Mmmm, leeks roasted in the fire’s embers
This weekend I went back to school. Not to the bricks-and-mortar schools of my childhood, but to a new, different type of school. It has no walls, no ceiling and the floor is pretty muddy. This is Forest School.
The Forest School movement in the UK has steadily grown since it was brought over to the UK from Scandinavia in 1993. It offers an alternative model of education: one based on play and experiential learning that teaches self-esteem, cooperation and respect for each other and nature. There’s also evidence that a long-term Forest School programme improves children’s resilience, confidence and wellbeing.
So much for children, but what about adults? Although many Forest Schools focus primarily on the education of younger children, older children and adults can benefit from the same experience.
Keen to learn some new skills to equip us for some more microadventures this year, I booked myself and my fiance on to an Adult Bushcraft session at The CommuniTree Initiative, a social enterprise based in Ramsbottom.
We meet Danny (founder of CommuniTree and our leader for the day) and the other participants at the entrance to a small, public woodland. The CommuniTree use this space for workshops and events, but there are no barriers and members of the public (and their dogs) are free to wander through the woodlands and campfire area.
Bushcraft vs Survival
Straight up Danny tells us, “this is not a survival course”. I breathe a sigh of relief at not having to forage for – or kill – my lunch. Bushcraft, he explains, focus on developing skills which you can use to get closer to nature. That could be spending the night in a hammock in the woods, or foraging for mushrooms. Think Ray Mears rather than Bear Grylls.
After an introductory session, our first task is to build a shelter. As it’s January, Danny has a handy pile of donated Christmas Trees for this very purpose. We grab an axe each and start dragging trees over to our self-selected ‘camping’ spot.
Ten minutes later I have taken off three layers of clothing and the branches of one Christmas Tree. My hand and arm muscles are feeling the effects already. I switch to a lighter axe and keep going. After a quick lesson on lashing and knot tying, we get to work creating a shelter for two.
It’s a simple exercise, but surprisingly satisfying and absorbing. We learn from experience how best to overlap the branches to create the shell of the shelter. Sam collects armfuls of moss to plug the gaps, while I lay out a carpet of branches inside. We almost wish we’d brought our sleeping bags for the night!
Cooking on an open fire
Satisfied with our morning’s work, we return to the campfire for lunch. There’s some weird magic about eating outdoors. Whatever food you have – however meagre and basic – always tastes delicious. We make a basic bread, roll it out and place it on the campfire to cook. It’s the perfect accompaniment to mop up the tasty chilli Danny’s provided.
Stuffed full of chilli and fruit crumble (cooked in a Dutch Oven over the fire) we get back to work in the afternoon. We’re handed tarps and hammocks and shown various methods of rigging them to create an alternative quick and easy shelter for the night.
Building a fire from scratch
I always find it amazing how we are drawn to fires. I could spend hours gazing into the flickering flames, basking in their warmth and listening to its crackling and spitting. But in this class, we have to earn our fire time.
Danny gives us each a block of dried silver birch wood and shows us have to cut it into different sized pieces of wood using an axe, knife and mallet. I admit to being slightly nervous about this part of the day; my axe skills (or to be more precise, my aiming skills) being pretty much non-existent. But even I managed to split the large block on my first try and end up with a selection of thin sticks to use for my fire.
I haven’t built a fire from scratch for years, but it’s surprisingly satisfying to set a grid out and build it up using smaller and smaller sticks topped off with some natural tinder. We use a firesteel to start the fire and it takes immediately. I’d like to explore different methods of fire lighting at some point, but that’s for another day. For now, I’m happy toasting brioche and marshmallows over the flames I’ve created.
Reconnecting with nature
Throughout the day, Danny shows us parts of the wood and different trees and fungus. We learn that the Birch Polypore or Razorstrop fungus has antiseptic properties and you could cut a thin strip to use an emergency plaster. The Jelly Ear fungus, on the other hand, is surprisingly tasteless and has (as its name suggests) a jelly-like texture. Nature’s Haribo!
We’re also encouraged to explore the wood ourselves. One of the first activities is to go off, individually, and find a place to just sit for five minutes. For me, this is pretty new. Though I love and appreciate nature, and spend a lot of time outdoors, I’m always doing something. Even if it is just walking. If I do sit, it’s usually when I’m admiring a beautiful view, or resting on a long hike. Not generally in the middle of a muddy, damp winter woodland.
But when you sit and close your eyes you realise how alive the wood is. You notice the birds chattering in the trees, hear the babble of the nearby river and smell the damp, fallen leaves. You appreciate this little patch of woodland – this bit of nature, however small – for what it is.
How often in our busy lives do we actually just sit and do nothing in nature? Nothing other than appreciating the sounds, smells and sights it produces. Perhaps reconnecting with nature is not about doing anything; it’s actually about doing nothing at all.
The CommuniTree Initiative run events and workshops for children, adults, families and schools in the Bury area. In the interests of full disclosure, I traded my place on the course in exchange for doing some writing work for CommuniTree (got to love the the sharing economy!). This post was not part of the agreement; it’s based purely on my own views and awesome experience with Danny and the team – I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend them.