Guest Post by Oz; Bushcraft Inc

I'd like to welcome my good friend I've never actually met, Oz Muskratt, of Canadian Bushcraft fame to Midwest Bushcraft. Since my muse has apparently taken temporary leave of absence I have asked Oz to do a post for me, and here it is.... 

Now, I don't want to make this sound anti-Bushcraft Schools, because

well, that would be counter-productive to a person like me, being a

Bushcraft Instructor and all! And I am not against store-bought items,

or else I wouldn't be typing on a laptop, nor would I be the owner of

so many items that range from Bivy Bags to big fancy knives.

       However, I have noticed a steady increase in people in this business

increasing the prices of basic tools, because they have a Bushcrafty

theme to them. For instance, the Bushcraft-model Mora knives for the

most part are much pricier at a lot of stores (both in person and

online), than the regular models of Moras. Why? Yes the handles are

formed differently, but does that mean the knife must triple in price?

Personally and professionally I promote Mora knives because they are

able to be bought by anyone. I know a young lad just last week who

bought a Mora knife as his very first bushcraft knife. As well, Bahco

Laplander saws are (in most stores here in Canada) $50.00 or more. Yet

the Bahco Sandvik (really no difference at all except for handle

colour) is usually $30.00, and sometimes less!

Don't get me started on name brands. Oh fine, you started me. Ray

Mears' books, clothing, cookware are all very high-end and pricey.

Bear Gryllis isn't any different, and really no one in this business

that puts their name on a product is any different (Tom Brown Jr, Ron

Hood, myself, etc). This is a business now for many people, and the

best way to make the business run is to sell something. Whether that

be an extremely expensive course, or an extremely expensive knife is

no different. It is no longer just bushcraft, it is Bushcraft Inc.

Growing up, when I didn't have something, I wanted it badly. I would

save money up for the biggest, most pricey item for the woods I could

find, and than expect it to do everything for me, for so-and-so uses

one. Only by my mid-teens did I realize that it wasn't who endorses

the item, or how expensive the item is, but who uses it. I made my own

buckskin and wool clothes, made my own billy cans, and though I had a

nifty blacksmithed strike-a-light kit, I began to carry a hacksaw

blade with a chunk of quartz instead.

The point of bushcraft at one time was wilderness self reliance, but

now it has gained popularity and grown. As things grow, they become

more corporate. Ask Grunge Rock or anything else that claims to be

anti-establishment, and then suddenly becomes the big thing. People

will continue to sell knives and certain pieces of gear for

extraordinary prices, and courses will continue to be offered at

unheard of rates.

But do we have to give into it? Though I do like a really nice knife

or posh anorak, I have overtime returned to my mindset of

“do-it-yourself” for a great deal of gear. Do I expect to make

everything myself? No, but I remember that the further I pull away

from a corporate mindset, the more I gain an independent heart.

Bushcraft Inc. is not going away, but it doesn't have to rule us or

our decisions. Yes, I still have high-end gear. But now I partner it

with handmade kits, with grassroots knowledge.

Be smart about the marketing you see regarding certain outdoors gear.

Sometimes it's true, and sometimes it's not. Read in between the lines

and make sure your money goes to something that is worth it. Make

Bushcraft Inc. work for you.

Thanks for stopping by, and thanks again to Oz for covering for me.  I look forward to the discussion this post will generate. I for one am in agreement with Oz.  Many of the products endorsed by bushcraft "celebrities" are way to expensive, and go against everything that I believe is important in bushcraft.  I would like to insert a disclaimer here though... I really like Ray Mears...

Mr. Harn's Paradox (and my response)

I just read a thought provoking post over at The Countryside Round blog of Casey Harn (who some of you may remember from Wandering Owl Outside fame).  Mr Harn's post raises an interesting question that I've rehashed a thousand times in different ways while getting my degrees in Conservation Social Science and Wilderness Management.  What is the best way to protect a resource?  Close it off from the public, or open it up and educate the public? 


As an environmental educator and blogger I feel some of the same struggles when doing my job, or writing for this blog.  As a naturalist I am supposed to tell children to stay on the trails, don't pick flowers, and leave the acorns, rock, leaves on the ground but I just can't do it.  Which does more harm to the resource?  Protecting it from the children?  Or fostering a curiosity about the resource by telling them to get off the trails, pick the flowers, take home the rocks, acorns and leaves.


I lean toward the former being more harmful in the long run because of how I was raised.  I am passionate about the outdoors because I was allowed (or rather encouraged) to fully explore the fields, streams, and woodlands and to immerse myself in nature.


