What Skills Will Allow You To Do & Not Do.

Medical Kit.

Medications.

Food bags & containers.

Water bottles or flasks.

Tools for hunting & defence.

Shelter & bedding.

What Skills Will Allow You To Do & Not Do.

The debate regarding equipment versus skills is ongoing, in my personal opinion, both are of equal importance. We are not just talking about survival; we must also be concerned with our quality of life. Yes learning primitive skills for long term survival are very important, but you have to think about what these skills can provide you with & what they can’t. For instance, if you need to cook a stew, then you need a fireproof container. You could experiment making clay vessels, you can also use animal skins & use the hot rock method. But how much easier is it to carry a metal kettle with you?

So why am I mentioning this? I am mentioning this because weight matters if you have to carry it on your back when travelling on foot. There has to be some compromise between two principles, minimum weight & maximum self-reliance. When people are asked about the hunting tools/weapons, top of the list is usually high powered breech-loading firearms. These are fine for self-defence, but how practicle are they for long term survival? The larger the caliber, the more the ammunition weighs, & the more space in your pack it takes up. We need to prioritise, is it more important to carry a lot of weight in modern ammunition? Or is it more important to carry more medical equipment & supplies, vitamin supplements, more food & more water? If we are travelling alone, we can not carry both.

If we are only carrying a modern firearm & we intend to use it for hunting & defence, then the ammunition will not last long. We can of course avoid a fire fight by keeping a low profile, & we can save on ammunition by setting up a trap line for meat. But how secure will you feel knowing that when your ammunition runs out, you will be left with nothing with which to defend yourself or procure game? Your alternatives are: carrying an air rifle, carrying a traditional bow & arrows, or carrying a flintlock muzzle-loading gun/rifle & pistol. Another alternative for those in America might be to carry a modern sidearm in combination with one of the aforementioned hunting tools, or carry a bow & a modern firearm.

Weight is the all important factor, that & sustainability. Solid form medications have a long shelf life, so we need to take advantage of this. Dry foods too have a long storage capability & it is important that we carry as much food as we can. Eventually we hope to be able to take the time to forage for edible flora & hunt & trap game, but until that time comes, we are on the move & we need to keep a low profile.

Can primitive skills supply you with medications? Yes of course they can, but finding the herbs you need will not be easy, & especially so if you are already feeling ill. We need to think about our well being, our comfort. Any item that is sustainable & will make life easier is worth carrying, within reason. Skills will enable you to make a survival bow & arrows, but if you should ever come up against someone with a gun, you may have some difficulty surviving. Something that people often fail to take into account is the shock factor of a firearm, the noise & the impact of the missile. A bow against a firearm can not deliver this.

Anyway, the purpose of this article is to make you think before you leap. Think about the equipment you are going to carry & how it will best benefit your survival physically & mentally. Learn all you can about primitive skills, & if you plan to survive on your own retreat, then think about the living skills you will need to keep things in good repair.

When it comes to transporting equipment on foot, you can use a hiking trolley, but like all forms of transport from vehicles to animals, there will always be a negative side. The tracks you will leave to be followed, the places you can’t go, the noise you will make.

Some Edible Plants In New England NSW.

Some of these plants may be growing in other parts of Australia, but I an concentrating on what I know is growing in my own area.
One of the things to bear in mind is the lack of edible plants in any one area. There is no point in searching for something that either does not exist, or there is not much of in your area. This is more important if you are having to forage for your food, because you can not afford to expend more energy looking, than you can replace by finding. You need to keep an open mind to all types of foods available, not just flora, but also fauna.
The following are the most common and most easily found plants in my area.

Appleberry. Small fruit growing on a climbing vine.

Spike Rush bulbs. This plant grows in water. The bulbs are not very tasty or even pleasant raw, but I have not tried cooking them.

Mistletoe Berries. Not very large fruit, but there is usually a lot of them on one plant. This plant feeds off trees. The seeds are sown on the branches of a tree by the Mistletoe Bird. More often found growing out of reach, but occasionally can be found like this one growing low to the ground.

Nettles. Care must be taken harvesting this leafy plant, as the fine hairs on the leaves will sting. Boiled I find they remind me of spinach or silverbeet.

Cumbungi. Flour made from the pollen is usefull, new green shoots are tasty raw. The new flower heads can be cooked like corn. The roots contain a good deal of starch, which can be collected by soaking in water after breaking, then evaporating the water. Or you can chew on the roots. Again, these can be found in water.

Grass Tree/kangaroo Tail/Black Boy. This plant grows Australia wide. The base of the narrow leaves can be eaten. The amount on each leaf is minimal, but there are a lot of leaves. The flower stem can be used for carrying fire, & for producing tinder for fire lighting. It can be used for making fire by the hand-drill and the fire-bow methods. The stem can also be used as a spear shaft if you add a hardwood tip. The flowers can be sucked on for the nectar, or they can be soaked in water for a refreshing drink. 

Two Of My DVDs Are To Be Deleted Soon.

Just a Heads-Up that Trepstar are going to delet a couple of my DVDs due to lack of sales over the past 240 days. They are Muzle-loaders & More, & Off The Grid. If you intended to purchase one of these, now is the time to get it before it is deleted. A purchase will keep it running, & I could do this myself, but I make so little from these DVDs that it simply would not be worth my while.
Regards, Keith.
http://woodsrunnersdiary.blogspot.com.au/search?q=DVDs