Description
FORAGING
Spend the morning while the tide is still low discovering a wide array of salt marsh and coastal plants. Sea plantain, sea aster, sea blite, sea arrowgrass, the oraches, marsh samphire… these are just a few of the wonderful succulent summer plants. There are more in the woods and along the shore. We’ll also discover a couple of the poisonous umbillifers and teach you how to distinguish those you can eat from those that could kill you!
FIRE
Fire has been with us for around 1.5 million years. We are the only animal that is not afraid of fire, uses it and feels comfortable around it. It has protected us from predators and the cold, provides light in the dark and makes our food more digestible. A true friend. But what if the fire goes out and our modern lighters fail?
There are some great ways to get it going again directly from natural materials. We’ll learn a few of these methods, as well as the tinder material to use and some tricks to get a fire going quickly and safely. Did you know that you can also take fire with you on a hike?
We will practice some of the most exciting fire making methods, such as hand drill, fire bow, spark fire with flint and marcasite, as well as flint and steel and look at different types of tinder, without which fire making does not work.
FEAST
We will also investigate Stone Age-style simmering, roasting, frying… without a pot or pan. We cook meat, fish, eggs and vegetables using various methods such as cooking stones, grill stones, hook grills, wood grills, stick grills, stone roasting, ember roasting, wrapped foods, etc.
Lunch outdoors around a fire. In the afternoon we will also discuss how plant fibres were used to make string, ropes and nets. Learn to make cordage, learn net knotting techniques, etc. In the afternoon, we discuss how plant fibres were used to make string, ropes and nets. Learn some cordage skills and net knotting techniques.
We’re providing the fire and picking the vegetables. Please bring your own protein to roast.
Taught by wild food expert Monica ‘Mo’ Wilde and Werner Pfeifer, an experimental archaeologist and wilderness skills educator with over 30 years’ experience specialising in hunter-gatherer technologies. Click here for more about Werner.
