While Im laid up for the next six weeks in a leg brace and walking frame I thought this may be a good project to do when I can sit outside. Ill be looking for a nice piece of ash when I can get out and about.
In 2006, Bushcraft Magazine ran an article for the “Mors Kochanski’s Try Stick”, a woodsman/bushcrafter’s teaching aid for students to develop their blade skills.
The “Try Stick” is nothing more than a stick, approximately an inch to inch and a half in diameter, and about fingertip to armpit in length. on the stick one carves various types of notches that would commonly be used in woodcraft/bushcraft.
I was asked the question What to store and how to store and process. Part 1 was about mixing grains and beans to form a complete amino acid chain. My idea behind storing food is to prevent me from going feral for a long as possible and also to avoid what may occur if rioting happens.. I plan on growing gardens to be sustainable. Flour , sugar and powdered milk make a great damper recipe. I dont have the room or the funds for may of the types of food I would like to store. Its easier for me to store flour rather than wheat, the same with rolled oats rather than whole. Beans depends on recipes. I had brought 25 kilo of black beans to later find out I dont like black beans. So lesson is try the recipes before buying bulk. I can live off lentils and rice for ever but you also need the herbs and spices for flavorings. I dont eat many tinned foods but buy vegetables , tomato bases and tuna. Rice, tuna, veges and corn flour an easy tuna mornay.ill try and do a recipe section of the below mentioned grains and how to combine them when Im off the current meds for my leg, but heres a start for anyone wondering where to begin. Tubs and mylar bags suppliers are also listed at end for storage. Essentually pack in mylar bags in rubber sealed tubs as many grains and beans and rice as you can . At the time I did mine it cost me $800 for 25 kilo bags giving me two tubs of each.
Had a few new products arrive to test out for my get home Bag. A MSR Pocket Rocket Stove, A Helikon Tex Taigaia Green Poncho and a All Weather Survival Blanket.Im sitting here in my old caravan after being let out of hospital hobbling around with a leg brace for the next 4 weeks doped up on endone. So I dont know how much posting Ill be doing. Maybe ushering people over to the van to test out the poncho with the wet weather ? Id like to say thx to Bazza for helping me set up the van and looking after my staffy for the last two weeks. Without his help I would be in a lot worse situation. Looks like the throat biopsy is benign but still waiting on results but they said it didnt look bad!Still have another chunk of meat to be removed from my shoulder so that will make life on a waking frame that much more interesting.Will be grabbing some gorilla tape to try out Dave Canterburys reinforcing video for a project to do. Concentration isnt the best and not eating well from the pain in the throat. Just had a handfull of pills so off to sleepy bo bo’s. Goodies reference.
Well if a person with a fuked back and two double lung transplants can get off their arse and build a bus , travel around Australia doing bushcraft courses. Think of what a healthy person can do. Hope you enjoy the pictures. I may not be able to remember the names to all he places. These are bringing back a lot of memories that I havent been able to look at for some time. This post started by me looking for a partial tattoo design I wanted to start. There will be lots of cat and dog photos, camp grounds and landscapes.
my set up as I first started offwhat my back may look like but with ribs off one side and latin saying “today is a good day to die”.my co pilotcat and dog enjoyed the triphalf way across the hay plainBrisbaneinseperableSE QLDwhy are you disturbing menorthern NSWwalkies?lismoresunny spotmother tree gosfordviking ruinsthey were never apart the dog took it hard when the cat passedmid nsw kangaroos near campspottednot even a growlthey never left my sidethe bosslook at the chest 30 kilo female tooalways has to touchalwaysthe first obsidian arrowhead I madeshe thought she was a doghalfway homeriverlandsteamboatmillicent SAwhat are you doingthey made an entire park of dead red gums looks magnificenta lot of health issues lately been thinking too muchfirst camp barrossa valleymay have taken this too farbarrossa landscapeI ended up living under this tree for 18 months during lockdownthe size of the red gumswhere I did my 4wd coursefirst theresun set near campalways on mewhat my bus used to look like
There is a range of courses Ive found here some cheap some expensive. Aiming at anything from identification of wild species to growing your own. Depending on how far you want to take things. Id like to become confident enough that I could explain features to someone else and not poison myself. Im also aiming at doing as many in person mushroom tours as possible. Ive tried to base most of them in Australia however some are overseas that Ive found interesting.
One thing I have learnt from foraging . Its fun but not sustainable if you want to live of the wild all the time. Id rather grow the mushrooms I like eating in an easy manner and not have to spend my time walking over kilometers of farm land and then spending more time identifying the species. Im more a grow it yourself and eat them person. But Id never turn down an opportunity to go for a hike in mushroom country.
looking into growing my own
The other thing is mushrooms have a season. If your not growing them yourself.If a course is under $200 Im likely to do it. There are several below Ive signed up for or will be putting my name down to do. Im doing mushroom exam and am attempting to look at Outdoorcore, and either Milkwood or Little Acre courses are reasonably priced for growing them myself. To take things a step further Im looking at either Permaculture Australia or the Mycologos Basics and Beyond courses.. I might as well take advantage of being in a leg brace and walking frame for 6 weeks and do some training online.
