What can you learn about bushcraft and wilderness living skills from a museum? Lots, as it turns out. If it’s a good museum, that is. And the Manitoba Museum is a good museum for nature, native skills, bushcraft, self reliance, anthropology, history of wilderness living, voyageurs, trappers, surveyors and first nations…
In epsisode 7 of #AskPaulKirtley I answer a request for advice on picking up roadkill deer, offer some thoughts for new or aspiring bushcraft instructors, explain what a mirror on a compass is for, scratch my head a bit while choosing five medicinal herbs and talk about edible snails and why they are not further up the bushcraft menu…
I had an interesting little event happen to me the other day. It wasn’t anywhere wild. Or remote. As is the case with many of my days, though, I was outdoors. And, as usual, I had more than one means of fire-lighting on me. But then this happened….
I answer questions about my bushcraft aspirations – personal and professional, favourite memories from the Bloodvein, bivvy tents, how to minimise the chances of being caught out by the weather, as well as wild camping in the UK – where we can go, where we can camp, where we can have a fire and how we preserve that privilege for generations going forwards….
Alyssa Crittenden, Lincy assistant professor of anthropology at the University of Nevada joins me to talk about her work amongst the Hadza hunter-gatherers of Tanzania, evolution of the human diet and the importance of honey…
I answer questions about bears and camping in Sweden, bushcraft/survival knives and what we do with them when we are travelling or in public places, knife and oilstone recommendations for a beginner to learn bushcraft knife sharpening, where to park our car when going for a multi-day hike and how to stop getting bothersome bits in our boots…
In this episode I answer questions about how to deal with biting insects in the woods, my favourite wild foods for foraging, how to use Alexanders as a food, how to go about learning more about trees and their identification as well as making sure you can find and purify enough water while on the move during a hike (rather than being static in a base camp)…
Giant Hogweed is an invasive species of plant originally from Central Asia. It’s a member of the carrot family, or Apiaceae. This species is in the news again as another child has been injured by coming into contact with the plant while playing outdoors. The following blog post contains a video I made on the plant and how to identify it…
In #AskPaulKirtley, I answer your questions on wilderness bushcraft, survival skills and outdoor life. In Episode 3 I answer questions about getting kids started with bushcraft, dealing with the increasing problem of ticks as well as people’s fears around ticks, alternative tinders when birch bark is not available, my favourite friction fire woods for bow drill and hand drill as well as giving some tips on tactics for seeing more wildlife while out and about…
In #AskPaulKirtley, I answer your questions on wilderness bushcraft, survival skills and outdoor life. In episode 2, I talk about bivvy bags, tarps vs Jerven bags, automatic wristwatches, and I also give some thoughts on titanium cooking pots. Plus, what should you be wearing for bushcraft? And what should we cook in the bush?…