JMB Spring Term Day 35

Date: May 25, 2009
Location: JMB, Masardis, Maine

I started floor tillering and basically spent the whole day doing that. (most exciting log entry ever)

Accomplishments and Observations:
1) Started floor tillering

Initial Reflections:
I'm still not getting much bend. I think I'm going to have to take the thickness down further to really get a good bend.

Defining Bushcraft

   I recently read a thread on BushCraftUSA discussing how to (and whether to) define bushcraft. The thread ultimately went nowhere but it got me thinking about what the word means to me. Most of my time is spent studying ecology and that experience thoroughly colors my perspective.  Ecology and bushcraft are connected. I think one would be challenged to define or pursue a functional and interactive relationship with the land without including some scientific understanding of ecological systems. This usually takes the form of animal behavior, plant ID, and a myriad of other natural history skills. I personally find it valuable to see bushcraft as existing within ecology or at least defined in ecological terms.
     My definition is based on the idea of the ecological niche. A niche is, technically speaking, an organism's n-dimensional hyper-volume in resource and condition space. What this means is that were you to graph a set of resources (stuff that gets used up ex. prey density) and conditions (stuff that doesn't get used up ex. temperature) the region of the graph that contained values under which a given organism can survive is its niche. It is just like drawing a cube on a 3-dimensional graph except instead of each each axis representing a distance in space they represent some resource or condition like hours of daylight, temperature, or nitrogen levels.
     For many organisms niche is defined by their biology. Plants, for example, have a range of temperatures, nutrient levels, and light levels under which they can function and little can change that. For organisms capable of behavioral adaptation on the individual scale niche can be altered by those behavioral adaptations. If a rural raccoon moves into a suburban neighborhood and learns how to access food in garbage cans, its niche is expanded by this knowledge. I haven't looked into attempts at applying niche theory to humans and I'm sure I'm too ignorant to do the job properly. Thankfully, we aren't doing science here! Regardless of the (probably significant) flaws in explaining humans cleanly with niche theory I find it to be a useful tool for thinking about bushcraft. I see bushcraft as behavioral adaptations to expand my ecological niche in ecosystems where humans are not the principle ecosystem engineer.  My goal is to use bushcraft to expand my n-dimensional hyper-volume as far as I can while excluding the idea of engineering ecosystems.

I'm sure I'll want to refine and change aspects of this in the future but, for now, that is how I see bushcraft.

JMB Spring Term Day 34

Date: May 24, 2009
Location: JMB, Masardis, Maine

Another longbow day. I started work on the belly (thickness) and got the whole bow down to 1". I also switched from a a push knife to a spoke shave to clean out the tool marks and square the sides.

Accomplishments and Observations:
1) Prepared bow for tillering

 Initial Reflections:
Tomorrow I start actual bow making (tillering). I am nervous about messing it up but excited about actually making a bow.

JMB Spring Term Day 33

Date: May 23, 2009
Location: JMB, Masardis, Maine

Most of the day was spent carving my longbow. A lot of material needed to come off to create the proper taper. The carving process is just a matter of sitting down and getting it done (like many things I suppose). We also covered a couple new things. We made ashcakes, which were surprisingly good. We also got an introduction to hand drill friction fire (mullen drill)

Accomplishments and Observations:
1) carved taper into longbow

2) made ashcakes
3) learned basics of handdrill (floating)

Initial Reflections:
Hand drill is neat but I am still a ways off getting a coal. I will just need practice applying consistent pressure.

JMB Spring Term Day 32

Date: May 22, 2009
Location: JMB, Masardis, Maine

Today was full of fail. The weather appeared to be uncooperative in the morning so we decided to check out the museum of natural history in Caribou. The museum's answering machine said summer hours but the door said winter and no one was home. We did a bit of riparian plant ID on the Aroostook but spent most of the day in transit.

Accomplishments and Observations:



1) ID and press:
     -ostrich fern
     -Jerusalem artichoke

Initial Reflections:
I wanted to see that museum so it being closed was a let down. I do find myself feeling like I need greater amounts of down time as the course goes on, so maybe this is what I needed. The mosquitoes hit a level last night that required a 4am move to my tent. I am getting a bug net!

JMB Spring Term Day 31

Date: May 21, 2009
Location: JMB, Masardis, Maine

The earl part of the day was spent on further reducing the red oak stave. The day was very hot but windy enough to keep the black flies at bay. I have the stave carved close to the goal lines. I decided on the dimensions recommended in Primitive Technology II. After lunch we worked on plant ID and I added a number of specimens to my herbarium. Before dinner we identified two sets of tracks along the road.

