Are You Prepared for Anything? No? Then Get this Book!

It was a busy - and tiring - weekend with two college-aged girls visiting. My daughter and her girlfriend spent half of their spring break with me this weekend. Since my daughter spend the first half of her spring break camping in Georgia, she was more interested in free laundry facilities than activities. Of course, this distraction left me at a loss for a post this week. Or at least at a loss for a post not about endless loads of stinky, college, camping laundry. Then I remembered that I'd just finished Tim MacWelch's book, Prepare for Anything Survival Manual.

I picked up the book after taking one of Tim's classes (Winter Wild Edibles) and put it in my to-read pile. It's a rather large stack and I didn't get to it right away. When I did, I was happily surprised. It is a fun read and Tim's sense of humor definitely comes through in his writing. (On canning food, "Drop Some Acid". Tip #179) This is not your gloom and doom end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it survival manual. I don't do gloom and doom. I try to take as little as possible too seriously.

It isn't even a manual I would consider just a survival scenario guide. It's useful every day. Who knew that vodka could de-stink your clothes or get rid of mold in your bathroom? Tim did, obviously. (I should have sprayed my daughter's laundry down with the stuff. It was bad!)

I love the sections on canning and drying foods since those are easy ones for me to replicate living in a condominium. I've considered planting a large garden or building a bunker, but the homeowners' association got a little testy when I suggested digging up the golf course. I guess I will make do with my indoor herb garden. Also on tap, home brewing!

There are a few tips I won't be trying voluntarily. There will be no jumping off buildings or treating bullet wounds unless I absolutely have to do so. Also, the first person who tries to puree animal brains in my blender to tan a hide will be buying me a new blender!

On a serious note, there is a lot of sage advice in this book: Get your finances in order, be responsible for your own wellness, secure your home, be prepared for emergencies. This isn't rocket science, but I'm always surprised at how many people can't put a bandage on a skinned knee, let alone splint a broken arm until they get to a doctor.

If you're interested in prepping or survival, this is a great book. If you want a fun read and to learn a little about being self-sufficient in the process, this is still a great book. If you want tips on how to survive a weekend with an invading horde of smelly college students, this book can't help, but I can. Drink. A lot.

A New Favorite Hike: Wildcat Mountain Nature Preserve

The view from the top of
Wildcat Mountain.

The weather finally cleared up and I got to go out hiking again this weekend, so I headed straight for Wildcat Mountain Natural Area. I've been dying to get out for weeks and I didn't waste any time. I didn't see any wildcats (probably a good thing), but it was a beautiful day and a great hike.

The start of a trail is pretty rough. Okay, in all fairness, I started off a bit rough. No gradual warm up or easy start. You head straight up the mountain.There are some switchbacks, but it is a steep climb and it is rocky as well. Step carefully! I probably should have picked a little easier hike after three weeks off due to weather, but I am a glutton for punishment. Once I got past the ascent, it was a nice, moderate difficulty hike.

The prize for surviving the ascent is the gorgeous view! I definitely cannot complain about that. I saw some of the prettiest countryside I've seen in Northern Virginia.

The Spring House

This hike also included one of my other favorite things: pieces of history. It was fascinating to follow some of the old stone walls that most likely pre-date the American Civil War. There are also a couple of abandoned farmhouses on the trail, the Spring House and the Smith House.  I love old buildings and walking in the footsteps of those who came so long before us. I wonder what their life was like; what vegetables and flowers they planted; how many kids they had; or if they ever stopped and marveled at the view from their home.

It could have only been more perfect if there shiny historical markers!

The farms and homesteads were abandoned after the Civil War and  still more left in the 1920s when Mother Nature dealt a deathblow to the local economy. A tree blight in the 1920s wiped out most of the chestnut trees in the area. There aren't many anymore, but there are some.

One of the other delights of the trail was the pond down the hill from the Smith House. It was full from the recent rain and snow, but it was so clear! Even in the center of the pond, I could see to the bottom.

