Now we have our acorns, we need to float them in water... if they float there are grubs & insects eating away inside, but if they part sink (submerge themselves) then they are "good" It only takes a few seconds to pour them into a jug of water & take off the floaters... Dry out the good acorns with a clean tea towel & put them aside in a cool place. Now we need ziplok / clipseal bags (one for each acorn) & a good amount of fresh nutrient rich peat based compost. We wet the peat with regular water grab a small handful & gently pop an acorn into the middle. Squeeze out most of the air close off the bag, seal it & add it to a pile. You do need to tell your parents or carers about what you plan to do because you will have to nab a small corner of your fridge, so everyone in your households co-operation will be required. (we are lucky we have a small spare beer fridge so will use that). Many tree seedlings can be started in this way, not just oaks, watch the videos below to see the next stages... Do make sure a grown up is helping you, especially if you need to use a knife, or move a heavy peat bag around. It took us about 10 minutes gathering to find 140 "good" acorns when floated. Lets see what they are like in spring! |
Grow an acorn into a mighty oak, for fun, ..or simply to help the environment (Autumn project)27/9/2014
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We just know you are going to be getting excited at the prospect of Halloween, ...even though it's still September! ..but if you have started planning your costume (home-made costumes RULE) !!! then you need to start arranging to go as a group early, to give parents & carers time to make arrangements too!
HALLOWEEN SAFETY TIPS Walk Safely
Trick or Treat With an Adult
Keep Costumes Both Creative and Safe
Drive Extra Safely on Halloween
By Izzy M.
We have covered trail mix before, this gives you the option to make & bake some simple trail mix type energy treats, which we love to look for any excuse to eat! This recipe was found on one of our favourite sites to explain & indulge in both cooking & baking "Serious Eats" is a great mix of everything to do with food, wide & varied it is always tempting us, so this recipe works out cheaply compared to buying packets of pre-prepared energy bars or stodgey flapjacks, make em, bake em, ..stick em in greaseproof paper & take some along on your next big day out! ...healthy natural energy, (mainly) which will top up your energy levels (so make sure your parents & carers have one too, so they can keep up). CHEWY TRAIL MIX BARS Save Recipe About This Recipe YIELD:serves 12 ACTIVE TIME:15 minutes TOTAL TIME:45 minutes THIS RECIPE APPEARS IN:Wake and Bake: Chewy Trail Mix Bars Ingredients
By Izzy M.
We use a knife in this quick project, make sure an adult is around to help you cut into the lid, as well as being caeful with any old "leaky" batteries. My Dad recycles ev-ery-thing, ..I mean it, everything, & he even writes awkward letters to the council saying "hey, we can recycle polystyrene, or at least landfill it in 90% less space, so why aren't you allowing us to? You'd think that we'd always use re-chargeable batteries!? ..depending upon the equipment that isn't always possible, & then there are also button batteries, ...lots of different varieties, & new items bought often include batteries now! We still surprise ourselves at how many we get through in a year (& even rechargeables die eventually ..some of ours are even older than me & they are still working). SO, sick of forever trying out batteries to see if they have juice in them or not we decided to make a battery bin, ..I think it was the day after dad had SO many used batteries stashed in his pockets that his shorts fell down around his ankles ...not a pretty sight! ..but REALLY funny! What could we use? ..dad has been saving candy floss pots for paint, sorting screws out, cleaning things in.. they have lids & a clear see through tub, & a tough handle ...so were ideal. (besides he already had plans for the Nesqik tubs elsewhere. We grabbed a sharpie pen, & a steak knife & a variety of dead batteries, including a PP9 ..the oblong sort that go in smoke alarms. Put the lid on the candy floss container (you could do the same with an empty nesqik container) Then we traced round the PP9 battery & used the knife to trace cut a bit bigger than the markings on 2 long sides & 1 short side, leaving 1 short side intact, (see picture). We removed the lid & popped in some papiermache egg tray to absorb any leakage, just in case. Now it hangs up in the kitchen full of batteries, the most commonly used varieties,"AA, AAA, P9 & button cells" slide straight in there, larger batteries such as "C" & "D" cells fit if you pop the lid off & place them inside. Whats more, there is little chance of battery leakage if the container falls over, because of the absorbent egg tray, & the fact that the hole is in the middle so it is nearly impossible for any long term battery leakage to escape even if a full homemade battery bin is rolling around in your car on the way to the local recycling centre. You could take this design one step further by asking your parent or carer to buy a small battery tester & use some green plant tie wire to keep it connected to your battery bin, then your whole household knows to test them & stick them back in kit that needs batteries to work, or straight into the battery bin,...no more uncertainty! BUT this is also a lesson to nag yourself & grown-ups to change, re-chargeable batteries work out at about 1.5p per full charge & can be used hundreds, or thousands of time if you look after them & know how to use them. About the only thing my dad insists on normal batteries for is the carbon monoxide detector for our woodstove, & for his avalanche transceiver for on the mountain use. By Izzy M.
