How To Be More Self-Reliant, Naturally.

PART BIOG, PART 'HOW-TO' BE MORE SELF-RELIANT, NATURALLY

Barefoot SELF-RELIANCE

Contents INTRODUCTION

About this Book

Self-Reliance Skills are Being Lost

Why Does This Matter?

What Can We Do?

What Even is Self-Reliance?

Why Barefoot?

About The Author

THE THREE FOLD FOOD SECURITY SYSTEM

Future-Proof Your Food Security.

Gatherer - Wild Food, Agricultural

Escapees and Coastal Survival.

Huntress - Free Protein, Instinctive

Archery

Permaculture Grower

Natural Bee Keeping

Potato Towers

Poultry

Survivalist Baker and Food Maker

Dairying

Making Salt and Vinegar

The Improvised Kitchen Cooking and Water

NATURAL TOILETRIES

Reasons To Go Natural Surfactants and Nourishers

Recipes

Natural Toothcare

Making Macerated Oils

WILD MEDICINE

The Basics Types of Plant

Remedies

A Home-Made Apothecary Recipes

OTHER SKILLS

Willow Weaving

Rag Rugging

Car Care

Map and Compass

Natural Navigation

Readying a Horse To Ride

Natural Dyeing

Making a Leather Pouch

Making a Broom

About This Book

Self-Reliance skills are being lost. Recent research shows Skills our Grandmothers took for granted such as growing, foraging and preserving food, lighting fires and cooking on fire, making essential household items such as toiletries and medicines, rugs, baskets, pots and candles for light have been replaced with modern technology skills such as the ability to set up a smart phone, work a washing machine or program a sat nav Modern woman is realising how powerless she has become to fulfil her own needs

Two recent pieces of research, one by the Heritage Crafts Association and the other by Ordnance Survey of 2000 Britons reveal that traditional skills are dying. Map and compass reading, darning, clog making, saw and spade making, tanning leather, swill basket making, identifying wild plants, wagon building, starting a fire, wiring a plug, changing a tyre and baking bread are all cited as declining skills. Some skills are so rare they are at risk of becoming extinct. It is not just Britons that are losing traditional skills.

About This Book

A similar piece of research from Australia found that ‘Generation Y women can’t do the chores their mothers and grandmothers did daily’ and that ‘only 51% of women under 30 can cook a roast compared to 82% of baby boomers’. It also reported that ‘only 23% can grow a plant from a cutting while 78% of older women say this is a breeze’ According to a UK survey, conducted between April 2017 and March 2018, around 14 percent of 16 to 24 year olds spent part of their free time gardening, compared to 72 percent of 65 to 74 year olds. Also interesting is the fact that young men are more likely to change a nappy than a car wheel. (The Courier-Mail).

What Are We Gaining Instead?

It is a natural stage of all civilisations that, with the event of a new technological age, traditional skills get left behind. The research above found that the life skills considered essential for today are tasks such as: Following a sat nav., finding wifi, using a smart phone and managing several laboursaving devices at once.

Why Are We Losing Them?

The OS Technology Survey of 2,000 Britons found that most people believe technology is leaving people less skilled The study found almost eight in ten blame the decline of skills on technology, while another 54 percent think it’s because children no longer learn them at school. Australian Social researcher Mark McCrindle said: “Women of today are busier, juggling more roles, and are quite prepared to compromise homemade to save time.” They also have a lot more disposable income compared with their mothers and grandmothers so buying a cake mix is not a big deal.”

The research all suggests that we are losing traditional skills for the following four reasons:

New technology replacing old skills

Schools not teaching old skills, Needing convenience due to time pressure of busy lives and More available income creating a buy-it-in and bin -it culture.

But, so what?! Isn’t this just evolution?

About This Book

What Are The Consequences of This Skill Shift?

In years gone by, we have considered these skills essential for everyday life. The report found that ninety-four percent of people questioned believe there could soon be entire generations who do not understand how to do these skills, once considered essential. Today, whatever we think (or just don’t think) technology, however great it is, isn’t invincible The OS report warns; ‘Sometimes it can let you down’ and ‘even if it’s a skill you think you no longer need, it’s important to have at least a basic grasp. Basic map reading skills are vital as sometimes, batteries and phone signal let you down and map reading is an essential skill which could save your life’.

Pressures on global food security coupled with no individual knowledge on how to grow, forage or prepare real food could see famine here with people surrounded by ‘food potential’ but lacking the knowledge to realise it.

What can we do?

Ninety-Three percent of people asked in the HCA survey think schools should bring back teaching these skills, so younger generations benefit. Greta Bertram, who led the red list research on behalf of the Heritage Crafts Association said ‘We would like to see the government recognise the importance of traditional crafts skills. So, we can hope that the government will offer some protection of endangered traditional crafts eg. through funding craftspeople to take on apprentices and also making these skills part of the national curriculum. OR, we can take it into our own soft, smooth hands and learn some traditional skills ourselves. With online learning and hundreds of day and evening courses around the country; in everything from blacksmithing, to horticulture, cookery via basketry and hurdle making to dry stone walling… we have no limit of opportunity to learn these crafts for ourselves and pass the skills on to our own children. The figures for this uptake however are as sorry as the figures for the extinction of the crafts themselves; although 86% of people questioned claimed they wished they were more competent at these skills only 23% are actively remedying this This book is aimed at those women who wish to reach back into their ancestral DNA to a time before we were dumbed-down with comfort and convenience, to remember that we are indeed optimised to survive, and to take this forward towards becoming the most capable version of themselves! Women who want to not just survive, but thrive!

About This Book

The number of people living alone has simultaneously increased by 16% between 1996 and 2015. People live alone in one of every 3.5 households with women being more likely to live alone (Telegraph article ‘Single Society’) while another survey shows women are much more likely than men to live alone at the very high age range, possibly through life expectancy, while in France over 20% of women living on their own were in the 20 to 24 years old. In Denmark, the number of single women households from 2007 to 2018. increased by over 33 thousand from 639,450 in 2006 to 674,468 single women households in 2018 so it seems women going alone is not unusual or regional, yet we are going alone with less skills

Barefoot Self-Reliance is a book to inspire and empower women towards greater self-reliance with ‘how-to's’, recipes, quotes and tips for off-grid living, natural lifestyle and generally coping with getting shit done. Wrapped around one troubled young girls difficult journey from escaping neglect and abuse into womanhood, motherhood and finally becoming a successful entrepreneur, running an ethical business whose mission is to empower women to provide for themselves and their families using the natural resources around them.

The substantive part of the book is a collection of articles, recipes, checklists and how-to’s, to increase your personal efficacy in providing for yourself with the resources around you It is combined with the story of the authors unusual upbringing and life where self-reliance was the only option. Di tells of her own journey alongside all the self-reliance knowledge she has learned and now teaches. If you are looking for inspiration to find your voice, vote with your feet, downshift to a more simple life and be more practically and emotionally selfreliant, naturally, then this is the book to motivate you!

“Self-Reliance is both a political and personal statement, I prefer the term to self-sufficiency which conjures up images of veggie growing on a smallholding in a rural idyll. I believe we can achieve the journey toward greater self-reliance in an urban setting and in any area of life.”

About This Book

This book aims firstly to awaken your senses to the possibility of greater empowerment through making and doing more for yourself, reducing reliance on bought in goods and services and ultimately, on other people. To provide, even in part, for your own needs, whether personal, nutritional or household is immensely empowering, by adopting ideas from this book you will feel fitter, more capable and centred, more connected to nature and your environment. The aim is to inspire you to become the most capable version of yourself even if it means some losses on the journey. Every one of us can achieve more for themselves.

What is self reliance?

Oxford Dictionaries states it is:

“Reliance on one’s own powers and resources rather than those of others”

This can be in the realms of housing, health care, mental health, parenting, fitness plus knowledge and skill development (education).

‘Others’ could mean; your parents/ a partner/ your children/shops/doctors/teacher. An ‘other’ is anyone or anything you seek recourse to for the fulfilment of basic needs in the above realms. Ask yourself how much do you depend on these others for the provision of your basic needs such as food provision, energy, health care even mental health and education? Most people are very reliant on an interconnected fragile web of external sources!

Where Has Self-Reliance Gone?

Words used to describe someone who lacks much self-reliance could be: flakey, weak, incompetent or dependent. Have you ever used these words to describe someone? We are not destined to be weak and full of excuses – too much comfort and care makes us this way! Like the girdle principle the more we are supported the weaker we become. We are actually optimised to survive yet its all too easy to learn to say ‘no’ or I’ can’t’ if someone else is there to pick up the pieces, if there is no realworld consequence to our inaction. In evolutionary biology – apes will continue to parent their children for longer if there is a safe environment to raise them. Plenty

About This Book

of food and no predators mean the parents allow the young apes to be reliant for much more, and much longer than in times of adversity when the parents will expect the child to walk and seek his own food much earlier. This is so the mothers resources can spread between the other younger children and herself. As we have lived in times of plenty and with little threat over the last sixty years we have been increasingly allowed to become less capable especially earlier on in life by parents and by the state Law also supports this, children can no longer be left alone, they can't work with machinery in the fields – they are safe, yes, but young people are becoming less competent at life skills. Busy parents are bombarded with images of bad consequences in a sensationalist media, so rarely allow their children to take ‘risks’; to light a fire or even make their own dinner today.

With increasing reports of possible disaster whether from economic break down, climatic event or terrorist attack this situation needs to be addressed. The governments own report the National Security Strategy suggests that in the event of a major national incident we should look to ‘foster domestic resilience’. But have we any left?! We survived the second world war because people could light a fire, bake from scratch, grow veg, make things – all skills we don’t have now. How would you feed and heat your family without recourse to the above ‘others’?

Why Barefoot?

The ‘Barefoot’ bit refers to the fact that lots of self-sufficiency type reading totally negates the finite nature of the resources used (eg supports tropical imports or suggests purchases of machines) ignoring the human and environmental impact of harmful or costly materials and machines ‘needed’ to fulfil the goal of selfsufficiency. There is often a chasm between true self-reliance in nature and selfsufficiency as taught in modern books. This book combines more native thinkingsurviving in reverent symbiosis with the natural resources around you with practical ‘how-to’s allowing you to become more capable within your existing environment without comfort blankets and cosy socks, tapping into an inner strength to overcome the discomfort. The Barefoot bit also pertains to the authors' tendency, as a child, to be barefoot on the beach , often stubbing her toe on the way home.

A NOTE ABOUT THE AUTHOR

A JOURNEY INTO SELF - RELIANCE

Diana Page (Previously Wood/Hammill) Was raised by her Grandfather and Father in an unconventional upbringing for a little girl in the seventies A childhood that necessitated teaching herself self-reliance skills led to a university post-graduate education in Criminal Psychology and teaching at college Three children later, Di had given up academia to raise her children alone and off-grid in a remote North Yorks Dale and a return to work in teaching again but this time in the natural lifestyle skills that was her way of living. They had no heating, loo, or running hot water, living in a green painted caravan in a five acre field, they lived very simply using what was around them Wild Harvest School of Self-Reliance began fifteen years ago with the making and selling of beeswax candles, hedgerow teas and cordials through local tourist shops, then evolved into running wild food walks privately and for the Forestry Commission. Basket weaving, candle making and rag-rugging days were later added, usually taught from the kitchen table! Today Wild Harvest has moved to a farm on the outskirts of York and offers residential courses in the form of the popular Self-Reliance Crafts Retreat and also offers groups the chance to stay off-grid in Timber Tipis and learn from a range of the activities she now offers. A qualified Adult Ed tutor, Permaculture Designer, Natural beekeeper, Archery GB instructor, Blackbelt in Tae Kwon Do, Survival Medic trained, NASS Navigation tutor, and a Member of the Association of Foragers, Di is now seen as one of the countries leading experts in simple, natural lifestyle and self-reliance and is often asked to comment in the media or speak at National shows about various aspects of her work Diana Page www wildharvest org www survivalshow uk

Poppy

The Caravan Years

Future-Proof Your Food Security

The supermarkets won't always be able to supply you with your food needs, due to long supply chains and a just-in-time stocking systems. With this in mind, you will need to think about how you can be as self-reliant in food as possible and start now, in times of plenty so your system is honed for when you need it. I teach people who come on my tongue-in-cheek named residential: Prepare for the Apocalypse', to develop what I call a three-fold food security system.

GROW YOUR OWN

One of the three elements of this system is to grow your own. Using the garden planning system in this book to incorporate permaculture methods into your garden so producing a food yield. Ensure you have something available in your garden throughout the year using our Natures Larder table. Whatever growing space you have; whether balcony or smallholding it is possible to replace purely ornamental with food plants, ideally a mix of perennials and self-seeding annuals, growing at several layers of height

HUNTING AND GATHERING

This extends your food collection activities beyond your boundaries into public spaces, or, with permission, onto farmers land Check out the sections on foraging, crayfish, roadkill, air rifle and instinctive archery and be practising these skills now.

BUILK BUYING AND STORAGE

Bulk buying and storage is the third arm of your food-security system. Using the 'Essentials' Checklist at the end of this book stock up on all the basics you will need, including flour, sugar, honey, vinegar that can be usefully combined to produce staples on their own or used to process or store the food you grow, forage and hunt

Future-Proof Your Food Security

SEE THE VENN DIAGRAM BELOW? YOU SHOULD ENSURE YOU ARE RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE!

Gardener

WHY ALL THREE?

I often hear bushcraft men or foraging women boast how they would be ok in an apocalypse; because "I can hunt" or "I can forage". What they may not realise is that everyone will be out there foraging or hunting without regard for leaving enough behind for others. While the gardeners saying "I'll be fine' too, can have their garden raided by hungry neighbours or trashed by unexpected adverse weather. I preach diversity of food supply. That it is better to be a pragmatic procurer of three sources than it is to be a master of one. Putting all your eggs in one basket, in this case, can easily result in hunger.

Hunter Gatherer

Wild Food

FORAGING

ADVANTAGES

Get FREE veg for life

Uber healthy - optimised to survive without input from man so most wild plants dig down deep to draw up minerals from the earth and then accumulate them in the plant ready for us to eat

Uber fresh - not spent weeks in transit so less nutrient depletion. The ultimate local food - food metres not food miles

Easy gardening - no hassle of planting, potting on, weeding and watering with a variable result for all your input, you just go straight to the harvest

Future-proof your family, when the supermarkets run out, know you can forage some of your food needs.

CAUTIONS

Choose at least three books, with photos not illustrations, showing plants in all their stages of development. The overwintering rosette can look very different from the summer plant shape, even having totally different leaves. When you find a plant in the wild, don't just go for appearances - 'it looks like this one in the book'. Control for other variables, such as habitat, height, seasonality, texture, scent.

Next do a one mouthful test, prepare the plant in the way the books suggest eg. cook if needed, then consume only one mouthful, chew and spit out Wait 20 mins

Repeat the above, this time swallowing one mouthful

Wait 20 mins. If all is well assume your i.d process has resulted in the correct i.d*.

*Do not consume a plant unless you are 100% sure it conforms to all the above.

Wild Food

Start Small

Choose five plants to work with this year to the exclusion of all others, until you are au fait with using them in a variety of ways

Ensure these five are plants that:

Your family will like the taste of. Are easy to access without driving miles. Are easy to harvest/process.

Are NOT alike in appearance to any poisonous plants Are spread in usability throughout the year.

Add five more next year, then another five the year after. In permaculture, small and slow solutions are more sustainable over time. If you try to take on trying to learn too many plants in one go you may get mixed up and overwhelmed, so here I give you permission to start small because it's more important to get started and competent than it is to have a huge repertoire that is rarely used.

A Nettle

B Dandelion

C. Clover (Red or White)

D. Birch

E. Daisy

F. Thistle

G. Goose Grass (Sticky Weed)

The plants above are all safe to eat raw or cooked, and all parts. See the next chapter on some general harvesting and processing tips for wild food. We are not about fancy meals to impress your friends here but healthy family survival food.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Some Basic Principles

Harvesting

Try to follow the plants' life cycle when harvesting as well as the daily weather cycle in order to get optimum nutrition from your plants.

From Sept, over winter is the time to forage roots, in early spring it's young stems, rising sap and leaves pushing through the earth, later in spring it's older leaves and early flowers, in summer leaves are tougher, we move on to flowers and seeds, then autumn its seeds and nuts, then back to roots. This is because all the plants growth forces are in that part at that time.

As for the time of the day to harvest, with flowers it's best to collect them before the sun has dried the nectar, on a not too windy day and not raining so pollen hasn't blown or washed away. If harvesting flowers line your basket with paper to keep any pollen that loosens on the walk back. Observing these points will ensure the strongest taste and the maximum goodness.

Location - away from busy main roads and sprayed farmers fields (look for wilted thistle and dock on the field),

Universal Processing Methods

Many books will give fancy recipes for individual plants, but as this section is part of an overall self-reliance book rather than a recipe book we include universal processing methods designed for health, not subtle taste, That said we have mentioned how each tastes so you can choose what it works with yourself.

All edible leaves whether from a tree, shrub or ground level plant can be processed in the same way:

boiled, steam fried as a veg. dried and crumbled into jars to add to meals. as a herbal tea. baked as crisps.

shredded into salads*

blitzed into sauces/soups

Chopped up to top pizza and pies Mixed into stews.

Chopped and mixed with batter then fried into pakora.

(*if books say can be eaten raw).

Some Basic Principles

Drying

Don't ever feel that you have to use a plant fresh for maximum goodness, many phytochemicals are held in the plants oils and if you dry a plant for longer-term storage, all you are doing is evaporating the water out of the plant, so apart from a little vitamin C loss, most other compounds will remain. Dried plants will still be nutritious. Because drying a plant for storage reduces its weight massively, you have to be careful on dosing, usually less of a dried plant is needed to achieve the same properties as a fresh plant, the chemicals are concentrated without the water Twenty odd years ago I used to dry plants, tied in bundles from the beams in my lounge but having two stoves meant the plants got covered in soot and also dropped leaves on the floor. Wrapping a paper bag around them was awkward and wasteful, so I teach people to collect lots of baskets. Baskets are great for drying plants as the air flows

through and, topped with a dry tea towel or paper that you change every couple of days means no dust settles on the plants. Turn the plants every few days as the water evaporates until, usually after two weeks the plant material is dry enough to crumble into a jar. Some people add silica sachets. Always label.

Wild Food

EDIBLE FLOWERS

Daisy, clover white and red, thistle, elderflowers, meadowsweet, dandelions, and honeysuckle flowers are all easily identifiable, edible and useable in the ways mentioned in the universal processing methods below.

In the same way we can demystify seaweed and wild green leaves with some universal processing methods we can too with edible flowers. Edible flowers can be prepared as follows:

Dipped in batter and fried as sweet fritters and cream, or with savoury spices and a tempura dipping sauce.

To decorate cakes

Fresh or dried for herbal teas.

Boiled up with sugar for jams.

Seeped in water, strained and sugar added to water 250g/1pt liquid then boiled for cordials.

Petals pulled apart to decorate salads and butter, to top pizzas or add to shortbread mix.

Infused into warming cream to turn into floral custards and ice-cream.

Wild Food

EDIBLE ROOTS

Roots of daisy, dock, nettle, dandelions, nettle, burdock, garlic mustard, silverweed, cattail, are all edible and can be a good source of free carbs as well as having many other minerals such as magnesium and potassium.

Universal processing methods for wild roots, depending on size are:

Washing and roasting whole with oil and salt. Dandelion root tastes like a very bitter parsnip cooked like this.

Peeling and boiling then mashing (maybe a few types together for a wild root mash).

Sliced into discs like water chestnuts or matchsticked and added to stir friesbraised in soy sauce.

Grated into alcohol for a medicinal tincture.

Grated raw into salads or coleslaw for a fresh, watery but usually bitter bite.

Roasted slowly over night until dehydrated then pulverized into powder to use in baking or as coffee.

Wild Food

EDIBLE SEEDS

Most edible plants have seeds that are edible. Seeds are available from early Summer until Winter, as many remain on dead stems long after the plant has died, and are simply solar dehydrated and ready to harvest.

Common plants with edible seeds are:

Plantain, dandelion, nettle, burdock, thistle, dock, Ash, Garlic Mustard, Willowherb, Cleavers, any poppy seeds.

Universal processing methods for wild seeds, depending on size and taste are:

Sprouting - pop on some wet kitchen roll on a saucer, on a sunny window ledge, cover in a clear plastic bag. In three days or so the seed should have slit and a shoot begin to appear. Add to stir fries or bread dough.

Lightly toast in a frying pan and use as you would sesame or poppy seeds eg to top bread buns or soft cheeses

Add to salads for a nutty crunch

Add to flapjack and cereals.

Pressing in an oil press to extract oil.

Ten Starter Plants

Listed here are ten common plants found in UK, and many other temperate clime areas, that can easily be incorporated into your self-reliance diet. For ideas of how to use the plants below please refer to the general processing section. For medicinal properties of plants please see the Apothecary section

Nettle

Nettles true name Urtica comes from latin to burn, the acids in the sting are formic acid, acetylcholine and hystamine. From very early spring until the back end of autumn nettle can give us food. Many books say only pick spring tops, but if nettles are mowed they are a cut and come again veg, with year round fresh shoots, the only reason it is said to have fresh young leaves is that older leaves, lower down can contain chrystals called cystoliths that irritate liver/kidneys in too large a quantity. Nettles like fertile soil so you will find near farms in the countryside and outside loo areas, and river overspills in the cities. The leaves are edible wilted like spinach eg in a saag aloo, dried and crumbled into other meals, the seeds are also edible and a good adrenal pick me up The root is edible The plant contains protein, iron, magnesium, potassium, calcium, vitamins c, May be mistaken for white dead nettle and red dead nettle without worry as both are edible too. The taste is mild.

Dandelion

A member of the daisy family so anyone with allergies to this type of plant needs to be careful, dandelion gets its name from Dent de Lion or teeth of the lion due to the teeth shape of the leaves. Available on a lawn near you for most of the year, the whole plant can be used. The root as a vegetable, the leaves raw or cooked are delicious with bacon, pasta and parmesan and have a bitter taste so its best to cut out the central stem to reduce this a little if its not to your liking Leaves can be dried to make a detox tea and the flower can be used whole or pulled apart as per the edible flower section of the book. The nutrient quality and quantity of the humble dandelion is outstanding; 12 x as much vitamin A and six times as much vitamin C as lettuce, plus lots of minerals, such as potassium and magnesium. May be mistaken for other similar flowers often called false dandelions such as catsear, hawkweed, sow thistle without worry as these plants are harmless. Dandelion tends to grow closer to the ground, the flowers not being so leggy-stemmed and the leaves and root have a bitter taste.

Chickweed

The latin name stellaria media means little star in the midst and if you see chickweeds flowers you will see tiny white stars amid a midst of green leaves. The plant can be found on driveways, allotments, river walks and from late February to late Summer/Autumn. Correct I D involves looking for a fine line of hairs down its spine (leaf stems), in the wet this can be hard to see. Put the stem against a dark piece of clothing to see the hair line better. If no hairline it could be Mouseear which can result in a slightly nauseous tummy. Chickweed can be eaten raw but if it has grown in an agricultural area likes to absorb nitrates from fertiliser so is best cooked. Chickweed pakora is delicious It has a rather bland grassy taste.

Sticky Weed/Cleavers

Gallium Aperine has many common names: sticky weed, sticky willy, goose-grass (geese DO love it!) and cleavers, because it cleaves to things! Another plant available early on, after the hungry gap, it can be seen poking through, fresh and green in February. It's favourite place is hedgerows and fences as it grows tall and straggly and needs something to cling to. At this stage it can be added to other spring micro greens as a Spring salad As it grows the leaves get tougher to eat raw though technically still edible raw, they need steam frying. By the time the seeds (little sticky balls) have shown, the leafy bit is almost too tough to eat appreciatively, even cooked, but the good news is the seeds are edible. A caffeine containing plant, folk with polycystic conditions and also contact dermatitis tendencies need to be careful with this plant The seeds can be harvested even after the green plant has become straw-like, dying back at the end of summer. At this point it makes great tinder extender (see Fire chapter) Plants you may mistake for Cleavers are woodruff and lady's bedstraw. Caution should be taken for correct ID as sweet woodruff and lady's bedstraw (yellow flowers) can look similar but in large amounts can be a little toxic. It is a mild tasting plant.

Thistle

There are fourteen types of thistle in the UK and all are edible, some are members of the daisy family so allergy sufferers beware. Most livestock leave thistle alone so its a good survival food for man as we have scissors to render them edible. All parts of the plant can be eaten even the leaves. The best thistle leaves to eat are those with more leaf to spikes rather than those with more spike than leaf! This makes the spear thistle one of the best for leaf eating Simply use scissors or a knife to cut around the perimeter and up the central vein leaving just the green leaf, which can then be cooked like cabbage.

DONT BOIL YOUR

Berries

How to Process Berries for Maximum Benefit

After years of making the obligatory rosehip and elderberry syrups, blackberry jams, rowanberry jelly, one year I stood looking down at the pan of boiling goodness - fresh berries bubbling away with heat and white sugar and had a moment of realisation. I was nuking the goodness out of natures bounty. Off to the library I went and researched the heat stability of vitamin C. Turns out its not. Since then I have never made a cordial, jam or syrup again and don’t include recipes for them here. Instead I look to conserve as much of the natural goodness sans sugar or overcooking.

You can process your gathered berries in the following ways:

Dehydrate: Spread out and dried in a low 47 degree oven for a few hours with the door ajar. Or dry in covered baskets in the sun. Store the dried berries in dark cool place until needed then either powder (removing stones) or simply add hot water for a fruit tea, or rehydrate and add to baking

Fruit leathers: Mash the berries into a pulp removing any large seeds, spread the pulp onto a lined baking sheet (if you have no greaseproof paper you can make some out of plain paper painted both sides with cooking oil, then wiped well). Bake in a low oven 47 degrees for a few hours or in the embers of a fire on a flat rock until fully dry. I have tested longevity of fruit leathers and some have lasted three years in a tupperware tub - no sugar or lemon needed.

Berries

Pemmican: A mixture of dried stoned berries and dried thin slices of meat, powdered and mixed with animal fat, compressed into patties. You must over-dehydrate the berries and meat until there is not a drop of moisture left and the meat/berries are rock hard Powder in a blender or crush with rocks, then melt one third to half of the dry weight in fat and bind the powders together. You could add a pinch of salt/sugar. You could use nuts instead of the meat, although it may not keep as long, properly prepared pemmican can store berries for 20 years so it can afford a shelf-life shortening. Wrap in paper to store. I have made this in a jar using toasted ground almonds in place of meat, elderberries powdered and lard and sealed with a layer of lard as a 'plug'

Syrup Infused: Wash the berries, pat dry well and remove any stones. Place in a sterilised jar, add hot honey syrup (heat it up till runny) white beet sugar syrup, alcohol or vinegar. A pinch of citric acid to a sugary solution can help preserve it longer and cut through any sweetness. Ensure the liquid is covering the berries and no plant matter protrudes. Leave to infuse. You can also add some flavoursome leaves like; mint, lemon balm, meadowsweet, sweet cicely, stevia, lavender, rose petals Keep in a cool dark place until needed, Then add to pies, ice creams, sorbets, cakes, pancakes etc.

Vinegars: Put washed, fresh patted dry berries in apple cider vinegar so the vinegar covers the berries, use a plate with a weight on if the berries float to the top. Berries must be totally submerged. Leave in a covered glass jar for at least three weeks, shake occasionally 'Anytime after 3 weeks to up to a year - strain berries and retain berry vinegar store and in a sterile bottle. Use in salad dressings, or just by the spoonful.

To sterilise your jars and bottles, you don’t need chemicals, just half fill with water and put the jar in your heat source, with its metal lid balanced on top. When the water is boiling, remove, with a glove, from the heat, pour out the water, let the remainder evaporate and fill instantly.

GARDEN AND WILD Berries

Berry Options in a Temperate Climate.

Elderberry

Rosehip

Hawthorn

Rowan

Wild Cherry

Sloe

Bilberry

Raspberry

Strawberry

Blackberry

Mediums to Store Them:

Fats such as lard or tallow or veggie

lard

Oils

Alcohol

Apple Cider Vinegar

Glycerin

Honey

Sugar

Edible waxes eg beeswax.

Dehydration

Freezing

Lichen Love

WHAT ARE THEY?

Lichen are dual organisms that contain both an algae and funghi aspect with around 1,800 living species listed in the UK and 17,000 in the world. Most UK lichen, like seaweed, is edible. It's just a degree of palatability and nutritional detail. Lichen is around 94% carb 3.7% calcium, They also contain vitamin A.

The rule of thumb is avoid any yellowy lichen, go for the pale green/grey In fact stick with these three: Old Mans beard and Oak Moss which grow on trees, and Reindeer Moss which tends to grow in clumps on the ground. Although they have the word moss in the names they are not mosses. Moss is not the same as Lichen. Lichens prefer light and clean air and can grow with no surface water, while moss likes damp. Moss is a simple plant whereas lichen is algae/fungi combo

A key book to learn more is 'The Lichens of Great Britain and Ireland'. Ed. by Smith, Aptroot, Coppins, Fletcher, Gilbert, James and Wolseley (2009). British Lichen Society

PROCESSING:

Lichens are a substantial, filling addition to a meal, containing much carbohydrate, but the high acid content can upset tummies. To get around this our ancestors would double or triple boil the plant in water ideally with a bit or bicarb or another alkali such as wood ash. After about three boils, each time reducing the water, the lichen would be a gelitinous mass and eaten as a porridge or pudding

It is slow growing, so use sparingly, I sometimes use it as a fire lighter, taking just a small chunk from the centre of the growth so it can fill back in. A type of reindeer moss grows on the floor in my pine woodland in France, but can also be found in the Arctic and in UK in Wales and Scotland.

Other uses of lichen: leafy/hairy lichens can be fire tinder if very well dried, plus many lichens yield natural dyes giving colour from wine via orange to yellow. It can also be used to make alcohol instead of from grains. Moss and lichen can absorb moisture so can be used as sanitary or nappy fillings or wound dressings.

Oak Moss (lichen)

Reindeer Moss (lichen)

Old Mans Beard

HARVESTING AND PROCESSING AGricultural Escapees

"Look at the arable crops growing locally around you this year, some escapees of these varieties will be available in times of hardship, learn where to find escapees. Learn now where to find them and how to hand-process them at home . For me agricultural escapees in really hard times have been mangolds, oats, wheat, sweet corn and grapes in France, oil seed rape leaves and carrots or potatoes on roadsides where tractors with laden trailers shed a few roots as they turn the corner. " Di

Grains

OATS

grow in sunlit areas and are often planted twice a year. They are ready at about 3 foot tall and each oat stem will yield about 30 oat grains. Collect a few bundles and dry them at home for two weeks, then shake loose the grain/cut off the stalks. Feed the stalks to animals or burn for heat.

You now have two choices: keep the grains whole (firstly rub off any too tough outer husks) and cook them as groats. Store the oats in a cool dry place.

How to cook groats:

1 cup groats

3 cups water/milk or mixture

Put in pot with lid.

Cook in overnight oven or low fire for 8 hours If putting in fire use an iron pot.

Or turn into porridge oats:

Put the grains in the oven at 180 degrees for 90 mins, put the puffed oats in a mill or crush with pestle and mortar, take outside on a windy day and drop the mixture through your fingers from one bowl into another, catching the oat grain and allowing the husks to blow away Cook porridge oats with twice as much milk or water as oats, n a low heat

WHEAT

mostly harvested at the end of summer when they have turned from green to yellow, take a few bundles home to dry, when they are completely dry bash the heads against a wall or counter and allow the heavy seeds to fall out. Store these wheat berries until needed in a cool dry place they will keep for a year. To cook you can cook wheat berries in the same way as groats above but with slight differences below, or mill into flour using a coffee mill though this is very time consuming to get a small amount, it may therefore be worth blitzing them in a nut mill instead and cooking them as a porridge.