As much of a pain as the ascent up the first part of the train was, it was equally a pain going down. The descent wasn't the workout the the ascent was, but given the steepness of the descent and the rocky trail, it was a "proper bastard" to quote a friend. If you hit this trail, take the end nice and slow. A walking stick for extra stability helps.

I am definitely going to do this hike again when things green up. This is one trail I'd love to hike in every season!

The Quick Facts:

Trail: Wildcat Mountain Natural Area maintained by The Nature Conservancy
Length: 2.9 miles
Location: near Warrenton, VA
Hike Time: About 3 hours
Dogs not allowed (Boo!)

Looking uphill to the Smith House

Sometimes It Is All About the Reason You Are Surviving

Any survival instructor will tell you that you need inspiration, a reason, to keep going when the SHTF. It gives you that mental edge when all you're really doing is embracing the suck. "Think about your friends and family, whatever inspires you to keep going..." That's all well and good, but sometimes, the reason to get home is a lot smaller. And tastier.

This weekend was all about a reason to keep going: boozy cupcakes!

Introducing the Guinness-Jamesons-Baileys Cupcake:

 I would very much like to thank the Brown-Eyed Baker for this recipe. It's a Guinness chocolate cupcake with a Jameson's Irish Whiskey ganache and Bailey's Irish Cream frosting. It is pretty much the baked-good version of the rather tackily named Irish Car Bomb drink. (Take a Guinness, dump in a shot of Jameson's and a shot of Baileys. Chug before it curdles.) I am sure that my co-workers will thank her as well, since I baked 75 of them to take to work on Monday.

If nothing else, the ingredients are worth coming home for as well!

I also made her Shamrock Shake Cupcakes for the non-drinkers in the office. Thankfully, there aren't many.

I highly recommend both recipes and the Julia Child method of baking. I didn't make the drink these are based off of to drink, but I'd be lying if I said all the whiskey made it into the ganache. (I'm too wise to drink something you have to chug before it curdles.)

By the way, being able to bake and cook are pretty important survival skills. Being able to bake these surviving more bearable!

Short Girl Bushcraft Tool Review - The Mora Companion Knife

I finally got to put my Mora Companion through its paces outdoors this past weekend. I trimmed a few branches off a tree, cut cord, and carved a notch in the hearth board of my bow drill set.  It was all smooth and easy. I even managed to do that all without injuring myself. Of course, my primitive skills instructor did forbid me to pay attention to any boys.

I really like the knife, with one little not-so-much.

The Good

The blade is great. Sharp right from the factory. Love that! A couple of my knives needed sharpening right out of the box, which I find terribly annoying. People buy knives to cut/carve/chop things. You can't do that (safely) with a dull knife. Why would any company deliberately leave their blades dull?

I also love the handle. Because of the rubberized, non-slip handle, it is very easy for me to hold onto. It's a slim handle to begin with, but the extra grip helps anyone with freakishly small hands control their blade. (My pistol coach told me I have the smallest hands he's ever seen, even for a woman.)

For a $15 knife, it is incredibly sturdy as well. It's solid and has a decent weight to the knife. For me, that means it has enough heft to be sturdy, but not be so weighty that it is tiring to use. It's well balanced.

Even if it weren't, for the price you won't be too sad if you lose it. One friend mentioned that he's lost two. He keeps replacing them because they are good knives. Of course, he gets nice brown and green knives that blend in with the leaves and grass beautifully. Mine might be an insanely obnoxious pink (magenta if you go by Mora's color chart), but if I drop it in a field, I can spot it from half a mile away.

The Not-So-Good

I've mentioned previously that I'm not a fan of the sheath. No need to unearth and beat that horse. It's already dead.

The only thing I didn't like about the knife is the spine of the blade. It has ever-so-slightly rounded edges so it won't create a spark on my fire steel. My Mora-losing friend mentioned that this is a change from his Moras. I don't need a knife that does every little thing, but I got a carbon steel-bladed knife so that it would work with a fire steel.

I can take a file to the spine and flatten it so that it will work with a fire steel, and eventually I probably will. I just shouldn't have to do that. It is a little bit of a bummer, but not enough for me to go looking for a different brand of knife.