My Dad boils up water & slurps a lot of tea, but he actually saves energy by filling the kettle to the "maximum fill" line & then pours the left over boiling water into 2 flasks so they are completely full & can be used later, to make more tea, cook noodles, or top the kettle back up & bring it to the boil really quickly because the water is already pretty hot, even the next day! (our full kettle cost roughly 2.79 pence to boil) in just a couple of minutes. In our house we spend over £80 just boiling water in a kettle, each year ..dad says the same sort of water heater is used in our incredibly well insulated hot water tank, & that turns itself on in a normal household for around 2 whole hours per day! ...that is a lot of energy & a lot of money! If you follow the link above try out filling your kettle (when it is needed) & measure roughly how much it costs to boil, & then why we should only boil what we want to use & not waste the water , nor the energy used to heat it. SO next time you get yelled at to save electricity have a look at how you can change your ways by understanding a bit more about it, our hot water is put in special "vacuum flask" which are often called "thermos" ..which is actually a brand name, but they do the same job! This is part of the reason we have managed to save around 25% of our electricity used in the past year, Dad lined out our hot water tank cupboard with lots of insulation foam offcuts to make a super insulated jumper for the tank & the cupboard, as well as stop draughtswhich made that particular bedroom colder (the insulation deflects the cold). The insulation (called PIR foil foam) was leftovers from other jobs, as well as some from builders who were throwing some in the skip within the village, so we estimate (think) it cost us about £5.00 & we have saved around £100.00 in a year because the water is wrapped up it stays warmer for much longer without the need to use extra electricity, essentially the airing cupboard insulation completely fills the section around the hot water tank, & the walls around it have the foil & foam insulation on the inner walls, the winter temperature in the airing cupboard rose by around 7 degrees as a result. ...that is a lot of extra energy & money saved which we can fit & forget. By Izzy M. http://www.renewableuk.com/en/renewable-energy/wind-energy/how-it-works.cfm Have you ever wondered how a wind turbine works, & why they are so good for the environment compared to Nuclear, fracking, & typical fossil fuels? Onshore wind farms reduce CO2 emissions, provide energy security, (keeping the lights on). Research conducted by RenewableUK and the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) has shown that for each installed megawatt (MW), around £100,000 stays in the community during the lifetime of a project. Onshore wind works well in the UK because of the excellent wind resource. It has also become one of the most cost effective forms of renewable energy, providing over 5,000MW of capacity. A modern 2.5MW (commercial scale) turbine, on a reasonable site, will generate 6.5 million units of electricity each year – enough to make 230 million cups of tea. Opinion polls consistently show high levels of support for onshore wind in the UK, with higher support in rural areas. In the UK, there are numerous onshore wind projects, ranging from single turbines to larger, multi-turbine schemes (see below for further details). Projects are developed by an increasingly diverse range of people, from large energy companies and independent developers, to community groups or small businesses and farms. How it Works Most wind turbines start operating at a speed of 4-5 metres per second and reach maximum power at about 15 metres per second.
