Warming at the poles will soon be felt globally in rising seas, extreme weather Ice loss, permafrost thaw, fires: Trouble in the Arctic and Antarctic could cause shocks to the world’s weather and sea levels sooner than thought, says a new study.

Warming at the poles will soon be felt globally in rising seas, extreme weather.

Ice loss, permafrost thaw, fires: Trouble in the Arctic and Antarctic could cause shocks to the world’s weather and sea levels sooner than thought, says a new study.

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/2019/12/arctic/

TURN OFF YOUR COAL POWERED ELECTRICITY!

We have left it too late for any half arsed measures to stabilise climate change! There is no time left for changing from coal power to solar, we can't wait that long & the government will not do it anyway! You want to do something NOW? Then turn off your coal powered electricity to your home, because when climate change gets worse I think the grid will go down anyway!

Climate Change Survival Here & Now!

The sun going down yesterday, it looked the same coming up this morning.

Climate Change Survival Here & Now!

Whilst the climate change skeptics & deniers carry on with their normal lives completely oblivious to what is happening in the rest of the world, people like myself face each day with trepidation.  It is still spring time here in New England NSW Australia, yet the temperature outside yesterday was 45 degrees, 35 degrees in the shade, that is far hotter than our normal summer temperatures here. Not far away there are catastrophic bushfires, & we are enveloped in smoke, so much so that even without the extreme heat I could not work outside.

Cattail Pond is barely visible through the smoke from the bushfires.

We have had to change our gardening methods; everything now must be under shade cloth to stop it from burning. Unfortunately that does not stop the possums from eating our garden due to the fact that they are suffering from a shortage of food in the forest. Our forest trees are dying rapidly, Cattail Pond is almost dry, & we are running low on drinking water in our tanks. Frankly I find this all pretty scary, I have fought raiders & bushfires in the past, I have been attacked by feral dogs, wild bulls, buffalo, wild boar & people, but none of that was as daunting to me as climate change is now, because to be honest, I have no idea whether or not we can survive this!

The people should be out on the streets protesting this, & although I know many actually are, there are simply not enough to make any difference. I honestly think that in the not too distant future there will be more people protesting, & I think that these protests will no longer be peaceful. I think that just like in Japan right now, these protests are going to turn very violent. Unfortunately it too will not make any difference, because our corrupt Australian government has too much invested in mining/drilling/fracking, burning & selling fossil fuels. They are perfectly prepared to see climate change cause TEOTWAWKI & then possibly a mass extinction event just for their own short term monetary gain.

That makes no sense? No it doesn’t, I have no idea where they think they will be able to spend their money. I suppose they must have plans in place, a doomsday bunker, or perhaps first a move overseas where the climate is not quite so bad as in Australia. Have they no concerns for their children & their grandchildren? It would appear not, just like the cigarette tobacco executives, so long as they are making money they will lie to the public regarding the dangers & perhaps even allow their own children to smoke!

So what can we do as a minority? Well nothing I guess. The only thing we can do is prepare for what is coming. Make plans for leaving the city when things get really bad, better still leave the city now & live off grid. But even living off grid is no guarantee of survival. We can’t live without water, the nearest town to me has already run out of water, & the nearest small city is on water restrictions with no rain forecast for at least the next six months. Is that going to be six months of 45 degrees of heat?! Yesterday I spoke for the first time to my wife about the possibility of having to move from Australia, I mean if we are getting conditions like this in New England, then where else in Australia would it be any better? Maybe something will happen; perhaps the winds of change will blow something else our way. Perhaps TEOTWAWKI will be survivable & this will be the end of fossil fuels in Australia. Perhaps.

Take care out there & keep prepping.
Keith.

Myths about disaster survivors stall the global response to climate change!!!

Areas effected by climate change disaster are NOT recovering as well as the media tells you they are!!!

Act now before it is too late!

https://theconversation.com/myths-about-disaster-survivors-stall-the-global-response-to-climate-change-121548

The 5 Things That Will Surprise You Most When The SHTF--Article

Well worth reading, & explains why I keep telling you that you will need to get out of the city if TSHTF.
https://bushcraftusa.com/forum/threads/selco-the-5-things-that-will-surprise-you-most-when-the-shtf-article.253881/

Our New garden Chook Tractor!

A roll of plastic road works mesh & some star pickets. Easy to erect, move around & fits any size or shape garden bed.

A Man Of The Woods. A short documentary on the Author of this blog who lives off grid & off all council services

A Man of the Woods from Alex Cuffe on Vimeo.