The Summary

This is a great little knife that passes the short girl/little hands test. The key to passing the test is it has to do everything just as well as any other knife and be safely usable for a small-handed person. I know I make a fuss about having small hands, but it is very scary to have a knife slip out of your hand because the handle is too large and you just can't hold onto it.

Overall, the Mora Companion is a good utility knife. The sheath is standard for the inexpensive Moras. Someday, I might get a better sheath.  Someday sooner, I'll file down the back so the knife can be used to spark a fire too.

Snowy First Steps to Wilderness Survival

At first I was afraid, I was petrified...

Okay, not really. I'd been looking forward to my primitive skills class from Advanced Survival Training and Instructor Tim MacWelch for a month now. For one, it was the first weekend in several that the weather didn't make getting outdoors completely miserable or life threatening. (People in Northern Virginia can't drive in snow and icy weather.) Second, I got to learn several basic skills that get me closer to my goal of being more self-sufficient.

I was most excited about learning to use a bow drill. We assembled our bow drill sets and all attempted to make an ember. I'd like to go on record stating that bow drills are hard. They are even harder in five inches of snow and a strong wind. I'm told that bow drill friction fires are difficult under any circumstance. That doesn't make me feel a lot better about not getting it right. Only one student managed to beat the elements and got an ember going.

I confess I got mad because my arm quit before I made an ember, so I used my fire steel and lit my tinder bundle. I wasn't going to leave without making fire, even if I kinda cheated. (Everyone knew, by the way.) At least I didn't use the lighter I had stashed in my backpack. I'll keep practicing with the bow drill. The damn thing won't beat me forever!

We need a lot more leaves
and a door!

The class was more successful at building shelters. It's a lot of work, but it was a lot of fun, especially scouting for good locations and materials. I like figuring out jigsaw puzzles and shelter building is a lot like a jigsaw puzzle. Find the right location. Place the pieces in the right direction and the right shape. Keep building until all the pieces are filled in.

We didn't complete the shelter because we had other things to learn, but we were pretty impressed with how much we could get done in a couple of hours, but it is obvious it would take much longer if we had been working solo. Primitive survival would definitely be a full-time job.

One of the other critical lessons of the day was the appropriate use of snow. It should definitely be used for snowball fights. Yeah, you can also melt it for water or if you had enough, build a snow shelter, but really, the best use of snow is pelting people with it.

We also learned basic flint knapping and the principals for signalling in a rescue situation. The best thing about Tim's classes is that everything is hands-on. We all built the shelters. Everyone made big and little rocks into useful tools. Everyone got a bow drill set and at least attempted to make fire. Everyone over the age of 21 got maple wine too.

Oh, Tim learned something too. If you dare me to squee like a teen-aged girl and ask for your autograph AND promise me maple wine if I do, I'll do it. I'll make you really sign the magazine too! (If I'm going to look silly, you're gonna sign!) The maple wine was fantastic, again! Thankfully, there was no video and to my knowledge, no pictures!

...I will survive!

Survival, the Outdoors, and Beer for #FF

I enjoy Twitter. It keeps me occupied on the train on the way to work. On the way home, it's books. I have, to me, a lot of people I follow. I realize that there are people who have numbers in the thousands, but I think my brain might explode. As it is, I sometimes feel like I miss the people I am most interested in. These are a few of the accounts that I go out of my way to find in the barrage of tweets on my feed. Per usual, they are heavy on survival, outdoors, and beer!

So go ahead and find these guys for your #FF!

Glacier National Park (@GlacierNPS) is one of the most beautiful places on earth and is absolutely my most favorite place to be. There is something incredibly peaceful about just looking out over Lake McDonald. One day, I am going to live close enough to visit whenever I want. Until then, I can look at all the gorgeous photos on their Twitter account.

Silver Eagle Group (@SilverEagle_Grp) is my favorite range in Northern Virginia. In addition to being a very nice facility, the people there are fantastic. The first time I took my college-aged daughter there, the staff was incredibly supportive and helpful.They really encouraged her and it definitely contributed to her having a great time and wanting to go back. Silver Eagle also offers self defense classes and has a retail store as well.

