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Great subject Obscurus! Surviving "off-grid" is a subject that I've been meaning to immerse myself in for years now. It always felt like I wasn't particularly meant to be living in a "concrete jungle". However, I have not made the effort to be ready with the knowledge, which will only hurt me in the long run I guess. Any books you can suggest that will give an idea of the basics needed for survival living?

I mean for the most part I have small general ideas gleaned from magazines and internet sites.
- Try to boil water before drinking
- Eat when you have water to spare
- If the animals are willing to eat it, it's probably safe for you too
- Where you see hoof tracks converging they may probably lead to water
- Avoid night travel in forested areas

That is about it though...

Just because animals eat it doesn't mean it's safe for us. Several animals can tolerate foods that are poisonous to us. razz

But yeah, I'm told you can find the Army's survival handbook online for free, but the majority of my knowledge comes from the SAS Survival Handbook by John "Lofty" Wiseman. It's a classic and really one of the best books on the subject because it covers basics as well as the different climates and environments; there is also a section on surviving at the homefront in event of natural disaster or nuclear, biological, or chemical attack.

I also have a book called The Outdoor Survival Handbook by Raymond Mears. It's more useful for learning skills that would be required for actually making a life for yourself in the wilderness, such as making pots. The SAS Survival Handbook covers making skins and hides wearable and how to make cordage, but The Outdoor Survival Handbook goes as far as giving recipes that use wild ingredients.

There are really tons of resources on this subject. I find that Survivorman on the Discovery Channel is a good resource, although Man vs. Wild puts me off sometimes because the host is really "gung-ho" and seems to take unnecessary risks (in my opinion). There are tons of websites, some of which I have bookmarked, and I'm going to add some to the first post.

Overall, I think the basics are the most important (obviously). Fire, Water, Food, Shelter. And all the knowledge in the world won't mean anything if you don't know how to apply it. Knowing how to start a fire with a friction method is not enough; you must be able to do it when you have to do it. I can personally say that starting a fire with a bow-drill or hand-drill is not as easy as it looks. I can reliably get a coal with a bow-drill, but only if I'm using "modern" cordage. I've yet to find material suitable enough for me to try making natural cordage that I could use for a bow-drill or any other application.

Know how to find water where there appears to be none, and how to extract it and purify it sufficiently.

Learn the most common and abundant edible plants. This will vary depending on what climate you live in, but most people live in a temperate climate and there are edible plants available most of the year in the temperate climates. Even more so in tropical climates, but there are also more dangers to contend with there. Know how to make traps and how to fish and hunt. Know how to forage.

Know how to make a reliable and warm shelter out of natural materials you find. Even if it's something as rudimentary as a snow cave you should know how to make it properly.

Your gear can make all the difference but it can only take you so far. The most important things, in order of importance, are will to live, knowledge, and then kit (or gear/equipment). There are people that have survived in adverse conditions that defied the odds because they truly wanted to live. There are people that have done everything against the book and still came out alive.

A note on kit: I like to keep it simple. My "bug-out bag" consists of a fanny pack and a canteen with cup and pouch. This fanny pack (while it may sound silly) contains everything I need. I have cordage, materials for trapping, several means for starting a fire, basic first aid supplies, knife, fishing hooks/line, compass, etc. The list goes on, and most of these things have more than one use.

I've already been quite long-winded, so I'm going to go add those links to the first post now.

Tip: Pine needles are edible, they are just not eaten because they taste worse than awful.

As for what I'm doing, I am currently in the process of constructing the a theory/process on how to create a truely communistic society. In my opinion, a truely communistic society would be civilized anarchy, as in, no government with peace. It is possible! The closest anyone's ever gotten to it were the Native Americans.

When I lived in the forest I used to nibble on pine needles, they are a great source of vitamin C and actually don't taste that bad.

As for your communist idea, I too would like to hear it if and when you've finalized it. I have also played with the idea of communist communities. I find it works very well on a small scale, but not on a big scale sweatdrop

What I have gathered so far is:

1) Money is a distraction, and the main source of greed. What I believe would work better is bartering, or trading of skills. This way, it will still be worth it to become someone like a doctor. Also, it allows for every job to be seen as important, because they are (and lets face it, if everyone was a doctor/lawyer then there would be no one to stock the shelves at Walmart or get our food from McDonalds).

2) Smaller truely is better, community wise. Less amount of people in an area with the same job makes them more needed and creates less competition.

3) Communism can NOT be created through a revolution. When a revolution occurs, there is a war, and with war comes military leaders, who then use their power and influence to rule the country which wan't supposed to have a government. How to create a truely communistic society is something I haven't figured out yet.

4) Raise the next generation in the right environment. When people are placed in an environment where everyone believes that they can trust everyone else, they tend to not do any harm to destroy the circle of trust. I've witnessed this myself on several college visits. The students are told that their possessions are safe, so they leave them unguarded, and when they return everything is still safe, even expensive items such as laptops.

5) Land is only necessary for those who need it. No one needs to own land, but those with those kinds of jobs will use it accordingly. Farmers will use the land to grow crops, so they will need a lot more of it than those who are bartenders or nurses. People will have to come to the understanding of "take only what you need and will use." So if you're a mechanic who is single, then a small house is more than enough to suvice.

6) Communities are purely democratic. In each community, there would be voting among the people for the rules and other things among that community. If something like a road needs to be paved, they will have to figure out if they want to do it, how much should get paid, who will negociate it. It is a long and painful process, but well worth the fact that there is no one person making the decisions. Crimes would also need to be decided upon the community as well as punishments.

If I remember something later, I will post it. Just as a note, though, there are more than likely spelling errors in here, so I'm sorry, but it looked correct in my eyes.


Obscurus, I never knew about pine needle tea before, I've heard of dandelion wine though. I'm going to try it now.

TrutherMay, I really was just passing on information I read, although I probebly should have tryed it first before saying it was nasty.

jedinightwing, Monty Python's Search for the Holy Grail is awsome, but Spamalot is 20 times better!


One last random fact: Bamboo leaves are 15% protein, and bamboo can be grown on any contenant except for Antartica.

Be sure not to actually boil the needles. I'm told this will produce turpentine. You should only steep the needles in hot water, not boil them.

While we're on this note though, clover tea is quite tasty. You don't notice how much of the flavor of what we consider honey actually comes from the clover that the bees collect pollen from. This flavor comes out in clover tea and it doesn't even need any kind of sweetener, in my eyes.

The plant edibility test is really pretty simple and something I think everyone should know.