It did not take me long before i was seriously impressed with Woodsmoke, the location is stunning and feels wilder than in many bushcraft schools, the staff were friendly and most definately kindred spirits but most of all what struck me was the honesty of the place, company and business.
I pride myself on being honest, what you see is what you get, I feel its the only fair way to be and i loathe any form of manipulation particularly selfish bullshit.
The passion the people at Woodsmoke for the land parralells my own and reminds me of how i used to be and how i long to be again and their knowledge runs deep, i was humbled and inspired to learn more and work hard.
So that is what i did, i worked hard (I was embaressed at how unfit i was) and i opened my eyes and ears to learn what i could from everyone around me, from the students, from the staff and from the land. I did learn, i learnt a lot specifics about various fungi, teaching techniques, knots and so on but also about myself, about how little i know and how passionate i am, what i must do and what i allready have done. The negatives and the positives.
I know i would dearly love to work with kindred spirits like woodsmoke and that they are a true rarity, if anyone would like to go to a bushcraft school or learn a course i can not recomend them highly enough.
http://www.woodsmoke.uk.com/
This is not some ploy in the hope that this will be read and that i can persuade them to take me on, i am not like that. I was honest and the staff heard me talk about my passion for the land, they may not know how deep that runs but it does not matter.
I want to learn, i love the land and i wish to learn as much as i can, then i wish to teach others what i have learnt so that they may create a bond with the land, with things lost to us...there is too much i wish to say and just now i can not find the words
If it isn't raining it aint training!