1 cup Wheat berries

4 cups water/stock

Boil for 70 mins, or 60 mins if you can soak the berries overnight. Have them sweet or savoury.

Sprouted wheat berries. Soak the berries in water overnight then drain, rinse and spread on a plate cover with clingfilm type material

Rinse and recover each day until the sprout is the same size as the kernel

Add them to your bread, soup or whatever you wish for further cooking

Oil Seed Rape

Fields of gold are everywhere in the UK and other similar climate areas. In fact there are 609,000 hectares of the stuff as of 2020 in UK. A popular arable crop that is known for its love of escaping, even setting seed in the middle of motorways. Its leaves can be seen growing from March and it is ready to harvest for its seeds in early summer.

A member of the brassica family, the leaves from March to Summer can be used as a peppery cress-like green vegetable, raw when young in salads or cooked like cabbage when tougher. The flowers can be used too, and the black seeds are rich in oil and can be toasted and eaten, ground into mayo like mustard or pressed for oil. Cautions around the erucic acid content are lessened by the fact modern cultivars are bred to have lower amounts and are safe for human consumption. However if you are unsure don't consume excessive amounts.

USING Beets

Fodder Beet, also known as Mangolds, Mangels and Wurzels, are grown for livestock. They can be left in the ground for grazing the tops when the sheep/cattle are in the field, then later dug up and stored for winter feed. They are also suitable for humans, both the above ground leaves and the chunky root. The leaves can be cooked like a vegetable and the root used in many ways. I've diced, par-boiled then roasted, but they can be grated and mixed with egg and fried as a rosti, or noodled with a spiraliser raw, or peeled with a peeler and the peelings deep fried, dipped in mayo...however you would use sweet potato really.

1. Sugar Beet is paler with a slightly more tapered end. It is softer and sweeter. We have already considered how to use this as a form of sugar in this book but sugar beet can also be used as a vegetable however you would use parsnip is a good start or used in the same way as Fodder beet.

One beet of 85g has very low protein, low calories, zero fat, 2g fibre, 6% of the vitamin C you need, 4% of the iron and 2% of the calcium.

These are the two main beet crops grown in UK that you may find escaped, rolled off a pile so at least you know they are not just edible but delicious now!

Sugar Alternatives

ON YOUR DOORSTEP

Iwas asked to write an article for the Womens Institute Centenary Newsletter to inform the members of local, sustainable and healthy alternatives to white sugar

Sugar has its place - over sweeteners, over bland food and in balance but not as a staple ingredient of most foods which is what we see today in shop-bought food. Usually found in our foodstuffs as cane sugar - a tropical grass plant or more recently but less present than sugar cane is sugar beet - a root crop that can be grown in the uk. Only twenty percent or so of the sugar in our products is from sugar beet Labels may also list several types of sugar in one product - Maltodextrin, dextrose, sucrose and more are misnomers that hide the fact: includes SUGAR Even savoury foods can hide tablespoonfuls of white sugar Who remembers the information board that did the rounds years ago, seen in dentists or doctors - a board of labels from common foods with little bags of white sugar hanging limply under them showing ‘6 teaspoons in baked beans’?

My dentist once suggested, even though my children’s teeth were, he admitted, impeccable, that I shouldn't give my children real fruit juice only sugar-free cordials. I ignored him. In this I believe the desire to avoid all sugars has gone too far. Fruit sugar or fructose was what the dentist was referring to and whilst yes in excess and without teeth brushing this may contribute to tooth decay, to suggest I fill my kids with the chemical cocktail of aspartame and saccharine over fresh apple juice seemed crazy.

BUT - when it comes to refined white sugar - I DO choose to avoid this as personally its not about weight but about its effect on my skin. I'm old enough now to have spotted patterns in how my skin behaves as linked to the consumption of certain foodstuffs and I definitely notice a tendency toward adult acne if I have had a few overly sweet hot chocolates but that’s just me, those with no visible manifestations of sugar consumption can still store excess sugar as fat dangerously around the liver while others even more obviously on the hips Cancer in women is on the increase and it has been cited that one of the reasons is our growing size. Our cells are made up of what we eat. This article is intended to inspire you to look to other sources of sweetness growing around you and then gradually train your taste buds!

There are many other sugar alternatives available but which to choose will depend on your motive for giving up the white stuff. If you have medical issues do consult your doctor before trying any alternatives.

At Wild Harvest we prefer to teach people to use native or at least temperate clime plants, firstly as that we believe Nature provides everything we need around us, and secondly this reduces the needs for imports - if we learn to live locally we help ourselves become more self-sustaining and ultimately save the planet.

We do use English honey harvested by sensitive beekeepers who don't take too much, just a little as their gift remembering that the honey is ultimately the bees food We can choose to grow certain plants in our garden especially for their sweetness: my Father and I both grow our own Stevia, a plant that is naturally high in glycosides and is 200 times sweeter than sugar, not absorbed by the body and deemed as non-toxic… the leaves can be dried and crumbled into a jar, then powdered when needed, to add to tea or baking. Add to your home-grown sweet plants with some ‘foraged from the wild’ Sweet Cicely a plant that likes to grow by river banks. It's stems, leaves and seeds are strongly aniseed sweet due to the presence of trans-anethole which is 13 times stronger than sucrose. Sweet Cicely can be used fresh or dried in making cordials or stewing fruit especially rhubarb to cut through the tartness and impart sweetness. Angelica can be both planted in your garden or collected in the wild, there are many varieties to read up on. Also check out Meadowsweet (used to sweeten preserves and drinks) and Tansy which must be used in very small amounts due to potential toxicity but has a delicious flavour I liken to warm cucumber vanilla mint and can be used to sweeten milky puddings

Home-grown berries like strawberries and raspberries or foraged fruit such as elderberry, blackberry or bilberry can all be dehydrated as can apple rings. Dried fruit can then be powdered and stored to be added to baking or drinks to reduce sugar plus if dehydrated carefully ie. at a temperature of less than 47 degrees Celcius will impart much vitamin c goodness, in addition to sweetness. We freeze berries in ice cube trays to add to teas, yogurts or blend them into milk for smoothies again retaining their vitamin c. We also add them to apple cider vinegar to make a sweet salad dressing.

Sap from many trees in the UK can be taken around April time and converted into sweet products. I like to drink sap straight from the tree but this tree life blood can be boiled up to reduce the water content leaving behind a syrup or, after more heating, a sugar. Do bear in mind that 40 litres of sweet maple only gives one litre of syrup and for most other trees the starting point is something like 60 litres of sap to give one litre of syrup! Sycamore and Birch Sap are both delicious.

Root vegetables are rich in sugar - we have all tried carrot cake but who has been brave enough to try parsnip or beetroot cake? Beetroots are a close relative of sugar beet but with a lower sugar content. It is possible to grate a sugar beet (20% sugar) and boil it up in water for hours to extract a syrup. Sugar beet is a crop grown by farmers that if sliced thinnly and boiled, reducing the water down over a couple of hours, can give a sweet syrup.

So, you have some new ideas to try to avoid sugar! This taste conversion may take some effort if you are used to the instant pure sweetness that is white sugar, but it is mind over matter! Talk to your body and tell it; this is what it needs - slowly, your body will listen and you will find your tastes will change in-line with your mind and body to the point your tastebuds are repelled by too much white sugar - trust me, I crave cabbage over chocolate cake!

NO-SUGAR SWEET TREATS.

1. Blend a cupful of dried berries, softened with a little boiling water and drained, 1 tbsp honey (or less to taste) or a pinch of dried stevia, plus half a cup of almond nut butter, then roll into balls or fingers, freeze to harden, then chill. Add oats for more substance.

Wild Sugar

GROWING NEAR YOU!

1.

Stevia can be grown in UK, from cuttings or plug plants easier than seed. Grow on a sunny window, transplant to well drained soil in a sunny spot. Pick the leaves, dry and powder.

2.

Meadowsweet grows near ditches and canals, the leaves and flowers taste like TCP but can be used to reduce the sugar in tart preserves. Traditionally it was used to sweeten the mead hence its name.

3.

Sweet Cicely likes shady river banks, beware of similar toxic plants so follow the rules in the foraging section to eliminate i.d errors. The leaf detail is flatter and more matt, a strong smell of aniseed helps. The seeds are elongated, not round.

HOW TO tap a tree

1.

Trees for tapping in our country are Birch, Sycamore, Maple To give you some idea of how much sap it takes to make a syrup, sweet maple is best and this is still 40l of sap to 1lt of syrup, so I recommend using the sap for other purposes, like freezing and drinking as a cold vitamin-rich drink. Choose a tree that is at least 10" (about 28cm) in diameter during the months of March/April (exact time will depend on location, further North will be later). A sign its ready is when the leaf buds appear and look as if to uncurl.

2.

Using either a hand drill or a battery drill, drill a hole about four feet up the tree. The hole should go up at an angle to the back so sap can run out and should be about the length and width of your little finger Wait a few minutes, if no wet can be felt in the hole drill a little deeper. Insert a piece of plastic piping about the same diameter, that is long enough to reach about 3.5 foot down the tree I find cutting a notch in the part of the plastic that enters the tree, at the bottom side of the pipe helps better direct the flow into the pipe not around it This pic shows a spiggot.

3.

Apples

FROM WINDFALL

Pressing apples from your own and neighbours windfall gives delicious,, nutritious juice, full of malic acid (the infection fighting stuff that gives the saying "an apple a day keeps the Doctor away..."). Best of all it's FREE!

Being a scientist gardener my Father is keen on measuring the input and output of his processes and making apple juice is no exception. He collects windfall from his own and neighbours trees and has pressed juice for years. Getting old he was finding the handle-cranking on his hand-press a little hard work, so he did some experiments to find out how to make the hard apples easier to press. He discovered that, if he halved them, then froze them for at least 12 hours and allowed them to defrost, the resulting apples were not only easier to press being slightly mushy, but he had turned the yield per k.g on its head. Previously he was getting 70% pulp and 30% juice but after freezing he was getting 30% pulp and 70% juice. From 1 kg of apples he got almost 700 ml of juice.

Video of Dad Apple Juicing Frozen Windfall

Leaf Crisps

TASTY FREE EASY HEALTHY

Gather:

Oak

Beech

Birch Lime

Hawthorn

Nettle or any other edible leaf

Method:

Wash and pat dry

Rub with oil

Spinkle salt

Put on baking tray

Bake for ten mins in medium oven (less for smaller thinner leaves more for bigger tougher leaves)

Eat:

Hot or Cold

With or without a dip

Oils

ON YOUR DOORSTEP

Pressing Oil from Local Nuts and Seeds.

If you invest in an oil press now and get the hang of using it, in times of need any local nut or seed, that is edible, can be pressed for nutritious oil. Oil will keep best in a dark glass bottle with a little vitamin e oil added (eg. evening primrose seed or borage seed oils) A hand oil-press will cost around £99

The following table is useful for temperate clime areas Listed in yield (litre) per 1000g (1kg) of product - ordered from greatest oil yield to least.

Data:PITEBA com

DISCOVERING FREE Local Spices

EXOTIC IMPORTS BECAME FASHIONABLE AROUND THE ROMAN TIMES, UP UNTIL THEN, WE USED OUR OWN SPICES THEY LOST FAVOUR AS THE POOR MANS FOOD BUT WE ARE GETTING BACK IN TOUCH AGAIN WITH NATIVE SPICES

Ash keys can be pickled green after boililng in two changes of water and salt to get rid of the bitterness, however by far thenices use of them is as a spice. Left on the tree for up to 9 months they become solar and wind dehydrated and are available for picking, brown from about september to March the next year if you're lucky. Gather up the bunches and peel off the wings down to the oval shaped flat seed inside each propeller. One Ash tree can produce 6.7kg of these seeds. Ensring the seeds are well dried, grind them either with a pestle and mortar or a nut mill/food processor into a powder To me, after months on the tree, these taste like cardamon and I have added the powder to chai tea, savoury durries and sweet milky puddings ,

Hogweed seeds are round flat discs about 5 mm in diametre, they have tiny groves and a little indent in the top They can be eatten green as a wayside nibble but the power is intense - they taste like a cross between waahing up liquid and oragne peel Even just one seed is a taste explosion They appear in early summer and by mid summer are already turning brown This is when they are much nicer Collect the brown seed heads off the Hogweed, dry them a little more at home then powder them as before This unique taste goes well with dark chocolate mousse type puddings or again in milky puddings, chias and curries Like with Ash seeds Hogweed seeds can remain on the bare plant into winter and can still be used then.

Wood Avens is also known as Herb Bennet and in addition to the bland leaves being edible steam fried, the meagre roots are useable as a spice The roots contain eugenol, which is the same chemical that gives cloves their characteristic taste Grate into any recipe you would like clove flavouring One traditional recipe involves grating 15g of Herb Bennet Root into an apple pie mixture

I HAVE ALSO ADDED ALL OF THESE TO VARIOUS ALCOHOLIC INFUSIONS AND HOT CHOCOLATES!

Coffee

AND COFFEE SUBSTITUTES

2.

Dandelion Root

Containing no caffeine, this is a coffee substitute. Take half a carrier bag of large dandelion roots, scrub them clean without peeling. Put the roots on a baking tray and roast in a medium oven for half an hour Remove then chop up the root, re roast the pieces until crisper, then blitz in a blender or grate with a grater and re-roast, ideally get the texture to a powder, when you have it as a fine as possible do a final roasting for just ten mins to ensure the product is dry or it will go mouldy in a jar. Use in a caffetiere as will not dissolve.

Cleavers Seed Coffee

The seeds that appear on the goosegrass/cleavers plant in early summer look like tiny sticky balls, they can be harvested green or when the plant has dried and is straw coloured. Roast these seeds on a baking tray, powder and re-roast. This plant contains caffeine so coffee made from the seeds will give a mild caffeine hit. Use in a caffetiere as will not dissolve

Acorn Coffee is deliciously mild and actually tastes like a mild cheap shop bought instant coffee but in a nice way! Collect acorns off the ground under oak trees, bake on a baking tray till the shiny shells split and reveal the mat brown nut Remove the shell, smash up the acorns and re-roast, remove from the oven, blitz into a powder and re-roast the powder Use in a caffetiere.

I can't emphasise enough the need for a final roasting of powders for coffees or they can go mouldy in the jar within five days

Free Meat

WILD MEAT YOU MAY NOT HAVE THOUGHT OF

Natrix Helvetica (Grass Snake)

I will never forget when my youngest child, then aged two, with his Mowgli looks and dressed only in a nappy, carried in a dark wriggly creature from the garden. I immediately got him to drop it onto the fire shovel so I could look at it, fearing it was an adder. Thankfully it was just a slow worm so I placed it back out into the garden near a stream. This got me interested in learning more about the reptiles around us.

In addition to hunting wild game, collecting road kill, garden critters, and your own small livestock there is one more source of free protein. This group is 'reptiles and amphibians' and in this chapter we will look at snakes, lizards, frogs and toads, also at the slow worm. Snakes, lizards and slowworms are hypothetical options in the UK as they are protected by law unless you find roadkill.

SNAKES

In the UK we have the adder, the smooth snake (in just a few southern areas of UK) and the grass snake. Numbers of all UK snakes are declining so all are protected. Grass snakes now number 180,000 from over 300,000, and enjoy living in wet areas, as they feed on amphibians. Adders can be found on heath and woodland. Both types can be found, out of hibernation between March and October. All are snakes are edible, even pet snakes. Any poison is rendered safe by cooking but first removing the head and skin anyway.

Dispatching a snake. If you happen to find a wild dead snake, check its mode of death, roadkill is fine, but if the cause is unknown; can you be sure it has not ingested a poisoned mouse or rat? If the snake is live, catch it using a sturdy Y shaped stick pinning its head down, then push the knife into the back of the head or just chop it off still holding the stick Snake heads can bite after they have been severed, so kick it away.

To prepare a snake. Gut and skin it before cooking by cutting a line all the way up its belly from anus to neck, peel the skin down, cutting away at any connective tissue. Then using your thumb, scrape the guts out. You are left with the fleshy carcass and a few bones.

To cook a snake. You can chop this up to pan-fry, roast in the embers or boil up in a stock. You can also roast it whole in the embers of the fire.

Health benefits. Snake is a good source of wild protein but has less fat and calories than beef, coming in at 93 calories per 100g product.

Vipera Berus (Adder)

Reptiles and Amphibians

Slow worms look like small shiny black bronze snakes but are in fact lizards. You can tell this as, like ours did, they shed their tails when under threat. Otherwise they look just like a snake and in fact, have the same hibernation time. Sometimes a cat will bring you a slow worm, or like snakes sometimes they are found as road kill due to liking to keep warm on a hot road.

LIZARDS

There are three types in the uk, the slow worm, the common lizard (15cm) and the bigger sand lizard which is more rare and found on sandy, sunny sites in the South and West. The sand lizard is being re-introduced to other suitable areas. If you find a roadkill or a cat-got lizard then, like with snakes and slow worms, its fair 'game' otherwise these three species are, like UK snakes, protected by law. If you are not in the UK, then lizard could be on the menu. Remember don't grab a lizard by the tail, it will shed it and run off.

SLOW WORMS FROGS

The common European frog, also known as the common water frog or green frog is used for food, particularly in France for the legs. In 2013 an archeological dig by the University of Buckingham revealed we have been eating frogs 8000 years before the French. Females are between 5 and 9 cm long, males between 6 and 11 cm. The common frog is smooth, olive green or brown with dark patches on its back It has two yellowy stripes on the back and is abundant in the UK in ponds and waterways You are most likely to see them at dusk in March and April as they reemerge after hibernation and start breeding. Usually you can just stoop to pick them up, but cup them in two hands as they have a powerful hop. Frog legs are rich in protein, omega-3 fatty acids, vitamin A, and potassium but you can eat any body flesh too.

TOADS

Toads are generally considered NOT edible because they often contain toxins in the skin or in glands so it's simply best to avoid. To differentiate a frog from a toad, toads have bumpy warty dry looking skin not smooth moist looking skin and crawl rather than hop Their spawn is in ribbons, not clumps

To process the above adopt the same principles as snakes: head off, skin off, guts out, cut into small pieces to ensure it is cooked well.

Garden Critters

AS FOOD

One of the closest and easiest to obtain protein sources is right in your back yard. Slow moving ultra-local food. Maybe not for now but in a food shortage situation the following pages will be more appetising food for thought.

SNAILS

Let's start with the most accepted. Snails are often found in restaurants so we are familiar with the concept of them as fine food, but did you know that your common garden snails are just as edible? There are two main types in the UK, Helix Aspersa and Helix Pomatia Helix Aspersa is the mottled cammo-shell version and usually bigger while Helix Pomatia is stripey, looks more fancy and was brought over as a food stuff by the Romans. You may find some hybrids. You can encourage snails (and slugs) to your garden whilst also discouraging them from your plants by putting sheets of damp cardboard down on damp soil with a few favourite leaves under there (spot what they are eating in your garden). Turn the cardboard over after a few days and you may find some protein.

To process, put the snails in a tub with a lid with breath holes cut in. allow them to feast on clean edible leaves for a few days, A bit of salad or non-toxic garden leaves, or some folk say bread or oats, but when I have tried oats, for four days, the snails really didn't fare well and ended up not looking good enough to eat. Plus it's a waste of food. But bread presumably moistened is meant to show up the colour of their poop. You need the snails to poo out any toxic last meal they may've consumed before you cook them, whether plant or pesticide You can even set up a snail farm, a tank of clean leaves which you mist occasionally and add any new finds to, so you always have a supply, ready to fast. After allowing the snails to empty themselves you can add them to boiling water but to cook something alive is tragic, so if you can, push a knife into the bottom or stamp on them (bit troublesome getting broken shell off) or at very least put them in the freezer so they go to deep sleep before you boil. Bring to boil in water as salty as the sea, or add a dash of vinegar, handful of wood-sorrel or dock if you can. After ten minutes of simmering, drain, remove from shells with a stick or tweezers and add to a pan with something strong tasting like bacon, garlic, cheese sauce and warm through. Never eat a dead snail, (unless you just killed it) check each with a poke, it should recoil.

Garden Critters

AS FOOD

WORMS

We have several types of worm in the UK, distinguishable by the layer of ground it occupies. The deep, deep down, huge worms are anecic worms, and they are the biggest, they can live a metre down, so be careful not to expend too much energy digging, versus what you will replace by eating your harvest. Surface worms are often found in, or around compost piles and are known as brandlings, tiger worms or other names, but all are edible Then there are the other layers in between Like snails, worms are protein rich, low fat, and will need purging for a couple of days in a tub. You can add a worm farm to your kitchen or garden so you have a regular crop of these for your garden soil, to break compost down much faster, and food for your hens and for you.

Whereas snails are best boiled or steamed, worms are best roasted and ground into a powder, which you can then 'tuck-away' in other foods. To be super safe boil them first for five minutes, then roast them covered in spices, native ones, obviously. You can also deep fry them in breadcrumbs. They are mild tasting.

SLUGS

Slugs can be caught in the same way as snails, but need processing slightly different Never eat a slug raw Cut off its head, squeeze the contents of the guts out through the open end, wash, then bring to the boil and simmer for at least ten mins. This will render them safe to eat. They may be chewy for any extra cooking but, in my mind its worth the sacrifice. You can then choose to roast, fry or make palatable in any way you please.

Never eat a garden creature raw, especially slugs. They can carry a disease called rat lung worm (from eating rat faeces) which effects the human brain.

WOODLICE

Woodlice are not insects but crustaceans They are very small as a food source, but if you keep a pile of rotting wood in your garden or like us have an old wooden bookcase in a damp spot or your house, you can find a few in one go. Noah, my son, named all the woodlice we found 'Bonny' for some reason. You can purge in case they have ingested some kind of toxin, then cook by boiling, or just roasting. Caution; as they are crustaceans people with prawn allergy can be react if consuming woodlouse.

Freshwater Creatures

CRAYFISH

You may be surprised to learn we have lobster-like creatures living in a canal near you and that, not only are they edible and healthy, but we are encouraged to trap them The caveat though is this:

We have two types. The native white claw which is protected and declining because the other type, an import called red signal crayfish. The red signal is spreading a fungal disease and is the more aggressive and larger. This is the one we are encouraged to trap. If you turn over the red signal they will have red under-claws.

YOU WILL NEED:

1: A crayfish trap (about £8 off Amazon for a net one). The reason I suggest buying one is that they need to meet certain criteria and they are cheap. When buying check for the words 'UK legal',, these have openings that are less than 9cm. Any more than this and your trap may harm a baby otter. You can make your own, I have done this out of willow, but you can use chicken wire or even an old large plastic bottle with the end cut off and inverted into the bottle - as long as the door dimensions accord with the Environment Agency rules. The net ones fold up, are easy to store and carry, and are cheap. See image on next page.

2. . To clean your trap between uses - if you move it from one watercourse to another you must first sterilise your trap or you may spread the fungal disease. The trap can simply be left in hot sun to dry for a few days, or sprayed with dilute bleach or calcium hypochlorite.

3. You will need a licence. These are available free, from the Environment Agency after completing a two page form which will ask details about your trap eg mouth size, the location you plan to use your trap and mention your responsibility to clean it. You can download this form off the EA website. You will then get some tags off the EA to attach to your traps to show you are licenced.

So, it seems a lot of work, why should you bother? Because one trap overnight can land about fifteen cray fish! If you find any native ones you must throw these back or you risk a fine. In addition to quantity, you get quality, crayfish are delicious (think crayfish, mayo and homegrown rocket sandwich) and healthy, with decent quantities of omega 3 and 6, vitamin A and potassium and a free alternative to lobster!

Freshwater Creatures

HOW DO I CATCH CRAY FISH?

July is the best month, but summer in general. Find a slow moving water course; clean canals are ideal, you can check online maps for areas they have been sighted or contact the EA who will be happy to tell you where in your area is good. Bait your trap with a tin of tuna or cat food pierced or if this seems wasteful tie some in a bit of muslin. A sliver of bacon will also do. Add a stone to weigh the trap down, (bigger than the net holes or it will fall out). Attach a thin rope to the trap so you can drop it in and pull it out and tie the other end to a tree or bridge post. Return within 24 hours. A very simple method is to tie some bacon to a piece of string and dangle it in the water, then grab the crayfish from behind.

COOKING

Add them to a stockpot of boiling salty water and keep on a rolling boil for three mins. then simmer for a further ten.

WATER SNAILS

DISPATCHING A CRAYFISH

The law now says you must dispatch at the point you catch them. At the top of the carapace (the body shell) where it meets the head, is a vulnerable exposed bit. a hard push of a knife in this point will dispatch them more humanely than boiling alive anyway

I am in the habit of collecting these for our pond, on our canal walks, together g with frogspawn which I have been known to carry in my hands all the way home. There are around 40 types of water snail in the UK and the number is declining, they are found in clean, non acidic calcium rich water. The ones we have here are mud snails, they look like winkles, dark grey, but have long pointy shells so they are hydrodynamic and they can cling on to surfaces allowing water to flow past them without pulling them loose. Purge then for a couple of days at home in clean tap water, then cook as snails. Because of declining numbers this is a survival only food.

RoadKill

The advantages of learning to use roadkill are that it has lived freely, died quickly, is uncontaminated protein and a fatty acid-rich, free food. Alison Brierley, my friend and expert in free food amongst many other talents has created useful videos on You Tube and has the following Mnemonic to teach us what to look for when finding potential roadkill meat. Click HERE for the link.

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Don’t Eat Flat and Fury Roadside Snacks Before Last Smell Check”

DAMAGE - Has it died by damage eg. broken wing/leg and not disease?

EYES - Present and not cloudy or sticky?

RIGAMORTIS - Has it set in yet or animal still floppy? Floppy is fresher.

FLEAS AND FLIES - Fleas are good as it means the carcass is still warm, no fleas but only flies is a bad sign

SKIN - Does it move over the muscle. If not it may be days old.

BLOOD - Too much splattered all over or pretty much body in tact?

LAW - Are you allowed to take it? You can’t take a deer or pheasant you knocked over yourself or someone elses sheep.

SMELL - Does it smell ‘off’?

CLIMATE - Dry and cool climates allow road kill to be remain useable longer than warm wet climates

Pemmican

Tood that lasts a decade with no refrigeration, artificial preservatives or space-age packaging, yet that is all-natural and healthy too, does exist! If you have a family to future-proof on the food security front, why not try practising the following traditional travelling foods of cultures past Meet Pemmican and Hard Tack Both designed for the long term and built to last.

PEMMICAN

A trail food used by Native American Indians, usually made of deer fat/dried ground deer or elk meat/hawthorn berries. These ingredients were interchangeable with whatever was available to hunt/forage. Pemmican is high in protein, essential fatty acids and vitamin c.

INGREDIENTS

Dehydrated meat, ground into a powder or ground nuts, toasted All moisture should have been removed.

Dried berries ground into a powder.

1/3 the above weight in hard fat. This could be lard and beeswax, tallow, or deer fat, roadkill badger fat, rapeseed fat (veggie lard).

METHOD

Mix the dried powders*, meaner, then add 1/3 the amount in melted fat. Bind the ingredients together with a spoon or clean hands.

Either roll into balls or bars or, as I did above, jar with an extra layer of a fat seal to prevent air getting to the mixture whilst still allowing it to breath inside the jar. This may not store as long as traditional pemican but if you can get four years out of a highly nutritious portable complete food supply you are doing well.

*You will need either a food processor or pestle and mortar to powder the hard ingredients.

WWW.WILDHARVEST.ORG

Hard tack

The word biscuit means 'twice baked' and the idea came about from needing to make baked goods last longer by baking more moisture out of them. This would make baked goods better for longer term storage. Hard Tack is the most extreme form of long-term storage, baked goods. Sailors took Tack on overseas voyages, to keep them going, in times of hunger. A very hard and tasteless biscuit the idea of hard tack is that you dunk it into soup, beer, hot drinks or top it with other foods

INGREDIENTS METHOD

5 x cups whole flour salt

3/4 to 1 cup water

Mix the above and roll into balls, squash the balls to less than half an inch, thick disks, pricked through with a fork

Bake at low for two to three hours. Watch them closely so they don’t burn. Bake until they are slightly under cooked, then cool.

Rebake the hard tack the next day, but at a lower temperature. This makes more moisture come out

Once twice baked and cooled, tap them to see if they are hard.

They will last for a couple of years or much longer if properly baked then stored in a tub You can add salt/spices to add flavour

Seaweed Survival

AND MERMAID BEAUTY

If I tell you that all the seaweed you see on your local beach is edible bar one* which is not likely to be present anyway, does that demystify the whole subject a little? At Wild Harvest we teach many different subjects broken down to be easily accessible for beginners and yet which take our learners to a level of basic proficiency. It's ok to be a master of one subject like foraging, or an artist in something like basketry but where will that get you if the situation is not about pleasure but survival?

So, this Seaweed Survival blogpost is designed to give you enough knowledge to make some basic foods and still benefit from the same bountiful health benefits that eating fancifully-prepared and nominally challenging recipes will bestow. I believe we should be unashamedly pragmatic in our learning journeys in order to keep moving forward. There is no need to make the learning journey so complicated Information overload stops us starting It is best to develop the confidence to move from ‘head-to-practice’ by giving simple easy to follow instructions and just enough peripheral knowledge to interest not overwhelm. So, here are the seaweed survival basics to give you the confidence to get out...

There are some general harvesting and processing rules that can learned for foraging in general, that can apply to coastal foraging too, for example:

Harvesting – from an unpolluted environment, at the optimum time of the day/year for the best nutritional benefits and safety of the collector, without uprooting – just cutting a plant and not stripping a resource bare. Processing – once you know that most of our seaweed is edible the only difference is preference for one taste over another, ie. palatability not edibility. It is simply preference that will determine how you process seaweed because all of it can be processed in pretty much the same ways.

LIVING OFF THE COAST LIVING OFF THE COAST

In a survival situation of course preference is less of an issue than edibility and nutritional value All of our seaweed can be:

Patted dry and fried from fresh either shallow fry or deep fry into crisps

Boiled/added to mash potato or cooked grains then cooked in oil or fat as patties

Boiled as a vegetable

Eaten (a little) raw (if sea is clean)

Dried and crumbled or powdered and stored in a jar for later rehydration in a stock or soup.

Health Benefits of Eating Seaweed

Seaweed is one of the few foods that contains all of the 56 trace elements essential for human health. Amongst them are calcium, iron, magnesium, iodine, potassium and selenium (the latter becoming scarcer in farmed veg due to soil depletion). The brown seaweed, especially, is rich in alginates and fibre for the digestive tract. Seaweed is a low fat, low calorie food despite being also high in fibre and minerals. Purple seaweed like Laver contains more B Vitamins, while Kelp in particular is rich in Lignans which are pre-cursors in the body to the formation of phyto-oestrogens. This is linked to Japanese women’s low incidence of breast cancer. The Okinowans from an Island off Japan eat between 7 – 10 portions a day and are the worlds oldest nation. Iodine, present in seaweed, helps with thyroid functioning.

Seaweed is cited as ensuring a healthy heart and digestive system and can also detox the body of heavy metals It is a useful ingredient where there has been a radiation leak.

Mermaid Beauty

Topically seaweed is good for hair, scalp and skin (face and body). It's unusually rich combination of minerals, nutrients and amino acids are drank up by the skin and absorbed by the hair to give a shiny healthy appearance. It moisturises, is beneficial for anti-ageing and calms sensitive and spotty skin. Add dried, powdered seaweed to soap making, bath salts, or body butter and conditioners

LIVING OFF THE COAST LIVING OFF THE COAST

Making iodine solution.

Steps to extract iodine from seaweed:

Burn some seaweed in a metal container above heat. Wash the ash with distilled water, filter it through cloth or coffee filter paper. Boil the water until there is just watery salt left. Put this in a glass jar.

Now add sulphuric acid (car battery?) – the water should go purple brown (When you add the sulphuric acid it hisses and some liquid evaporates there’s a possiblity that if you put muslin cloth or iodine paper over the jar you may catch some crystals).

