We Had Real Snow – Finally!

~ Bushman All-OutDoors ~ Leave a comment

On Friday 1st February 2019 we finally had some good settling snow around London UK, I saw the weather ”report” but this time it felt real, I sensed it in the air that we were really in for some real snow (The previous week we had snow which was expected to be more than 10cm thick and we barely even got over 1cm!)

I would have camped overnight but I only got contacted Friday morning at 6:45am and told not to come in to work, which was a little bit of a bummer! I recently received some new Gear for winter time and would have loved to see how well it faired whilst doing an overnighter … ah well, all’s not lost! I did manage to head out in the morning, set up a poncho tipi (Polish Army Palatka) and cooked up some mushrooms with Polish sausages in Fusilli pasta, complimented by an IPA from Tiny Rebel and a Black Sesame Seed Cereal / Drink from Taiwan < This stuff is to die for!

Real Snow London 2019
Can You Spot The Snow Camoed Tent?
Disco Nap IPA from Tiny Rebel Brewery

Hover the mouse on any of the included photo’s for the captions 🙂

It was fun! I was so engrossed in it all that I left camp after ”Camoflauging” my Polish Army Tent (AKA Lavvu) with Snow or ”Arctic” camoflauge as some people call it, that I was running around filming and talking to the camera seeing whether the tent was distinguishable from the pathways or not etc. and In the end, I was seen by a couple dog walkers and they must have been thinking I was a nutter talking to myself! haha

I only sometimes come to this particular section of the large wild / woodland park but this is the first time I actually set up any kind of shelter or even lit a fire! I just figured that ”today of all days” was probably the best for being able to do so without interfearance … it was good as I love Birch trees and this is the only part with some in!

Love Birch Trees – portrait photo winter
Auricularia Fungi, on Sambucus Nigra (Elder)
Side View of Arctic Camoflauged Polish Poncho Tent

I was very delighted to find the edible ‘Auricularia’ Fungi (AKA: Wood Ear / Jew’s Ear) were fruiting quite well on many of the ‘Sambucus nigra’ – common Elder, In this Article I explain it’s uses – I harvested some for my lunch!

Food for the day was cooked fusilli pasta with sliced Polish sausage, mushrooms and Auricularia Fungi cooked into it with Parmesan cheese thrown in to serve! I kept aside two more of the sausages which were cooked on stick after the pot was taken off the stove.

Black Sesame Seed Drink for Bushcraft
Best Hot Drink For Bushcraft IMO! – Black Sesame Cereal

Above is the packet of my hot drink for the day (Black Sesame Cereal – from Taiwan), this stuff is so delish that you would be tempted to smash your cup / mug to be able to lick the bottom!!!

Arctic Snow Camoflauge
Polish Army Palatka setup
Maximising Use Of Space / Heat

Part of the point in going out was also to try out some new gear, I deliberately bought ”Arctic” Snow camoflauge for times I’m wild camping in such weather. Other items were some new Swidish Army winter pants (trousers) – these things are mental! It’s like having a sleeping bag dedicated to each leg! I was cosier than Jimmy Saville in a hospital mortuary.
I am also now the proud owner of a Wood Gasification Stove – these are similar to other twig / stick stoves except that (Through clever design) they help to burn off the excess toxic gasses which are emitted and are therefore more efficient and use less fuel – my stove is made by Lixada (The same Chinese brand as my hinged Stick Stove) and was a jaw dropping £12! I did go out last weekend and gave it a break-in burn in This – 4+Min Video.

The Swedish Army Winter Trousers outperformed my expectations! I was kneeling on the soppy ground (The snow had started melting before I got on site) and despite this, during the whole 4-5 hour little adventure, I had zero penetration within the pants .. even after I went on an hour long foraging walk after packing up!

I ended the day packing up, double-checking all the birch trees for Chaga – none was found 😦 and then walking around trying to find as much of the Aricularia fungus as I could forage, I think I brought home about 500 – 700 grams!

Thanks for dropping by, I will have this trip posted on Youtube in the coming days, if you would like to follow then your subscription would be very much appreciated!

Regards wherever you are ..
BushmanAOD

Bushcraft on a Budget, Ep.1: Trousers (Pants)

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In this series of articles I will be covering what I have discovered whilst stocking up on ”bushcraft gear”, what tips I have and where money can be saved in your purchasing. I started my interest a few months ago, but there was something that brought me into the realm of Bushcraft and that was some experience I got in Green Woodworking (known as Bodging in the UK), in August 2018 at an event in Devon.
As the way things go these days with the advent of the internet, I started watching videos but quickly had some sidebar recommendations which were bushcrafters doing their thing in woodlands from the UK to Sweden, Canada and even as far as Japan and Australia! Needless to say, I sat up until 4am on some nights clicking video after video …

And here we are! In my pursuit of obtaining the equipment and tools necessary to practice bushcraft, I have obviously spent money that was not planned and as can be expected, buying a number of items in one go is quite a shock when the total is tallied up !!