This video shows what we can't see when wind turbines have been built around us.. but, the land is still useable to farm crops or cattle on (which we do a lot of in our area) , & our nearest big windmill turbine is at "G's" growers only 0.7 of a mile outside of town itself. Unlike lots of other power sources, when a wind turbine comes to the end of it's useful life, you can simply replace it using the same footprint of land, recycling the bits & pieces used to make it. Some areas of the country hve "community" wind farms, they use government money (a bit like the "Ramsey millions" to build turbines that can support their whole community with energy, & make money by selling the electricity produced back to the national grid. We know we have enough wind around Ramsey, so why don't we do this in our community? ...what do you think? Striking a pose, (catalogue model in a previous life)? whilst "dropping by the old homestead"
..if we'd known you were passing we'd have made you a cup of tea complete with some lumpy yoghurt (formerly known as milk) from the scout fridge, (we always have plenty of yoghurt, someone "obviously" sneaks in & pours the milk out & the yoghurt into the milk containers we reckon). https://blog.flubit.com/were-supporting-the-national-literacy-trust-with-book-month/
In case you hadn’t already heard, August is ‘Book Month’ here at Flubit and we’re celebrating books and supporting the great work of the National Literacy Trust. The Book Month is taking place throughout August and we’re asking book lovers nationwide to send us their very own reviews to appear on the Flubit blog. For every book review sent to [email protected], we’ll donate £10 to the National Literacy Trust and give the reviewer a free book of their choice to say thank you! “We absolutely love books here at Flubit so the idea of a Book Month made perfect sense to us. We want to get the nation reading more and it’s great that we can support and raise money for a fantastic cause at the same time. The National Literacy Trust do some amazing work and make a huge difference to thousands of people’s lives across the UK, so we’re delighted to be able to help in our own small way.”Flubit CEO, Bertie Stephens For those that prefer to Tweet rather than Blog, we’ll donate £1 for every ‘micro review’ we receiving including the hashtag #flubitbooks. Each micro review Tweet will be entered into a weekly prize draw to win a free book of the winner’s choice up to the value of £10. Anna Jones, Development Manager at the National Literacy Trust, said ‘”It’s wonderful that Flubit have chosen to raise money for us in this way. Anything that raises awareness of the importance of literacy and encourages reading for pleasure is very worthwhile. The Book Month campaign is a great way of achieving this and will provide vital support for the National Literacy Trust’s work in improving literacy in disadvantaged communities“. Book reviews can be submitted to [email protected] and more information about the initiative can be found atwww.flubit.com/books. Click here for full T&C’s Another good reason to get started on a campfire "badge blanket" is the new Camp craft activity badge aimed at getting beavers into camping & outdoorsman skills.
Whilst we have linked the badge (as usual) to all the requirements, they are listed below also. To achieve this badge you need to: 1. Help to put up a tent. (for a beaver this could be one of our recently acquired pop up tents which many children manage to put up ,..but many parents & carers, fail to be able to put away afterward, so we'll try to show your child popping them back into disc shape too)! 2. Collect wood and help to build a fire. 3. Cook on a fire or barbecue. (our sausage sizzles maybe? ..or under supervision with an adult at home. (for this why not check out our "bannock bread" video blog post, it is simple & cheap ...& cooked right tasty camp food)! .. it only takes a few minutes to make & around 20 minutes to bake a small loaf. 4. Learn how to tie a reef knot. (we have a brilliant interactive knot tying link) 5. Take part in a small pioneering project. (we do these at cubs & beavers regularly) 6. Start your own camp blanket. 7. Visit a Cub, Scout or Group camp. By Izzy M. This post from the early days of the blog has been newly updated, because the information was not very comprehensive in the original scouting magazine, & my dad says "you have to be confident with your kit as you are with a kitchen" ..in other words you might be able to knock up a recipe in your own kitchen with everything close to hand, but beyond that environment you can make mistakes... "Be prepared" So we "knocked up" a basic bannock today (in the kitchen) with the oven set between 193 - 200 centrigrade (that's the fahrenheit conversion you need from granny glenda's video) Then dad got me weighing & measuring ingredients into ziplok / clip-seal bags so we can make some outdoors too. & will do the same over a woodgas campstove in a pan later, then, if we are not completely bannocked out, will try the stick twist just so that I have made the recipe a few times & am confident to make it anywhere! That's why we have 3 versions on video for you. So what is Bannock bread?
It bakes quickly, & is lovely warm, perfect for mopping up fried egg yolks, bean juice or tasty bacon fat when you really need the body to convert useful energy for a hike or cold weather conditions for instance. Add honey, fruit, or seeds to make it either a sweet or savoury bread. do remember to turn it whilst cooking, & knock the bread with your knuckles to hear a hollow thud sound when it is cooked! ..then tuck in! http://magazine.scouts.org.uk/skills/cooking/bannocks-camp-recipe/ Bannocks: Camp recipe Jamie Ion shares this simple and quick recipe for bannocks. Backwoods cooking has never been so delicious. Bannocks are a very simple form of bread that can be cooked on an open fire, grill or frying pan. You can create any combination you want by including fruit or nuts, but I prefer the basic bread.
