30th of June.. Departure day

I will be leaving June the 30th.. I feel pretty good, the weather is just great, it hasn't rained in days and I can't see a single cloud right now. This is the springtime I have been waiting for.
A few days ago I decided to leave the 30th and yesterday I printed the entire route I will have to cycle.

All in all.. I'm ready for the biggest adventure of a lifetime

It won't be long now

So I have decided to leave before Juli 1st. In my last post I've mentioned that the trip/journey/quest will be delayed.. I guess I was waiting for the perfect moment.. Now I know that perfect moment will never come. I just have to go do it and make it perfect. Emotional issues.. sure.. but here I have too much time on my hands to think back and dwell in the past. I am packing my bag once more one last time.

I will let everyone know when I head out

Into the wild.. Trip delayed

I have to be honest here. I don't think I'm ready to head out the 25th due to emotional issues.
When I walk out this door I want to feel good but instead I feel like I have unfinished bussiness around here.
No I'm not crying my eyes out here but I can't say I'm happy either and I don't want to have worries on my mind when I'm gone. My mind should be clear, fresh and at peace.. and it isn't. And I also need to find out what this chick wants from me.. but that's another story all by itself.

So that's it. As it looks now I can't leave the 25th. And I have no idea when I will, could be next month, could be next year. Once I have nomore unfinished bussiness I'm outta here

One month until I'm going to live in the wild

Today is the 25th of April and since I will be leaving the 25th of May today is a special day. Now you might think that in the coming month I might prepare even more to live in the wilderness. But I'm not.
I haven't learned all that there is to learn but I have (in theory) learned enough to survive out there and to make a living. But I will use this last month in society to help others, to find peace within myself and to bring peace and compassion to others, to read books and to write.. I will spend my last month among humans with humans..

My life has been turned upside down, no longer can I consider my life as being boring, empty and hopeless. The stay-at-home-dad inside of my has died and in it's place an adventurer has been born. At the moment I am spending my days with people who are, compared to me, like royalty and here I find myself surrounded with classical music like Vivaldi and Bach and eating food that's apart from being healthy also looks beautiful. All around my are books about mythology, great philosophers and the master of old times.
These are rich and classy folk I am staying with compared to me and my life is not what it was like a month ago. But it is good and it is an honor to be staying with this old couple.

Today I have blocked my bank card.. When my ex and I broke up I left my bank card with her so she had money to feed my children, pay for their school etc. Now it turns out she is working on getting welfare and since I know her well enough to know that she won't give back my bank card that easily I just had it blocked.. Someone will be pissed today... su*ks for her, I gave her and her family all of my cooperation and they have been taking advantage of my friendliness and weak position. It was about time to stop making it easy for them since they no longer deserve my respect and I refuse being a push over from now on.

Since I will be moving to Velp again to live my remaining days as a citizen on my own there is a chance I might see my children again soon, if not there is a big chance I will never see them again. I try not to think about it as it leaves my desperate and it f*cks up the mind from within. I have spend the last 6 years taking care of my children every single day. Now I am spending weeks without seeing them, hearing them and kissing them goodnight.. The whole idea that this would not have an effect on my is preposterous, humorously stupid and above all unrealistic. I could easily fall into a depression because of this, I could also "Take it like a man" and swallow it and pretend nothing has happened. Naturally that isn't good either.
Tonight I will take a knife and carve 3 small incisions into my leg... Call it 'tribal scarification', call it 'being unstable'. It doesn't matter.. The 3 incisions will symbolically represent my children.. losing them has scared me for the rest of my life...

Until I leave I seek refuge in art, music and religion.

My blog.. some future changes

Because of the recent changes in my life I do not have the oppurtunity to spend endless amounts of time on the internet like I used to before. When to folks I'm staying with are away I find the time to borrow their laptop and work on my blog. Because of this I will, from now on only write about my future journey.
So no more tutorials and no more information on bushcraft or primitive/wilderness living.. I just simply cannot find the time to do that. On the other hand, whenever I find the time to go online it will be spend either on this blog or to gain more info on wilderness living.. knowledge is power and this knowledge may save lives.

I will also be updating the List of items I will be bringing with me once again. since many items on the list are still at my girlfriends home such as the famed hobo cooking set.. tough luck.. perhaps I find the time to make a new one, but time is running short.