Newly Expanded Australian Survival Forum.

The Survival Connection.

This is a survival board on our groups forum. Many of our members joined our 18th century Living History forum because they had a strong interest in survival & prepping, so we also added The Survival Connection board.
This board is like a separate forum, it is not just for primitive gear & primitive skills, it covers anything & everything in regards to survival.

The Survival Connection Forum: http://neclhg.freeforums.net/board/18/survival-connection

Keeping Food Cool with no electricity.

We live off grid in a forest, now we have solar power, but for over 20 years we lived with no electricity. I built a coolgardie safe to keep our foods cool.

A coolgardie safe is basically a box with open sides, back & front with a door. The front back & sides are covered in hessian made from old feed sacks. On top of this box is a tray of water. The hessian overlaps into this water tray & the water soaks down through the hessian sides & keeps the inside cool.

A spring house is a building built over or below a spring so that the water flows though this building & keeps the inside cool.

How to Run the Economy on the Weather. An interesting read.

Stoneferry (detail), a painting by John Ward of Hull.

Article here: http://www.lowtechmagazine.com/2017/09/how-to-run-the-economy-on-the-weather.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+typepad%2Fkrisdedecker%2Flowtechmagazineenglish+%28Low-tech+Magazine%29

Living Off Grid. Rainwater Collection & Storage.

We have 4 rainwater tanks for the main house (Linstock), the main house garden & the main house outside laundry. The same 5000 gallon tank that feeds the outside laundry also feeds Elm Cottage via a 12 volt pump under the cottage. Both houses are solar powered.
 The lower cement 5000 gallon water tank is fed from the roof of the main house via down pipes from both the front & the rear of the house. The water from this lower tank is then pumped up to the higher tank which gravity feeds the main house.

 This pump is also a fire pump, it draws water from the stop cock on the side of the lower tank & pumps it up to the higher tank via a pipe that runs underground.

 This image shows the two "first flush" pipes on the lower tank. Any dirt on the roof or in the gutters is washed into these two pipes. When full, a ball float in the pipe rises to the top closing off these tow pipes & allows the rest of the water to flow into the tank. Over time, the water in these pipes is supposed to slowly run out via the hoses at the bottom, but invariably the small hole blocks with dirt, so every now & then I remove the bottom of the pipes, drain & wash out the filters.
 

The garden tank was placed on higher ground to the level of the garden so it would gravity feed better, but this meant that it was too far away from the house to use an overhead down pipe to fill it from the roof at the end of the house. So I run the down pipe underground then back up into the top of the tank.

This is the new 5000 gallon poly tank that feeds the outside laundry, & Elm Cottage. This tank is fed from the roof of Elm Cottage, but the ground close to the cottage was too soft to provide a firm base for the tank, so we placed it on higher ground. Again this meant that the tank was too far away to use overhead down pipes, so again the pipe to the tank from the cottage roof was placed underground then back up & into the top of the tank. The other pipe you can see is an overflow pipe which I have run into a water butt.

Cattail Pond is actually a dam we had put in to collect & store more water from the header stream in Butterfly Valley. It also enables us to keep fish for food. Cattail Pond feeds the gardens at both houses via another fire pump at the side of the dam.
Keith.

Meet the Aussie woman who hasn't spent a cent in two years

This is Jo's bedroom. It's simple but it's all she needs. Source: Today Tonight.

https://au.news.yahoo.com/a/36892746/aussie-woman-jo-nemeth-spent-no-money-for-two-years/

Survival Foods For Your Garden.

It is said that you will never starve if you are growing Jerusalem Artichokes. The Jerusalem Artichoke is a root crop & member of the sunflower family. The green foliage can be fed to stock & chooks as can the root itself. You only need one root bulb to start your crop.

Nutritional Information:

http://www.nutrition-and-you.com/jerusalem-artichoke.html

http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/vegetables-and-vegetable-products/2456/2

http://www.healwithfood.org/health-benefits/jerusalem-artichokes.php

Long Term Wilderness Living/Survival Fire lighting Methods.

Authors, historical, living history, authenticity, flint and steel, burning glass, reading glass, fire-bow, Mountain men, woodsmen, woodsrunners, books, reading, experimental archaeology, plant tinder, fungi tinder, tinderbox, fire lighting, 18th century, 17th century, 19th century, survival, Indians, primitive, fur trade, French and Indian War, Revolution, historical trekking, long term wilderness living, colonial, Australia, North America, cooking, heating, Reenacting, Reenactment, Preppers, Prepping, Survivalists, Bugging Out, Camping, Hiking, Bush Walking, Lost survival, TEOTWAWKI, SHTF, Primitive Skills, sustainable, self reliance, Off Grid, Bushcraft, Woodslore,  

Primitive Fire Lighting-Flint & Steel & Fire Bow.