Accomplishments and Observations:
1) made progress on bow
2) pressed plants
   -Fragaria virginiana
   -Plantago major
   -Viola sp.?
   -Rumex acetosella
   -Sambucus sp.?
   -Amelanchier sp.?
   -Alnus sp.?
   -Taraxacum officinale
   -Populus balsamifera
   -Populus tremuloides
   -Brassicaceae gs? sp?

Initial Reflections:
The family based plant ID is really helping my understand of plants. It gives a great framework for ID and for understanding plant evolution.

Current Reflections:
I am now getting back into proper plant study so its fun to try and access this information from a few years ago. I've also taken a few proper biology courses now so I am curious to see how the classroom work informs my person study and viceversa. I think the raw quantities of information in nature study make it a better fit for self study than classroom work anyway. I don't absorb a whole lot of academic information in the classroom setting, I tent to just take notes and do the actual learning on my own time.
I am surprised to find myself becoming curious about how learning actually happens and how to optimize it. Education is more interesting than I gave it credit for.

JMB Spring Term Day 30

All right! The semester is over and I get down to the serious business of bushcrafting and posting about it here!

Date: May 20, 2009
Location: JMB, Masardis, Maine

I started my long term project today, a red oak longbow. Tim has a stave cut and seasoned already so I started shaping it. I already have it down to the point where I need to start being careful about cutting into the bow. I spent the whole day on that, minus some time at lunch making fries on the fire.

Accomplishments and Observations:
1) Started longbow and finished much of 1st shaping stage
2) Made fries on the fire

Initial Reflections:
I am really enjoying the bow making process thus far. I will definitely be trying this again at home.

Current Reflections:
After working on lots of smaller project it was interesting to get started on a large and technically sophisticated project like a longbow.

JMB Spring Term Day 29

Date: May 19, 2009
Location: JMB, Masardis, Maine

The "4-hour" bow is taking me quite a bit longer than 4 hours. I spent the whole morning tillering one side of the bow. The afternoon I spent angling down on the river. I didn't catch anything. This was the first fishing I had done in a long time and it was good to review the process.

Accomplishments and Observations:
1) Review angling basics
2) Learned the clinch knot
3) Worked on "4-hour bow"
4) Cooked rice, lentils, and potatoes in sun oven

Initial Reflections:
I am going to take my spokeshave to the bow tomorrow. I really need to be taking off more material. I "almost" caught a trout. We are going fishing again tomorrow so hopefully I will have better luck.

Current Reflections:
Fishing was, and continues to be, an emotionally complicated experience for me. I was a vegetarian for quite a while and rarely ascribe strict moral superiority to humans. I find it difficult to balance what I know, intellectually, to be true (subsistence predation is amoral) with my distaste for taking animal life. I eat meat and am aware of the deep ethical problems with industrial agriculture. I want to hunt and fish because those skills are important, my hypocrisy is irksome, and the experience binds you to the land.

JMB Spring Term Day 28

Date: May 18, 2009
Location: JMB, Masardis, Maine

The order of the day was bow making. We started with really quick "tie two saplings together" style bows to get familiar with the principles. This was also good practice for my jam knots. I made my bow from alder. After those super high speed bows we started "4-hour" bows made from cutting down a sapling and shaving down one end. This also gave me an introduction to the tillering. My maple "4-hour" is not quite finished and requires a bit more tillering.

Accomplishments and Observations:
1) Made an alder "4-min" (2 sapling) bow
2) Practiced jam knot
3) Started maple 4-hour bow
4)Learned bowyers knot (timber hitch)
5) Made bannock on wood stove

Initial Reflections:
Bow making is very interesting. I am excited to start a "real" bow tomorrow. My jam knots actually work properly now. I wasn't hitching them properly before and they were loosening.

Current Reflections:
I recently took an archery workshop so it is helpful to review this experience. I am trying to weasel my way into an ongoing archery program being run through a local martial arts school. If I am ever going to become a skilled hunter I am first going to have to get decent level proficiency in some projectile. I understand that rifle is the more reliable tool but its logistically problematic to get regular practice or training. So the bow and I may end up as long term companions. 

JMB Spring Term Day 27

Date: May 16, 2009
Location: JMB, Masardis, Maine

We stayed late at Holten Brook as it was an exceptional camp site. We were visited by a few inquisitive whiskey jacks (Perisoreus canadensis) looking for our left overs. We got back on the river a bit after 11am. The first section of the days trip had an intermittent head wind and a few rocky patches but it was a generally calm paddle. We stopped off at the Masardis trading post for lunch and paddled the short distance back to camp. The winds had blown the roof off my shelter, we will see tonight if my repairs are adequate.

Accomplishments and Observations:
1) Paddled from Holten Brook to JMB camp
2) Repaired shelter
3) Finished 1st multi-day canoe trip

Initial Reflections:
I am pretty wiped by the whole experience. It was a lot to take in for the first trip but I think the "trial by fire" was effective. I feel confident now, going on multiday trips without a guide.