Goodbye for now. Remember.. if anyone has advice, tips or anything else, feel free to post a comment ;)

Update: what happened lately..

Hey everyone it has been a while since I've posted anything. This is because my plans have been messed up a bit.
A few weeks ago my girlfriend broke up with me. Like I've said before, There is little love between us so I can't say I care and the only thing that makes me sad is that I miss my children.  When we broke up I stayed with my father near Rotterdam and at the moment I am staying with friends of the family in Delft. In the meanwhile I could not go online anywhere untill now. In May the 4th (or something) I will be moving to Velp again but this time to live alone in a small but comphy home. And I will be able to make the journey the 25th.
So after all plans have not changed.

That's it for now, All is fine. Greatings Ralph Sungila, The Dutch Hermit

Alone in the wilderness: Fear

When you're in a situation like me there are a lot of things that could scare me when thinking about my oncoming journey.

Dangerous animals, poisonous plants, hypothermia, dehydration, starvation and injury.
It is not going to be a picknick and there's nothing romantic to it. Making a living in the wilderness is hard and not for the squeamish. There are a lot of ways to die in the wilderness and there are just as many ways to die in an urban enviroment, the types of threats are only different.

In the US the most dangerous wild animals are the Grizzly bear and the Mountain lion (or so they say). In Russia where I'm heading there are actualy Tigers.. The (if I remembered correct) Amur tiger in the south and the Siberian tiger in the north. Many people who are lost in the wilderness die of hypothermia, Russia's temperatures can get down to -50 degrees celsius in the far north, In the far south near mongolia the country turns into a desert where people can find themselves being cooked while being attacked by one sandstorm after another. Russia is far to big to have one single climate.
It figures that staying somewhere in the middle, where boreal forest meets temperate, is my best bet.

Then there are other types of fear that could overwelm me out there.. The fear failling my quest, the fear of 'losing it' and go nuts or get a psychosis (had one before, wasn't a lot of fun), The fear of not seeing my children again or how they might curse my name later on, The fear of people trying to keep me from doing what I have to do.

Fear kills.. at the same time fear can save your life.. This needs a little explanation..
Too much fear can stop you in your tracks, fear can occupy the mind which makes it harder to think clearly, fear can drive you mad.
Being completely without fear might kill you even faster. Just imagine a person who is totaly fearless for a minute.. Such a person would walk up to an annoyed male african rhino and smack that ass if you would ask him to without even blinking. If you look at it like that, fear can be a good thing to have.



We should not be without fear yet fear should not control us either but meet somewhere in the middle, this is called being cautious

The bicycle of choice

As you all should know by now my main transportation method during the early stages of my journey is the bicycle and here is my bike of choice, not that I had a choice to be honest..

The bicycle is plain and boring, you're typical cheap grandma's bicycle.. A mountainbike or ATB would be much better for a project like this but hey, we are travelling lightweight on a low budget (or rather for free) here. The looks don't realy matter.. The bike is a tool to get me from A to B.

Like I said, it's plain but it works, before I head out I have to remove the childrens seat so I can use the 2 large bags at the back. I also need to check out if the light work since you never know nowadays with those LED bicycle lights. A bicycle with a frame like that is mostly considered a ladies bicycle.. but who cares really..

Like I have said before; If the bicycle breaks down beyond repair I will ditch it somewhere. If the terrain becomes to "bewildered" and cycling becomes impossible then I will ditch it. And when I don't feel like cycling for a while I will use it as a 'packing mule' and walk along side it if you get my point.
Anyhow I don't expect to use this bike for a long time and I will spend most of my journey hiking but it does give me a fast start.

Fully use of a dead animal

I like the idea of fully using a dead animal that has been killed for food so nothing goes to waste.
Our ancestors were masters when it comes to this and here is a usefull list of what you can make from various bodyparts.

Bone: needles, fishing hook, bonecarving art, black pigment/dye when charred, bone knives and handles, arrowtips, fishing spear tips, hide scraper, buttons.... Bone can be called the plastic of the natural world and people across the world made the wildest things with bone and a sharp knife.

