Encountering a Wolf Pack

uprooted

I'd just rounded a fallen spruce tree that was blocking the old logging road about a kilometre from our house when I found myself in the midst of a pack of about a dozen wolves. They'd been chasing our two dogs (who had been running ahead of me) and had arrived at the spruce tree at the same time as myself.  Utterly surprising to both parties, and there were minutes spent just milling about, uncertain as to what came next.  Our two dogs, courage boosted by this pause, decided to turn and give chase themselves.  The wolves turned, ran for a bit, then turned back to resume their pursuit.  This happened three times, with the wolves stopping just before they reached me, unafraid but wary.  I had picked up a stick and was waving it and yelling at our dogs to quit their foolish behaviour.  I finally had to give the dogs a whack to make them listen, and turned towards home.  The wolves followed for a spell - I could hear them in the bush, but then it was quiet.  The grey one whom I took to be the leader had stopped and was looking at me, from a distance of about 5 metres.  Quiet and calm.  The wolf turned and loped away.  Then I remembered the camera.    Aki.

 

We live in their space. Wolves, bears, moose and cats. Never had a problem with any animal here in 22 years except, of course,  human. 

Regards,

Aki and Scott

www.caribooblades.com 

Wolf Pack

Photographs taken by Aki Yamamoto

Wolves

On a morning walk, Aki found herself amongst a pack of wolves.
www.caribooblades.com

Eating Steak

 Distortion

-in progress

A Place Setting

We are what we eat.

Copper has been used by the indigenous here for thousands of years. In trade, ceremony, tools, cutlery and generally showing affluence. We’ve melted copper onto the blades, before hardening, intentionally distorting the blades. The distortion comes from what we have seen here living in the bush in British Columbia for 20 years. The impact on the indigenous peoples and environment is distorted. The distortion in the steel follows the organic lines in the moose antler handles.

Custom Made Crossed Steak Knives

4 1/2 inch blades. Long 4 1/2 inch handles.

Our son, Kai, runs in the forest on a trail he made. One morning his dog, Jack, jumped out of the bush in front of him. Jack was being pursued by 2 wolves. They jumped out close behind Jack. Kai and the 2 young wolves, less than 10 feet apart, stopped and stared at each other. Moments passed. The wolves turned and went the way they had come. At 100 feet into the bush the two wolves stopped and turned to watch Kai and Jack watch them.

3 Handmade Steak Knives

 

The blades are made from a steel we’ve recovered and repurposed. A high carbon steel with a cobalt content. You can easily get a razor edge that holds..

Custom Made Steak Knives Point a View

Three steak knives in a condo window look out at Canada Place. 

We’ve used moose antler off cuts we saved from our knife shop, bent and distorted. We boiled the pieces, straightened them with clamps and vise. They are the scales that hold the razor sharp blades. 

 

 

Melted Copper Close Steak Knife Blade

Melted Copper Close Steak Knife Blade

Bears are all around us. We meet them on the road. The older ones leave fast for the bush. The younger ones want a look. That could get them killed. We use to honk and yell but that only made them more curious.

 

Melted Copper Knives Closer 

 

A bear will come into the yard every 5 or 6 years. They smell chickens, our food, the dogs food, apples, berries and lots of dandelion and flowers. I step out of the cabin and they leave. Jack, our dog, makes sure they stay away. They don’t want trouble, we don’t want trouble.

We are amazed bears don’t come more often.

Steak Knives Crossed and Pointed

The spine thickness is a mere 1.4 mm. Very thin. Moose antler scales held with threaded stainless steel and brass pins, peened.

Ranchers blame bears for taking their calves. We hear gun shots all year because it’s open season on bears. 

 

Hanging to Dry

 Knife Roll Closed Up Tight

Lives not respected, in the way…they are inconvenient.

Regards.

Aki and Scott

www.carbooblades.com  

Wildfire Sunsets

Not this year.

Swans

Two or three times in the last 20 sum years when the water is low enough, swans visit and feed. They come and go for a couple of months in the fall. They were here in 2018.

The small lake we're on gets smaller and much noisier. Trumpeter swans are loud and like a big brass band that can't seem to keep a tune but they sure are majestic creatures. We get the chance to get to know them. Aki had a new attachment to the spotting scope.