Current Reflections:
My current reflections are closely in line with my thoughts at the time. The trip was very challenging but often because of errors I was making in my approach. The summary is that I got to learn from the experience and from my own stupid mistakes. I came out of the trip with a much better grasp on physical canoe skills, the logistics of multi-day trips, and how to manage things like my personal hydration. It was an incredibly valuable experience.

JMB Spring Term Day 26

Date: May 15, 2009
Location: JMB, Masardis, Maine

I woke up a bit after 6am, meaning I slept for 13hours. We poled through much of the morning, ending at Boar's Head Falls. After the falls it was mostly paddling. We covered around 12 miles and arrived at camp around 7.

Accomplishments and Observations:
1) Paddled class 1
2) poled/paddled 12 miles from Mooseleuk Stream to Holten Brook

Initial Reflections:
Today was much better than yesterday. The weather was calmer, I was hydrated, and I got to paddle. The quantity of paddling was quite tiring.

Current Reflections:
This day was great for the amount of paddling practice it provided. I think there was a noticeable difference between my paddling before and after this section of the trip. 

JMB Spring Term Day 25

Date: May 14, 2009
Location: JMB, Masardis, Maine

We headed down stream in the morning. The section we poled until lunch had a lot of white water. Lunch was sausage and crackers on a river bank. The weather got much worse after lunch. The wind was blowing very hard up stream with gusts of about 40mph. We had to line a number of section of the river. We experienced a few close calls including two trees falling within 10 feet of canoes. We eventually arrived at our campsite and decided to stay despite bad (swampy) condition. The weather was obviously worsening. Now I am in my tent and it is pouring.

Accomplishments and Observations:
1) Poled down stream for 7 hours
2) Lined canoe
3) Navigated class 2 white water

Initial Reflections:
Today was brutally hard work. I let myself get dehydrated and the falling trees were frightening. I actually fell in the water as we were getting out at the camp site. Not great.

Current Reflections:
I was "not pleased" when I originally wrote this entry. Looking back now, I actually consider it one of my more valuable experiences. The day would have been hard no matter what but it was very hard because I was being a dumbass. I didn't bring enough water, drank to much coffee, and didn't think seriously about my electrolyte situation while having poor to average cardio. The primary lesson is one of managing hydration but it also helped me see the importance of building aerobic capacity.
I have, legitimately, become much better with hydration since then but my cardio could still use some work.

JMB Spring Term Day 24

Date: May 13, 2009
Location: JMB, Masardis, Maine
 

Instead of heading out immediately we spent the day on the campsite at Mooseleuk Lake. I went for a long exploratory journey on the lake for much of the day. Tim gave an introduction to fly fishing, caught a brook trout, and showed us how to clean it. I made bannock in a reflector oven.

Accomplishments and Observations:
1) Worked on lake poling 

2) Learned about fly fishing

3) Learned how to clean brook trout

4) Made bannock in reflector oven

5) Sharpened crooked knife

Initial Reflections:
The lake was very interesting to explore. The area doesn't seem to get much use so the wildlife is quite active. My ability to pole around obstacles in flatwater is much improved.

Current Reflections:
Fly fishing, and angling too, are far more interesting than I had given them credit for. It was a "don't know what you don't know" kind of situation. I am no great fisherman but this experience awoke an interest in developing the skill.

JMB Spring Term Day 23

Date: May 12, 2009
Location: JMB, Masardis, Maine

Day 1 of our first five day canoe trip. We packed in the morning and arrived at Mooseleuk around 4. We cooked brats in the dutch oven for dinner and made a load of sourdough. After camp was set up we explored the lake via canoe.

Accomplishments and Observations:
1) Worked on lake poling
2) Dumped humanure buckets (might seem odd as an "accomplishment" but I thought going through all the stages of the humanure composting system was important for understanding how it works)

Initial Reflections:
It is beautiful country up here. There are no other people but lots of wildlife. We have already seen loons and beaver. An early morning paddle should be interesting.

Current Reflections:
It really was a beautiful area. Exploring a shallow lake that has lots of obstacles is, for me, poling at its best. Poking around in the various microhabitats would have been very challenging by paddle but was really a pleasure by pole. Writing this is filling me with self pity as I have to spend my day studying math instead of poling a beautiful lake!

JMB Spring Term Day 22

Date: May 11, 2009
Location: JMB, Masardis, Maine

Most of the day was preparation for the canoe trip. We planned the menu in the morning and spent much of the day acquiring the food we would need. In the evening I finished my crooked knife.

Accomplishments and Observations:
1) Planned trip menu
2) Bought trip food
3) Finished crooked knife

Initial Reflections:
I am really happy to have finished my crooked knife. I still need to sharpen it properly but it looks good.

