Thursday 18 June 2015

Wild Women



I’ve suspected for a while that if you put a bunch of women into a woodland together then amazing things will happen. I suppose that over the years of running about in the woods with people of all ages, I’ve realised that when women manage to get into the wild there a few things that are quite common: lack of confidence, thinking that outdoors is macho, thinking they won’t be able to ‘do’ it, the belief that outdoor skills are hard.

Thing is, it’s not. There’s actually nothing macho or difficult about firelighting. Although, if you believe the internet or the telly, it’s really complicated and you need to be as rough as guts to achieve anything. Then again, if you believe the internet or the telly…

Occasionally I’ll check out a survival course online or dip into a bushcraft forum and it’s all about the kit and the khaki and the ‘challenge‘ and even I feel intimidated. And I know what I’m doing. So how would a woman who knew nothing about that kind of thing feel? My guess is, she’d run a mile.

Wonder Women Bushcraft
So finally, last September, I got the chance to find out what happens when a group of women gather in the woodlands together when I ran the Wonder Women Bushcraft weekend. No, we didn’t get naked, no we didn’t giggle and talk about boys and no, and you can’t watch (a common request). What happened, right from the start, was that an incredibly supportive and relaxed environment materialised. The age range was twenty-four to sixty-six and everyone managed to light a fire. Easily. And then some.

The women learnt about firewood and different firelighting techniques, and about knifework and tool safety and all the way through they supported and encouraged each other and everyone flourished. I watched as confidence soared, skills were mastered and friendships were formed. The words ‘empowered’ ‘confident’ and ‘self-assured’ floated about over cups of tea by the campfire. It wasn’t about what people were wearing, how they looked or what they had done before. It was about women doing things for themselves, sharing in experiences and stepping off of the treadmill of life.
It was lovely but as I stared at the Waitrose olives and the M&S biscuits, a massive part of me wanted to know if it would be the same if we gathered together a group of women who would never get the chance to do such a thing. What would happen? Would it be any different?

Nine months later and we are 2 weeks into a 6 week pilot project with women from the Bristol Drugs Project. These women are at various stages in their journey to recovery from drug and alcohol misuse. Their lives are messy, there is often violence and they have never been offered the opportunity to do something like this. There is simply nothing along these lines for women, by women.

I have an inkling into what life is like for these women but in reality I have no idea. I’m not interested in whatever label they have been given. I don’t like labels, they encourage preconceptions, whether helpful or not, and quite often what is really underneath the label is a human being who is a little bit lost. It could so easily be you or I. Luckily, there are no labels in the woods, which is what makes it such a restorative place to spend time. Without labels we can’t prejudice, even inadvertently.

In the two sessions that we have spent in the woods we have learnt firelighting, cooked over the campfire, learnt about trees and birdsong. There is a sense of achievement, a sense of camaraderie and a break from the challenges of daily life. The only challenges that are presented to them are ones that are surmountable and fun. 

I have an amazing team of talented, compassionate and dazzling ladies to back me up: Emma, Bec and Nikki who each have their skills and talents and care about this as much as I do. The thought that this will have to come to an end, due to lack of funding, is terrifying. There’s so much to achieve and we already know that we are making a difference. Getting women into woodlands is so empowering, and we will do everything we can to continue. This project is part of my goal to change the perception of women in woodlands. I want to de-macho and demystify the great outdoors and, by doing so, show women that we are capable of enjoying all of the tranquillity and beauty that Nature has to offer.

Friday 22 May 2015

Feast in the woods and dawn raids



I'm off! To Feast in the Woods. Exactly as it sounds. Dawn raid Sunday morning. 5am. Didn't think that through...

I'm hoping it lives up to the photos on its website!


Friday 24 April 2015

National Play Champions

Go Wild are National Play Champions! How exciting! It's all to do with National Children's Day which is on the 17th May.  

Apparently 'Play Champions are children’s centres, playgroups, schools and other settings where children find space and time for play of all kinds – creative, exploratory, imaginative, deep play, rough and tumble play, role play, mastery play – any type of play that involves children's natural creativity and being able to do lots of things without needing to focus on specific, pre-determined outcomes'. Which is a complicated way of saying that Play Champions give children the time and space to explore, create, discover, delve into their imaginations and have fun without telling them what to do... or being scared that they're not learning.

I think the same applies to adults too. 

Monday 20 April 2015

Woohoo! Nature Kits are go!

Take a look at that right there! That's a labour of love that is. After a year of fundraising and planning and writing and spending days and days trawling the internet for a box that was made of recycled materials, the first Go Wild Nature Kit is ready to go! Woohoo!