Adding sodium hydroxide dissolves the iodine crystals into the solution and neutralises the acid

You will have a brown liquid that you can test the strength of (how many ppm from 0 – 50 of iodine) using iodine paper (a bit like litmus paper).

Fertilise Your Soil With Seaweed.

One cold November, when back-packing alone with two toddlers, I stayed at a community in Scotland called Erraid. Erraid is the smaller sister community to Findhorn and I earned our stay there by trudging up and down to the beach to collect seaweed, baby Noah strapped to my back. Covering the vegetable beds with a deep layer of mulch. Over winter the seaweed would rot down nourishing the soil ready for Spring and in addition to the usual benefits of any mulch, seaweed has the extra advantages of:

Not carrying weed seeds

Not carrying diseases of land plants

Breaking down easily

Rich in Selenium

*Desmarestia – is the name of the toxic seaweed. It is a fine frond-like pale greenbrown seaweed that grows in inter-tidal waters and emits sulfuric acid and has, out of the water, a ph of 2% - so would burn your digestive system (perhaps you could use this in your iodine making experiments to get the iodine out of seaweed?).

Salt and Brine

Salt smuggling was once an important black market economy and many people died protecting this industry. Today you can make your own salt from sea water quite easily. It takes a lot of sea water to make salt but the process is doable with the minimum of equipment. Simply visit the coast with jerry cans or buckets with lockable lids and collect about 20 litres of sea water eg. one jerry can.

At home, boil up the water in batches in large open pans or even in a metal tray-bake type tray set across two hobs. I tend to reduce the water in two ten litre stock pots then finish it of in a tray. Boil the seawater in the pans in a well ventilated room until much of the water has evaporated, you will then have a strong brine solution. You can stop here if you want as brine is a useful product, it can be used to long term preserve foodstuffs such as cheese (think how salty halloumi is), olives, or even fish and meat. Brine needs to be 20% salinity in order to prevent microbial growth and you can test salinity with a salinity meter. If you don't have one, you can test for if your brine is salty enough to preserve with by putting a whole egg in into the saltwater solution and if the egg floats on the surface your brine is ready. Ensure your egg is super fresh otherwise that could be why it floats. For meat preservation you should really use a salinometer.

If you wish to continue boiling your water beyond brine to salt, transfer it to the flat wide tray. As the crystals form you can scoop them out and put them onto a baking tray that you have tilted, so remaining water runs out the bottom. I then finish the baking trays off in the oven for ten mins

Yield: The above method gave a whopping 5% yield That is 1 litre of salt to 20 litres of sea water. It tastes delicious. If you are concerned about pollutants please be reassured that UK sea water no longer has the bad reputation it once had. I tested the reduced sea water with a dip and test strip that analysed drinking water for 10 different heavy metals, nitrates etc and it came up as drinking quality.

20 litres of sea

Shell Fish

Time to Harvest

You may have heard of the saying that you should only eat shellfish during months that contain the letter 'R'. So; from September through to April you can feast on shellfish but in the summer months they are to be avoided. One reason for the 'R' rule is that red algae levels can become high during summer and it is possible for the toxins it secretes to become concentrated in shellfish making you more likely to get ill. Another is that during summer, shellfish are spawning and need to repopulate the waters, plus if you are 'foodie' this can be said to change the taste and texture.

Types of Shellfish

There are two main categories; Bivalves (with two shells hinged together) eg. cockles, mussels, razor clams and scallops, then there are Gastropods (single-footed) such as limpets, whelks and winkles Crabs are not shellfish they are Crustaceans

Where to find them.

Some, like mussels and limpets can be found clinging to rocks when the tide is out, others can be found in sandy, muddy beds by digging or raking them out (cockles, razor clams) and others may be found in rock pools such as winkles, which are darker than whelks.

Nutritional Value

They are high in protein, vitamins and minerals, low in fat and a good source of Omega 3 fatty acid, though different shellfish have different levels.

Winkles

Dog Whelks

Limpets

Whelks

Cockles

Mussels

NUTRITIONAL VALUE OF COASTAL SHELL CREATURES

WHERE FOUND:

Shallow water just before or after a tide change. Exposed rocks when the tide is out

In shallow pools

Under sand in sandy flats

Found on sandy flats

HARVESTING

Ensure anything you take is still alive ie. stuck to something if a gastropod, or recoils when prodded if it's not stuck to something. Limpets will stick like superglue to a rock, the secret to loosen them is to walk softly, barefoot even, over the rocks but not stepping on the rock you wish to harvest from as they can sense the vibrations and stick fast. Leaning over with a flat rock in your hand, knock the shellfish off with a sideways whack. Other gastropods like whelks and winkles can be easily picked off. For bivalves ensure the shell is tightly shut.

Take a bucket or cool box to carry them in and cook as soon as you get home. If you can't cook immediately you can store them in a tub of sea water in the fridge for a day or two.

For crabs

Tie a piece of bait such as chicken parts or fish guts to the end of some string. Add a stick to the other end of the string and dangle the bait in the water. Hold the stick and reel the string around it as you pull in your crab.

PROCESSING

Wash the shellfish well and bring to boil in a pan of water, then either keep on a rolling boil or steam for eight to ten minutes depending on size Some say less than this, I just feel more is safer though you will lose some texture so it's up to you. Bivalves should open upon cooking. Discard any that don't. Shellfish can also be cooked in the embers of a fire or larger ones scooped out and pan fried. I have done a delicious limpet stir fry on a drift wood fire, with chopped thistle stem which really absorbed the seafood flavour. Boiled winkles and whelks can pickled in vinegar or just served with a dash of vinegar and as I did as a child; scooped out with a pin.

Cooking with Seawater

You can boil using seawater if no fresh water is available. Rice, potatoes, pasta can all be boiled in sea water too.

Processing Birds

HOW TO DISPATCH AND PLUCK A BIRD

Dispatching a bird means killing it ready to prepare it to eat. Or, if it is damaged or ill beyond healing to put it out of its misery. There are three ways, the first two; I personally find less preferable

Buy a poultry dispatcher online, screw it to an outside wall. It looks like a bottle top remover crossed with a guillotine. You put the birds head in the holder and pull down the lever to decapitate the bird.

The second is a tree stump chopping block and a short handled axe.

The third and only way I have, a few times dispatched a bird is to hold the bird upside down and break its neck by holding its head in your hand, at the bottom of the bird and its feet in your other hand at the top of the upside down bird, then

slowly pull its head down and away, twisting outwards until it stretches then snaps. Plucking the feathers doesn't need to be done if you are just cutting the breasts out. I feel if a bird has given its life to feed you, that this is wasteful and all parts should be used. Also, the skin is wasted if you don't pluck and the skin is a useful source of fat.

Plucking is always best done while the skin is warm or feather stems fix into cold skin and are harder to pull out. You can either use the warmth of the newly dead bird and pluck immediately or plunge later into hottish water. Plucking is very messy so wear an apron and pluck over a bucket - the down gets everywhere. Also this way you can keep the down and used it for cushions or a parker.

GuttingBirds

HOW TO PREPARE THE BIRD FOR COOKING

It's not just your own poultry or local pheasant straying into your garden that were once considered food, even smaller garden and urban birds were game. Birds such as crow, pigeon, starling, blackbirds and water birds will all once have been used as food. I recommend a large fishing net on a stick and pre-baiting an area. Also upturned laundry baskets are great for catching birds All parts were used, the flesh off the neck, the breast, legs, giblets of heart, neck and liver. I was given the cooked offal as a child to pick at along with the bones with a pin to pick out the marrow

After dispatching and plucking your bird, the next step is to gut it. When processing road kill pheasant I would make a cross at the anus with a knife, then at the other end, cut off its head.

I always talk to a creature I process and promise I will turn its energy into doing good. with my life. Scoop out the unprocessed grains and even whole acorns that can be in the gizzard (neck) of the bird and fold the skin in on itself. At the other end, there is no nice way of doing this but put a couple of fingers inside, or a knife in, to loosen the internal organs from the walls and scoop them out through the anus and the neck

You will now have a carcass of the type you buy from the supermarket, stuff a half onion or apple inside, and roast upside down so the juices go to the breast, turning it over to crisp at the end. You can, for quicker cooking, pull the meat off the carcass and pan cook until no longer pink. Remember to sort out the heart and liver as these are iron rich.

Instinctive Archery

WHAT IS IT?

Instinctive archery uses a bare bow, rather than a compound (wheels and pullies kind of) bow, ideally wooden, that curves back then forth at the ends again This gives the name 'recurve' bow The idea is that there are no weights; sights nor scopes, it's as basic as it gets With repetition the knowledge goes in via muscle memory, bypassing cognition, until it becomes instinctive.

WHY DO IT?

Apart from fitness, developing upper body strength and hand-eye coordination, plus getting you outside in the fresh air, the underlying reason it's included here is that one day, you may need to hunt. Presently bow hunting is illegal in the UK. You would need different arrow tips to the ones you get with your starter kit (metal and spear shaped) to hunt, however for self-protection, no one is going to walk towards you to steal your food supplies, even with a beginner set up of target arrows not hunting arrows.

MEASURING FOR YOUR FIRST BOW

Your bow will come in three parts; the riser (middle bit) and two limbs that attach to the middle bit. Risers and limbs come in different sizes and the size you buy should depend on your draw length.

DRAW LENGTH

When standing correctly to shoot, this is the measurement (inches from your string fingers (usually your dominant hand) when it is pulled back to the corner of your mouth, to your outstretched bow hand at the knuckles. Mine is 32".

This will change over time as you change your posturing and get stronger. It's common to begin with, not to pull the string arm shoulder right back, and in not doing so, show a shorter draw length Draw

As you get more experienced and stronger you will pull the string arm shoulder right back and this can extend draw length another two inches (5 cm) so bare this in mind when you assume draw length initially.

Measuring Up for A Bow

You will need space to practice, this doesn't have to be outside, it can be an indoor hall. Archery GB says to have clearance at each side of you of 10 m, while a range length can be as short as 5m from shooting line to target, but the distance behind the target (that an arrow, missing the target, can travel) is covered by ensuring 100m distance from shooting line to the endpoint of range. So position a target where there is a clear, open space behind it. Locating the target in front of a hill, or 3m high straw bale stack, can give it a natural back drop. If you are shooting with someone else, you will then also need to add a safety line behind the shooting line (where the archer stands to shoot); about 4 m behind This way, anyone watching doesn't cross into the shooting area You are allowed to practice on private land fenced off to the public with no right of way across, however are still responsible for trespassers so do excercise caution in marking out an overshoot area.

HOW TO STAND AND HOLD THE BOW

Stand side ways on to the target, with your non-dominant shoulder pointing to the target. Your feet should be hip distance apart and your tummy button pointing 90 degrees away from the target. Holding the bow around the neck the correct way up and around with your non-dominant hand. Straighten out the arm towards the target, keeping your body facing sideways on

MEASURING UP FOR ARROW LENGTH

Measure your straight arm from the inner shoulder near the top of the armpit to your finger tips; mine is 27". Add two inches. So, your arrows, not including the metal tip should be the arm stretch plus two inches. If an arrow is too short for you and your bow, it can be dangerous, the arrow tip should always protrude from the bow at draw, by at least an inch but no more than two. A too short arrow can ping off and hit you and a too-long arrow will not fly true

HOW TO LOAD THE ARROW.

HOW TO CHOOSE ARROWS

Arrows are made up of four components:

Shaft: The main body of the arrow, this can be wood, aluminium or carbon.

Nock: The nock is the groove at the back end of an arrow that clips onto the bow string.

Fletchings: These plastic or feather attachments are secured to the back of the arrow shaft, and they help to provide stability during the arrow’s flight

Pile: The point of the arrow, often made of a heavier metal than the shaft to help the arrow fly straight.

HOW TO LOAD THE ARROW

Most arrows come with fletchings/feathers of two different colours, two are the same colour and one is the odd one out The odd coloured feather faces away from the bow and towards your tummy. This is because the other two feathers lie flatter, to clear the bow when you shoot the arrow.

Rest the arrow in the arrow rest on the side of the bow, if your bow hasn't come with an arrow rest attached, you will need to buy a packet, they cost pennies So, with the odd coloured feather facing your tummy, the arrow shaft resting in the rest, the final thing is the nock groove at the back of the arrow needs to clip firmly onto the string. You will hear it click when its 'nocked'.

HOW TO DRAW

Lightly wrap your three string fingers, (ruby ring, middle man and peter pointer) on your dominant hand around the string near the back of the arrow. You can choose to have the three fingers below the arrow, or your peter pointer finger above and the other two below. Do NOT grip the arrow! You will pull it off the rest and it will not fly but fall. Now remembering to stand side on, feet hip width apart, holding your bow arm out, draw the string back to the corner of your mouth and kind of rest your hand on your jaw. Your bow arm should be locked straight out. Keeping long hair out the way, release the sting, holding your string hand in the same position by your cheek for a few seconds after release

HOW TO AIM

Don't worry about going for gold to start with just get the hang of standing correctly, holding the bow and shooting the arrow at the target.

Once you have the hang of that, to perfect your aim, line the tip of the arrow up with the centre of the target Keep doing this for a while, remembering to stand correctly, draw and release carefully, after a while you may notice a pattern in where your arrows are going. You may see that most go over the top, or most fall short of the target or too low on the target, you may notice more arrows are to the right of the target centre or most are to the left? If so, here are some aiming tips to help get on target:

HOW TO IMPROVE YOUR AIM

To improve your aim you have three techniques at hand - one is to adjust elevation (the up/down line of your shooting), the other is to adjust the windage (the left/right line of your shooting and the final one, if your arrows are falling too short of the target is to increase your power We will look at these now

ELEVATION

If you think of the cross hairs in a guns 'scope, you can apply this to archery Elevation is the up/down vertical line Imagine between your back elbow and the bow holding hand being one straight line, you need to imagine this straight line can pivot (I call it tea-potting or see-sawing) up and down, with you as the axis, leaning slightly to pivot the bow arm up or down in line with the elbow. The line between draw elbow and bow hand must always remain straight, but you can raise or lower the aim by tea-potting. Try a few shots now, either pivoting down if you are going over the target, or up if you are hitting the target too low.

WINDAGE

Now imagine the side to side line in the cross hairs, ie. the left/right axis of a gun scope - this is known as windage. If you find most of your arrows go to the right of centre, take your leading foot, that closest to the target and step back one pace (if you are right handed with your left shoulder to the target,) or forward (if you are left handed with your right shoulder to the target). This will swing your whole body left and therefore your move your line of shooting sideways towards the centre.

If you are mostly going left off centre with your aim, then take the leading foot and step one pace forward, this will pivot your body right to bring your aim to the centre. Remember if you are shooting left handed again, this step will be backward as you will have your right shoulder to the target and need to swing right to aim at the centre, not left.

TO REMEDY ARROWS FALLING SHORT OF THE TARGET

If your arrows are missing the target by falling short of the target then your problem is one of power. You could try tea-potting up a bit first to raise your aim up the line of elevation, but if the arrows are falling too low because they are not reaching the target, you will need to pull the string back further Try bringing your shoulder back so that your shoulders are in line 90 degrees to the target, it's easy for that back shoulder to creep round so you are front-on to the target but that will affect your draw length and ultimately how much power is given by the tension or lack of it, in the string.

CARE OF BOW/AND STRING OVER TIME.

Keep bows out of rain, and if you are not using it for a while, unstring it. I haven't included bow set up here as you can refer to the manufacturers instructions and also the many videos available.

Stringing and unstringing a bow requires a bow stringer, you may have to buy one separately, they cost about £6 but you can't string or unstring your bow without it. When storing a bow, unstring it and then unscrew and remove the limbs. Store in a dry place and protect it from being buried in other stuff or it will warp. You can also wax your string to protect it.

The Improvised Kitchen

Once where our supermarkets and restaurants now stand our ancestors hunted, gathered, farmed, cooked on fire and preserved without electricity, and cleaned without running water on tap.

This chapter will help you prepare to cope with feeding your family in times of power -down or food shortages. Elsewhere in the book we look at the human body's nutritional needs and empower you to choose a local, natural and free, plant or animal product to provide for that from the 'Natures Larder' pages. Apologies here to vegans or vegetarians as this book is unashamedly based in localism and the idea that family survival, in the here-and-now, is the aim. This chapter also outlines the food storage and preparation needs of the improvised kitchen and how to meet them with alternative fridges and cooking on fire. These don't change just because our environment has, so a good starting point to keep your family healthy enough for self-reliance is to look at what our bodies need at the lowest level It may sound paradoxical to be talking nutritional needs in a family survival chapter but writing as one who has kept her family healthy through diet for over two decades,

I can attest that the resulting bodies are better fit to survive, so please try to optimise even survival meals for maximum nutrition. You don't need to cover all the nutritional needs in one meal, as long as you try to cover them over a couple of days.

NUTRITIONAL NEEDS

The following chart simplifies the bodys nutritional needs as met by possible wild sources. There are many other vitamins and minerals and also functions that, for space haven't been included here but conceptually I hope you get the picture. You may want to add yourself; magnesium, vitamin A. or others that are important to you. The important thing to remember is to plan for the supply of these needs throughout the year, eg for vitamin C and carbs in winter, you will have to 'put-by' or plan where to dig in summer.

NUTRITION COMPARISON IN FOOD BOUGHT VS FROM NATURES LARDER

Wild Nutrition

HOW YOUR BODY MAY CURRENTLY GET ITS NUTRITION AND HOW TO TRANSFER THIS TO A SUPERMARKET-FREE DIET.

W i l d R o o t s , i n n e r b a r k , l i c h e n , g r o w n p o t a t o e s . H o n e y . R o o t C r o p s R o a d k i l l , N e t t l e , I n s e c t s , H a z e l n u t s , B i r d s , S h e l l f i s h , S n a i l S e a w e e d , r o a d k i l l l i v e r . O w n e g g s , d a r k g r e e n s B e r r i e s , d a n d e l i o n l e a v e s a n d o t h e r W i l d G r e e n s N e t t l e s , e g g s h e l l s , c h a l k , r o a s t e d n u t s .

F o u r , P o t a t o e s , S u g a r s F i s h , e g g s , m e a t , p u l s e s . E g g y o l k , n u t s , m e a t , f o r t i f i e d c e r e a l . F r u i t j u i c e D a i r y , r o a s t e d n u t s , c a l c i u m c a r b o n a t e a d d i t i v e s

F U N C T I O N

E n e r g y M u s c l e G r o w t h

N E E D

E n e r g y v i a o x y g e n / B r a i n F u n c t i o n I m m u n i t y B o n e s

U S U A L S O U R C E N A T U R E S L A R D E R O P T I O N S C a r b s P r o t e i n I r o n V i t a m i n C C a l c i u m

Conversion table

1 Teaspoon is 5 ml or approx. 5 g if measuring a solid

1 Dessertspoon is 10ml or approx 10g if measuring a solid

1 Tablespoon is 15 ml or approx. 15g if measuring a solid

1 Standard Mug is approx. 300 ml.

For flour 1 Mug holds 200 g

For sugar 1 Mug holds 300g

1oz is the same as 28g

1 lb is the same as 454g

1kg is the same as 22lbs

1 pint is the same as 568 millilitres ie 1 pt is approx half a litre.

100 degrees celsius is 212 fahrenheit - if you want to convert celsius to fahrenheit just multiply the temperature by 1.8 then add 32.

If you want to convert F to C subtract 32 from the number then divide the difference by 1.8

The Cooker

In a power down situation, have you got alternative plans for cooking hot food? Aside from a portable gas stove that will, at some point, run out of canisters, how else can you prepare hot meals?

There are many elaborate ways to cook with fire but here I have only included three simple styles that may be of use in either an urban or rural setting.

The first is a simple, open fire circle as close as safely possible to your kitchen.

Dig a hole in the earth in the garden about t1 5 feet (45cm) diameter, and at least six inches (15cm) deep Put stones around the top level of the perimeter with an opening in the stones in the direction the prevailing wind is coming from. Either find or improvise a grill (either off your bbq or from your oven or weave non-coated coathangers in a lattice fashion. If you have a metal grill already, dig your hole just smaller than the size of the grill so it can sit comfortably in. You can erect a partial covering over your outside kitchen by putting posts into the ground and hooks into your outside walls and tying a canvas sheet high up over head at a steep angle so the fire is actually just inside the highest point of the shelter but you are inside it

This is my favourite and I have been known to randomly dig up peoples gardens to do popping corn for the kids on the super hot fire that comes from a dakota pit. This fire pit differs from the simple one above in that; firstly it is deeper, and secondly it has an additional smaller hole next to it, with a tunnel joining the two This second hole allows air flow into the bottom of the fire helping it 'blaze' You can moderate the amount of air-in via the intake hole by placing a flattish rock over it. I use a bean tin or similar to put in the connecting tunnel to stop it filling in with soil. One downside to this fire pit is in heavy rain it will fill with water, and, in areas where the water table is high and the soil is clay, it remains full for weeks.

SIMPLE FIRE CIRCLE

DAKOTA FIRE PIT

The Cooker

With either of these fire pits, if the ground inside is damp or worse has filled with rainwater, make a false floor of green sticks to set your fire on

MAKE A ROCKET STOVE

A rocket stove is a bit like a dakota fire pit but made out of tins instead of the earth. The idea is there is a large stove body canister with a hole with a smaller can fitted at the bottom for air and fuel intake meaning the burn 'up top' blazes more. You cook on the top of the large canister on some kind of improvised grill This is useful if you have long lengths of wood you can't cut down to fit inside a fire as you simply feed it in through the hole at the bottom as it burns away inside, push it in some more. This can be replicated with breeze-blocks.

OPEN FIRE INSIDE THE HOME

If you have an open fire, or a woodburning stove you are so lucky, as you will never be short of indoor-made hot fire food

During the caravan years and also in every cottage I have rented, I have made sure I have an indoor source of real flame for power-down scenarios. Next time you move, make this a priority so you can be self-reliant in heat and cooking. Alternatively, see if you can retro fit an indoor stove now?

COOKING METHODS

Once you have your fire set-up you can cook in the following ways:

TIN MUGS AND CANS

This is my preferred method for quick and easy fire food. Buy one mug per family member. You can heat up a savoury dish in each, scrub it out with grass, then cook up a dessert. While a lot of bushcraft men love their big fires, big logs and huge cast iron kettles, you will boil-up a cuppa or heat a meal much, MUCH quicker in a thin metal container over a stick fire Simply put the mugs in the embers, when it's time to remove use a cloth (I use my sleeve) as the metal handle will be hot. You can cover the mugs in tin foil, or a flat igneous rock, if you want to conserve moisture and for an even quicker heat.

Cooking Methods

You can also use old tin cans to cook food in a fire, but most today are plastic coated inside so you would want to burn this off first. As a rule cast iron is popular, for campfire cooking but heavy and takes a lot of the fires' heat to heat the utensil before it can then pass the heat to the food. As I am not foodie I prefer thin materials that quickly transfer heat and quick easy foods in it. Yes, you can roast a whole joint in cast but with tin you can slice the meat thinly and be eating it in a fraction of the time.

HOT TUNA HACK

Another thing to have a go at, is the 'no fire, hot tuna meal' You will need:

A tin of tuna in oil or meat in fat such as spam.

A square of kitchen roll folded into quarters.

Open the tin, push the folded kitchen roll into the oil/fat and allow it to soak in.

Method:

Light the corner of the kitchen roll, it will act as a wick soaking up the oil to burn for about 4 minutes, giving a little light and heat

When the paper has burned out, remove it and the tuna underneath will be cooked and deliciously hot.

This is an ideal hot food hack when you can't have a fire or haven't' the time. See an example of it burning in the background behind the picture of me eating one, at my secret wild moor campout spot.

TIN CAN OVEN; you need a larger catering sized tin, that is big enough to put on its side and fit what you need to cook on a flat rectangle of metal that will go across the diameter and wedge inside the sidewayson tin You can put a flat igneous rock in it, or put scewers of green sticks inside, or use the lid held up on stones, if you have no other flat metal sheet material.

Once you have made this unit, bury it in the glowing coals of your fire. It doesn't need flame it needs heat, there is a difference. If you prop the lid against the entrance as a door, it will be more oven-like.

Cooking Methods

IMPROVISED FRYING PAN

For cooking on a fire all pans, need metal handles as to inhale burning plastic is noxious. If you don't have a metal handled frying pan you can use a sheet of metal, like a baking tray, as long as it is not paint coated. You can also use river clay, making a dish then push the lid of a large tin can inside, and fry on top of that for eg, fried egg, snails, limpets etc. You can also fry eggs etc in an old cupcake baking tin on a fire

STICK ROAST

This isn't my method of choice simply because it takes too long on an input output analysis basis. You can add a whole carcass after gutting, to a greenwood sturdy stick and hang it on two Y shaped sticks poked into the ground at each side of your fire as an improvised spit roast. As mentioned before I would simply slice anything very thinly and pan cook it or add it to a stock for less energy and time input.

CLAY BAKE

If you need to roast something and have no container at all, you can either cook it directly in the ash, then brush it down before eating, or wrap the item in clay. Traditionally this was gypsy travellers way of roasting hedgehog in a fire pit.

The mini hogs are protected but roadkill or other small game can be wrapped all around in a 1-2 cm layer of clay and baked in a pre-heated, foot deep fire pit for around 30 mins. After which the fur/spines/feather and skin will pull off with the clay revealing the meat.

LEAF WRAP

We have many large leaved plants whose leaves are suitable for wrapping food to protect it while cooking in the embers of a fire. Burdock, butterbur and dock, in particular. You could use False Rhubarb (which is a wild real rhubarb) but the leaves would contain oxalic acid which isnt destroyed by heat and can upset tummies, it may enter the meat, but I doubt at a level of enough significance unless you were eating lots. Dairy mitigates its effects.

BOILED EGG WITH NO WATER.

It is possible to cook an egg in its shell in the embers of a fire, stand it on its end with a hole pierced in the shell at the top. This stops it exploding. Make the hole big enough to see into, allow the egg to sit for 5 to 10 mins in the hot ash at the edge of your fire, you will see through the hole when its ready.

A roadkill Hare I processed at 5am one morning!

Cooking Methods

THE DUTCH OVEN

I am not foodie and don't have the patience to use a dutch oven, however I am aware they are revered in the bushcraft cooking world so, to do right by you, I have included it here, as written by an expert in the field; Paul Harvey of Bush Cooking

"This method of cooking/baking has been around for hundreds of years, used outdoors as it gives you the ability to cook anything that you would normally cook at home. Made from heavy cast iron , they are a lump to carry around but worth it when it’s time to cook. I’ve been using Dutch ovens for many years and I love how versatile they are , they give you the option to cook, bake, roast or boil. Being cast iron, they retain the heat well . The best way to cook with these is to start with a good fire, which you should light one hour before you intend to cook. Doing this ensures you have a good bed of hot embers and coals. By hanging your oven over the heat source you will heat up the bottom of your oven, but to make the Dutch oven do what it’s designed to do, you need to place the lid on , the lid has a lip around the edge ,you now need to place hot embers on the lid , the lip around the edge will stop your embers falling off , You now have created an oven environment with heat all over your oven , great for baking bread .

TOP TIP

Every 5 mins rotate your oven quarter turn clockwise whilst rotating your lid anti clockwise. This prevents hot spots on the oven caused by the campfire and you will get a stable cooking temperature inside . The lid of the oven can be placed upside down in the hot embers of your fire to make a perfect frying pan They really are great fun to use!"

Happy Dutch Oven Cooking, Paul.

Water

NOT ON TAP

The average UK person uses 140 litres of water a day! We can get away with as little as 20 to 50 litres (W.H.O safe levels). What would you do if your water supply gets cut off for an extended period, or you want to move off-grid? How do you plan to get water? Half of the world will be in water poverty by 2025, so we all really need to plan ahead for how to get those 20-50 litres a day in a 'water not on tap' scenario This chapter looks at finding/testing/filtering and purifying water

FINDING WATER.

This depends where you are to some extent.

IN THE HOME YOU HAVE THE FOLLOWING...

Toilet cistern (note this is NOT the bowl you pee in, though at a push, already flushed then boiled, you could drink this too). Cistern water is eight litres of drinkable quality water (it comes from your mains). It has also been no where near the bowl and can be used in emergencies even without boiling.

A water storage tank in the loft of older properties will hold up to 158 litres of fresh mains water. This is NOT your hot water cylinder (see radiator system for that).

Radiators - the central heating system of your house contains water but not for drinking Each radiator holds an average of 5 ltrs plus still more in the pipes inbetween and if you don't have a modern 'combi' boiler the hot water cylinder adds another 100 - 300 litres. So, the average house can hold up to 340 litres in its central heating system. The problem with this water is it may have picked up metals or had a rust inhibitor added, which is toxic. If you have a new house you can choose to add a non toxic central heating inhibitor such as THIS ONE which is based on Ethelyne Glycol and suitable for foodsafe processes or to do without an additive. Why not use the test stips mentioned in the drinking water test kit below to test a bit of your heating water to see what it contains so you know for future? Generally speaking, do NOT drink central heating system water unless you know what is in it. If it doesn't pass drinking water test strips perhaps you could use it to water outside plants allowing the earth to filter it or for other non food uses if you are unlikely to be using the central heating.

Rainwater from your roof. The calculation you need to know for collecting roof rain water is: average rainfall in your area per year in mm per square metre, times the area of your roof in metres. There are online calculators available now, such as the one HERE, that will work out your roof collection possibilities per annum. The savings in money are not great, as we don't pay much for water, but the comfort of knowing you have some method of securing water, means at the very least, it's worth capturing rain from one side of your roof Add a bank of three or four rainwater butts in sequence from each down-pipe Figures suggest 24,000 litres can be saved from the average house roof every year for 'non-drinking purposes'. In a survival situation, if purified, this water is drinkable.

In your garden (or town park) you can make: An earth solar still. Choose a piece of damp ground (use indicator plants if this isn't obvious) but one that gets some sun. Dig a hole about a foot deep, add a bowl, cover the hole with plastic sheeting. (see tips under saltwater still for best efficiency)

Drill your own well. Anyone is allowed to dig a well and extract up to 20k litres a day without an extraction license. One company GSI Drilling test your ground for water. Most terrain, in an average rainfall area, will yield water that can be drilled. A well can cost around £10k to set up so possibly you could share with a few neighbours?

In the town and countryside you have streams, ponds, lakes rivers and canals although you would need to follow these as far up stream as possible on a map to ensure no motor boats or industrial effluent) You will need a collection of plastic jerry cans that have not had fuel in and only use them for drinking water. 20lt are about manageable to carry when full. As the WHO minimum amount per day, before water

poverty hits, is 20 litres; ensure you have one jerry can per person, per day. Collecting from running sources is better than stagnant but stagnant water that you can then purify is better than no water at all.

On the coast you have freshwater springs that enter the valleys going into the estuary or to the beach. Drinking sea water will cause you to dehydrate (see 'desalination').

DRINKING WATER

So, you have found water, is it drinkable? drinkable water has the following levels, I keep test strips and randomly test water for interest.

To be considered safe it must contain no more, per litre, of water, than:

0 5 mg/l of chlorine

0 3mg/l of iron

1mg/l of copper

15ppb of lead

10mg/l of nitrate

1mg l/of nitrite

0.002 mg/l of mercury

2mg/l flouride

polythene sheeting, weighted in the centre with a stone

Water

DRINKING WATER CONT.

In addition to the meeting the safe levels of metals and chemicals, water also needs to be free of harmful bacteria, virus and protazoa. Diarrhea, vomiting and gut pain are the most common symptoms, while the virus hepititis with its liver symptoms plus polio virus are also spread in water.

TEST KITS

I buy 100 test strips for £3.99 online they test for all the above. You can buy another test kit for bacteria such as E Coli which comes from faeces or stale urine in your water supply.