Current Reflections:
Unfortunately, I STILL need to sharpen it properly. Its baseline functional but I should really have it going full steam by now. I am going to put it on my short term "to do" project list.

JMB Spring Term Day 21

Date: May 10, 2009
Location: JMB, Masardis, Maine

Rest and recovery day, I spent most of it immersed in books or asleep.

Accomplishments and Observations:
1) Baked bannock in reflector oven

Initial Reflections:
I slept 12 hours last night and am feeling much better for it. Today emphasized the importance of getting proper sleep in the bush.

JMB Spring Term Day 20

Date: May 09, 2009
Location: JMB, Masardis, Maine

Today was the end of the week 3, the "River Guide" course. We spent the morning doing rope work. We set up another tripod, built a winch, and practiced knots. After lunch I went onto the Aroostook to practice poling the rip.

Accomplishments and Observations:
1) Practiced clove hitch and larks head
2) Built "flipflop" winch
3) Set small tripod
4) Practiced downstream pole ferry and rip poling

Initial Reflections:
I am still having trouble pole ferrying in deep water. My shallow poling continues to improve.

Current Reflections:
I was actually amazed by the flipflop winch. I hadn't realized there was a mechanism for employing such strong forces so winches were a pleasant surprise! 

JMB Spring Term Day 19

Date: May 08, 2009
Location: JMB, Masardis, Maine

As it rained last night today was another adventure in wet weather fire lighting. I found what seemed to be an appropriate tree for feather sticks. After felling it and bringing the top section back to camp I carved feather sticks. Before lunch we made net bags for water bottles. After lunch we went onto the Aroostook to work on poling. We poled up and down a section of rip a number of times. On the same section we tried lining the canoe up and down stream.

Accomplishments and Observations:
1) Made 2nd feather sticks
2) Made 1st net bag
3) Poled and snubbed a rip 5 times
4) Down stream pole ferry across Aroostook
5) Lined canoe

Initial Reflections:
Today's feather sticks were worse than the first ones. The log was too damp and the shavings were poor. The net bag is actually really useful and a great thing to know. I "got" poling today. Everything from earlier this week clicked and I could actually pole properly. I saw a varying hare again, I think its the same individual.

Current Reflections:
It was a great relief to have less canoe rage at this point. As I mentioned, I was getting quite frustrated about the whole boat situation but today helped correct that. Spending some time poling the same rip repeatedly was a valuable practice experience. I guess just like any physical task, getting to try the same thing over and over again to refine your approach helps your body learn.
My crappy feather sticks did a good job of highlighting the importance of being well experienced in essential bushcraft skills. If someone has a purely intellectual understanding of feather sticks (through books and youtube) the result could very easily be like my crappy failsticks. You need the experience for the places in between the "skills", like which trees are actually going to work and how to change your shaving technique depending on the wood.

JMB Spring Term Day 18

Date: May 07, 2009
Location: JMB, Masardis, Maine


The first part of the day was spent on the river. We paddled down the Aroostook and polled up part of Squapan stream. The stream ended up being too low, even for poling, so we turned around. We poled back up to our launch site and returned to camp. At camp we made a pile of "doughnuts" (deep fried bannock) followed by a presentation on map and compass navigation. For dinner we cooked pork and potatoes in the dutch oven.

Accomplishments and Observations:
1) Poled up stream successfully (Squapan)
2) Made doughnuts
3) Learned orientation principles
4) Cooked pork in a dutch oven


5) Saw moose, red fox, and varying hare

Initial Reflections:
I made it up the slow shallow Squapan successfully but I had a really hard time on the Aroostook. I read through a poling aritcle and I think I can make some positive changes to my technique tomorrow.

Current Reflections:
The "really hard time" I had on the Aroostook was frustrating. I wasn't getting something in poling and I couldn't convince the canoe to go upriver.  My emotion control was slipping away from me and I think I was dehydrated. It wasn't a scene or anything but I was quite annoyed. Getting upset just makes everything more difficult in an awful positive feedback cycle. I feel like I learned quite a bit about myself by going through that experience.

JMB Spring Term Day 17

Date: May 06, 2009
Location: JMB, Masardis, Maine



The rain kept us at camp today. In the morning we reestablished a kitchen area that was used last year. We put in a new crossbeam and covered it with a tarp. We had a lesson on setting up tripods and how to use cooking rigs. After lunch we carved pot hooks for cooking over the fire. I built a jig for sharpening my still unfinished crooked knife. I started working on ma new longer bucksaw frame but it won't be finished until tomorrow.

Accomplishments and Observations:
1) restored part of the camp
2)carved pot hook
3)made sharpening jig
4)starting bucksaw frame #2

Initial Reflections:
I need to be careful about accumulating too many unfinished projects! I will try to get either my bucksaw frame or crooked knife done tomorrow.

