Sunday 31 December 2017
Wilderness Camping & Safety. FIRE.
Any fire small or large, day or night has the potential to attract
unwanted guests, so an all night fire is going to at least double that risk. Raiders are opportunists & a fire glowing in the night or the smell of
smoke will draw them like ants to honey. Because I am a living historian, my
historical treks have to be as authentic as possible. Now even today there are
risks in camping out, but back in the 18th century those risks were far
greater, so I set myself scenarios. Some nights I have camped with no fire,
this requires knowledge of how to stay alive in winter with little bedding,
because bedding is bulky & adds weight to your pack. It also requires
knowledge regarding what foods to carry, because with no fire, you can not cook
food, so you need to carry some food that can be eaten without having to cook
it.
Other nights I do light a small fire in a fire hole. This is a scrape
in the ground to contain the fire surrounded by rocks back & sides. The
heat reflects off the rocks back into my shelter, & they help hide the fire
from prying eyes. But a small fire does not last long once I have fallen
asleep, & at some time in the night the cold will wake me & I will
stoke the fire from my supplies under cover behind my bed & from a supply
of wood at the end of my shelter. Despite the fact that I am always mindful
& therefore alert to sounds in the forest, this waking up from the cold is
for me a security measure. It is an opportunity to look & listen to the
sounds around me before I make up my mind as to whether or not I should re
light or stoke the fire.
If I had placed a large log on the fire to keep it going all night I
would probably sleep soundly, certainly I would not be waking frequently
because of the chill seeping through my bedding. This would create a security
risk, one because as I have already said, the fire would be noticeably visible
from a distance at night, & secondly because I would not be so alert. Just
something for you to think about next time you are camping out & practicing
your skills.
Keith.
Monday 25 December 2017
17th Century Recipe Found. German Gingerbread.
Take 20 litres of honey and boil it together with 2 litres of water.
Add in cinnamon and nutmeg, a healthy amount of ginger and pepper, plus some
aniseed and coriander. Mix it all together with rye flour and water.
Does this 17th-century map show an early image of Father Christmas?
Found inside a volume of John Seller’s Atlas Maritimus, the
custom-made chart dates from around 1675.
Friday 22 December 2017
Alone Yet Not Alone. Period Movie.
The clothing for the Indians is woefully inaccurate, but if you can ignore this the movie is worth watching.
Tuesday 19 December 2017
17C American Women: 1629 A few problems in early New England
17C American Women: 1629 A few problems in early New England: A Short and True Description of New England by the Rev. Francis Higginson, written in 1629 Printed for Michael Sparke, London, 1630....
Monday 18 December 2017
Xmas Wishes to All.
David Jacobson Selling Christmas Trees.
My wife & I do not celebrate Xmas, preferring to celebrate Winter Solstice. But I know many of you do celebrate Xmas especially when you have young children in the family. So from me to you, wherever you are, I wish you all the very best for this Xmas season & the coming new year.
Sincere regards, Keith.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank all my followers & visitors for sticking with me all these years. My thanks too for all the comments & the helpful information & corrections to my posts. Very much appreciated.
Keith.
Sunday 17 December 2017
17C American Women: 1629 The Countryside in New England
17C American Women: 1629 The Countryside in New England: A Short and True Description of New England by the Rev. Francis Higginson, written in 1629 Printed for Michael Sparke, London, 1630. ...
Friday 15 December 2017
17C American Women: 1629 Song birds & "strange fowls" in New England
17C American Women: 1629 Song birds & "strange fowls" in New England: A Short and True Description of New England by the Rev. Francis Higginson, 1629 Francis Higginson (1588-1630) was an early Puritan mini...
Australian Survival and Preppers..: How to join the fight to save your way of life
Australian Survival and Preppers..: How to join the fight to save your way of life: http://www.sportingshooter.com.au/gun-law/how-to-join-the-fight-to-save-your-way-of-life-the-loose-cannon?utm_medium=email&utm_campai...
This applies to muzzle-loader gun owners too. Muzzle-loading guns as far as the government is concerned are the same as breach-loading guns, all are bundled in together. You can own an antique flintlock but are not allowed to shoot it. The government does not class ALL flintlocks as being the same! You can not own a replica flintlock pistol unless you have an "H" class license, & even then the only place you can shoot it is on a club range with club membership.
Our law makers are totally ignorant when it comes to firearms. We need to ALL pull together & fight this injustice.
Keith.
This applies to muzzle-loader gun owners too. Muzzle-loading guns as far as the government is concerned are the same as breach-loading guns, all are bundled in together. You can own an antique flintlock but are not allowed to shoot it. The government does not class ALL flintlocks as being the same! You can not own a replica flintlock pistol unless you have an "H" class license, & even then the only place you can shoot it is on a club range with club membership.
Our law makers are totally ignorant when it comes to firearms. We need to ALL pull together & fight this injustice.
Keith.
Thursday 14 December 2017
Survival Prepper Forum
I am constantly looking for a decent Australian survival forum, so far no luck. The Australian survival forums I have found so far are no better than the American ones. America is different from Australia in many ways, so the discussions on those forums are not of much use if you live in Australia or the UK. Australian forums have other problems, the forum managers & moderators are slack & do not control the forum members when they get out of line. The other factor with Australian forums is that they often look at someone's post, but do not comment. It does not take much to comment, preferably a nice comment. Fair enough if you think the post is totally pointless, just say nothing or politely point out where you think they are wrong. But to say nothing when in fact it was a good post is not very encouraging for the person who made the post.
Anyway, not commenting can be a problem on all forums, but some forums are better than others. I decided to register on two forums, one is an American forum on which I am a moderator, & the other is a UK forum on which I am a forum manager https://www.preppersforum.uk/ I find that on this UK forum we have more in common than any American one. For the most part members are friendly & the managers & moderators do a good job of keeping spammers out & controlling disagreeable people.
Anyway, if you are in Australia or America or the UK & are looking for a decent survival prepper forum, come & check this one out. Frankly I could do with a few more Aussies on this forum!
Regards, Keith.
Wednesday 13 December 2017
17C American Women: 1629 Native Americans in early New England
17C American Women: 1629 Native Americans in early New England: A Short and True Description of New England by the Rev. Francis Higginson, written in 1629 Printed for Michael Sparke, London, 1630. F...
Monday 11 December 2017
17C American Women: 1629 Food in early New England
17C American Women: 1629 Food in early New England: A Short and True Description of New England by the Rev. Francis Higginson, written in 1629 Printed for Michael Sparke, London, 1630. F...
Thursday 7 December 2017
17C American Women: 1622 Mourt's Relation: A Journal of the Pilgrims a...
17C American Women: 1622 Mourt's Relation: A Journal of the Pilgrims a...: Mourt's Relation: A Journal of the Pilgrims at Plymouth , 1622, (Part I From Landing to Thanksgiving) Edited by Caleb Johnson based...
