According to outdoor survival experts, the most important necessity for survival is shelter.  When you are in the outdoors, think of what you are wearing as a type of shelter.  For your survival it is necessary to be shielded against the elements in some manner.  In the cold, your main concerns are to keep your body temperature up to prevent hypothermia and to keep it covered sufficiently so that you don’t experience Jack Frost(Bite).  If you will be spending any amount of time outdoors in winter conditions, you need to plan for your stay as if it will be longer than you had expected.  This is wise because you can never be sure when you might get stuck outdoors due to your car breaking down, somehow getting lost in the wilderness, and other unforeseen scenarios.  How many people have you seen that are way under dressed when they venture outside the doors of their home?  Are you guilty of it?  I have been at times.  We are in a hurry and we have to get someplace quickly and we won’t be gone for long, so we just basically go in our pajamas and slip on some flip flops and it’s the middle of winter!  We have little if any protection if we were to meet up with an emergency situation that called for spending an extended period of time in the outdoors.  Well, it’s not that cold outside we reason.  But the mountain lake water isn’t that cold either when we just dip our hand in it for a couple of seconds.  What happens when it turns into minutes, or hours?  You get the picture.

Keeping dry is part of keeping warm.  When we are wet and cold outside this threatens our survival even more.  It’s comparable to  when the temperature is zero degrees Fahrenheit outside and then with the windchill factor it’s 80 below (not quite, but seemingly so).  It’s imperative when you are in the outdoors, especially in the wintertime, that you keep dry.  If you find yourself wet, get indoors quickly and change clothes and dry off before you venture back out again.

When you go outdoors, pay particular attention to your most sensitive areas that you know from experience get the coldest.  It can make an outdoor trip miserable if you aren’t adequately prepared for the environment because you haven’t dressed appropriately.  For me, I know that my feet, hands, and ears are pretty critical.  Is it the same for you, or is it your Rudolph nose?  I make certain that these areas have extra protection.  If you don’t have good, warm wool socks to protect your toesies, wear two or three regular pair.  Keep your head covered.  Your ears aren’t a good thing to lose.  Mike Tyson proved that to Evander Holyfield.  Ears can be easily frostbitten.  And for heaven sakes, have a good pair of gloves!  The Hot Hands in the video that I mention are great little additions, too.  Sometimes if your fingers get a little nippy, you can warm them up a little by crossing your arms across your body and placing your hands where the sun don’t shine– under your armpits, silly.

If you are over prepared and over dressed, you have the advantage in surviving in the outdoors.  You can’t put more “shelter” on if you don’t have it with you, but you can take some off it you have too much on.  So layering your clothing is critical.  And wool is a great thing to have because it drys more quickly than other materials.

I’m sure you’ve heard this somewhere before, but– Boom Shacka Laka, Star Wars, and Chewbacca– stay warm and dry in the outdoors so you can be safe and survive!

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For the trip I had plenty of water with me, food, emergency blankets, tools for the truck, extra gas, and a lighter in case I needed to make a fire. I dressed very warmly with a coat, hat, and gloves. My clothing was layered. It’s always easier to take off a layer than add one if you have nothing to add because you have not thought ahead.

I had a 4-wheel-drive pickup so I could drive up the mountainside high enough to get to where the pines were. My cutting tool was simply a small bow saw because I was intent on only securing a small tree, as that was all the tree I have room for and want to take care of.

The trip to where I was cutting the tree down was in a national forest, and it required a permit. Always find out and follow local laws so you can be a responsible world citizen.

The trip was delightful and this is a practice that I recommend and will continue with my family. One recommendation I have in regards to getting your Christmas tree permit is to find out when they go on sale and get one within the closest vicinity to where you live ASAP. I had to drive a couple of hours to get where I cut my tree down. Had I acted sooner (usually right after Thanksgiving) I would have beat some of my competition and gotten a permit in a range about half the distance I ended up traveling. Check with the forest service in your state to inquire as to where these permits are sold. Merry Christmas!!! Without any further ado, here is your Christmas tree emergency preparedness/safety video:

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When I go fishing I almost always prefer to go in a group. Sometimes the group is relatively large and sometimes it is smaller. You see in the video how everyone has a differing skill level. One of the fishermen is quite inexperienced (I edited out the parts where he tried to cast with the bail closed on his reel). He can learn from the others who have a bit of experience under their belts and rings on their trunks and are willing to share their hints and tips. Others I can learn a thing or two from. One of the fishermen prefers bass fishing to trout fishing, so I may be able to get him to show me the bassing waters, and some types of lures and techniques to use to catch bass on another day and trip. The group of us makes it nice to make food assignments, and we can all pitch in for the meals. While we fish, you’ll notice the virgin fisherman ask questions, being very inquisitive, and hopefully learning that we have done best on this body of water using either the chartreuse sparkling Power Bait or a worm strung on the worm hook so as to hang naturally, with an itty bitty marshmallow on the tip to keep it just off the bottom.

The older of the bunch of us doesn’t get as excited as the younger in the bunch, and he likes to do his part by doing much of the driving and cooking (and telling stories). We work in harmony to have a good time together and share with each other fishing tackle and bait, depending upon what is working at the point in time. We don’t always have to do everything by ourselves. A group effort is a perfect display of self reliant living. Self reliance is sometimes about learning to create your own fun, too. And after you’ve had your fill of fun, you can feed the family, using delicious recipes like the one that DDFD (from the Self Reliance Exchange) shares in one of his posts. In the interest of full disclosure, I was not able to employ the recipe yet, because of the “slot limit” we spoke of in the video, but I am still looking forward to trying it! It will eventually be used, hopefully on our next outing in November.

