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Prepping to head out

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katzmoor:
A very short post this will be. I'm still finishing school, but I'm really interested in going innawoods and starting myself a little homestead or something, I'm well versed in local edibles and weather, but I've never had the chance to practice. It's something I've wanted to do for a while... I think there was a book I read as a kid that got the idea in my head.
In any case, I want to start completely from scratch. No tools or anything. Thing is, I don't know of any stones around here to work with, or whether anything of quality can be made of the soil here (see: sand - not suitable for making pottery...), nor do I know for sure if there's a means to get on land to do this, without some sort of purchase involved. Any advice is welcome.
PS: The board topic is great. Ooga booga all the way. (lol)

Hawkdancer:
If I read your post correctly, you are setting yourself up for a very challenging experience, and you don't have any experience!  Unless, of course, your major is survivalism.  Dropping back to pre Stone Age is a noble idea, but you should have a few tools available.  Get a lot of practice before you dive in, and if I recall, there are very few homestead site where you can stake a claim.  I'm sure others will comment also.
Hawkdancer

Pat B:
Do you know how to make fire with the materials that might(or might not) be available to you? Will you have access to potable water?  How and where will you get food? ...shelter? Going out in the dead of winter it will be very difficult to find food. Do you know how to make traps and snares to get animal protein? Except for bark, inner bark or plant buds there will be very few in any plant to eat. Can you identify the right and wrong plants to eat or not?
 Where do you live?

katzmoor:

--- Quote from: Pat B on January 22, 2019, 07:16:13 am ---Do you know how to make fire with the materials that might(or might not) be available to you? Will you have access to potable water?  How and where will you get food? ...shelter? Going out in the dead of winter it will be very difficult to find food. Do you know how to make traps and snares to get animal protein? Except for bark, inner bark or plant buds there will be very few in any plant to eat. Can you identify the right and wrong plants to eat or not?
 Where do you live?

--- End quote ---
I know how to make a fire, I've done it once, and I'm quite good with simple machines (I'd likely make a pump drill as soon as possible for re-usability). Water here is easily potable, though I'd likely have to make a distilling pot with any clay I find to make sure there's no salt in it. There are nuts year round, particularly acorns that have fallen, remnant berries... if I find lactarius indigo I'll be well set for lighter bits of meals, or porcini (both local). I'd need an identifier book for most other fungi though. Shelter is relatively simple, with all of the smaller woods and pine straw all over the place. It will be, I'd hope for more of the brown rabbits that are local, but there's no guarantee I'll have anything besides sweet potato, roasted smilax and blackberry leaves. Snares and traps of various kinds are pretty simple: relies on tension and a relatively loose connection on an animal path, potentially with bait, fast enough to snap the neck. And as for most plants, I'm sure from my current foraging experience I'll be okay. I'll have to learn one way or another though... at least winter isn't very cold here.  (=)

--- Quote from: Hawkdancer on January 21, 2019, 10:43:06 pm ---If I read your post correctly, you are setting yourself up for a very challenging experience, and you don't have any experience!  Unless, of course, your major is survivalism.  Dropping back to pre Stone Age is a noble idea, but you should have a few tools available.  Get a lot of practice before you dive in, and if I recall, there are very few homestead site where you can stake a claim.  I'm sure others will comment also.
Hawkdancer

--- End quote ---
I'll likely bring a hatchet if anything. That's a fat if too. Baskets and other things are easy, but finding quality stone here is not...
I'm from the Florida panhandle FYI. I live next to a bayou. There are bears everywhere, and I've been tempted to get back at the one that's raided everyone's trash lately... getting up at dawn only to pick up trash on a day off...  )-w(

Pat B:
Well, good luck to you. I think you'll need it.  Keep us posted if you can.

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