Great Tree Workshops @ Rossport Camp House

mayo | eu | news report Wednesday January 19, 2011 17:49 by Rossport Solidarity camp

Wow what a weekend. Our winter skill share has just finished and I still have the taste of loads of different wild foods in my mouth and the ringing of the chainsaw in my ears. We all had a brilliant time, here's a few photos and a little bit of what we got up to.

Saturday kicked off with a food foraging walk. After only walking a few meters we'd found a whole load of leaves, reeds, fungi, flowers and roots that where totally edible (some were even tasty!) and also had loads uses. Here's a few I can remember – Gorse and Heather flowers for salads, Reeds for broth thickener and survival food and plantain for putting on open wounds.

In the afternoon we split into two groups. One group went indoors for a darning and knitting work shop where plenty of socks and trousers were repaired and loads of blankets and scarfs where started. Outside we had a chainsaw safety and skill demonstration. We learned how to make mortise and tenon joints using only a chainsaw and how to cut a tree down safely.

That evening we all watched the documentary Farms for the future where Wildlife film maker Rebecca Hosking investigates how to transform her family's farm in Devon into a low energy farm for the future, and discovers that nature holds the key.
The film can be seen online here http://www.viddler.com/explore/PermaScience/videos/4/
To end a brilliant day we played games and music, the bag pipes didn’t end till 2 or 3am!!

Despite very windy conditions we still managed to plant loads of trees on Sunday morning. We planted Willow ( to soak up water and to make baskets and hurdles with), Ash (as it makes great fire wood), Scots pine (as a wind break and for timber) and Blackthorn( for sloe berry's and as a windbreak also).
Sunday afternoon we made loads of bars of soap that were plant based. We tied ribbons around the soap bars, they made great little gifts. We then watched the film “A history of oil,” that was full of amazing facts about the Britain and American governments continuous war against Iraq for oil. It can be found here http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-52676408657418...8159#

The whole weekend was only possible with the help of Euans most excellent parents. His dad Jim, who knows so much about wild food, use's for plants, trees and wood work and is an amazing character with more great stories than you can shake chainsaw at. Euan's Mum Lynn, who taught us darning and knitting and soap making and was really lovely and caring. Thanks so much for coming up.
The next Skill Share will be the Anarcho Feminist Weekend starting on Saturday the 19th. Check the website for more info

The Camp