Antler & horn: flintknapping tool, handle for knives etc, drinking horn, antler deer call method

Feathers: flething arrows, isolation materials, decorative objects such as dreamcatchers.

Sinew: string and robe, fishing and trapping line, bowstring bowdrill string

Hoofs: glue, rattle

Eyes: glue, grease

Brain: for tanning hides

Hide: clothing, shoes, shelter material, hats and gloves

Hygiene in the bush

So today I whought it would be a good idea to talk about Hygiene and sanitation and the importance of it during a longterm camping/survival trip. Before I do that here is a video of Dave Canterbury and he pretty much sums it all up here.

I have watched other videos on how to keep clean in the wilderness aswell and I pretty much get the idea that hygiene is not as important when you're out there on your own. In such a scenario who cares if you smell a little if you're all by yourself. Still you're smell may be not that big of a deal, bacteria are. I have seen another video some time ago but I couldn't find it.. It was about smoke baths.

Smoke baths kill bacteria.. You can sit near a smoky fire or hang your clothes near it and it's a wonderfull method if you don't have soap. In order to get a good smoky fire it is best to burn green wood and branches. Any type of branches that are not all dead and dry. Pine seems to work great.
When you're out in the woods there is a big chance you sit near a fire all the time so making a special smokebath may not even be necesarry.

Taking a swim in the nearest lake can be fun but it's not necesarry, Take some water and wash the most important areas on your body that are most likely to get dirty and where filth can build up. All in all it doesn't matter if you get a little dirty as long as you do not get so dirty that it can make you sick.

When I head out I won't be bringing soap, perfume or deoderant with me. Water and smoke will do just fine. Smelling good may be important in a urban enviroment, people may tell you to take a shower twice a day, commercials on tv tell you to buy their products in order to stay clean. Hygiene over here has become a must and it's overrated. When you're in the bush on your own using soap and perfume and all that may even work against you. Some game animals can smell your soapy skin from miles away while other dangerous and curious animals may come and investigate what smells 'so good'. So much for hunting for food huh..

That's it for now, take care everyone

Ticks..Bugs from hell

When you think about dangerous animals that you can encounter during a hiking or camping trip you often think about bears, wolves or even tigers and jaguars in some parts of the world. But sometimes dangerous animals are a lot smaller and one of the animals that should be high on the list of dangerous animals  is the Tick.. after you have read this you'll probably never judge dangerous wildlife by it's size again.

The risks of a tick bite

When we think about ticks we immediately think about Lyme decease but it's just one of many diseases ticks can carry. Others are Anaplasmosis, Rocky mountain spotted fever, Babesiosis, Colorado tick fever, Tularemia, Q fever and Tick paralysis.. There are even rumors that back in the dark ages not only rats but also ticks were spreading the Plague.

Recognizing a Tick

Ticks are small parasites that feed on the blood of humans and other animals. They attach themselves to the skin and because they are so small they may go unnoticed for some time, increasing the chances of spreading disease. During feeding, they can transmit bacteria, viruses or parasites. Disease transmission is most common in the spring and summer months.

 

Believe it or not.. the 2 ticks here are from the same species. The one on the right is at normal size, the one on the left has been feeding itself for a while.

Treating a Tick bite

Some people will tell you to either poor vinegar or alcohol on the tick and the tick will just let go... If only it was that easy, I'm sorry to say that this is just a urban myth. Alcohol might kill the tick but then it would still be stuck in your skin with all it's potential deceases. Vinegar might help to clean the wound or infection after the tick is removed.
Also burning a tick does not help.
The best way to remove a tick is with fine tipped tweezers, you grab the tick as close to it's mouth as possible the you slowly pull the tick out without twisting it. Some people grab the tick by it's body.. Don't ever do that! you might squeeze the the infected fluids from the ticks into your skin.
When the tick is removed it might be best to visit a doctor just in case. Bringing the tick with you in a ziplock bag is also not a bad idea so it can be examined in a lab.

How to avoid getting bitten

Avoid walking through tall grasses and busches as much as you can. so ticks can't get on your cloths and travel to your skin. Put the ends of your pants in your socks and check yourself and your clothing for ticks afterwards. When you're in the outdoors try to stay on the paths as much as possible.

Is there a real reason to panic?

