some various pics.

my summer earth lodge now in its second year.
A group of Rosebay willow Herb,or fire weed,named after its apparent magical appearance after bush fires.
Nuts about my knife?Here i used the coronet to break the hazlenut,and if you look closer i made a small indention in the trunk to hold the nut still.
And of course the main star of wolfbushcraft,the white wolf himself.zeus.

READING THE EARTH

The surface of the earth is like a giant book,with the pages changing every second..
Some are obvious some, so slight that we could miss them in a blink of an eye.
Many hunter gatherers are masters at reading the earth,another memory we all hold,but now forgotten.
Sometimes the pages are easy to find,for instance the two game trails above,but even so the infomation on these pages may be hard still to read.Its obvious from the tracks,that there were deer here,dogs,man,and a tractor at some point,but going deeper into the book will give you the whole picture,and help you piece together what occured here..The page will tell you what was there first,was it the deer,man or tractor or dog.By learning to read age signs,and overlay patterns you will be able to piece together vital info,For instance if the deer were on this track before the tractor,did the noise and sight of such a monster cause them to flee?or did the dog give chase?A look a the slots will tell you if they did,Ask yourself has the width length of the slots changed?Are they deeper?Is there chaos within the slot?
Or are they constant all around,no change in stride etc..?When you have made your conclusion from what you have read,you must now put aside the book for a while,And become the deer,if you were going to flee from here,where would you go?You like the deer know your territory,you know every opening in the woods edge that surrounds the field,you know where to run,to hide,to be safe.But we read the slots are constant,no change,they were there after the tractor and the man and the dog,they were made in the evening,they point to area you know well,the pine wooods will be a comfortable bedding area for them,here they will chew the cud,as they have done many times before...Your eyes scan the ground ahead,you now have turned the page,the deer have more of the story to tell..............

THE BIRCH TREE

Here is the birch tree showing the classic signs of bark peeling,good news for the woodsman,bad news for the tree.In a few years this tree could be dead.Some people blame global warming,as very hot temperatures,lack of rain causes the tree to shed bark,also its been noticed that birch bark quality has declined dramatically,the old natives of past times wouldnt be able to just select almost any birch tree and use its bark for a birch bark canoe, even in parts of the extreme north the birch bark quality is suffering..The theory is the colder the climate the better the birch bark....Everywhere in nature things are showing signs of being affected by pollution,My two best indicators are the birch tree,and the peppered moth.In parts of some of woodlands which are well away from any civilization,the peppered moth can be seen almost sooty in appearance,resting on a birch tree that also has a sooty bark texture,gnarled and full of holes....In my video of the fallen birch tree i mention collecting birch bark on fallen weak trees,as an alternative to peeling off bark from a healthy tree...I know alot of bushcrafters favour this tree for its craft values of its bark,but please consider,do you really have to partially skin a tree just for a hobby?There are other ways of practicing making say for instance a birch bark cup,A decent thickness of a large sheet of cardboard would do.Im all for reaching inside ones ancient spirit and learning to do such things as our ancestors did of old,dont get me wrong,but as ive said,look around firstly before you start skinning the tree,there may just be a fallen birch,which even in its death could live on in something you have made..In a survival situation or earth living any birch tree would give up its life for us,that is an ancient bond and understanding that goes back when man was given kingship over all living things,and shown the earth medicine ways.
To me as a woodsman the birch tree has been a constant companion,many a full moon night ive watched her bark shine in the moonlight,i see early signs of spring through her in her sap rising,she gives me a healthy spring tonic in this sap,it provides me with a form of sugar,her inner bark can give me flour,her bark,buds,twigs,and leaves will give me a good tea,a strong mixture will ease my colds,and i can wash with it for any rashes etc,i can also gargle with it for mouth sores..Her medicine doesnt end here,she helps me de-scent my body before a hunt,her bark provides me wamth through tinder and shingles,she can light up my path at night using a bundle of her bark as a torch,with this i can also attract fish,and of course within her is a bowl, a cup,Her bark is used in sweatlodges,to cleanse the body and the spirit.The birch trees medicine is feminine,her direction is East,She is the tree of Venus,and her sign is water....To me the birch is the mother tree,I hope to walk many a journey with her all around me,until i walk no more.....
AUTHOR GRIMBO..WOLFBUSHCRAFT 2010 COPYRIGHT..PLEASE ASK ME FIRST IF YOU WISH TO USE THIS CONTENT ON ANY WEB SITE...THANKS GRIMBO