Practical Prepping Protocol even if Poor

Regular wood will burn based on how seasoned it is and whatever volatile oils are in the wood (especially softwoods). But you take a greenstick thatis hardwood and bring it near coals. The water evaporates in the wood cells and this tightens and is called "firehardening".

That is for your poker or else it will char and burn up. This technique is used to make a spear or a frog gigging tool. You need this to catch crabs. It can be quite strong and hold up.

This is the proper way to fireharden a spear. Note that pebbles or small twigs wedge it open and so increases the surface area and makes it strong and durable.

You can make this in the evening as it doesn't take precise work and lots of light. You never daylight to do this kind of job. You make it so you can hunt the next day as spearing fish or crabs in the dark is how the tribe members get hurt in slippery rocks.

On Alone this is unnatural as they are filming during daylight when actually that is DUMB as that very early is when you might catch something. If you are very sharp you can hide and stalk active game animals. That takes descenting and sitting painfully still.

Making stuff in the day is silly unless it's precision work like a fishing lure.

Greenhorn is an old time term and NOT mean.

A beginner who made cameos was a novice who made mistakes because they made a bad call. They might make a very fine cameo but it turn green and so nobody would buy it.

Everbody when they start out is a greenhorn. It's akin to being an apprentice.

Every mentor started out as an earnest apprentice then would make a mistake and be teased and called a greenhorn.

It is not unkind at all, but affectionate as mentors remember the goofy mistakes they themselves made. Like picking persimmons too early with insufficent frost and so the persimmon is so astringent it's inedible. You went to all that trouble knocking them down and making a pole basket and then it was a waste of time.

Here's a young millennial with ingenuity who took an ordinary object and made a fruit picker (pole basket). It's an essential tool for harvesting wild edibles but ordinarily out of bamboo and woven wine into a basket.

Harvesting persimmons. Note the color, softness and use as pulp. These are free food that most ignore. Like grapes, yeast forms on them meaning that can ferment easily and even can be used to make bread by collecting some persimmon cut in pieces and in a jar of water that is de-gassed once a day. The fermentation imdicates yeast is present. Then added to bread flour.

Right now across America,one can daily harvest mullberries. Any eight year old can identify mullberries. People do not buy mullberries as you cannot truck them in. You harvest locally.

Silkworms like mullberry leaves.

A mullberry stain is removed from fingers by a white unripe mullberry.

Thank you for this delightful and no doubt true definition of the origin of the term "greenhorn" - a new cameo-maker - love it! I've always loved cameos, despite their long absence from fashion.

People, every one of you posters here is wonderful! You bring such diversified and utile information for all of us to absorb - just warms my heart to learn all that you share, to see the kindness and effort you put into sharing what you know and giving us your very best, so that we are each better prepared because you cared enough to post for us!

God bless and keep every one of you, God lighten your burdens and increase your blessing, and keep you safe and well-supplied when what happens, happens!

In a pinch, sugar in a wound will prevent infection, something to do with osmotic pressure rupturing the cell walls of pathogens. Honey, too. There's actually a bandage infused with honey - Dermasciences has a bandage called Medihoney, I'd give a link but their website is being all derpy right now. I'll just say that it exists and I know right where I can put my grubby hands to get a few off the shelf.

I do know about the Medi-Honey - my doctor gave me some at one time.

I've heard of nursing homes using honey in a last-ditch attempt to heal bedsores, which has been successful in some cases - I don't know the per centage. That was prior to development of Medi-Honey and other honey medicinal preparations. They simply used it straight from the jar, I believe.

Good to know about sugar healing wounds, as well.

Tea tree oil, while not harvestable in the USA, is a powerful natural antimicrobial. Some bees like the Tea tree and make hives. That hiney while not delicious is quite a medicinal.

Tea tree oil is called first aid in a jar. That stuff might save you from a horrendous wound that gets infected.

By the way, how do you locate a hive? You listen and watch bees and during some times of the year, you smell the fragrant smell of the Basswood tree. That is the favorite bee tree.