FILTRATION AND PURIFCATION

You will not be able to see any of the above contaminants, so always assume your water is polluted All water to be used for food or drinking must first be filtered then purified It is NOT enough just to filter found water

FILTRATION

Filter any particles of debris out. If you don't filter your found water, purification will NOT be effective. Microbes can hide under the tiniest of debris, undermining purification efforts. Filtration can be as simple as folding a t shirt or tea towel and pouring the water through it. The smaller the weave the better, so double the fabric, if it is a loose weave. Even a sock can become a filter. Other filter methods are: a lemonade bottle, bottom cut off, with cloth or coffee paper at the spout, filled with sand and water poured through, or simply coffee paper. At the other end of the filtration technology scale is the ceramic filter, these can remove metals, chemicals and bacteria but NOT viruses.

They are ideal for large volume, household use and work simply by gravity, no power needed.

PURIFICATION

After the debris are filtered out, the water can still be impure and not drinkable. There are several categories of potential contaminants in filtered water; none of which are visible with the naked eye.

Metals

Chemicals

Virus

Bacteria

Protazoa

Salt

At the most basic you can make water safe by filtering it through a tee shirt then keeping the water on a rolling boil for about 3 mins. This will not remove metals, chemicals or salt, but will kill virus, bacteria and protazoa. some strains of e coli are heat tolerant but not boil resistant. Other methods or water purifcation are:

Wild Harvest School of Self-Reliance

Unscented bleach (Hydrogen Peroxide) can be used to purify water from bacteria, virus and protazoa in the absence of heat for boiling water. Aim for no more than 50ppm which is 0.005%. So in a 20 lt vessel you would need only 5 ml of hydrogen peroxide The water should smell faintly of bleach If you add too much, pour the solution from container to container and allow some bleach to evaporate off and dilute with more water if possible. If you have different size vessels or a different ppm bleach you can use the dosage calculator HERE

Calcium Hypochlorite this is available online in the form of pool or hot tub cleaner, remember any instructions will be for pool water so you will need to dilute much more. It is the stuff often used by water authorities to chlorinate our drinking water to prevent microbial contamination

Iodine is another useful, natural, multipurpose household chemical that can be used as a wound cleaner or to purify water. Found either in dropper bottles, crystals or tablets to add to water, iodine is more effective than chlorine for Giardia type infections (a protozoa) so if you are using water that may have animal or human gut waste in it iodine may be your go-to purification chemical. The dosage depends on the type of product you have ie dropper, tabs or crystals - so read the label.

Potassium Permanganate - purple crystals you can store (see essentials section) They are natural, can be used in the garden as a pesticide, as a wound cleaner, as a fire starter and for cleaning water.

Potassium hydroxide (wood ash) - although this will raise the ph of the water therefore killing many acid loving bacteria, there are bacteria that thrive in alkali conditions such as cholera, plus also too high a ph will burn your digestive tract so exercise caution if you read about wood ash as a water purifier. It can be used in rain buts for garden water to keep it fresh but wood ash water is not usually safe for humans unless super dilute in which case its denaturing of bacteria is less effective anyway. Charcoal (burnt lumps of wood from your fire) is also cited for water filters - please note, water filtered through charcoal STILL needs boiling.

The above natural chemicals will get rid of the biological contaminants such as virus ,bacteria and protazoa, but not the metals and chemicals. However as it is a cumulative build-up of metals and chemicals that is the problem, rather than instant toxicity, as a short term drink for survival needs I would drink metal-rich water.

Combined filtration and purification systems.

Some modern gadgets claim to both filter and purify water, these gadgets range from drinking straw size for backpacks to two gallon, stainless steel kitchen top units that look like a Burco Boiler The most reputed of the household-size water cleaning system is the Berkey with ceramic or black ceramic (more thorough) cartridges. Although they claim to rid water of everything it is worth noting that waterborne virus is hard to filter out and so you may still wish to boil.

DESALINATION BY DISTILLATION

If you are near the coast and can access sea water. The method of purification to make it drinkable is de-salination. Usually this process both filters and purifies the water leaving any nasties behind as you are drinking the distilled water that has evaporated from the saline In other words, the water is evaporated away from the salt, debris and other contaminants so you don't need to boil any water produced by distillation

The principle is the same as the solar-earth still. If you collect seawater in large bowls and put them in a hole then cover the hole with clear film or a perspex sheet, angled to allow the collected condensation to drip into an empty bowl, when the water is warmed by the sun, it evaporates; the steam hitting the polythene sheet, sloped glass or perspex above then runs down to drip into another bowl, carefully positioned.

Another method of obtaining water by distillation on the coast, is simply to make the earth still as picture earlier but in wet sand. This is useful if you don't have two bowls.

TIPS

The water in a solar still needs to get to around 55 degrees while the plastic/glass needs to be cooler by about 10 degrees

Shallow wider bowls will aid more evaporation than a narrow deep one. Always ensure the edges of the hole are sealed by the covering or your evaporation will escape. Using the the earth/sand you dug from the hole is the most obvious method to weigh the plastic down at the edges.

STORING WATER FOR LONGER PERIODS

To store a lot of water for drinking is difficult unless you add one of the chemicals mentioned. I am currently experimenting with the idea of adding ash to raise the ph for storage then filtering it and adding apple cider vinegar to neutralise it - I will let you know!

Water

HOW WILL YOU GET YOURS?

Having read about the various methods of obtaining, filtering and purifying water for drinking, write your preferred methods below. Remember you will need one portable method for out and about emergencies if displaced AND one household method for larger volumes/longer periods of time Make a note of the quantities per litre of water for your chosen chemical, if using, here too from the packet. Check out Wild Harvests online shop for water collection and purification items to stock up on including iodine drops, steri tablets, mobile stoves, the Berkey filter and jerry cans.

Write your solution below:

Sources of water for my family are:

I will collect this water by:

I will filter the water by:

I will purify the water by:

The SurvivalistBaker

This is an absolute skill-necessity. The ability to start with basic, stored ingredients and create something filling, with no measuring tools and ideally, eventually in fire, is something that at some point will have a huge impact on your family's comfort.

Over the coming months experiment with basic recipes until you can throw them away. Learn to bake bread, scones, flapjack, crumble topping and pastry without recourse to a book or measuring tool. You won't always have scales to hand. Be reassured that, because what you put in is edible, whatever comes out will be edible. I taught my kids experimental baking by simply giving them lots of ingredients and letting them mix them to see what came out - they ate every single thing, blue rock buns, flat cake, safe in the knowledge it was still, after all, food. My girl is now an expert gluten-free baker for all this food play. Now it's your turn to bin the scales and play with ingredients, it's like kitchen table science but much more liberating.

HOW TO MAKE

Bread

Pastry

Flapjack

Crumble Topping

Scones

USING

proportional measurement with ratios, a mug and spoons guestimations based on packaging quantities

If you have a bag of flour, you can read that it contains eg. 1.5kg or 1kg right? So why do you then weigh the flour out of it? Surely half a 1.5kg bag is 750g ? And a third of a bag is 500? So for a loaf of bread that requires 500g how much of the bag do you pour into the bowl? Yep, one third. What if the bag is already open and some flour is missing? Well, look at the crease at the top to see where full was, then move your finger down the packet from there to where eg two thirds is.

Is the remaining flour more or less than this.

This kind of uestimation is absolutely fine for survival baking and will bring you out near enough the right amount. No one in my house has ever not eaten a cake because it had 30g less flour in it.

The SurvivalistBaker

FLAPJACKS

YOU WILL NEED:

2 Mugs of Rolled oats

Half a Mug of Sugar

Half a Mug of Melted Butter

HOW TO MAKE

Melt the butter in a pan (or tin mug), add to the sugar and oats, stir thoroughly and pour into a baking tray Bake on medium for 20 minutes ish

Allow to cool then cut into fingers Makes 9

PASTRY

YOU WILL NEED:

2 Mugs of Plain Flour (Bread Flour is fine too)

Two Thirds of a Mug of Melted Lard or 4/5ths of a 250g block of lard. You may see lines printed on the wrapper, this is to help you cut it into 50g portions

This will make enough for one family sized pie.

HOW TO MAKE:

Lightly sift the flour with fingers into the bowl a few times to un-compact it.

Pour-in the melted lard or rub in the solid lard until well mixed.

Add a dash of really cold water and mix in.

Chill the pastry for 20 mins or so.

Flour the counter surface and roll the pastry out, use a dinner plate and a side plate to cut two circles, use the larger one to line a bowl, prick the bottom, cover the lined bowl with the plate and bake for 15 mins so dough cooks through inside Remove the plate for a further five minutes to crisp it off a little.

Add almost an cooked filling and put the top on (the smaller circle),crimping at sides. Bake for a further 20 mins ish on hot.

Mug and Spoon

Elsewhere in this book is a printable conversion chart you can pin up in your kitchen but for the sake of this chapter here is some of the information again.

Mugs

A standard British mug like the one in the picture holds:

200g flour (any)

300g sugar

150g rolled oats

300ml of water, oil or melted butter.

100ml of water, oil or melted butter is near enough the same as 100g

Spoons:

A teaspoon holds 5ml A dessertspoon holds 10ml

A tablespoon holds 15ml

Is there any recipe that requires more finite measurements than this?

The SurvivalistBaker

CRUMBLE TOPPING

This is a good one to learn as, if you are growing/foraging your own, you can stick all sorts under a crumble lid, savoury or sweet. Courgette and tomato, or minced roadkill pheasant breast under a cheese crumble, rhubarb or apple spiced with native spices such herb bennet root (clove taste) or ground dried ash key seeds or foraged berries sweetened with sweet cicely or stevia under a sweet crumble

YOU WILL NEED FOR THE WHEAT FREE SWEET CRUMBLE VERSION

Porridge oats 1 mug

Sugar 1/6th of a mug (or equivalent)

1/3 Mug of melted butter/fat/oil

HOW TO MAKE

Mix Oats and Sugar

Pour on melted fat or oil and mix Spread loosely over cooked base.

SWEET CRUMBLE TOPPING NORMAL

YOU WILL NEED

1Mug flour

1/3 mug sugar or equivalent

1/3 mug melted butter/fat/oil

HOW TO MAKE

Mix flour and sugar

Pour in melted butter, lightly mix

Tip over cooked savoury bottom and bake or grill for 10 mins.

Mug and Spoon

Elsewhere in this book is a printable conversion chart you can pin up in your kitchen but for the sake of this chapter here is some of the information again.

Mugs

A standard British mug like the one in the picture holds:

200g flour (any)

300g sugar

150g rolled oats

300ml of water, oil or melted butter.

100ml of water, oil or melted butter is the same as 100g

Spoons:

A teaspoon holds 5ml

A dessertspoon holds 10ml

A tablespoon holds 15ml

Is there any recipe that requires more finite measurements than this?

The SurvivalistBaker

SAVOURY CRUMBLE TOPPING NORMAL

Scones

YOU WILL NEED

1Mug plain or bread flour

Pinch of something savoury like herbs/cheese/garlic/salt/crushed crisps

1/3 mug melted butter/fat/oil

HOW TO MAKE

Sift flour with fingers and mix in savoury addition

Pour in oil/mix in butter/fat; lightly mix

Tip over cooked savoury bottom and bake or grill for 10 mins.

SAVOURY CRUMBLE TOPPING WHEAT FREE

1Mug of rolled oats or a cooked grain

Pinch of something savoury like herbs/cheese/garlic/salt/crushed crisps

1/3 mug melted butter/fat/oil

HOW TO MAKE

Mix flour and savoury addition

Pour in oil/mix in butter/fat, lightly mix

Tip over cooked savoury bottom and bake or grill for 10 mins.

Again scones are a good way of bulking out a sweet or savoury meal, cheese sones with chopped garlic mustard or wild garlic, on top of mince like a cobbler, or sweet scones with whatever fruit, seeds or nuts you can forage or grow.

YOU WILL NEED:

1.5 Mugs of S.R Flour (Bread/plain Flour is fine too, the scones will be denser though.

One Thirdsof a Mug of Melted Lard/butter/oil.

Two Tb spoons of something sweet or something savoury

HOW TO MAKE

Rub flour and fat/oil together

Add the sweet/savoury element if using.

Add a dash of water. Form into balls and squash. Bake for 15 ish mins on medium.

Remember these are ' prepper scones ' , with minimum of ingredients. Feel free to add egg/yogurt/buttermilk instead of water.

1. 2. 3.

1.

2. 3.

3.

4. 5.

The SurvivalistBaker EQUIPMENT

THE BARE MINIMUM

RATIOS

Many recipes for baking but also for ointments and toiletries too, have ingredients that, by accident or design are in proportion to each other via certain ratios. Did you notice this in the above?

Flapjacks are:

Three ingredients, the main one; oats being twice that of the other two I'll show you the example in grams, then in ratio.

300g oats

150g sugar

150g butter

2:1 oats to sugar

2:1 oats to butter.

The value of the oats is the same as the value of the sugar and butter added together.

Or you could remember it by: F = 1S + 1B +2O

Or O=B + S

When using mug measurement, the principle is still there but it is different as each ingredient has different volume:weight but the above translates to 2 mugs of oats:halfmugbutter;halfmugsugar

Cake is:

1 part flour:1part sugar:1 part fat plus 1 egg per part if one part = 100g.

So Cake is:

C = 1F+1S+1B+1E or 1:1:1:1

Spend time getting to know the maths and science of your basic ingredients as knowledge can free you up from needing gadgets.

Because a big part of this book is about freeing you up from feters so you can move forward, the de-junking chapter will get you to consider what you really need in your house and help you avoid becoming a 'stuff manager ' . Less stuff to manage equals more time to do things. The same goes for your baking equipment. If an item has one use only, you can replace it with something you already have. Some time and space saving tips are:

Biscuit cutters/tartlet cutteruse up-turned mug or glass.

You don't need to roll out scone dough and cut scones with a cutter, simply roll mixture into balls and squash.

Mix a cake in the same pyrex bowl you bake it in.

A fork will sift flour instead of a seive.

Wine bottles make rolling pins.

Cheese slice? Pizza wheel? Use a knife! Now, go and empty your kitchen draws and keep only items with at least two uses.

Easy Breads

SELF- RAISING BUNS

YOU WILL NEED:

Self-Raising Flour (Handful per bun)

Enough water to bind

Optional salt/sugar

HOW TO MAKE

Mix the flour and water, shape into buns, bake in hot oven for 15 mins.

FIZZY DRINK BREAD

YOU WILL NEED:

bottle of fizzy drink - beer, pop 1 mug

1.5 mugs of S.R flour

One third of a mug of sugar

HOW TO MAKE

Mix flour and sugar and slowly sitr in the mug of fbeer, it's moist so needs a tin, bake in a medium to hot oven for 45 mins

YEAST BREAD

YOU WILL NEED:

Half a 1kg bag of flour or 1/3 of a 1 5kg bag

flour

Tablespoon sugar or honey

Tablespoon/sachet dried yeast

Glug of oil or Tablespoon butter if you can

Teaspoon of salt if you can

330ml (one mug) water made up with 1/3 boiling and 2/3 cold. cont....

Corn Flat Bread

Prep: 5 minutes

Fry: 2 - 3 minutes each side

INGREDIENTS

1 mug of

cornmeal/flour

1/3 mug of hotter than hand water.

Pinch of salt if you can.

Mix really well into a smooth dough (add an egg if you can and or a glug of oil). Split into 7 or 8 balls.

Heat oil in a heavy based pan, flatten balls into thin rounds, moisten each side with a little water or oil and cook about two to three mins on each side.

Cornmeal and Cornflour can last a lot longer than wheatflour.

*The following shows how long PAST THE EATBY DATE EACH FLOUR CAN BE USED.

Wheat flour 4 - 6 months

Corn flour 9 - 12 months

Corn meal 1 - 2 years.

www.eatbydate.com*

GF/YF

HOW TO MAKE EASY YEAST BREAD

Mix all ingredients together, no need to knead, leave somewhere warm overnight, or on sunny window for three hours. Knock dough back, shape and bake in oven for 20 mins at 180-200 c

STORING YOUR BREAD FLOUR.

One 500g loaf of bread for a family of five lasts one day so, 500g x 7 days is 3.5 kg a week of flour for bread alone.

You should store your flour in its paper bag but in a plastic click-lock tub, so that no moisture can get in.

You will easily know if your flour has gone rancid from its smell. Most flour has almost no odour, while some have a sweet or nutty smell. Spoiled flour smells musty, sour and like play doh. If you eat flour too far past its b.b.d it could make you sick with micro organisms so do follow the above chart It can be useful to store, in addition to flour, cornmeal and also wheat berries as both have a much longer shelf life

Basic Soup

MAKING A SIMPLE STOCK FROM WHAT IS AROUND YOU

Soup and stock is what has kept folk going in hard time. Adding water to a mixture of vegetables and protein is one of the best ways to 'make good' the nutrition and stretch it further. Being hot and bigger than the total of its' components thanks to water; a soup or stock is filling and satiating. More so than if you ate the components separately.

One of my favourite campfire stories is 'Stone Soup'. Three weary soldiers returning from war, stop at a starving village They knock on door after door, asking for morsels to eat, but the villagers are hungry themselves so refuse to answer The clever soldiers set up a campfire on the green, fill the pot with water and a stone, as it starts steaming the villagers come out, one-by-one, driven by curiosity. The soldiers explain that they are making a delicious stone soup, but if the old woman had just half a carrot that would make it even better. Deciding that half a carrot wasn't much to sacrifice, she returns with her offering, a nearby man is told that a chunk of cabbage would add more magic to the Stone Soup, so he obliges too, a handful of peas from the poor family at the end and before long the whole village is feasting on a nourishing, communal pot of hot goodness.

During the second world war, one potato made into a broth, would feed a family of five where on its own, it would not.

For all the fancy wild food recipes in the world, the greatest art is the feeding of many on little and is held in the making of a humble soup or stock.

Basic Soup

MAKING A SIMPLE STOCK FROM WHAT IS AROUND YOU

Find

2 handfuls of something starchy choose from:

Dandelion nettle dock or garlic

mustard Roots

Fodder beet

Potato

Carrots

or 2 handfuls of cooked grains or Bread

A large pan with a lid (or a plate as lid).

Gather

A carrier bag of edible greens from the foraging chapter, a mixture of goose grass, chickweed, nettle, dandelions, thistle or others

Hunt

A handful of protein, from the wild protein section if you can, or want; eg snails, a crayfish, roadkill pheasant or rabbit. Chop it up into very small pieces

www.wildharvest.org

To make:

Chop up the starchy items and put them in a stock pan with a bit of oil or butter, and a splash of water, lightly steamfry with a lid on Let them soften a bit then add any protein source, cover and cook a couple more minutes to meld the flavours

De-stem the greens, you can leave stems in but they can be bitter and stringy. Put the leaves into the pan with the softened roots

Put a lid on the pan and let the leaves wilt

Once they have reduced in size add more water and if you have it, a stock cube or some salt, or stronger savoury wild flavours like seaweed, garlicky plants, ash keys, herb bennet root, hog weed seeds, three cornered leek, dried magnolia buds

Simply bring the lot to the boil, then simmer, for ten minutes Remove any woody flavourings. Blitz if you can, to make it thicker, but it's fine as it is, just more uncouth to eat If you have added meat, simmer for up to 20-30 mins after bringing to the boil, until any meat has lost its translucent appearance inside.

Nut/Seed Milk

YOU WILL NEED:

Nuts or seeds of your choice from:

hazels, almonds, beech, sunflower, hemp, oats

Water

Pinch of Salt

Tablespoon of molasses or honey

HOW TO MAKE

You can choose to roast the nuts first if you want as this adds more flavour and often increases calcium levels of nuts.

Soak the nuts/seeds overnight covered in cold water

Strain the water off but save it, blitz the nuts up with a little of the saved water then add more fresh water and soak again.

Combine all the nuts and waters for one final blitzing, leave to stand for an hour and strain through a cloth.

Stir in some salt and sweetner if required.

Butter

YOU WILL NEED:

300 ml double cream at room temperature

Glass Kilner jar with a butter churn lid

Muslin cloth

Pinch of Salt/Herbs

Makes about 300 g butter

HOW TO MAKE BUTTER

Remember from the toiletries chapter milk is a natural emulsion; it contains fat AND water together in one product, so you need to get the water out the cream and leave the fat. Butter is simply made by the agitation of the fat molecules in the cream to get them to stick together and this can be done simply by shaking a jam jar with lid on and a few marbles or stones inside.

Don't add the salt at the start, just pour the room temperature double cream into the jar and turn the handle, or shake the jar as fast as you can. It helps if you have someone else to pass the jar to but the actual process of becoming butter this way only takes about five minutes with the Kilner butter churn attachment. www.kilnerjar.co.uk

When the butter has 'come' you will see it goes a little yellower than cream and the watery buttermilk separates The butter will cling to the paddles

Keep going until there is very little cream left just butter and buttermillk, I often pour off some excess buttermilk at this point, then empty some butter out then re beat the remaining cream/buttermilk.

Put the butter into a muslin cloth and allow the remaining buttermilk to be absorbed out because the less water in your butter the longer it will last, I once didn't do this and you could taste an off taste the day after so I always dry my butter now with muslin. Now, when your butter is 'dry' add the salt (and herbs if desired) mixing it in with a fork. Some folk like to add a dash of oil, for us it would be local rapeseed, this would give a bit more yellow colour and also make it easier to spread

Smooth the butter into a bowl, a cup or shape it into a sausage using your muslin and slice It will keep for about a week in the fridge.

Ice Cream

INGREDIENTS

600 ml double cream

4 egg yolks

100g caster sugar

Warm up half the cream in a pan on a low heat, while it is warming, seperate four egg yolks into a bowl and beat in vanilla essence (optional) and caster sugar.

When the cream is warm beat it into the egg mix, then return to the pan When it thickens you have made custard*

Ice cream is the next stage, remove the custard from the heat, careful not to burn it, slowly beat in the remaining 300 ml cream until well mixed.

Pour into a tub with a lid and freeze. Stir ever 20 mins or so until it sets.

Ice Cream Method 2.

INGREDIENTS

600ml of whole milk and a dash of cream

Two heaped tablespoons sugar.

Vanilla or other essence.

You also need:

Two bowls of different sizes ideally the smaller one metal

Lots of ice, half a cup of salt.

Mix the milk, cream, essence and sugar and in the metal bowl stir them while the metal bowl sits in the bigger bowl of ice and salt.

*THE CUSTARD METHOD OF ICE CREAM MAKING ALLOWS YOU TO INFUSE YOUR WILD OR GARDEN FLORALS INTO THE CREAM WHILE IT'S WARMING.

Soft Cheese INGREDIENTS

2 lts whole milk cow or goat.

Half teaspoon citric acid

Salt

Youll also need:

Muslin cloth

Heavy pan

Thermometer

METHOD

In a heavy bottom pan mix the milk with half a tea spoon of citric acid or a table spoon of vinegar.

Warm up the milk slowly to 180 degrees F

As soon as it reaches this temperature remove the pan from heat and allow it to cool slightly. Pour the mixture through a tightly woven muslin cloth, cheap loose woven muslin will not be tightly woven enough to catch the curds. You can of course double up a looser weave muslin.

Catching the curds and allowing the whey to drain through, hang the muslin up to continue to drain over the bowl. I use an elastic band and just hang the muslin bundle from a kitchen cupboard knob.

After between 2 and 4 hours the bag should have drained and you can scrape the soft cheese into a bowl and add salt.

If you want harder cheese all you need to do is compress your soft cheese. I used to have a fancy cheese press but hardly used it and it had to go when I moved into the caravan. Instead I used old, boiled tuna tins, with holes pierced from the inside to the outside of the bottom and sat them on a cooling rack. Smply squash the soft cheese into the tin, in a fresh piece of muslin and using the lid you have cut off (made a little smaller) on the top add a weight. Each day turn the cheese over. After three or four days you can uncover it and it will be a semi-hard cheese.

Yogurt

The ideal yogurt starter for cold weather off-grid living is an heirloom Mesophilic yogurt such as 'Matsoni' or 'Caspian'. Eastern European yogurth cultures are designed for turning milk to yoghurt in normal room temperatures rather than needing constant warm. It is a tangier, more runny yoghurt so bare this in mind.

The initial culture (grains) can be bought online, but from then on you just use your existing yogurt to start a new batch.

Like all dairying process the main aim of yoghurt making was to extend the life of summer-glut milk by putting it through controlled 'turning' making it into something with a longer shelf-life In doing so however it also bestows some other health benefits and can make milk more tolerable to people with sensitivity to milk.

HOW TO MAKE

Take 150 ml of whole fresh milk.

Heat the milk up to between 180 degrees (82 celsius) and boiling point.

Sterilise a glass jar and get a clean muslin and elastic band for the top.

Pour the milk into the jar

Allow it to cool to room temperature.

Scatter in the grains, and gently swish the jar.

Cover with clean muslin (or kitchen roll)

In about 36 hours the small starter batch will have thickened into yoghurt

Remove a bit to try, with a clean spoon and add more milk.

Eat some each day replacing with milk. Your yogurt has less chance of spoiling if you keep everything clean including the new milk ie. boil/cool it before adding more.

Produce No Waste

Remember the permaculture principle of produce no waste? Well, the whey and buttermilk are not simply waste products of cheese and butter making but can be used in their own right

Whey can be drank as a refreshing drink, fermented or fresh, and also due to its high acidity can be used to preserve other foodstuffs. In Iceland meat was preserved in whey.

Buttermilk can be added to flour and butter to bind scones.

Both make refreshing face cleansers due to the acids.

VINEGAR How To Make

OUT OF APPLE SCRAPS

Not only a flavouring but a preserving fluid (pickling), skin cleaner, hair wash and house cleaner; the acid content of vinegar stripping away grease Plus it is a herbal medicine medium The basic principle of vinegar is that the that sugar has been converted to acetic acid by airborne bacteria that cause the solution to undergo oxidative fermentation. Depending on the solution and the type of sugar - you get different types of vinegar, with different colours and flavours. As we are an apple growing nation, I have covered apple cider vinegar, but I have also made it with oak leaves (totally by accident when making wine) but most left over fruit will do.

Youwillneed

Apple cores, skin and bits from five to seven apples.

Water - boiled and cooled, to reduce any bacterial contamination

About 3 tea spoons of Sugar or honey

ToMake

A large clean wide mouth glass or pot vessel, big enough for the apples to no more than half fill (a 1l/1.5l jar would do).

Muslin cloth or clean tea towel Elastic band

Keeping surfaces and knife clean, chop the apples small so there is more surface area, then put in the sterilised jar (see chapter on making berry preserves for natural sterilisation methods) Top-up with the cooled boiled water mixed with sugar or honey. ( 1 teaspoon of sugar/honey for every two apples' bits. So for 6 lots of apple scraps equals three whole apples worth, therefore three teaspoons.

Ensuring the apples are well under the surface of the water, cover the jar with the cloth and elastic band, then leave the vinegar in a dark cupboard. Stir daily for the first couple of weeks, ensuring apples never stick out the water, after a few days it should bubble, scrape any scum off the surface. Remove the apples once they have all sank to the bottom, then re-jar the vinegar, cover and leave for four to six more weeks. After this pour into a lidded jar and keep cool and dark. It should last for years if stored correctly.

DESIGN A MORE EFFICIENT LANDSCAPE

Permaculture

Permaculture is a newish word but not a new concept The word was introduced in the seventies but is a collation and articulation of the knowledge and practices of many traditional land-based cultures throughout history. These peoples' survival was based on their relationship to the land, so they had to develop efficient reciprocal relationships with nature, to create permanently sustainable agriculture systems or die They had to constantly observe the landscape, relate their practices to it, and evolve these practices according to what nature was telling them about their methods. Growing on a floodplain could result in famine after an untimely flood. Trying to cultivate root crops in boggy ground, trying to raise livestock or tender plants on high slopes, our ancestors had to closely observe what the land was telling them so they could avoid costly mistakes. The patience to observe and accept the feedback of 'data' from our landscape is a lost art, and has resulted in fewer ‘green fingered’ folk today

Permaculture today is based on three ethics: Earth Care: People Care: Fair Shares Everything we do to our landscapes, when planning a new design must accord with these ethics for it to be classed as a permaculture design. The Venn diagram below is for you to fill in with every design decision you make in the future, aim for each element of your design to cross at least two ethics; ideally three.

Earth Care

People Care

Fair Shares

Permaculture

PRINCIPLES

There are a few principles that enable these ethics to be put into real-world practice in your design, and these principles differ in priority depending on who you speak to, Here I have listed the principles I've found most useful in landscape and life design. Always obtain a yield Part of developing a reciprocal relationship is that you CAN expect something in return for your labour. A yield can be veg, fruit, honey, space to enjoy, eggs, pleasure, herbs for medicines, and can be as vague as eg. I want a lawn in my landscape design to sit and enjoy picnics with the family to as specific as; 'I want to produce 30 lettuce and 15 kg of potatoes plus 300 eggs a year and store 3 tonnes of wood'. Either way, Nature is giving, she wants to give you a yield; accept this and articulate what yield you would like in return for what input you can manage into your landscape

Always do an input output analysis. What effort, time money and resources are you putting into your landscape and what are you getting out yield-wise? The goal is to reduce input and increase the output from that input, so making your system more sustainable over time. Example of a high input low output system: Ed loves gardening but is constantly moaning how much time it takes to make it 'nice', they love orchids and have to water often, move them around to suit the season, and feed them. The couple spend a lot at the supermarket so Ed and his wife have to work a lot of hours to pay for both the supermarket shop and the gardening stuff they like to get at the garden centre on a Sunday morning. I am sure we all know a couple like this If Ed adopted some permaculture principles he could spend less time doing the unfulfilling stuff in the garden like digging, watering and mowing, spend less spend less money and time queuing at the garden centre, spend less money and time in the supermarket and more time in the garden doing the stuff he loves. Best yet; less time working to pay for it all. Growing hot house orchids and pineapples in the UK are examples of high input:low output systems. Owning a high input low output system was a sign of wasteable wealth in the past. Turn a high input:low output system around, by adopting some of the following principles and methods.

Create a closed loop system. Design your landscape to be self-sustaining, where the output of one part of the system, that could ordinarily be called ‘waste’ will act as an input into another system so both reducing waste and reducing the need to bring in more inputs In the usual, mainstream way, resources are used in a linear system:

Ed mows the grass and puts it into sacks he buys specially to be put into the council brown waste, he then buys compost and soil feed. He could have kept the garden waste to use in-house as compost. He buys F1 Sterile seeds from a supermarket which, when they grow will not produce again next year as they are deliberately selfterminating. So each year he has to go and buy more seeds (the makers plan) and sow and pot on again. He could use heritage strain seeds and save seeds from the plants after they have flowered. His pee is going down the loo mixed in with 9 litres of water thats purified enough to drink...

Permaculture

PRINCIPLES - CONT.

It could have gone on his compost. His wife has just binned some old net curtains she didn’t like, while Ed has just bought some nice new netting for his fruit. They have fly tipped some old tyres out of the garage and bought in some nice plastic pots for their flowers. I am sure we are all aware of the potential waste here. The above is a linear system of resource use, ie:

Closed Loop example.

If you have ever been blackberry picking on the edge of a wood you will see a closed loop system in action. Nature produces a bountiful yield with absolutely no input from us, because she reuses waste and operates a closed loop system

At its simplest level: The leaves fall and nourish the earth, the plant grows stronger from the nourished soil, it suckers or self-seeds and has babies which grow into new plants, in earth mulched and kept moist by a nourishing and weed suppressing layer of leaves. Worms enjoy eating the leaf litter under the plant and in doing so add their fertiliser to the soil plus create drainage holes for the water to get to the roots, holes that keep the soil un-compacted for better root growth and aerated too. Mother Nature never goes to the garden centre for products, yet still produces the largest yield. All is watered by the rain, which is part of it’s own closed loop system of water collection, evaporation and re-fall.

