 It's not difficult to make a flint and steel fire, with a fire making kit and these easy to follow instructions: To make a flint and steel fire, you need:
A tinder bundle: a big handful of dry grass, dry leaves, or similar – made into a ‘nest’. Ensure your fire bed (or fire tepee) is ready and prepared with kindling / twigs / wood of various sizes, and ready to accept your burning tinder. How to use flint and steel These instructions are for right-handers. The opposite works for left-handers: During the summer months, you can find an array of wild flowers on the South Downs that are useful for a range of health complaints, as well as being vital for wildlife. Local herbalist Lucinda Warner took us up onto the South Downs to forage for wild plants that make useful herbal medicine. Here are 12 of the wild plants that she showed us, and their uses. We may include an activity like this as part of our outdoor team building and away day programmes for leaders and teams, it can offer useful learning.  1. St Johns Wort (Hypericum)
Yellow flowers with tiny black dots. Leaves have tiny holes in, which are actually glands. St John's Wort is good for nerve pain and sciatica (make an oil and rub it in, or use in a hand or foot bath). Because it has an affinity with nerves, it's good for depression where there's an anxious element. It's antiviral, so useful against shingles, herpes, and cold sores. It is not a deeply relaxing herb, but it feeds the nervous system. Good for burns, sunburn, nappy rash and skin healing - make a tea, when cold use as compress. Caution: if you're on pharmaceuticals, or if you're on the pill - don't take it, as St John's Wort clears your system really quickly. |
Author & CuratorNigel Berman is the founder of School of the Wild. |
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