Don't wait till you are hungry.. try this at home, so you are confident making it... This is why we have 3 videos, one making it over a campfire, one at home in an oven, & another making it on a stick... Same bannock bread, slightly different technique that you can have fun experimenting with, ..if you stick to the basic recipe it will be cheap to make & fill a hungry hole in your stomach! So, same recipe, but made simply in an oven at home! ..thankyou "gramma glenda"! ( Cree first nations tribal elder from Canada) ..she knows her stuff, so pay attention! I hope she does some more recipes soon! & finally, (below) Another short video of bannock recipe "strips" wound round then cooked on sticks over campfire embers! ..don't forget to pre-heat your stick to help the doughy wrap cook on the inside as well as the outside! Hope you find the 3 resource videos useful!
After watching the videos, click the badge links to see how this knowledge could help earn you one or more badges, & teach you to feed yourself at the same time! http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0499spy
Naveed and Amjad - Scouts and Samosas Duration: 5 minutes First broadcast: Friday 18 July 2014 Fi Glover introduces brothers who run the first Muslim Scouts Group in Wales. Introduced to Beavers, aged 6, a whole new world opened up to them, and they are keen to share it. The Listening Project is a Radio 4 initiative that offers a snapshot of contemporary Britain in which people across the UK volunteer to have a conversation with someone close to them about a subject they've never discussed intimately before. The conversations are being gathered across the UK by teams of producers from local and national radio stations who facilitate each encounter. Every conversation - they're not BBC interviews, and that's an important difference - lasts up to an hour, and is then edited to extract the key moment of connection between the participants. Most of the unedited conversations are being archived by the British Library and used to build up a collection of voices capturing a unique portrait of the UK in the second decade of the millennium. You can upload your own conversations or just learn more about The Listening Project by visiting bbc.co.uk/listeningproject Producer: Marya Burgess. If Naveed or Amjad stumble across this, i'd love your mums recipe for spinach toasties, ..& a few pointers on some simple alternate flavoursome camp cooking, recipes, if you have any energy left after leading your packs!? By Izzy M.
Some of you might have a pop up play tent in your garden for summer sleep outs, they are also often seen at more & more scouting event camps... They go up VERY quickly, & can be quite comfy for good weather camping, but trouble often starts when it comes to packing them away! ....it can confuse even the cleverest of grown ups. BUT it's actually so easy that a child (me) can do it.... Watch the video for an explanation & demonstration. I'm thinking we need to have a timed challenge to learn how to put a pop up tent up & take it down again.... After all it is a simple skill anyone can learn if they practise before they need to rely on it on a wet day. Be prepared, practise a simple skill & have some friendly fun whilst learning! by Izzy M. Not a food recipe today, ..but I have been caught up in making "loom" bracelets. I was given a bracelet by a classmate, & decided i'd like to try making one myself. An hour later i'd worked out one of the harder loom weaves, made dad a bracelet & he said, "Hang on, if you can do these so well you will find making paracord bracelets really easy, why not make some & perhaps sell them" ? SO that's what we might try to do. In the meantime, why not have a go at loom bracelets, ...you never know they might go towards earning you a badge. So speak to your pack leader to find out, or check out the badge requirements pages! Looms are available cheaply from many places, & from different brands, (such as ozzbozz). Here is a link to LOTS of designs & how to videos... hope you enjoy them. & to show you how similar paracord is to use why not watch this video. (I think paracord bracelets are actually easier than loom bracelets, but you need an adult helping you because of the need to use a disposable lighter) A basic guide for adults... "& those who Scout".
