Today our parish had its annual summer fest. Although the weather was summerlike only in between, my Scout Troop did an overnighter to warrant setting up a full-size camp. During the night we were harrassed by a rainstorm which floodeed two hootchies, but not the teepee or my pup tent. Don't worry, the kids were fine.
Today we experimented with making batches of charcloth and putting it to immediate use as soon as it had cooled off:
The Guides cutting down an old ex-Bundeswehr 100% cotton T-Shirt:
We stacked the cloth pieces in a Schokakola tin with a hole in the top and put the tin in the campfire:
That's how our first batch of charcloth looked. To the left is the tinder bundle, steel strikers and flintstone in the center. The Scouts could use either their ferro rods or the more traditional flint'n steel:
Lena, one of my Patrol Leaders managed to get her embers with flint and steel:
...and was rightfully happy about her success!
The youngest Scout who succeeded starting a fire with this old-time method today is merely seven years old.
More pics can be found here:
http://frederickselous.blogspot.com/2011/07/beim-sommerfest-der-gemeinde.html