Are You Really Prepared for the Wild? I always enjoy when people dive into conversations about their “survival plans” for when disaster strikes. It’s fascinating how many tell me they’d grab their bugout bag and head for the vast wilderness of North America. Some even imagine escaping into Canada’s untamed frontier.But before you romanticize living off … Read more
In the Eastern Woodlands of the United States, selecting the right wood is critical for successfully making a primitive fire using a bow drill. Among the various options, tulip poplar and cedar are my go-to choices for creating friction fire with a bow drill due to their superior performance. There are five key factors to … Read more
Frostbite is nature’s brutal way of reminding you who’s boss. When temperatures plummet and you’re exposed to the biting cold for too long, your skin and the tissues beneath can literally freeze solid. It’s the extremities—fingers, toes, ears, and nose—that take the worst hit. Initially, your skin turns ice-cold and red, then goes numb, hard, … Read more
Embarking on an adventure in the wilderness requires the right tools, and the most important one is a good knife. When deciding on a bushcraft knife, you want to look at the following qualities: full-tang, preferably no coating, no serration (no saw teeth on the spine), 90-degree spine, 4.5-6” blade length, high-carbon steel, and a … Read more
Yucca (Adam’s Needle, Yucca filamentosa) is a plant that can be found from the South up to the eastern United States, as well as in northern regions like Michigan and Canada. The root contains saponin, which can be used to make soap for washing the body, hair, and clothing. The stalk produces edible white … Read more
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dqzzTJOKROY In this video, I show how to light a fire with tinder fungus, a ferrocerium rod and the spine of my knife.
Rust Busters: Revive Your Knife with Baking Soda and Vinegar! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=768pSyPwz8A&t=28s
Veteran’s groups: Besides running a survival school, I am a supervisor in a state agency and was recently in leadership training. During this training, I talked with one of the Lansing trainers after she mentioned that she runs a veterans treatment group. This greatly piqued my interest. I told her about my survival and wilderness … Read more