No not really. We all know that ticks carry diseases and that they are hard to get rid off. What most people do not tell you however is that most ticks (maybe more then 90%) do Not carry any form of decease. Still of course it's better to be safe then sorry. And most of all the deceases listed above can be cured with common antibiotics. It is also good to know that most of the stories of people dying due to tick bites are usually just that... stories.. it's pretty rare

Why I am not taking a firearm with me.

When people leave their urban environment to spend some quality time out in the woods, let's say for a weekend they often bring a firearm with them.
And with good reason, not only can it provide them with food but most of all it is the best way to defend themselves against bears, mountain lions, zombies and what not.
Soon I'll head out into the woods, not for a weekend but possibly for the rest of my life, Yet if you take a look at all the stuff I will bring with me you will not see a single firearm, just a cheap airgun and airguns are great for small game hunting but they're not meant as a defensive weapon, it would only piss off a bear even more.

So why do I not take a firearm with me?
Because of the local law.. In my country you cannot simply go to a gunstore, show your passport and start shopping. Dutch law on gun ownership is ridiculously stupid. Owning a gun over here is possible but very hard. You have to get screened by the police even if you don't have a criminal record, Then you need to follow a whole variety of shooting classes which costs you alot of money and time, Once they think you are ready you are aloud to buy a gun and ammo, but you must also buy a safe and store it there and you must become a member of a shooting club.

Congratulations!.. you are now the proud owner of a gun, you are now officially broke and once everyone knows you have a gun they'll consider you the next best serial killer 'cause that's how the dutch look at gun owners.

But wait! there's more!
Now that you have a gun you must practice at a shooting range several times a month otherwise you are in serious danger of having your license taken away from you, also expect the police from having unannounced visits at your home to see if you're keeping your gun in the safe. I cannot even imagine what you neighbours must think after the 13th visit. Also do not even think about using your gun in order to defend yourself. This is Holland.. many people have gone to jail over here due to self defence. Also if you want to fire the gun you do that at your local shooting range, no where else.


Now you know why I am not taking a gun, rifle or shotgun with me.. If I could then I would, and if I can get my hands on an old AK when I'm somewhere in eastern Europe (can't be that hard hehe) I will not think twice.

The food packing problem

When I started preparing for this journey I went online to find and buy all the items I needed.. knives, clothing and the like and I was not thinking about food at all..

That's pretty dumb of me.. I will be biking and hiking from west to east Europe, crossing the continent and like I have discussed before, if I want to obey local law and play it safe then I cannot be building fire's during the first stages of my journey in order to prepare food.
Bummer.. since biking and hiking across Europe will burn calories like you've never seen before.
That I'll be burning more calories then I can consume during those first stages of the trip is inevitable but I have to eat in order to go on forward as fast as I can.
I started packing some foods and small meals some time ago.. Soup, Rice, Baking powder and such but these all require boiling or some other method that needs a heat source. So I would have to add other types of food that can be eaten cold and that doesn't spoil easily.

So here's what I'm adding to my food list

Meat - In order to cycle and walk long distances on a daily basis I will need to eat food that is rich in protein and this was my biggest problem so far. Smoking meat is a great way to dry meat so it can be preserved for quite some time and it can be eaten without heating it. However smoking it again requires an open flame.. of course I could smoke meat before I leave but since I live in a residential area, smoke might sent the neighbours alarmbells ringing. There are other ways of drying meat including drying it near a radiator and that is how I made dried meat a couple of days ago (chicken) and I will make some more beef jerky today with this same method. By the time I'll leave I will be having loads of jerky to take with me.

Fruit and Veggies - I will be trying to dry slices of fruit and vegetables by using the exact same method. It should work and according to others it does work. Will give that a try soon for varieties sake.

Canned food - These foods will stay fresh for years if necessary and they usually can be eaten straight away. I will buy some before I leave. I especially love tuna in a can, very rich in protein aswell

Trailmix - I have been posting about making a trailmix before (in some diary entry I think) but guess what's new.. apparently my body has been creating some kind of allergy when it comes to nuts and nuts are high in protein and they were the main ingredient, the irony..
So my girlfriend ate the trailmix instead and I was on making a new one. I read somewhere that being allergic to nuts and being allergic to peanuts is not the same thing so I bough some salted peanuts and indeed.. Peanuts do just fine. I now have a small bag with peanuts and over the coming months I will add other stuff to it. Trailmix is however, meant as a snack and not a meal.

