From Dusk till Dawn

We never seem to have enough woods time so every opportunity it greeted with relish especially on winter nights in a local wood..It was a quick hike in after work and out again before sun rise, no fires and the minimum of equipment,just a sleeping bag, a bivi bag, a tarp and some ration packs..bed down and watch the moon rise, and as it did so it lit up the woods as clear as day, and once our eyes adjusted it was easy to see all around..

 

 

the full moon has been big and bright over here lately, so although we didn't get much sleep it was cathartic none the less..

 

Mora Companion Heavy Duty

It hasn't been so long since the introduction of the Mora Robust and that knife seems to have went down very well, as a result a few models with different characteristics have been released, most recently the Mora Companion Heavy Duty

as you can see it also has the 3mm blade, the handle and blade lengths are identical to the Robust
the only difference straight out of the box is that the spine of the blade has been squared off and not left rough like on most Moras

And as you can see it compared with the Robust above, the Companion heavy duty and the Mears version below, all identical apart from the colour

it's hard to make out in the pictures but the colour of the Companion HD is very orange, a great knife if you work in heavy brush and have a possibility of dropping it!
What they just didn't call it the Robust Hi Viz is a mystery, still the three above form the Holy Trinity of Mora Bushcraft Knives, never leave home without one!

Simple Priming pan for a Penny Stove



Use the lid of a can of potatoes!

It's important to use a can opener that cuts round the side of the can rather than round the top

 

and that leaves the lip on ready to hold a few mils of meths, enough to prime your penny stove..

Working at Tannaghmore Forge

We spent a great time this weekend with the guys at Tannaghmore forge getting more tips and instruction to further our abilities at blacksmithing, we are the first to admit that we have a long way to go but we intend to study with these guys at length over the next few months and hopefully you will see some improvement in our abilities

Eamonn started the day with a good safety talk and getting the forges going, plus lots of tips and ideas of how to forge, the intention was to get us familiar with the basics then we can delve into completing our own ideas

Once the forges were nice and hot we got the steel into the heat and practised the techniques we had been shown

once the steel was at the right heat we started to pound the metal into the square needed to begin the design

then we worked along the bar squaring it off as we went

once the right length was achieved the ends were curled by the hammer

and continuing to curl before twisting the bar to form a gorgeous piece

and the finished piece of work, all very easily done under great instruction from the tutors.

We have many more projects to tackle and the smiths are all very understanding and patient with us and are more than willing to facillitate what we have in mind, so we are looking forward to the rest of the course with them and making many more interesting bits and pieces.

We at Buzzard would like to sincerely thank Eamonn, Chris, Johnny and all the other guys we spent time with this weekend and look forward to spending more time at the forge over the next wee while.

Keep your eyes posted here for other bits we manage to knock together!

If you live in Northern Ireland and fancy a crack at blacksmithing, we can heartily recommend the guys at Tannaghmore for a day (or even a course over a number of weeks), and you can contact them or check them out at their facebook page below
http://m.facebook.com/pages/Tannaghmore-Blacksmiths-Workshop/213552298658012?id=213552298658012&_rdr

Tell them we said Hi !!!

Shaggy Ink Caps

Not our favourite mushrooms by any stretch of the imagination but at this time of year they are quite common

They need to be cooked quite lightly as we've found that if you over cook them they turn into a runny gooey mess

The flavour is quite bland too compared to some other mushrooms and as a result we only pick them if there are few other good fungi specimens around..

Tip... DO NOT EAT THESE WHEN CONSUMING ALCOHOL!!

As with any fungi, make sure you know without a doubt what it is you are eating, and if you're not sure remember the adage..

IF IN DOUBT LEAVE IT OUT!!

Red Clover Tea

Of all the bush teas this has to be a favourite, pick when the sun is high to get a really sweet tasting tea

Pick as many flower heads as you think you will need, normally around 6 to 12

shake the heads well to get rid of insects and small bits of debris

as per usual I make more of a decoction than a tea which retrieves more of the goodness from the plant and tastes better

remove the flower heads (and insect bits!) and drink (and eat the heads if you wish), you can see this makes the most tea like drink in comparison to what we would normally consume..very refreshing.

Red clover, aside from having a good source of protein is high in calcium, chromium, magnesium, niacin, phosphorus, potassium, thiamine and vitamin C.

A piece of folklore about the plant says that in Virginia the native tribes there believed that Red Clover flowers had been stained by the blood of fallen warriors, and as a result they would drink the tea or eat the flowers believing it gave them the strength of their forefathers when heading into battle.

Davy's Winter Game Larder

Davy was able to procure us quite a lot of game for the upcoming winter, including Pheasants, Duck, Pigeon, Rabbit, Woodcock and Venison, so we are going to have to get our thinking caps on for good outdoor recipes

This is just a small portion of what he has in store for us and we already have a few ideas lined up...

But if any of you guys want to recommend a simple outdoorsy recipe for game please drop us a line!

Bush Food... Sweet Cornbread

This is probably one of the oldest and most loved of all the outdoor bread recipes and it has more derivations than any other bread recipe I know, so do experiment with this to see what suits yourself...

the ingredients we tend to use are

1 cup flour

1 cup fine corn meal

2/3 cup of sugar

1 tsp salt

3 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 large egg

1 cup milk

1/3 cup vegetable oil

2 oz butter

2 tbsp Honey

mix it all well and put in the oven at 180 degrees celsius for 30 mins or until a knitting needle comes out clean when poked into the bread

it's an easy recipe to do outdoors in a dutch oven, just mix all the dry ingredients at home and mix all the wet ingredients in a separate container, combine them when ready then put in your dutch oven and keep an eye out so that it doesn't burn

it works well on it's own or as an accompaniment to any main dish.