Am I doing the wrong thing?  I know what I think.  I want to hear from you... (and be sure to let Mr. Harn know your thoughts at The Countryside Round too!)

Weather Predictions through Nature Observation

I don't believe I am the first person to have said it, but I often start off the hikes I lead by saying "The forest has a story to tell, if you are just willing to listen".  The story that the forest tells is very adeptly written and has a mind boggling cast of characters and countless subplots.  Today we are going to delve into one of those subplots, the weather.

I have been using nature to help me predict the weather ever since I was a boy bailing hay as a hired hand during the summer months.  More often than not the only way I would get a day off was if it rained.  Since I hated watching the news I needed another way to learn the likelihood of impending changes in the weather.  My Grandma Emma always used to say "If you see a Cardinal it will rain within a day".  I thought it sounded dubious, but i watched for cardinals regardless.  The amazing thing is that she appeared to be right!  Every time I saw a male cardinal it would usually rain within 24 hours.

Over the years as I have observed nature more acutely with the help of a barometer I have adapted my late Grandmothers folk weather prediction.  Whenever you hear a male Northern cardinal sing there will be a change in the weather;usually rain.  I know you are skeptical, everyone is when i tell them.  All I ask is that you observe it for yourself and get back to me.

Now I don't simply rely on the Northern cardinal for weather predictions when I'm in the field, I also look to the trees.  The two trees I rely most heavily on are the Silver maple (Acer saccharinum) and the genus Oak (Quercus spp.).  As there is a change in the weather, or more specifically, a change in barometric pressure the leaves of the Silver maples and oaks will turn over showing their lighter colored undersides.  The reason for this is that the petioles (the stem that attaches the leaf to the tree) is thinner on one side than on the other.  This causes the petiole to stretch, or shrink at different rates with changes in barometric pressure which in turn "flips" the leaf to show it's underside.

It takes only a slight change in barometric pressure for the Silver maple to turn it leaves which I use as an early warning system.  Used in conjunction with the singing of the cardinal I can give myself advance warning of impending shifts in the weather.  Now if I look to up a little later and see that the oak leaves have turned over I K-N-O-W that I am in for a serious change and I should start to look for shelter.

Now I'd like to put this all in the context of a scenario:
I am out hiking on relatively calm, pleasantly warm summer day.  As I move down the trail I here a male cardinal start to sing his "What cheer! What cheer! What cheer!" song so I look for a Silver maple and notice the silvery green undersides of the leaves, I also note the the prevailing breeze is from the south.  An hour later I come upon an Bur oak (Quercus macrocarpa) on an upland and I can see that it's leaves are turned over too, and that the breeze has picked up and shifted to the north.  I decide to shorten my hike and head for the car.  As I am driving home the anvil shaped thunderheads are looming on the horizon bringing with them rain, wind, and lightning.

So to wrap it up. Does the singing of the male cardinal guarantee rain in 24 hours? No, but I'd say that it works close to 90% of the time for me (yes, that high).  Does the turning over of Silver maple a,d oak leaves always mean rain?  No, it does however mean a change in the weather (i.e.  It's hot and humid today, it will be cool and dryer tomorrow.  It's not raining now, it will be later.  It's been raining for two days, it will stop soon, etc...)

Of course there are other predictors of weather like if there is dew on the grass in the morning it won't rain that day, and I hope to visit these with you more in the future.  Until then get outside!

Bushcraft Definitions

Recently I have been thinking about the definitions of what bushcraft means to me. And so has Tim Smith over at Jack Mtn. Bushcraft. I also have been meaning to blog about it in order to open a dialog among those that follow my musings and rants.  As I thought about what bushcraft means to me, how I could sum up my passions and beliefs, I was trying to distill my thoughts into poetic prose that would be quoted for generations.  I struggled and struggled with the wording, and the cadence and I grew frustrated with my own clumsy attempts.  Then I was sitting down with my oldest watching one of her favorite movies, The Jungle Book when it hit me.  I don't need to come up with a poetic definition of bushcraft because Phil Harris,  Bruce Reitherman already did it for me... 

Bare Necessities (aka; The Bushcrafters Anthem)

Look for the bare necessities

The simple bare necessities

Forget about your worries and your strife

I mean the bare necessities

Old Mother Nature's recipes

That brings the bare necessities of life

Wherever I wander, wherever I roam

I couldn't be fonder of my big home

The bees are buzzin' in the tree

To make some honey just for me

When you look under the rocks and plants

And take a glance at the fancy ants

Then maybe try a few

The bare necessities of life will come to you

They'll come to you!