A field guide to foraging: How to identify, harvest, eat and use wild plants
By Diego Bonetto
Description
There is food within 3 metres of your front door.
Three generations ago it was common practice all over the world to collect this wild food; knowledge of what, where and when to forage was a necessary part of daily life. We still had lived experience of harvesting wild food with our own hands. But with the advent of supermarket culture the knowledge associated with foraging has mostly been lost.
Today, we want this knowledge back. From forest to seaside, riverbank to city street – even your own yard – there is wild food and medicine available to those who know where to look. In the face of global challenges such as climate change, food insecurity and pandemics, we seek to empower ourselves with the information and skills that enable self-reliance and equip us to care for our families and communities.
Eat Weeds shows you how to engage with wild food sources, transforming your neighbourhood into an edible adventure.
I think this is either part 2 or 3 of food storage without looking it up. Its been two years since the plague arrived. You can say plague but not covid. The more people I talk to in the general population the more it seems to feel like this isnt going to end well. Everyone is worried. After reading Selco Begovics last book Im more convinced of its not the nutters or the junkies or ferals or the government that we have to be concerned about but the middle class and their right to entitlement. When foxtel goes down or even more importantly the internet then I can see riots in the street. After the last two years and now the price of fuel sky rocketing and people still dont have a minimum of three months of food or god forbid toilet paper.
DO PEOPLE STILL THINK THE GOVERNMENT WILL DO ANYTHING TO HELP. THE 9 MOST DANGEROUS WORDS IN HUMAN HISTORY. IM FROM THE GOVERNMENT AND IM HERE TO HELP.
Three months staves off famine in these uncertain times. Six months is even better. If I had a shipping container Id have it filled to the brim, but Ive tried to have enough stored away where I dont have that fear everytime the word Rationing is used or Global Food Shortage.
The old axiom is to use the food you have in the fridge first then the freezer. Then canned goods etc etc. Ive had canned vegetables and fruit in a cupboard for two years and they have turned to mush.
Each person has to work out for themselves what to store for their own families. The way Ive done it for myself is as mush dried grains as I could purchase at the time which was over three years ago. Sealed in mylar bags and plastic buckets and cost me around $800. That cost would now at least be tripled
The way I look at it is this. Shipping containers filled with 44 galon drums of food. I dont know anyone that could afford to plan on that scale. I need enough food that I can feed myself and those I care for around me. Until gardens can be initiated. (In practicality these should be going way before they are required).
Its not about having enough food to feed myself for two years. Its about having enough so Im not panicking at initial trouble. I wont feel the urge to be around rioting for last minute scrounging. Its to hold off becoming feral ike everyone else for as long as possible.
What are the easiest ways to control mass population. Fuel for heating and transportation and through food and communications for information. So think of ways to negate these,A Primary, An Alternative, A Contingency and Emergency action plans. PACE.
Ive had an exceptional few weeks of medical problems that is. I guess I shouldn’t complain, Ive had a good run for the last four years with little hospital intervention. Friday night I had a fall on a muddy pathway and it felt like I kicked something with my knee on the way down. Lay in the mud for a while waiting on an ambulance. A mate helped me up into an old wheelchair and I managed to make to the shed , out of the weather until pain relief arrived.
75mg of fentonol and 5mg of morphine to get me into the ambulance. After xrays I was released with swelling. No fractures, on crutches. By the morning the pain killers had worn off and I had a pill they had released me with and spent the next few hours trying not to vomit. I hate morphine.
Once again back to the hospital. Thats when the last 5 days of fun began. Funny thing is its taken then CT scans and an ultra sound to diagnose the tear but while I was waiting in the shed after a self examination I told them it was a tear. Not a break I could move everything and too much pain for a bruise and the knee hurt when moved in one direction only.
So back to where we started. Two hours in emergency with no ID bracelet or pain relief Saturday morning. When the doctor finally turned up she didn’t even examine the injury. So to my arguing of saying no to morphine. They just replied it’ll be find. Not to put a canulare in my right wrist because that was the only side I could put any weight on. Itll be fine. Then no the the anti nausea meds because they were using ones that didnt work on me. Pumped it all into me anyway.
Spent two hours vomiting with no nurse buzzer. Throwing things out the cubicle doorway trying to get someones attention. I was disgusted.
Was moved to the ward and spent several days fasting for the tendon on the quad to be reattached. I now have several screws in my knee cap and a very long scar. Another to add to the collection.
One meal a day for three days. Great for a diabetic. Im still being served heavy sugar diet for breakfast.
The third day I cracked the shits and tried to leave the hospital and be transfered to another. The ambulance would not pick me up from my room and they insisted that I sign a wavier against leaving under medical advice. Which I refused to sign until I was in an ambulance.That day I remarkably was slotted in for surgery.
