Bushcraftfestivalen 2016

Place: Gottröra hembygdsgård, Roslagen, Sweden
Coordinates: 59.741023, 18.157791 (lat, lon)
Time: 3 days in August (12th-14th)

By now you probably already have heard about what happened in Gottröra last weekend; finally we have a big international bushcraft festival in Sweden! We are happy to be able to announce that we are already planning for next years festival; the Bushcraftfestivalen 2017. Hope to see you in Gottröra Sweden the last weekend of August 2017, 25th-27th.

Need, wishes, dreams and ideas about a bigger bushcraft event in Sweden has been circling for some time now. Therefore it was a honor for me to last Fall (2015) gather a group of Swedish bushcraft personalities to start planning what we call; Bushcraftfestivalen (The Bushcraft Festival in Swedish).

Inspired by other international bushcraft events abroad we want to create the Swedish version of a including festival focusing on bushcraft, survival and forest culture. As many guests and participants was international the festival grounds were located close to the Arlanda airport at the rural community center of Gottröra. Bushcraftfestivalen is a field like outdoor weekend for the whole family with possibilities to sleep under the stars of the August night sky.

The Program
It's great to see the big interest for this Festival, both from participants and visitors. Despite starting from zero regarding budget we managed to create an impressive lineup at the festival. A big thanks to all participants for their generosity. You can see the complete program by clicking HERE.
Below you can see some of the participants at the Bushcraftfestivalen 2016 (in alphabetical order).

Almunge Smide
Babek Toloe
Bo Weslien
Bushcraft Sverige
Casström
Gränsfors Bruk
Grönyte-Konsult
Harry Sepp
Hultafors
Jonas Vildmark
Karesuandokniven
Lars Fält
Morakniv
Naturliv
Nicklas Lautakoski
Nordic Bushcraft 
Nytt, Nött och Sött 
Paul Kirtley
Seveds Knivar
Spyderco Sweden
The Swedish Survival Guild 
Överlevnadsbutiken

Also in the program; the Swedish Championship in Friction Fire, kid's survival class, music entertainment and a restaurant tent.

If you have any questions about Bushcraftfestivalen; please feel free to contact us. The best way to reach the Management Team is via Bushcraftfestivalen's webpage by clicking HERE. You can also find us on Facebook by clicking HERE. If you enjoy Instagram you should check out our place there by clicking HERE. Please also let us know if you would like to contribute in any way; speak, workshop, exhibit, sponsorship or volunteer.

Help us to make Bushcraftfestivalen a yearly event by following, sharing and tagging using  #bushcraftfestivalen  and  #gottrora  prior, under and after we meet at this Summer's festival, thanks.

You're kindly and deeply welcome to Gottröra in 2017; August 25th-27th!

På Svenska

Survival Workshop on the Savanna of Kolmården

Place: Safari Camp, Kolmården's Wildlife Park, Sweden
Coordinates: 58.66476, 16.444302 (lat, lon)
Time: 1 day in May

The exotic scenery of Kolmården's Safari Camp and the animals of the savanna inspires to creative thinking in the sun. Today I had the big pleasure of speaking to the interesting company of Samhall. Today's theme was Survival; the psychological aspects of extreme survival in the wilderness can also be applicable to the everyday life at work. Nature is a fantastic tool for clarification and training regarding self-awareness and team building.

Photo: A. Gustafsson

Warm thanks to all the dedicated and inspiring participants. Also a big thanks to the staff of Kolmården for their professional service.
Hope to see you all again soon.

På Svenska

Naked and Afraid - Nicklas Lautakoski

For some time now I've had the pleasure of being Nicklas Lautakoski's Survival Coach during his inspiring adventures. A fun mission I must say cos Nicklas is a wonderful and sparkling personality spreading joy with his warm and crazy curiosity.

One very interesting project is now to be launched; this weekend Discovery Channel US will air the episode of Naked and Afraid where Nicklas is one of the participants. The mission is to survive butt naked out in the Australian outback only equipped with a few objects.

Pic from Nicklas' FB page

The adventure took place in the Southern Australia during Fall 2015. The place as well as most other details were kept secret even to Nicklas prior to the adventure. So therefore it was a challenge to figure out what survival skills we should focus on during Nicklas' training prior to the adventure. The mental aspect is always the most important thing in a survival situation, therefore we focused a lot on the psychological scenario of being paired with a complete stranger during these difficult 21 days. Nicklas also practiced on his skills in fire making, water collecting, hunting and fishing. You can see more from the preparations by clicking HERE.

Nicklas quietly reflecting by the camp fire. It's important to combine both laughter and seriousness when preparing for a survival adventure.

The one object Nicklas choose to bring was a knife; Fällkniven model NL2 Odin. Nicklas' partner in this adventure brought a fire tool and the production added a pot. These three objects got to be a nice combo. This challenge truly became an adventure Nicklas will remember for the rest of his life. I hope you'll be watching the episode this weekend at Discovery. In Sweden the episode will be aired this Fall (2016) but you can already now take a look at some teasers via the links below.

Link to teaser No.1:
http://www.discovery.com/tv-shows/naked-and-afraid/videos/i-dont-have-a-problem-being-naked/

Link to teaser No.2:
http://www.discovery.com/tv-shows/naked-and-afraid/videos/we-must-split-up/

Link to teaser No.3:
http://www.discovery.com/tv-shows/naked-and-afraid/videos/naked-confessions-after-the-outback/

Link to the bio of Nicklas:
http://www.discovery.com/tv-shows/naked-and-afraid/bios/nicklas-lautakoski/?utm_source=Facebook.com&utm_campaign=Naked%26Afraid&utm_medium=social&sf26176418=1

I hope the full episode will inspire as many as possible to reflect on the subject of Survival as well as generate more outdoor adventures. I'll be writing more about Nicklas' preparations here on the blog after the program has been aired. You can also follow Nicklas' naked adventure by visiting his website Naked Afraid Viking and the Facebook page Nicklas Lautakoski Naked and Afraid. Nicklas also will speak about his Naked and Afraid adventure during the Bushcraftfestivalen 2016 in Gottröra Sweden August 12th-14th.

På Svenska

A Florida Adventure - Alligators and Milkshakes - Föräldrar & Barn No.3 - 2016

As of today the latest issue of the mag Föräldrar & Barn will be available in Swedish stores. As always the mag offer a wide range of interesting articles on parents and their kids. For instance you can read a number of helpful articles on kids and their sleep habits. Also a great article by Jesper Juul speaking about the value of kids being bored sometimes. Inside the magazine you also can read my article about the Florida adventure me and my family had last Fall.

Hope you'll have a relaxing time reading the magazine sitting in the warm Spring sun. Please let me know if you have any questions about the article or our trip through the Everglades. Stay tuned for more post here on the blog about this trip.

To see my other Föräldrar & Barn articles; click HERE.

På Svenska