Current Reflections:
Not accumulating unfinished projects is a good idea for my life in general! I have a tendency to get "excited".

I found working on camp infrastructure to be quite interesting. I think setting up a good long term camp is one of those experiential bushcraft skills that is hard to train without actually spending the time in the bush (vs. flint knapping, knots, etc). Having a quality tarp covered cooking area with a solid cooking apparatus makes a big difference in your quality of life. If you can cook on the fire (with said apparatus) the need for modern gear like stoves is greatly reduced. Good times.

JMB Spring Term Day 16

Date: May 05, 2009
Location: JMB, Masardis, Maine
In the morning we reviewed some basics like axes, sharpening, and spark fire. After that we put the canoes in at the Ashland trading post on the Aroostook River. We went over the particulars of river safety and how to ballast the canoes. The process involved a lot more work on both paddling and poling. Poling up river was new as was ferrying with pole and paddle. We left the Aroostook right down the road from JMB. I baked sourdough bisuits in a reflector oven before dinner.

Accomplishments and Observations:
1) Learned river safety
2) Learned up river poling
3) Learned ferrying (pole and paddle)
4) Improved J-stroke and poling on flat water
5) Baked in reflector oven

Initial Reflections:
Today went much better than yesterday. My basic pole and paddle technique improved but I had a hard time with pole ferrying and poling upstream.

Current Reflections:
I think this was the first day of a positive feeling about canoe travel. I was pretty frustrated after the previous day and this experience was a nice change. These positive feelings were not consistently maintained (as you will see soon enough), but I started to get the feeling I could do it.

JMB Spring Term Day 14 and 15

Summary:
Day 14 was spent in transit.

Date: May 04, 2009
Location: JMB, Masardis, Maine, USA
Day 12:
First thing today was making rope from an orange plastic cord using a crank. Afterword we reviewed some knots for use with canoes. Most of the day was spent on Squapan Lake in canoes. We worked on basic paddling and poling.

Accomplishments and Observations:
1) Made a rope
2) Reviewed non-inverting slippery bowline, slippery bowline, and slippery sheet bend
3) Learned J and knifing J
4) Learned basic poling
5) Harassed porcupine

Initial Reflections:
I did very poorly in the canoe today. It was a bit better near the end but I was generally awful.

Current Reflections:
Kinesthetic tasks usually take a me a while to figure out and canoes are no exception. If memory serves the next series of "Initial Reflections" involve lots of woe and self pity. Its ok, things got better later. Building a rapport with boats can take a while. I didn't find anything intuitive about making the boat heed my requests so I had to spin around in circles until things started making sense.
Porcupines are cute.

JMB Spring Term Day 13

Date: May 02, 2009
Location: Wolfboro Falls, Newhampsire, USA


Sourdough pancakes. There was a brief incident involving high heat and large quantities of bacon grease, lesson learned. We spent most of the day working on crooked knives, filing the bevels, carving handles, hardening and tempering. All that is left is a bit of handle shaping, lashing, and sharpening. We also loaded canoes onto the canoes onto the trailing. We go back to Masardis tomorrow.

Accomplishments and Observations:
1) Made sourdough pancakes
2) Finished crooked knife shaping
3) (Mostly) finished crooked knife handle

Initial Reflections:
After some more practice I discovered I could file more efficiently in a different position. I cut myself twice today, both in moments of frustration.  Staying calm and concentrating are vital.

Current Reflections:
Its funny how true all the tool safety information about "not working tired/angry/drunk" actually is. I didn't get seriously cut ever but the only times I got cut at all were strange unsafe positions when I was frustrated. The time I remember was trying to cut a branch for the knife handle. I was perched half way up a small tree and definitely not in a proper knife use position. I guess it was one of those lessons I needed to learn for myself. Ah well, better a Mora knife than a table saw!

JMB Spring Term Day 11 and 12

Summary:
Day 11 was spent in transit.

Date: May 01, 2009
Location: Wolfboro Falls, Newhampsire, USA

Day 12:
We began with a lesson in sourdough baking, pancakes in specific. The lesson was expanded to include baking sourdough biscuits and bannock. The rest of the day was spent converting mill bastard files into crooked knives.

Accomplishments and Observations:

1) Learned the basics of sourdough baking
2) Baked sourdough biscuits
3) Baked bannock
4) Annealed file
5) (mostly) finished shaping crooked knife
6) Humanure bucket emptying demo

Initial Reflections:
Sourdough baking is better than I expected it to be. Using sourdough seems both practical and delicious. Shaping this file is taking a very long time, I must remember to look into other low-tech solutions.

