AllOutDoors includes Bushcraft and Wild Camping with some hiking, tree climbing, exploring, kayaking, green woodworking etc etc .. mainly getting away from a misguided society
Okay this time around I am in a new location, playing around with OS(Ordanance Survey) Maps I found an Ancient Woodland which has a section which is hard to access …
Despite many a dog-walker or just nature lover walking the Ancient Wood less than a hundred meters away, I have a nice little Urban Wildcamping spot, very close to suburbs but just … hardly has any human activity, which is Great!
Bushcraft Wild Camping | Fire for breakfast
This location is quite far to walk so this ended up as a Bike Packing trip, and this time around the stick stove was not needed and I had a true proper camp fire in the evening and the following day for Breakfast etc.
My wildcamping dinner Autumn 2018 in the Polish Army Palatka ”Lavvu” tipi tent
Dinner was Sweet corn, mushrooms and peas cooked up in the Pathfinder canteeen with some spices and salt etc, together with a nicely cooked pre-marinated Lamb Chop and all washed down with a couple UK Ales …
Hows the below feather stick? It was probably my third attempt since discovering Bushcraft ….
I went out to try this British Army MRE Ration, having previously bought and enjoyed a 24 hour ORP (Operational Ration Pack) – which was Menu #1 (Vegetarain), this included three meals with 4000 kcals serving one soldier their day’s worth of nutrition.
This ration however, (Halal ”Chicken & Dhal – menu #3) serves as one meal which covers 8 hours and provides 1500 kcals – whilst still offering very similar items and accessories which appear in the 24 hour standard ration!
The main difference between the SMR (Single Meal Ration) and the 24 hour one is that the SMR Comes with a Flameless Ration Heater (FRH) whilst the 24 hour ORP’s do not include such.
British Army SMR ORP 8 hour Halal Ration 2019
I thoroughly enjoyed this ration and have started a new ”MRE / Ration rating system” which features in the below video …so why not see how it scored?
Here’s the flick of my second ever #Wildcamp session’s camp fire,not long after the first one (perhaps 2-3 weeks later – late 2018)? …
Again I camped in the Polish Lavvu or Palatka (A Cold war era, Polish military canvas tipi tent – made in the late 1970’s and bought from Army Surplus stock!)
As this was at the time my only shelter system available for wild camping.
In this Video, I give an update of all of my wildcamping session history from day one up until early December 2019, including new information about new gear and shelters bought and used since …
Cheers!
Bushcraft Fuscilli Soup Dinner in the Pathfinder Canteen on the Lixada Folding stick stove
In this short video I show how I very easily cooked Nordic Style Bacon on the camp fireduring a late summer Wild Camping session, I used three different methods / recipes as I used it for Breakfast as well as for Lunch.
I had this relatively enjoyable mid-week wild camping session near the end of summer (2019), the location is inside a Wetland / Marshland right next to an arterial highway leading into / out of London United Kingdom.
My shelter of choice was my newly purchased Ex French Army, F1 Cotton canvas 2 man tent, the sleep system was the British Army Arctic sleeping bag, together with the Highlander Base-S self inflating mattress and my usual cheap-o 5mm reflective lined roll mat.
Video of the whole camp session:
Food was some home-made Mushroom soup (if memory serves correct, it was made from Shiitake, Button and Oyster mushrooms) together with a chunk of buttered Tiger Bread (it’s a British thing, and quite nice!) – washed down with my light coffe concoction.
Entertainment was a newly purchased ”Outdoor Survival” book by Ray Mears (I do recommend this if you are interested in Bushcraft or Survival.)
I woke up to a completely clear sky and got some good shots of the sky above with the twinkling stars too ….Stars above my Marshland Wild Camp sessionWild Camping Session inside a UK Wetland / Marsh – French Army Tent
I’ve decided to start a series on my Fungi findings starting with the first real outdoors adventure where I found quite a lot of various species / varieties.
-this excursion was attached to a wild camping session I had just a few days before Winter Solstice, December 2018
The following were found in a boggy scrub / brush wood which lies near to an Ancient Oak / Hazel woodland, this particular wood mostly consists of Salix (Willow trees), Some Sambucus (Elder), Crataegus (Hawthorn), Corylus (Hazel) and mixed / some Fraxinus (Ash) and Quercus (Oak) with some scattered wild Malus (Apple / Crab apple).
This scrub wood is bordered between a Brook (Small river) and meadows – let’s give it a name shall we? Hows about the ”Ancient Scrub wood” ? So we all know where I am referring to in future posts …
For foraging, I at that time could only positively ID (thanks to the ”Essential Bushcraft” book by Ray Mears) the ‘Auricularia ariculi judae’ or Jelly Ears / Jews ears as it is commonly known in the UK , I did harvest quite a bit which subsequently ended up in stews and other dishes at home (Below) …
Below: Another shot of the above growing in a large group on another Sambucus ”Elder tree” and another fungi which lives off of dead wood (I still need to ID it, but have heard people refer to similar fungi as ”finger fungi”)
SONY DSC
SONY DSC
Below: Horses Hoof fungi ? I believe it is but have not yet looked into ID’ing these bracket fungi yet due to being overly obsessed with edible fungi … PS:I passed by the wood a week ago (mid December 2019) and the below specimen is in-tact and happy as can be!
