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Baking and Wooden Spoons

Sunday, October 26th, 2008

In other, non-technical related, news…

Baking

For the past week I’ve been re-discovering the joys of baking. Numerous loaves of bread have baked and eaten (it’s very difficult to let warm bread go untouched), Flapjack has been enjoyed (although I need to get the quantities right - both batches have had Red Bull style effects!), and yesterday saw Schwuklet #2 and I baking a batch of 50-odd chocolate chip cookies. Currently only 1 remains…

Wooden Spoons

Earlier this year I was given a crook knife (mine happens to be a double-sided one) in exchange for a paracord watch strap. At the time I had a quick go with it and made something that resembled a spoon, but I wasn’t really that happy with - in particular the bowl was far too…chunky.

Yesterday (prior to baking the cookies) whilst laying a fire a piece of wood caught my eye as being perfect for whittling a (slightly short) spoon. I roughed out the shape using my mora and dug out the crook knife to make the bowl, and I’m very pleased with the result. As said, the handle is quite short, so it will be more of an “eater” as opposed to a “stirrer”. I need to sand and oil it, then sort out some pictures.

Tags: baking, bread, Bushcraft, carving, chocolate chip cookies, cookies, crook knife, flapjack, mora, spoon, whittling
Posted in Bushcraft, Personal | 1 Comment »

bzr status schwuk

Saturday, September 13th, 2008

Well it’s been a while I wrote here (if you ignore the Twitter spam :)) - in fact July was the last time I blogged in earnest - and a few things have changed, so I thought I’d talk about some of them.

First of all I’ve moved to the Distro QA team here at Canonical. This means that I’m now working directly on Ubuntu, and my work will be much more visible - both in the distribution and here on this blog. I’m working with a great team here within Canonical - Henrik, Leann, Brian, Steve, Ara, Pedro, and Marc - and the wider Ubuntu QA community, as well as the rest of the Distro team and of course the whole Ubuntu community. At the moment I’m focused on hardware testing, and you’ll be seeing a lot more attention given to testing in Ubuntu over the next few releases.

Apart from working I attended the “last” LugRadio Live - see you all again next year! - and had a great holiday in the South of France. I also spent a long weekend in the woods in Wales at the Bushcraft UK Bushmoot where I got the chance to meet Mors Kochanski who is an amazing, inspiring and above all friendly guy. The ‘moot itself was well worth the trip, just like LugRadio Live is, but meeting him made it absolutely worthwhile.

Last November I pondered moving to 64-bit. Last week after a few stability and performance problems (entirely self-inflicted) I decided to bite the bullet, wipe Vista from my hard drive forever (it came with the laptop, and I left it around “just in case” but it never really got used) and perform a fresh install. This was my first “real” install (if you ignore my testing work) since I first put Feisty on the laptop when I got it, and the install experience is really nice these days. Since I had the opportunity I decided to go with 64-bit, and I’m pleased to say that I’ve had zero problems with it. Flash is commonly criticised as being difficult under 64-bit, but it installed via the package in Synaptic and has worked since. If anything Firefox + Flash has been more reliable than it was under 32-bit.

In August I succumbed and got myself an iPhone 3G, even though I’m months away from the end of my current contract with my N95. So far I have been seriously impressed with it - browsing is excellent, and it is by far the best e-mail experience I’ve had on any mobile device to date. Oh, and it’s a decent phone too! I’ve not really encountered any of the performance/stability problems many others have complained about, except when I had it configured to sync OTA with Google via NeuvaSync when it would occasionally get a bit sluggish. That was with the 2.0.2 firmware, and I’ve not re-enabled OTA syncing since upgrading to 2.1 yesterday. This is my first iPod as well - the only other current iPod in the house belongs to Schwuklet #1, although Schwuklet #2 has put an order in with Santa Claus for a 4th generation Nano. The iPhone has increased my podcast consumption as well, which can only be a good thing.

That’s it for now, but I’m sure I’ll think of more things to post soon.

Tags: 64-bit, canonical, iphone, Linux, person, ubuntu, ubuntu-qa
Posted in Browsing, Bushcraft, Linux, Listening, Personal | No Comments »

Bushcraft Bookshelf

Monday, February 26th, 2007

Apart from the obvious exception most of my recent reading and book purchases have been – probably unsurprisingly – bushcraft related. The following are books I have recently bought or been given.

