Free Republic

Ever wonder how to build a campfire the right way? I’ve got good news for you. Making a campfire is easy, conditions and experience willing. But you can always craft a better one than your last. Here’s some intel that’ll take your next burn a little further, even if the weather’s bad.Perfect the IngredientsAny fire, no matter how you make it, needs three basic things: Fuel, oxygen, and heat. Altering the ratios of those ingredients will change the way in which a fire lights, burns, and lasts.Take moisture content in wood, for example. Wet wood produces less heat because energy...

A boy tries to light dry grass under a pyramid of twigs. Eventually, it catches and he lies on his side to blow the embers into crackling life. Tonight he and his friends will dine on a thin stew made of thistles and heather leaves, cooked over the fire. They will sleep in a makeshift bivouac on a bed of ferns. This is not a scene from Swallows and Amazons. It is an increasingly popular kind of educational holiday for children. On this particular course, groups of children aged from nine upwards will be pretty much alone. They have a...