johnsunter.com >> outdoor >> bushcraft >> plantlore
Woodsmoke's Plantlore course. Great people and appalling weather.
I go to the newsagents across from work, and purchase 3 sachets of hot chocolate, and buy 3 batteries for my petzle head torch.
The ritual is completed when I take the piece of Paracord with my whistle and miniature torch, put it around my neck and the adventure begins.
This weekend, I am back at Woodsmoke, doing their Plantlore course.
On the Train to Windemere, I relax and try to prepare myself mentally for the coming weekend.
In between that, I kill time reading a copy of Viz purchased at the Railway station, and read my friend Emma Jones' new book spare room startup.
We have the usual introduction around the camp fire.
Ben and Lisa are not there, but Matt and Steve will be giving the course, and it promises to be most informative (another chap called Anthony kept us fed and watered with the usual high quality food).
We then go around the group, say a bit about ourselves and what we want to get out of the course.
Quite a few of the people there have experience of botany and gardening.
I explain that learning about Bushcraft, is only part of it for me, and explain my rationale.
33% content. Learning new, interesting and useful things.
33% people. Meeting new and interesting people.
33% Just living in the woods (which unless you own your own land, is practically impossible).
I have seen loads of pictures of a classic star fire in book's, but this was the first time I had actually seen one used in real life.
A reasonable evening in my £10 tent, a cup of coffee and some biscuits for breakfast and then the course begins.
There is a student box with loads of interesting books (A brilliant idea for those that like to read in the evening by the fire).
We are given a miniature magnifying glass for identifying plants.
Matt points out, that in addition to the usual practice of teaching while foraging, we will learn a structured approach to learning and memorising plants.
We are given a piece of paper which shows us how to identify plants in a particular family.
We are then shown the traits of 6 different plant family's and we have to find one plant in the forest, from each family.
I found this a superb way to learn. I have always found it easier to learn things, if I know their relationship to other things and stuff like that.
Only problem was I didn't have my laptop and couldn't mind map it.
Armed with our miniature magnifying glass, list of plant family's, notebook, pen and camera, we head out.
We did this for most of the morning, and between the groups, we got all 6 of the plant family's.
After this we go back for lunch, and while we have a break, Steve talks to us about Herbal Tea and shows us 4 that we can try.
He mentioned an interesting point, that I didn't know. Most herbal Tea contains medicinal properties and no more than 3 should be drunk in a day.
Steve had actually been one of the participants on the Abo course I had attended previously (you can read about it here: abo 1 and abo 2).
I remember how enthusiastic he was then, but I couldn't believe just how much knowledge he had amassed in only 4 years.
In the afternoon, we have a go at traditional foraging.
Here we look around the hedgerows, a sure source of all kinds of useful plants.
Along the way, Steve stops and talks to us about different plants, what they can do and how we can make use of them.
The estate that Woodsmoke use, is one of the most beautiful Bushcraft venues I have ever visited in the UK.
Armed with our baskets, we collect plants that we can use for the following days projects.
I decided to finish the foraging walk early, as my trousers were starting to soak up the rain (my own fault completely).
I got some rough directions from Matt, and set off. After a while, I realised that I was lost.
I felt a bit silly going back and admitting that I was lost, but its the smart thing to do, and it would have been daft to wander around lost in the rain for hours, just because of embarrassment.
Its important lessons like this that I've learned on Bushcraft courses as well as the course content.
At this point, the Weather really deteriorated. I realised that my tent was waterlogged, and the lads sorted me out with a spare.
The rain had obliterated my notebook almost immediately, despite my best efforts to keep it dry.
Even the copy of Viz I had bought at the railway station was ruined. It was so wet, that it wouldn't burn on the fire (the final act of defiance, from a magazine like that).
At one point, other course members, were surprised to see me using a mobile phone during a lecture. In reality, I was using the phones to-do list, as I had no other means of getting down the details.
Cold and tired, I decided to retire to bed early, to try and build up some energy for the following day (I'm 40 now, and have to think about things like that).
It was a shame really, as each of the course members had been invited to give a talk on a particular plant, and I wish I had taken part.
Serena (pictured on the left) gave a talk on Alder, which everyone agreed was excellent.
Interestingly, the lad sat on her left, grows all his own vegetables, which really impressed me.
Its always a new day at midnight.
You can see from this picture, that despite the weather, moral wasn't challenged at all.
At the front of the picture, is Alex, who was doing various prep work for her anticipated Abo course. She paid me a compliment about having completed the Abo course, which I really appreciated.
As I mentioned earlier, I like to meet new and interesting people. Sarah at the back of the picture was a keen Gardener, and her friends had actually presented at the Chelsea Flower Show !.
We were given a talk on Mushrooms and Fungi.
The Law of averages says that if you simply picked a mushroom or fungi at random, it would almost certainly be safe and taste very nice.
If you get on the wrong side of those odds, you could die or be in a comma very quickly.
Although the instruction was excellent, I still never pick mushrooms, I just don't trust myself enough.
After this, we had a talk on the Chemical properties and constituents of plants.
Matt had been unwell, which led onto the topic of some traditional remedies, I had heard of.
An upset stomach can be helped by eating toast that has been burned black.
Also, slicing an apple, and leaving the slices to go brown before eating.
I have been using these 2 remedies for years, and Steve actually explained why/how they work.
We then had a short talk on storing plants.
Steve explained the technique he used. He would get a sample of a plant and then press it for 6 months (he said never to be tempted to check on it).
The plant would be placed on an a4 sheet and as much details as possible would be added ( latin name, where found, when etc) and then the whole thing would be laminated.
Over time, a collection of sheets would be created, which could be referred to when needed. At Edinburgh Botanical Garden, he had actually seen one done by Charles Darwin.
After this we are given a talk on making ointments.
I found this really useful, as its all very well knowing that some or other plant is good for healing burns, but without knowing how to apply it, its largely useless.
As a finishing touch, we even had the option to make birch bark containers for our ointment.
We also got the chance to make medicine, using plants and vodka.
Jokes were made about not needing the plants medicinal properties, as you could just drink the vodka.
As the course drew to a close, Ben Mcnutt came to see us off, and it was great to see him again.
Overall a fantastic weekend (if you were on the trip with me, and I looked a bit miserable, don't be fooled, I was enjoying it, I just don't always look like I am).
In the picture is a really great guy, who's name I never caught, so I just called him "mate" (he later emailed me, and I found out his name was Steve. He's written his own review, that you can read here.)
There was another cool bloke, I didn't know his name either, so I just called him "other one". He gave me a lift to Windemere station and I was really grateful.
Once again a brill course run by Woodsmoke and ill be going back next year.
