Two of my best, most original pieces of writing on this blog are two of the least popular articles here. They deal with building rapport with your immediate neighbors and building rapport with your larger community. If you haven’t, I strongly encourage you to go back and read those articles. Today I’m going to follow-up with some lessons learned, and share our success and failures.
Medical Multi-Tool: The Triangular Bandage
The tourniquet is the rock-star in the world of medical devices. Tourniquets are the latest in an ever-growing list of strongly-encouraged EDC items. If I had my ‘druthers I would always have a full medical kit at hand. That’s not always possible, so if I had to limit myself to a single medical device, I’d choose the most versatile single item. Instead of a tourniquet, I’d choose the multi-tool of medical stuff: the triangular bandage. I know that’s a controversial position, so let me explain.
Some Thoughts on Quitting Tobacco
I quit using tobacco on 23 November, 2019. My last dose of nicotine via the patch was on January 5, 2020. I was a daily user of Copenhagen Snuff for over 20 years and finally, somehow, got the gumption to give it up. This article will tell you why you should quit, talk about the process of quitting (and it is a process), and list some things that might help.
Wilderness Predator Defense
My girlfriend and I have been doing a good bit of hiking lately. I am always interested in what we can do to improve our chances of survival if something were to go wrong. On our last hike I was thinking about wilderness predator defense. This article will cover some general principles regardless of what predators you may encounter, as well as a little specific advice here and there.
Making (and Keeping) New Year’s Resolutions
New Year’s Day is right around the corner. This time a year brings out two types of people: those making resolutions and those who poo-poo making resolutions. I happen to be a fan of making New Year’s Resolutions. I might get some grief but, hey – I kept mine. Today I’ll share some of the things that have helped me make resolutions that are possible to stick to for an entire year.
Tips for Using Sparking Fire-Starters
Sparking fire-starters are a mainstay of wilderness survival kits. They are rugged, waterproof, and have the potential to light thousands of fires. They aren’t terribly expensive and you can find one of just about any size or form-factor from keychain-sized models to large, purpose-built versions. For all their virtues, lighting a fire with them can be tougher than you might think. Today I will offer a few hard-won tips for using sparking fire-starters.
Wilderness Survival Books, Part II
Welcome to Part II of my favorite wilderness survival books. In Part I I covered a mindset book, a how-to, and a survival story. This post will follow that same format. Unlike Part I this post will not have a bad example to share…but I will share a bonus book at the end and it’s one of the most fun books in this genre.
Food Preparedness on $20 a Paycheck
For a long time I’ve been telling friends, family, and readers how easy and inexpensive preparedness can be. I recently got curious about what a reasonable dollar amount – say $20 a paycheck – could actually do for one’s preparedness. I decided to find out, first-hand, and report the results to you. I’m pretty excited and consider this little experiment a success!
Helikon Essentials Kitbag and My Minimal Survival Kit
I recently wrote about the contents of a theoretical minimalist survival kit. I love the concept of such a kit: the bare minimum stuff you’d want to survive in the wilderness, so I decided to put one together. I’ve walked with it several times now and here’s what I have to report.
Wilderness Survival Books, Part I
I have recently been down a rabbit hole of reading survival-related books. The wilderness survival class I taught a couple weeks ago prompted this reading track and I’m so glad it did. It got me back into a couple books that I have long loved, and introduced me to a few new ones. Here are my favorite wilderness survival books.