Absolute Minimalist Survival

great Thread!! of usefulness will be creating networks of groups of people so a group can be formed post collapse.
Like you said earlier....a lone wolf cant live long. You need others and group cohesion for safety, security and overall survival. Especially at first! Ive found a neat trick. Painting a metal roof sheet black and placing on sun side. ; so orientating it east west where 1/2 day sun hits one side and other side the other half. You would be absolutely amazed at how warm the metal gets even in 30 degree weather. A cheap easy heat solution. Requires no power and is easy to take down and put back when the season change. Ok great thread.

reply to post by davjan4


This is not true. You get Plenty of B-12 from soil. if you eat plenty of root veggies and wash the dirt off them, (not scrub them like crazy) you can get more than enough B-12.

I'm vegan and don't take supplements and get my levels checked every year and have never been low on B-12

Why am I going to do this again?
Why would I need to live in a hole in the ground like some animal when I have a perfectly good house to live in?

reply to post by karen61560


Because, in the hypotheticals that require this info, a house makes an easy to find target probably stocked with food and supplies that others in desperation may want to occupy themselves.

Originally posted by libertytoall
We could use a thread on natural alternatives to common prescription drugs. There are many people who's health relies on prescriptions. Are there known natural alternatives for some of these drugs?


We need natural alternatives for each of the listed below drugs. I bet there's a natural store in China that has all of these alternatives.


Tylenol/Ibuprofen
Neosporin/A&D?
Nexium*
Painkillers?
Congestion?
Soar throat?
Anything help with electrolytes?

This is not medical advice by any means and may go against the wishes of the pharma industry and what is considered right and is permitted in American society these days, I don't know, but if faced with a survival situation may possibly provide some relief. Aspirin from willow bark growing in riparian areas, de-congestant properties from mormon tea - ephedra - found in high-desert regions and other locations. Strong pain killer from poppies?? Yerba mansa as an anti-microbial, anti-bacterial and can reduce inflammation and swelling - I typically have found it growing around swampy areas and ponds but see mention of it being found in deserts. Electrolytes, sodium chloride, salt??

Great thread OP, very useful information. Thank you.

reply to post by Fevrier


Yeah, underground is the best. Even in the worst case, without anything, lost in the woods, you could build this with only cone trees branches. If you don't need to hide, you could still setup your camp on a flat ground if you dig a small trench around for water. That's what we used to do in the army cadets. Also, knowing a couple of good knots can really be helpful.

reply to post by Erongaricuaro


I use the simplest things. Garlic!!! For a lot of things. Dandelion roots to clear up the blood. Or just for vitamin C. A couple spices are good too. Like turmeric. Stevia for energy. There's so many things you can use. I try to stay away from pharmaceuticals.

Originally posted by libertytoall
We could use a thread on natural alternatives to common prescription drugs. There are many people who's health relies on prescriptions. Are there known natural alternatives for some of these drugs?


We need natural alternatives for each of the listed below drugs. I bet there's a natural store in China that has all of these alternatives.


Tylenol/Ibuprofen
Neosporin/A&D?
Nexium*
Painkillers?
Congestion?
Soar throat?
Anything help with electrolytes?

edit on 18-11-2012 by libertytoall because: (no reason given)

Ask and ye shall receive.
Handbook of Medicinal Herbs.pdf
Herbs and Natural Supplements.pdf
Pharmacodynamic Basis of Herbal Medicine.pdf
Ditch Medicine Advanced Feild Procedures for Emergincies.pdf

This is just part of a survival torrent that includes many more important topics. As I am a long time lurker but newly registered, I eagerly await the time when I can disseminate this essential info for direct download for those less technically gifted in P2P programs.

reply to post by Fevrier


Careful dude, you might get called a "free thinker" and a "terrorist"

reply to post by Bishop43


There are times when footwear may be necessary like during winter and if your traversing particularly rough terrain, but try to go barefoot as much as possible. I almost never wear shoes and after the first year or so your feet become so tough that you can walk pretty much anywhere without being bothered at all. i walk right through the woods barefoot with no problem. Also if you were trying to be stealthy this would also be a big advantage as you make less noise than if you were wearing shoes, and you learn to move more cautiously and be more aware of every step.

reply to post by libertytoall


The willow tree is natures aspirin. Just chew on a few leaves or a twig or two and its like taking a couple aspirin. Wild garlic and onions are a natural antibiotic. You can also chew up some of the inner bark of the willow and put it on a wound to disinfect and stop the bleeding. Yarrow is a pretty easy to find herb that can also be used to stop bleeding and disinfect a wound. Another very useful plant i use all the time is the Chinaberry tree also called soapnut. I dont know how widespread this tree is but here in the Southeast its everywhere. It can grow to be a huge tree and in the fall its COVERED in a kind of berry which contains Saponins in the skin. Saponins are natural soap. All you have to do is put a little handful of nuts into a container with some hot water and shake it up every now and then for about a half hour or so until all the soap has come out into the water and you have soapy water that can be used for pretty much everything. This is all ive used to wash my clothes for over a year now and its also what i use for shampoo. Some wild plants i eat regularly and are the most nutritious and abundant foods on the planet are: Lambsquarters(wild Quinoa) Pigweed(Wild Amaranth) Chickweed, Dandelion(Leaves, flowers, root,seeds)Violet Greens, Plantain,Chicory,Clover, Pine needle tea you can also eat the inner bark of the pine and several other trees. Learn about wild nuts, seeds, fruit, vegetables and herbs. This is basic stuff we should all know. Think how much less fear and panic there would be if everyone knew they could feed there families without having to depend on anyone else giving them food. And even if someone comes and steals your food, so what? your surrounded by food. Theres no need to kill each other over food, Its everywhere.