Essential Bushcraft – One of the quintessential bushcraft titles. Whilst I’m not in the “Ray = god” camp, I do like this book but it is not my favourite. My copy was signed by the man himself when I met him at a book signing. Although not a recent purchase, it has to be included in any bushcraft collection Bushcraft aka Northern Bushcraft – another ‘bushcraft bible’ and my current favourite. More practical than Essential, and more selective. Mors eschews covering every possible aspect of the subjects covered in favour of more detail Native British Trees – A lovely book that does exactly what it says. Small enough to fit in your pocket when out and about A Tree In Your Pocket – Another pocket sized book. This one is more concerned with the folklore and mythology surrounding trees Scouting For Boys – I don’t think this one needs any explanation, does it! Woodcraft – Another classic. Some practical tips, but mainly just an interesting read The Dangerous Book For Boys – Whilst not exactly bushcraft, a fun book nonetheless that dips its toes into numerous subjects. I’ve also used it to plan activities for my Scouts Mountain & Leadership – An inspired gift from a from a friend who had no idea that achieving the MLA has been on my want-to-do list for quite some time. An excellent book that covers all aspects of being outdoors The Axe Book – This comes with all GrÃ¤nsfors Bruks axes, but they will also send it to you for free. Contains some useful tips.

Tags: books, Bushcraft, Reading
Posted in Bushcraft, Personal, Reading | No Comments »

Tree Identification - Black Poplar

Tuesday, February 6th, 2007

I originally identified this tree as a Beech, but as soon as I identified a real Beech I realised my mistake. It’s taken me a while to correctly identify this one, and I hope I’ve got it right this time!

Move over Beech, it is time to meet the Black Poplar – (Populus nigra). I have a prime example of this in my garden, although it will have to be felled soon as it is slowly succumbing to high winds.

The Black Poplar is a deciduous tree, and another native of the British Isles. It can grow up to 30 metres tall and often leans, giving it a distinctive shape.

Like the Beech, its twigs have alternating buds althoough the buds are shorter and stubbier than the Beech, and they grow more in the direction of the twig rather than outwards. Towards Spring catkins will also be evident.

Its bark is a mixture of grey and brown, and is thick and furrowed.

Poplar gives a bitter smoke,
fills your eyes and makes you choke.

Whilst Poplar is a poor firewood, its timber is both light and tough and so used for a variety of purposes.

Tags: black poplar, Bushcraft, identification, nature, poplar, tree, trees
Posted in Bushcraft | 5 Comments »

Idle hands

Tuesday, February 6th, 2007

I like learning and practising new knots – a few even end up being used in real life. A while ago I stumbled across a paracord bracelet someone had made. The idea intrigued me. Paracord is useful stuff, and I normally have some with or near me, so having a (highly unfashionable) bracelet made of the stuff seemed a nice idea. An idea that promptly sank to the back of my mind and was forgotten until today. I don’t know what prompted me, but I googled for instructions and came up with some, grabbed some paracord and gave it a try.

This is made up of approximately 3 metres of paracord.

The knot used produces a nice weave, and isn’t too difficult to get to grips with. A very satisfying yet easy and quick little project.

~~I could link to the instructions, but I’m going to write up my own anyway.~~

Instructions can be found here.

Tags: bracelet, crafts, knots, paracord
Posted in Bushcraft, Personal | 1 Comment »

Tree Identification - Beech

Friday, January 26th, 2007

I’d like to dedicate this post to Xalior since I know how much he is enjoying this series.

I got this one wrong The photos have been replaced with ones of an actual Beech, whilst you can find the original photos correctly identified as a Black Poplar.

As the (mighty) Scots Pine fades into the annals of the interweb, our attention is turned to the Beech – (Fagus sylvatica – meaning “Beech of forests”, imaginative lot these latin speakers…). I have a large number of these in my garden, with the majority former a border between my garden and the rest of my land.

The Beech is a deciduous tree, and a native of the British Isles. It can grow up to 40 metres (that’s over 130 feet) tall, although the large examples are in decline due to a combination of lowering water tables causing die back in some and high winds felling others.

Its twigs have alternating shoots, with long slender buds growing out from the twig. It’s leaves are glossy green on the top, and have plain edges.

Beech trees often keep their leaves long after others have fallen.

I’ll update with a photo of the leaves later in the year.

Beech bark is typically gray and smooth, and retains this appearance throughout the life of the tree.

