Major reconstruction at the village house. I’m quite a laissez faire sort of person, and I do like having a wild garden, but when functionality ceases to function it’s time to make some changes. In this case it was some quite major and expensive changes to the front of the property. We also had toContinue reading “Building Walls and Levelling Hills – reconstructing a country cottage and garden”
Tag Archives: survival
Great White Stork eating a snake in my garden (actually a Slow Worm)
The biodiversity of the Slovak Carpathians is incredible. The Great White Stork (Ciconia ciconia) is an annual visitor, and many villages even provide large nesting poles for them in order to prevent them nesting on chimneys. Because they are a protected species, these massive birds have no fear of humans and can often be quiteContinue reading “Great White Stork eating a snake in my garden (actually a Slow Worm)”
Lessons Learned From 2020 – Post Covid Reflections on the Past, Present and Future
Our lives changed. Our priorities changed. Many things we understood to be normal reality disappeared or became affected to such an extent that they became some weird dystopian version of their original form. Now, in May of 2021, I reflect on some of these changes and how the pandemic, and global reactions to it, affectedContinue reading “Lessons Learned From 2020 – Post Covid Reflections on the Past, Present and Future”
10 Best Songs About Freedom – music to inspire you to be free
Music is an excellent medium to promote the concept of freedom and liberty as it is easy to express the emotions which being free and feeling free conjure up. I have chosen ten of what I believe to be the best songs for expressing the notion of how to be free – either being freeContinue reading “10 Best Songs About Freedom – music to inspire you to be free”
Snow Trench – The Quickest Winter Survival Shelter?
A blizzard is coming in and you’re out there in the wilderness. You need to quickly build some sort of shelter to protect you from the elements, snow, windchill and freezing temperatures, to keep you safe during the night. Using only the basic equipment most hikers or outdoors adventurers would have on them, I showContinue reading “Snow Trench – The Quickest Winter Survival Shelter?”
Creepy Forest Ghost Spot Creature
No idea what this is: A strange object I captured on the trail cam in the forest (photo frames, not video). It appears to be about a foot long, vertical and consists of 5 small equidistant ‘spots’. Bizarrely, it’s in the same location that we had a tree come crashing down in front ofContinue reading “Creepy Forest Ghost Spot Creature”
New year, new wheels
It’s been a while since I last posted and a lot has happened. Thanks to the new wood stove we could stay at the house over Christmas and New Year at a livable although not comfortable temperature. New Year’s Eve was minus 15 Celsius and that was hard going. The stove now allows us toContinue reading “New year, new wheels”
Bushcraft Magazine Autumn Article
The Autumn issue of Bushcraft Magazine is out. They’ve included an article of mine on the benefits and techniques of Trail cam usage as both a learning tool for and a moral alternative to trapping. Go order a copy. As usual, the magazine is beautifully printed. Support real bushcrafters – those dedicated to sustaining ancientContinue reading “Bushcraft Magazine Autumn Article”
Czechoslovak VZ-58 bayonet
Yesterday I was driving into Bardejov when I noticed a village pub having some sort of flea market. Most of the stuff on sale was dire but one bloke had some interesting old military memorabilia. There were quite a few WW2 German badges and some old socialist Czechoslovak uniforms but his big box of bayonetsContinue reading “Czechoslovak VZ-58 bayonet”
Old hunting skills for new technology
It is man’s nature to kill, for he is the enemy of all animal life. AR Harding Recently, I’ve been reading up on wolf trapping techniques. I have no plan whatsoever to trap wolves but the skills required are virtually the same for using a trail camera. While I’ve already managed to ‘capture’ most ofContinue reading “Old hunting skills for new technology”