The arrows represent transport at each stage

Bought-In Single Use Resources

Bins/Drains/ Landill Gardening

Seeds, plant food, water herbicides,

Waste products from house/ garden

Permaculture

PRINCIPLES - CONT.

Each element of the design should have at least two uses. An element is anything you add to your landscape design. It could be: a lawn, a pizza oven, a log pile, a green house, compost heap, washing line, herb bed, orchard, bee hive, shed, pond and so on. Any element in your design, should, in addition to fitting into the ethics of permaculture ie. ensure earth care, people care or fair shares, also have at least two functions. The word 'design' simply means an arrangement of elements to suit a given purpose.

My own examples of multi purpose elements are: the line of willow I planted at the tipi site - this acts as a wind break, it soaks up excess ground water, provides a visual screen to the tipi site, gives bark for medicine and whips for weaving and houses the Puss Moth caterpillar (mmm). People care/Fair shares in that I can use it to teach others and give away any whips for others to plant willow

The small pond I included gives habitat biodiversity, nutrient rich water for watering plants, fish, and can accommodate biological pest control (frogs and ducks). People are/Fair Shares in that the bountiful supply of rhubarb that loves the pond water is turned into food for the family or given away,

Think about the elements you may like to add to your ultimate design Do they meet the needs of earth care, people care or fair shares, and can they serve at least two functions? If not you may want to think of using the space for something better.

Small and slow solutions are more sustainable. Rome wasn’t build in a day, if you take on a 25 acre plot, you will achieve more impact by working with the first quarter acre, then another half and so on, rather than trying to tackle the full plot instantly. This applies even if it's a large garden.

Encourage Diversity. This can be achieved in several ways. 1. Height by gardening in layers 2 A diverse range of plants - so fruit and veg and ornamentals all mixed in, self-seeding annuals and perennials, winter and summer flowering. A diverse range of habitats, wet, sunny, rocky, shady, Diversity usually leads to resiliance in that if one part of a design goes to pot you have many other functioning aspects.

Learn to Observe Effectively. This is probably my favourite principle. Observing our environment and what is and isn't there, what is and isn't working well, is the best message as to how to proceed We have lost the ability and patience to observe nature and landscapes. Most people adopt what I call 'catalogue down vs land up' approach to planning their landscape. They get excited and try to impose a catalogue design where it may not naturally work, due to soil, micro climate and other variables. Then wonder why it didn't work. You need to observe your plot for one full year, that's four seasons, before you implement any design onto it

Permaculture

OBSERVATION EXERCISE

Go outside and spend five minutes looking at the land then make notes of what you see. DON'T READ ON, go and do this NOW and make your notes HERE:

When I give my students, on the Permaculture Day course here at Wild Harvest, this deliberately vague instruction, I see a look, almost, of panic. How do I observe?! What do I observe?! Our observation skills are lacking. We have never been taught how to observe land, how to read a landscape. When we re-group, after five minutes or so, I ask them for their feedback, what observations did they make about the land. I then proceed to give them a set of tools for observing some of the natural phenomenon impacting the land. 'Things to look for' that will give the students useful data. Data that will influence the success or failure of their landscape design.

Go back out and look for the following:

Permaculture

OBSERVATION TOOLS

QUESTIONS TO ASK OF YOUR LAND WHEN YOU OBSERVE.

Perimeter and area of plot

What are the soil types in different areas of your plot?

Are any areas predominantly shade?

Where will be the sunniest spot in each season (remember the sunniest bit will move) by working out where sun rises and sets at each season (see nat nav section for help)

Where does any water enter the land, collect in pools/boggy areas and exit out? This will allow you to utilise natural water flows and plant along this A down pipe counts as water in, as you can tap it and add a butt and seeper hose, or dig a pond where the water is naturally pooling

Which direction is the predominant wind across your land (this is South Westerly in UK, use the tips in the natural navigation section to work this out as your plot may have funnelled wind rather than true direction).

What existing features are there and where do they sit on the scale of permanance for example you don't need to note the wheelbarrow, but would an oak tree

Where will be any frost pockets in winter (hollows or dips in the land)

10. Note any slopes to the land, does your garden fall away from the house, rise up anywhere?

Permaculture

MAKING A ROUGH BASE PLAN

Once you accept permaculture ethics and principles above as valid starting points, and have learned some simple observation tools, next-up is to create a base map. What do you have already? What exists? A lot of people forget this bit; get excited and start with the plant buying. Bad idea. This is when things go wrong and folk end up assuming they are simply not green fingered. You first need to create a base plan from your observations Create a rough drawing of your plot using the above checklist. The space below is an opportunity for you to do this. Forget your dreams for your landscape right now, and draw only what is there today. Plot on this plan, the features from the above list.

Only after you have observed how nature is working, already, in your landscape for up to a year and mapped out your base plan of what is already there, are you ready to start creating your design. 'Land-Up led design' rather than catalogue-down led design.

Permaculture

GAINING DATA IN AN OBSERVATION

HOW DO I KNOW THE ANSWERS TO THE ABOVE QUESTIONS? YOU LEARN TO READ THE LANDSCAPE.

Indicator plants...

Can tell us where the sun shines mostly, how the wind effects the land, and also what the soil is like.

Foxgloves send their bells out towards the sun, as do most plants with their flowers, wind will shape trees, shade loving plants that you would usually see in dense woodland tell you its mostly dark there; or damp loving plants like moss, meadowsweet, juncus grass, creeping buttercup, willow will tell us about the wet soil under them, while pineapple weed and plantain tell us soil is compacted - possible that area has been a path or driveway. Nettles and dock tell us the soil is fertile.

As usual in data collection, never rely on once source, you can also do a soil test

Soil test 1.

Take a large handful of soil, from each area of the garden. Roll it into a ball. What happens? Does it stick together, does it crumble apart? Try spitting in it then rerolling; if it still crumbles you have sandy soil. If the moisture rubbed into the soil makes it go smooth and shiny you have clay. Something in between is good, you have loamy soil.

Soil test 2.

Using a spade, dig a slice of earth about 30cm (1ft deep). Look at the cross section, do you have a layer of grey shiny soil, topped with the crumbly stuff, or is it all clay?

Test a few areas as even in one plot there can be different soil types in different areas.

Permaculture

GAINING DATA IN AN OBSERVATION

MEASURING TOOLS - MEASUREMENT IS A FORM OF QUANTITATIVE DATA COLLECTION AND AS SUCH IS PART OF OBSERVATION. YOU ARE LITERALLY SURVEYING THE LAND!

Pacing

To measure a smallish garden you can use a tape but the human body was our first tool for measurement and is always with you. Learn to pace out the size of land. Starting with your right foot fixed at the start, step out with the left; walk in your normal stride across an area of 100 m counting only with your right. You only need to do this once, then you know for the next few years To find an area 100m in order to set your pace, you can look at an O.S Map 1:25,000 and find something that is 100m long (one tenth of a map square) or just borrow a surveyors measure to start. So, every time you put your right foot down, you count one. Stop counting when you get to the 100m mark. I do 68 paces per 100m, in other words for every full pace I do I cover 1 4 m Knowing this means I can measure a whole field if I want to I know that if I walk 150 paces that field edge is about 220 metres (100m/68 paces x 150). Go out now and pace the length of your garden, how many paces is it?

Ropes are another way, if you can buy a 50 m rope you can use this to gauge perimeter, radius, circumference, and from there, even the area

Contour marking for any slopes on your land.

Why would you want to mark contours? If you have slopes on your plot, they can be both an advantage (utilise them for water flow, making banks of earth and plant them with trees and plants (called swales) to catch the water running down, instead of allowing it to run off taking topsoil You may choose to terrace a slope to maximise useable space etc. The disadvantage with a slope is hauling things up it (so ensure you keep and use heavy things in the right place on the slope) and also that rain water will run straight down, gravity always wins, and wash away any surface soil, even cutting-up your lovely new path. Plotting contours and then working with them will prevent a lot of hard work later when rain or soil erosion undermines your work. How do you work with contours? Basically any element you put on a slope (path, swale, terrace etc, needs to run slightly less steep than the contour it sits on, to traverse them gently.**. One last note on slope, think twice before clear felling trees on a slope, their roots are probably holding the slope up by now. I've seen one local council clear fell a slope and they ended up having to shore up the road at the top of the hill.

Permaculture

GAINING DATA IN AN OBSERVATION

To mark out contours you can either use a very close scale map such as a 1:10,000, if you have a biggish plot, or, you can make your own surveying tool using hazel poles.

Cut some strong poles (but not too heavy as you will be carrying this around the hillside!). Cut them big enough to make an 'A' shape that stands about five feet tall and lash them together. At the apex of the 'A' tie a piece of string long enough to reach just below the horizontal bar of the 'A'. Now find a weight with a hole in it, like a beach stone and tie it to the string to make a plomb line. Mark the centre of the horizontal bar of your 'A' frame. You will also need lots of canes or sticks to poke into the ground, hundreds if you are measuring a field.

Now your job is to 'walk' the 'A' around the side of the hill, allowing the plomb line to centralise on the horizontal bar, with each step of the 'A'. When the weight lines up with the centre marking, put a cane at where the feet of the 'A' stand, then rotate the 'A' frame and repeat all along the hill side. In the end it should look like this:

I I A II I I II

Please do not worry about marking contours unless you have a big project that requires much design, expense and labour. For now just be aware that rain and soil will follow gravity on a slope while materials get heavier the further up you have to carry them.

Plant Hardiness Zones

THE UK SPANS HARDINESS ZONES 6 TO 9, 6 BEING THE COLDEST.

When things go wrong in a garden it's often a case of wrong plant right location or right plant wrong location. Make gardening success easier to achieve by choosing the right plant for your climate area, then you are not fighting mother Nature. Trust me, she will always win!

The idea of Victorian Hot Houses for lilies is a ludicrous example of 'high input:low output' gardening due to the fact it was the wrong plant for the location. You need to be aiming for low inputs and high outputs for sustainability and one of the ways to achieve this is to work with nature in choosing plants she would normally place in that climate zone.

You will have two climates affecting your plant choice - one will be 'which area in which country you are in', while the other will be 'which of several micro climates' in your garden you are planting into These two facts should be your starting point before choosing what to grow, as from there you will choose only plants of that Hardiness Zone rating This doesn't mean you have to grow only UK natives as our climate types apply in several other countries too so you can grow their plants in your garden! If in doubt ,always choose a plant that grows further North than you, I often use Scottish nurseries to supply my plug plants for this reason. If it can grow in Scotland, it will grow in Yorkshire I have found! Make life simple and buy the right plants for your climate zones.

On plant labels; H1 plants are hot house plants whereas H7 plants can grow in sub zero temperatures, so you could stay safe with H4 +

Potato Towers

GROWING POTATOES FROM WASTE

1.

Buy some seed potatoes, choosing three varieties; an early, a mid season and a late producer. One small bag of each will do for your first go I like to choose drought resistant potatoes for the summer months as they require less water and if you go away during the flowering stage when it's important to water them, they don't take such a bashing with your lack of care. I choose Desiree (red skinned) for this. If you can't get seed potatoes it's possible to use those in your fridge, though the reason not to do this too often is that seed potatoes are bred high up where blight doesn't exist so you may risk growing-in disease. Allow your potatoes to chit, this means to go a bit soft and grow sprouts. They will do this naturally if you put them under the kitchen sink Cut all but three shoots off.

2.

Empty your compost bins into between three and six single tyres laid flat on the ground. Ensure the tyre stacks are placed near a water source Have one or two stacks per season ie. early, mid, late. You only need your tyre stacks one tyre high right now. Tyres are free from your local garage. Be reassured tyres take decades to break down and no traces have as yet been found in food. If you have no compost you can buy some but this can be expensive, other sources of free soil are mole hills. Take a wheel barrow and shovel and collect the fertile soil moles have pre-tilled for you. You can layer this with spent animal bedding eg if you have cavies or hens, kitchen scraps, a small amount of leaf litter and grass cuttings. Once 'layer one' is full, of compost, plant four or five chitted potatoes in each tyre, do not let them sit in the light, ensure they are well-covered. Shoots facing upward.

Potato Towers

GROWING POTATOES FROM WASTE

4. 3.

Water your seed potatoes in then leave them alone. In a couple of weeks you will see the shoots poking through, allow them to come to the top of the tyre then add another tyre, and more compost. This is known as 'earthing up'. When they appear out the top of the second tyre add a third with more compost. You can go as high as four or five tyres Water occasionally but on the whole unless it's really dry weather, the UK will produce enough rain for your potatoes, tyres are good for keeping moisture and warmth in. You can also add a handful of worms if you want, to each tyre and they will help feed the soil and keep it aerated enough for rainwater to penetrate to the bottom. Worms can be bought online.

Your potatoes are ready to dig out once the plants have flowered (white) and died back so resist temptation to dig until then.

In the Biog you will read how we grew potatoes in a mix of our pony and sheep manure, mole hills and our own well-rotted humanure. Humanure takes a year to break down before you can plant in it and should be mixed with other dry compost sources.. We managed to average 15 kg of potatoes out of about three towers.

Poultry Keeping

ADVANTAGES OF KEEPING POULTRY

Pest Control - Free Ranging, even occasionally, can see off plagues of garden bugs that would otherwise eat your plants.

Waste Outputs - Poultry are Moving Guano Factories (see also Disadvantages) - You can use old bedding in your compost heap, making the waste output of your hens into a useful input into another system No small animal waste should ever go in a wheelie bin, compost all your hen waste and by that I include carcasses

Down, of dead birds - the down is the under-layer of the feathers, over the years you can end up with a carrier bag or two of down, enough to stuff a cushion.

Egg Production - Depending on breed, eggs can either be a priority or secondary or not important aspect of your hen keeping.

Home-Grown Protein for Meat Eaters - A table bird is simply a hen or duck with enough meat on it to make sacrificing its life viable for family survival. If meat is a priority choose a Table breed rather than or in addition to an Egg Producing Breed.

Companionship - My hens are like dogs, I drive in and they run up to greet me, we chat, then they walk me to the door. Runner ducks are less friendly and tend to leg it when I arrive, yet nervously hang around the door waiting for me to go out and feed them. All in all, keeping poultry increases your popularity ratings.

Noise - cockerels are noisy, hens less so, so you can avoid this disadvantage by just keeping females. Female ducks seem noisier than male ducks.

Messy - Moving Guano Factories they will poo everywhere, not in a neat corner like a rabbit. If hanging washing out in bare feet is one of your joys, be prepared to feel cold squishes between your toes.

Vermin - Rats love being where poultry lives, even though I used metal bins with metal lids so vermin can't chew into feed, the place you feed your hens will attract rats One of the arguments for not over feeding is that there is no excess for rats to move in on Garden damage - Standard sized hens especially will eat seeds and scrat up seedlings.

Stocking Poultry

BREEDING OR BUYING IN?

To breed your own hens you will need a cockerel, the advantages of having a cockerel are:

Keeps the hens together and safer. Meat when he gets older and a son succeeds him.

Disadvantages are:

You are feeding a non layer

Being heavier and having spurs, he will do more damage to your garden. He will crow and not just at sunrise

Some areas disallow cockerels and some neighbours have been taken to court over cock crowing. Are you remote enough for a cock?

Another option is buying in fertile eggs. These can be bought online and even sent through the mail or find a local breeder. They will stay fertile even after being taken from under their mum and put in the fridge for up to two weeks.

NATURAL INCUBATION

I have tried an artificial incubator but didn't like it, it was faffy and temperemental, so years ago I simply decided to keep, alongside my other birds, a type of broody hen that would be willing to naturally raise anything put under it This breed is Silkies The Silkie is a breed of reliably good mums, even to ducklings.

DAY OLD CHICKS

There is nothing cuter than picking up a box of day old chicks or duckllings, as long as you have a heat lamp and warm safe space on one level (chicks will fall out of an open sided nest box). We just make a pen of straw bales in a barn or a rabbit cage indoors and suspend a heat lamp over them, until they are around 7 weeks old. Day old chicks need special chick mash, they cant just eat ground up hen food as they need the coccidiosis treament in the chick meal, either that or carefully introduce outside plants to gradually wean them, but this is risky, its usually considered wise to start them on chick meal If the chicks are spread out to the sides of the lamp it's too close, if they are huddled underneath not moving much, its too high so lower it. I find between a foot or two ok depending if inside or outside. Re. cost; while day old chicks/ducks are around £5 a bird at Point of Lay they will be the most costly to buy and can be £10-£15.

SEX LINKED/AUTOSEXED CHICKS

With some breeds you can't tell if you are buying male or female chicks, if you don't want lots of cocks then this will be important. Some breeds however have a sex-linked appearance from birth meaning they can be sexed Decide on your breed carefully if this matters

Feeding Poultry

FOR FREE FOOD GROW:

Fennel

Lupin

Clover

Sunflowers

Herbs

Broadleaf Plantain

Fruit Shrubs and Trees

Grain crops like alphalpha

Worms in a compost bin

Siberian Pea

Anything with an edible dropping seed that grows freely in our climate.

and Use:

Ground up egg shells

Ground up chalk

Ground up shells/washed beach sand.

Omega oils via pumpkin, hemp or flax seed oils

Calendula petals

Dandelions

Garlic

You can dry these ingredients out, mix them and store in a tub then crumble into half rations of bought layers pellets for year round goodness for less cost.

I am an advocate of layers pellets because I keep hens for eggs and do notice they lay more on them than off, I recommend only buying natural layers pellets however, because there is a yellow food colour, banned for humans that is still allowed in some poultry feed to yellow the yolks. Natural feeds may contain yellowing ingredients but they are from sources such as corn, paprika, marigold or dandelion flowers.

For grit, tiny amounts of beach sand mixed into food will help with their digestion too. Too much sand can cause impaction in the crop. Free range hens will not necessarily need grit/gravel.

Layers Pellets should be fed daily at max. 100 - 150 gr (a cup) per bird, less if adding the above home made feed.

Avoid too many grains as fat hens don’t lay Wheat sold for hens is unnecessary if you use layers pellets as they are a balanced preparation. However, a cat litter tray strewn with wheatberries and watered will sprout within the week and make a much more nutritious roll-mat of food that your hens will benefit from. Keep a rotation system going of this, sowing one tray a week, keep it clean enough and you can have some too.

Fennel

Clover

Lupin

Alphalpha

Worms

Pen or Free Range?

COOPS AND RUNS DISADVANTAGES

A coop is the wooden shed part of a chickens home, usually fitted with perches, a removeable poop tray and a nest box or three. Attached to this is a wire run with ramp access from the coop to the outside penned area and real grass

ADVANTAGES

Easy to move around, even for one person, your hens can be moved to fresh grass each week reducing the parasetic worm build-up on one area. Move closer to the house in winter for easy feeding.

Cheap - you can buy one new for £120 or second hand from free Removable poop tray makes it easy to clean.

Wooden coops and frames can harbour mites, once the little grey biting mites take hold of a coop you can't clean them out. You will have to empty the pen and either blow torch, or jet wash it with a strong soap solution Or both Ensuring once its dry they are all gone.

Coops are usually quite small, for 3 to 5 hens. This may not be enough for the number of eggs you need.

If bought new they usually require some home assembly, I have put lots together but if you are not DIY minded, the instructions can be a pain.

Need cleaning weekly

A COOP AND FREE RANGE

You can just get the coop and no run, and let the hens totally free range between the two themselves This is idyllic until you have the attached image each morning and you step out your door into piles of bird poo or they lay the eggs all over the garden and you find newly hatched chicks in your rhubarb patch.

Breeds TO CONSIDER

Hen Eggs

Duck Eggs Hen Meat

Duck Meat

Dual Purpose Hen (Eggs AND Meat)

Breeding Bantams (a bantam is a small chicken breed)

Rhode Island (260p.a)

Khaki Campbell(300p.a)

Broiler Birds

Muscovy

Light Sussex/Black Rock Silkie

Breeding Standard Hens

Orpington

PURE BREED OR HYBRID

You don't have to buy pure breeds there are many Hybrid varieties, created either by design or accident Pure breeds tend to be costly, so find the ideal breed for the purpose you want and see if you can find a seller with some mixes of those.

timings...*

Costs

If you need 4 eggs per person, per week, to include baking; then each person in your house would need one hen for good measure.

Bought in bulk sacks of 20kg layers pellets at a cost £11.50 (at time of writing), that is 6p per day per hen.

Bedding costs £7 per bale of shavings and on my system below you would need four a year. So, bedding at £28 p.a./52 weeks is 54p a week.

A family of five, self-sufficient in eggs, would cost per week £2.64

Plus if you added the cost of your hens, which over a four year laying period say, at a cost of £10 each at P.O.L would add another 24p per week

My Own Ideal Set Up

In the end my organically developed preferred method is as follows: An light indoor shed or stable where they live shut-in just over Spring when my garden needs to grow, so from March to May, then, when the plants are about a foot tall, the hens can free range again without doing much damage, going back to their shed themselves at night. When we are busy with guests I often pen them again for a few weeks to avoid poo on picnic benches. The bedding in their barn/shed is deep-litter, which means I put a good layer of shavings down, topped in one corner with straw and top this up occasionally. Simply spot cleaning out, eg the floor under the perch, then finally do a once every six months full dig out, burning the straw in a brazier and returning the ash to the compost and composting the rest. Never use hay for bedding it doesn't absorb the damp and ends up with mould spores Dried bracken was a traditional bedding, or you could put dried leaves or bracken on a layer of sand if cost is an issue. I prefer not to have nest boxes, just a one room space with piles of straw, chicks fall out of nest boxes and can't get back in. Perches are created from breezeblocks and branches. I don't have time to let out and put away poultry during their free range time so I let them put themselves away and as we have dogs we have never had a problem with predators. The combination of free-range and penned means my garden is pest-controlled but also can grow when it needs to The type of bedding and system is very low maintainance. We have never had a hen die of illhealth, just old age, with five years and once seven being their usual longevity. Ducks need a pond or at least a paddling pool they can duck their heads and necks under. Ducks unfortunately are wanderers if free-ranging and will range into the danger of roads Unfortunately I can't bear to pen ducks all year round even for their own safety and so have tended to allow them to choose their own demise having given them far too much freedom, but I just think, which would I choose? Ducks, hens, rabbits and guinea pigs can all happily share the same barn if needed and I have witnessed a mother hen offering a young rabbit protection under her wings. Don't underestimate the animal kingdoms ability to do community living, they do it much better than us! The space below is for you to jot down your own needs and offerings regarding any birds you would bring into your life

Your Notes...

Aquaponics

PLANTS AND WATER BASED PROTEIN IN ONE SYSTEM

Aquaponics combines growing plants and fish, in one closed loop system. The fish water feeds the plants and ideally the plants clean the fish water. Here are two simple set ups for starters to help you raise both protein and veg in the same area with less work.

TWO EASY STARTER SYSTEMS TO SET UP AT HOME

Buy A large fish tank and install in your kitchen. Buy or collect freshwater snails and allow them to ‘prime’ the tank with their poop for a couple of weeks. You can add small fish, in theory even goldfish can be eaten as they are carp, but if you add fish and snails your snails won't breed as the fish will eat the eggs so you would need a nursery pen for the snail eggs within your tank. Obtain some old blocks of corn-based polystyrene eg from packaging.

Buy herbs of your choice 5 to 10 plants and shake much of the soil from their roots.

Cut the polystyrene into two or three ‘rafts’ with enough holes in for your plants, eg. three rows, the outer two with three holes the middle one with two holes.

‘Plant’ the herbs in their plastic pots, through the rafts and float them in the water ensuring the roots reach the water. Make sure there is some open water for the fish to poke up through.

Use or create a garden pond in a low lying/naturally water collecting area of your plot.

Get some fish and water snails (If you wish to breed the snails you will need to net a separate area for them so the fish can't eat the eggs).

Put a water butt under a shed roof somewhere close to the pond with gutter and downpipe to allow rainwater capture.

Stand the water butt on some strong blocks in order to allow the tap to be higher than the pond.

Run a hosepipe from the tap on the butt to your pond and stick it in so it remains about two inches below the surface. Leave the tap to open. Create raised beds around the pond or simply get lots of large pots and arrange them around the pond. I have a straw bale garden around mine.

Buy a bucket or two, stick a post into the ground and hang the buckets on this. Water the pots/beds with pond water, using the buckets, for extremely healthy plants The pond water getting replaced with rain water out of the butts, as you empty it

You can use seeper hoses and a 12 volt solar powered pump to circulate the pond water around the beds but to be honest I love bucket watering, it's so easy, nothing breaks or blocks, it gives me a chance to clean up any dead leaves, throw any creatures into the pond for the fish, but mainly I like it because bucket watering ensures nutrient rich water goes right down to the roots, rather than sprinkles the surface so encouraging plants to become deeper rooting and less likely to dry out on a hot day.

In addition to raising snails (all are edible) you can add fish to the pond. In a polytunnel set-up of the above you can stock Tilapia, a type of fish that likes warmer weather and breeds and grows well in indoor ponds. In a large outside set up you could keep trout, providing the water was moving enough, otherwise you can do what I did and kept a high value fish that grew in value as it grew in size. Koi gain approximately £50 each 6 inches and can always be eaten if needed Five, 7" koi will cost you £100 but five 16" koi will sell for around £1000! They can grow around 5 inches a year

You can go a step further and add a hen pen and rabbit run above your pond so droppings fall through a mesh floor into the pond to add to the nutrient cycle. This may not be suitable for koi who seem to like clean mineral rich water. I didn't add the latter as I'm just not good at penning animals but in a survival situation to feed my children I most certainly would.

Natural Beekeeping

A MORE NATURAL WAY TO KEEP BEES.

Five years ago I did the British Beekeeping Association (BBKA) course. It was 6 weeks of classroom lectures and six weeks of practical visits. I thouroughly recommend this as a starting point as the course is such good value BUT

I quickly realised that the conventional way was not for me. As a natural Mamma I was asking questions like "if I removed all my childrens' good quality food and fed them only white sugar, why would I be surprised when they got ill?" I also couldn't understand the need to kill a queen or clip her wings if her natural tendency was to swarm, so I came out of the course and went on a Natural Beekeeping Trust weekend where my natural instincts were satiated

THE NATURAL BEEKEEPING TRUST SAY:

In large parts of the world, honey bees are struggling to remain healthy and vigorous. The constant need to administer chemical treatments and to import bees from afar to replenish losses shows that our beekeeping is unsustainable. Rather than try to fix the problem through even more intervention, the NBKT starts with the premise that understanding, respecting, and supporting the essential biological needs of the bee in a holistic manner is fundamental to having healthy bees. We call this bee-centred beekeeping. This style of beekeeping is firmly based on the biology of the honeybee and is very different from the style of beekeeping taught to beginners by conventional beekeeping organisations, such as the BBKA.

Natural Beekeeping

THE MAIN DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE MAINSTREAM AND THE NATURAL APPROACHES ARE AS FOLLOWS:

THE NATURAL WAY THE CONVENTIONAL WAY

Human centred

Hives designed for mans access

Honey/wax/propolis/royal jelly is for man

Pre-formed Cell size

Chemically treat all disease

Control swarming. In late Spring/early Summer, the colony gets big and a new queen may develop and swarm to find a new home taking some of the colony with her. This is curtailed by clipping queens wings or killing new queens before they fully develop.

Man needs a system that protects and ensures a safe and easy access to a bountiful supply of honey on tap whenever he wants.

Honey is ‘robbed’ in Autumn and white sugar solution is fed over winter

Bee centred

Hives designed for the natural shape of the bee colony

Honey/wax/propolis/royal jelly is for the Bees

Cell size is determined by the bees allowing them to differentiate size according to function, meaning no space is 'designed in' where varroa mite can live.

Allow Natural Selection, meaning some varroa resistant bees are developing. Allowing Swarming; Natural beekeepers allow a swarm and just hope to catch it and re-home it in a primed* hive placed nearby Man is at one with his bees in ensuring the bees needs for hive design, bee space and Bee shape plus the bees access to it’s own honey. Whatever is left over in Spring is a gift to man from the bees.

Honey is left untouched in Autumn for winter bee food and if, after ‘hefting’ the hive in Spring there is enough, the beekeeper breaks some off from the bottom.

How to Start...

"The Busy Bee Has No Time For Sorrow"

WILLIAM BLAKE

THE HIVE

So, you have decided you want to keep bees the natural way. Where do you start?

Firstly, you will need to buy or make a hive. To be honest any type of hive or wooden box will do, customised to ensure the body can accommodate the natural drop shape of a bee colony. I started with the tall thin Warre Hives (as per picture) but now simply buy Nationals as they are sturdier Flow Hives are NOT suitable for Natural Beekeeping As long as your box is toxin free (cedar is good), has a waterproof roof and either thick breathable walls or is insulateable in the roof space, plus has a doorway of no more than 8 cm or area, you can give it a go.

If you buy a 'National' hive, remove the frames that sit in the top box as for the natural approach

they are not needed, though the bees should have something to build from so you could leave the bars, just not the frames that hang from them. If you simply hope to catch a passing swarm, 'prime' this hive with a bit of beeswax and lemongrass oil which mimics the bees 'find a home' pheromone. The ideal time for swarms is May/June.

A hive should sit with the morning sun on it so that bees are stimulated to forage, but also in an area not too noisy, windy or in driving rain. If you can site it surrounded by forage material so much better, or plant some around your hive You can start with one hive but as soon as you can, get a second hive, so if your first colony swarms and splits you get a second for free.

Bees like to climb up to get in, but then build the comb downwards. You can encourage them to the door with a white sheet, draped up to the door as they also are attracted to light colours

How to Start...

BUYING BEES

If you want to get started quickly you can buy a colony of bees. You can contact your local BBKA who will have a number of local breeders or buy online to be delivered by mail! There are three main things I consider.

Locality of source Are the bees used to living in your climate type? This would make for an easier transition.

What type of bee are they? In the UK the main choice will be a Buckfast variety, Italian, or Carnica Bees. The latter have been my favourite, due to them being a pure breed you know what you are getting, they were raised in Eastern Europe with little dilution from other more aggressive varieties so are gentle and also possess good cold hardiness Each keeper will have their own preference so ask around

Have they overwintered yet? You may find second season bees are more expensive but the colony

will be larger and proven. A colony will consist of one queen and lots of female workers. In Summer they will raise drones, male bees whose sole job is to mate. In Winter a colony can be as small as 5k bees, in Summer as many as 40k If you are buying in early Spring it will be somewhere in between. Bees should not be exposed to the air outside their hive until the weather is warm enough for shirt sleeves. They lose heat rapidly and it takes a lot of energy to get the temperature back up. I wouldn't open a hive usually until early April, the good thing about Natural Beekeeping is there is much less intervention and hive opening. Once you have brought your new colony home, you will need to open your empty hive and tip them in. Try to find the queen and her close cronies and get that huddle in first, then even if you close up the hive lid and leave the others outside in their transport box with a white cloth leading to the new door, they will find their queen and go home.

A note on feeding: I didn't want to feed my bees white sugar as I left them their honey, but it turns out that our rural area has too little late summer forage to build winter stores from so my first bees starved to death I now supplement white sugar mix I make myself using herb tea and floral essential oils and icing sugar which I add to the top of the hive just above the feedhole If you can't plant a big, late Autumn forage garden, eg like me you rent on vulnerable tenancy, you may have to add feed so don't feel guilty In my forever home I will build a bee garden

1

2.

3.