Today’s post is about Trousers (Pants), specifically heavy duty – woodland perfect trousers for a fraction of the cost of real Laplander / Bushcraft designed clothing – there are quite a few brands out there but Fjallraven is almost number one in every case.

Gerneral heavy duty workmens trousers are great for bushcrafting, I use a British brand called Apache, I have both Shorts and Pants (Trousers). I am not affiliated with them in any way but if Apache feels like reaching out, I do have some constructive feedback for their design.

apache-cargo-parent1
Apache Workmens Pants / Good For Bushcraft Activities

The Apache Pants cost around £25 for one pair on ebay, there are multiple sellers and in the last order I made, I had two insert-able knee pad’s thrown in for free when I bought two pairs in one order. Now when you consider the price of high quality Laplander style woodsmen Pants (Sometimes reaching £150 and more!) You will buy two pairs of Pants for one third the price of One pair. Save yourself in the very beginning so that you can then go on to affording / obtaining the much needed kit and gear which are more imperative in terms of quality or design!

My brother said that he has used these for around two to three years and is still waiting for the first pair to fault in some way.

There are multiple pockets on each pant leg, as well as 100% cordura knee pads with velcro covers for inserting thicker foam knee pads, the only obvious difference between these and ”Bushcraft” style pants is the lack of the cushioned / protected bottom area – Woodsmen style pants will usually always have that area padded as we are expected to be sitting on our arses – so to speak (when whittling, sitting by the fire etc.) Another minor difference is the shorter knee pad area, I have seen on other brands, a much longer pad which could come in handy.

Not convinced that workmens trousers are good in the woods? Well shoot over to Haze Outdoors‘ channel where the bloke has been using a pair of Scruffs for 4 years (he is also a fellow Landscape Gardener and so his trousers go through a heck of alot more than what a guy who goes out on the weekends into the woods does!)

Winter:

Adding a base layer of long johns underneath (what we call our thermals here in the UK and other post colonial countries) is all that is needed to ensure that these are okay in colder climates … I obviously can’t speak for other obvious places with Arctic conditions. I suggest searching the websites of your local Army Surplus store/s, Military Mart in the UK has a decent range, please let me know if you find or know of any others!?

Thanks for checking in!

The comments section is free to enjoy, you don’t need an account, just comment as a guest!

Cheers
BushmanAOD

 

 

Foraging #1: Fungi – Wood Ear / Jew’s Ear ‘Auricularia’

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This is the first in a series of posts relating to food foraging, I have been on the path of self educating in this field and only recently started getting into Fungi.

This is pretty much one of the top 2-5 safest and easiest fungi to identify correctly for consumption (In the temperate climates) as it is so unique that there is not really any other fungi like it that could be harmful if incorrectly identified / mistaken.

The reason why it is so easy to identify is mainly in that you just have to look out for Elder trees and shrubs ‘Sambucus nigra’, known either as Elderflower trees or Elderberry trees. The fungi grows mainly on these trees / large shrubs, it is almost available all year round but mainly around Autumn.
(If it’s growing on an Elder Tree, and is not brown, jelly like / rubbery – and doesn’t feel like an ear – then it is NOT Auricularia and you should not risk eating it)

Auricularia Edible Elder Tree Fungus
Auricularia auricula-judae AKA Jew’s Ear / Wood Ear Fungus

On the last trip to my new woodland I am enjoying exploring the last month and half, I came home with at least 1kg of this fungus despite leaving quite a lot to spread spores and feed whatever other creatures consume it … including you fellow foragers!

The fungus consumes the host in either one of two ways, 1: Live parisitic = smaller fruiting bodies as it is growing as a weak parasite. 2: Fully on dead Elder wood, whereby you will see larger clusters with many fruiting bodies right after rain – this is due to the dead wood being fully colonised by the mycelium (the root system of fungi).

Note: I have personally found Auricularia on at least two Buddleija (Butterfly bush) shrubs in the last 5 years.

Nutritional Information of Auricularia auricula-judae:

The nutritional content of 100 g (3.5 oz) of dried fungus includes 370 kcal, 10.6 g of protein, 0.2 g of fat, 65 g of carbohydrate, 5.8 g ash, and 0.03% mg of carotene.

