Roasting crane

I came up with this idea when we had several pots cooking over the fire and insufficient room to spit roast two partridges.

Firstly you require a forked, green branch

Trim the branch to produce the two parts of the crane as below

Do not completely remove side branches as these will go inside the carcass and prevent it spining around on the stick.

Push the straight stick vertically in the ground and tie a piece of cord at the top. Rest the forked end of the other stick horizontally against the upright and tie one end of the cord around it and the other end around the fork as below.

You can even roast two birds at once.

The benefit of this system is that you can adjust cooking by swinging the crane closer to the heat or further away, turning the birds as necessary until the juices run clear.

Back to Danemead Part 2

Stuart cooked eggs, bacon and fried bannock bread for lunch


Before lunch some of the Sea Cadets and leaders had called in to say hello as they were doing navigation in the area. We set the cadets the task of gathering fire wood for us and the result was a large pile of mixed sized wood which was great!


They returned in the afternoon as I was about to make a debris shelter and were all keen to help. Firstly I cut 4 forked poles, interlocked then and pushed the ends into the ground.


The Sea cadets gathered a large amount of medium sized branches which a laid between the poles (leaving the front open). And then we all began to gather leaves to cover the shelter. I was impressed with a couple of the cadets who found a bread tray which they used to carry a greater amount of leaves.

This is my good friend George who was proving that a man can infact multi-task by drinking a cup of tea and gathering leaves at the same time!

Unfortunately one of the Horn Beam support poles wasn't strong enough once the weight of wet leaves was on it and as you can see below, bent under the weight.

After the cadets left us we spent the early evening preparing a meal and then Sheila, Mark and Acer joined for food and an evening around the campfire.

To be continued....

Spruce Whisk

While out in the woods one weekend I was making stinging nettle and potato soup and wanted to whisk the potatoes and nettle leaves. I considered lashing a handful of twigs around a stick but then came across a fallen Spruce. I cut the very top out of the Spruce, peeled the bark away and this is what I ended up with.

Perfect for the job!

And here's the end result..

Autumn in Lapland 24th September 2008

Rowed to the far end of the lake this morning to do a spot of fishing. A Golden eagle lifted from trees at the lake edge, circled around and then as it gained altitude, drifted away. As I rowed back to the cabin a Sparrowhawk flew across the lake (which is a new species for my list there). I also noticed that all the Waxwings have gone today....presumably on the next stage of their migration.

I washed my clothes after breakfast.

then added another set of legs to the saw-horse

then spent most of the day cutting logs

I decided to make an apple and blueberry crumble for my evening meal.

Lined a tin with apples and then blueberries

and crushed digestive biscuits

then covered the alternate layers and apples and blueberries with the crushed biscuits

I baked it in the oven for about 40 minutes and this was the end result.....BEAUTIFUL!!!


As I rowed to the far end of the lake again this evening to watch the Moose, 62 Pink-footed Geese flew over calling, on their way south for the winter.

Autumn in Lapland 21st September 2008

Overcast with sun later, but cool southerly wind.

I spent this morning fishing and chopping wood. Those of you have read Bushcraft by Mors Kochanski will be aware of the amazing property of Black Spruce Picea mariana to be split into evenly thick boards with a variety of uses. Here I have made a netting shuttle for making fishing nets.

I was splitting a piece of Birch with my knife and got my finger trapped between the Birch and my knife blade.

There is lots of Yarrow Achillea millefolium (Achillea referring to Achilles who is said to have used this plant to treat his soldiers during the Trojan war and millefolium meaning thousand leaves referring to the "feathery" leaves). The crushed leaves are very good for treating bleeding and it is also said to be very good for treating nose bleeds.

I used some bricks to make a simple grill to cook some sausages.

I collected three different types of rock to experiment with for abrading and working the reindeer antler and for creating sparks with a piece of carbon steel file..

It has been very quiet for birds; 50+ Waxwings this afternoon feeding in the Rowan tree, Bramblings, Siberian Jays and a couple of Ravens.

Autumn in Lapland 20th September 2008

Rain first thing and then sunny, 11 degrees.

Went for a row and fished early this morning. Didn't catch anything but the views were beautiful.

We cooked drop scones and entertained ourselves trying to make faces from them..........a bear?

I washed some clothes


I went to help a neighbour put out fishing nets in the lake and was invited to Ingvar and Anki's for a bbq.

Ingvar gave me a Reindeer antler to make things from (the results will come later in the trip).

I spent the afternoon fishing and then baked a blueberry oat cake before returning to Ingvar and Anki's for the evening to learn more Swedish.

Birds included; Fieldfare, a male Crossbill singing at the cabin, 1 Greenfinch, 1 Golden Eagle flying over the forest and 2 Snipe flying around calling at dusk.

Autumn in Lapland 19th September 2008

Cloudy with sunny periods, but only 4 degrees.

There were about 60 Waxwings feeding in a Rowan tree just outside the cabin this morning.


We walked up the hill behind the cabin today

and found a couple of lots of bear shit.

You can clearly see that it has been feeding on berries!

After stopping for a brew and some lunch we returned to the cabin and Phoebe and Liam sorted the berries we had collected.

I cooked the Lingon (Cowberries) with apples and sugar

to make jam and syrup

I also baked an oat cake

In the evening we went to Ingvar and Anki's cabin where they had prepared Reindeer stew and then Cloudberries on waffles with double cream!


Birds for the day included; 3 Northern Bullfinch, 1 Jay, Hazel Grouse and 2 Capercallie

Autumn in Lapland 18th September 2008

Cloudy with showers today and a cold southerly wind.

We went walking today to explore some other lakes.

The colours are just so beautiful even on a dull day.

We found a large number of droppings around the edge of this lake. The owner had clearly been feeding on berries and I was told by a local that they are beaver droppings.

Also found cranberries on a boggy area near to the lake.

At lunchtime we stopped for a brew

And cooked salami, tomato and green pepper kebabs.

Went really well with some local bread

I found a glass bottle in the edge of the lake so demonstrated to Liam and Phoebe that you can boil water in a bottle.

Birds for the day were; Goldcrest, Redpoll, Waxwing, Fieldfare, Siskin, White Wagtail and Willow Warbler (there were no birds on the lakes at all) and we saw 1 female Moose in the forest.