Mistwalker
Gold Member
- Joined
- Dec 22, 2007
- Messages
- 19,035
Last week was Fall Break for the school kids here. Luckily my work schedules are pretty flexible so Alayna could hang out with me while I work. These first pics are from a day when we just went on a hike together so I could spend some time working on her field craft skills. We worked on plant identification and on fire starting. I didn't take an actual camera that day, I only took my phone to more enjoy the time out with her. My phone cannot compete with my cameras, but I wanted pics for my own memories. Some of the pics turned out pretty cool so I though I'd share them here.
The colors are coming along nicely
Alayna has always loved being able to snack on things we harvest growing wild in the woods, he really gets a kick out of it. The first things we found as soon as we parked were persimmons and wild grapes. The woods here are full of both right now, but some trees and vines did better than others.
As we headed out, something looked odd about her pack...she had her shoulder strap twisted. That would have bothered me immediately, kids tend to not notice some of the little things. So we got that sorted and got underway. We really need some rain, but the weather has been nice out.
She is always spotting little odds and ends when we are out. She found a new shell to add to our collection, and an odd acorn that was different from the others.
The only time I regretted not having an actual camera was when I decided to snap a pic of the Gaucho sitting on this burl, and a giant ichneumon wasp landed right beside it. These things are pretty wild looking and I would love to have gotten some better pictures of her. Maybe I will see one again later on.
On the hike we had talked about an upcoming class I am doing this week on fire starting with organic materials. So when we got back to the truck I showed her the materials I was talking about in a near by field. She wanted to give it a shot, so I gathered a few Goldenrod flowers that had turned to seed. However they were still just a bit damp in the stems, and more difficult for her to ignite than I had expected. They would ignite, but then burn out rather than flare up. Which led to frustration on her part. It also did help that she had sat on the truck tailgate practicing throwing sparks while I gathered a few more black walnuts. Without a base and tinder to practice with, the practice had been more detrimental than helpful, and when she got frustrated she tried to throw some really big sparks into the tinder pile, igniting it on one strike...and then scattering it immediately after. Now there is to be no more practice without at least having a base and tinder and going for initial flames at least.
Not all of the Goldenrod has turned to seed yet. It is good seeing that our feral honey bee population is still doing ok.
After the fire starting practice...we'll work on that more later, we went to a field where I new a lot of passion fruit is growing, and she loves that as well.
She spotted some horse nettle and showed it to me. Then caught a grasshopper
Not a bad haul for the day.
After that it was time to head home and make supper. The Gaucho got a bit of a workout in the kitchen. It doesn't slice as well as the thinner one did, obviously, but I am still extremely happy with the thicker blade for my uses.
Sorry, no pics of the finished meal, as I got caught up in conversation with Alayna about things from earlier in the day, but it was just a simple meal with the steaks and then the mushrooms, onions, and peppers served on a bed of buttered egg noodles. Pretty good stuff I thought. The Gaucho has been used in more bushcrafty types stuff the last couple of days, I'll post that thread in a couple of days. All in all, I think this knife is perfect for me
The colors are coming along nicely
Alayna has always loved being able to snack on things we harvest growing wild in the woods, he really gets a kick out of it. The first things we found as soon as we parked were persimmons and wild grapes. The woods here are full of both right now, but some trees and vines did better than others.
As we headed out, something looked odd about her pack...she had her shoulder strap twisted. That would have bothered me immediately, kids tend to not notice some of the little things. So we got that sorted and got underway. We really need some rain, but the weather has been nice out.
She is always spotting little odds and ends when we are out. She found a new shell to add to our collection, and an odd acorn that was different from the others.
The only time I regretted not having an actual camera was when I decided to snap a pic of the Gaucho sitting on this burl, and a giant ichneumon wasp landed right beside it. These things are pretty wild looking and I would love to have gotten some better pictures of her. Maybe I will see one again later on.
On the hike we had talked about an upcoming class I am doing this week on fire starting with organic materials. So when we got back to the truck I showed her the materials I was talking about in a near by field. She wanted to give it a shot, so I gathered a few Goldenrod flowers that had turned to seed. However they were still just a bit damp in the stems, and more difficult for her to ignite than I had expected. They would ignite, but then burn out rather than flare up. Which led to frustration on her part. It also did help that she had sat on the truck tailgate practicing throwing sparks while I gathered a few more black walnuts. Without a base and tinder to practice with, the practice had been more detrimental than helpful, and when she got frustrated she tried to throw some really big sparks into the tinder pile, igniting it on one strike...and then scattering it immediately after. Now there is to be no more practice without at least having a base and tinder and going for initial flames at least.
Not all of the Goldenrod has turned to seed yet. It is good seeing that our feral honey bee population is still doing ok.
After the fire starting practice...we'll work on that more later, we went to a field where I new a lot of passion fruit is growing, and she loves that as well.
She spotted some horse nettle and showed it to me. Then caught a grasshopper
Not a bad haul for the day.
After that it was time to head home and make supper. The Gaucho got a bit of a workout in the kitchen. It doesn't slice as well as the thinner one did, obviously, but I am still extremely happy with the thicker blade for my uses.
Sorry, no pics of the finished meal, as I got caught up in conversation with Alayna about things from earlier in the day, but it was just a simple meal with the steaks and then the mushrooms, onions, and peppers served on a bed of buttered egg noodles. Pretty good stuff I thought. The Gaucho has been used in more bushcrafty types stuff the last couple of days, I'll post that thread in a couple of days. All in all, I think this knife is perfect for me
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