Month: April 2024

Jet Boil Half Gen 1st Use

Deviled Sausages and couldn’t have a better view to cook with. The Jet boil took a little to get used to when starting up at full turns and there was a zip tie around the knob that needed to be removed that I didn’t see when first setting up. Other than that the wind didn’t blow it out and the meal was a great success.

EDIT Second Cookout Spag Bog

EDIT Third cook Chicken Stroganoff

The Quest Witch


A woodcutter had stumbled into a clearing upon which he found an injured witch. He offered his help to the witch being a good man.The witch wanted to know what the man wanted in return for saving her life and he replied nothing, then he turned around on leaving and said. Well there is one thing.Pass it forward, I helped you and now you have to help five others and they in turn have to help five of their own. The witch agreed. The woodcutter said it will always change you. The witch felt great energy from the woodcutter that shouldn’t have been there.
Many years past and the witch was flying on her broom stick and saw a young girl in distress and flew down with the intention to eat her or use as a slave. Then she remembered her oath and offered the girl help. At first the young girl didnt understand, this witch was known to be one of the meanest in the country.
The witch had offered to fly the girl home to her village on her broomstick with an injured leg. However all of a sudden huntsmen jumped up, it was an ambush. However after listening to the witch and why she was trying to help the young girl the huntsmen released the with and the girl offered the with an amulet that had been passed down from mother to mother for centuries to ward off evil on the condition that the witch never removed it.
Hundreds of years past and the with was with her covenant when local villages were approaching in attack for retribution for destruction on their village. As the villages approached the witches turned on seeing the witch wearing the pendant they all bowed.
The witches didn’t understand, they said they didn’t attack the village but why bow to them. The villages explained that they were bowing to the quest witch. The story of the quest witch had been passed down from parent to child for many generations.
The witch in turn said the story of her failure. She had tried many thousands of times to full-fill her oath and yet never helped one person. The villages explained that at first it was a joke that she had tried to help and could not full-fill just one act of goodness. Then it was pointed out to them that the witch no matter how many failures had never given up and the tale emerged as a bed time story for their children how how they should never give up and this had saved many lives of the village.
The other witches upon hearing this vowed destruction on the quest witch and they aim all their power toward the quest witch. The people gathered around the witch to protect her. The quest witch had never experienced this. So many willing to give their lives for her even though she was evil. As the spell of the covenant hit the quest witch something unexpected happened.
The spell was absorbed by the pendant and the quest witch started to turn white.Even though the quest witch had never fulfilled one act of her five she had helped many generations of people find faith in themselves. That act alone turned the quest witch from an dark witch to a white witch.
The old woodcutter now appeared out of the crowd and the quest witch recognized him and said you were the one that started all this how are you still alive. The woodcutter responded I was not always a wood cutter . Before that I too was a very evil warlock one of the most powerful. However I too had to fulfill the oath of helping the five and it also changed me. That is how I met my wife and I discovered something even more powerful that the dark within myself. The strength of a father caring for his family.

A short children’s story 1st draft

Egyptian Spinach

I was watching Self Sufficient Me and halfway through the video he mentioned Egyptian Spinach. I thought this would make another great prepper plant to plant or store seeds from.

Common Names: Bush okra, Jew’s mallow, Jute, Jute mallow, Meloukia, Molokhia, Moroheia, Moroheiya, Mulukhiyah (and other spelling variations), Nalta jute, Tassa, Tasso, Wild okra, tororo no, koshta, saluyot, po krachao, rau day, West African sorrel, Malu Khia, Melokheya, Meloukia, Salad Mallow, Jew’s mallow, Moroheiya

This “food of kings” dates back to the time of the pharaohs, when an Egyptian king drank it in soup to recover from an illness. Modern Egyptians also use Molokhia to make a soup prepared since ancient times that is considered highly nutritious.

A very hardy, fast-growing annual. The young leaves used in salad, older leaves and the shoot tips are cooked like spinach and are high in protein. It self-sows readily. Sow spring and summer. Suitable for subtropical and tropical areas.

The seed is naturally green in colour and is NOT treated. Start seeds in flats or direct sow fairly heavily and thin. This is hot weather-loving green. Plant out after the danger of frost has passed and the soil is warm. It does best in good soil for rapid growth, so continue to provide compost or nutrients throughout the season. Likes full sun, warm to hot weather and steady moisture – mulch will help keep the soil moist. Cut tender top leaves continuously or harvest whole plant and succession-sow.

https://growerjim.blogspot.com/2014/12/molokhia-egyptian-spinach.html

Exped Dura 8R

I updated my sleeping pad to the Exped brand.

I was watching a vid on you-tube and they mentioned the 7R and I hadn’t known that the sleeping mats went any higher than 4.5R. Ive had enough of freezing my buttocks off on overnight camps.

I originally looked at the 7, however didnt find many places with that model in stock in a reg length 7 wide. After measuring my bivi I actually required the Long Wide and the 8 kept coming up in stock.

A little heavier than I would have liked for hiking however I have to drag my gear in on a trolley, so it didn’t really matter. If this one works out I may grab a 6 for one of my other packs where weight is more of an issue.

