Wilderness QUEST, page 2

reply to post by sirnex

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I really appreciate all the info and ideas! please don't hold back posting links, more info like this, harder challenges, etc

The Pacific Wax Myrtle is near me. Here's a great video series about them. Can be used for insect repellent, tea, spice, and candle wax.



3 videos in the series

Here's a little about the California Bay Laurel
(this is becoming a resource so I assume it's ok to keep posting one after the other)

California Bay Laurel or Umbellularia is a nice hard wood that can be used to make spoons and bowls. It also has edible fruit with a roastable seed that can used to make "coffee".

Originally posted by Thermo Klein
reply to post by sirnex

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I really appreciate all the info and ideas! please don't hold back posting links, more info like this, harder challenges, etc

No problem! I just got back from a hike in the woods, found a fallen birch tree and I'm going to make a few containers from the bark I collected tonight after work.

I love the concept of this thread and I truly hope some people whom have done this stuff before post about it, or those just starting out use this as a starting point into real survivalism and post about their experiences. I'm thinking of making a thread on primitive survival soon. I'm going to do a bit more research first, get together a ton of information, links, videos for everyone.

Just to mention, this thread is what inspired me to want to make such a thread of my own!

Perhaps with more threads detailing the ins and outs of true survival rather than bug out bags and stockpiles, we can put a little more common sense into people. Nature is our stockpile. She's our bug out bag. Every spot is our bug out shelter. You just have to know how to use her to your advantage to survive. We've thrived as a species for hundreds of thousands of years on our own without modern conveniences and modern science in a more primitive state. Pisses me off to hear people bulls*** about not being able to buy ammo and guns or trying to stockpile food and supplies as if that's what's going to save them.

Yes, stockpiling is good, for the short term, even if that short term is ten years worth of food stockpiled. If you don't know how to procure food from the wild, you simply will die of starvation. I also loath the fact that stockpiling makes you a target. Why would someone intentionally make themselves a target if tshtf? People who didn't prepare are going to eventually find out unless you are pretty damn well hidden and stay that way with no human contact for the duration your stockpiles allow.

In my opinion, preppers/stockpilers are as good as dead as those who don't prepare. Knowledge is the key to survival.

New task!

Intermediate:

*Learn about medicinal plants.

When people ransack all the pharmacies and hospitals, knowing how to make your own medicine is the biggest lifesaver you will have.

Here's a couple -

Willow can be used like aspirin
White oak made into a strong concoction will help with diarrhea.

Save yourself some money at least knowing how to make these two, especially the morning after a night of drinking!

reply to post by sirnex

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Glad to hear it! You clearly have much more experience than I do at this stuff. U2U me if you don't see me on the thread

I've already found plenty of awesome videos on varied subjects. Might also bring the camera along next time I go out. This thread has inspired me more than I expected too!

Originally posted by Thermo Klein
reply to post by sirnex

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Glad to hear it! You clearly have much more experience than I do at this stuff. U2U me if you don't see me on the thread

I've already found plenty of awesome videos on varied subjects. Might also bring the camera along next time I go out. This thread has inspired me more than I expected too!

I'm really not THAT experienced...

I've watched numerous video's, read countless articles and sites over the last few years, but only in the last year or so have I really buckled down and started to practice this stuff. I can identify a dozen or so wild edibles readily and now that I know about them, they stand out and just beg me to harvest them. Just recently I found out pill bugs are edible and even taste like shrimp! I def plan on adding them to my menu next year as I always come across them, just never knew they were tasty!

It's only been in the last few months that I've gotten my family interested in playing along. We've been gathering materials together to make rope and baskets this last few weeks, my wife and I in the last few months worked together on my first bow. It broke after roughly 20 shots from arrows I made myself (which flew perfectly!!!), but it was a learning experience and after further research I now know how to make a proper bow that doesn't break as easily.

All of us interested in primitive skills are just attempting top relearn the very thing's that has allowed our species to not only continue, but to THRIVE and GROW. Our "modern technology" is no more than two hundred years old. Before the advent of industrialization, we made due with our own two hands. We never had to rely upon name brand factory made garbage before. We had handmade real quality built tools and weapons. It's the stockpiling prepper mindset that should be at shame with themselves. They rely upon other for their survival whilst thinking that if they stockpile, they're only relying upon themselves. They're simply doing it half a**ed backwards. That one guy really ticked me off with his rambo comment. He simply doesn't understand what true survival really is. It isn't about how much you can carry on you, it's not about how many years you can survive on you're stockpile. Real survival is about KNOWLEDGE. It's about knowing how to make the things you need to survive, it's about self reliance. The only skill these stockpilers don't have!!!

Just with the skill alone of knowing how to make rope gives you a weapon that can be readily made from just some long grass! The sling has been an effective weapon in primitive times and can easily take down not only animals, but also people! If you know how to make rope, you can make a weapon to protect yourself as well as to hunt your food with. The ammo is free, you don't need to carry a thousand rounds of it as it's all around you.

Which brings me to another quest/task!

Beginner:

*Make a sling!
- Once you can make rope (which is so damned easy and takes so very little time and energy), you can now make a weapon to procure food and to protect yourself with.

I def plan on making a video of my families "camp" once it's finished and set up!

Great for Beginners!

Identify, harvest and prepare Burdock Root. (you know, the plant with all the hitch hikers? Who would have guessed) It's late fall here in NE so I recently harvested all the Burdock root I stalked throughout the summer. It is wonderful to eat boiled in the spring, but in the late fall it sends all it's energy down into the root and is harvested specifically for medicinal purposes.






When you dig the Burdock do not break the root. Very important, otherwise your going to lose the vitamins and nutrients and in a survival situation you need them. Take your time, dig your hole wide and deep, and trust me it'll be deep. I have gone 3 feet in to get some monster roots out. It's worth it.

Susun Weed in Healing Wise (great book) says that burdock root helps “provide optimum nutrition to the glandular and immune systems, liver, kidneys, blood, lungs, and nerves.” Chromium, iron, magnesium, silicon, thiamine, and inulin are among its many useful constituents. Fresh root is also high in vitamin C. Not only is it packed with nutrition; the mucilaginous fiber of the root will absorb, bind and remove poisons and toxins in our digestive tracts.

One more quote from Susun for you: “Longevity, steady energy, sexual vitality, and freedom from chronic disease and cancer are a few of the reported effects of long-term frequent use of burdock.”

In a survival situation I would dig the root, scrub it clean, parboil it and then slow cook it with rice or beans if you have any with you. When I backpack I'll always dig a burdock and cook it IN rice over the fire, it'll keep me going all day.

If you have apple cider vinegar made (or store bought) you would simply cut up the root and top a mason jar with apple cider and eat it as you wish, straight out of the jar.





These are spring harvested roots. See the tender new leaves at the top? Those are wonderful in a wild salad, but only in the early spring. After that they are big enough to be used as a sun hat. Don't laugh, you might need one someday and thank me.






EDIT- Can someone tell me how I can put my own personal images onto the forum? Do I have to uplaod them all to photobucket? argh

found a few videos on YouTube - feel free to use any of these in subsequent threads.

How to Make a Rock Sling (weapon)


Traditional styles of using sling


Slo-mo 600 fps


better detail on technique, including holding the sling


staff sling

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