Hibernation... What have you been up to over the winter?

Waxing up my surfboard , patching up my wet suit. Also planting more bulbs for next year, chopping down various trees/Palm trees and other strenuous stuff for " SHE WHO MUST BE OBEYED" [ I stole that from Rune ]
The REAL truth is in California there's not much "winter" here :happy-clapping:
Nilo

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Originally Posted by Unspoken Degree

Sounds fantastic... been wanting to try open canoeing for a while now, seems to fit so nicely with British bushcraft, just my lack of swimming ability thtas been holding me back from doing something about it. I'd like to do something about it one day though.

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A decent life jacket will see you able to make it back to bank or boat in the warmer months, Canadian canoes don't "really" lend themselves to white water if you're inexperienced and you should mainly be paddling slow and steady stretches. Having said that, you can push them a bit and my mate and myself have had some exciting moments :evilgrin:

Coppicing;
Hedge Laying;
Fitting Kitchens;
Making Furniture;
Rights of Way maintenance;
Being a Dad and husband;
First Fundamentals course of the year this weekend, very wet and cold.....
And of course, the day job :(

We still got 2-3 months left of winter, but here it is so far, the ones with a white backdrop is the winter ones. :-)

http://www.youtube.com/my_videos?o=U

Been recuperating from internal surgery,
had my first winter overnight in a hammock
had my first winter overnight during a blizzard in a hammock
Taken the kids ice fishing
Up graded my sleep system to winter ready
Purchased a good axe and bow saw
learned some new knots usefull for hammocking
Watched more You Tube vids than is healthy
Started a Nordic Bushcraft discussion board where people from the Nordic countries i.e Norway, Sweden, Denmark Finland and Icleand can discuss Bushcraft in our own languages
Started a Bushcraft blog in Norwegian in connection with the forum
Launched a facebook page for the same forum

Honing the skills, snowshoeing (when there WAS enough snow on the ground), a bit of winter foraging, picking up the endless litter from careless fools, and (inevitably) working at the day job.

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Originally Posted by Bob W

A decent life jacket will see you able to make it back to bank or boat in the warmer months, Canadian canoes don't "really" lend themselves to white water if you're inexperienced and you should mainly be paddling slow and steady stretches. Having said that, you can push them a bit and my mate and myself have had some exciting moments :evilgrin:

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The life jacket is a good point Bob, I'm def more interested in the less hairy side of canoeing, I'd love the opportunity to give it a go someday.

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Originally Posted by OakAshandThorn

Honing the skills, snowshoeing (when there WAS enough snow on the ground), a bit of winter foraging, picking up the endless litter from careless fools, and (inevitably) working at the day job.

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Unfortunately the littering seems to be fairly universal... I'm fortunate enough to live next door to a small, very small, nature reserve and I find myself picking up rubbish daily when walking the dogs.


*wanders off to make a cuppa whilst muttering about littering morons and day-dreaming of building a a canoe Ray Mears stylee :p

Lots of knife making, and outdoors-wise stuff, got a large Bergen type backpack, been sorting out need gear from nice to have gear, both for my 4Runner cargo boxes and the pack. Also been playing with new air rifles, and modding a Crosman 1322 pistol into a sweet carbine with a scope.

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Originally Posted by Unspoken Degree

The life jacket is a good point Bob, I'm def more interested in the less hairy side of canoeing, I'd love the opportunity to give it a go someday.



Unfortunately the littering seems to be fairly universal... I'm fortunate enough to live next door to a small, very small, nature reserve and I find myself picking up rubbish daily when walking the dogs.


*wanders off to make a cuppa whilst muttering about littering morons and day-dreaming of building a a canoe Ray Mears stylee :p

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Well, here they try to say that the park is a "Nature preserve", but folks like me know better. If that was true, it would be a state park not a city-owned park, and there would be forest rangers looking after it. What does this park have?...none of the above. Not even the volunteers do much about reckless fools in the woodlands except for one person, a good friend of mine; but with his health, he can't do much besides call the police - but by the time they show up, the morons have left.
I live across the street from the park, yet I can bike 9 miles to the nearby town of Redding and visit Putnam Park where people OBEY the regulations (which are more strict than those here) because there are rangers there to ENFORCE them. And I've never seen so much as a plastic bottle amongst the trails in their lush woods.

My wife has had our first child and are in the process of moving from the midlands back up to our native Yorkshire - managed to get a couple of spoons made though. Had to do them in the kitchen as whittling area now nursery! I also bought a knife blade from Bernie Garland and put a handle on it.

Been recuperating from a knee injury since just before Xmas, so my outdoor fun has been seriously limited. Spent plenty of time cyber crafting and buying interesting bits of gear online though :D

I have been doing a bit of wood carving, mainly different sized/shaped spoons, a couple of cups and a bowl or two. Also been making interesting things with paracord (bushcraftland utility rope), occasionally playing with fire and trying to learn some new knots to add to the 'Double Granny' I use far to often.

I still need to improve my knowledge of wild edibles / medicinals, a gap in my knowledge I hope to actively address this spring. And, having got to a point of confidence and comfort both ground dwelling and tree swinging when hiking about, I would like to try canoe camping at some point as this year as it just looks fun.