Welcome to my blog. This is intended as a journal of my bushcraft experiences. Whether you have found your way here accidently or deliberately, I hope you will find somthing of value on these pages.
Who am I?
Sheng-ji is not my real name, it was a nickname given to me by an old partner of mine - in her language it is a phrase used to describe the growth of a strong and vigourous young tree. She had to leave the country but the name stuck. My real name? Those who should know already do ;)
Why Bushcraft?
I had a variety of Outdoors type hobbies and pursuits when I was young and growing up. I never thought of these activities being remotely linked to one another - one was often a means for another: camping was a means to have multi-day hikes, carving was merely to create a new piece of kit and hiking was to get me to interesting places to take photographs. Then, one day I went to University in Southampton. The culture shock of moving from a rural farming community in Cornwall's Forgotten Corner to the bustling multi-ethnic community of urban Southampton was quite intense for me. Needless to say the combination of new found convieniance and urban pursuits, combined with a complete lack of money and friends who had no interest of knowledge of the countryside led to me abandoning these interests in favour of clubbing, fast food and coursework! Slowly and surely, however, my rural side crept back in. I had a tiny courtyard garden, but I wanted it full of trees so I discovered a talent for bonsai. I missed my hiking but I hooked up with a group of mountain bikers who went for rides round the local woods. Eventually I combined my love of the Outdoors with my city lifestyle.
Ray Mears
A day came when one of my friends mentioned this guy on TV - "Sheng" he said, "You'll love him, its all outdoors stuff". I settle down in front of the box the following week and watch an episode. I watched as this guy told you all about how to survive in some extreme desert with detatched interest, decided it was nice that he didn't mention the SAS once and promptly forgot all about it until sometime last year. This time I switched over to find him talking about the virtues of birch sap. He appeared to be in an english woodland, not teaching you how to survive with just an axe and a piece of rope, he was teaching people like me, who enjoy heading out to the woods, interesting, fun and unextreme things to do. This I liked. I heard the term bushcraft for the first time and decided it was time to head out camping once more.
Cornwall
What with one thing and another, that first camping trip hasn't really happened yet - I found out my father had thrown out my old tent, my canoe had been abused by my younger brother and lay with Davy Jones and my axe had been used to chop firewood for the past decade and was blunt rusty and rotten through! However we have just recently purchased a house in a reasurringly rural part of Cornwall, I have moved down early for a job while the house sale goes through and have been putting together my kit again.
The Weekend
I am planning a trip this weekend to a patch of woodlands I have identified as being suitable for my needs. I am going to hike out there, only a short one, to give me plenty of time to enjoy the camping experience. Then on Sunday, I intend to hike back, hopefully having had a great night, learnt a lot about my new kit (details tomorrow when I have packed it) and most importantly of all, been reaquainted with my old friend, the Outdoors.