Title: Primitive Fire Lighting
ID: 9784776
Category: History
Description: “Primitive Fire Lighting”, is a hands on guide to how to make fire with flint and steel and fire bow. This includes some history, a variety of methods, tinder plants identification, and tinder production, tips on fire place construction and use, how to prepare and lay a fire, wet weather fire lighting and magnifying glass fire lighting. The skills and methods in this book will be of interest to a wider range of readers including survivalists, historical re-enactors, bush-walkers and campers, historical–trekkers and even historical novel writers. Although the plant identifications list is mainly Australian it also has some information for England, Europe and America.
Publisher: Keith H. Burgess
Copyright Year: © 2010
Language: English
Country: Australia

Table of Contents
Illustrations. 4
FOREWORD. 6
FLINT AND STEEL FIRE LIGHTING. 8
PLANT FIBRE TINDERS: 11
TINDER PREPARATION. 15
Tinder preparation-charring: 15
OTHER FLINT and STEEL FIRE LIGHTING METHODS: 16
Emergency methods: 17
A WORD ABOUT BLACK POWDER: 17
THE CAMPFIRE FIREPLACE: 18
READING GLASS/MAGNIFYING GLASS FIRE LIGHTING 20
WET WEATHER FIRE LIGHTING. 21
A FINAL WORD OF CAUTION. 23
FIRE-BOW FIRE LIGHTING. 24
Introduction 24
FIRE-BOW FIRE LIGHTING. 25
A Brief Overview. 25
The Parts of the Fire-bow. 26
The Bow. 26
The Drill Piece. 27
The Fireboard. 29
The Tinder-board. 30
The Bearing Block. 31
The Bowstring. 32
Tinder. 32
Making Fire. 32
Making Cordage. 37
The Step for making Cordage. 38
AFTERWORD. 40
Fire steel suppliers. 45
About the author. 45

5.83" x 8.26", saddle-stitch binding, white interior paper (60# weight), black and white interior ink, white exterior paper (100# weight), full-colour exterior ink.
Cost: Book $11.00 US. Plus P&P. Download $7.00 US

Purchase orders to: http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/KeithBurgess

Or at http://www.lulu.com/shop/keith-burgess/primitive-firelighting/ebook/product-17366659.html

Now Also Available From Barnes and Noble:
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/primitive-firelighting-keith-h-burgess/1113663647?ean=9781447567622

Unboxing The ProsChoice Browning Trail Camera By Keith H Burgess

Spromise "S358J" 3G Trail Camera (full setup with install and picture/vi...

https://www.proschoice.com.au/blog/

I have been thinking of getting a trail or farm camera, & of course I would prefer to get one from someone that is local. Security is important to me, but I am also interested in using such a camera for taking pics of wildlife in the forest. I must wait & see. Priorities govern where I spend our money, so getting one of these may have to wait for a while. I can see there a variety of areas where this sort of camera could come in handy, such as our wood shed, our front gate, areas where we know poachers have entered our property, so placing one of these to watch a particular fence line could be useful.

Obviously this video review is not one of mine, but this bloke does cover the technical side of the camera very well, probably better than I could. Anyway, something for you to think about. I would certainly like to have one of these watching our yard & road, especially when we are not at home.
Take care out there.
Keith.

Survival Updates.

All three registered 4WDs were home today so I thought I would take a photo.

Start of the footings for the new laundry right behind the power shed.

A new solar battery bank, gel 6 volts adding up to 24 volts DC and converted to 240 volts AC.

Personal and Family Preparedness.

Personal and Family Preparedness.

Personally I don’t see one thing as being more important than another. There is no point in prioritising shelter if you are unable to protect & defend. But for the purpose of this article, I will start with my home & work my way through other priorities.

We have two dwellings, a main house & an old cottage. Both are situated in a forest that we own. We do have fire breaks, but this winter we will be widening those breaks because of the new threat posed by global warming. On the main house we have two 5000 gallon cement water tanks, plus another 1000 gallons in a polly tank for the garden. We have two fire pumps, one on the lower cement tank, & one down at Cattail Pond. The Cattail Pond pump can pump water up to the main house & the cottage for gardens & fire fighting. The gardens supply us with all our vegetable needs for the house & the chooks, but we also keep on hand a good supply of dried, bottled & canned foods. The chooks are kept mainly for eggs.