Ill be trying to test out over the next few months.

Guerrilla Gardening

“Guerrilla gardening is the act of gardening – raising food, plants, or flowers – on land that the gardeners do not have the legal rights to cultivate, such as abandoned sites, areas that are not being cared for, or private property. It encompasses a diverse range of people and motivations, ranging from gardeners who spill over their legal boundaries to gardeners with a political purpose, who seek to provoke change by using guerrilla gardening as a form of protest or direct action. “

I was watching Survival Lilly dis-morning.Link below that was shedding light on what was occurring in Europe. Such as Britain making backyard gardeners register chickens, organic farms having accidents and being shut down etc. She suggested starting Guerilla Gardens to combat backyards being forced to shut down. With news headlines quoting that backyard gardeners create more carbon that big businesses.

I had tried this many years ago with varying degrees of success. I was in a mobility scooter on oxygen scooting around seed bombing different areas to see if it would work. The places that weren’t spayed by the local councils did in fact thrive.

“Who controls the food controls the people” Henry Kissenger 1974

https://www.thethinkingconservative.com/who-controls-by-henry-kissinger

Maybe its about time we all looked at Guerilla Gardening as a way of food security for the future.

http://www.guerrillagardening.org/

https://todayshomeowner.com/lawn-garden/guides/ultimate-guide-to-guerilla-gardening

https://www.abc.net.au/gardening/how-to/guerilla-gardens/13924202

New Zealand Native Edible Plants

Ive kept meaning to study wild edibles from New Zealand. Its on my bucket list for destinations and to do bushcraft courses there. Watching Season 2 of Australian Alone has motivated me to look more into the edible plants of NZ.

PUHA (SONCHUS KIRKII)

Puha leaves and shoots can be eaten raw or in a boil-up (with stewed pork)and contains the same amount of vitamin C as oranges.

KAWAKAWA (MACROPIPER EXCELSUM)

Found in coastal areas. The seedy berries can be eaten. Burned the green leaves and branches can destroy insects with the bitter smoke.

The seeds are used as a culinary spice. The leaves and bark were used as a cure for cuts, wounds and pains in the stomach. A tea made from its leaves is good for what ails you – boils and kidney problems in particular.

NZ SPINACH (TETRAGONIA TETRAGONIOIDES)

Best eaten steamed.

NZ CELERY (APIUM PROSTRATUM)

Eaten raw or cooked

HOROPITO (PSEUDOWINTERA COLORATA)

Leaves add peppery heat to meals – infuse them in avocado or olive oil or rub on meat or fish.

Pirita Vine or Supplejack

There is a fresh shoot on the top end of the vine that looks like an asparagus which can be eaten, break it off and you can eat the end piece raw. It can also be steamed and or used in a salad.

PikoPiko or Fiddlehead fern

The fresh shoots (with a spiral/koru shape) of the fiddlehead fern have a natural snapping point like asparagus. It can be eaten raw, steamed, stir fried, boiled.

Wood Ear Mushroom (Kakite)

Cabbage Tree / Ti Kouka

The youngest shoot in the centre of a young plant can be eaten all year round.

Karamu or Coprosma Robusta

Harakeke (Flax)

Source material

https://www.booktopia.com.au/a-field-guide-to-the-native-edible-plants-of-new-zealand-andrew-crowe/book/9780143019220.html

https://www.newzealand.com/nz/feature/traditional-maori-foods

https://teara.govt.nz/en/1966/plants-edible-native

https://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/home-property/81764394/5-native-new-zealand-plants-you-can-eat

More plants shown here:

https://www.youtube.com/@KiwiBushcraftAndSurvival/videos

NZ courses

https://www.nzsurvival.com

https://www.sossurvivaltraining.com

Sustainment Bags

I don’t like the term BUG OUT BAG! It gives the impression that you can head off into the woods and survive with very little else. Three Days being the standard time frame, hence the 72 hour bag. In my opinion if you rely on a bug out bag you will eventually become a refugee.

If one of many scenarios happens, the so called bug out bag should be part of your PACE, (Primary, Alternate, Contingency and Emergency), plan. Not the whole plan.

I prefer the term sustainment bag, either a 3 day or a 10 day, for example. Even though the same equipment is in both bags ; medical, shelter, cutting tools, food, hydration, lighting, combustion, navigation, self defense, cooking etc. The term sustainment has a more realistic overview of its capabilities, just with a different methodology behind it.

A get home bag for in a vehicle I can understand, an emergency bag I can understand. However bugging out requires some where to go to. Most people don’t have that option. INCH bags, there’s no way to live out of it for extended periods. I mean atleast three months unless your in the perfect area for game and edible native foods and the ability to hunt and identify plants.

In reality it takes months to start a garden and requiring food to keep you fueled while building a shelter.

Having a small pack with three days of food and tools to support yourself and to throw into your vehicle when traveling off the beaten track will sustain you until the food and water runs out. The same with a larger backpack with ten days of food. Both of which I keep working on building with constant updates to equipment. However they are the E in my PACE plan not the primary action to rely upon..

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