Survival tip of the day (Ongoing Participation Thread)

As I watch my dogs doing their thing in the snow covered backyard, I am reminded of a valuable piece of wisdom my dad gave me when I was little, advice his father once gave him.

Don't eat yellow snow.

 

New to me: Read an article today about Dakin's Solution as a substitute for topical antibiotics for wounds care. It's basically a 0.5% sodium hypochlorite solution. Another reason to store bleach. Also discussed on Doom And Bloom - "Dakin’s solution and the simple formula that can save your precious supply of antibiotics."
Dakin's solution | antiseptic | Britannica.com
http://www.virginia.edu/uvaprint/HSC/pdf/09024.pdf

 

Not much of a survival tip but an interesting way to dry herbs. I think you would have to tumble the herbs a bit so the middle of the pile gets dried properly.

 

@Motomom34 This method might not work well in a damp environment but in a desert environment it works great

 

Yeah. We have a big problem with things rotting here. Still haven;t figured out how to dry anything, other than the smoker.

 

Solar hotbox.

 

The cheap element only type would use very little power but they are very slow.

 

That's a great tip. Never heard of it before but glad to learn about though.

 

As a survivalist, you must live in 3 realms:

1. THE PAST: You must learn from the mistakes, successes, trials and errors you’ve had in the past in order to grow and advance your knowledge and skills.
2. THE PRESENT: You must coordinate all of your skills, knowledge and resources in the present to stay alive.
3. THE FUTURE: You must always be looking toward and planning for the future. This involves predicting what might happen and also planning for the unexpected.

by~ Creek Stewart

 

Okay, I've got a quick one. You're not eating your regular food, and you've got something stuck in your teeth that is driving you crazy. Tooth picks won't work and you have no floss or tooth brush, but you do have a reasonably clean plastic grocery bag folded up in your pocket since they have so many uses and are nearly weightless. Today the edge of the bag is going work surprisingly well as a field expedient dental floss to get that annoying piece of food from between your teeth.

I see dental readiness as a huge issue if there are no dentists available.

 

As I have a broken tooth that catches something at every meal, I do carry toothpicks in my pack and every vehicle, however...I have had to use a drinking straw for that purpose, and it works well. Chew it flat on the end and slide it between. It works.

 

In December I purchased a pair of GoTenna and got around to playing with them this weekend. My BOL is a 47 acre rectangle with another 30 acre next to me that belong to a friend in my informal “group”. The house at the BOL sets about ¼ of the length of the property from the front about in the middle of the two tracts. I tested it from that location to various other locations on the property and the adjacent property. The Gotenna was hung on a post on the front porch and I was inside the house with my phone. The signal covered the entire range of the two properties through heavy East Texas pine timber. Though the security is still a question, I am confident it is more secure that other radio communication available to me and I may buy four more as money allows for covert local communications should the need arise.

 

Acquire and learn to use hand tools! So many "preppers" out there have no idea which end of a screwdriver to use, and I almost never see a multi-screwdriver and an adjustable wrench mentioned in anyone's bag contents.

 

FYI for canning-

Can I reuse the Classico® jar for home canning?

No. A coating is applied at the glass plant to reduce scratching and scuffing. If scratched, the jar becomes weaker at this point and can more easily break. This would increase the risk of the jar breaking when used for canning. Also, the lighter weight of our current jar could make it unsafe for home canning.

I have lots of these jars and glad I looked before I decided to use them for canning purposes.

 

I wish someone would sell store canned goods in real Mason or Ball jars. I would pay extra for it. That's how my grandmother selected her flour at the store, by the print of the sack. And her sweet feed for her cow. Every year we got pjs for Christmas that smelled like horse and mule feed.

 

I didn't know that...thanks so much for the heads up!