Current Reflections:
Sourdough biscuits really are delicious. I find myself craving them on a fairly regular basis.
This day was my first introduction to blacksmithing of any sort. I would definitely like to do more in the future. There is only one place teaching any blacksmithing locally (that I have found). I should probably get my act together and take a class!

http://www.burnabyvillagemuseum.ca/EN/main/programs/by-series/public-programs/at-the-forge.html

JMB Spring Term Day 10

Date: April 27, 2009
Location: JMB, Masardis, Maine, USA

Summary:
The shelter I slept in last night was comfortable. The space was cramped but it was warm and dry. In the morning we felled some trees. My first felling got caught up in some other trees but the work to free it was quite informative. Afterword we made fish spears. The rest of the day was devoted to stalking and awareness. 

Accomplishments and Observations:
1) Spent the night in a tunnel shelter
2) Learned approach to troubleshoot felling
3) Made 1st fish spear
4) Practiced stalking
5) Practiced wide angle vision

Initial Reflections:
The shelter went really well and clearly illustrated the value of a tarp. I was very interested in the stalking exercises but they obviously require extensive practice. Tomorrow we leave for a few days to Tim's property in New Hampshire.

Current Reflections:
The shelter really was comfortable. It was below zero but I awoke toasty and dry, good times! Getting exposed to some basic stealth and awareness exercises did a good job of highlighting how deep hunting is as a skill set. I was aware, prior to this experience, of the importance of animal behavior and marksmanship but I hadn't really considered the stealth/awareness aspects in much detail. I can see now how long it would take to truly internalize and develop those approaches to moving in the bush and how that would alter hunt success.

JMB Spring Term Day 9

Date: April 26, 2009
Location: JMB, Masardis, Maine, USA

Summary:
I managed to get more felling practice in the morning before much of the day had begun. The rest of the morning was spent looking at potential camp sites down by the river. We worked on land navigation to get us there and back again. After lunch we built the shelters we will be spending the night in. These shelters went up much faster than the quadpods. The day ended with a "plant of the day" and dinner.

Accomplishments and Observations:
1) Felled 2 trees
2) Started a large 1-match fire
3) Worked on navigation by sun position
4) Found hare, grouse, and black bear scat
5) Built a shelter (looks kind of like a bivy sack made from a bough bed, alder saplings, and a tarp)
6) PotD entry for Coptis trifolia (goldthread)

Initial Reflections:
My felling is getting much better. I corrected an angle problem I was having and it made a big difference. Our trip to the new camp site made it apparent why rivers were the highways of the bush as the bush is "dense". I think the shelter sleeping will go well tonight. The temperature is supposed to drop to around -7C but I will have a sleeping bag so it should be ok.


Current Reflections:
The real accomplishment today was the 1-match fire, I think it was my first.  I think the "secret" that this jump (10-match fires to 1-match) represents is really an issue of patience. I kept trying to "force" the fire to start before I had everything in its right place. When I chilled out and took the time to get all my fuel stages properly aligned things got much easier.

JMB Spring Term Day 8

Date: April 26, 2009
Location: JMB, Masardis, Maine, USA

Summary:
The main project of the day was tweaking and putting the finishing touches on our saws. My saw is now completely finished. After lunch we went into Presque Isle for supplies. I secured a prepaid cellphone. On the way back we stopped by the Ashland logging museum and were given an extensive tour. 

Accomplishments and Observations:
1) Totally finished saw frame
2) Coated axe (linseed oil and turpentine)
3) Visited Ashland logging museum

Initial Reflections:
The logging museum was interesting, the tour guide was on the board of directors and was very knowledgeable.

Current Reflections:
 I was shocked by the contrast, after a week in the bush, of being back in an urban area. Considering that urban area was the bustling metropolis of Presque Isle I can only imagine how it would feel to go straight into a big city. It felt like my mind had begun adapting to the different pace and sensory experience of the bush. I find the psychological part of spending time in the bush interesting, I can really feel the different after a week or so.

This reminds me that I should do some work on my axe. It has been lingering in my closet for a while and needs some work.

JMB Spring Term Day 7

Date: April 26, 2009
Location: JMB, Masardis, Maine, USA

Summary:
Wind. I was forced awake to reinforce my shelter because the tarp was actually blowing off. This morning was time for building atlatls. I made an atlatl and one dart. It worked better than I would have expected. In the afternoon we built saw frames.

Accomplishments and Observations:
1) Built an atlatl and one dart
2) Built a saw frame
3) Practiced with atlatl

Initial Reflections:
The atlatl was great and worked well. I would like to work with them further. The saw frame was quite challenging. Carving surfaces to be flat is, in particular, quite difficult. The end result of the saw frame functioned and was acceptable.