Keeping Warm

WITHOUT CENTRAL HEATING

Overwintering

Winters on the moors, in a caravan with kids, was tough. The winds would rock the caravan, like a boat on a stormy sea. Our 'van was halfway up the side of the valley and the law of wind in valleys say it’s funnelled end to end despite the direction of the wind above. This meant we lived on the side of a beautiful wind tunnel. In winter I slept in the lounge as my bedroom was too far away from the only heat source to be habitable. The hard foam, thin sofa doubled as my bed. One scary evening, I felt so sure the wind would capsize us crushing us in a pile of twisted metal that I didn’t sleep at all. Instead I lay planning escape routes out of the children's bedroom window. So the following day, I walked out to find some white willow growing by the river, cut off whips of about five feet long, stuck them in the ground a foot deep to plant a windbreak. It would take a while to grow thicker but it was a start. I got a wood-burner put in the second caravan which made our home a lot warmer and chased the damp away. I would warm food up on the top, then overnight put a covered stock pot of water on the stove to capture and hold the stove heat for longer. This works by creating an additional thermal mass, storing the heat then radiating it out long after the flames have died inside the stove. This way, in the morning there was always some lukewarm water to wash our faces. In the second winter, the farmer used the fleece from his flock to insulate under the caravan. Because the wool marketing board only paid him about £30 a load and because the caravan pipes froze so easily, it was the logical thing to do. Before we did this, even pot washing water left in the kitchen sink would be frozen solid by morning, (this was in the same room I was sleeping on the sofa) and I sometimes had to take the pots, in the wheelbarrow, down to a big stone trough to wash them after breaking the ice on the top of the deep water. The stove I had put in the caravan with the help of two school Dads, was a cheap, pot-bellied, workshop-type stove. This type of stove has a tiny door opening so I had to chop wood very small (which means more cuts per load and is therefore less efficient way to live by wood*) - I got so good at chopping wood with my big yellow-handled axe, I could almost have split hairs. If you are buying a stove, choose a size that gives enough heat output without being too big and hungry but still having a decent door size. Don’t cut corners with a stove; cheap stoves often have gaps that mean they don’t ‘shut down’ properly and air sucks in causing too fast a burn. This is ok for a quick heat but the fuel then burns out too early in the evening and it’s freezing by morning. You will also go through more wood with a ‘gappy' stove. If a stove is only meant for a workshop, it will not be built to last overnight. Avoid buying new and cheap and instead invest in a decent second-hand stove like a Morso Squirrel stove, then retro-fit a water jacket around the flue with a tap for ‘instant’ hot water. If you can’t do this, then a large pan with a lid works just fine. Sometimes we could see through our huge window that the other farms dotted down the dale were in power cut and we would sit smugly by the glow of our candles, our van-battery spotlight now installed in the lounge and stove-light feeling pretty pleased with ourselves that we weren’t in the chaos we imagined everywhere else. The children and I still walked every day, collecting kindling and foraging, setting off from the caravan with our array of animals following, but dropping off; dog, cat, kitten, hens ducks, pony, lambs. I did have this mad idea to train Finn to pull a cart for our wood collecting walks, I even enquired about joining the Goat Harness Society and learned about goat cart pulling but didn’t get one in the end. We were still working on getting Finn rideable so getting a second animal to train was just another of my crazy ideas that thankfully didn’t come to fruition. Having lived with no central heating for most of my life now, and installed or managed over 30 fires, here I give you tips for keeping warm off-grid for both your home and yourself.

Off-Grid Girls

WOMEN WHO HAVE LIVED OFF-GRID.

As part of writing the biog section of this book, I decided to interview other women who have lived a simple, close to the Earth life, coping day to day with few resources or utilities. I wanted to determine any common themes or points of agreement and generally hear stories of how other women have coped with very little.

I’d like to introduce you to four women; Sharron, Ruth, Natalie and Bella who add their experiences of off-grid living regarding food gathering and preserving, water collection, living by, fire, and off-grid toileting.

These lovely, off-grid ladies I interviewed give tips and advice alongside my own.

Natalie.

East Riding of Yorkshire, England.

As a student, aged around 21, Natalie lived in a tent in Lincolnshire for a few months, with her dog. She travelled purely by dog-powered bicycle and did odd jobs to make a living As a young woman she learned to shear sheep at college, becoming very skilled with livestock going on to became a cattle farmer. With her new husband and daughter she lived in a static caravan, living for a while without running water, washing machine and cooking/heating purely with fire She now lives in the caravan alone.

Ruth.

Limousin Countryside, France.

From when Ruth was seventeen, she lived in benders, tents and caravans in England, Europe, India and Mongolia "Due to personal circumstances I found myself homeless at seventeen but also desperate for connection and to live simply I built a bender; a tarpaulin over a simple, curved frame of greenwood branches, earth floor and a few pallets with bracken on as a bed. in a forest on Anglesey to get out of my situation. I lived with a toxic boyfriend for part of it before splitting, then I lived in the forest mostly with just my dog I stayed there for 6 months then travelled over the next four and lived in benders, tents or off grid caravans. Later I lived in tents as I travelled Europe, Asia and then returned to settle in a very cheap off-grid caravan pulled in on a green lane. I had a job in a professional setting. whilst living in my caravan. Twenty years later, I now live with my husband and 6-year-old son, in semi self-sufficiency; we have a cottage with land and animals in rural France We harvest all our own wood to heat the house, the water and to cook with, although we are on-grid for electric"

Bella.

East Midlands Countryside, England.

From the ages of 17 to 20 Bella lived on a nature reserve sleeping in a camper van in the winter and tent by summer with her partner. “I had access to a house on the nature reserve, but even then I still preferred to sleep outside For my income I worked part-time at a marina as well as a few hobbies of mine online gave me income. I busked sometimes in town, with my music, and did chores for some cash in hand” Bella kept goats and foraged for her food and medicines

Sharron.

West Yorkshire, England

In her mid-twenties Sharron travelled around England and up to the borders of Scotland in a van that was painted, on one side with a rainbow and on the other side Stonehenge by moonlight. She has also lived in a traditional horse-drawn Vardo, a bender and a static caravan in a pine forest She lived with her partner and three children and told me; “I lived in a van that had no running water, no cooking facilities, no washing (self or clothes) facilities, no toilet facilities. We travelled around the South of the country, went to the Glastonbury festival and lived in a forest in Wales for a while. It was a lovely place although a bit spooky as there was an old deserted reservoir there too. I lived for a few months in a bender, (a structure made from bent saplings and covered with a tarpaulin) The bender was in a field, well several really as we zigzagged down a valley in Dover. First, we lived in a field with sheep, then an empty field and then a field with horses I then lived in a Vardo, again with no facilities, which we parked up on grass verges"

tips for living by fire.

The off-grid women I interviewed also talk about the joys and the toil of living solely by fire…

A common theme is the need to be incredibly organised. You can’t be lazy and live like this. Natalie advises; “Always have a stock of matches, tinder, kindling and dry logs - keep on top of it or it will bite you in the ass - you’ll run out of matches on the coldest night of the year”. Sharron remembers the lifestyle that appears so serene from the outside, involved “making sure I had an adequate amount of wood so I had to forage for, and chop, wood every day as part of my daily chores ”

It's not just about collecting any old wood if warmth is your priority. Ruth says “use the right wood” and Natalie advises - “have a stock of both hard and soft wood”. Soft wood is quick to get a hot flame but won’t last the night, it’s suitable for fast heating up of foods/boiling frying. Off-grid women know that some wood ends up burning out too quickly yet give instant heat, whereas other types are slower to burn, Some woods burn hot whilst others release less heat. Corrina, the vardo traveller I met at Tinkers Bubble told me, when I wanted hot water quickly in the bathroom; "just make a ‘stick fire”. At the other end of the fire scale; “Oak logs are like heat batteries giving sustained heat overnight but tricky and slow to go from a standing start. So, have two piles a hot quick one and an over night wood pile", Natalie recommends. She also discovered that Poplar was hot but spat a lot meaning it would be better in a stove than an open fire She also mentioned fly tipping sites as good sources of free wood.

Supporting the ‘find standing deadwood’ principle of firewood collecting Sharron remembers; “I used to try to find old branches that had dried out, as green wood does not burn and creates lots of smoke. I used to like to use Beech and Hawthorn as it burned for a long time and gave out a good heat”. Ash is one of the few woods that burns ok without being ‘seasoned’ ie. left for a year for its sap to dry out

“Whether

The Scouts Association says the best firewoods are: Ash; Yew, Oak, Fruit woods (though you are not likely to come across significant quantities of fruit wood you would be willing to burn too often). Hawthorn and Blackthorn are both plentiful in UK and are also good for giving decent heat coupled with duration of burn.

seasoned or whether green, Ash will burn fit for a Queen”

tips for living by fire.

They say "wood warms you three times, once when you collect it, once when you cut it, and finally when you burn it". Managing a wood supply in a cold weather situation is continuous. In Laura Ingalls Wilder’s book ‘The Long Winter’, part of the ‘Little House’ Series, while Ma ‘kept house’ during one particularly long winter, when they ran out of coal and logs, Pa could do no other farm work than sit and make faggots out of straw to keep feeding the hungry stove for six months, or the family would’ve frozen. One fire can hungrily heat up two large sacks of wood a day if it's on permanently Don’t underestimate the amount of wood you will need If your ‘Romantic Escape to the Woods Plan’ involves living by fire - bear this in mind.

Cut Your Logs to Suit Your Stove.

*When you cut your long lengths of wood into shorter pieces for the stove, think to get as few cuts as possible out of your lenth, in order to save time and energy Eg If your firebox is 1.5 feet or 45cm wide; you need not be sawing your wood lengths into 10 inch (25cm) logs. The following is an example of the effect of cutting logs unnecessarily small for your fire box: Your firebox is: 18 inches wide

You are cutting logs 10 ish inches long without thinking about it. You really only need to cut lengths of 15-17 inches to fit in your stove, though this depends also on door size so do an experiment to find out the largest length of log you can fit through the door and into the firebox, then forever cut accordingly. Therefore: in a 10 foot length of tree trunk you will make 12 cuts for logs 10 inches long or only 8 cuts at 15 inches long. This may not seem much but over several years of hand-sawing wood, four cuts more per length amounts to hundreds of unnecessary sawing hours. By doing four more cuts per length you will blunt your saw quicker, waste time and tire yourself out Cut your logs to the most efficient length to save valuable time and physical energy. If you buy or make a log horse, get a tape measure stuck to it and write on your stove sizes, or like I do, make a notch.

Delegation and Fair Shares In Firewood Management.

Remember the concepts of delegation as a time management tip and fair shares as a permaculture principle? Sharing work and delegating is definitely something to do in wood/fire management. Small children can be trained to clean out the ash or carry wood on a walk, or pull a bike trailer of sticks, even a dog can be fitted with a trailer. I’ve been known to leave my teenage boys in the woods after a wood collecting walk with the words ‘You haven’t filled your bag, I’ll come back for you in 15 mins.” You could also let a part of your land to a fit young man who pays for his pitch by collecting and sawing wood once a week This is my plan into retirement!

tips For Living By Fire

WOOD PROCESSING TOOLS.

My own preference is: A wooden saw horse made to my height, a green wood tri directional bladed saw (sorry bow saw lovers). If I cant get thinner wood in the round I would use a big stump as an axe chopping block and a plastic handled axe (lighter) plus a second, smaller chopping block for by the fire with a hatchet for chopping logs into kindling.

OTHER THINGS TO BURN ON YOUR STOVE OR FIRE.

The early settlers in Iceland soon burned all the available trees and were left with nothing but bleak weather and no fuel. They had to look to their natural surroundings and improvise to overcome. Icelandics used the hot springs under the ground to steam most of their food, even bread. Like the early settlers, the situation may be that your off-grid log-fired living dream also comes to an end with a finite supply of wood What would you put on your stove then?

Aside from wood there are other things you can burn on a fire, in times of need, we cover fuels in the chapter on fuel but suffice to add to this bit you can create

'RUBBISH' BRICKS AS LOGS

Fire Bricks using rubbish by simply raiding the bin, and stuffing all the burnable contents into a cereal box or a drinks carton (the waxed carton type) Packing the rubbish in really tightly I can get a 30 minute burn from one 'rubbish brick' which was often enough for getting dressed by on a morning. No money needed and it makes use of waste that would otherwise go to landfill (as little as 20% of the recycling we do actually gets recycled in the way we would hope) so to create heat out of it also saved trees.

OTHER TYPES OF WASTE AS FUEL

Another method of turning the problem of waste into the input need of fuel, is to burn human poo. Poo (and loo roll) separated from the pee can be mixed with dried plant matter whether shavings, sawdust or dried grass, then left to dry a little When handle-able with gloves, it can be rolled into 'coals' or logs. This is not a weird idea but something that has been and still is done around the world.

Cow Poo Fires - one dried cow poo can yeild 2.4kj of heat, there is no need to add plant matter as the cow already did this. Simply allow to dry hard and burn.

Stove and Flue

The off-grid women interviewed also agree it's not just about the wood either, the quality of your wood-burner matters a great deal Like Di, Ruth urges women to invest in a good cast-iron stove while Natalie is currently having problems with her faithful old stove. For the siting of the stove I am going to over spec here for safety… the stove should sit on a paving flag type base and be three flue widths away from walls which should be lined with something non-combustible; fire board, stone, brick and the flue also should be at least three flue widths away from combustible surfaces and if no stove flue flashing kit, you should push a piece of metal rolled into a tube where the flue exits the building and insulate it with rock wool/sheep wool and push the flue inside this tube, creating an equal safe space between the hot flue and the walls/roof. You can call a HETAS engineer to come and check out an installation for safety. There is nothing worse than sleepless nights wondering if your walls are about to combust. In addition to a collection of the right wood and a good quality stove, safely installed; there is the additional factor of the shape of the size of the flue to consider. Two of the women, Natalie and Ruth felt extra height added more draw (suction of air up the flue from the stove to the outside which helps the fire a) to get started and b) to keep blazing) Fewer bends in a flue pipe is better for ‘draw’ It’s recommended the total of the degrees angle does not exceed 90 degrees.

So, if you have two 90 degree bends in your flue, one straight out the back of the stove then upwards then 90 degrees out of the wall and then upright again, the excess bends will effect the ability of air to draw up the flue and the stove will be harder to light and keep going. My own flue was straight up out of the stove top, through the caravan roof, the same at our little cabin in the French woods. No bends at all, so the draw was fine on both and the rooms benefited from radiated flue heat rather than send it straight outside. The caravan flue was tall though, in fact so tall that on the exposed moor one evening when I was cooking, the 93 miles an hour wind blew the flue straight over, pulling it out from the stove itself, sausages flying everywhere. The caravan filled with smoke instantly and I had to evacuate the kids and leave our home until the fire burnt itself out and the smoke cleared The farmer and his son then used metal cables to tether the chimney in three directions to trees/posts around the area. It didn’t blow down after that, so the caveat I’m adding is; tether your flue if it's tall and your home is in an exposed location. Stoves give off a nice dry heat which can make the dampest off-grid abode bearable so although it may sound hassle to instal one, there is no better option but for when it all goes wrong, Natalie advises; ‘Keep a good fur coat, sheepskins, blankets and thick socks’. I would add to that a full-face balaclava for sleeping in the cold!

Solid Fuel

SOME THINGS TO THINK ABOUT STOVE VS OPEN FIRE

If you are in a position to be retrofitting your home with real flame heating, you may be considering an open fire vs a stove Folk love huge fireplaces Aesthetically they are beautiful, but they are totally useless unless you plan to sit right in front of it to keep warm. If after reading the differences below you insist on having an open fire, please learn about the Rumford measurements to ensure the aperture of your fire will yield as much heat to the room as possible.

ADVANTAGES OF OPEN FIRE

Don't need to keep opening a door to feed the fire, you can literally throw things on an open fire as you walk past. Nice to sit in front of.

DISADVANTAGES

Safety around children. You may not want an open fire if you have small children. As much as I believe children learn by experience; just one experience of open fire can scar for life. You can fit a metal safety frame that latches to hooks you drill into the fireplace.

Guards can be fiddly to open when you need to keep stooping with a babe in one arm

and logs in the other to feed the fire.

Spitting. If your wood is well dried and not coated in any varnish or tanalising then it shouldn't spit too much but the odd spit can burn holes in a carpet and even clothes if you're sitting by the fire. Invest in a spark guard so when you go to bed you can rest assured.

If no ash pan under it, cleaning out can be messy and the fire needs to be out. Not as easy to cook on an inside open fire, as a stove top (although still doable)

Harder to site than a stove which just needs a flue to an outside wall or roof, no chimney needed.

GRATE OR NO GRATE

Many people don't realise the difference between solid coal and wood-burning set-ups, They get a fire/multi-fuel stove and decide they want to burn wood, but don't realise you only need to leave the grate in for coal and that a more efficient burn for wood is ensured on a flat base, not a grate. Leaving the grate in will see your wood burn away fast due to air suction up through the grate.

NB By 2022, all new wood burning stoves sold in the UK will have to adhere to stringent new Ecodesign 2022 standards

Stove and Flue

CONSIDERATIONS

DIAMETER

The flue size must never be smaller than the size of the stove outlet. The Building Regulations require that the minimum flue size for stoves are as follows: Up to 20kW burning smokeless fuel - minimum 125mm diameter. Up to 30kW burning any fuel - minimum 150mm diameter.

KW OUTPUT

It's very easy to under-spec or overspec the KW output of a new stove and find you are too cold or too hot. Use an online KW calculator to find the perfect stove KW output for your size of abode For our high ceiling 16 m square tipi structures the recommended stove output is 3.5kw.

RAIN AND SPARK GUARD

I recommend putting a wire mesh spark guard on top of your flue outside, so that no lit embers will blow into a field or woodland next to your home. These usually come wrapped around a rain cap to stop water raining-in, down the flue.

WOOD PELLET

Sold as eco, they really aren't. You will be forced to source pre-made woodpellets and always have electricity to dispense them into the stove. This is not an off-grid or power-down solution.

Managing Woodland For Fuel

If you have a long-term lease on land or own your own land, you should establish a coppice of wood, such as ash or willow, which you harvest on rotation’ principles. This means you initially plant lots of saplings and keep cutting them back so they sucker and send up new shoots. When you have a clump of lots of suckers; a base with say ten shoots coming up from one root, this is known as a ‘stool’. Keep the weeds down in between these ‘stools', to allow for quicker competition free growth. Allow these poles to grow for three to ten years then cut them to the ground. Each year for three or four years, you will plant more new saplings (from old whips) to grow, cut back and allow to sucker so you have stools of different ages ready to harvest lengths of firewood from. Harvest one area whilst the other areas grow. You can then cut these poles down into stove-sized lengths and keep them in your wood store while your other stools are growing ready to be coppiced next year. Ideally you need 3 hectares to be self-reliant in coppice fuel, allowing for re-growth time, the rotation is shorter with willow than ash so less area is needed. If you need something quicker, you could plant Ash for your longer-term plan but have willow coppice which you can manage on a short rotation coppice - allowing willow to grow for just three or four years before you harvest it for your fire. The advantage of willow is that it’s quicker growing; producing a crop of biomass in three or four years instead of ten for ash, the disadvantages are it's less dense meaning more bulk storing for less kilojoules heat output Despite this, a one acre willow coppice can still yield five tones of dried fuel for your wood-burner each rotation. Although any type of willow will do, it’s best to have a mixture of varieties, salix viminalis is the usual variety to look for, for bio fuel. The traditional way of managing coppice is to have several distinct areas each at a different growth stage, mixing types of tree, eg. willow, ash, hazel, and in-between the coppiced stools, standard trees would be grown for timber/logs/fruit etc. This woodland management system is known as ‘coppice with standards’

Pollarding vs coppicing

If you have a deer or livestock, in the area, they will thank you for a coppice, gnawing off any new growth. In this case, you need to pollard your young trees rather than coppice This means allow one single trunk to grow to head height then allowing the suckers to grow from the neck of the single trunk, instead of from the ground. This way animals can’t eat your fuel. Another tip to growing your own wood supply is diversity, although Ash is good, if all your ‘logs are in one basket’ and you’re only growing one species what happens if it dies off? You will have no coppice wood for your fire. Try to have a mixture of other species' coppiced as stools amongst the Ash.

Box diagram of coppice stool vs pollarded tree.

Solid Fuel Boiler

WHAT IS IT?

A few traditional solid fuel home heating designs involve installing a huge cylindrical burner on the outside, big enough to throw a straw bale or half a table in. The cylinder lies on its side and has a door at one end. Usually they would be joined on to the house in a lean-too extension, or in a basement and the heat would warm a water tank above and the hot water would circulate to heat radiators or under floor heating pipes and tap water inside the home. This type can be useful if you do not want a fire inside the house.

PROS AND CONS

the bigger the burner the less chopping and sawing you need to do, this is a huge time save Need to go outside or to the basement to fill, light and stoke it, but less often than with a small fire inside.

If you can't fit a gravity fed system (ie. use the water lower than where it is heated you may need an electric pump, this is usually mains powered, but it is possible to get 12v water pumps that can power a small amount of water through pipes using solar energy, but the whole point of this system is to scale-up the burn.

INSTALLING A BOILER BEHIND YOUR STOVE/FIRE IN THE HOME

A few of the cottages I have rented have had a back boiler behind the fire or multi-fuel stove. A panel is placed at the back of the fire and water pipes run behind the panel and so your lounge fire also warms the hot water system that feeds your taps Usually these require a pump that plugs into mains electric to get the hot water upstairs. but I have ran them with no electric and the downstairs radiators still worked. Here is a link to a diagram showing how they work, and some useful info from Solidfuel.co.uk

To have the central heating on, you still need to get up early and get the fire going, though the home should be warmer when you do so, due to the hot water throughout the pipes/radiators around the house having created a thermal mass and slowly given out their heat overnight.

Personal Warmth

Living on the moors I used to dress the kids and I in a lot of real wool and sheepskin. Sheepskin is amazing at keeping the cold winds out, but, like sheep, not great in the wet. We all had sheepskin boots, slippers, mittens and often hats, a couple of us had sheepskin coats. My boys wore cotton tights under their trousers until they were about twelve, it wasn‘t considered weird for boys to wear tights in our social circles and I didn‘t care if we ventured further and were judged for it Warm is important for children according to Anthroposophical child raising - from keeping a newborns head always covered to wool slippers indoors and millet porridge before leaving the house. If a child is always warm it's one less thing for them to think about in their explorations. It frees them up to 'be'. All three had ski-wear for playing out. Having three children I was happy to spend on good quality outdoor gear as I could get three kids out of each set, though often we got hand-me-downs or found them in charity shops Icelandic’s know a thing or two about how to keep warm and so before I visited Iceland to research the early settlers methods of self-reliance I researched what to look for when buying myself a coat warm enough for Icelandic weather and have included what I found at the end of this section. Slip-on snow boots are popular there but in the wet UK they are only as good as sheepskin boots; the best boots for wild winter living I found were rigger boots - waterproof, insulated, pullon/off with ease, soles that were bonfire proof, nail proof and slip proof, with room for thick socks over thin socks. The other technique for keeping warm I used was for us to start each day with a hot drink or porridge by the fire, then layer-up in front of the fire to trap the porridge and fires heat into the body.

Occasionally I got roadkill rabbit and skinned them to line the kids wellies and feed the meat to the dog and cat If I saw roadkill pheasant, I would collect and prepare them to our pets as free food, we were veggie for many years. I’d learned to skin a rabbit in Low Mill cottage - my next-door neighbour showed me, he had to go off to be sick as the rabbit wasn’t freshly dead and so was stinky, but as I was just practising and not using it for meat so I got stuck in regardless, enthusiastic for the lesson.

Personal Warmth

To skin a roadkill rabbit for boot liners, I first found it useful to break its legs to make cutting them off easier. Then after you’ve cut the legs off (saw them off with a sharp knife) slit the skin on the underside; from the cut-off feet up as if you were drawing seems on a baby grow towards the crotch then up the belly to the neck. Taking out the guts as you go

These can stink if bunny had been dead a while. You are supposed to use gloves for this. Up to the neck... then, there is no nice way of doing this; cut the head off with your knife. Gently peel the skin away from the flesh, it’s best to use knuckles as a knife will tear the skin and you will get holes.

Scrape the flesh off the skin as much as possible; I just used a dessert spoon, then rub salt into the skin using the coarseness of the salt to get off the last of the flesh. I simply oiled the inside with sunflower oil and rubbed and rubbed but it never got as soft as hoped for For lining wellies, these hard furry skins of older roadkill combined with my own, probably idiosyncratic method, sufficed. I’m sure there will be skinners out there quaking at my description. Simply draw around your feet on the non-furry side of the skin, cut, swap feet when turning them over to line your boots. Glue helps the liners stay in place. I always dealt with animals reverently, giving thanks for their life and felt I had in someway to honour its death by making most use of its physical form. I’m not sure how I feel now, whether the physical should simply be allowed to return to the earth. I guess these rabbits and pheasants did in a roundabout way. During times when we have used meat or fish, our blessing for consuming anything that lived was:

"Thank you rabbit for giving your life to nourish our bodies, may our bodies in-turn nourish the earth through our good deeds.”

Choosing A Winter Coat

If you feel the cold and and want to make a good investment in your warmth by choosing the right coat but don't know where to start, this chapter may help you! Here are some things to look for, when choosing a WARM winter coat. A few years ago, as someone who suffers pathetically in cold weather (think uncontrollable shaking, turning blue and actual pain in my body), I researched 'winter coats'. I still made a bad choice. This year, having experienced a friends coat that changed everything, I have researched some more. The costly mistake happened, after a process of online research and doing a survey of friends opinions into ‘warm parkers for women’. I decided to buy a parker from a Norwegian company called Didriksons at a cost of £270, the price of… well whatever you’d like to buy for £270. It was a big spend for me, but I’d done my research and figured, as an adult I can easily get five years out of a good coat, so this coat was actually only £50 a year ( a £1 a week) and so a bargain! I was impressed with the quality when it arrived. Sheep-fleece-style lined with waterproof outer and fur trim and I liked the flattering fitted shape and the in-fashion khaki colour. The built-in wrist warmers and waist tie were designed not to let the wind in. What I hadn’t realised at the time was the need to consider the type of insulation I had gone for wind and waterproofing rather than insulation quality Last year, still feeling the cold painfully and subsequently having been ‘diagnosed’ by ancestry DNA as more Iberian than English, I went back to the drawing board. This is what I have found...

TEN TIPS TO ENSURE YOU GET THE WARMEST COAT FOR YOUR MONEY THIS WINTER.

The best insulation comes from Bird Down vs Synthetic. Down is the fluffy underlay to feathers and is usually from ducks or geese. Real down is lighter and warmer than synthetic, but synthetic is more water resistant than down. Ask: ‘Is the insulation down or synthetic?

The best down for warmth is goose rather than duck. Ask: ‘Is it Goose Down or Duck Down?’

Choose only Responsibly Sourced Down (RSD) which is made from the down of birds already processed for the meat market and therefore a by-product rather than stripped from living birds who suffer pain, fright and sores from continuous stripping. Ask ‘Is it RSD?

Choosing A Winter Coat

If you are likely to get wet, then consider synthetic insulation rather than down –it is not as warm but will withstand showers better – if warmth is still your priority ie. you want the highest level of warmth AND to be rainproof then ask if the down jacket has a water repellent coating. Some have, most don't. If not, then you must buy a thin waterproof jacket to go over your down jacket. Some parkers have a down coat, topped with a sturdy rain-proof outer shell. Ask: Is the outer fabric water resistant, water proof or neither?

Go for big chunky rolls of insulation rather than the fashionable diamonds or small, thin, flat rolls. The more compressed the down or synthetic fibre in the sections; the less air (heat) it will hold. Also the excess stitching will result in greater heat and feather loss through seams. Look at roll size and chunkiness and amount of stitching.

The tighter the weave of the outer fabric the fewer feathers will be lost too. Look at the tightness of the weave Ruffle the coat a bit, can you see any down poking through?

In the same way duvets are rated with togs, down jackets have ratings that (those who have bothered to list i.e. those who think their product is worth boasting about, seem to range between 500 – 700). Always go higher than you think you need. Ask: What is the down rating?

Does the jacket just have a pop-out shell hood? For an all round cocooned-in warm feel the hood should be insulated too. The neck of the jacket, which also should be insulated, should funnel right up to the hood so you can bury your face into it against the cold. Check the hood.

It's all well storing your built-up heat behind lots of insulation but if the coat is not sealed at the base or waist and at the wrists and neck, the wind will blow it all out. The worst part of this is the wind will replace your stored warmth with cold air. Check access points for wind.

You will be spending a lot of time with this coat and relying on it so, like a good friend, you must love it! The colour, the fit, the style – will you actually enjoy wearing this coat? Can you look after it in the way it needs caring for? You will probably also be spending a fair bit of money on it! So, Ask: Do you love it?

Myfavouritechoiceissheepskincoatsheepskinbootsbutifwet,riggersandadowninsulatedgortex

parkerfortheoutsidetoppedupwithhotmilkydrinkseveryhourontheinside!

Life is slower when you live off-grid this and planning ahead for the next resource-use or spending time layering up is imperative so you are never caught short. You can ’t be lazy or disorganised to survive off-grid with small children. If you are, the cold and hunger will soon change you or multiple small whines to the ears will.

Bottled Gas

LIVING

Off-Grid or Self-Reliant living requires a source of heat that is not at the control of a a far-off organisation. We consider wood-fuel elsewhere in this book but its also important to remember that if you are considering living off-grid but by fire or even on-grid with electric heating, there is absolutely nothing wrong with having a Plan B for heating and cooking in times of extended power cut, low wood supply or ill health It's also possible to buy a gas-powered fridge All the Off-Grid Women interviewed for the Biog part of Barefoot Self-Reliance had back-up gas and were grateful for it But, what to buy? Would you know the differences between the blue bottles and orange? Between jet sizes of natural gas appliances and LPG fuelled appliances? Or how long a bottle will last you?

TYPES OF GAS BOTTLE

PROPANE - REDDY ORANGE

Think 'PrOpane Orange Outside my hOme'.

Orange bottles can power your internal heat and cooker but need to live outside and be piped in.

Propane is a form of LPG (Liquefied Petroleum Gas). propane isn’t affected by cold conditions in the U.K and is therefore ideal for outdoor use but is also ideal for easy installation back-up power for heating, hot water, fire and fridge. The bottle needs to remain outside while the piping comes inside. If you are running a whole home with this you can buy bottles as big as 47kg, they then go down in size; 19kg 13kg, 6kg 3 9 kg being more suitable for smaller caravan/van cooking and heating set ups Often there is an external locker for these to sit in, so they do not come inside your living space for safety

To connect these bottles to the pipes coming into your home you will need a propane regulator (see the section on regulators)

Bottled Gas LIVING

BUTANE - BLUE

Think 'Butane is Blue for Lives in my aBode.'

This gas can power your internal heat sources such as spot heaters, legally 30kg can live inside with you at any one time, usually this would be 2 x 15 kg bottles. You can buy gas bottle heaters that have space in the back of the appliance and a flame grill on the front as in the picture. Heaters like this hold one blue butane bottle usually sized 15kg or 7kg, though can you get butane bottles for internal cooking and heating as small as 4.5kg.

If you are buying the heater new, it should come with a regulator (the bit that connects the hose to the gas bottle) if it doesn't you will need to buy a Butane regulator suitable for a 15kg or 7kg bottle.

TOOLS NEEDED FOR GAS BOTTLE LIVING

REGULATORS

A regulator is a heavy metal peice that fits onto the gas bottle nozzle at the top and connects the rubber pipe to the bottle, its' purpose is to regulate the air flow whatever the pressure in the bottle. A clip-on regulator simply sits on top of the nose of the gas bottle and there is a switch to lever that causes it to attach securely. On a screw-in regulator you may need a spanner to loosen and retighten the nut after you have screwed the threads of the regulator into the top of a new gas bottle, seen on this picture in brass The coloured stick-out bits in the pictures of the regulators are where the hose is attached.

HOSE

A rubber hose should be replaced at least every three years for safety as they crack, usually the hose is held onto the sticky-out-bits using a couple of jubilee clips which need a flat head screw driver to tighten.

JETS

If an appliance like a cooker or a heater is purpose built for lpg then the jets should be sized accordingly. Cooker/heater jets are the tiny brass nut shaped openings under each hob ring, where gas comes out for the flame to catch and sit at An appliance built for natural mains gas will have bigger holed jets so you'll need to replace them with smaller holed jets if you want to use a mains gas cooker off-grid. If you plan to connect a gas bottle to an appliance, please check it was built for propane/butane and if not contact the manufacturer to buy a set of jets that will convert it to burn ok with bottle gas.

