Well three task to do this afternoon, walk dog, spend time with two favourite youngest kids (as opposed to my two favourite eldest) and do something bushcrafty, its gotta be a good combo.
Don’t know if any of you know Thanet but woodland is pretty scarce indeed.
Pack bag, round up kids and collar HatDog (perhaps you should meet him)
(everyone say Hi HatDog).Wander up to the wooded area not much more than a copse (have a look)
, and find the chavs have been at the setting fire to the sitting log (grrr), and find a mature lady sitting on the log (perhaps it was her, though probably not).She has a little Jack Russell, and starts telling me her and Jacks life history, well as you can guess I was enthralled (hmm), so I pull out the Hobo Stove and start collecting kindling and branches.
While doing this I explain to the lady that I am making a cup of tea and offer her one (which she politely declines, on reflection I feel she may have been slighting my manly tea making abilities).
My kids are being very helpful and running around collecting more branches and when I tell them enough they start to strip the bark from the excess ones, I am always impressed with a child’s ingenuity and the simple things that please them (when you get them away from technology), as they use the strong fork of one branch to strip from another branch.
Now it’s time to prepare the wood, so I explain to the lady that I have a saw and a knife and will be using both, and she sticks around while I broke and split the branches down into finger length pieces, and I got to show my kids something new that I had learnt from my last trip (they kissed the wood) and it was dry.
Once this was finished she said goodbye and although at first I had found her an intrusion it had been nice to meet someone who respected the area, and as she walked away she walked past a tree that seemed to release half a dozen green parrots.
I got the fire going first attempt using dry grass and then built up from there, (the kids were impressed to see me blow on what appeared to be glowing embers and have flames jump up.
Throughout the last half hour, the clouds had been roiling out to sea and I felt a drop in temperature (it’s a great sensation that drop in air pressure), I don’t always feel it but I did today, I told the kids it would be raining soon and within a min it began to drizzle.
None of us seemed to mind the rain and when the tea was ready we drank and watched the dog run through the brambles like they weren’t there.
After I explained the “leave not trace” ethos and the kids helped me clear away.
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