Survivor Jane (@SurvivorJane) is rapidly becoming an inspiration for me. She's a girly-girl who will survive when the SHTF. My dad always taught me to fight back and survive, and he gave me the foundational skills to build on, but people like Survivor Jane make it attainable in style. Her book, Survivor Jane's Guide To Emergency/Survival Hygiene: A Prepper "Cookbook" for Making Survival Personal Hygiene Products, is available on Amazon and in my to-read stack of books.

Wainwright Prize (@wainwrightprize) satisfies the book geek in me and the back-to-nature displaced Montana girl all in one. The Thwaites Wainwright Prize rewards the best of nature, travel, and outdoors writers in the UK. No, it isn't international, but the books they honor are and you should read them. Did I mention that the prize is sponsored by a brewery? No? Oops... Another great reason to follow 'em. (Oh, and if anyone from the Thwaites Wainwright Prize is reading this, Tristan Gooley's book, The Walker’s Guide to Outdoor Clues and Signs, should absolutely be on the short list!)

Dog Tag Brewing (@DogTagBrewing) is a craft beer company out of the greatest state ever, Montana. Add to an awesome location that they support our nation's veterans and make beer, you have a fantastic company! You can't get their beer everywhere yet, but they are working on it! I'm planning a drive to southern Virginia just to get a case. I'm still waiting for them to hit NoVA. They also respond to tweets, so they are a friendly lot as well.

My twitter if you want to follow as well: @cmstevens06

Knife Safety: Lessons in Attentiveness from a Teen-Aged Girl

Safety is key in almost everything you do, especially in bushcraft and survival. So is attentiveness. I learned those lessons as a teenager. (That was last year. If you don't believe me, ask my 21-year-old daughter. She will attest to it!) If your attentiveness fails, it is very likely your safety is compromised, and 16-year-old girls are easily distracted, especially by 16-year-old boys.

There are all kinds of rules for knife safety and whittling. Keep your knife sharp. Face the blade away from you. Take it slow and steady. 

Watch what you are doing should be high on that list. Maybe my dad thought it was so obvious it didn't need saying. I was his first (and only) daughter, so he didn't have the prior experience with raising teen-aged girls. 

Not the knife in question,
but this is one of my favorites now.

Both my parents grew up camping and generally being outdoors, so it was important that my brother and I had a similar childhood, right down to the whittling lessons. Gifted with a new pocket knife, I couldn't wait to impress my dad with natural talent at anything considered a "boy thing." I was big into the "anything a boy can do, I can do better" movement for a brief time. Then I realized there were more fun things to do with boys. (I might still be into this a little. I love the outdoors, guns, knives, and muscle cars. Also, high heels, Coach purses, make-up, and Eyeore.)

Which brings us back around to pay attention to the knife, not the boy.

The whole family was camping in Garmisch-Partenkirchen. There were a few other families in neighboring campsites. I'm fairly certain anyway. I'd been a bit fixated on the cute boy one campsite over so I wouldn't swear to anything in court. We were sitting around the camp fire when I decided to put the new pocket knife through its paces. Yes, I was trying to impress him. I didn't know if knife skills were what boys were looking for, but hey, it was worth a try.

Knife and stick in hand, I started whittling away, then I caught his eye. It might have been the knife that caught his eye, but I like my version better. Cue the smiles, embarrassed glances, hair flips, and Murphy's Law. I had flipped around the knife to trim off a small branch (I know, I broke another rule.) and the knife jumped on the tiny knot and right into the knuckle of my thumb.

The ensuing commotion was a sight to behold. I screamed, my mother screamed, my father yelled, my brother laughed. I lost track of the cute boy when my mother whisked me off to the station wagon to patch up my thumb.

Mom had plenty of experience patching up my brother, so she had the wound closed up pretty quickly. The ER doc was sufficiently impressed that he didn't even undo it and sent me off to nurse my wounded pride. I never did get to meet the boy.

To this day, despite mom's best ministrations, I have a 1/2 inch scar on my thumb to remind me of two things: Always point the blade away from you and pay attention to your knife, not the boy in the next campsite.