What is bushcraft???

I often get asked the question, "what is bushcraft?" In short it is the practice of using our environment and our natural surroundings to provide us with the necessary resources to survive. It is the practice of using ancient methods and skills to provide us with everything we need on a daily basis. These methods and skills include finding and cooking food, fire lighting, shelter building, rope making, wood carving flint knapping and hunting to name just a few. The most skilled bushcrafters can venture out into the wilderness with just the clothes on their back (which they could make out of natural materials if they wanted to) and provide everything they need using just the knowledge in the heads. Most modern bushcrafters, will however, take the basic equipment with them for ease an comfort. This equipment usually includes a knife, axe, fire-steel and a metal cooking pot. Bushcraft does not need to be so complicated though, many will just venture out for a few hours into their local woodland and practice their favoured skills. It is now common for young children to be taught bushcraft at school and through organised groups such as scouts and guides, through means of "forest schools" and other such organisations. they taught the fundamental skills such as fire lighting, outdoor cooking, shelter building and identification of flora and fauna.

here's what wikipedia has to say;

Bushcraft A popular term for wilderness skills in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, the term was popularised in the southern hemisphere by Les Hiddins (The Bush Tucker Man) in Australia as well as in the northern hemisphere by Mors Kochanski and recently gained considerable currency in the United Kingdom due to the popularity of Ray Mears and his bushcraft and survival television programmes. It is also becoming popular in urban areas; areas where the average person is separated from nature.

Bushcraft is about thriving in the natural environment, and the acquisition of the skills and knowledge to do so. Bushcraft skills include; firecraft, tracking, hunting, fishing, shelter building, the use of tools such as knives and axes, foraging, hand-carving wood, container construction from natural materials, rope and twine-making, and many others. These are the kinds of skills well known to our ancestors, many of which are still practiced today as an everyday skill amongst aboriginal and native peoples around the world.