What have you done this week to prep?

[bwframe]

Bought an Excalibur 9 tray dehydrator. We end up wasting/freezing too much of the garden consumables. Just made about 10# of jerky...beef, turkey and goose (left over from Easter). It's already paid for itself and the garden is not even producing yet. A lb of store bought starts at around $15...which is about what I paid to make 10lb.

I have the model with the temp setting and timer, it's almost too easy. Set it at 155 deg. F and 4 hours. The Jamaican Jerk Turkey Jerky took an extra hour.

After recently trying the MRE's I bought at a group buy here on INGO a few years back, I'm gonna really up my dehydrating this year.

 

[rhino]

Did some fire making practice tonight (last night?) and I'm happy to report that I was successful with a "one stick" fire for the first time. It took some coaching and two tries, but I got it to work with the wood, my knife, and my ferrocerium rod.

The last time I tried, I did a reasonable job preparing everything except that I made the shavings and feathers from the outside of the stick, which was a little damp. This time I changed a few things:

1. I split the stick right away and kept splitting it until I had the various thicknesses I wanted. When I did the shavings and feathers, I did it from the inside part of the stick to make sure I got the dryest part available. On my first try, I got the shavings ignited as well as a bigger feather stick, but I didn't have enough shavings to sustain the flame long enough to ignite bigger sticks. On the second try, I made sure I had about two handfulls of shavings, trying to make them as thin and as long as I could. I also remembered that I could use the spine of my knife to scrape one of the sticks to make powder-like shavings, which will ignite very easily from a spark. Finally, my ferro rod technique has improved.

The powdery shavings ignited very easily, which in turn ignited the handfulls of shavings easily, which ignited the bigger feather stick and then I had a sustainable fire.

I believed that I could do it before, but now I know that I can do it.

 

[churchmouse]

Did some fire making practice tonight (last night?) and I'm happy to report that I was successful with a "one stick" fire for the first time. It took some coaching and two tries, but I got it to work with the wood, my knife, and my ferrocerium rod.

The last time I tried, I did a reasonable job preparing everything except that I made the shavings and feathers from the outside of the stick, which was a little damp. This time I changed a few things:

1. I split the stick right away and kept splitting it until I had the various thicknesses I wanted. When I did the shavings and feathers, I did it from the inside part of the stick to make sure I got the dryest part available. On my first try, I got the shavings ignited as well as a bigger feather stick, but I didn't have enough shavings to sustain the flame long enough to ignite bigger sticks. On the second try, I made sure I had about two handfulls of shavings, trying to make them as thin and as long as I could. I also remembered that I could use the spine of my knife to scrape one of the sticks to make powder-like shavings, which will ignite very easily from a spark. Finally, my ferro rod technique has improved.

The powdery shavings ignited very easily, which in turn ignited the handfulls of shavings easily, which ignited the bigger feather stick and then I had a sustainable fire.

I believed that I could do it before, but now I know that I can do it.

This is one of the things on my to do list. make fire from the materials at hand. I have a few different rods.

We made some room last week and yesterday I started adding more water.

 

[MCgrease08]

This is one of the things on my to do list. make fire from the materials at hand. I have a few different rods.

We made some room last week and yesterday I started adding more water.

Me too. I can start a fire no problem with the right tools, but I seriously question my ability to do it without them.

I really would like to learn the bow drill method. If I get stuck somewhere without modern fire starters, I would probably freeze.

 

[teddy12b]

Last night I worked on a loadout that I intend to use with little or no changes in Mammoth 2020. My wife had a board meeting last night and got home at 10:30, and when she got home I hit the road for 3 miles. It was a good ruck, and I had fallen out of practice so it was a good swift kick that I needed. It was nice to get out in a star lit night.

I used a new app on my phone called Samsung health to track my miles and more importantly my speed. I kept all three miles under 16 minute per mile pace which is where I have to be, but I didn't beat that pace by much. It's nothing more than a free tool that will keep me from slacking off on these night hikes.

Today starts a weight cut for me. It's a must at this point. The shooting isn't a problem, the ruck pace isn't a problem, the extra weight on this sweet chassis is going to hold me back more than anything else. Back to steamed veggies and protein for lunches until I hit my goal.

 

[spencer rifle]

Me too. I can start a fire no problem with the right tools, but I seriously question my ability to do it without them.

I really would like to learn the bow drill method. If I get stuck somewhere without modern fire starters, I would probably freeze.

Bow drill is hard. I've made starter coals with one before, but you get warmer using it that you get from the fire.
Char cloth is your friend, and should be in every fire starting kit.
My current favorite primitive method is a fire piston.

 

[rhino]

This is one of the things on my to do list. make fire from the materials at hand. I have a few different rods.

We made some room last week and yesterday I started adding more water.

Me too. I can start a fire no problem with the right tools, but I seriously question my ability to do it without them.

I really would like to learn the bow drill method. If I get stuck somewhere without modern fire starters, I would probably freeze.

