Live Ready Now!

For dinner last night we ate wild sow thistle!  My hubby grew up in the south, eating collard greens.  Sow thistle is similar, but even more nutritious!  In fact, it has higher levels of omega-3 fatty acids and some minerals than any domesticated green (domesticated plants are bred for looks, season, easy growing, etc, NOT [...]

Chickens must be one of the easiest animals to keep as part of an independent lifestyle.  If space is limited, they can live in a very small area, or they can be allowed to roam freely, finding much of their own food.  They require very little maintenance, and good breeds will supply many fresh nutritious eggs for [...]

What says, “Naaaa” and eats tin cans?  I grew up believing goats eat anything.  After 14 years with goats, we know that is false.  They chew on things out of curiosity, but are actually very picky eaters.  If hay touches the ground and gets stepped on, they won’t touch it.  They do love to forage [...]

The woodsman at work with his super-duper machete On our last wilderness adventure we had a doozy of a shelter to sleep in!  Of course if we ever find ourselves in a serious survival situation there may not be time or resources for a mansion such as this, but the more we practice the better [...]

When my brothers and I were growing up we made “forts” in the nearby vacant woods.  We used old discarded pieces of things for “furniture.”  Interesting plants (potatoes from potato vines, etc) were our “food.”  What fun!  I’m sure you have similar stories. In our quest to learn survival skills (basic life skills which were [...]

I used to always think sleeping outside in the wilderness would be unfriendly and difficult.  Granted, there are many people who have found themselves stranded and their overnight experience was anything but pleasant.  But think how much less unfriendly it would be to find ourselves out unexpectedly if we had already practiced how to get [...]

As the head cook at our house I should teach my children to cook without a stove in case of an emergency.  Everyone should at least know how to boil water without modern technology, in case there is no other way to purify it.  I used to be clueless about starting fires, let alone cooking [...]

In Little House on the Prairie books you never read what they did about important matters like going to the bathroom.  Don’t tell anyone, but I’m going to show you how we made a bathroom on our recent family wilderness adventure. We like privacy, so first we made a small shelter.  This time we used a [...]

Without clean running water like we are accustomed to, cleanliness in the wilderness can be challenging.  One might think that in such a setting cleanliness is a lost cause.  But the contrary is true.  Without doctor or medical supplies, sanitation is even more important.  Preventing sickness and infection is vital.  Chances of surviving are greatly [...]

Yesterday the kiddos went out into our yard and picked several small buckets of salad greens. And we hadn’t planted it in our garden, either. In fact, the lettuce I sowed this past hot summer miserably failed. Yesterday’s salad greens grew by themselves without any help from me! How is that for convenience? And free [...]

Many wild plants are not edible because they are too woody or fibrous to digest properly, but steeping them in hot water releases valuable nutrients.  On last week’s wilderness adventure we found some great wild plants that we could “drink” even though we couldn’t eat them.  I noticed a definite difference in my energy level after [...]

Water is necessary for survival.  To stay healthy, it must be pure.  In the wilderness dehydration is a great risk because of additional exertion required.  Plenty of pure water is of primary importance.  On our recent wilderness adventure we were much more prepared to handle water needs for eight than we were previously.  Last time [...]

We returned home from our wilderness adventure yesterday feeling like we had been run over.  Suddenly removing all familiar comforts is exhausting and emotionally draining.  This was a planned event, with nothing traumatic forcing us into it. Finding water, gathering firewood and building a fire to boil and purify the water, keeping the fire tended, [...]

Here I sit in the wilderness with my laptop!  Isn’t it interesting what modern technology allows you to do?  I think what I miss the most out here is a nice place to sit.  This old stump is better than the ground, but after a while, things start getting a little sore.  Oh, for a [...]

We are out here by ourselves this time.  Our friend was planning to come again, but sadly a close friend of his passed away last night unexpectedly.  Now we’ll see how well we’ve learned… It’s a fairly warm day out here in the woods in Central FL.  A beautiful breeze rustles through the trees.  We [...]