Some people "got the touch" and are "bee charmers" and they can reach in slowly but surely and draw out a drippin' honeycomb. Otherwise you smoke 'em to calm them down. The mean but survival way is you toss in a dirt clod. They HATE that and will abandon the hive. That is bad form as we have bee colony collapse and based on the time of year, all those bees could die as well as of course bee larva.

These are very happy bees. A basswood when blossoming will be thick with bees.

Here is what a "swarm" of bees looks like. On occasion, a queen will wander into an attic opening and since that is safe, she will form a hive. Then the hapless owner has to call experts to remove the hive and the combs will be dripping with lots of honey.

They won't bother you as long as you are no threat. A bee does NOT want to sting you as they die when the stinger goes in and pulls out of their body.

Growing up, any child of the fifties, sixties, seventies saw bees happily harvesting from fields of white clover. They are harmless unless you roll on them in a meadow.

Now, it's scary because you don't see that anymore. We're probably dead if the bees die.

Bees communicate by dancin' in a waggle. She tells the other workers where she found a great spot based on the intensity of her waggle.

Mason bees are gardener's friends.

A bee doing its waggle is shakin' its booty. Just like us.

Always saw this as a child - we'd have to choose a blossom unoccupied by a bee, which meant being observant. Honey bees were everywhere, as were bumble bees.

The fewer bees, the fewer people, and when the bees are gone, so are the people. That's how life works, people. So be respectful of honeybees and hives and don't harm the hives - only take what you can use and leave a lot for the bees to survive the winter on. Don't throw dirt or other anything into the hive, nor knock it over. Don't be the biggest ass you can be - act like an adult who cares for the world, even if you feel as selfish as brat.

Now I hate hornets. They will eviscerate an entire hive as they are so much larger and fierce warriors.

Every year, some dumbo will find a hornet's nest and plan to preserve it as a decoration. And then not realize there are hornets inside.

A wasp sting is irritating. But they are very useful to gardeners and take out an abundance of spiders and some catepillars.

But hornets HURT when you get stung and people can go into anaphylactic shock. That is always an issue with venom but it's intensified with hornets.

Wood bees are a major nuisance as they will destroy your window sills and wood siding. You have to jump on that issue with pesticide and retreat the wood after patching.

A hornet's nest is quite distinct and nothing like a wasp nest. There are mud daubers too and ground hornets as well.
These last two can be on the ground and fly up your pant legs!

The mud dauber is like a potter forming a clay vessel. It's important to warn curious children who are little professor types.

Ground hornets

Preying mantis are gardeners best friends and to eat aphids, the lady bug is quite good.

You can buy biological controls with the parasitic wasp being the nest maverick's vauable. Obviously soap and hit pepper juice/flakes also are usedwhen mixed with water. Just being vigilant and picking them off and looking at the underside of leaves can save time. Every gardener curses the white cabbage moths as they can chew up a lot as catepillars.

Pantry mouths are the tiny moths that end up laying eggs in wheat, and some survive in flour, then can infest your pantry.

This what a preying mantis egg case looks like. An unsusecting child might bring on inside and suddenly there are preying mantis everywhere.

Crazy autocorrect. The next best is the parasitic wasp.

Green cabbage worm and the white moth it turns into.

Thebest way to deal with pantry moths is freezing any flour especially if you noted them in that aisle. Then take the flou out and no larvashould develop

You will see a flutter of tiny moths in your cabinet and must immediately get some pantry moth pheromone kits. Inside the adhesive is treated and theie feelers sense it and they get stuck.

I ran across this article today which seems to present the topic of EMP and how to shield your gear/protect against it's affects in a very simple and easy to understand presentation. From the article (less than 25%):


Why And How To Protect Your Gear From EMP
"One of the scarier survival events that preppers need to be concerned about is an attack involving a High-altitude ElectroMagnetic Pulse, also called HEMP. All nuclear weapons create EMP, but when detonated high in the atmosphere, the EMP generated is so massive that it can destroy electronics and permanently knock out the power grid across the entire country. Because of this, many preppers are interested in EMP protection measures for their electronics."



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