Dr Cassandra Quave joins me to discuss her work as a medical ethnobotanist, teaching about medicinal plant use and researching botanical remedies used in the traditional treatment of infectious disease….
In this episode I answer questions on real survival with no food, the best areas for kayaking and wild camping in the UK, banking fires overnight, Combat Application Tourniquets (CAT) in first aid kits and Bow-drilling standing up…
Leon McCarron FRGS is an adventurer and storyteller, who has used both the mediums of video and text to vividly convey aspects of his journeys and a tangible sense of the places and people he has encountered along the way. In this podcast interview Leon joins me to discuss the people, places and practicalities of walking 1,000 miles through the varied landscapes and cultures of the Middle East, from Jerusalem to Mount Sinai…
I answer questions about Mediterranean bushcraft, water purification and desalination on a coastal creek trip, cleaning stainless steel water bottles and several inter-related questions on backpacking, backpacks and military surplus gear…
Did I have any ‘eureka moments’ with the Hadza, and do I still use any skills I learned from them? What to do about ticks being on the increase? Tarp knot recommendations for people with limited hand mobility. Striking matches with your teeth? I also answer a question about my camera gear for trips and how I manage it outdoors with respect to bad weather and potential submersion. Find out more about these in the latest #AskPaulKirtley….
By getting out and about from the early spring onwards, you not only learn a lot more about nature and how it can be useful to you through the medium of bushcraft, you also start taking your personal skills and knowledge to the next level relatively early in the year. The spring represents months of opportunity of pushing various techniques up a notch or two and, ultimately, ending the year at a higher level of proficiency than if you didn’t really get going will your skills until the summer, when half the year has already gone by. In this article I suggest some ways to dust of your bushcraft knowledge, sharpen your skills and sample the best that springtime has to offer…
I answer questions about too many layers, whether Bushcraft is an appropriate hobby for a 12-year-old, ideas for teaching simple bushcraft and camping skills to young people indoors during the winter, fires in deserts when you only have twigs, and my choice of music for the bush…
While in Sweden, I locate the right materials in the correct environment to build nuorssjo, a two-log fire, referred to by some as “den bästa stockelden”, literally the best log fire. Watch the process in the video embedded in this post…
In this episode, I answer questions about how to get to the Northern Forest, how to combat loneliness on wilderness trips, how to get people interested in bushcraft, the many purposes of a bivvy bag and share some thoughts on cooking sets for canoe trips…
In this episode, I answer questions on tips for having fires under tarps, will there or should there be more bushcraft on TV, what might the causes be of getting pumped forearms when making feathersticks, is there a best time of year to harvest wood for carving, and details of Typha fibre extraction.