Chocolate - Yeah that's right.. If it's full of energy and it just doesn't seem to spoil then it's probably chocolate. It is considered an unhealthy food by the masses but in fact it has more energy then any typical energybar and it contains a lot of calories. Will take some with me for extra boosts.

Spoilable foods - I will be taking some foods with me that will spoil pretty soon without a refrigerator.
Some bread for example, foods that need to be eaten during the first days of my trip.

Vitamin Tablets - I will also be taking some vitamin tablets with me aswell, not realy necessary during the first stages of my trip but they might become important in the long run. At the moment I've packed Vitamin C and Iron tablets.

That's it.. This is the shopping list for a longterm wilderness survival trip in times when you can't build a fire and don't have a refrigerator... hope you enjoyed

From Cityboy To Hunter-Gatherer

Spring is near and so is my journey. Over the recent years I have learned alot about survival skills, trapping, fishing, hunting, the way our ancestors used to live, the way nature works, how to stockpile for winter and so on and I have also learned how much info the human brain can store in a few years.

All that info becomes useless if you do not have the right mindset, therefore having the right mindset should be no1 when it comes to survival essentials.

I always had the mindset of a cityboy.. I grew up in the city, went to school, got my own home.. If I wanted something I would go out and buy it. There were moments I thought I was about to die if my computer crashed. There were times I cried myself to sleep over the loss of a girlfriend because I wanted to be loved, I was lazy and was living on wellfare (still do) and I thought school was boring so I skipped it all. I spend my time hanging out with 'friends', smoking weed and developing a gaming addiction. I can fairly say I was pretty bad at anything, I thought I was useless and in a way I was.. I couldn't even properly bake an egg..
This is how I have spended (or wasted) much of my youth.

If I would head out in the wilderness with a mindset like the above I would not even stand a chance. You can have all the knowledge in the world and head out into the bush with the most expensive gear but if you want to live like a hunter-gatherer you need to have the proper mindset or you'll die.

I have to wait 2 more months untill I can live like a hunter-gatherer but I noticed that after 2 years of learning all these skills I am beginning to think like one...
If my wife comes home and she bought flowers the first thing that goes threu my mind is "Is it edible?", If I am watching Nat. Geo Wild and they show an animal I wonder what they taste like. Sometimes I picture myself different scenarios and ask myself how to survive them. If I see a particular type of grass I wonder if I could turn it into starch or flour. I am still using my computer on a daily basis but not to feed some gaming addiction but to learn about wild edibles and to feed my brain with other, usefull info.


I already told you that when it comes to gear and survival knowledge I feel ready to go, but having the right mindset/attitude is the most important thing I should bring along.

A quest for water

Of all the survival skills, those that deal with water are the most important.. It is the no1 most important thing to have in a survival situation. Forget food and shelter and focus on how to get clean drinking water first.

Finding water

If a person is lost in the wild the first thing to do is find water even when one does not feel thirsty (you will be soon). A person can go without water for 3 days, that's a common rule. In hot enviroments however you can die in less then 2 days so finding water is vital. It doesn't realy matter if you find a small pond, a lake or a waterfall aslong as it's not salt water. Once you have found water you need to make a choice.. Do you filter or clean the water or do you drink it straight from the stream. If you are thirsty you can be tempted to drink it immediately without filtering it and there definately is a risk involved here. Water may look clean but there may be a dead animal rotting in that water a short distance away from you. And waters close to cities should be avoided.

Cleaning water

If you think your watersource is not clean then it needs to be filtered. Everyone has their own opinion about what is the best way to do this. If you ask me, If you're in doubt about if it's safe to drink then you need to boil the water. Some say you need to boil for 3 or even 10 minutes.. this is absolute cr*p.. Once the water has reached it's boiling point all the water would be free from unhealthy bacteria.

If the water looks very dirty then just boiling it might not be enough. Camping and other outdoor stores often sell water filters usualy these are pumps, dirty water goes in and clean water gets pumped out. You can also but water purification tablets and they are often put in survival kits.

