As a child I had one great love, the outdoors. From a young child I would often find myself wandering into the wilderness armed with nothing but a pot, a pocket knife and a first aid kit. Although basic this is what made me content.
Years later, I am still often found in the woods but now I have a child of my own to join me on my adventures. It makes me so happy that I can share my skills with him, and the wider Woodland Ways community.
This blog is about him, our wonderful son and his continued love of the great outdoors, and the wonder of being able to pass on valuable knowledge to future generations.
Dylan's journey started before he was able to understand. He was still very much a newborn baby, when like most parents, the sleepless nights started. The inconsolable crying, the not knowing what to do, for us the one way to fix this was the early morning walks, the feeds in the woods, no matter what the weather the woods seemed to be his happy place and at the age of 8 years old it still continues to be.
We had a few years of wonderful group meets and camps, then came the first phase of lockdown in 2020. Instead of him losing interest in learning new skills and the wonder of the outdoors it seemed to spur him on to want to do more, luckily for us we have a large ancient woodland on our doorstep so our daily walks were never dull. If he wasn't up to his knees in mud and leaves he was in the garden practicing his fire lighting skills, much to his delight as it usually ended up with marshmallows!
Alongside myself, his mum, and the wonderful instruction he has received from the Woodland Ways team he has now learnt the correct, responsible and safe way to use cutting tools and is now well on his way to being able to make some usable wooden items, he is especially proud of his butter knife he made on a recent family course.
As well as his love of nature and being in the woods he has wholeheartedly embraced the ethos of nothing goes to waste. He has a good understanding of where his food comes from and often asks what we can make with wild food when we are on walks and he identifies different edible plants. This is evident when asked what his favourite meal is, his answer is always the same, Pigeon stir fry- Woodland Ways style!
He also has a very impressive collection of bones that he is delighted to show off and is very excited to learn how to tan hide in the coming weeks.
On his recent family course he loved sleeping in his hammock but thoroughly enjoyed sleeping in his natural shelter that he helped us to make although there was room for three he decided it was all for him and we were left to fend for ourselves!
Not so long ago I asked Dylan what he wanted to do when he's older. His answer, work with Woodland Ways of course! Which is what makes us believe he has embraced this way of life at a great age.
Armed with his Journeyman bushcraft canvas pack he's ready to use his knowledge on an international level when we eventually go wild camping in Austria. Only another 10 years of building his skills and you never know. He may just ask Jason to join the apprenticeship, but until then he is looking forward to seeing where his journey is leading and to the amazing places he will go!
We feel the most valuable gift we can give him, and to pass on to all the younger generation is knowledge, the knowledge of forgotten skills and our past heritage.
"Nature is a tool to get children to experience not just the wider world, but themselves." Stephen Moss