Forcing The Children To Build Shelters In the Snow

If you live in the UK I don't have to tell you it's been cold.

It's quite an unusual storm, a mixture of cold strong winds that are blowing in a different direction from what is normal and snow. The snow is far dryer than normal as well (if that makes sense) and is blowing everywhere. I have areas with no snow on the ground at all and some drifts higher than me (6ft).

We're not used to this type of weather anymore and things like keeping the wood burner going and the heating on have been a priority. The new unfinished extension that we've knocked through to has been chilly as there was quite a few drafts for the wind to blow through. I spent a good half hour with some expanding foam to fix that problem!

The children were quite happy inside, watching films, making crafts and baking cakes but I decided it was the perfect weather to take them outside for a light bit of survival training! I'm a mean dad, but want to try to teach them some things they might remember.

First of all we talked about where they could find natural shelter or things that they might not have thought about. They both suggested sleeping in the animal housing or finding somewhere under the trees. We also talked about which way the wind was blowing and how to tell.

For the first shelter we took out a tarp, rope and paracord. We're short on suitable trees here  (they're busy growing) so we decided upon a few gate posts to build it around.

 Certainly not the best shelter in the world and I could have done with some way to peg it down better. It did show them how easy it is to build one and what a difference it makes getting out of the wind. It also took a bit of teamwork as the wind was gusty so needed us all to hold it as we built it.

 We talked about holding the back down with snow if we had no other option to stop the wind. Some pegs would have been a good idea to keep the lines and the tarp lower. It wasn't the ideal shape for the conditions either, a normal small tent shape would have been better, but my younger daughter was cold so we just tried to build it quickly.

 My younger daughter then went in as she was too cold (it was blinking cold), but I suggested to my eldest that we should build a snow shelter, (with much pretending about polar bears chasing us) it was a great fun little exercise.

This girl is such a trooper, nothing phases her. 

 We made our way down to the bigger field where the drifts were higher (6ft). She struggled through the deep snow but didn't give up.

We then set to digging ourselves a cave in the deep snow - keeping a watchful eye out for polar bears the whole time ;-). We brought her little proper shovel, one for digging trenches - children's ones don't last five minutes with my kids, and dug as deep as we could.

quite happy out of the wind! 

 We tried it a few times until it was deep enough for her to get completely out of the driving snow and wind.

Digging

Our snow cave

My eldest getting out of the wind and the elements in the cave she helped to dig. 

 A great way to spend a few hours with my children in some harsh elements we don't get to practice in very often. My eldest really impressed me with the snow cave, she didn't give up digging or walking and didn't make a fuss, asked sensible questions and enjoyed the whole thing, she's got some real determination there!  I also taught her the trick for warming your hands up in your armpits, which is something I watched on a program somewhere and it really works!

Also no polar bears got us either, which is always good!

How's everyone else in the UK dealing with the snow? Anyone else forcing their kids to learn stuff in these conditions?

Whats the weather like elsewhere in the world?

40 Years Isolated

Just a short post today. 

I came across this story a few years ago but think it's so incredible that I tend to read it again every year, it's about a Russian family that, to escape religious persecution, disappeared into the heart of Siberia. 

What helicopter pilot saw 150 miles from the nearest settlement

They grabbed what they could and in 1936 headed off into the wilderness. They lived in such isolation that they didn't even know about World War 2 , it was a full 40 years before they were discovered. 

Read the full article here.

What I think is really incredible is just their shear survival, growing what they could and living on the brink of starvation, saving just enough seed to grow food for the following year and eating the rest. 

I'm sure many of you have come across this story before as it has been shared on many blogs (I think I came across it first on Gorges blog many years ago) and news sites but if you haven't then the article is well worth a read. 

What other stories of survival do you find amazing?

Survival Growing (if SHTF)

Okay, so most folks reading this blog keep a selection of seeds to grow each year, or if not then keep some in case of an emergency that might result in having to grow some of your own food (financial collapse, zombies, etc).

But I was reading something the other day and it made me think about what if I didn't have my collection of seeds to grow from? What then? What if something happened to your supply or you had to leave them behind and at your new location you had to grow food to feed your family?

It's amazing when you start looking though there is plenty of things you could grab to grow in the right (or wrong) situation. 

I started looking in the kitchen and within a couple of minutes found these.

Tomatoes, popcorn, fennel seeds, onion, garlic, poppy seeds, pumpkin seeds, mustard seeds

Now the seeds are fairly self explanatory, the tomatoes (it could be peppers, or any fruit with a seed in) could be taken and the seeds extracted to be planted. 

The onion could be planted in the ground and the green leaves harvested, or with the hope that it might go to seed and provide you with the material to grow the year afters crop. The same would be true of any root crop you found, if you got them in the ground then by the end of the next year you'd have more than enough seed to grow all the carrots you could possibly want. 

The popcorn could be grown and used just as a normal grain then used for flour.

But it doesn't have to stop there. Out in the shed I've got wheat for my chickens, oats for the sheep and sunflowers for the birds. These could all be grown easily. The wheat could even be eaten as wheat grass or ground to make flour and the rest grown for another crop.  

The other thing would be to look in peoples gardens and see what gone to seed, or what young plants are growing (depending on what time of year it is) but you need to have a good gardening knowledge to be able to do this well. 

Where else do you think you could look for good sources of growing material? 

What would we find around your kitchen and garden?

What Some "Preppers" Do Wrong - Seed Vaults

My wife and I were looking on her Instagram, a page she follows keeps advertising "Seed Vaults".

I'm sure we've all seen these floating around the internet. "30,000 seeds to plant your own survival garden when the SHTF". Some have more than that, boasting over 300,000 seeds at some staggering prices (nearly $1,000 but it does come in a nice ammo tin!). 