There is also a real populair design for a do it yourself water filter. You take an empty plastic soda bottle, get rid of the top and cut off the bottom with a knife, clean the inside with a little water. Then you take a piece of cotton cloth (other materials might work?) and you put this on the inside of the bottle at the top. Now it is time to fill it up with multiple layers of sand, gravel, dirt and powdered charcoal. Now you hang it over your canteen, bowl or whatever you're using. Water is poured at the bottom of the bottle, gets filtered and is drinkable once it exits the bottletop.

What if there is no water?

There are always places on earth where there are no lakes, rivers or other source of water and i'm not just talking about the deserts. You can walk for miles and miles and still not see any water. So what are other ways to get water?
Snow seems a good idea and it is, however eating snow can get your body temperature falling rapidly to the point where it gets realy dangerous, and often it can make you feel even more thirsty. So it needs to be melted and warmed up a bit. The problem with snow is that snow is made up of 80% air.. So you'll need large quiantities in order to fill a canteen. Not the best option but it might be the only option available in some areas. In hot areas you may look for dark areas in the soil, when you dig them out there a big chance of finding water. Also look for signs of animal activity, in areas where lots of animals come together there is usualy water nearby. Also remember that rainwater is always fresh and does not need to be filtered.
You can also get water from vegetation. A populair technique is to bind a clear plastic bag over a branch. When the water inside the plant evaporazes it gets traped in the bag. Here is also a good video of a different techniques.

My traveling bug-out gear

In November last year I wrote a thing or two about the gear I wanted to take with me into the wild. Since then I have bought and made new stuff and the What-to-take-with-me-list has changed alot since then.
You can read the november article here

So here is the updated list again with pictures to give you a better idea as to what I'll be carrying.

Well here it is, unfortunately the pictures turned out realy dark but still it is easy to see that I have been upgrading. Let's look threu the mess (and darkness) and see what's there..
On the right is all my clothing.. gloves, shemach and some of the clothes such as a t-shirt, socks are wrapped in a plastic bag to keep them absolutely waterproof.
In the front is my hunting airgun and above the airgun are smaller items and tools such as my knives, rope and such. It's kinda hard to see but in front of the bag is my poncho rolled up and in front of the poncho is some first aid items.
Finaly on the left there's my canteen aswell as a waterbottle, battery's for my camera and the camera bag, a blue box with fishing stuff and on the top-left is a black book with a golden ankh on it.. this is my field manual.

Here from a different angle..

What you didn't see in the previous photo's was the food that I will be taking with me so here it is. In the back is a can with multiple spicies. The 3 bags contain (from left to right): Flour, Rice and Pasta's. Then there's the Instant soup, some Bouillon cubes, Teabags, Small cup of jam, Some folded alluminiumfoil and the 2 black disks are two Buddyburners that I made in a previous post.

Am I happy with this?? No!!

I have two reasons why I'm not happy about it.. First; It is not near enough and second; All these food items either need to be cooked or processed in another way that requires an open flame...

Like I explained before, Wildcamping is at least tolerated once I've entered Poland but to get there I have to cross Germany where laws are more strict. So idealy I should have enough food that doesn't require cooking until I reach that border.

So when it comes to gear, clothing and survival items I'm all set and ready to go at this point it's just having enough food at the first stages of my journey that concerns me. Water is a big issue aswell. I will need to drink a lot of water since I'll be cycling for miles and miles, sure I will find rivers and streams to fill the bottles but that water needs to be filtered and that, again, requires boiling.

So that gives me 3 options..

1 - Buy more food before I leave that does not need to be cooked.

2- Accept the risks and cook the food anyway, dispite it being wildcamping and therefore, illegal.

3- Bring some money with me and buy food/water along the way

Since I don't want people to bother me and since I don't want to bother anyone else on my trip I won't go for option 2 unless I have no other choice.. I don't want to draw attention to myself.

But back to the Gear.. I have one more photo for ya.