There was some argument about how to put me under and they decided to do an epidural into my spine rather than risk damage to my lungs.
Its now been six days and they still have got my meds chart correct, even after talking to the Pharmacist. Funnily enough they are now talking about transferring me due to the specialist at the hospital that was doing the biopsy is rope-able about me not being taken there in the first place. To commence the two bookings I had made for the shoulder and throat. The second hospital has a larger rehab facility and social work section. Im trying to arrange emergency accommodation, as theres no way I can make it back onto the property where I was staying. Id end up doing the other leg.Lots of endone and targin over the next few weeks. The medical system here is 30 years behind the rest of the country from what I can tell.
For instance. Theres a complaint from a male nurse that Im using my own medications. So the ward manager says I can no longer self dispense. The next morning Im told the hospital doesnt have any of my anti rejection medications and that Ill have to use my own and that it’ll be two days to order them in. As soon as they appear its back to YOU cant do it yourself and yet they are still not supplying the medications required. Its a joke.
The Attitude; I dont know if its just in this hospital or country hospitals or the whole state. For example I asked a nurse to move the food tray so I could use my computer. The response. There will be someone along later to do that.
I get so much grief from mates when they ask about an experience Ive had and I talk about how nice the people are. Thats because there are so few nice people out there now. They just stand out when you meet them.
2nd/June
Seems nurses have been getting trained by the police. If they ignore or I should say not acknowledge you they dont have to do anything. I waited 30 minutes for a nurse for assistance to get to the bathroom and couldn’t wait any longer. They arrived as I had managed to hobble back on the frame as I asked for help getting out my toothbrush etc they walked away.
Later I had asked for endone as the leg ached and had started to bleed. The reply lunch is coming and no acknowledgment to the question and they walked away.
Bed sheets have still not been changed in 7 days. Is this what its like every where. Let me know. Average reaction time to a nurses call buzzer. Depending on shift 20 for night shift 30 to 40 minutes for all other shifts. They must like cleaning up soiled bedding.
No emergency accommodation in the area. Waiting on a transfer to another hospital for the surgical bookings that were a priority before the knee namely the throat biopsy and the meat getting cut out of shoulder that was meant to be done within two weeks and now cant be fitted in till the end of the month. Will have to pick up my old caravan from consignment, take the wheels off to lower it and make a ramp to get in on a walker.
3rd June
Looks like Im being released into an aged care facility. Finding out more later today. Thats the best they can do where food is included and I can have my dog.
Social Workers. I love their attitude. Q how much do you get on the pension. A about a grand a fortnight. OHHH you can afford the $415 per week. Didnt bother to ask how much I had in my bank account. Boarding houses was an option. I said I have a low immune system I cant be around groups of people, I shouldnt even be sharing a hospital room with four other people. Response. Thats ridicules how are you supposed to live and walked out of the room.
This is our medical system, well at least the Victorian medical system. Shocking.
Latest update. Was talking to a specialist at the larger city hospital I was meant to be transferred to and they had been trying to get me there and this hospital has said thats not our plan hes being released into a boarding house with multiple occupants. Crazy. Plotting my escape now and a possible law suit at this stage.
“Law suits and government departments are useless been there done that the paperwork will change to suit the environment.”
4th june
I dont think Ive seen a floor cleaner yet, just did a big clean up of my area of rubbish. some nurses pick up some dont. I had a pile of used towels, sheets, gowns etx and hanged them over my walker to get them out of the chair and made it to the door and asked isnt this stuff picked up or do you have a linen bin. The answer was “its usually dumped on the bathroom floor and picked up from there” . There seems to be no proper procedures in place.
So in ending Im still confused why they just didnt transfer me at the start to a city hospital that could have done the leg, shoulder and throat all at once. Yourd think that cancer in the shoulder and possible throat cancer would have been a larger concern. My surgeons for those procedures are now booked up till the end of the month in this area.
I think I found the secret to great photography. Spend the day helping out a mate in the bush collecting firewood and get half toasted on 2 different pain killers for back ,legs and shoulders. Then stumble around in the bush finding your way back by the sound of the chainsaw. Taking pictures of anything you think is pretty in a half dazed state. Works for me. Must have taken over 80 photos. Im on a bit of a photography kick lately.
the fog at 7amjust missed this picture the sun came up too highburnt out stumps look brilliantcant remember what this moss meansfirst time seeing this fungithe dots mean poison has been placed for wild dogsstaffy waiting patiently cant let her out in this area due to baiting
I was watching Dave Canterburys youtube clip on bug out bags and got some good ideas to upgrade to mine. Such as placing my tourniquet on the harness strap to save room from placing a full IFAK inside and incorporating a Vietnam era hammock system However these are hard to find in Australia but I found a new version at Sord Australia Military products. Depending on if I change my bag or not Im also thinking of adding a Cold Steel Spetnaz shovel. I have several Platatac Gonk mats that may fit. These can be used as kneeling pads and seats aswell as a ground pad and are non inflatable.
