A Man's Mora the 511 in Pink

This is a nice one for the collector of Mora knives, a limited edition release of the 511 in baby pink..



Every man should have one!

Giant Hogweed

Now we all know this plant, maybe mistakable with other umbelifers when young but certainly not when it grows up!

you can sometimes come across forests of the stuff

The purple blotches reminescent of other dangerous umbels

it's the sap that is the most immediate danger with this plant,blistering your skin when exposed to sunlight, I did experience a little of this when cutting into this one, a little sap landed on my hand and after a few minutes the skin raised and blistered slightly just like a nettle sting, but I really wouldn't want a lot of skin exposed to this sap.

When dry the stems make good little possibles containers! some of them being as large in diameter as your arm!

The Cardinal Points of Ireland

In the Past 2 or 3 years we have spent a lot of time travelling around our native land Exploring, Bushcrafting, Fishing etc..We don't often post pics of these adventures as they are personal explorations and meant to enrich us in some private (or as Ray Mears would say) some "spiritual" way (and they always do!), however Ireland is a beautiful country so we thought it only fair to show you some of the places we have visited. Now these places are roughly at the Cardinal points however to be precise Islands were not taken into consideration neither were points which we couldn't get to personally but really what you see below is what you would see if you were at the extreme points on the mainland of Ireland

The most Northerly Point

Malin Head

Co Donegal

The Most Southerly Point

Brow head

Co Cork

 

The Most Easterly Point

Burr Point
Co Down

The Most Westerly Point

Garraun Point (although some say Dunmore head!)
Co Kerry

We've travelled North, South, East and West and still find it exhilarating when we return to these places,there are always new adventures and experiences, for us it's never about hardship but a real genuine enjoyment of the natural world around us.

Bear Grylls Compact Knife Review

I don't often put reviews on this site as there are plenty on you tube where guys spend 20 minutes putting the knife in and out of it's sheath and turning it over and round and in and out in front of the camera, not so much a review as a show and tell..A review is only a review if you use the knife for it's inended purpose!!

and here it is in all it's Toy Story glory with the dreaded serrations that all outdoorsmen detest. Anyway it's quite easy on the eye, nice and orange and very sheeple friendly..

As for comfort, well it's gorgeous! Really ergonomic and comfortable for occasional use, definitely a thumbs up.

First seashore test was prying a limpet off the rocks, I really twisted the knife not sparing the edge against the rock or the limpet shell and I fully expected a chip or some rolling...

Limpet successfully prised off the rocks and next test was to gut it out of the shell for wrasse bait, very easily done, and another thumbs up!

Next test was to use the extended tang for some bashing,here to crush a willick shell, again no problem at all

easily done and I ate this one! Quite tasty..also look closely to see the blade edge where I prised the limpet off, no rolling or chipping at all, and that was against solid rock, well done Gerber!! Good Heat Treat on this blade!

lastly was the rust resistance test, so I dunked it completely in salt water then put it straight in it's sheath without drying the blade at all, and 24 hours later...

well the edge is rusty as you would expect but the coating on the blade has worked well, the edge rust is superfiicial and cleaned off easily with a loaded strop..

To finalise, it's a superb little knife that punches way above it's weight, and I would be happy to turn to this in a survival situation, if only Gerber would get rid of the serrations and release a Plain edge version the way they did with the BG Ultimate knife, then we could be talking about the best little production compact knife out there..Top marks Gerber!!

Sea, Sand and Salt

We spent another day at the coast having a forage, trying a few things and just bimbling about

we nibbled on some sea aster leaves which were very nice

had a go at some sweet oarweed ( laminaria saccharina)

Lovely sea Lettuce

Collected lots of Dulse

avoided the desmarestia

theres always plenty of protein to go with the seashore salad!!

and it's been quite miserable and wet and windy today so we hope that whoever the RNLI were heading out to was ok and were returned to shore safe and sound!

Helleborine Orchid

Probably the rarest orchid to be found in Northern Ireland and especially in Belfast, an absolutely beautiful plant..

it can live for 10 or 11 years before it actually flowers.. aside from that fact we know absolutely nothing else about this plant, so if you can help with the edible, medicinal,or symbology of this plant, please get in touch!

Wild woods walking

We went out today for a little dander to stretch our legs and enjoy the gifts of mother nature, every day is an adventure and you never know what you will find.

firstly we found some fresh Fallow tracks, there was also plenty of scrapings and droppings

we haven't been to this old place in months and it's so well hidden, nobody has been near it, good news!

we found a few scattered bones from a dead fallow, a fox or other predator must have scattered them around, still a good find for the future making of arrowheads and needles!

The kids lit the fire and did a good job maintaining it.



we made some wild mint tea to finish the day..

nice,simple day out,with lots of other nice finds also!!!

Dame's violet

This is a plant often ignored by bushcrafters and one I rarely see mentioned in forums or books

A member of the  mustard family, the leaves (and flowers) of this plant are edible although relatively bitter and even more so after it has flowered, so pick the leaves when young. They can be added to salads but like most wild greens have that metallic taste that a lot of palates can't handle.

It is an antiscorbutic, but be careful with consumption at the bitters in this plant can cause vomiting.. 

It is said to release it's scent late in the evening and thus the name vespers is used in relation to this.

In plant symbology it represents Deceit.