We are all familiar with the method of scraping the surface of Birch bark and igniting the scrapings with a firesteel due to the high content of natural oils in the bark.
more about “Pictures by sufguy1 – Photobucket“, posted with vodpod
but you can use this scraping method on most dead woods to achieve either a [...]
Read Full Post »
Posted in Crafts, Food and Drink, Lapland, Natural Materials, Swedish Lapland, Travel and navigation, Trees, tagged Birch, cabin, kuksa, Sweden, tipi on 05/11/2009 | 6 Comments »
We spent the morning collecting fallen trees from the forest for next years fire wood. Its so much easier to drag them back when there are two people!!!
I also carried back the tipi poles and stored in the cabin roof.
I spent the rest of the morning sawing the trees into logs
We drove to a small [...]
Read Full Post »
Posted in Crafts, Lapland, Natural Materials, Nature, Reindeer, Swedish Lapland, Tools, Travel and navigation, Trees, Wildlife, tagged Birch, birds, cabin, Gallivare, knife, kuksa, leather, Reindeer on 29/10/2009 | 3 Comments »
The first task of the morning was to row the boys around the lake to collect up the boats.
As well as numerous Willow Tits feeding around the cabin this morning
more about “Pictures by sufguy1 – Photobucket“, posted with vodpod
there were also two Siberian Tits.
more about “Pictures by sufguy1 – Photobucket“, posted with vodpod
After lunch we [...]
Read Full Post »
Posted in Food and Drink, Lapland, Nature, Plants, Swedish Lapland, Travel and navigation, Trees, Wildlife, tagged Birch, birds, cabin, fire, food, Gallivare, Sweden on 06/10/2009 | Leave a Comment »
I arrived at Gallivare airport at 21:20 on 8th September and my girlfriend Teres was there to meet me. I spent the following day with her and her family and we went shopping for food. We visited the butchers in Gallivare
to purchase meat products including this sausage (korv in Swedish)
On 10th we drove to my [...]
Read Full Post »
Posted in Crafts, Food and Drink, Lapland, Natural Materials, Plants, Reindeer, Saami, Travel and navigation, Trees, tagged Birch, coffee, Reindeer, Saami, Sami, Sweden, cabin, leather, kuksa on 24/07/2009 | 2 Comments »
I have had no more fish in the trap and today was no exception. It was nice to see Marsh Marigold flowers open by the edge of the lake.
Traditionally coffee is used to stain wood and help bring out the grain pattern so I decided to give it a go on both my using a [...]
Read Full Post »
Having cut the trunk into sections with the intention of floating them across the lake behind my boat I was concerned that lifting them out of the water and carrying them up the slope to the cabin would not be so easy, so while drinking my coffee I came up with a plan of action.
Firstly [...]
Read Full Post »
Posted in Fire craft, Food and Drink, Lapland, Natural Materials, Shelter, Tools, Travel and navigation, Trees, tagged Birch, cabin, Shelter, Sweden on 15/07/2009 | 1 Comment »
Now for me this is what it’s all about. Using the items you have available, together with natural materials around you to achieve your goal (thinking outside the box is always a useful skill). So often I hear asked “what’s the most important item in bushcraft”…….a knife, an axe, a cooking pot? Well for me [...]
Read Full Post »
Posted in Crafts, Lapland, Natural Materials, Nature, Tools, Travel and navigation, Trees, tagged axe, Birch, birds, kuksa on 09/07/2009 | 2 Comments »
3 Waxwings around the cabin all day. A pair of Fieldfares have also appeared. They always next in areas inhabited by people yet they seem to really dislike people; flying towards them giving their harsh rattling call and then crapping on them if their aim is good!!
Ingvar came to help finish repairs to my chimney.
We [...]
Read Full Post »
Posted in Clothing, Crafts, Hygiene, Lapland, Natural Materials, Nature, Plants, Travel and navigation, Wildlife, tagged Birch, birds on 03/07/2009 | Leave a Comment »
I began the day by washing some clothes
and just like in the UK……shortly after it started raining!!
By late morning the rain had cleared and using my carving axe I continued to shape the second kåsa.
I had been given a Bug Band, designed to repel biting insects such as mosquitoes without the use of deet to [...]
Read Full Post »
Posted in Crafts, Equipment, Food and Drink, Lapland, Natural Materials, Reindeer, Tools, Travel and navigation, Trees, tagged Birch, cabin, carving, leather, native crafts, Needle, Reindeer, Sweden on 30/06/2009 | 3 Comments »
Still raining and also a very strong westerly wind today. The rain cleared in the evening and it became sunny but with wintry showers and a temperature of 3 degrees, so I had a fire going most of the day
I spent the day carving and sanding the kåsa and also began making a smaller one [...]
Read Full Post »