SIZES OF BOTTLES AND HOW LONG THEY LAST

One 47kg propane bottle, powering central heating, fridge and hot water in a large caravan, on most of the time would last around 19 days at a cost of about £53 at time of writing. Consider using this just for a shower and cooker then adding butane spot room heaters just to back up your wood fuel heating in times of need.

One 15 kg Butane bottle room heater will last 50 hours (on full) to 105 hours (on low). A 15 kg bottle of butane at time of writing is £29.

IS MY BOTTLE EMPTY?

There are two ways to check to see if your gas bottle is empty. Firstly, remember that all gas bottles only arrive 80% full to allow for expansion.

Method 1. You can check by putting the bottle on a scale and deducting the bottle weight (marked on the bottle rim and known as the 'tare') from the weight on the scale, if your bottle holds 15kg of gas and after deducting the bottle weight from the scale measurement there is only 3kg left you know you have one fifth of the gas left.

Method 2. Pour a kettle of hot (not boiling) water down the side of your bottle. Feel the water from the top to the bottom, where it suddenly changes temperature and goes really cold is where the gas is up to If the 'cold line' is near the bottom then you need to replace your bottle soon.

A Chemists Guide To Lighting Fire

GROWING UP WITH AN INDUSTRIAL CHEMIST

I decided to email my Dad a few years ago to ask; "which chemicals could start a fire?” For example could glycerine and potassium permanganate really work, as an article I had read online suggested? This was his reply

“Hi Di, this is just a quick response to your email.

Potassium permanganate, glycerine and water . Add a few drops of glycerine to few crystals of potassium permanganate. accelerate the reaction by adding a couple of drops of water.

Or instant fire with potassium permanganate with antifreeze (that you might have in your car along with petrol to keep it going).

Acetone, sulphuric acid and potassium permanganate. Soak a tissue with acetone. Draw sulphuric acid into a glass pipette, dip the pipette into the permanganate to coat with a few crystals. Dispense the sulphuric acid on to the tissue. It should catch fire. (Where would you get sulphuric acid?)

Sodium Chlorate, sugar and sulphuric acid. Mix a small amount of sodium chlorate and sugar initiate the reaction by adding a few drops of acid. (Where would you get sulphuric acid?)

Ammonium Nitrate powder, finely ground zinc powder and hydrochloric acid. Mix together a small amount of ammonium nitrate and zinc powder initiate the reaction by adding a few drops of hydrochloric acid. (Where would you get the hydrochloric acid?)

9V battery – touch both poles to super fine steel wool it will catch fire and burn tinder, wool fibres and feathers etc. (Sounds good to me)

Boy scouts have tried sunshine and a magnifying glass but it might work for girls too. Ha ha!

Love dad.

PS please excuse my sense of humour”

A Chemists Guide To Lighting Fire

Dad is showing his age there, as a lot of the chemicals are just not freely available now. The only ones that are, are:

Potassium permanganate. A multi use ingredient, used externally for human, plant and animal fungal infections, wound washing, fire starting and is available to buy in UK

Anti-freeze. From your car garage.

Glycerin. Which you may have for other purposes already, or available online or from chemists.

Lighting the Dark

You need three things to make light, safely. A fuel, a wick and a container. Some lamps I have improvised over the years are as follows:

Beeswax warmed into veggie oil for fuel, dried plaited nettle stem wick, glass dessert pot.

Fat (animal or vegetable) fuel, garden twine wick and tuna tin

Nail varnish remover fuel, a strand of a mop as a wick, jam jar with metal lid.

Lard for fuel, corn-on-the-cob fibre wick in a clay pot made from river bank clay.

Improvised Candle Wicks

A wick is draws the fuel up to the flame and feeds the fuel, slowly, to the fire It is usually made of some sort of dried plant fibre whether cotton, jute, wood, bark, plant stems Here are some ideas to play with.

NETTLE STEMS - OUTER FIBRE

Nettles are all around us, in summer the stems are tall and the outer fibre easily peels off the inner stem. Pick a few tall nettles, remove all leaf growth. Using your nail or a knife slit the stem lengthways from top to bottom being careful not to cut all the way through. Now, fold the stem in half, the inner fibre should poke up at the fold allowing you to carefully peel away the outer fibre. Peel away the outer fibre all the way down, paying extra attention at stem nodes, so you can get as long lengths as possible. Allow these outer fibre lengths to dry a little (a few hours) then plait them or cordage them and allow to further dry You now have a nettle candle wick

MULLEIN STEMS AND RUSH GRASS STEMS

THREADS OF HESSIAN OR COTTON

Pull some strands of hessian and plait them together, rip some cotton sheeting, shirting or a t-shirt into thin strips and plait tightly

MOP HEAD STRANDS

A mop, used or new, is basically a bundle of cotton candle wicks and will keep you going for months.

THIN SLIVER OF BARK OR CURL OF WOOD

A piece of birch bark can be embedded in fat and act as a wick, however once the fat melts this wick will float to the surface and the melted fat will put out the flame so, if you can, use a bit of wire to support it. If you have no wire don't worry you will still get a fair bit of light before the fat melts and drowns your wick Then simply blow out the candle, let it set hard readjusting the wick before it does so, and use again later.

CORN ON THE COB FIBRE

The green inner thread-like fibres on 'corn on the cob' make wick. This can be found in temperate clime rural areas as pheasant cover, or cattle feed and often found lying around in fields long after it has produced Dry the threads until they go brown (they may already be brown when you harvest them, that's fine). Keep the fibres straight as they dry or they dry stuck together like spaghetti. Plait them when almost dry but not quite. Dry further, then use as candle wick.

Fuels For Light

A fuel is anything that burns for a while. Although fat is often cited as the traditional lamp fuel, our poorer ancestors would have had to use animal fat sparingly if it could be better eaten. If they were by the coast, fat would come from sea mammals. Our ancestors would also have used plant waxes and stems, while the rich and the church burned beeswax candles. Remember any fat, vegetable or seed oil that has nutritional value may be better eaten than used to burn for light, but there is nothing stopping you using it quickly to eat after it has given you light if you need both, or using an older dead animal that couldn't be eaten, eg roadkill badger. Other modern fuel ideas are discussed here, too.

NAIL VARNISH REMOVER

Nail varnish remover with or without acetone is a great lamp fuel, if you have a safe enough container, ensure there is a closed metal lid, such as a jam jar lid, with a small hole pierced in for the wick, that should be tight fit. Even in a breeze this flame will keep going. It is essential you pierce one or two large holes elsewhere in the lid so that air can get in to help the draw.

ANIMAL FAT

The fuels in traditional candles were animal fats including sea animals like seals and sperm whale fluid Lard is pork fat, while tallow is beef fat. Road kill badger is a good source of fat, boil any fatty meat up and skim the surface. Animal fat is usually so soft it doesnt' need melting to pour into a container; simply squash it into the jar or tin.

NUT AND SEED OILS

Plant oils from pressed nuts/seeds such as olive, almond, sunflower etc would be more useful eaten but can give light if used frugally. The least wasteful would be to use cheap vegetable oil You can press your own nut and seed oils using a nut press. See essentials. The yeild is minimal. This method is best if you have cheap manufactured oil available.

VEGGIE LARD

On the supermarket shelves you can now find vegetarian lard, it looks very much like beef lard but a bit less greasy. This is made from a hydrogenating process so you can't make your own veggie fat Use in the same was as animal fat for lamps.

PARAFFIN

A white or purple liquid produced in petrol making. When using liquid fuels you can guestimate the amount of burning time to be the same as the size of the candle that the volume of liquid represents. So a container of paraffin the size of a yoghurt pot will burn as long as a candle of that size. Use in lamps with a good quality wick and make sure the wick is trimmed in the right way and length.

KEROSENE

Ususally used for outside areas with good ventilation, if using inside this fuel type should be mixed with at least 50% paraffin to reduce fume toxicity. Use in lamps with a good quality wick and make sure the wick is trimmed in the right way and length as with Paraffin lamps.

WAXES

From kids crayons to ear wax, old candle stumps remelted, lanolin (not technically a wax but of waxy feel) beeswax, plant waxes such as soy wax, bog mirtle and mullein. To melt wax you will need a double boiler, this can be a pot/ bowl over a pan of boiling water or a stainless steel bainmarie. The idea is the wax must NOT sit on the base in direct contact with heat. Put the hardest wax type in first,and as it melts add others Bog Mirtle has wax in the leaves that can be extracted by boiliing and scraping off. Even ear wax can be used to coat something to help it light. Pine resin can also be used.

Containers For Light

In addition to wick and fuel you need something to hold them together in. Below are some ideas. If you have nothing, you can dig a hole in your garden soil, pat the sides smooth and pour the wax into that, insert the wick, either lighting it there, in situ, or digging your 'earth candle' out when it has set hard.

JAM JARS

Glass jam jars and kilner jars are built to stand heat, add fat, wax and wick for a lamp or if using a liquid fuel add the metal lid, first piercing a hole for the wick and two side slits for air intake.

TUNA TINS

Turn the empty tuna tin upside down and pierce three holes, poke wick through, then turn the right way up, pour a little fat or wax in first, to seal the bottom holes (or blobs of blutac on the outside), then top up with the remaining wax or fat. Hold the wicks steady with horizontal sticks until the fuel has set. This three wick lamp gives off much light. You can add three wicks due to the width of this candle, where one central wick would get smothered once the fuel melts.

TALLER TINS SUCH AS BEAN TINS

The problem with these is how much light they let out, you can cut shapes in the walls to let more light shine through

HALF ORANGE SKINS

Hollowed out half orange skins can be used to hold fuel, put them in a bowl or tin though, and keep and eye on them as the orange may ignite too at the end of the burn. This would also work for pineapple, pumpkin, turnip etc. with the same caveat of keeping an eye on it.

EGG CUPS

Ceramic or metal egg cups can be used as containers, you would need to support the wick with horizontal sticks until the fuel set.

TIN MUGS AND CHINA CUPS

As above, any kitchen mug or cup can be used as a container The problem with non-glass containers is that the light doesn't shine out so easily if the flame is lower than the top of the cup.

Method for Making a Poured Candle.

Melt wax or fat in a double boiler, you can add a little oil to make it go further if you don't have much wax

Hold wick upright in the container, using wire or sticks, ideally weigh the bottom of the wick with a blob of wax, crimp a bit of clay around it or something heavy, though this isn't essential.

Pour in the melted stuff or the cold oil. If using a soft fat simply squash it into the container around the wick, in which case you don't need anything to hold up the wick.

Button or Penny Candle

Take a metal button or penny

Cut a square of thin cotton cloth eg. hankie/sheet/shirt (approx. 3” x 3” (7.5 x 7.5 cm)

Tie a bit of wire around the top or knot the hankie at the top of the penny.

Float the wrapped penny in a saucer of fuel. Cooking oil, or lamp oil (not petrol) melted lard etc.

Light the ‘wick' of the cloth. It can always help to prime a wick first with the fuel.

NGoingatural

WITH YOUR TOILETRIES

SEVEN REASONS TO GO NATURAL

Avoid the toxins cited here found in most off-the-shelf products. Save money – those overpriced, misleadingly-labelled products can be made toxin-free at home for less cost. Re-use beautiful glass bottles and jars over and over again – they look prettier in the home and also reduce plastic waste.

Easy to make – all the ingredients are easily obtainable from your own or a neighbours garden, wild-harvested, bought on-line (flowers and herbs, nut and seed oils, beeswax) or found in your kitchen cupboard (bicarbonate of soda, citric acid, fats and oils, fruit, sugar, fats, salt) with equipment that can be found in most homes (scales, bowls, pans, measuring jug, spoon, sieve and jars). You can tailor your ingredients and recipes to suit your preferences. Combine the best oils for YOUR skin type or herbs for hair type with YOUR favourite scents even adding essential oils to suit a particular mood so that you have absolutely personalised toiletries!

NGoingatural

WITH YOUR TOILETRIES

SEVEN REASONS TO GO NATURAL

They make great gifts – a hamper of 100% natural hand-made pamper products can be made for any age and for both men and women – cup cake bath bombs for kids look good enough to eat while shaving oil is so easy and effective. They contribute to a sustainable lifestyle. We talk about ‘food miles’ and ‘local food’ but rarely think about ‘toiletries miles’. Toiletries, even natural toiletries, often still contain ingredients from four corners of the world robbing other cultures of their food stuffs or pricing them out the market. Eg. Soap-nuts, cocoa and shea butters Use only the plants, fats, oils, natural resources around you to make your products.

Over the following pages you will learn what's in your toiletries and how you can replace these products with items from your kitchen cupboards, the garden and the wild.

Ingredient Check

TOXINS

We put around 168 different chemicals on our bodies a day, that amounts to around 2kg worth a year. Why does this matter, your'e not eating them? Previously around 60% of these chemicals could enter our bloodstrem through our skin, move around our bodies and end up in vital organs, the brain, the endocrine system and for women especially, our fatty tissues. The W.H.O found that some of these (dioxins often found in anti-bacterial products) have a half life of 7 -11 years, that means they have only reduced to half the initial amount in that time. Today, with the advent of nanotechnology, molecules are even smaller and together with the increased use of PPG and PEG which draw down chemicals into deeper tissues, the amount absorbed transdermally is more likely to be closer to 100%. Personally I have less issue with the wash-off products than the sit-on-the-body products as I believe to worry too much is itself more damaging than a few topical, washed off chemicals. So please don't stress too much about this, the aim of this chapter is to raise your awareness of how you can make SOME of your products yourself

LABELLING

It turns out that a lot of us are fooled into trusting the word Natural on a label and read no further according to a Mintel survey. A product can be labelled Natural if it has as little as 0.05 % of a plant ingredient, the rest being the usual synthesised cocktail of the following ingredients. There is no legal status of the term Natural, and worse still; the term 'Organic' in the toiletries world isn't the wholesome view of fields buzzing with bees that we usually associate with the word organic. The term in the toiletries world is usually the Chemical industry version of 'organic' meaning'it once lived' So crude oil would count as organic, legally Always read the label, well ,beyond the word Natural, and check your products out for the following.

PARABENS

Parabens are one of our oldest preservatives; we have been sloshing them onto our bodies for around eighty years. In fact if we urine tested all of you, you would all have parabens present. They have been banned in certain Scandinavian countries for use on babies and toddlers on the genital area due to being recognised as hormone disrupting. Marketeers are onto our increasing awareness and many products are

Ingredient Check

PARABENS CONT.

now labelled as paraben-free. However the preservative they have replace parabens with is still, well, dodgy Known for short as MIT as it is too long to remember, the replacement to get around our awareness of parabens was initially developed as boat hull paint preservative, and some studies are suggesting with prolonged use, it is a neurotoxin and after only a short appearance Unilever are already advertising how they are reducing its use. If you are making your own products look to include self-preserving ingredients, reduce or exlude water-based ingredients, or simply refrigerate. More on this later.

SODIUM LAURYL SULFATE

Usually listed as SLS, this is the stuff that makes your eyes burn in shampoo. It is a known irritator of mucus membranes and skin, and included in most products as the chief surfactant ingredient, meaning it is there to strip away dirt. Over the years this has been replaced with S.L.E.S Sodium Laureth Sulphate, a slightly less stingy surfactant. Natural alternatives to these foaming agents can be found and often have the words sodium or lauryl in them but are based on plant (sugars and oils) ingredients not petrochemical ingredients. Usually these are coconut or palm oil based surfactants and we don't grow those in the UK However other natural products found around you can also be used as surfactants (see next chapter)

EMULSIFIERS

Most products contain both oil and water-based ingredients, which if left to their own devices, would separate into two layers. To get the oil/water molecules to attach and bind together into one uniform product, an emulsifier is used. There are many synthesised and natural emulsifiers One example of a natural emulsion is milk - milk is a mixture of fat and water To make a natural emulsifier you can use beeswax and boric acid, though even the boric acid bit is under question as a natural ingredient so the best option if you must make products that contain water and fat or oil is to manually emulsify (shake).

Ingredient Check

P.P.G

Another common chemical in our toiletries is Poly Propylene Glycol, it is included for two reasons, firstly it acts as an emulsifier, secondly it is included as a nourisher, drawing any moisturising agents deeper into the skin, making the skin or hair feel more nourished. P.P.G is a polymer, one molecule away from antifreeze, other similar polymers are polystyrene It is possible to have natural, biopolymers, these are found in DNA and rubber!

P.E.G

Poly Ethylene Glycol acts similarly to P.P.G in that it is a water absorbing petrochemical plastic that when combined with glycol becomes sticky and liquid. Ethylene Glycol, found within it, is used in anti-freeze

MINERAL OIL

A petro-chemical industry by-product, mineral oil is used in most of our toiletries due to being odorless, colourless and cheap. As long as the source of mineral oil is within the E U it is highly screened for toxic by-products from the petrol processing so should be low in toxicity, however if the mineral oil in your products is from a non-E.U source this cannot be guaranteed. The other problem with mineral oil is that although it is included to nourish skin, over time it can in fact dry the skin. Think how often people who use mineral oil based lip balm have to keep reapplying, or how your favourite body moisturser seems less effective over time. Plant and nut oils, fats and waxes can replace mineral oil as nourishing ingredients.

GLYCERINE

Glycerine is found in most products as it helps with texture making it spreadable, or pourable, as well as giving the product humecant properties (water absorbing), it helps the product self-preserve and to capture available moisture and draw it into the skin or hair to plump it up, or in the case of toothpaste to squeeze easily. Glycerine is either animal or plant based and is a sugary, clear thick liquid that is produced from soap and candle making. It is used also in the making of explosives in fact, one of the reasons companies such as Yardley and Pears may have grown during the war could be to do with the government buying up glycerine from the soap making industries to use in the war effort. Glycerin used in greater amounts than 10% will have the opposite effect drawing moisture from the skin. Glycerin is considered safe and natural to use but honey also works as a humecant.

In theory, You only need two products: one cleaner and one nourisher and these could be used for body, hair andhousehold.

Surfactants

TO CLEAN

WHAT WE CAN USE INSTEAD

Natures ‘surfactants’ and cleansers:

Citrus fruits or citric acid. Lime and Grapefruit have the highest concentrations of citric acid.

Alcohol

Vinegar

Yoghurt - the acid in yogurt makes it a good skin cleaner without drying

Plants that contain natural saponins: Soapwort root or campion root boiled to make a liquid soap

Birch sap/leaves/twigs boiled.

Horse chestnuts boiled, peeled and blitzed, to make a liquid soap

Honeysuckle flowers, maybe infused in... Milk is natures emulsion (water and fat in one consistent product as well as more enzymic action, if raw). The lactic acid in this emulsion cleans the face. Milk powder can also be used.

*Often it is believed plants that have soapy properties contain saponins, it's not always the case, often they are esters

See recipes for wood ash soap and conker washing liquid.

Nourishers

TO SOFTEN AND MOISTEN

WHAT WE CAN USE INSTEAD

The following products around us that can be used to nourish and protect our skin and hair:

Beeswax - latin ‘cera’ on toiletries products, it is the all-natural substance that the bees honeycomb is made from, it is antibacterial, anti fungal, non toxic, waterproof, edible, aromatic, moisturising and stable over time. It melts at 65 degrees C and to melt beeswax you need a double boiler set-up as you would for chocolate melting, never directly in a pan over heat. Buy in bulk as it never goes off and use for the rest of your life for candles and to nourish your skin. Alternatively keep your own bees or barter and exchange with a beekeeping friend.

Animal fat - cave women realised animal fat softened the skin on their hands after processing carcasses to eat, we have just got too prudish now to use it on our bodies. Lard (pig fat) is the most easy to obtain in the UK but any animals fat will nourish skin. Lard has vitamins and a type of fat that is close to human fat, some people recommend it for face wrinkles. You can buy lard or make your own by getting trimmings from the butchers and boiling them up, scraping off the fat off the top and reboiling the remaining liquid for more fat.

Nourishers

Veggie lard - I used to use the brand Trex for pastry-making and also as a base for nourishing products. It was made with rapeseed oil that had been turned into fat, not great for the diet as it was hydrogenated but fine for skin. However Trex now blend palm oil into their product so Ive had to source a local pure rapeseed fat. This fat isn’t something you can make at home but you can buy in bulk and use for many purposes including cooking, softening leather, as well as for nourishing hair and body.

Nut/Seed Oils - even supermarket sunflower oil will do as a body oil, fancier oils such as sesame, olive, grapeseed, rapeseed or whatever your native seed/nut oil is will be fine too. If you can cook with it you can put it on your skin.

Lanolin is the waxy, fatty substance found in sheep wool that helps keep them protected from the elements. You don’t have to kill the sheep to get it, its found in the fleece. Shop-bought lanolin is a by-product of the existing meat and wool industry. But, simply stroking a sheep and wiping your hands on your face will give you one of natures best moisturisers albeit with a bit of grit!

To extract lanolin simply shear your sheep and scald the wool in hot water and salt, boiling it for a couple of hours, lift out the wool then boil off the water reducing it until there is hardly any left, strain the lanolin off in the pan.

Lanolin can also be bought in bulk. The word ‘anhydrous’ on some lanolin packaging simply means has no water at all left in it. Depending on the breed, one sheep can yield between 5 and 30% of the weight of its fleece in lanolin meaning around 250 ml for some fleeces. One sheep shorn once a year would give you enough lanolin for that year if you added it as part of an overall recipe.

Lanolin has a distorted reputation for being a skin irritant due to the main research, in the 1950s having been done in a dermatology department on people with already sensitised skin. It is in fact used in nipple cream for breastfeeding mothers, there are some worries over pesticide residues in lanolin (like us, sheep are what they eat) but the US screening limits toxins to a parts per million thats equivalent to 40mg per 1kg with European standards being stricter. Medical grade being even more screened. Sheep fat, sheep wax or whatever you may see it called is highly emollient and in studies shows a reduction in dryness of 30% within an hour. I love lanolin and use it in everything even my toothpaste. Milk is a natural emulsion in that it combines both water and fat in natural suspension without the need for emulsifiers.

Cream (yes I mean the dairy cream you put on pudding) unless you’re prone to spots is a lovely treat for dry flakey skin, it can smell as the day wears on so use at night time. It really lifts the eye area.

HOW TO MAKE YOUR OWN

Glycerine Soap

1.

You can buy soap base that is 100% Natural, made in the UK with no parabens or SLS in it. This is a great way to start making soaps if the wood ash lye soap sounds daunting. You can add your own essential oils, flowers and herbs from your garden and even therapeutic ingredients like:

clay for drawing out impurities

goat milk powder for soothing

oatmeal for soothing

sand for sloughing

salt for sloughing and minerals

seaweed dried and powdered

honey

magnesium salt for relaxing

2. 3.

If you don't add bits but keep it plain just with some well chosen oils these glycerine bars can be used as shampoo bars. Oils for shampoo bars could be:

Birch Tar Oil

Honeysuckle oil

Rosemary Oil

TO MAKE

1.

2.

3

4.

It is a good investment to buy a kilo of this stuff One kilo will make about 14 small bars that can be kept in a kilner jar waiting to be used and the cost will work out as little as £10 making the bars less than £1 each.

The make I use is Stephensons, made in England and 100% Glycerine. Click HERE to buy this base and moulds

Chop up the solid base mix into chunks. Melt the chunks in a double boiler (bowl over a pan of boiling water until the chunks become liquid. Stir in your fresh or dried, chopped up flowers or herbs Stir in 20-30 drops of essential oils per soap Add half a teaspoon of any of the therapeurtic ingredients per bar. Too much powder will sink to the bottom.

Isoproply alcohol can help suspend the 'bits' througout the soap and will also get rid of any bubbles. I don't mind a little aesthetic imperfection. If you want to make various versions in the same batch add the different mixes into individual moulds, then stir the plain soap mix carefully into the moulds.

1.

HOW TO MAKE YOUR OWN

Wood Ash Soap

2.

I first made this when some guests to the tipi site had left the lid off the hot-tub stove and it filled with rainwater. After the initial 'oh no', my permaculture training kicked in and I made the problem a solution Knowing that wood ash and rainwater make lye (ph 14) I decided to have a go at making wood ash soap. Traditionally soap was made from lye and an animal fat but in reality, in hard times, to have animal fat that you didn't need to eat was a luxury and Tudor peasants for example would have had to skip the 'add animal fat' part of a soap recipe and simply used the lye from the wood ash to scrub pots and floors and possibly, diluted; themselves.

Today we have more fats available to us. The best fat I found was the hardest fat I trialled which was rapeseed fat (AKA veggie lard - but not the type cut with palm oil). Its available in big catering blocks If you only have soft fats, adding up to about a tenth of beeswax may help.

Firstly, boil the ashy water up to produce a grey liquid, test this with some litmus paper. It should go dark purple as above. Reduce the rainwater ash lye down as much as possible by simmering excess water out of it until it is darker and thicker. Strain. Remember this is extremely corrosive - do not inhale or use plastic tools! You will need:

A pan of your woodash lye

3.

A pan of melted fat to the same volume (and no more than 1/10th beeswax if you are using a soft fat)

Soap moulds (I have used a grease proof lined shoe box in the past, or lined loaf tins. A metal thermometer) ensure there is no plastic casing, I learned the hard way how caustic lye is!)

When both pans are to the same temperature, around (52c), remove from heat slowly stir the lye into the fat a little at a time, do not stir the fat into the lye. Return to a low heat and gently beat for about 20 mins, until it thickens, pour into mould and leave for six weeks. Ph needs to drop or it will burn

Horse Chestnut

LIQUID SOAP

It infuriates me when our society thinks it can rob other cultures of their basic supplies for our western fads. Indian Soapnuts shipped over in the name of eco-living cancel themselves out. Instead look to our own Native soapnuts. The Horse Chestnut tree (as distinct from the sweet chestnuts you eat) provides our Native soapnuts. Remember conkers?

In Autumn collect a couple of carrier bags-full, off the ground. Some may still be in their spiky shells so be careful. Ideally pick up nuts that are free or almost loose of their shells, if you leave them to collect till later in Autumn, nature will have make them easier to shell. Remove all the spiky shells and compost them.

Par-boil or roast the horse chestnuts until they split open to reveal their milky white insides, then stop immediately. Chop in half, peeling off the shell and further chop up the insides. The result is the picture above. Add to just enough water to cover then bring to the boil, remove from heat straight away and blitz in a processor if you can, but don't worry if you can't. Research is showing that microwaves can more readily extract the saponins from horse chestnuts, so if you have one you can cover the nuts with water and microwave instead. Also, alcohol will extract more than water if you wanted to put a glug of vodka in, it wouldn't hurt.

The resulting liquid is deliciously soft and gentle, it works because of the saponins, to strip away dirt, but this is a very gentle soap. It can be used on the face or on delicate materials, in fact I believe it is used to wash valuable historical garments. There are natural glycerols in chestnuts which may explain its softening effect. It won't make your whites whiter nor clean grease off your hands. If you want to use the above for laundry some people recommend finishing with a dash of vinegar as fabric softener. There are many methods of making nutsoap online but look to the resulting froth as a determiner of which method to use as that shows the level of saponins. Also see scientific study HERE

2.

3.

HOW TO MAKE YOUR OWN

Bath Bombs

Bath Bombs are a lovely way to bathe, as they both clean and nourish in one relaxing bath The citric acid removes grease and dirt, the bicarb cleans away smells then the oils nourish. Using a bath bomb means your skin is cleaned and softened without having to apply a moisturiser after your bath.

A lot of people find it hard to see citric acid and bicarb of soda as natural due to their white powdered form, so let me explain how they are actually Natural chemicals.

Citric Acid is made from fermenting citrus fruit (if you leave a lime in your fruit bowl till it goes hard, 8% of that will be citric acid), then adding an alkali which results in a froth. The froth is scraped off and dried into the sugar like powder that is citric acid. This ingredient is often used in cordial or wine making, or kitchen cleaning.

Bicarb of Soda is made from lake deposits, after the water has dried and there is a white layer on the earth,it is a mineral salt, known chemically as Natron Again, the type you may have in your kitchen for baking is fine.

The next page shows the basic bathbomb recipe, if you want to add creative or therapeutic extras, you can; add food colouring and glitter, add epsom salts, goat milk powder, clay, antiviral oils or herbal tea or milk instead of water. Other than the ingredients you don't need special tools just kitchen items...

FORAGED FLOWER

Bath Bombs

YOU'LL NEED

Tablespoon Bowl

Something to hold or form the bombs in this can be:

Paper cup cake cases

Silicon cup cake moulds (hearts are nice) Or simply make balls and let them dry

Essential oils

Pinch of herbs or flowers (rip open a herbal tea bag or pick fresh from the garden from those in the wild food section)

Just enough cold water to bind it. I use a spritzer bottle to control the amount of water better.

For each bathbomb:

Three Tablespoons of Bicarb

One Tablespoon of Citric Acid.

One Tablespoon of Base oil (Whatever grows local to you).

Ten drops of essential oil, or five of each if you are mixing two.

Cautions: If you have a cut on your hands the citric acid will sting, but won't hurt them, also if making bath bombs with children, ensure the citric acid doesn't get in their eyes, if it does rinse out with cold water.

Method: 1. 2.

Simply mix the dried ingredients together

Add the oils

3.

4.

Add five squirts of water and stir until the mixture clumps

Add five more squirts, then bring the mixture together in your hands*.

t will feel ice cold, like making a snowball! This is due to the exothermic reaction.

Scent: What goes with what when mixing oils? You can choose relaxing oils together or invigorating oils, or I like to combine plants that naturally grow together So, rose and lavender 'go' because they are english country garden, rosemary and pine 'go' as they are mediterranean woodland...

Trouble shooting: If you put too much water in, you will get mushy, expanding froth but you can save your bomb by adding one or more tablespoons of bicarb to it.

If the mixture is too dry and won't clump together, add more water/base oil

If it all goes to pot, simply pour into a jar and label 'bath salts'.

Face and Body Scrubs

Sometimes, everyday washing doesn't feel enough so a couple of times a week treat yourself to a scrub, a mask and then deep nourish. A Home Spa because 'you're worth it'. Self-Reliance can also come in the form of natural self-care

YOU WILL NEED ONE FROM:

FACE BODY

muslin cloth

ground almonds

oatmeal

coffee grinds

bicarb of soda

HOW TO MAKE

sugar

knitted garden

twine cloth

salt

sand

Although I have included food types here, they may need to be prioritised to eat over beauty so learn use non-edible, natural abrasives on your skin too.

Take a handful of the abrasive and rub on, in a circular motion using either water, cooking oil/fat or soap, witch hazel or vodka depending on your skins needs Rub for a 30 seconds on each part of your face or a minute on each limb. Wash-off then use a mask to draw out deeper dirt.

Deep Cleaning Masks

YOU WILL NEED:

clay powder and/or dried powdered cleavers

Hot wash your face with your usual face cleaner then when still wet, mix up the clay and/or cleavers powder with warm water and spread on your face. Leave until dry and you can feel it sucking at your skin. So, ideally around 20 minutes for its full effect.

TIPS

England is a major source of Fullers Earth Clay so try to get local clay.

When you scrub and mask-up, don't forget your arm pits and soles of feet to help with detoxing.

Finish a scrub and mask off with a nourishing oil, such as rosehip seed oil for your face or your home made body butter for your body.

toothpaste

I started making my own toothpaste because, to be honest I just don't trust what's in the shop bought stuff. Over the years I've noticed that famous brands toothpaste has caused the paint to lift on the bathroom windowshelf in each house we have lived in, and also the SLS gives me mouth ulcers. My kids still use shop bought as the colour of my home made stuff and the fact it contains fat (yep, you read that right) puts them off

In nature-based cultures, there is little tooth decay, this could of course be down to low sugar diets but it was a different interesting observation by archeologists that led me to develop my own toothpaste. They noticed the teeth and gums of various tribal cultures were in fantastic condition and linked it with a diet high in essential fats Usually animal products. This made sense to me as the gums are the thing that holds our teeth in and if they were nourished then our teeth would remain embedded in them longer!