The most important things I have learned so far as a novice:

0. No matter how much you have read, watched, and studied, it's going to be more challenging than you expected, especially if you're working in damp or wet conditions.
1. Preparing everything you need before you try to ignite your tinder is very important.
2. The more surface area you can expose, the easier your tinder will light.
3. Unless you're pressed for time, you can't really have too many small shavings. The bigger the pile of small shavings you have, the better chance you have of igniting small kindling, especially if you start to lose the flame, Having another handful to add to get the flame going again can save you!

 

[Ballstater98]

How long will they burn if it's not an emergency?

Seriously though, can anyone confirm this?
If so, does the brand matter?

 

[7.62]

I cycled out all my perishable food stores in my BOB and GHBs. I added another 50 rounds of ammo to my GHB. Added 200 bottles of water to my water storage.

 

[churchmouse]

How long will they burn if it's not an emergency?

Seriously though, can anyone confirm this?
If so, does the brand matter?

we have maybe 750 crayons in various lengths and condition around here with all the G-daughters. They love to draw.

Now, how do you light the crayon...???

 

[churchmouse]

I cycled out all my perishable food stores in my BOB and GHBs. I added another 50 rounds of ammo to my GHB. Added 200 bottles of water to my water storage.

water is the key.

 

[Thor]

we have maybe 750 crayons in various lengths and condition around here with all the G-daughters. They love to draw.

Now, how do you light the crayon...???

With fire?

Seems like holding one end over a lighter should work for a test, a few sparks off a fire starter rod may not be enough.

 

[Ballstater98]

While I've seen planting into late June before in the 90's, better get ready. **Awful Ag Info** The Crop Progress Report is something that comes from the US Department of Agriculture each week. They have been reporting this information for all crops in this format since 1991. Obviously the wet weather the past month has caused problems for all of us at times, but it's especially bad for the farmers right now. The crops are WAY behind schedule. And 2019 is the WORST of the past 30 years. Illinois and Ohio are right there with us. You can see that only 6% of the corn crop has been planted in Indiana so far. Last year we had 69% planted, and the average year is 57% by now. REALLY sad news... While I'm not optimistic that it gets better soon, I am hopeful that we can still salvage some of the crops this season... :

 

[churchmouse]

With fire?

Seems like holding one end over a lighter should work for a test, a few sparks off a fire starter rod may not be enough.

Hilarious.....

Thats my point. Unless you have a solid fire source how is one to get the crayon lit up.....

We have multiple hand held propane torches with ample fuel reserves for them. None in the trucks but the Bug out supply's do include one.

 

[NKBJ]

water is the key.

Yep, filtration and purification capabilities can easily become critical to avoiding crippling health problems.

 

[teddy12b]

I got out and got the inflatable raft/kayak in the water. It handles differently, and I'm glad the first run was in daylight. Getting it out of the water was nice and easy because it's so light. Navigating the water going downstream was relatively simple. Trying to paddle upstream against the current was a royal pain. Part of that is the current was strong and part of that was the nature of a packraft.

Cleaned out and organized extra gear & junk. At some point I need to purge stuff. The problem I have is that every piece of gear has a story, a memory attached to it and I get sentimental. I still need to make some gear disappear though.

 

[WETSU]

This past week, I kept up on the combat conditioning.

Hit the range twice. One day was fundamentals on G19 and AK. The other was all pistol work, turn and draw, shoot n move, shoot from challenge, one handed/support hand shooting, g, back up deployment and refam fire with Makarov. The rest of the pistol work was all G19 and J frame.

 

[rhino]

I forgot to mention that while he was coaching me on the fire stuff, my buddy was making some natural cordage and gave me a little demo. Afterward, he gave what he made to me to use as tinder in my fire kit. Natural cordage is inherently good tinder when you fray and fluff it up, even better than store bought jute.

 

[teddy12b]

Last night was a great example. When the kiddos were getting to bed I had my large alice pack already loaded up and ready to go. I hiked just shy of 2 miles to a river access site. Once there I inflated my pack raft, and got in the water for an almost 2 mile trip back home. By the time I got on the water daylight was getting away quicker and quicker and I ended up seeing more baby raccoons along the waters edge than I ever would have guessed. On the one hand it was incredibly cool to see all the little critters, but also made me aware of a nature resource nearby that I previously hadn't been aware of. It was a good little mix of a workout and I'm happy to have done it.

Still working on purging all my excess "stuff" I have laying around.

 

[10-32]

Still working on purging all my excess "stuff" I have laying around.

I have a couple of totes out in the garage I keep all my "excess stuff" in. When I started putting together my first bag, I bought a lot of stuff I didn't really need. The bag weighed in about 55 lbs. After a lot more reading/research, turning my bag into more of a Get Home Bag, and a weekend out at Hoosier National Forest hiking and living just out of my bag, I learned what needed to be in it and what didn't. There's some things that stayed that I didn't use like the poncho and spare batteries but I didn't need those out of luck.

The stuff I did take out wasn't a total waste of money. I go camping a lot and with the kids in their early teenage years, we do a lot more primitive camping where we're out in the woods away from everyone and we're there for 2 or 3 days, not sneaking off into town for whatever. All the extra stuff like the hatchet, machete, folding saw, and other items get used on these camping trips.