The main house & the cottage are both off grid & self-sustainable with grey water systems & composting toilets. The cottage has two 1000 gallon water tanks but we will be adding another larger tank soon. Heating of both houses & hot water is provided by wood burning stoves, plus a wood heater in the main house & a large open fire in the cottage. Cooking of course is also done on the wood burning stoves & the forest supplies all our firewood. 240 volt Electricity is supplied by solar panels & batteries.

We have four 4WDs, The Lada is only used on the property, but the Hilux & Triton diesels are registered for the road, as is the X-Trail SUV. If we ever have to leave here, the whole family can just fit in the Hilux & the two Tritons with all our equipment. Every family member that is able to carry has their own pack & arms. I am a primitive skills instructor & I have passed my skills on to my three sons. Arms are a mixture of modern breech-loaders, muzzle-loaders & traditional bows. Our equipment is all 18^th century except for medical supplies & some of the water containers. We do not expect to have to leave our forest home as we have plenty of people & arms to protect what we have, but we are prepared to leave if we consider it necessary.

Individual equipment is much the same for everyone with a few exceptions including arms, types of packs, clothing. & personal items.

Equipment List:

.62 cal/20 gauge flintlock fusil. 42 inch barrel.

.70 caliber smoothbore flintlock pistol.

Gun tools and spare lock parts.

Shot pouch and contents.

Leather drawstring pouch of .60 caliber ball (in knapsack).

Powder horn.

Ball mould and swan shot mould.

5 Gunpowder wallets

Lead ladle.

Butcher/Hunting knife.

Legging knife.

Clasp knife.

Tomahawk.

Fire bag.

Tinderbox.

Belt pouch.

Fishing tackle in brass container.

Two brass snares.

Roll of brass snare wire.

Knapsack.

Scrip.

Market Wallet.

Tin Cup.

Kettle.

Water filter bags (cotton & linen bags).

Medical pouch.

Housewife.

Piece of soap and a broken ivory comb.

Dried foods in bags.

Wooden spoon.

Compass.

Whet stone.

Small metal file.

Oilcloth.

One blanket (Monmouth cap, spare wool waistcoat and wool shirt rolled inside blanket).

Two glass saddle flasks.

Length of hemp rope.

Bottle of rum.

Basic list of what I carry. This list is made up from items that we know were carried, from items that my research has shown were available, & from items that have been found, such as the brass snare wire. I am not saying every woodsrunner carried all these items, but I am saying that some woodsrunners may have carried all these items. From experimental archaeology results in historical trekking, I think the items I have chosen are a reasonable choice for any woodsrunner that is going to live in the wilderness for a year or more.

Skills: All adult male family members have these skills. The only reason the women don’t have these skills is because they have not shown any interest. Two of the women can use a gun & one of the girls has her own bow. One of our family is a trained nurse & others have skills such as cooking, clothing manufacture, weaving & gardening.

Skills List:

Fire-bow Flint & steel fire lighting

Wet weather fire lighting

fire lighting

Flintlock fire lighting

Flintlock use, service & repair

Marksmanship with either gun or bow.

Field dressing & butchering game

Blade sharpening

Tomahawk throwing

Making rawhide

Brain tanning

Primitive shelter construction

How to stay warm in winter with only one blanket

Cordage manufacture

Moccasin construction and repair

Sewing

Axe and tomahawk helve making

Fishing

Hunting

Evasion

Tracking

Reading sign

Woods lore

Navigation

Primitive trap construction & trapping

Open fire cooking

Fireplace construction

Clothing manufacture

Drying meat & other foods

Knowledge of plant tinders & preparation

Knowledge of native foods & preparation

Knowledge of native plants in the area and their uses for other than tinder and food.

Scouting/Ranging.

Basic first aid.

Finding and treating water.

General leather work.

Help Stop The Tax Hike On Solar Power. PLEASE SIGN THIS PETITION.

Government ministers are about to approve a huge tax hike on solar panels that will have a devastating impact on the industry. Sign the petition to push back.

https://secure.greenpeace.org.uk/page/s/no-new-solar-taxes-v3?source=em&subsource=20170301egem01&utm_source=gpeace&utm_medium=em&utm_campaign=20170301egem01

Troubled Waters.

Photo Credit: Getty Images.

Is it safe to drink from fast flowing pristine looking waters in the bush?

http://www.australiangeographic.com.au/topics/science-environment/2016/09/waterborne-illnesses