As mentioned above, the fungus can be dried and stored, it needs re-hydrating which is quite easy, I harvested dried fungus off of an Elder last week, crunched it up into my 12cm Zebra Billy can together with a little water and cooked them for my Scrambled Eggs with Foraged mushrooms on Home made Italian Herb bread breakfast!

I always considered Elder ‘Sambucus nigra’ to be a very important tree, not only physically due to what we get from them over Summer through Autumn, but also spiritually … now that I know it hosts an edible fungus … Ever More So! I will in the future write an article about the Elder and it’s many uses as I now consider it to be probably the most important tree to me.

Harvesting:

They can be harvested when young, and as well as when fully dried – if you ever got a huge harvest, you could slice some up and place on a baking tray in the oven at 50 Degrees C for half an hour to get them started on the drying process! they soon dry up fully in a couple days.

When young, place in a bag in the fridge and try consume within a week or so.

To harvest, simply pull off of the tree trunk or branch or you could cut it close to the wood with a knife, be careful not to damage the tree if it is still alive!

My Second Solo (Urban) Wild Camp (in pictures)

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As you may have figured if you have seen my posts / blog before now, I have a youtube channel (new / young) and most of my content is posted there. What is not yet posted, are some of my solo wild camps (I have had four to date with another scheduled for next week).

The reason for this is because I did something quite special and unique on the first one and I am having a bit of a struggle with my Video Software to get it done and dusted for uploading and I really didn’t want to upload them in a wrong chronological order – hence why #3 and #4 are also not yet online.

I have used some photo’s from my first Wild Camp on various posts including my main header image so decided now to give you pic’s from my second camp, which many photo’s were taken at night and came out well!

Enjoy …

Bushcraft Fuscilli Soup Dinner in the Pathfinder Canteen on the Lixada Folding stick stove
Polish Army Lavvu ”Palatka” Tipi bushcraft setup
Fuscilli soup on stick stove

Above: I set up my Polish Army Canvas tipi style ”Palatka” tent .. AKA Lavvu Tent as usual, this tent is older than I am! It has 1978 stamped inside and has been in storage for many years, it does Very well in the rain! You see my Pathfinder canteen on the Lixada hinged folding stick stove containing a Fuscilli soup thingy I concocted for dinner.

Awesome fuscilli bushcraft soup dinner
Polish army canvas palatka lavvu tent
BushmanAOD cooking bushcraft brekkie

Above: Bushman AOD (All OutDoors) cooking up some Bushcraft breakfast outside the Polish Army Tipi tent, The Awesome fuscilli soup and another view of the Tent whilst the stove was gearing down for the night – that’s a long duration candle lantern hanging in my tent, it’s the UCO lantern with the 6-15 hour candle options.

Soaking seed and grains for healthy bushcraft breakfast
embers gearing down in the Lixada bushcraft stick stove
tucking in to dinner in the Polish Army lavvu Palatka

Above: I get my sleepwear on (this time of year I find the pants/trousers I’m using during the day are a bit too dirty and colder as well so I prefer to bring something to change into), then tuck into the fuscilli soup thing I made, it turned out quite nice and here’s the recipe.
I then soak the next day’s grains and seed for the morning’s porridge breakfast – if I can remember correctly, there was barley, spirulina powder, quinoa and foraged nettle seed in there – this would all be cooked the next morning together with some good quality oats like Flahavans’ with some honey / raisins etc for sweetener.

Bushcraft, outdoors-y things, getting out and getting my head together is my therapy! If you know anyone who you feel is not quite happy in the everyday norm / system, suggest to them to get out and experience some wild camping! It does wonders to your mental health and it can be very de-stressing …

Vegan Bushcraft Breakfast Cooked on Recycled Jack ‘o Lantern

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I funnily had this one pumpkin which just didn’t start to rot, so I kept it aside and at some point came up with the idea of hollowing it out and placing one of my stick stoves inside, to see If  I could manage to cook at the very least, a pot of oats for breakfast …

SONY DSC

So, into a plastic carrier bag went the carved pumpkin and with my backpack filled with all the essentials such as the Lixada stick stove etc. I went off to my small local wood for the event …

Bushcraft Breakfast on Jack ‘ o LAntern
Bushcraft Jack ‘ o LAntern top view
Just had to do a tree climb – leaves were gone

I couldn’t resist a quick tree climb session, it’s the first opportunity I had since the leaves have all fallen – height? hard to judge, from the ground it seems like 10 – 13 meters maximum but when you are up there you could easily judge between 15 – 18 meters!

