Woodlife Trails

Happy New Year to everyone. Many people celebrate the turn of the year and I’m no exeption (a bit of a headache proved it!) although I tend to look toward spring as the start of the year in natural terms. Spring is season of rebirth, of planting new crops and for me, a general feeling of well being because of more sunlight and warmth. The 1st January has no astronomical nor agricultural significance and has only been celebrated by Western nations for only about the past 400 years. Conversely, 4000 years ago

Happy New Year to everyone. Many people celebrate the turn of the year and I’m no exception (a bit of a headache proved it!) although I tend to look toward spring as the start of the year in natural terms. Spring is season of rebirth, of planting new crops and for me, a general feeling of well being because of more sunlight and warmth. The 1st January has no astronomical nor agricultural significance and has only been celebrated by Western nations for only about the past 400 years. Conversely, 4000 years ago the Babylonians were probably the first to celebrate their New Year on the first new moon after the Vernal (Spring) Equinox. Any excuse to have a few days off and a few shandys though!!

I had a good break over the holiday season with visits to the woods every other day. I’ll talk about these visits in the next few posts. I spent a bit of time having a good look at the kit I carry and I packed and re-packed according to a supposed excursion. I’ve not ostensibly changed the contents of my kit, but there are a couple of minor amendments (shall we say) which I’ll describe as and when I go out on trips.

During other relaxing moments when I wasn’t eating, drinking or entertaining, I was reading. Not only during this holiday but during these cold, dark, wet winter evenings, to read about bushcraft is almost as good as practicing it. Over the last 6 months I’ve collected what I consider is the top four bushcraft books (well, for starters anyway). Only a primitive methods book is missing and I’m on the look out for a classic primitive technology book.

There’s no substitute for going out and doing it really, but you can learn an awful lot from these books. They are inspiring as well as informative and entertaining especially the Nessmuk and Klephart books. Even though these were written many years ago, principles are similar even if the kit and material is different. It doesn’t have to be that way, of course, and I would love to do an excursion just using the kit, material and clothing as described by these intrepid woodsmen. Many do exactly that, like this guy. In the meantime, pick a up a copy of Nessmuk (for a princely sum of £3-98) if you haven’t already got it and be transferred to the woods in an earlier time and be inspired by the stories.

The two more modern books are of course Mors Kochanski’s Bushcraft and Ray Mears’ Essential Bushcraft. I was quite surprised how similar these books were, with Kochanski’s being the more technically detailed. Mors in fact related a story at the summer moot about a phone call he’d received from Ray Mears. “Someone’s copied bits from our books,” Ray said, apparently . There was something in Mors’ expression that made me think that he knew exactly what he considered Ray Mears meant by ‘our’ books (although he didn’t in any way insinuate this). Mors’ reply to this was, “I’m flattered. If he thinks they’re that good, let him do what he likes.” Typical Mors!

the Babylonians were probably the first to celebrate their New Year on the first new moon after the Vernal (Spring) Equinox. Any excuse to have a few days off and a few shandys though!!