By Izzy M. Always have an adult helping you with any project, to keep you safe. Especially with projects like this where cutting tools such as scissors or a knife are needed, not to mention the fact that we use matches to light the sawdust. I've been meaning to post this for a while! (everytime we open the fridge door I remember I need to blog this). I've already posted a picture of some finished cheese we smoked, but you never got to see the inside of our first smoker, ..home-made of course. I expect you can see the empty Nesquik containers keeping the lower shelf steady? OR the cooling racks "borrowed" from the kitchen? & the new tumble-drier heat vent hose which lets the smoke escape safely & out through a window? Or the wooden dowel holding up the top rack? (you can't see the bamboo skewers at the back, there are 2 of them holding lots of cheese up! Or the fact that the smoke cabinet is in fact a cardboard crisp box (quavers multipack of 30)!!!? from our local supermarket. Yup, we made it on the cheap as a project to smoke cheese & fish ages ago. Dad said that if we hadn't had the new tumble drier hose around then we would have simply made a chimney to the outside from something else, such as pringles cans with the bottom taken out & gaffer taped together & cut to point the smoke outside with angle cuts. In other words, EVERYTHING was recycled from somewhere else, & it cost exactly £0.00 to make. the dowel (wooden rod) was strong enough to hold fresh salmon from & smoke it hanging top to tail, but in the picture we are smoking salt, soy sauce & lots of cheese. Smoking food preserves it (making it safe to eat for longer) as well as adding a nice smokey flavour depending on how long you let it sit & smoulder for. We use proper "deli" food safe sawdust, often beech & oak dust from a proper supplier so we know it hasn't got nasty chainsaw oils or swept up from the floor. If you have a bbq you could try cold smoking cheese (but not in the middle of summer) when the temperature is low, we use a special smoke maze (cold smoke generator) from mac's BBQ, & around 10-12 hours burn time costs us about 14p per smoking session. If you were smoking food in the wild you would make a wigwam shape enclosure to keep the smoke inside (made with long green stalky plants & grasses, but making it our way this is simple, cheap & tidy, & might earn you a skills badge! Why not make a food smoking box from recycled items? ..hint, it's got to support the weight of food & not leak smoke, so you will have to seal any door with tape, or tie it shut, & seal any holes you make for the food supports. simple engineering, but a challenge to find the best materials for free! My dad has said that if we make a project of it at cubs then we could use our 2 cold smoke generators & sawdust, to test them out with & smoke some edam or cheddar, if we are careful & look after them! what do you think? see HERE for mac's guide to how we did it! By Izzy M. Wash your hands well & make sure all ingredients & work surfaces are as clean as they can be! ..get a grown up to help whenever you are working in the kitchen. My dad often springs surprises on me when I come back from school, or if the weather is bad, for us to do & make "stuff" This time he said that as I make the best pork crackling on a pork roast, (see other "made by me's" in the site search box) we ought to make flavoured oil to get more flavour & enjoyment out of food we love. It couldn't be easier & only takes a few minutes, plus a little time in the cupboard before you use it first time. Dad saves balsamic vinegar bottles with a crafty eye to re-using & recycling some, so he had previously washed & sterilised (in the oven after baking some bread) the bottles we were about to use. When they were cool we simply looked at what was around, ..some fresh rosemary from a 10p herb plant, cut gently with scissors, rinsed it under tap water & gently dried it by shaking off the excess water & patting it dry with kitchen paper & popped into one of the bottles, then filled with olive oil & the cap replaced or use a cork stopper to seal it before placing it back on the shelf to "infuse" ..meaning allowing the ingredients to combine & share their flavours. We did the same with some wine vinegar, just because we had some... Then we peeled & crushed some of dads smoked garlic (any real garlic cloves will do) & again popped it in with another top up of olive oil. NOTE: you will probably use fresh bulb garlic which needs to be peeled then cleaned thoroughly , & dried properly, failing to clean foodstuffs could make you sick, our smoked garlic is safer because smoke kills bacteria, another reason to use properly sterilised jars is to limit the amount of bacteria getting into ANY food, don't ever take chances, do it properly, because anything that has been grown in soil for instance has lots of microbes present, especially vegetables like garlic, Clean & dry properly, overnight if necessary! ...safety first! TIP you don't need the most expensive olive oil in a shop when you make flavoured oils, this is because we want the flavour of the added ingredient (the rosemary OR the garlic) to be the biggest flavour in the bottle. Rosemary, when stuffed into the bottle