I did make a video of it, scroll below for the embedded video.

Bushcraft Jack ‘o Lantern – Spooky
Cooking Vegan Oats in zebra 12cm billy can

I got to use my Tomshoo windbreaker for the second time, it seems to be holding up and of decent quality – it was around or less than £7! The Vegan porridge was cooked on top of my Lixada Hinged Stick Stove (the large one) in my 12cm Zebra Billy can, whilst the Coffee was cooked in my 10cm Lixada pot on top of the smaller Lixada Pocket folder stove as it could fit well into the carved Lantern.

The rain came down on me pretty hard twice so not all details were filmed …

The Video:

Thanks for visiting, Happy New Year to you all

Recipe: Healthy Vegan Oats

Healthy Vegan Campfire Porridge Recipe

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Here is the Vegan Porridge Recipe for the recent Bushcraft Breakfast I made using a recycled Halloween Jack ‘o Lantern as a Camping Stove!

Bushcraft Jack ‘o Lantern – Spooky
Cooking Vegan Oats in zebra 12cm billy can

Ingredients:

  • 2x Tbsp Barley,
  • 2x Tbsp Chia Seed,
  • 1x Tsp Nettle Seeds (foraged),
  • 1 serving of Organic Oats (I recommend Flahavans),
  • Enough Vegan Milk for taste (Hazel / Almond etc.),
  • Honey or Raisins as alternative,
  • 1 – 2 Tbsp Dessicated Coconut,

Method:

  • Soak your barley, chia and nettle seeds in water in a container overnight (probably better in the fridge),
  • Add your Vegan milk together with the Dessicated coconut and Honey into one seperate container and keep in the fridge, this will be added last,
  • Throw in enough water to cook your serving/s of oats, cook the oats until thick enough and cooked properly, if camping, remember that camp cookware is quite thin so foodstuff can burn rapidly, keep moving and stirring …
  • Now throw in the milk / honey and coconut mix to serve, you could also always add in a small pinch of salt and some vegan spread to give it some extra flavour

Having done this, I have now given the pumpkin Three more uses on top of being a decoration, namely; 1: a Funky Bushcraft Stove, 2: I scraped out the flesh and made a mixed pumpkin and marrow jam and 3: It is now happily providing my garden with nutrients decomposing in my compost bin!

Feel free to share this recipe, but remember to give credit where it is due! As this is my own original content

Enjoy!

My Craft Beer / Ale Lineup

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I recently got into the trying out of Craft Beers and Ales, although I am admittedly not much of a drinker … I am having fun trying out the different tastes.

You may have seen a few ”reviews” on some of my video’s online, here is a quick picture of what my stockpile was like before Christmas .. I did get an IPA / Lager hamper as a gift so everything was re-stocked!

Brewdog, North Brewing co., Camden Town, Brutal Brewery, Northern Monk, The London Beer Factory, Allendale Brew Co., Atom Brewing Co.,Wells / Eagle Brewery.
My Christmas ’18 Craft Beer / IPA Lineup

Don’t worry about me, I’m not building up a drinking habit! 🙂

My overall favourite of the lot is Pistonhead from Sweden (Brutal Brewery), they seem to make Lagers with various hops etc. with some fruity tones within, So far I only tried out the Full Amber and the Kustom Lagers, I still have the Haze Lager waiting to be reviewed.

Unfortunately with regards to Norhtern Monk (the company Haz-o from Haze Outdoors youtube channel loves so much), they are only available in London from Morrissons stores and they only stock the ”Eternal Session IPA” and ”New World IPA” core range so I am unable to try out all the unusual funky limited flavours they make as they simply aren’t stocked. I’m also reluctant to be purchasing a box from some company which may be filled with product I may not end up liking at all! So I will need to find a small craft beer store where I can pick up a couple cans to try out.

as far as the others in the photo are concerned; Brewdog Elivis Juice was quite nice, the Easy IPA from New York (sorry, I forgot the brewery name), the Stone IPA from Berlin (again, forgot brewery name) and the Camden Pale Ale (Camden Town Brewery) were all great! I haven’t gotten into all of them yet but the Banana Bread Beer sounds awesome!

What’s nice in the UK is that the craft beer market is growing and so, visiting any of the larger supermarket chains can give you quite a varied selection of local, european and other international options.