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Today I was treated to a wonderful demonstration of a Somoan islander tradition as my friend, Eni, who is native to this beautiful paradise revealed how they make fire. Fire to them represents life. Eni explained to me that where there is fire, life flourishes. He also quips that the men are the cooks in his part of Polynesia, and the women… well, you can watch and find out. Eni does a masterful job in the following video of making short work out of creating an ember and then transforming it into a flame. I am so excited– Eni has offered to teach me more important survival methods in the near future! I will trade acupuncture treatments in exchange for his tutorings of the valuable knowledge he has gleaned from his elders. Watch for great things to come from this honorable man. I can’t wait for his instruction on how to build traps to snare wild boars. He has done this and will show us how to as well. Hold on tight; to be continued…

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It sometimes seems like an overwhelming task to gather a full year of food storage and other emergency preparedness supplies. The importance of it, though, can’t be overemphasized. The dilemma for some is a lack of space. Those living in a small studio apartment, for example, with no storage space, may find it an impracticality altogether to stockpile much of anything. Their space to move around in and feel comfortable with is limited to begin with. Having the added burden of stacking foodstuffs and emergency supplies in such small square footage may be hazardous and completely counterproductive. In some living quarters in certain parts of the world it may also be against specific local ordinances.

So, what should you do to establish a complete preparedness plan that includes every needful thing—food included, but you fall into this category of not having the capacity wherewith to place it all? Many individuals and families who live in regions where real estate is extremely expensive, space comes at a premium, and there are no storage units (or rates are unreasonable) must creatively deal with this problem. One solution is to strategically locate emergency supplies in special hiding places. No, really! It may seem silly that one would be desperate or odd enough to place something of value off of his or her property boundaries and not behind locked doors to be accessed in case of emergency. After all, an emergency usually comes without warning (part of the definition, right?), and having to play “Treasure Map Game” to get your goods is slightly inconvenient.

Gimmee a break—I’m not suggesting you put things in secret hiding places in the great outdoors that you need ready access to. You should make space for a 72 hour emergency kit somewhere on your premises. I’m talking specifically about supplies that are utilized in a more protracted emergency. Everyone should already have the essential very short-term supplies so they can get by in the first 3 days following an emergency. These items can be obtained and easily put together on your own or purchased as a kit. A 72 hour emergency kit doesn’t require a lot of space.

But say, for example, in a longer-term survival scenario you need a water filter because you no longer have access to tap water or water storage in a barrel. How convenient would it be to have a water filter “stored” within close proximity of a pond, lake, river, or stream? Because you had the forethought and overcame the silliness and odd factor, you now are able to supply dozens of those in need of drinkable water. Besides this, you have what has become an extremely valuable asset. Water is more of a necessity than food, and those with food but no water will line up to trade for your H2O.

How to conceal an emergency supply or foodstuffs (such as MREs) is quite a simple procedure. No “treasure map” is needed, a basic and inexpensive handheld GPS unit works wonderfully, and you can record the coordinates so you won’t have to rely upon faded memories. Your ingenuity will ensure that the spot you’ve selected to secrete your items will not be found by others, but can easily be located and accessed by yourself when needed. Food will be harder to hide from animals, whose keen sense of smell is their own GPS. Supplies will be the preferred cache.

Getting back to bartering—you likely have a set of wheels. Your means of transportation might have either a trunk or space in the back where some few necessities can be placed that will be utilized in the event of an emergency. Think of things you could put there that may be of use and are tradable in an extended survival situation. What about a rope, a saw, an axe, fishing poles, a knife, tools… you name it. Whatever you have space for that you could either loan out or trade for food is a good idea. And only store in outdoor caches what you can’t store in the trunk of your car or other more accessible and closer spaces. The caching idea is useful, though, because you don’t have to have all of your “eggs” in one basket. You can stash in multiple locations, whereas choosing a single location makes your personal property more susceptible to thieves. A wonderful cache could be a survival seed bank. Hide one of these in a location with fertile soil. Record the coordinates from GPS and you’re set. A survival seed bank comes in an airtight PVC capsule, which you can dig a hole to bury, leaving it for years.

Hopefully I have within this post generated enough ideas to stimulate your thought processes and get you to have some ideas of your own. And, please make comments, sharing ideas of what you could trade for what, or what you could hide where. I’d love to hear your input and ideas!

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Rearing children brings with it various unexpected joys as well as the carefully-attended-to responsibilities. It is our duty as parents to look after our children in every respect to maintain their innocence, safety, and well being. As part of emergency preparedness, it is absolutely necessary to plan ahead and consider what could happen to our little miracles and what can be done to prevent mishap or even tragedy.

I was very fortunate today to be able to witness a very important skill that I learned can be developed by small children (as few as 6 months old) to keep them safe from harm and prevent them from drowning or near drowning in any body of water (lakes, streams, rivers, ponds, backyard pools, etc.). I watched a labor of love in action as Alba, a survival swim instructor, expertly guided children of varying ages around the pool, facilitating their confidence in themselves to be able to perform this much needed technique in children between the ages of 1 to 4. Please reference the Monday, August 17th article in the Salt Lake Tribune for a greater understanding of the risks associated with this age group and some frightening statistics that survival swimming seeks to avoid. There are also many helpful suggestions and habits to develop in order to more conscientiously align yourself and your children with safety awareness and practiced preparedness.

A BIG thanks to Alba and her willingness to allow her expertise be demonstrated and shared, all in hopes that more parents will become aware of the options they have in taking a proactive approach to the safety, survival, and well being of their children.

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Stir crazy. Yes we are! Heidi shows us how to take that bull by the horns and get it done by going into the mountains for a frog hunt. Heidi and crew (all ten of them) demonstrate self reliance and creating our own fun by catching small hopping creatures that we can help our children learn to feed, nourish, and protect.

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