Current Reflections:
The atlatl really did work well in terms of time invested. A few shaped pieces of wood and a (very basic) stone point gave me a baseline projectile. One would certainly want a lot of experience with atlatls before getting too confident with accuracy. Even well made atlatls take time to build accuracy and I would not call my first atlatl "well made"! The limited range also means you would want to have a good handle on stalking. These aren't complaints, I think atlatls are fascinating tools.
The saw frame was a surprisingly difficult carving project. As I mentioned in my "initial reflections" carving something to be proper flat is hard. It is not a difficult task with a plane but knife carving that surface requires great control. The other difficulty was dealing with the tension in a saw frame. The whole set up must be bound in such a way that the tension keeps the saw blade taut. It was an interesting task and a great way to lower pack weight and/or build in redundancy.

JMB Spring Term Day 6

Date: April 25, 2009
Location: JMB, Masardis, Maine, USA

Summary:
I spent last night in the quad-pod. The experience was valuable and it taught me a lot about open shelter building. The primary lessons revolved around the distance between the shelter and the fire and the size/type of fire wood. The fire had to be managed every hour or two so little sleep was had. At 6am I moved to my normal shelter that had my sleeping bag in it. The rest of the day was an "off" day.

Accomplishments and Observations:
1) Slept in 1st quad-pod
2) Read "Craftsmen of Necessity"
3) Explored the importance of a good nights sleep

Initial Reflections:
My body was in need of a day off. My hands are in pretty rough shape and I was really tired from staying in the quad-pod. All things considered, the shelter kept me alive and let me get some legitimate sleep, a success.

Current Reflections:
My quad-pod experience was definitely of the "learning from your mistakes" variety. Three years later I have a much clearer memory of the things I did wrong than the things I did right. I think the actual shelter part of the set up was pretty good, though it wasn't tested against rain. I couldn't feel much air movement and I didn't feel like I was losing a lot of heat through my bed. The space between my bed and the fire was too large. I wasn't getting enough heat from the fire and that caused me to get cold around every hour or so (as soon as the fire died significantly). I also made the, very silly, mistake of putting a very large (still wet) log on the fire thinking that it would dry out over night and eventually burn up... this is not what happened. Instead the big log just sucked heat out of my fire all night long, it was "not great". Its amazing how many little lessons there are in a task like shelter building.

JMB Spring Term Day 5

Date: April 24, 2009
Location: JMB, Masardis, Maine, USA

Summary:
The rain and wind had passed by morning. Breakfast was followed by work more work on knots. After lunch we built braces for the group shelter's stove pipe as it had blown down the day before. The rest of the day was spent building "quad-pod" shelters. The other student and I are each on one side of a long fire. We will be spending the night in these shelters without sleeping bags.

Accomplishments and Observations:
1) Learned three new knots:
      i) prusik
      ii) constrictor
      iii) square
2) felled 2nd tree (Thuja occidentalis - white cedar)
3) made braces for stove pipe
4) built 1st quad pod

5) noticeable local increase in bird and insect activity
6) tadpoles now in ponds and stream
7) shown how to make basic sundial

Initial Reflections:
There really seems to be a lot more birds active today. Shelter is a huge amount of work. I was chopping carrying and weaving boughs for most of the day. It will be interesting to see how this turns out.

Current Reflections:
Going through the process of actually building a shelter (vs just reading about it) really highlights the complexity of the task. There are a lot of variables to consider and balance. One has to account for wind, rain, convective and conductive heat loss, proximity to fire, and other local considerations. Actually building a quadpod made me uncomfortable with my previous stance of "oh, that looks easy enough.... I'm sure I could build one if I really needed to...". My view shifted considerably after this day. My stance is now,

If you haven't done it, assume you can't do it in the bush.

JMB Spring Term Day 4

Date: April 23, 2009
Location: JMB, Masardis, Maine, USA

Summary:
Woke up to heavy rain this morning. I took a shot at getting a fire going but the tinder was too damp and I couldn't make it last. The rain and wind kept us inside all day. We review our canoe trip plans and created some contingency plans if something goes awry. The rest of the day was spent on nature study.

Accomplishments and Observations:
1) Found a 7" spotted salamander
2) Worked on canoe trip plans
3) Nature study on Salvelinus fontinalis (brook trout)
4) Read H.A. Rey's "Stars"

Initial Reflections:
It is surprising the degree to which weather effects your daily life when you live outdoors. I find myself immensely thankful for things like the angle of my shelter to the wind.
The "Stars" book was interesting as I had no previous knowledge of astronomy. I feel I could now extract quite a bit more information from the night sky.
The spotted salamander was found trapped in a deep footprint in the snow. It hardly reacted to being picked up but disappeared soon after being placed under a tree out of the snow.

Current Reflections:
Weather seems to be one of the major mechanisms through which we "synch up" with the land. I was used to ignoring the weather and going about whatever business I had previously arranged. There was a strange kind of communion to following the rhythm of things and altering my plans in accordance with the weather. 