Look for the bare necessities

The simple bare necessities

Forget about your worries and your strife

I mean the bare necessities 

That's why a bear can rest at ease

With just the bare necessities of life

Now when you pick a pawpaw

Or a prickly pear

And you prick a raw paw

Next time beware

Don't pick the prickly pear by the paw

When you pick a pear

Try to use the claw

But you don't need to use the claw

When you pick a pear of the big pawpaw

Have I given you a clue ?

The bare necessities of life will come to you

They'll come to you!

So just try and relax, yeah cool it

Fall apart in my backyard

'Cause let me tell you something little britches

If you act like that bee acts, uh uh

You're working too hard

And don't spend your time lookin' around

For something you want that can't be found

When you find out you can live without it

And go along not thinkin' about it

I'll tell you something true

The bare necessities of life will come to you!

We could all learn a lot from Baloo...

A free lunch?

I didn't get a chance to pack a lunch this morning so I decided to forage my noon meal form the timber surrounding my office. Lunch was a salad that consisted of Basswood (Tilia americana), Dandelion (Taraxacum), Stinging nettles (Urtica dioica), and Meadow garlic (Allium canadense) greens topped of with Trout lily (Erythronium albidum) flowers. 

I didn't have any dressing to go on the salad, but I think that's better in this case.  Each green had a different subtle flavor and any dressing would have overpowered them.  Of all the greens on my salad my two favorite are the Basswood and the Meadow garlic.   The Basswood has a light, almost sweet, "green" taste to it, and the Meadow garlic tastes like, well, garlic.

If I were to add anything to a salad like this I think it would be simply oil and vinegar.  I wonder how maple sap vinegar tastes...

I was inspired to try my salad in large part to a new post by fellow Iowa blogger Wandering Owl over at his blog.  Be sure to head over and give it a thorough reading.  He's A LOT better at posting regularly than I am. 

Have you done any foraging lately?  I'd love to hear about it.

A New Medium

Today I tried something new, painting with watercolors. I have done some sketching off and on for a few years now. Nothing major, mostly plants and birds that I could not identify in the field. I find that doing a rough sketch when I first see a new species helps me to be more observant by making me look for particular field markings that makes identification later easier. This is particularly true when dealing with birds. Another advantage to sketching is that instead of carrying multiple books to identify birds, or flowers, or insects, or amphibians, or trees, or, well you get the idea; you carry just a simple sketchbook, and a pencil.

Until today I did all my sketches with nothing more than a No. 2 pencil. You may be surprised to learn this, but No. 2 pencils are not good at making vibrant color (unless you consider shades of gray vibrant). So if a bird, or flower had any color besides gray (and a stagering number of them do) I would have to jot little notes in the margins of my sketch that noted where the colors were, and their hue.

I was inspired to try water colors recently while making beer for my work (yes my job is that awesome...). A friend of mine that we'll call "John" was assisting in the beer making process and we were discussing a potential future program on nature journaling. I asked for John's assitance with the journaling program because of some sketches he did for me in the past showed he is far and away more talented than I (hope you were sitting down for that one). While waiting for the grains to boil (there is A LOT of waiting in beer making, just FYI) John showed me some simple coloring techniques with watercolors. I decided then and there I was going to get myself a watercolor set and try my hand at coloring a sketch.

So today I did it. The family and I went to Hobby Lobby and I looked at their selection of watercolors. You can spend quite a bit of money on watercolors it turns out. I opted to spend very little money since I didn't know if I would be any good at using watercolors. I purchased 2 packages of Crayola washable watercolors at $2.99 (one for me, and one for my oldest). When I got home I grabbed our well-worn copy of Kaufman Field Guide to Birds of North America and picked out a bird to try sketching.

I hope you can see that I choose to sketch and color a female Belted kingfisher (Ceryle alcyon). How'd I do?

Making Mukluks

I was perusing the blogs I follow on Google Reader this morning as I sipped my tea and I came across a great post on Skills for Wild Lives.  In the post Nick talks about making a pair of mukluks.  What's so great about mukluks besides being a fun word to say because it sounds dirty but actually isn't?  Well in extreme cold, dry conditions they are warm, lightweight, and flexible footwear.

Lately I have had the strong desire to do some winter camping but it's difficult to get away for an overnight.  So I have been settleing for reading blog posts like Nick's, Backyard Bushman's, and the guy's over at Winter Campers.  Not quite the same (O.K., it's not the same at all) as getting out there and doing it, but it helps to kindle my desire, and keeps my mind from settling into some form of urban atrophy.

What do you do when you can't get out and practice your passions?