it shrank Letter size onto the A4 making the card a bit too small. But actually it makes a really good divider making it easy to mark a place that can be found quickly when riffling the cards.

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blog-lite

Bob Myers' Translations of Dogen Translations of Dogen available under a Creative Commons license.

One Bag (all about packing, luggage, and travelling light) Interesting lookig site for anyone looking to downsize their luggage when travelling anywhere. After years of struggling with a rucksack I've recently taken to a small Karrimor bag that is the correct carry-on size, although it's not mine, and I like it. Most of my rucksack is nearly always empty space anyway...

Aubergine Dip 35mins: "Aubergine Dip
Ingredients:

250g/8oz Aubergine (Egg Plant)

1 tbsp Olive Oil

1 tbsp Lemon Juice

1 tbsp Tahini

100g/4oz Natural Yoghurt

1 Garlic Clove, crushed

1 tbsp Fresh Parsley, chopped

Salt and Pepper



Instructions



1. Preheat the grill to very hot then grill the aubergine for about 20 minutes, turning to cook evenly, until the skin has blistered and blackened.



2. When cool enough to handle, remove the skin place in a food processor with the remaining ingredients and blend to a smooth puree. Spoon the puree into a serving dish and garnish with the parsley."

How to Write More Clearly, Think More Clearly, and Learn Complex Material More Easily

NextAction - TrimPath - Trac
NextAction is a web page that you can save to your computer and then use to track your tasks and projects for just about anything. It's free and, although still only in beta, seems pretty good. It doesn't save automatically at the moment so you have to remember to save the page after making changes.