Horses Hoof Bracket fungi ?
Below: What is this??? I have seen this since in other woods recently but it is quite interesting …
Suede-like textured fungi
Another look at the ”finger fungi’‘ (Below):
Wood substrate consuming ”Finger Fungi” UK
Below: these are interesting and still, yet to be ID’d by myself …
More wood substrate consuming fungi – growing through the moss – UK
And finally, the best shot of the lot … more Bracket Fungi but this time in a group on a large decaying branch. (Still needing ID) Note: The branch is mostly horizontal and so are the fungi, indicating that the fungi fruiting bodies grew after the tree / branch fell into the current position
What are these Bracket Fungi in this group? useful for Bushcraft / Survival? Medicine ?
Many thanks for joining me on this journey! I have had a great season this Autumn 2019 (Fall) and took many great shots of various fungi, plus harvested some newer specimens which previously have not seen when on the trail … this will all be included in this series chronologically starting from This trip in December 2018.
Feel free to share but under the condition you give credit to me when posting by ensuring the blog is linked! Thanks
Hi everyone, here’s a flick of the stick stove fire from my first ever #WildCamping session (Probably around October 2018) – as you can see the Lixada hinged folding stick stove is still pretty new and has not much soot on it!
I bought this stove originally for about £14/15 with delivery, this stove has hands down been one of my greatest ”gear companions” on many a day trip, wild camp session or woodland scout! Looking online I have seen one seller recently selling for as low as £7/8 !!! now THAT’S a Steal!
Next to the fire you can see my Pathfinder canteen cook set stove / trivet thing, I used it once during wild camping and find it difficult to start a fire underneath, it has clearly been designed to be placed over an existing fire so as to work as a stove hob for either the canteen cup or the canteen itself for water heating etc.
There should be a post or two coming up before and after Christmas, from myself to all of you, have a great end of year and holidays / resting period!
I have now tired out two Military Rations from Poland, the first was the S-R Menu / Ration and the second, most recent was marketed as a Specail Forces Ration, upon looking into it (the contents) It was quite convincing that this new ration was definitely quite different from the first one due to the inclusion and exclusion of some sundries …
Here is the full loadout and description of the contents, then further below why I think the seller believes this is / was a Special Forces Ration.
1x Fig flavour cereal fruit bar (In the S-R ration, only one fruit bar is given)
Chewing gum
Coffe extract sweet / Candy
Spices (Salt and pepper)
Napkin
Wet wipe – x2
Toilet paper
Zip lock bag
Disposable spoon
Drinking Straw
Hook pack – 2 pieces (this was one of the main items that made me feel that this ration may be used by Special Forces teams, the purpose of these hooks is to hang the package pack or zip lock bag off of a tree for the purpose of filtering and purifying water)
Storm Matches (Again, these are not included in the S-R ration)
Water purification tablet – 1 in pack (Another item which the S-R does not include)
FRH – Flameless ration heater
NOTE: The packaging bag in this ration has a 1 liter line mark on the bag making it possible to utilize as a water purification bag – the S-R rations have the exact same bag but missing the line marker
CONCLUSION:
I still have yet to determine whether this ration is used by Polish Special forces teams – so far, I have had a few commenters on the youtube video saying that this is the normal ration – so there is now reason to find out why the S-R rations are different to these S-RS Rations and what the purpose is? The S-R rations are still being produced so these are not a new product as a replacement, you can still as of now purchase S-R rations which have the exact same or even future Best Before dates.
Personally, unless the Polish Special Forces use another ration on deployment, Then in my opinion this ration is the best one suited to their types of missions given the additional items included which are far more suited to their type of enviroment and fast paced action.
If you find MRE’s (Meal, Ready to Eat) / Military Rations interesting, why not follow the blog and hit up my youtube channel, I have already a decent playlist of rations from various nations with more coming such as: Russian, Singaporean, Norwegian and more
Here’s a picture from my most recent #WildCamping session I had last week in an Ancient Oak Woodland, I slept under a British Army Basha tarp shelter ….
Open Fire for Wild Camping / Bushcraft with Zebra Billy can / cook pot Stew
I had a very tasty Beef Steak stew that night from my Zebra Billy Cook Pot, all served with an Italian Olive bread roll which pulled it off veeeeeery nicely!
I am still trying out and sampling various MRE (Meal, Ready to Eat) Military rations from around the world and when I saw a Polish Special Forces ration for sale I went straight in!
This menu is labeled S-RS-13 and the main course was Chicken with Rice and Vegetables – this is the second Polish ration I have sampled, and this main was very good!
Below is the load out of the Ration pack, this one differs from my first ration from Poland in that it has a water measuring line on the bag (so you can purify water in the field), water purification tablets, less crackers, no jam / honey, S-hook to hang your water purification bag etc.
Polish Army Special Forces S-RS Ration MRE Loaded Out
Below is the Main course and also the meal whilst it was being heated up by the FRH (Flameless Ration Heater) which is water activated:
FRH (Flameless Ration Heater) Polish Polska Special Forces S-RS Ration MRE
I hope you enjoyed the post and the video, please let me know what rations you want to see or are curious of? I have two filmed but need editing and uploading online (One multi national and one Asian).
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Bushman AllOutDoors 