Two or three times in the last 20 sum years when the water is low enough, swans visit and feed. They come and go for a couple of months in the fall. They were here in 2018.

The small lake we're on gets smaller and much noisier. Trumpeter swans are loud and like a big brass band that can't seem to keep a tune but they sure are majestic creatures. We get the chance to get to know them.

Two or three times in the last 20 sum years when the water is low enough, swans visit and feed. They come and go for a couple of months in the fall. They were here in 2018.

The small lake we're on gets smaller and much noisier. Trumpeter swans are loud and like a big brass band that can't seem to keep a tune but they sure are majestic creatures. We get the chance to get to know them.

Two or three times in the last 20 sum years when the water is low enough, swans visit and feed. They come and go for a couple of months in the fall. They were here in 2018.

The small lake we're on gets smaller and much noisier. Trumpeter swans are loud and like a big brass band that can't seem to keep a tune but they sure are majestic creatures. We get the chance to get to know them.

Two or three times in the last 20 sum years when the water is low enough, swans visit and feed. They come and go for a couple of months in the fall. They were here in 2018.

The small lake we're on gets smaller and much noisier. Trumpeter swans are loud and like a big brass band that can't seem to keep a tune but they sure are majestic creatures. We get the chance to get to know them.

Two or three times in the last 20 sum years when the water is low enough, swans visit and feed. They come and go for a couple of months in the fall. They were here in 2018.

The small lake we're on gets smaller and much noisier. Trumpeter swans are loud and like a big brass band that can't seem to keep a tune but they sure are majestic creatures. We get the chance to get to know them.

Two or three times in the last 20 sum years when the water is low enough, swans visit and feed. They come and go for a couple of months in the fall. They were here in 2018.

The small lake we're on gets smaller and much noisier. Trumpeter swans are loud and like a big brass band that can't seem to keep a tune but they sure are majestic creatures. We get the chance to get to know them.

Two or three times in the last 20 sum years when the water is low enough, swans visit and feed. They come and go for a couple of months in the fall. They were here in 2018.

The small lake we're on gets smaller and much noisier. Trumpeter swans are loud and like a big brass band that can't seem to keep a tune but they sure are majestic creatures. We get the chance to get to know them.

Photogaphy by
                           Aki Yamamoto

www.caribooblades.com

Two or three times in the last 20 sum years when the water is low enough, swans visit and feed. They come and go for a couple of months in the fall. They were here in 2018.

The small lake we're on gets smaller and much noisier. Trumpeter swans are loud and like a big brass band that can't seem to keep a tune but they sure are majestic creatures. We get the chance to get to know them.

Two or three times in the last 20 sum years when the water is low enough, swans visit and feed. They come and go for a couple of months in the fall. They were here in 2018.

The small lake we're on gets smaller and much noisier. Trumpeter swans are loud and like a big brass band that can't seem to keep a tune but they sure are majestic creatures. We get the chance to get to know them.

Two or three times in the last 20 sum years when the water is low enough, swans visit and feed. They come and go for a couple of months in the fall. They were here in 2018.

The small lake we're on gets smaller and much noisier. Trumpeter swans are loud and like a big brass band that can't seem to keep a tune but they sure are majestic creatures. We get the chance to get to know them.

Two or three times in the last 20 sum years when the water is low enough, swans visit and feed. They come and go for a couple of months in the fall. They were here in 2018.

The small lake we're on gets smaller and much noisier. Trumpeter swans are loud and like a big brass band that can't seem to keep a tune but they sure are majestic creatures. We get the chance to get to know them.

Two or three times in the last 20 sum years when the water is low enough, swans visit and feed. They come and go for a couple of months in the fall. They were here in 2018.

The small lake we're on gets smaller and much noisier. Trumpeter swans are loud and like a big brass band that can't seem to keep a tune but they sure are majestic creatures. We get the chance to get to know them.

Two or three times in the last 20 sum years when the water is low enough, swans visit and feed. They come and go for a couple of months in the fall. They were here in 2018.

The small lake we're on gets smaller and much noisier. Trumpeter swans are loud and like a big brass band that can't seem to keep a tune but they sure are majestic creatures. We get the chance to get to know them.