takes a minimum of 14 days to start to change the flavour of the olive oil, but leaving it longer means MORE flavour.... The crushed garlic (or thinly sliced if you dont have a garlic crusher, will only take a few days to really start tasting garlicy, but again the longer you leave it (shake the bottles to mix it up) the more rich in flavour the olive oil becomes. You can do this with whole or halved chilli's if you see them cheap on a late night supermarket hunt, & it's a great way of using up food that might otherwise go in the bin. ..especially good for parents & carers who like their pizza or pasta with a bit of heat! Because we cook alot we will have several litres of olive oil in our cupboard, which isn't typical, so we have also found this handy link which compares some popular olive oils & their prices ...we like finding a bargain & have used a few of the brands, but common sense says if you are going to change the flavour of olive oil as much as we do, buy the cheapest, ..that was Lidl (a German company with supermarkets over here) See the results HERE SO if you wanted to make some small bottles to try out or as a present for someone (because if bought from a shop flavoured oils can be REALLY expensive) ..then Lidls £1.99 for 750ml could make you three small bottles or several larger ones. Flavoured olive oil can really help with the end result of your food (or whilst cooking) ,try to keep it in a dark cupboard afterwards, & no you don't have to remove the rosemary sprigs or other flavouring ingredients, though you can remove the sprigs if you like, but they simply keep adding extra flavour the longer they sit, we pour straight from the bottle, but you could strain it through into smaller & prettier looking bottles if you need to. Total time making this!? 10 minutes ...easy! No special storage required, back of the cupboard. use sparingly on meats prior to roasting, or as a drizzle for pizza toppings. Be adventurous, be a food explorer & try it on new potatoes to be roasted off in the oven. A really handy cooking ingredient to have around. Because "Cubs CAN cook" Our costs for this were. £0.10p for the "reduced price" fresh rosemary plant (still growing) using 2-3 sprigs per large 750ml bottle. £0.00p our bottles were recycled, (dark bottles are better for storing), so even a clean & sterilised beer bottle could be used with a cork that fits. £0.40p for a garlic bulb from which we used 3 clove portions for a full large bottle of olive oil. ..the rest was used for cooking. £1.99 for 750 ml of Lidl Olive oil (that's a lot of olive oil) which you could use for 3 smaller 250ml bottles of different flavoured olive oil. Make as much or as little as you want but fill each of your bottles so there is minimal air at the top, enough space to shake & "infuse" your ingredients occasionally. plenty of herbs can be used in the same way to produce different flavoured cooking oils which work well at home or on the bbq, or at camp, so give it a go! ..it doesn't get simpler than this. Rainbow salad wrap SERVES 6 30 minutes PREP TIME... This is colourful, seriously tasty and fun to make. Feel free to use other firm fruit and vegetables that are in season where you live, or leave out the wraps and eat it as a salad, if you prefer. JAMIE OLIVER’S LIVE COOKING LESSON To celebrate this year’s Food Revolution Day, Jamie will be leading the biggest-ever live cooking lesson and he wants you to join in, wherever you are in the world. You’ll learn to make his tasty, nutritious rainbow salad wrap, especially chosen with kids in mind, so that everyone can get involved. To help us achieve our goal, we’ve teamed up the educational group, Times Education Supplement (TES), who’ll be streaming Jamie’s live cooking lesson to schools across the world. We want to get one million kids cooking on the big day and, with your help, we can make this happen! Wherever you are in the world, tune in live or watch his pre-recorded video on 16 May – you have no excuse to miss it! You will need
Ingredients
JAMIE'S TOP TIP: Remember that box graters are very sharp so use them carefully. Hold hard fruit and vegetables with a firm grip and use nice big chunks so that your hands are safely out of the way. When your knuckles get too close to the grater, stop grating and discard the leftovers. lET'S GET TO WORK ...COOKING METHODOLOGY 101Method
Tonight we spent time in the HQ hut setting out a "storyboard" for a stop motion movie we will be making as part of our badge work, not to mention it's simple to do either on your own, or in a group. We'll dig out our stop frame animation blog posts & stick them here, here & here as the chances are it will be something your cub or beaver would enjoy trying out in there own time as well. We already have one very famous Scout based in Scotland by the name of Morgan Spence who has been using Lego for his animations for many years now, we've put links to his work in the past & will take this opportunity to link to his latest piece of interactive video created for the International Red Cross (disaster relief) Give it a go, ..make choices when prompted! Morgan also gives some help with his " how to animate" page (linked) ..worth a look for budding short film makers.
