Survival is Life by Steve D.

Survival is Life by Steve D.

I don’t look at survival as something when a disaster hits. I use and
practice survival all the time. My main passion is learning to eat. I love learning
new tasty plants and how to use them. That in itself, is a couple of life times of
skills to learn. Three years ago I learned to make maple syrup, 2 years ago with
family and friends, we got into making juice. 75 gallons of apple and pear juice
canned last year. Also canned wild grape juice last year. So with just the skill of
eating, which is my favorite hobby from gardening, picking edible plants, then
storing the food for later. Which gets into drying, freeze dried food is great. BUT
your own dried fruits and veggies in your bug out bag is a lot cheaper. Another
lifetime can be spent on hunting and fishing. At work after lunch I will take out a
piece of glass that I have been flint knapping and work on that for a few minutes.
Sometimes in the store waiting in line I will pull some cordage out of my pocket twist up a few inches. That is where the biggest problem comes in, TIME to learn. So I sneak in learning a skill everywhere and anywhere. Yes, I have cargo pants!!! I have friends ask every once in a while “so what’s in your pockets today” When walking in the woods there are many things you can find. Bone pieces can make fishing hooks,spear points, needles, trap parts….
There is usually a bag of edible wild plants in my pocket. Stones, from sanding stones, flint, and a stone with a good dip in it, and for the hand hold of a bow
drill kit. Wood pieces, oh my there is lots of wood in the woods!!!! That stuff is Gods gift!!! It is useful for everything. Clay, have to have a baggie just in case I find some good stuff. Making clay bowls is a great skill for kids, they love it. My daughters and their friends have made some, it is usually the same reaction at first with their new friends “yuck mud”…LOL But then their hands are soon covered in clay. So as you can probably tell, if I am going hiking, I will have a backpack. Another good skill for children is burning bowls and spoons. Kids love to play with fire, so let them. Then you can teach them to chew Plantain(wild) and put that on a burn. Another fun thing with kids, road kill. LOL One time in winter, stopped to pick up a raccoon, put it in a trash bag. Daughter said “You’re not going to put it back here with me” I said “Ok” But I placed it on her lap and said “Here hold this for me” LOL That face picture would be worth gold now. Road kill is great. The animal is never hit on both sides. The bruised meat can be boiled, then cooked or dried for great dog treats. The hide has no holes in it for brain tanning. So basically I see survival as a hobby and a fun one at that!!!