Home From Home
If we can keep clean in the Woods, we can keep clean anywhere!
During the Summer, one wise spirit proposed that those of us interested in learning some bushcraft skills take part in a course.
About 12 of us signed up for a 1 day experience, which proved to be insightful, educational, and enjoyable.
The purpose of the day in the Wood was to rediscover how to work with nature, for example:
- by foraging for materials to make fire from scratch
- making useful string from nettle stems
- learning some nutritional and curative properties of plants
All while keeping clean, staying safe around camp, and building up our tribal spirit!
Location: a little Wood, in beautiful Essex farmland.
Instructor: a calm, good humoured, knowledgeable man named David.
Weather: a beautiful, dry Summer day.
Once we had found our way to the site, parked and walked alongside a grainfield towards the Wood, a world of joy & curiosity opened up to us. In a small clearing in the Wood was Basecamp, which was to be our classroom, living room and kitchen, all-in-one!
Our Instructor had prepared a great welcome in the form of a blazing wood fire bounded by stones.
Heating over the fire was a kettle suspended, by an adjustable chain, from a traditional iron tripod.
Away from the fire were plenty of logs and benches to sit upon and the entire space sheltered under an amazing nylon parachute canopy, suspended from the trees.
To one side were our water supply (a big jerry can), hand washing facilities and a few lidded boxes of tools and camp essentials.
In creating a home, human beings require shelter, water, food and fuel sources for heating, light and cooking.
In camp, the trees and other plants were already providing us with shade and shelter; with fire kindling and fuel (from moss, dried twigs, leaves and branches) and just as importantly, a calm space for our spirits to expand.
Our home from home made possible the following life supports:
- Hand Hygiene
- Making Hot Drinks, Cooking
- First Aid
- Toilet Arrangements
1. Hand Hygiene
Hand washing facilities comprised a steel basin left at the base of a tree, some liquid antibacterial soap & a fresh towel hanging from a branch.
Dirty water from washing-up was simply discarded onto some nettles away from where we could walk or slip.
For a longer term camp stays, I recommend a separate basin for washing-up the cooking and eating utensils.
Also, a separate container of water just for washing up will leave those on kitchen duty with free access to their own water.
Where sourcing water from rivers & streams, ensure it is UPSTREAM of any clothes, body or other washing locations.
A little bleach, or chlorine dioxide treatment (according to manufacturers instruction) can be used to purify water for drinking. If it’s good fresh running water, boiling alone for drink & food use should be sufficient.
2. Making Hot Drinks, Cooking
Our instructor had provided a well-stocked box of instant teas, coffees and several kinds of biscuits.
There was a cool box for milk and anything else that needed to stay chilled.
As asked, each of us had taken along a packed lunch and our own personal mug and water bottle.
The kettle was filled with fresh water from the jerry can and hung carefully above the flames - using a fireproofed mitt to shield the hand. It didn’t take too long to boil and we enjoyed a couple of hot drink breaks, as well as a lunchtime sitdown that day.
The facility to boil water for drinking, washing or sterilising equipment is a big plus in any camp.
Were we to make an overnight stay in the Wood, we could have cooked dinner in a pan or pot - that is also suspendable from the tripod, just as is the kettle.
An open fire was one common method used to cook - from camp, to cottage, to castle before the coming of modern conveniences.
3. First Aid
Working as we were with knives, and in a world of adventure and chance, it is also essential to have a well-supplied First Aid Kit with enough sterile dressings and date-valid ointments for bites, stings etc.
On our bushcraft day, we had one minor knife cut to the hand, but our kind Instructor personally cleaned and dressed the wound and soon the Free Spirit was good to keep on going!
4. Toilet Arrangements
The Woodland was big enough to provide a dozen people with plenty of privacy and easy places to absorb our #1 waste, urine.
Be careful where you pick ladies, avoiding nettles.
As for our #2s, defecation, this requires even more careful disposal, to prevent contamination and bad smells making life in camp unhygienic and unpleasant!
To deal with #2, take along a trowel or spade to your chosen spot, dig into the earth (as cats do), do our business, and cover over with a couple of inches of soil.
Those who cannot squat down, can fashion a toilet from a bucket, with a bit of earth inside and with some plumber’s insulating foam around the edge to give some cushioning.
Carefully tip out and bury the waste as squatters do.
It is essential to keep this digging zone DOWNHILL of the camp, and away from water sources, to avoid seepage.
Living in harmony with nature, make sure we bury any paper wipes and try using those big dockleaves that often grow alongside patches of nettles!
Being a wild camp with no plumbing, if you feel wild enough, do have a body wash in the shallows of a gently running stream!
Rainwater makes for the best hairwashing water. Easy to say in Summertime, but if there’s plenty of fuel, heat up some water.
Further information on Camp Hygiene, specifically the cone-in-the-ground urinal & latrine construction, is to be found in this excellent book:
Collins Gem SAS Survival Guide, by John ‘Lofty’ Wiseman.
Food waste & biodegradable materials can be composted and dug into the soil as fertilizer.
Kitchen waste water that is ok to use on garden plants may be stored in a container -with a lid for safety- especially if there are curious children and animals around.
Although we aim to reuse as much material as possible, sometimes this is not practical in the wild.
The incineration of waste is another beneficial option in maintaining a clean, tidy living area where vermin are not encouraged.
The practical skills which we gained that July day will stay with us and hopefully be built upon as we progress in life. I hope you can agree that it is relatively easy to keep hygienically clean in the wild with minimal equipment and a little know-how.
Contribution by AM & M - CFS members.