The latest issue of things to do (& things to GLUE) ..in a digital page turning format, just click the pictures to read the magazines... Projects aplenty, whether going for a badge or simply bored & fancy trying something different "Get Active" is full of ideas.. Our get active magazine, ...which is about exercising your brain as well as your muscles! Instant Scouting, full of great projects from some of our badge sponsors. By Izzy M. Remember to wash your hands really well, ovens are hot & the tray will be too! ..so make sure you have an adult helping you in the kitchen. Kale is a superfood, ..kale often gets left in the salad crisper section of the fridge & thrown out (sadly), or simply given to pet rabbits & guinea pigs! However try this experiment as an alternative to crisps, ..they are strangely different but they taste so good! (a bit like my dad's addiction to cheesey doritos) To make kale crisps, tear kale into bite-sized pieces (make sure it’s dry or it won’t crisp up) (you can use kitchen scissors to simply cut the leaf away from the stalk). Toss about in some rapeseed oil/ canola (in america) / olive oil, sprinkle with salt and roast until crispy. When golden they smell like popcorn, but taste like nutty crisps, shattering in your mouth, with none of the tough chew I generally associate with kale. Now when mum mentions Kale, my eyes pop with pleasure ..I buy a bunch every chance I get, and most often it’s turned into a batch of crisps I can easily eat by myself. They're not strong enough to be dipped, but their ruffled edges make them an appealing looking bowlful of salty snack. Try them – I now look forward to eating more greens when they can be turned into something this tasty! 1 bunch kale rapeseed oil or olive oil, for cooking good-quality coarse salt Preheat the oven to 400°F. Wash kale and dry it in a salad spinner or between tea towels. (Extra moisture will keep them from getting nice and crispy.) ..so really pay attention t o getting it dry. Cut or pull out the tough stems, tear the leaves into crisp sized pieces and spread out on a baking tray which is lined with oven proof baking paper. Get an adult to help you drizzle with oil and toss with your hands to coat well; arrange in a single layer and sprinkle with salt. Roast for about 10 minutes, until crispy and starting to turn brown on the edges, but not too dark. Serve & eat immediately or cool completely and store in an airtight container until ready to serve later the same day. Serves 4. Great for eating whilst having a home cinema night in with your family! After roll call, we listened to a 1st Ramsey member talk to us about his football medals & trophy which count towards his hobby badge, (it was a BIG trophy)! ...nice to see our members chasing badges, footballs & fitness all at once. Afterwards we hunkered down & created Easter creations, (with paper print outs, scissors, colouring pens & plenty of glue) & Akela Judith very kindly had made each of us some Easter birds nest mini cakes to take home... Check out the recipe below! Shredded Wheat nests By Akela Judith Cooking time Prep: 25 mins Cook: 8 mins (Plus chilling) Skill level: Easy Servings: Makes 12 A spin on traditional chocolate cornflake cakes, this version uses extra-fine strands of wheat for great texture. Ingredients
Wash your hands really well, then with a grown up, get started!
Find this recipe & more at BBCgoodfood.com By Izzy M. (NB. Grafham water is not affiliated with 1stRamsey scouting) use the search box to find more on "Grafham" 9.30am -5.30pm but get there really early to park up (8.30a.m) and beat the queues (then you can start the cheap taster sessions straight away). There is NO pre-booking! You have to sign up & pay for the courses you wish to do (they are all close together so not hard to dart from one to the other). Well worth doing, it has proven incredibly popular & is a fantastic chance to have a cheap day of adventuring with your family or with them watching... & a perfect opportunity to get a badge or two started (or completed). children 5 & under were free in 2013, but do check with Grafham before you go! NOTE It's not clear whether this will be a one off this year or carry on as before, ...I was typically doing 6 activities (with some repeats for the ones she really enjoyed) ..dry activities in the morning wet activities in the afternoon (for example) as you don't want to keep getting changed, may as well get wet (ish) for just one part of the day. If the weather is looking good it's definitely worth taking a picnic or a portable barbecue, plenty of space to play along with raised seating & tables on the decking accessing the main building. Archery, climbing, high ropes, blind trust trail, Canadian Kayaks (the open Indian style canoes), Power-boating, sailing, ... & more indoor rock-wall climbing are all achievable in a day & many count toward BADGES! It is typically a fantastic family day, & had a barbecue (£2.50 in 2013) & endless cups of tea for 50p (with free re-fills). It was a bargain day out (free-parking too) & will be happening again in a few weeks time, it would be good to see some more Beavers & cubs there hopefully. Even if you only wanted to do a few things or just to get some fresh air with the family dog, on your bike or a walk, Grafham is super fun to go to on a warm day. As a result of last year I'm now doing archery as a hobby, (we haven't got room for another speedboat on the drive)! I'd never climbed before last year in a harness & rope, it can be a bit scarey at first BUT it's great fun seeing just how far you can get knowing it's safe to go high & aim for the top of the platform, it challenges you , might scare you (a bit) whilst you get your head into adventure mode ..& then you are really proud of what you can achieve! Why not take a look at a badge page (click the badge you are interested in & it will open a link with what you need to do to earn it)! Suggested as achievable for Beavers... Suggested as easily achievable for Cubs... (below) If you are nearly ready to move on into Cubs or up to Scouts then you can't unless you have all your Challenge badges, in order to earn your Bronze or silver badge, so a day at Grafham can really help speed you up on your badge requirements whilst having a whole lot of cheap fun! Talk to your leader about what you can do to earn your badges they will have some advice & might be able to help you with what you can work towards. You will sleep like a log afterwards, don't forget to take some "wet-shoes" or a spare pair of trainers in case you want to do water activities or just dip your toes in the water to cool off under adult supervision.