So here is my fishing gear that I will rely on alot because I love fishing and my favorite type of food is fish aswell.    In the front is a fishing float/bobber that stays pretty much visible even at dawn. I will only bringing one with me since they are easy to make if I lose it. Then there are softbait fishing lures which are great for bigger fish and I great option if you don't have any live bait with you.  The fishingline is cheap but it does the trick and can be used for snare trapping aswell and I will be taking some more fishing line with me that is less cheap and made for carp fishing.. so pretty strong.   At the top are fishing hooks and fishing leads in various shapes and sizes. The bag on the left contains small breaklights for fishing at night.

Well that's it for now.

Once again I must add that I might not bring all of these items with me on my journey or queste. It is also easy to see that not all this stuff fits in my small backpack, Then again I have cycling bags attached to the bicycle and small items can also be put in my pockets. Still if it becomes to heavy I will leave less important stuff behind. I have to make choices.. If I could I would bring a huge alpine backpack with me, a 5 star tent, an awesome hunting rifle and tons of ammo, a gas stove, and throw in a hunting dog aswell now we're at it.

But my budget won't allow it and how on earth would I carry all that junk by myself?

No sir, there are no sponsors here; This is what you get when a guy decides to leave mankind behind and head into the wilderness with little or no money.

Hope you enjoyed

5 Primitive cooking methods

Imagine yourself being lost in the wild.. you find yourself in a place where food is abundant but you have no pans or other cooking utensils so now what? You have to go primitive, that's what. If you think you need a stainless steel pan in order to make a meal, read on and be amazed.

Cooking with a hot rock
It does not get much more simple then this. A large, flat rock is placed on a campfire and slowly heats up.
Then you can fry anything you want on top of it.. meat, fish, vegetables, eggs.. you name it.

Boiling with hot rocks
While some things require frying, others need boiling. For this method you need a campfire and some sort of bowl made out of clay or wood. Or perhaps you're lucky enough to find a stone that is naturally curved like a bowl. While your campfire is burning gather rocks and place them into the fire. These rocks should be smooth and not porous as those may explode in the heat.  Then it's time to fill the bowl with fresh water and the ingredients that need cooking and carefully add the hot stones.

Baking in hot ash
So for we covered Boiling and Frying but some of the tastiest foods require baking. Baking bread (or cookies or whatever) can be done simple by making the dough and placing it on top of hot ash of a leftover fire, to some this doesn't sound very healthy but most who have tried it agree that this 'ash bread' has a great taste unlike any other type of bread.

Smoking your food
Another great way of cooking is by smoking it. You can build a smoking rack and place it over a fire and hang whatever needs smoking over it like on the video below or a similair construction.
Meat and fish are populair products to smoke but vegetables and fruits works aswell. It gives a nice taste and it is the best way of preserving your food if you don't have a fridge.
Covering a smoking rack with a plastic sheet or leaves so the smoke gets trapped inside is always the best option.

video by sigma3survivalschool

Cooking with clay pottery
This is another fun way of cooking and all you need is being in the right area, which is an area with soil that's rich in clay. Making a clay pot that can be heated in a fire without breaking is kind of hard so this definately isn't the easiest cooking method. There are also different kinds of clay that come in various colors from red ochre 'till chalk-like white clay. and some add other ingredients to the clay in order to make it more fire resistant. Some clay types, once heated in the fire, stay hard and are waterproof. Other types soften up once you add water to them even while it was rockhard after heating it in the fire.. I'm speaking from experience.

My selfmade backpack version 2.0

My backpack is now finished, for everyone who lost track of the process (can't blame you) here's what happened..

I bought a ALICE (US army) backpack, the 100ltr version. Which is great for hiking long distances and camping. But since I will be cycling alot during my journey I needed a more lightweight and less massive type of backpack.
So I took an old camo sportsbag (those rectangular bags you carry over your shoulder) and turned it into a large backpack by adding stuff from the ALICE pack (such as the external bags).
But guess what.. It was still too big!!

So I headed back to the drawing board.. I needed something that could carry all my stuff yet it had to be small and comfortable enough to carry on my back for miles of cycling.
I realised quickly that it was mission impossible, It could not be done with the materials and tools I had.

Dispite all the drama I did make my final backpack out of a simple, small schoolbag!
I guess it's a 40ltr bag.. It is impossible to get all my gear, clothing and food in that tiny little bag but.. I also have a cycling bag (those double bags over the rear wheal, paperboy style) and they can carry alot of stuff.
Anyhow.. here's the small backpack..