JMB Spring Term Day 3

Date: April 22, 2009
Location: JMB, Masardis, Maine, USA

Summary:
I took another walk to the river after waking up. This was followed by breakfast and an entire morning spent on knots. It had just rained so lunch became an impromptu lesson on starting and maintaining fires in wet conditions.. After lunch we did our "plant of the day" nature study and carved bow drills.

Accomplishments and Observations:
1) Learned 3 knots: i) jam knot
                              ii) slippery sheet bend
                              iii) non-inverting slippery bowline
2) added Thuja occidentalis (yellow cedar) to herbarium
3) carved bow drill (Thuja occidentalis)
4) got 2nd bow drill coal (I had only managed this once previous to the course)

Initial Reflections:
Knots are hard. It will take a lot of consistent practice to internalize these knots. Lighting fires when everything is wet is also hard! I am interested to see what strategies are available in temperate rainforest to combat the  wet, both in terms of fire and bush life generally.

Current Reflections:
I found (and continue to find) knots quite challenging. On top of the obvious practical use of knots, the process of learning them is important for my self knowledge. Like most people I have a tendency to prefer tasks that come easily to me. As knots are a challenge to learn they are useful for building my patience and gaining a better understanding of how I learn.

As someone who lives in the rainforest I really enjoyed learning wet weather fire skills. It seems like much of the challenge of living in the temperate rainforest is dealing with the wet. We may not spend much of the year below zero but soaking wet at 6 degrees is "not fun".

JMB Spring Term Day 2

Date: April 21, 2009
Location: JMB, Masardis, Maine, USA

Summary:
I began the day with some solo nature observation down by the river. After breakfast we worked on spark ignition and the use of cotton balls in vaseline as tinder. An introduction to saws was next but we were forced inside by heavy rains. Instead of saws, Tim gave a presentation on wilderness survival and its relationship to bushcraft. Following this was time spent on nature study, specifically the "mammal of the week". After lunch we moved to the newly built common shelter and worked on carving netting needles.


Accomplishments and Observations:
1) ignited cottonballs in vaseline with sparks
2) listened to survival presentation
3) nature study on Lepus americanus (snowshoe hare)
4) limbed portion of hardwood tree
5) carved netting needle

Initial Reflections:
The survival presentation was very useful. I feel I have a better grasp on plan and gear priorities. My netting needle was poor but my carving improved through the process. I couldn't make sparks with the back of my knife because the edges are rounded, I must remember to file them flat.


Current Reflections:
Carving the nettling needle was quite a challenge. My previous woodworking experience was of the chisel/plane variety with very little knife based carving. I was having problems because of the width of the end blade on Mora knife I was using. The blade was narrow and I was inexperienced, so maintaining my grip for fine carving was a difficult. I switched to a slightly larger Mora and the problem went away.  I think this was a skill based problem and not a knife based problem. Tim has larger hands than I and he used that same knife with no problem.

This was also my first real exposure to why I wouldn't want to do fine work (like carving a netting needle) with a large knife. I think it would be very difficult to have the kind of control required to do the carving work efficiently with a large knife. By "large knife" I'm talking bowie/tacticool size, not just the "larger Mora" I was discussing previously. I guess what I should do is buy a large knife and try it myself!

JMB Spring Term Day 1

Date: April 20, 2009
Location: JMB, Masardis, Maine, USA

Summary:
Today was the first day of the JMB Spring Term. After a breakfast of bacon and oatmeal we started on basic axe-work We worked on felling, limbing and sectioning. This also included a lot of work on stance, positioning and safety.
After lunch we got an introduction to wet weather fire ignition. This involved finding an appropriate dead tree which we returned to camp for sectioning. From this dead tree we made and ignited feather sticks.
Following this was an introduction to the nature study curriculum and a plant walk. Dinner was rice and lentils cooked in a solar oven.

Accomplishments and Observations:
1) Felled my first tree (Abies balsamea / balsam fir)
2) Limbed two trees for my shelter floor
3) Made first feather sticks
4) Added Abies balsamea specimen to my herbarium
5) Carved simple knife for spreading jam on a sandwich

Initial Reflections:
I butchered my first felling and sectioning jobs, though the second sectioning was noticeably better than the first. My feather sticks worked but there is lots of room for improvement.

Current Reflections:
This day was a big deal for me. I had spent very little time working with an axe prior to this course so spending the first day with an axe in my hand left an impression on me. Felling, limbing, and sectioning are all a lot of work and those three tasks were precursors to many other jobs around camp. It was quickly obvious that trying to live in the forest without a good axe was not a great idea. It was enough work with an axe, I would not be keen to try them with a big knife.

Note: Feather sticks are a great tool of specific importance for those of us living in wet ecosystems. If you live in temperate rainforest you should have a handle on feather sticks.