Wealden Times | WT170 | April 2016 | Garden supplement inside

WT Garden Supplement
The
Green
Goddess
Penny Kemp
on bushcraft
and learning to
live with and
understand
nature
When I think of Bushcraft skills, my mind automatically
turns to the likes of Bear Grylls pushing celebrities
to breaking point on a mission to outwit nature
and survive in an artificial situation, eating all manner of
unsavoury things. Or the more absurd Ant and Dec I’m a
Celebrity – Get me Out of Here!, where celebrities are made
to do the weirdest trials in order to gain votes from viewers.
I can’t make up my mind whether they are willing victims or
just get paid enormous amounts of money (up to half a million
pounds, we are told) to endure bush-tucker trials where they are
seen to eat delicacies such as kangaroo testicles or cockroaches.
Another trial involved sitting in a glass tank full of rats whilst
another celebrity had forty pythons writhing over her.
So it is surprising to learn that here in Kent, in the small village
of Egerton, hundreds of people gather each May bank holiday to
pitch a tent and practise and share their ‘bushcraft’ skills. But it is
not like Bear Grylls and Ant and Dec programmes, it is learning
to live with and understand nature. According to Steve Kirk,
editor of The Bushcraft Magazine and expert wild-food forager:
“Bushcraft is a knowledge of the wild and skill in its ways. In
other words, the sort of things you would need to know if you
love to spend long periods of time outdoors.” He likens it to the
Scouts, Guides and Woodcraft Folk, who learn how to make
fires, track animals, improvise and be resourceful outdoors.
Sadly, I never got to be a Guide as I was expelled from
the Brownies for ‘behaviour unbecoming to a Brownie’.
Suffice to say I was a little bit too much of a tom-boy for
the brown-dressed brigade but my daughter was a very wellbehaved
Brownie and gathered many badges, which stood
her in good stead for the Duke of Edinburgh Award.
Steve Kirk emphasises that the May weekend is not aimed at
hard-core survivalists but is a family occasion with activities for
everyone, including the young, with evening storytelling and
star-gazing. A team of experienced instructors will teach you how
to carve a wooden spoon, make a fire using just friction, source
free food on a foraging expedition and live in harmony with nature.
As Steve says, “in a society that is being de-skilled,
we are keeping traditional knowledge alive and we
want to share it with as many people as we can”.
If you want to find out more about the bushcraft weekend,
contact Steve at steve@bushcraft-magazine.co.uk or call 01233
756515 or visit the website www.bushcraft-magazine.co.uk
Prices start at £75 for the weekend. Treading lightly
on this beautiful planet can never be a bad thing.
31 www.wealdentimes.co.uk
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