Till next time …

 

Nettle Foraging Tips, Bulgarian Bearded Carving Axe and Gear Sneak Preview

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I went out very early in the morning last Saturday, the aim was to catch the last of the Stinging Nettle patches that are still hanging on under woodland canopy cover, after foraging I filmed some fungi, got some Bird song audio which is included in the below video and gave a better look at my Bulgarian Carving Axe for one of my Youtube Subscribers.
I also show some other recently obtained Camping / Bushcraft gear as a build up to my Full Gear Review.

I will be uploading quite a few videos not only by Friday (at least two more videos) but more next week!! These include my Full Gear Review, perhaps some footage of a new woodland I scouted over a week ago AND hopefully one of my Three Wildcamps that have taken place in the last month and half.

I hope you enjoy the video, if you like my content and you have a Youtube account I would greatly appreciate your Subscription to help support me in my trek to bring you and others free knowledge and entertainment!

Cheers till next time!
Bushman AOD

PS: I will include Stinging Nettle recipes here in the future as soon as I have the time!

Stick Stove & Canteen Cook Set Review (Camping / Bushcraft)

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Here is my video review and first use of my Pathfinder Canteen Cook set and Lixada folding stick stove.

I bught the Lixada stove on ebay as at the time I was (and still am to some extent) quite low budget regarding gear and I found this awesdome product for only around £12 with delivery. The Pathfinder canteen set was bought full-whack at £54.95 when I managed a quick trip one weekend to The Bushcraft Store, north of London. Although I could have bought everything I wanted on their website, I got tired of only buying things online and decided to head over to their main shop.

I also show my Mehcanix gloves in the video which was also bought from the shop on the same trip, this video was my first properly filmed bushcraft outdoor excursion back in early October, I have still used the gloves ever since and they are still going strong despite almost daily use.

On to the video:

Beware Fake Titanium Camp Cooking Products!

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This is just a quick one to give everybody a heads-up about fake products targeting the Camping / Bushcraft market …

I noticed how there are about 3 different companies online in marketplaces such as ebay selling titanium cups, spoons and sporks as well as cooking pots / billy cans, at a very low price. The first advert that caught my eye was a three piece Tomshoo Branded bundle that was a 700+ ml cooking pot, a 420ml drinking cup and a folding spork – this was going for £23!
Luckily for me, all of these were sold out when I had the extra money to buy some more gear, so I opted for the Tomshoo 420 ml cup (as I was getting tired of lugging around a normal coffe type mug) and to save money, I found the Lixada 750ml Cook Pot / Billy can (which as side-folding handles to use like a mug and also a hanging handle for over fire cooking – and a lid).

Long story short, I put some water in the 420ml to boil for my coffee, minutes later there was a horrible chemical smell and I saw the bottom surface of the cup looked like something was melting off of it. Titanium is actually quite expensive to produce and so, £12 for a seemingly well crafted camping cup is very little and I don’t believe you could actually make any margin on that …. They spray painted the cup to the same colour as titanium!!

Tomshoo Fake Titanium Camping Cookware
Fake Titanium – Spray Painted To Look Real (Tomshoo Brand)

I happen to own a very expensive titanium cooking set which took me three years to pay off via installment, the cost of one pot alone is quite staggering and I have also been educated on the uses and advantages of titanium products over iron, stainless, non-stick and aluminium.

Titanium happens to be the only metal allowed inside the body due to non-contamination – it is used in bone repair (screws), implants (dentistry) and even pacemakers. It is the only metal that we can cook on that will not give off heavy metal contamination – purchasing my cookware was purely a health-conscious decision.

 

Bottom View – Tomshoo Fake Titanium Camp Cookware
See the Melted Blob of Pain on my Pathfinder Can Stove / Stand

I own two products from Tomshoo and two products from Lixada (both Chinese brands online targeting the outdoors / camping arena). So far I am happy with the Lixada products and consider them actually very suitable and high quality for the price that I paid. In regards to Tomshoo, the 420ml mug was a big dissapointment and the Wind breaker is quite flimsy, but seems to be doing the job so far. Lixada seems to have a titanium range that looks very similar to the Tomshoo, they are similarily priced and I have a feeling that it may be the same result as the Tomshoo so ….

It you don’t have the budget yet for Titanium Camping gear then just buy the Stainless Steel Lixada equipment and maybe a Zebra Billy can until you can fork out the higher amounts for the Titanium stuff!

I bought the 10cm wide, 750ml capacity Lixada Stainless Billy can / pot as my main drinking mug and I deliberately went for the 12cm Zebra Billy can so that my Lixada can fit into it when packing away as my Lixada folds down to 11cm wide due to the hanging handle. Both together with delivery costs came to around £25+-.