Some of these boxes talk a lot of sense, they come with a growing manual and state that all seeds are open pollinated. 

But if you think for a second that having a big box of seeds is the secret to growing enough food to feed your family then you are very much mistaken! 

Anyone that gardens at all will tell you how hard it is to be a consistent producer, if it came to a time when it really mattered it would be even harder. 

Having the seeds is such a small piece of the jigsaw that is growing your own food. 

• You need to have the space, although I guess you could find somewhere and guerrilla garden them. 
• The right soil to grow in (which can and does take years to build up), 
• The knowledge and skills to be able to nurture these seeds into growth, 
• The knowledge to be able to save the seeds from the plants you're growing. 
• The ability to produce and store you harvest.

But that's almost besides the point I was getting at, when you look at what some of these seed vaults contain they'd never feed you anyway. One I looked at had 3000 celery seeds and only 15-20 bean seeds! I'd want a lot more beans than that in my larder, but I guess I could make celery soup or something! 

You need to look at growing carbs and protein to keep you going and then other veggies to keep you healthy. 

Then there's the viability issue, having a seed vault in storage doesn't mean they're all going to grow. Some seed lasts much longer than others, the only way to really guarantee that you can grow everything is to grow it every year and either buy new seed or save seed. I don't even do this myself, I take the risk and use seed that is a few years old, most of the time it works but then sometimes it doesn't and in a situation where you're relying on your harvest that could have some serious consequences! 

Also you want to grow from seeds that are suitable to your area, like the melon I posted earlier in the week, it would be no good planting crops where the seed has been adapted to grow in a much hotter and drier climate than your own or took too long to mature before frosts set in again. 

My seed bank! 

I for one like to garden every year and improve my skills, who knows one day that set of skills might be very useful! 

What do you think? 

Am I wrong and storing a seed vault is a good idea? 

List Of A Years Worth Of Food?

I've just finished reading a book called "Our Year In The Wilderness" by Michael & Susan Cusack. I brought it from a second hand bookshop in the summer, and although it looked dated (from the 80's) I thought it looked up my street and for £1 it was worth a shot.

The book was brilliant, it's about a couple being sponsored by Australian Geographic to spend a year in the wilderness in the Australian outback, in the North west of the Kimberley. They were chosen out of 500 other couples, but they kept a secret from National Geographic - they'd been separated for the last 4 years out of their 14 year marriage and saw the experience as a chance to reconcile their marriage! 

The area they stayed is well known for for being an inhospitable and difficult to live place, with long dry spells and temperatures reaching up to 45 degrees C and high humidity.

I was captivated by this book and found their constant struggle for water and relief from the flies and mosquitoes really interesting. It's written by both of them and luckily they both write really well and their are hundreds of beautiful pictures with captions so you really get a feel for what's going on. On Google maps I think their location and it was roughly here, you can see it's pretty remote! But although they know it was hard to survive where they did for a year, they had the up most respect for aborigines who had lived here for centuries before the settlers relocated them and took them from their own land, supposedly for their own good!

Below is a few pages I've pulled from the appendix of the book detailing what food supplies they took with them for their year in the wild. They supplemented their food with some meat they shot (although not much) and fish they caught, plus they grew some vegetables, although they understandably struggled growing them with the lack of water and the high heat!

These pictures should enlarge if you click on them.

There's a few things in the list I was shocked at. One was the amount of sugar they took with them, just one 1kg bag of sugar. Although they had honey and drink powder that wouldn't be enough sugar to keep me going for a month let alone a year! Also you'd think they'd be better off taking grain and a small mill rather than all the flour which could (and did) go bad in the heat. I also understand the need to keep the weight down but dried food without much water can be difficult, I do like all the herbs and spices they took with them though, a great way to change boring meals.

What do you think to their years worth of food for living in a hot and inhospitable place? 

What major changes would you make to the list?

Giving Blood

I gave blood again on Thursday night. 

My wife often jokes that I'm so survival orientated that I even picked a mate with the same blood group, then our children should have the same blood type (unless there is a mutation or a milkman involved). Great for a survival situation! Although I think it's has more to do with the fact that we both have a common blood type (ORH+) shared with 37% of the population - incredibly my blood can safely be given to 83% of people.

There was quite a queue and it ended up taking the best part of two hours but I still think it's worth it, I think that if you'd be willing to take the blood then you should also give it. They had some good magazines to read anyway and the staff are always really friendly. Good biscuits at the end as well!

It's a shame only 4% of the population give blood though, I think it should be more.

Do you donate blood? And do you know what blood group you are?

Camping In The Snow

My wife thinks I'm mad. That's normal. But this weekend she thinks I'm Stark-Raving!

Just because my brother and me are camping out?

Some of my kit for the weekend - two sleeping bags might be a good idea do you think?

My brother and I are both off up to a wood in Staffordshire to go on an axe workshop and charcoal making class this weekend. It involves two nights out under the stars, although with all this snow I don't think we're be seeing many stars in the sky.

This is through Survival School who we've done a couple of courses with before, so we know it's going to be good. Previously we went on an Introduction to bush craft weekend course (back in 2007) where we learnt loads and a week long course for "extreme survival" (2010) into the Scottish Highlands with just one bag of kit each. This week long course was great fun and a good test of team work and skills, from skinning a deer to firing a flare (I might do another post about this course as it was so good).

I love it, we're both into our bush craft and survival skills and its a great way to spend a weekend together where we're not working, just messing around in the woods like we did when we were kids.

The snow should make things interesting as I've never camped in it before.

Any tips or things I should take?

I'm keeping kit to a minimum and I've resisted the temptation to buy more "stuff" to go on this trip with. I've always been told "The more you know the less you need" and hopefully I'm getting pretty experienced at it now.