There are drink & snack machines at Grafham, all taster sessions are by the Grafham team (all qualified instructors) ..this is not a Scouting endorsed event but is very worthwhile going to for a great day out & we highly recommend it! Hope to see you there. By Izzy M. One of my dads biggest regrets was not having his own dad around to show him how to use tools & mend things, he's determined not to let me be scared of using tools like he was & still is, so has had me making my own walking stick last summer, cutting padlocks off with grinding tools, using saws, blowtorches (to make cheese on toast extra yummy).. drills & all-sorts, for my DIY badge I put up a plasma tv bracket which comes out into the room nearly 2 feet! (in the photo) but sometimes I just don't know he has up his sleeve or even "popping out of the toaster"! Yes that's right, we are making stuff from food. When dad was little he was in awe of some gruesome automata in Brighton pavillion, & was also allowed to play with some fantastic old moving piggy banks from a hundred years ago, ..then when living in London he came across a place packed with "automata" moving models & used to go down & see them week after week, he even made a few himself. He thought it was time I got an idea with some simple materials we had lying around, (luckily dad checked we weren't using the last of the bread ...or there would have been big trouble). Take a look at what we made! ....then have a look at the youtube video below, it might make you want to try a project for fun or towards a badge! You DO need a hot melt glue gun, so have an adult helping you! ..instructions are in the video at the bottom! Below is a video of where he used to spend hours playing with automata to give you an idea how creative & awesome it can be. If you would like a go, it might be best to show an adult or helper this video first, or else they might think you've gone a bit crazy! ..have fun!
Tonight we made miniature "pioneering" models of ballista's (catapults) which involve making use of the "A" frame used for basic tents, strengthening struts on bridges & all-sorts in everyday engineering.. Of course there wasn't enough room in the hut (which if you look up at the ceiling ALSO uses A-frame strength in the roof supports) so we used tightly knotted rubber bands & bamboo skewers ...there would have been flat as a pancake cubs if we'd tried to use the real thing, (besides pancake day is over). IF you'd like to try a bit more missile throwing click the picture above which will take you to lego instructions how to make one at home with LEGO! We also found this fun LEGO online game HERE which rewards you when you master each level! ..hope you have fun! Later on we listened to 2 Cubs (both girls) ..."come on boy's don't leave it to the girls" who talked us through Gymnastics, showing us a bundle of certificates & sewing badge awards, then we listened to another cub run through their book badge requirements, which if your child enjoys reading is "easy-peasy" to get! Several boys ..(phew) said they were going to try out for a badge or three, including a hobby badge for football! Another said he would got for his hobbies badge, which is swimming ..we suggested they try swimming for the swimming badge! ...seems logical to us! SO with that in mind we'll pop a link (click the badge) for you to have a rummage around our badge page, you can then (with an adult) talk through what you might have already achieved toward a badge, & what little bit more you need to do to get a cub badge for your sleeve! So come on Cubs, drag an adult to the computer, click on the site & see, you MIGHT already have qualified for a badge without even knowing it! (you don't necessarily have to do everything for a badge all at once & some parts of it may have been covered elsewhere) Come & talk to a leader at the beginning or end of your next session, this gives us time to order a badge if necessary, & also offer advice if needed! HINT: if you complete a badge, & sew it on (with some adult guidance) ..you are already on your way to another badge! ...see if you can find out which one it is! |
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Author.1st Ramsey Scout Assoc (collectively) ...News, events & general silliness "Ahem" Archives.
July 2016
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