Skills for Survival Mode

Ha! Winter IS coming. :grin: in more ways than one :thinking:
I think different threads for survival on the road prep vs. Survival at home prep. Maybe homesteading/survival skills thread too :grin: we are now onto my favorite topic.

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I don’t really play games like “game of thrones” so you’re safe with my comments. Lol

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@Zee I would 2nd the black pepper, and add these: ground tumeric, grould cloves, ground ginger and raw honey. All are useful for cuts and pain either together or on their own. I have used honey on cuts and healed quicker and with less noticeable scarring on then using triple anti. Ginger works on cuts also. Cloves will relieve tooth aches (think oragel), but I prefer raw ginger which is a non long term storage. BTW I am a skeptic on use this it works, but these do work in my case.

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Oooh. Never thought of that! Now I have to find a good one for my bugout bags. And I can line them with my tinfoil hats!

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I have done that experiment myself… cut myself across both hands on a sharp box edge once, so i used it for an opportunity to do a side by side comparison of triple antibiotic and raw honey… honey was almost twice as fast and with less redness and swelling and less infection. Don’t know why it’s not in my kit… I’m an herbalist and I just haven’t applied that training to my get home and 3 day bags. Gonna have to go do that now that you’ve called it to my attention.
BTW, look into Manuka Honey… it’s got additional constituents that promote healing speed and are recognize by the fda for treating antibiotic resistant bacteria

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How did I not know this? My two boys always had cuts and scrapes - this would have been helpful!

I suppose I should tell them about it now since they keep getting minor cuts and scrapes at work.

@Dawn, use raw honey - any honey that has been pasteurized, or even heated above about 110 degrees, will have somewhat reduced effectiveness.

here’s how it works:

  • Honey is hydrophylic - it holds moisture which provides an optimum environment for healing, reduces the persistence of scabs past their usefulness, keeps the wounded area flexible, absorbs and sequesters any leakage from the wound, decreases the loss of tissue from drying out along the edge of a cut.

  • Honey is antibacterial - it has high enough sugar content to osmotically dry out bacteria, killing them without chemical action

  • Honey is viralstatic and fungalstatic - it creates an envirment that impairs the propigation of both fungus and viruses

  • Raw honey contains some enzymes that appear to be helpful in promoting healing and preventing infection but I think that this isn’t really well understood yet

  • look for Manuka honey if you want an extra boost - this comes from honey gathered in Australia from manuka trees(?) and has a thing called “Unique Manuka Factor” - so look for the highest UMF# you can find. (they actually measure it in each batch and label according to how much shows up in the batch)

You can buy Manuka Honey impregnated bandages and bandaids at the drugstore, but I usually just swipe the wound liberally with honey, wrap a piece of paper towel around the affected area, and stick it in place with medical tape or electrical tape (or whatever’s handy :wink: )

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That will be easy for my boys as they’re working as electrician apprentices. :laughing:

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This is a great place to start.

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Got my EMP proof vehicle, enough food and water for months, bio fuel enough to run my EMP proof vehicle for a few thousand miles.

Going this weekend to buy me a run around all purpose car, I hope I can make some shielding to protect a few of its components from an EMP.

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Anytime I travel I have a “crash bag” in the truck which is well stocked to handle most emergencies along with a very well stocked medic bag.

I learned survival skills through the Boy Scouts and US military.

If you are mentally prepared and have a few basic survival items it’s easy to survive most disaster/emergency situations you might face.

Of course a healthy dose of common sense and situational awareness along with planning can help you avoid having to employ any of the above barring something completely unforeseen.

At home we have enough water and staples in long term storage to carry us through 6-9 months should something serious happens that causes a meltdown of our national infrastructure.

Anyone who says such events simply aren’t realistically possible in the modern age need look no further than the results we saw in Puerto Rico and along the Gulf Coast due to a single storm.

The loss of the electrical grid for just just 30-90 days would have us reverting to “survival of the fittest”. People in the cities would be eating their pets in a week, and each other in a month.

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Good advice. Mixing salt and honey produces something most people would consider a miracle drug if it came in a tube.

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Haven’t tried it mixed with salt! The next time I have side by side cuts I’m going to run a honey / salted honey test.

It’s why honey roasted and salted nuts last practically forever without spoiling, also the salt helps to draw out inflammation.

Honey as an antibiotic and salt as an anti inflammatory go back all the way to ancient Egypt.

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Bumping this topic. This morning @Spence mentioned desalinating water in Food preservation in emergency situations - #14 by Zee.

What other survival skills should you have?

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How to catch and clean fish. It amazes me, how many people don’t know how to do that.

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I can! It grosses me out, but I can do it. :fishing_pole_and_fish:

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Know how to build a simple snare to capture small animals for food.

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Hunt, fish, trap, track, build shelter, brain tan hides, build primitive tools, make fire in inclement weather, purify water via multiple methods, gather wild edibles (did you know cattails are edible? Stalks and roots. Did you also know cattails have a poisonous look alike?)

There are tons of skills out there, they’re all good to have.

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A post was split to a new topic: Are you prepared to bug out?