Himalayan strawberry tree

This is obviously not a native and neither is it a strawberry but disregarding the obvious it is a good find for the forager if you do happen to come across one of these trees in fruit.
It's actually a dogwood species and has a number of different names it goes by..



They do look rather like a strawberry but the similarity ends there.
I've read that they taste like everything from banana to apricots but they just taste bland to me. Soft and squishy after they've been bletted.



They can get you intoxicated though if they are over ripe !



I ate a gutful of them and rather enjoyed the texture and taste though a few people who stopped to watch while I was picking tried the fruit and weren't too keen on it. There are a few recipes for it online if you can find them.
It is another good find for the foragers armoury.

Reverse Swedish Fire Log

Everyone knows about the Swedish Fire log and recently we used one for our camp cookout, the thing was for some reason this one was really hard to light at the bottom the way it's normally done, so instead we lit it from the top



We weren't sure how this would work but figured that if the upside down fire worked then there would be no reason for this not to either.



Didn't take long at all for it to burn well and it worked just as good as if we'd lit it from the bottom



And a hearty jambalaya was soon enjoyed by all.

Brother knife review from GEARBEST.COM

We were recently sent a knife to review from GEARBEST.COM, it's a fixed blade 440c full flat grind knife with micarta handle and hollow copper pins, total length is about 8 1/2 inches with blade and handle being equal length.



It arrived in a nice presentation box and when I opened it I found the knife nicely sheathed in a kydex sheath with a ready fixed teclok.



The knife was acceptably sharp as it came but a few minutes on the stones and strop saw this blade easily come up to hair popping sharp.



No review is complete without some field testing, so I've been using it over the past couple of weeks to gauge it's performance.



I needed some amadou for upcoming events so I put the knife to use cutting off huge amounts of this fungi to prep for the courses,



This it did easily with no rolling or chipping along the edge, and anyone who has cut amadou before knows just how hard the scale is on the surface of this fungi, so I was mightily impressed with this.



I scraped and feathered some tiny curls on some sticks to prep a small woodstove and again no problems at all



The spine also threw some great sparks from a ferro rod to get this fire lit.

I have even used this knife at home for food prep which it does admirably, all in all I'm very impressed with this tool.
It's comfortable in the hand, no hot spots or high ridges, gets an edge well and seems to keep it too but can easily be brought back to razor sharp just with a strop, for the price it's an absolute bargain.

If you are interested in this knife or indeed any gear from GEARBEST.COM I would heartily encourage you to peruse their site, it's easy to navigate and the items arrive fast. Highly recommended..

Here are a few links to take you there, get ready for your wallet to take a hit! Great stuff.

https://goo.gl/w9zCWV Brother Knife

https://goo.gl/kG6Jbp  Knives and tools

https://goo.gl/zcEu2C Gearbest website

Strange creature in the woods

Sometimes you see strange creatures in the woods

Was able to sneak right up on what I thought was a turkey until I realised it was a peahen.
I guess it must have escaped from the local zoo a few miles away.
Just as well I wasn't on a serious survival mission.

Mugwort

It's supposed to be relatively common over here but I haven't found that to be so.
Mugwort is a lovely plant, and it has a myriad of uses,



It is one of the original 9 sacred herbs and thus is considered to have spiritual properties as well as practical ones.
It is edible but not in large quantities and has been used to flavour alcoholic drinks in years gone by.
An infusion made from the leaves is a great insecticide especially for eggs and on the larval stage.



It is quite downy underneath the leaves and when used in a tinder bundle gives off huge plumes of aromatic smoke which makes it a great favourite when demonstrating this technique.
It is said to ward off evil spirits and bad luck, to heal skin lesions, to help communication with the dead through it's smoke and also as a spiritual cleanser and purifier.
I just wish I could find it more often.

Prince or Horse Mushroom?

I'll be the first to admit that I don't spend enough time studying my fungi and it's at times like this that I regret that as it leaves me torn between possible identifications.



I found this one tonite, on a woodland verge underneath a huge cedar tree, it was last it's best and a little maggoty, it didn't smell bad at all just very mushroomy, if I had have smelt anise I would have said horse mushroom but I didn't pick that smell up. Due to the scales on the cap and the fact it was under a conifer then I'm swaying towards a prince.. but I'm happy to be corrected if anyone can do so..by the way



It was very tasty!!

Shelter placement and wind direction.

It's almost one of those instinctive things, build your shelter with its back to the prevailing winds, it offers you protection right? Yes but it can also cause problems



Looks good on an elevated rise to avoid a cold sink, back to the wind and room in front but..
The wind races over the slanted roof causing an acceleration of air draft resulting in a drawing effect towards the shelter..



And once you light your fire the draw will suck any smoke directly into your shelter.
I made this a very smokey fire intentionally to show just how the draw works in a strong wind and you can clearly see how the smoke bends into the shelter just like an eddy in a creek or stream.
When building a shelter with strong prevailing winds build it so that the wind is parallel to your shelter and draws the fire to the side, it could save you a lot of heartache if you've spent a long time building.