Starting a new #stablethread on specific techniques I am learning in my goal to master both survival skills and primitive living skills plus an add on of #vanlife. This trifecta will become my main way of living for the next 5-10 years if not my life depending on how things go.

This is a truckers hitch not. I learned it from @Pointgirl1 where she has a video on YouTube which can be found here:



It provides a 3 to 1 mechanical advantage on the body of whatever you want to tie to a stake (for me it was a tarp)

When I was buying rope many weeks ago and before I had started tying knots I wondered why someone would want bright orange rope instead of camaflouge rope. I now know that visibility of the rope is incredibly important when you don't want to drive over it!Many other reasons too

For wired internet (DSL & satellite) in a van, you can't put the wire through doors or else they will get torn by the mechanism but for warmth you want to close doors in your van at night. Solution is to put the the cable through the windows.

Crowdsourcing ideas:

What would be the best kitchen setup that could fit on that table?

I'm thinking just a wash bin with soapy water and one with clean water. I need a trash bin too.

All you campers out there educate me on camp setups? The more ingenious the better.

I learned from @Pointgirl1 that you can create an A-frame tarp instead of the flat one I had before because rain will pool in the middle of a flat one. Here is proof of that concept. Sound on for full principle

What is the effect of cold weather on electronics (around 35 degrees F or 1...2 degrees C)?

https://twitter.com/StewartalsopIII/status/1246605867274743809?s=19

I learned about how to remain totally dry while riding a motorcycle in the rain after failing for the 20th time. Key is to put plastic bags on the socks underneath the shoes. I also learned water resistant does not mean waterproof.

Is the type of clothing that kept people warm before cotton and synthetics better or worse than what we have today for keeping people warm or are modern folk more prepared for cold weather?

I just had another session with @Pointgirl1, I highly recommend reaching out to her if you want to learn how to survive anywhere (she was trained to survive in any spot on earth). Also, she is an expert in wilderness therapy and I have an anecdote about what that even means.

I found out a loved one, who also has a compromised immune system, just tested positive for COVID-19. I haven't been in contact with them for 14 days so I'm not at personal risk, but I am in a state of fear for their life and grief. I told @Pointgirl1 this before we started.

I told her that I probably wouldn't be up for running around doing tasks (like tying knots) and would rather focus on the therapy aspect.

She said: The running around and doing tasks as we respond to nature is the therapy. She was right. One step after another, focus on process

It's not a repression of the emotions but it is a momentary recognition of the new normal and then get back to the issue at hand. Respond to what needs responding to whether that is a momentary wave of grief or a faulty knot that needs to be re-tied.

I'm learning viscerally about the utilitarian nature of wearing clothes. I now own a bib for the first time in my life and although I probably wouldn't wear it to a party it might now be one of my favorite possessions cause I'm finally warm, really warm.

What are the principles of wood working and building structures?

This is the result of learning a clove hitch knot on a pole that allows me to raise one of the angles of the tarp so that I can drive in and out without ripping the tarp. Key foundation for having a convenient #vanlife setup while also having a leak in the top of the van.

I learned from @Pointgirl1 that when surviving in snow make sure to keep a water bottle with a bunch of snow in it close to your body so body heat melts it and you have unlimited drinking water. On my practice run I learned that you need water in the bottle first to melt the snow

Cross country skiing is also a cold weather survival skill and I just learned an important nuance.

A few days after a big snow the snow freezes and changes how you ski. When it's fresh it's harder to slide. When it's frozen it's easy to slide (and fun)! https://twitter.com/StewartalsopIII/status/1249444250149736449?s=19

What are all possible strategies and tactics for protecting oneself from a bear?

I'm realizing that the specific meta-skill I'm honing over the last month is "grid-baiting"

I want to be comfortable at a moment's notice to spend a month off-grid. I also want to be comfortable while on grid. This takes temporary discomfort (and probably chronic when off-grid).

This is my setup for washing dishes and cooking food outside. It has taken a while to get used to but now that I'm used to it I can use this system for both on grid living and off grid living. The one question is whether I can leave the water and put the lid back on and reuse.

Just had another sessions with @Pointgirl1 and we learned more knot tying and a first intro to fire craft. There are so many ways to start a fire and all types of conditions that will make it easy or difficult to do so. There are three key elements to a fire:

fuel, oxygen, heat.

This is called a ferro rod. If an EMP goes off and all electronics no longer work and you don't have any lighters than this technology will save your ass. The other thing you need is tinder, something highly flammable and small which you can light using the ferro rod.

#firecraft tip:

Kindling is an important part of making fire but sometimes it's hard to come by. A tree like this, if it has already died, can be used to create slabs of fatwood which you can shave off with a knife and create highly flammable kindling.

These two cars on the right got tickets. We almost did too. Sheriff came by and said, somewhat gleefully, that you never want to park near a gate. There was no clear signature and I think he enjoyed the ticketing. We were lucky and I learned about bureaucratic activity in nature.

This is wax currant. The flowers here are edible.

One of the biggest challenges of life in the wild is calories. These guys won't keep you stuffed. At some point I want to learn trapping and hunting. I can live off fish too.

Wow. That was an intense day of absorbing knowledge from the ascended master of survival skills ( @Pointgirl1). I will be doing a big update to this thread with the ridiculous amount of knowledge and wisdom she passed on to me later today or tomorrow. For now a quick update.

I learned how to navigate using, a stick, my own shadow and the North Star, what type of wood to make a fire in the rain, how to camp using only a tarp and rope, how to find my way back to a trail of I get lost, and way more.

I think the most profound thing I learned is that our bodies were designed to survive in the wild and we were doing that a lot longer than we have been doing civilization. There is something deeply fulfilling about learning how to survive and tap into nature's abundance.