To be honest, I'm sick of the sight of them at the moment but I'm sure in a couple of weeks I'll feel quite pleased with myself. And my friends. I really do know some talented people who have helped me in all kinds of ways on this journey. Thank you, you lot. You know who you are.

Next step is to get widgets and stuff onto the website so people can buy them. Watch this space!

Thursday 9 April 2015

Focaccia on a campfire

Just take a look at that! That's a rather yummy focaccia that one of my level 3 Forest School trainees made on the campfire this afternoon. There was spelt bread too. And banana bread.

On a separate course, somehow we came up with making bread in a bag and it's all too simple and easy not to share! Read on to find out how to make bread when you're outdoors without getting your hands all sticky.




 To make the bread mix you will need:
  • 500g strong white flour
  • 5g dried yeast
  • 10g fine salt
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 325ml water
  • Semolina flour for cooking
  • Extra salt and oil for finishing
  • A sturdy, sealable food bag (Ikea do great ones)
  • Some kind of water bottle
Method:

  1. DO THIS BIT AT HOME. Put all the dry ingredients into the food bag.
  2. Put the wet ingredients into a water bottle. Go camping.
  3. Once you get where you're going and decide that it's time to start the bread mix off get someone to light a fire and then pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and seal the bag with that little clicky thing at the top, pushing out as much air as possible.
  4. Knead the bread mix through the bag. Give it to the kids, or someone else. It's a lot less boring when you're sat by a fire. You need to do this for about 10 minutes.
  5. Put the bag somewhere warm for an hour or so. Put it under a coat, or in a sleeping bag, or just somewhere off the ground. Remember to check it occasionally to make sure it doesn't explode!
  6. Meanwhile, once the fire has got some good embers going, preheat your oven' by putting the casserole onto the embers and put a few on the top and leave for at least an hour.
  7. Once the bread dough has risen and the oven is hot, open the bag and knock back the dough.
  8. Take the casserole off the fire and remove the lid. Dust the bottom with semolina flour so that the bread dough won't stick. If it goes black instantly your oven is too hot. Tip it out, wait a little and then try again.
  9. Pour the bread dough straight into the casserole, spread out with your fingers and make those little dimples. Sprinkle with posh salt and drizzle with olive oil then put the lid on and put it back into the embers.
  10. Put embers back onto the top of the casserole and leave for about 20 minutes, turning the pot around every 5 minutes to get an even bake.

And at the end of that you should have a lovely loaf of focaccia to munch. If not, it's a good excuse to light a fire and try again!






You will need:
  • A cast iron casserole or dutch oven (with lid)
  • Bread mix
  • Water bottle with oil and water in it

Tuesday 25 November 2014

Dinner under a dinosaur



Not just any old dinosaur, the dinosaur! You know, the one in the National History Museum in London. At night.

And it wasn't just any old meal, it was a Michelin starred meal and it was bloomin' tasty! And a little bit surreal.

It's not often (read: ever) that I get to do anything like that but this was all due to the Paw Prints project we did last week. As I said in that post, it was part of a larger project by Synchronicity Earth to commemorate 50 years of the IUCN Red List. We were in the Natural History Museum for the Biophilia Ball. Have a look below to hear Jessica Sweiden's speech (clever organising lady).


Friday 21 November 2014

Go Wild has gone international!

Muddy leaf art in Bristol
Go Wild has gone international! This week, we've been out in the woods EVERY DAY with a class of Year 5 pupils from Luckwell Primary School in Bristol taking part in the Paw Prints project. The cool thing about this project (apart from the amount of 'Wild Time' we've been getting) is that three other schools have been doing the same activities on the same day - and two of those schools were in DIFFERENT COUNTRIES!

Grassy leaf art in London
So while we've been messing about in the muddy woods in Bristol and another school in London has been carrying out activities in their local, grassy park, a group of students in Tampere, Finland have been braving the cold and the ice, while children in Mogan, Gran Canaria have been doing the same activities in shorts and T-shirts!

Chilly smelly cocktails in Finland
The less glamorous side of things is the weeks of planning that have gone into producing lesson plans that work in different seasons, climates and habitats while still teaching the children about ecosystems, using all of their senses. I love a challenge and I enjoyed every minute of it!

Activities included recording sound postcards in the dark, making mud faces on trees, creating ephemeral leaf art, meeting trees, making smelly cocktails... The children then uploaded photos that they had taken of the activities onto a website that had been created for the project and had a look at what the other schools had been doing.

Hot smelly cocktails in Gran Canaria
This project was run as a part of a larger initiative from Synchronicity Earth to mark 50 years of the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. The aim was to inspire the next generation of environmental custodians by getting them to explore and understand their local ecosystems.

If you would like to have a go yourself, whether you are a teacher or a parent, you can download the lesson plans from the Paw Prints Website.