And also another benefit to meditation in regards to food is you can greatly reduce the amount of food you need by spending a lot of time meditating.

reply to post by Raulken


Awesome stuff. Thanks for the PDFs.

I'd recommend printing these out, in case of complete grid failure. Won't do much good if email or computer networks are down. Or no power, which is kind of the idea of the thread I gather.

Homeless person will be fed next time I'm in town

S&F.
Just commenting to keep tabs with this thread.
Thankyou.

If you live near a flowing river or stream then electricity will never be an issue.

Originally posted by krowng
If you live near a flowing river or stream then electricity will never be an issue.

edit on 18-11-2012 by krowng because: (no reason given)

Yep, all you need is an alternator from a vehicle and the battery and some LED lighting.

Originally posted by Fevrier

We begin with shelter.

...

The solution is to dig an opening into a hillside, on the side that gets sun in the winter. Pick a spot that is surround by trees, but that isn't impossible to dig into because of roots. You want your tent to fit in completely and then some. Next, you axe a good number of thick branches and lay them on top of your "hole", then tie them together with cord. Basically, you're making a sort of woven raft out of branches, which will act as a roof and will be strong enough for human and animals to walk on top of it without feeling any difference. When the structure is strong
...


Next comes food.

Thanks for putting this information together, here are my comments from experiences here..

1. Make sure the soil is pressed on the ground on the back wall and the side walls. When compressed enough, dig a trench in the back wall and sidewalls to drain out - so any water leaking down the sides of the earth will be channeled away from where you sleep.

On food.. 100kg of Acorns is a LOT. What containers will you be using to store these in? Are you wanting to let them dry to be pounded into flour, or targeting the seedling approach? What containers / ideas are you using for longer term storage? Again, 100kg is a lot =)

With your potato comment, to my knowledge you cannot just stick potatoes in the ground and expect it to sprout. You need to leave the potatoes alone, untouched (do not move them) in a cool, dark area for about a month. After this time the potato will start sprouting on its eyes. You can either:

1. Remove all but 1 sprout and plant the potato whole, with the sprouting part non-buried
2. Cut out each sprouting 'eye' and some potato, and plant the potato eye with sprout. This will take longer to get food back though.

I haven't tried the potato eye method personally because I think the success rate is much less and it may need to be watered more frequently.

Interesting info,thanks. Couple questions though. The covering for the hole in which you place your tent sounds like it would be unmoveable. Even if you could move it, wouldn't you disturb your camoflouge every time you did? Luckily bears hibernate during teh coldest months of the winter,so they won't be digging you out,but any door that you can open, a bear can open even easier. I've sat in a treestand and watched them try to get at food in a barrel,and their stregnth is incredible. I would not expect to face a bear bent on eating me without a firearm,and survive. It's happened,but usually advanced medical care is required afterwards. But lets assume bears are not a problem,this door sounds like it should stop most other critters.

My second issue would be cave-in. Depending on the type of soil your digging in,would you be concerned about cave-in? Particularily if you are subjecting it to heating/cooling cycles? it's kinda a phobia of mine,so how would you go about fortifying it against collapse? On a side not, if you find a narrow,steep ravine or crevice, you can simply use deadfall to form a roof,and cover it like you mentioned previously.

As for food,what you suggest sounds like it would work well where you live.However,living in northern Canada I need a different game plan. No acorns here,for one. Also,temps get vry cold here in winter,down to -40C of worse. I've lived in a tent for several months ,and even though we packed up in October,it was already quite cold.Combine that with the strenous work load we were under,meat and fat were at the top of the list of food we wanted. A stomach full of good meat keeps you going a lot longer in cold weather than lighter fare. However, I figure that the cold weather will also help with the preservation of meat, since one wouldn't need a freezer.

i really do need to find out about edible plants here, I know there's little around in the winter,and probably not as much in summer as there is elsewhere,but I'm sure there is some. The potatoa is indeed a great idea.I threw out a bunch that I kept too long,causing them to go soft and sprout. There was an old hay bale under a bush that was falling apart,so I kicked it over the old taters. A couple months later,when my garden potatoes were ready, I decided to check out the bush potatoes. Turns out they were much better than the garden ones,perfectly clean and lots of them. I'm thinking leaf litter or the like may work in similar fashion.

S&F for a great topic with wonderful information and informative responses.

But...unless you have the man power to sustain a farm like lifestyle - you will need to move with the 'herd' and move with what you have planted is ready to harvest.

You cannot survive off of local plants alone for more than 3 month. You will need meat - not big game meat, but meat from any critter or fish. You need to learn to make fish traps/baskets from scratch. Need to learn to make small game snares from what nature gives you. You will have to venture out once your local veggies are used up.

Best to trap instead of hunt - if you go out and hunt, you tend to drive away the game. If you trap - you allow the game to come to you. Less calories spent trapping than hunting - less time too.

You will need to learn to smoke and preserve meat to last times when the game isn't rutting or spawning. You can dry veggies and/or eat them at will. Almost takes no effort.

You need to learn how to make primitive weapons to sustain your lifestyle. You only have so many bullets and your knife will last only so long (with constant sharpening). You need to know the basics of the basics.

As for the tent inside the hillside - well, the hillside idea is pretty good. If you place your tent inside another closure, the moisture buildup inside your tent will collect and rot the ground flooring of your tent. Just stick to the hill side home. Use the tent when you can't have the hillside home - if you chose to graze and move with the herd.

Have to know how to tan leather using only pine tree tea and/or coals from your fire - and a bit of water. Need to know how to weave fibers into rope and thread. Take up a simple weaving class at your local hobby shop for the basics.

Check this guy out - www.youtube.com... for a true minimalist - he made a cabin out of simple tools and his old man strength.

very cool.
and just in time for the big show.