Two or three times in the last 20 sum years when the water is low enough, swans visit and feed. They come and go for a couple of months in the fall. They were here in 2018.

The small lake we're on gets smaller and much noisier. Trumpeter swans are loud and like a big brass band that can't seem to keep a tune but they sure are majestic creatures. We get the chance to get to know them.

Two or three times in the last 20 sum years when the water is low enough, swans visit and feed. They come and go for a couple of months in the fall. They were here in 2018.

The small lake we're on gets smaller and much noisier. Trumpeter swans are loud and like a big brass band that can't seem to keep a tune but they sure are majestic creatures. We get the chance to get to know them.

Two or three times in the last 20 sum years when the water is low enough, swans visit and feed. They come and go for a couple of months in the fall. They were here in 2018.

The small lake we're on gets smaller and much noisier. Trumpeter swans are loud and like a big brass band that can't seem to keep a tune but they sure are majestic creatures. We get the chance to get to know them.

Two or three times in the last 20 sum years when the water is low enough, swans visit and feed. They come and go for a couple of months in the fall. They were here in 2018.

The small lake we're on gets smaller and much noisier. Trumpeter swans are loud and like a big brass band that can't seem to keep a tune but they sure are majestic creatures. We get the chance to get to know them.

Two or three times in the last 20 sum years when the water is low enough, swans visit and feed. They come and go for a couple of months in the fall. They were here in 2018.

The small lake we're on gets smaller and much noisier. Trumpeter swans are loud and like a big brass band that can't seem to keep a tune but they sure are majestic creatures. We get the chance to get to know them.

Two or three times in the last 20 sum years when the water is low enough, swans visit and feed. They come and go for a couple of months in the fall. They were here in 2018.

The small lake we're on gets smaller and much noisier. Trumpeter swans are loud and like a big brass band that can't seem to keep a tune but they sure are majestic creatures. We get the chance to get to know them.

Rain and Mushrooms

Rain cloud

We took our 4 wheel drive off the road for the summer. Insured our car,.

We have a car now. It has rained for a month. We haven't been able to get out of the bush for 2 weeks.

Fireweed

                                                                         

We're picking a winter supply of mushrooms. A year's supply. We're eating a lot of mushrooms.

Just a minute, let me get some for lunch.

,.

It's just the beginning. Just popping up now.


Aki Yamamoto photographs.

www.caribooblades.com

Spring

Telling it with pictures.

Kai

Morning

Pea Poles

For sale

On the prowl

photographs taken by Aki Yamamoto

www.caribooblades.com

What is Bushcraft to Us?

Sitting at the laptop connected via satellite from a cabin in the bush on the edge of the Chilcotin Plateau B.C. Amazing times connection.  Aki is preparing lunch, greens from our bush garden she had dried in the summer, eggs

from our chickens, the oyster mushrooms we harvested from the aspen groves, boletes from around the young pines and some pork from a pig raised for us by an organic farmer.


                                                                                 

Dried bolete

Dried greens

Cowboys came through our place on horseback in the fall looking for stray cattle that roam the bush.

They know a lot about the bush.
There are others in the out there.

There is a lot more to bushcraft from our point of view.  For the past few weeks the temperature has been between -25 and -35 C. We light and keep fires burning. We cook on a wood stove. Heat with a wood stove. The sauna has a wood stove. The shop is heated with a wood stove although any temperature below -15 renders the shop too cold to work in. We have never cut a live tree for firewood.  
Ever year we suss out standing dead trees. Between the pine beetle and the destruction
the logging industry leaves behind. There is a lot of dry wood. There's no hardwood here so we need at least 5 cords.

Forest fires.

Fire. Then it's Gone, 

 In a few weeks we'll start tomato and pepper plants. Grow them close to the wood stove heat. 

Sun dried., canned. Tomatoes make living in the bush easier.

 We have one line coming in from a shallow well. Our cabin has no foundation so an insulated box with a small automobile 12v light keeps the pipe from freezing.

 The outhouse's frozen stalagmite is growing. Got to dig deeper.

Judo training

Everyday is a challenge living in the bush.






 The craft is in using everything and living by our wits. It's so simple. Easy and hard.










Regards,
Aki and Scott


www.caribooblades.com