Beech wood fires are bright and clear,
if the logs are kept a year.

Beech wood burns well when seasoned. Green Beech wood will burn, but not as well. As well as being a good firewood and for producing charcoal, the timber is used for furniture – although usually used for smaller components – and flooring.

Apparently the leaves make a “fine salad vegetable”, but they are better eaten in Spring than later in the year.

Beech nuts, best gathered in Autumn, are edible although tedious to peel. The kernels can roasted and ground to make a coffee substitute, or pressed to extract oil which can be used for salad dressings or cooking. Sawdust can be boiled, baked, mixed with flour and made into bread.

Tags: beech, Bushcraft, identification, nature, tree, trees
Posted in Bushcraft | No Comments »

Tree Identification - Scots Pine

Tuesday, January 16th, 2007

Last time it was the turn of the Silver Birch, this time it is the mighty Scots Pine – (Pinus sylvestris which means “pine of the woods”). I have a few of these in my garden.

A coniferous tree also common throughout the UK and native to northern Europe – in fact it is the only native British Pine. Its needles grow in pairs up to 8cm long and are slightly twisted.

It has a scaly bark.

Pine wood burns well, although it has a tendency to spit. Due to its high levels of resin it makes excellent kindling. Its wood is also commonly used for all manner of wood products.

The needles of a Pine tree make an excellent tea, which contains plenty of vitamin C. Pine trees can also be consumed in various other ways as described by Euell Gibbons in an excerpt from his book Stalking The Healthful Herbs.

Tags: Bushcraft, identification, nature, pine, scots pine, tree, trees
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Sound advice

Monday, January 15th, 2007

“There is no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothes.” – Old Norwegian Adage

There are many who would do well to remember this.

Tags: advice, Bushcraft, weather
Posted in Bushcraft | No Comments »

Appropriate

Wednesday, January 10th, 2007

The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

‘Nuff said.

Taken from Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening by Robert Frost.

Tags: poetry
Posted in Bushcraft, Personal | No Comments »

Tree Identification - Silver Birch

Tuesday, January 9th, 2007

It’s always best to tackle things in small pieces. It makes hard jobs simpler, and learning difficult subjects easier. As part of my efforts to improve my outdoor skills I decided to work on my tree identification skills which are currently, to be fair, pretty rubbish. Instead of spending hours swotting up I going to take a different approach.

Fortunately my garden has a quite a number of trees, with a fair number of different species. I’m going to take one tree at a time, identify it, research it and publish what I here along with some pictures. Following this process should help lock what I’ve learnt in my head and in time build up to a decent collection. I don’t intend to write either the authoritative or even a complete work on tree recognition, but if what I write helps others then that is an added bonus. I’m starting this effort now as I want to be able to identify the trees in both winter and summer. Once I’m done with my garden then I’ll move further afield.

First of all is the Silver Birch (Betula Pendula) – a stalwart of bushcraft and an easy identification. I thought I had a few of these in the garden but on closer inspection I have only one.

A deciduous tree common throughout the UK. Easily distinguished by its triangular (or more accurately rounded kite) shaped, serrated edged leaves and distinctive white/grey bark.

I’ll post a photo of the leaves when they come out. I know I could source an image from somewhere else, but that defeats the object somewhat.

In winter the hairless twigs have alternating buds and may have catkins – especially towards spring. On my example below the catkins are quite obvious, possibly as a result of the ridiculously mild minter we are having.

Birch and fir logs burn too fast
Blaze up bright and do not last.

Birch wood burns quickly but gives out good heat and pleasant smell.

A diuretic can be concocted from the leaves, and in the spring the tree can tapped and sap extracted from the tree (although care must be taken not to ‘bleed’ the tree dry) which can be fermented into wine, drank neat, or – as recommended by Ray Mears – frozen into ice cubes and served with a good single malt.

See the bottom of this page for recipes for both the tea and wine.

The bark of a Silver Birch tree is extremely useful. It can be peeled off the tree like paper (do not take bark in a full circle around the tree though – this will ‘girdle’ the tree and eventually kill it) and is waterproof. Due to its flexibility it can be used to make a variety of objects from small containers right up to Canoes! The bark is also a wonderful aid to fire lighting and is amongst the best of the natural tinders.

Tags: Bushcraft, identification, nature, silver birch, tree, trees
Posted in Bushcraft | 8 Comments »

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