So this is what the bag looks like when it's fully loaded and I can say it's pretty heavy but still comfortable enough (I think). In front of the bag is the poncho with a blanket rolled into it. The smaller bag on the right contains my tin can cooking set. Inside the backpack there's mostly extra clothing but also my Mora and my airgun aswell as other stuff such as a extra water bottle. But there simply wasn't any room for other important stuff like my winter jacket, won't need to wear it when I leave in may, but will have to take it with me.

Anyhow.. there it is.. the backpack that I will be taking with me on my journey into the wilderness.
It was a lot of hard work but 100% handmade and hand stitched/sewn.. thank god it's over :)

4 great debris bushcraft shelters

Here are 4 debris shelters that anyone can build, they are easy to build and easy to take down again and how long they will last depends on the amount of effort put into the building process.
No tarp? no poncho? or simply not enough room for a portable shelter? no problem with this list.

A-frame shelter

This is definately one of the easiest designs and I wrote about this shelter before. I can also say that it's my favourite type of shelter due to it's simplicity.

Double A-frame (viking) shelter

Somewhat the same as the A-frame shelter only with a double entry. downside is that two open entry make for more wind/cold inside the shelter, the big plus is that it has more space then the shelter above. I nicknamed this one the Viking shelter since it looks somewhat like old viking tents.

Debris Tipi (Teepee)

Most likely the most time consuming shelter and you probably don't want to be building a nice fire in the centre of this tipi. This is clearly a shelter build for a longterm stay. These cone shaped shelters also provide a lot of space.

Lean-to

The easiest one to build (but ofcourse you can make it as complex as you want). In my opinion this is not the type of shelter you should build in an area where it rains, storms or snows alot. Because this is just the "viking" shelter with half of it missing. Why this shelter is so populair with bushcrafters in the first place is beyond me.. In a warmer climate these will be great however to provide shade from the sun.

A quest for wild edibles

In theory a human can grow old by eating only fish or meat but hey from time to time you want to eat something else right? Well there is an abundance of wild food if you know where to look. A good place to start is in your own garden. Many weeds for example are completely edible and often they don't taste that bad either, some common wild edibles even have medicinal proporties.  I'm not going to post a list of all wild edibles, I could never list them all even if I would make a seperate blog about it. There are just way too many.  But I can point out a few wild edibles that are very common in most parts of the world. So here it goes.

Nr 1: The Dandelion

This is one of those weeds that is hated by almost every gardener but it is also one of the most common and usefull wild edibles. The entire plant is edible.. The leaves can be picked and put in a salad, young leaves taste best. You can dig up the roots, roast the on a fire and after crushing them it can be used as a coffee replacement. The yellow top can be picked and eaten directly which has a sweet taste. These also make for a great tea.

Nr 2: Cattail

This is one best plants to stumble upon if you're out in the wilderness, not only is it edible, the pollens at the top are great firemaking material. The parts the can be eaten are leaves that can be cooked and used as a salad. The roots are also edible cooked or raw.

Nr 3: Plantain

Another weed that can be found in gardens, parks, farmlands, well.. everywhere.. The leaves are edible both raw and boiled, and the seeds can be harvested and eaten as well. In addition, plantain is a great plant to know for treating minor wounds and insect bites. Simply chew up several leaves and apply to the wound, repeating as desired.

Nr 4: Stinging nettle

A very niticious plant that needs to be cooked or steamed for obvious reasons. The cooked leaves taste somewhat like spinach. Dried leaves make for a great tea. It turns out that people also used to make beer, coffee and flour from nettles. It also has medicinal uses, for example nettle tea purifies the blood.

Nr 5: Clovers

There are many types of clovers including the red and white clover. The leaves and young flower heads are edible cooked and raw and are great for salads and soups. Odd enough dried leaves seem to taste somewhat like vanilla

Nr 6: Grass

Didn't saw that one coming did you? But in fact all grasses (and there are a lot) are edible. Edible, in this case realy means that you can eat it and that it's healthy, it does not mean it will taste nice. But because it is edible and found anywhere it is one of the greatest survival foods there is. It can be a little rough on the stomac so it should better be cooked.