The following recipe results in toothpaste that feels a little odd to start with but before long you will notice a glossy look to your teeth and another beneficial side effect for me was that instead of feeling raw, my mouth felt nourished.

Wild Harvest School of Self-Reliance

toothpaste Recipe

Here is the recipe for my toothpaste. The following amounts will make one small jam jar size.

Two teaspoons of clay powder (Bentonite clay if you can as it has more calcium in it) but you could gather your own clay from garden soil or a riverbank. Wash out the soil, bake the clay and grind the dry clay into powder. You could also grind up chalk instead of clay because chalk is calcium carbonate.

Four tablespoons of whatever homemade body butter/ointment base you have, I use the recipe in this book containing beeswax, lanolin, and rapeseed oil.

Tea spoon of fine Salt or Bicarb (optional - this is a mineral)

One teaspoon of fresh-tasting ingredients such as home-grown stevia leaves dried and powdered, or some dried and powdered peppermint leaves (optional)

A few drops of pine or peppermint essential oil (remember you can make your own macerated pine or peppermint oil see chapter on making a macerated oil).

Macerated oils don’t have the same pungent aroma and taste as using a few drops of essential oil but will still carry the plant goodness. Mix all the above together in a bowl and store in small tin or tiny jars.

*The reason I include stevia is that it sweetens the peppermint oil and makes it taste much more like toothpaste, it has no adverse effects on teeth or health although it is sweeter than sugar (see Sugar Alternatives section).

EXPERIMENT UNTIL YOU GET A FLAVOUR AND TEXTURE YOU ARE HAPPY WITH

If you run out of toothbrushes don't worry simply snip off a twig or oak, apple or birch as a chewing stick, feathering the end with your teeth then using it to brush any bits out. Most wood used for chewing sticks contains anti-microbial properties that can help clean your mouth while brushing.

MakingYourOwn

A macerated oil is simply an oil; a base or carrier oil, that has had some plant infusing in it for a while. The plants nutrients and minerals seep from the plant into the oil so that when you strain the spent plant out, you have an oil imbued with valuable phytochemicals. Usually the carrier oil takes on the plants colouring but rarely its smell. A macerated oil is NOT the same as an essential oil. There are several ways you can then use your macerated oils:

Orally as a nutrition boost.

Topically rubbed into skin as a massage oil.

Mixed with beeswax into an ointment*

Mixed into a body butter* recipe

Youwillneed

Large Glass Jar with Ideally Rubber

Sealed Glass lid (I like Kilner Jars)

1 Litre of a local base oil (I used local rapeseed oil, sometimes mixed with supermarket sunflower oil if cost is an issue)

A selection of plants from the wild or your garden

Salad dressing or cooking oil

Mixed into a lip balm* eg. lemon balm macerated oil for cold sores or chilli macerated oil for hot plump lips.

*We cover these in this book.

ToMake

MACERATED OIL Note

Sterilise the jar by half filling with water and putting in the oven or over a fire. When the water is bubbling, empty, allow remaining water to evaporate in the heat Fill the jar half to three quarters full with your plant material You can chop it up a little if it doesn't fit in easily, this also helps to open up the plant chemicals to the oil.

Now pour in your oil, covering plant material, seal the jar and leave in a warm place to infuse for at least three weeks up to a year.

If you are making macerated oils for either consumption or wounds it is important to dry the plants thoroughly and not use fresh plants. This is due to the moisture content in fresh plants, if you trap water inside oil, there is oxygen and food, this can breed botulism into your oils. Always dry plants when making oils for ointments and oral consumption.

MakingYourOwn

MACERATED OIL

SOME SUGGESTED PLANTS TO MACERATE:

Thyme for anti fungal

Chilli for warming and pain relief

Willow bark and leaves or Meadowsweet for pain relief

Garlicky/peppery flavour plants for cooking oil

Chilli for cooking oil

Comfrey root for bone healing ointment

Calendula or woundwort for wound healing

Self-Heal in carrot oil for sun protection oil

Rose petals and lavender for a bath oil.

Plantain for wound healing and soothing

MyIdeas:

Note

If you are making macerated oils for either consumption or wounds it is important to dry the plants thoroughly and not use fresh plants. This is due to the moisture content in fresh plants, if you trap water inside oil, there is oxygen, this can breed botulism into your oils. Always dry plants when making oils for ointments and oral consumption.

HOW TO MAKE YOUR OWN

Body Butter

100% NATURAL WITH NO TROPICAL IMPORTS

I have called this 'body butter' but the truth is this is my go-to product for absolutely everything that needs nourishing; so, it could also be called my Universal Balm Recipe. I have used it as:

Bump Butter (through three pregnancies)

Baby Bum Ointment

Leather Boot Protector (Dubbin)

Wooden Workshop

Polisher

Greaser for Door Hinges

Cracked Heel Cream

Dry Ends Hair Treatment.

Rubbing into ordinary A4 paper to make greaseproof paper.

An emergency candle. In hard times you could even cook with it.

I promise you the list is endless

Wanting to keep it both Natural and Native. the wax, fats and oils of my choice are as follows; pick one of each from:

The Basics of a Balm/Butter:

Wax - Beeswax

Fat - Lanolin (not technically a fat), Lard, Veggie Lard such as Rapeseed Fat.

Oil - Rapeseed, sunflower, almond, hemp, pumpkin seed.

Extras can include:

Essential oils: total 30 drops per 200ml jar.

Vitamin E oil (for extra nourishing and helps preserve)

Mica powder for shimmer Sand, Salt or Sugar as a Scrub.

This is an oil/wax based recipe so it self-preserves. Where no water-based ingredients are added, a product doesn't really require preservatives as there is little room in the molecules for oxygen for bacterial growth. I've tested it with fungus/bacteria strip tests after 3 years and it's still good. For nourishers there really isn't need for water-based ingredients and hence emulsifiers/preservatives.

The ratio for this recipe is the same as the lip balm and ointment; 1:5 but here, instead of 1 part beeswax to 5 parts oil, its 1 part beeswax:2 parts fat:3 parts oil.

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2.

3.

HOW TO MAKE YOUR OWN

Lip/Cheek tint

Do you wear lipsyl or lipstick? Many of us use lipsyl in the winter agains the cold and in the summer against the heat, so over the course of the year we actually consume a few grams of the stuff. Do you know what is in your lip products? Most are made from paraffin wax and mineral oil, both petroleum industry by-products Your lips have no oil glands themselves so how can you keep them soft (and hey, tinted is fine too) without this gunk? Here I show you how to make your own lip tints that can double as cheek tints and also how you can tailor them for your own needs

At its most basic level, lipsyl is a wax and an oil melted together, it's basically an ointment for your lips, but one that can be fancied up.

The basic ratio is 1 part wax to five parts oil Rather than paraffin wax and mineral oil though, to be a natural beauty (and not eat petrol by-products) you can melt 1 part beeswax:5 parts oil. Oil will weigh the same as its volume, so use eg. 10g BW: 50ml sunflower oil. Warm them up, pour it into three tins and you have three plain lipbalms.

But, because you're 'worth it', you can add a bit of colour, scent and some health properties to yours

You may wonder why there is a picture of crayons here. Thats because when I first started making these pots, my girl was 13 and wanted to try her first make up. As a purist mother I was inwardly horrified, but went with it I made her a selection of all-natural make-up from her plant pigment beeswax crayons. Simply fine-grate the colour or colour blend that you like and melt them into the mix. Don't worry if you haven't a small child to rob of art materials your beauty needs because there is also stuff you can buy to tint your lips and cheeks I will add here that I have tried and better tried with beetroot powder and the flakes remain, it doesn't desolve in a fat-based

HOW TO MAKE YOUR OWN

Lip/Cheek tint

product, so I compromise with tiny amounts of mica powder.

Mica is an earth pigment that has colour AND often shimmer and is used in most make-up items. The colours range from brown, pinks, purples and reds and mica has a toxicity of less than 0 02% Only the tiniest amount is needed. If you just want a hint of colour and shimmer, put a quarter of a tea spoon per 20 ml pot or lipstick, if you want full on colour, use half a teaspoon of mica

Botanical ingredients in your lipstick/balm can be there for two reasons firstly in the format of essential oils they can give it nice smell, maybe one we get some emotional benefit from and secondly most importantly, you can make a macerated oil to replace the base oil, using plants to give goodness. I always add a few drops of evening primrose oil for vitamin e and, for those prone to cold sores, I would use a macerated lemonbalm or oregano oil in place of the base oil to add anti-viral properties. Finally, another plant I use in lip balms is chilli to give a hot plumped lips effect which goes great with red!

METHOD:

Melt 10g beeswax and 50ml your base oil or macerated oil in a bowl over a pan of boiling water. I often add a blob of lanolin to the pot.

In three 20ml tins, as above, add your mica or fine crayon shavings, a few drops of vit e oil, and 10 drops of essential oil per pot (optional).

Pour the melted oils/fat/wax into the tins, stirring gently with a stick, trying to keep it from sloshing over the sides

As soon as the mixture has all melted together, stop stirring. It should be ready to use in about 30 mins.

toothcare

WILD TOOTHBRUSHES

So, you have made your own natural toothpaste but what do you do if you get caught short with no toothbrush? Since 3500 BC we have been using chewing sticks and they are still available to buy on Amazon today! However, you can make your own. Our ancestors used twigs or roots of trees that held particularly useful ingredients that were either astringent or antimicrobial. So, in India the ideal tree is the Neem Tree, but here we have:

Oak

Apple

Pear

Willow

Birch

Hazel

Lime

Simply cut off a twig and chew one end, this itself will help to clean your teeth but the idea is that you feather that end as you chew and can then brush down removing food between the teeth using the feathered twig as well as brush your tongue and mouth cavity with it.

toothcare

NATURAL HOME MADE FILLINGS

If you get a crack or hole in a tooth, it can become infected by food getting stuck inside In addition, the exposed nerve can become tender If you can't access a dentist to get the hole filled, this can become serious, as a dirty, open tooth can lead lead to gum infection which can ultimately lead to sepsis and death. Swelling in the face is a sign the infection is moving into the body, at this point, it's a matter of antibiotics. Tooth problems in a survival situation are actually super serious!

However if you are at the stage where your tooth has just cracked or a filling has come out you can make a temporary filling using beeswax and a couple of drops of pine oil. Simply warm the beeswax until malleable and add a couple of drops of pine oil for it's antiseptic properties or clove oil for its antiseptic and anti-inflammatory effects. Cloves are not local of course but an alternative source of its useful phytochemical, 'euganol' is found here in Wood Avens (AKA Herb Bennet) root, so you could make a mouth wash with this.

This is a temporary fix and you should still aim to get to a dentist as soon as possible. Beeswax is malleable at 18 degrees and melts at 67 degrees centigrade.

Wild Medicine

As I am a big believer in allowing the body to cope and balance itself, I have only included two types of remedy in this book. For the two things I think as worthy of taking medicines for. Pain and infection. Also because, with wild medicine, once you start there are so many ailments to cover and around 50,000 medicinal plants; it necessitates a book in its own right.

I start from the premise that there is no point in seeking remedy from wild medicine if the rest of your life is out of balance. If you're ill and your lifestyle is not conducive to health, then you must start with diet, exercise, sleep and removing stressors, before you even think of taking any medicine, or at least in conjunction It is not fair to expect your body to cope with all the crap you throw at in, then think a plant can put it all right. Self-reliance starts with seeing to your own health via lifestyle.

A third point to note before you recourse to wild medicine is that, just because you plan to take something natural, this doesn't mean it is automatically safe.

Dosing. Even the most harmless plant may become problematic if you take too much of it

Contraindications. If you are on any other medicines, natural remedies can either stop them working or, for example in the case of simple detoxing diuretics like dandelion, can cause water loss enough to have the opposite effect and concentrate any medications that are in your body causing an overdose, or they can have a synergistic effect to produce new problems. Reactions. Some plants may give adverse reactions that have nothing to do with the ailment but because the plant acts as an allergen Ensure you have done a small test 24 hours before if there is a possibility you may have a reaction Eg even something as gentle as daisy can cause allergic reaction in those susceptible, and many plants fall into the daisy family that you may not expect. While some people react to lavender despite its reputation for being 'gentle'. Cleavers can also cause a skin reaction even though it is cited as a good plant to pick for cleaning-out the lymph system.

The Doctirne of Signatures

It was once believed that, if a plant looked like part of the body, then it would heal that organ Eg Lungwort

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2.

3.

LEARNING TO TREAT AILMENTS WITH

Wild Medicine

PAIN

Again, unless the pain is severe and stopping you doing something essential for your healing (like breath deeply) or move around a little, then I tend to co-exist with pain. I believe we have become dumbed down to our ability to cope with a little discomfort; taking a pill for any slight ill which means it's then harder to cope with real pain So we take even more Instead I try to listen to pain and see it as a messenger, while trying to keep it alongside my consciousness and not part of me Unless a medical professional tells me that by not taking pain relief I am impeding my own healing, then I would not choose to even use pain relief. I teach my foraging students to pick nettles bare-handed as a metaphor to be able to co-exist with pain and move forward through discomfort. But, pain relief does have it's place and it's nice to think we can turn to mother Nature and her full apron pocket, for succour. In this effort, she does provide several plants that can work in different ways to reduce pain. Later in this chapter you will learn to make a pain balm and a pain relieving tincture.

INFECTION

Infection is an important reason to take medicines too because if an infection is not treated, it can lead to complications. Infections can be bacterial, fungal or viral. Some examples of infections are tonsilitis, kidney infection, infected skin sore or shingles In this book we look at making a wound wash and infection busting ointment and tincture.

STOPPING BLEEDING/WOUND HEALING

Severe blood loss can cause the body to go into shock, we look at this in the emergency first aid section rather than here where we will be concerned with smaller wounds. All wounds will need to be made clean and then encouraged to seal and heal. Wounds go through stages of healing and different treatment is needed at different stages, each stage may be helped with plant remedies as plants can offer antiseptic, astringent, clotting, soothing, and cell repair support.

LEARNING TO TREAT AILMENTS WITH

Wild Medicine

Plants can be used externally (topically) to ease pain or fight infection, in the form of an ointment, a wash/bath, a poultice or a compress, or internally, taken as a tea, a decoction, a tincture, a glycerite, or in honey. We will look at all these different methods for taking plant remedies here.

TOPICAL (EXTERNALLY USED) PLANT REMEDIES

Ointment - Where the plant is mixed with some kind of fat, wax or oil combination to apply topically to the skin, directly on the affected area, so that it can penetrate and act transdermally as well as dealing with problems on the surface.

A Wash/Bath - A liquid solution of herbs in either water, witch hazel, vinegar, alcohol that is designed to act topically on the area washed. Eg. a wound wash. Plant remedies can also be added to a bath to work on the skin or be drawn deeper as you soak, such as a magnesium bath, a clay bath for drawing, or a nourishing bath.

A Poultice - this is different from a compress but the principle is similar. Plant material is pulverised to release the phytochemicals from the cells, then the plant mush is put on the affected area. If you are without tools, you can simply chew a plant and spit it out onto your body. For example if you are bitten or stung you can chew and spit out plantain leaves directly onto the bite or sting You can also use a poultice for anti-inflammatory purposes or even, in the case of Compfrey (knitbone) or Horsetail with its high silica, for repairing bones and connective tissues, or clay and or cleavers for a drawing poultice. Leave it on for as long as possible, from ten minutes up to half of each day, check with your health adviser. Tips: Go bigger than the affected area. Spread as thick as a thin burger. Add hot water to the plant to help the juices penetrate and stimulate blood flow. Bandage it on if you need to be mobile. Putting bashed cold cabbage leaves on the engourged breasts of weaning Mothers was a form of poultice.

A Compress - is made by making up a herbal tea, decoction or macerated oil, then soaking a bandage, cloth or muslin in the solution and wrapping it around the area, whether a joint or limb.

I was raised by my grandad who regularly treated me with comfrey oil compresses, clove oil for toothaches, iodine for cuts and made me gargle vinegars for throat infections oh, and drink lots of cabbage tea Di

Wild Medicine

INTERNALLY TAKEN REMEDIES

Tea - fresh or dried plant material, whether leaf, flower or berry, is put into a cup or a pot with boiling water poured over it, then left for as little as five minutes or until the water cools and strained and drank hot or cold I usually find that three cups a day of whatever herbal tea I drink has the desired effect For example I love doing a four day three cups a day block of Ladies Mantle tea if I feel my skin needs a bit of a boost. The oil from the leaves floats on top of the tea and although it does taste bitter, the effects at this level are fantastic. It is an astringent tea and said to be good for many ladies health problems including heavy periods - as its name 'Ladies Mantle' suggests. Other herb teas I make are from the Herb Robert I brought back from the woods as seeds that is now all over the garden. I take this to keep my cells healthy and oxygenated! Do your own research into what teas may work for you. This is the easiest method of making a plant remedy

Decoction - tougher plant materials such as roots or bark, tend to need more processing than when making teas. In order to better extract their phytochemicals. roots and bark are boiled up in a pan of water for approximately ten minutes, then strained and drank hot or cold

Tincture - this is where the plant material is steeped in alcohol, I usually simply use vodka, Smirnoff is 80% proof and is just strong enough. Tinctures are good in many ways, firstly alcohol gets the strongest extraction of the plant material, over and above any other medium you can put the plant in. Secondly they last as long as alcohol lasts, which is years, as there is no room for microbial growth if you get over 80% proof (this is not the same as the '40%' on the bottle). Keeping the plants dry before making the tincture and storing it in a cool place will help lifespan. I usually make a tincture by putting dried or dry and fresh plant material into a jar, having chopped it a little to make it fit/release the goodness then simply pour in the vodka to the top, ensuring all plant material is covered. If any pokes out, pop in something flat, heavy and nonmetal (to way it down). Seal the jar and leave it for at least three weeks, but i often leave plants in for up to a year. There is a lot more you can do to enhance the effect of your tincture such as reducing down, or, traditional alchemists would also burn some of the plant then add the mineral salts from the ash back to the tincture I have never done this but if it interests you please research it further The above is simply a very rudimentary but still effective home method that you can start with and expand as you wish.

Wild Medicine

INTERNALLY TAKEN REMEDIES CONT.

Vinegars - if you have ever read the original Mary Tourtell 'Rupert the Bear' books, you will know that Mrs Bear used to love to make berry vinegars to give to Ruperts friends when they were ill. Seeping berries, leaves or roots in vinegar is another way to extract plant goodness though results in a weaker extraction than using alcohol. I often mix a berry vinegar with a little glycerine and honey and it tastes so good, it's hard to not just glug it down To take a herbal or berry vinegar simply pop a table spoon in half a mug of hot water, or add as part of your diet, by mixing with an oil and drizzling over salads. My daughter has my herbal vinegars on her baked potatoes (?!). If you read the chapter on making apple cider vinegar then you have the ideal combination of the best vinegar; home-made, for your herbal vinegars

Glycerites - growing up with an industrial chemist we always had bottles of glycerin and I have long been fascinated by this stuff. A by-product of the soap making industry, it can be of animal or vegetable origin depending on the fat used in making the soap. Glycerine is an over-sweet, thick, clear liquid and is cheap to buy online Concentrations of 100% glycerine can cause blisters in the mouth because, although it is a humecant (moisture absorber) hence it use in beauty products to trap moisture in; used full-strength it actually sucks moisture out. If I make a glycerite I always dilute it with vodka and or vinegar, you can also dilute it with water based addition (eg herb tea or decoction) as long as you have 70% glycerine, the product will be anti-microbial Make in the same way as tinctures and vinegars, simply put the dry (or fresh and dry) plant material in a jar and cover well with your glycerine mixture. Glycerites are good choice for people who can't take alcohol based medicines, eg. recovering alcoholics, children or Muslims, however the strength of the extraction is weaker than with alcohol.

Oils - We have covered making macerated oils in the toiletries section however you can consume oils that are infused with plants as remedies too. Choose a food-grade nut or seed oil, that you like the taste of, put your plant/s in a jar and macerate it as in the section on making a macerated oil. The resulting strained oil can be taken internally or added to ointments depending on the plant used and desired purpose I like to infuse plants in my daily spoonful of hemp/pumpkin seed oil so I am getting a double whammy of both plant goodness and the oils' omegas.

Honey - there is nothing more delicious than a floral or berry infused honey. Choose a good quality local honey, warm slightly to get it runny but do not actually cook it, stir in the fresh or dried flowers, leaves or berries and pour back into the jar leave it at least three weeks or until you need it, then warm the jar in a pan of hot water, and strain out the plant material. This is another good one for children, however some plants, such as Plantain and Feverfew cannot be made attractive even by making them into herbal honey as the super strong taste still comes through!

Making Wild Medicines

AT

HOME

I like to think of the constructing of the remedies as like a formula of: plant, plus medium, plus container equals remedy. I shall explain below.

Plant

This could be from your garden, your kitchen cupboard or the wild and can be fresh or dried.

Medium

This is the substance that holds the plant and extracts the goodness from the plant into it. It could be alcohol, vinegar, water, glycerine, honey, fat, wax or oil

Container

To hold the combination of the plant and the medium together This could be a glass bottle, tins, jar, or tea bag

Remedy

Whether herb tea, decoction, compress, ointment, tincture, glycerite, poultice or vinegar, basically the thing you take to help you feel better.

The next page unpacks this a bit into how you can start to build up your own home apothecary

MAKING YOUR OWN

Apothecary

ON SOME SHELVES COLLECT:

Mediums

Fats such as lard or lanolin

Beeswax (pellets are better for working with small quantities)

White alcohol such as vodka

Apple Cider Vinegar

Water

Witch hazel

Glycerine

Containers

Jam jars with metal lids

Tincture bottles

Small ointment tins

Large muslin square for compress/hold

poultice on.

Tools Plants

Large Kilner jars for steeping.

Funnel or Jug

Muslin for filtering

Labels

Dried or Fresh

Garden or Wild Harvested

Kitchen Cupboard Herbs and Spices

(Follow Instructions in Foraging Section on Drying Plants)

Apothecary

USEFUL PLANTS TO COLLECT

Plants are being attacked all the time, from fungal, bacterial and viral infections. This means they pump out phytochemicals to kill the invaders and we can benefit from these natural protective chemicals too.

Pain

Chillies - work by the capsaicin in them blocking pain receptor messages.

Willow Bark - contains salicylic acid which is natures asperin

Meadowsweet - as with Willow Bark

Papaver Somniferum - the sap on the seed heads contains morphine for extreme pain relief.

Feverfew - contains parthenolide especially good for (migraines), though it can take a month to work.

St Johns Wort - Some evidence it helps with nerve pain.

Fever

Feverfew - parthenolide blocks the production of prostaglandins thereby reducing inflammation and fever as well as pain

Anti Viral

Olive leaf

Lemon balm

Oregano

Elderberry

Garlic

Anti Fungal

Thyme

Meadowsweet

PapaverSomiferum

St Johns Wort

Feverfew

Anti Bacterial

Pine

Thyme

Garlic

Oregano

Wound Healing

Plantain (Plantago, Leaves) - blood clotting (Vit K and soothing (Alantoin)

Calendula (Petals) - antiseptic and healing

Lavender (Flowers) - antiseptic and healing

Aloe Gel) - healing

Horsetail (Green Aerial parts) - Astringent and healing

Wheatgerm (cell regeneration oil pressed oil from seeds)

Woundwort (leaves, (marsh, field or hedge) Astringent

Yarrow - Astringent tannin.

Cattail Pollen (collect from the stick above the developing 'sausage' when it is still green in Spring) -Stypic

Cattail Goo (from Stem) - antiseptic and healing (our version of Aloe?!)

Moss - Stypic

Woundworts/Self-heal (astringents and rosemarinic acid for cellular repair)

Comfrey - leaves and powdered root - Stypic

Oregano

Calendula

Horsetail

Plantain

How To Make

WOUND WASH

If you have a deep cut or even graze, what do you tend to do? Often there can be grit or soil in it if the wound was done in the garden, or foodstuffs if you have cut yourself in the kitchen! Anything you leave inside the cut or graze will make the wound more prone to infection. keep a fresh wound clean, by washing out debris and bacteria before the wound starts to coagulate and the body sends repair mechanisms. You can of course use fresh cold running water, but to add some healing plants may aid recovery. To make a wound wash, the plants, medium and container you will need are as follows:

Youwillneed

A clean squirty bottle, such as an old sterilised washing up bottle, or a powerful spritzer spray bottle.

Witch hazel - this works as the tannins in it are astringent, causing tightening. You can buy this as a clear liquid, usually it comes cut with alcohol and is very hard to buy without alcohol.

Alcohol wont hurt in a wound wash however and will help with preservation, disinfecting and skin tightening. You can make your own Witch Hazel by boiling up the twigs/leaves/bark of a witch hazel tree then reducing it down (making a type of decoction rather than a distillation).

One or more plants from a selection of:

Calendula petals

Woundwort leaves

Lavender flowers

Plantain leaves (contains vitamin

K clotting factor)

Horsetail greens

Yarrow Leaves

ToMake

Chop the plants finely and infuse them in the medium for a few minutes, shaking vigorously for a minute more. You can use this straight away as to make and store wound wash for a long time isn't a good idea. If you cut the witch hazel with more alcohol and glycerine, both of which are more antimicrobial you can create something with longer shelf-life. Aim for 70% of the latter two added to a homemade witch hazel decoction to make the wash last longer.

Strain the liquid through super clean folded muslin (folded to make a tighter weave) before you are ready to use it so you don't add plant material into the wound.

Spray the wound until the water is running into and out of the wound, and you are blasting out any dirt. The caveat here is not to blast too much that you open any existing healing (unless its healed over dirt) and also that you don't blast dirt further inside.

These plants,between them should give you something for the best part of the year in your garden while Witch Hazel will keep for five years in a lidded bottle, so prepare now for future wounds

MAKE A

Wound Healing

OINTMENT

1. 2. 3.

Make a macerated oil using your choice of calendula, woundwort, plaintain, lavender, selfheal, pine, st. johns wort.

Use the ratio 1:5 beeswax to oil Handily 100ml of oil is 100g of oil ie the volume and the weight are the same number so this calculation combining ml and grams in proportions works fine. So, to make a 90 g of product you would need 15g BW and 75ml of oil

Warm the beeswax in a glass/pot bowl over a pan of boiling water, when it is liquid remove from heat and slowly stir in the macerated oil thoroughly.

When it's not so hot (beeswax melts at 67*c) add a few drops of any essential oils of the above if you wish. About 10 - 20 drops per 100ml of product.

*BE MINDFUL THAT CALENDULA IS SUCH A POWERFUL HEALING HERB THAT A WOUND MUST BE ABSOLUTELY CLEAN AND FREE OF INFECTION BEFORE APPLYING THE OINTMENT SO NO INFECTION IS TRAPPED INSIDE.

Ladle the liquid mixture into either 5 small tins (about 20 ml each) or one larger glass jar. Leave to set with the lid off.

This ointment, due to having no water-based components will last over a year. I usually add a few drops of some kind of vitamin e. oil; either borage (star) flower or evening primrose as adding vitamin e not only give extra nourishment to the skin but as an anti-oxidant will help the product sefpreserve. Use as often is required, but two or three times a day is a good starting point.

Pain Relief Balm

FOR TOPICAL APPLICATION

1.

Make a macerated oil using your choice of willow bark, willow leaves, meadow sweet leaves and or flowers, then make a macerated oil from red chillies with a high capsacin llevel. Use the ratio 1:5 beeswax to oil. Handily 100ml of oil is 100g of oil ie the volume and the weight are the same number so this calculation of combining ml and grams in proportions works fine.

2.

So, using the 1:5 ratio: to make 90 g of ointment you would need 15g of beeswax and 75ml of oil or if you were bulk-batch making 100g or beeswax and 500 ml of macerated oils would make 600 gram or ml of ointment. Warm the beeswax in a glass/pot bowl over a pan of boiling water, as you would chocolate. When it is liquid remove from heat and slowly stir in the macerated oils thoroughly, you may need to keep it over heat for a moment longer as the cold oil will solidify the wax again.

3.

Ladle the liquid mixture into either 5 small tins (about 20 ml each) or one larger glass jar Leave to set with the lid off. This ointment, due to having no water-based components will last over a year. I usually add a few drops of some kind of vitamin e. oil; either borage (star) flower or evening primrose as adding vitamin e not only give extra nourishment to the skin but as an anti-oxidant will help the product sef-preserve Use as often is required, but two or three times a day is a good starting point. My balms above have a blob of lanolin in

SELECTING AND PREPARING

Willow

FOR WEAVING

Basket-making really is a cradle-to-grave skill Baskets are used from birth as moses baskets to carry newborns and then throughout life to collect wild food, cook in, eat from, shop with, sit on, right up until our death, where we can even be buried in a woven casket!In the UK our ancestors would have woven baskets from native plant materials such as: dried grass, bramble, willow and straw The rule of thumb is that any long thin plant material you can wrap around your wrist once fully without snapping can be woven as a basket. Today we can also buy imported basket weaving materials such as cane (from a tropical palm) or raffia At Wild Harvest School we teach willow basket weaving due to the easy availability and quick growing nature of willow in the wet UK It is a plant you can readily find in the wild or that you can plant in your garden to raise a few willow whips yourself We don't believe in importing tropical plants when nature provides us with native materials right here!

The willow used mostly in commercial basket weaving in the UK is Black Maul a cultivar of Salix Triandra but most willow is ‘weavable' The thin shoots of the willow tree are known as whips but once cut and dried we call them rods.

Choosing Willow for Weaving - You can buy rods already cut and dried, either with the bark stripped off (buff) or with the bark left on (brown) The difference is in both aesthetics and toughness to weave If you are new to weaving and/or don't have much hand strength then its best to start with buff willow as its much easier to work. Green willow refers to undried willow that in theory could sprout life again if stuck in the ground. If you weave a basket from willow straight off the tree (green) it will shrink as it dries so distorting your baskets shape, this is why we usually work with willow that has been dried and then re-soaked It has then pre-shrunk

distracted by the readable content of a page when looking at its

Willow

FOR WEAVING

Size - basket weaving purposes rods can be bought in bundles known as ‘bolts’ sized from 3 feet long up to nine feet long and sold in Kg A 5kg bolt of 3ft willow is approximately £12 and contains 500 rods. You will need about 70 rods to make a simple round basketTo determine how long the rods should be for a particular basket weaving project use Pie - The only adult use of ‘pie’ (that abstract mathematical concept we learn at school) I have ever had is in basket weaving To work out how long the willow rods should be for a particular basket diameter use the Pie formula of “circumference equals 3.14 times the diameter”. So for a one foot diameter basket you will need rods of slightly longer than 3 feet in length, for a three feet diameter basket you will need the nine foot rods. This is a rough guide but its better to have slightly longer rods than your desired circumference

Disease - Any black marks on your willow rods indicate a disease the plant was suffering from when it was growing and these spots will be weak and prone to snapping as you weave. Discard rods with this on until you are confident enough to work with it.

Timing - If you are cutting the willow yourself - there is a season for cutting to be aware of Traditionally this was between Michaelmas and Candlemas, basically over the winter months The reason for this is because the sap is down then; it rises in the tree in Spring and when the sap is down the whips are not so rigid .Preparation of Willow ready to Weave into a BasketSoaking - Assuming you have some dried willow rods from a supplier or have cut your own and left them to dry indoors somewhere or wrapped under a hedge for three weeks you are now ready to re-soak the willow ready to weave The re-soaking of the dried willow makes it pliable; bendy enough again for weaving, you will not be able to weave a basket with dried willow it will simply snap To soak the willow I use either my bath at home or a garden pond, a river will also be fine. If you are using a pond or a river I recommend tying the bolt with string and the other end of the string to a tree so it doesn’t float away I weight the bolt down under the water by covering it in wet towels The amount of soaking time depends on both the type and length of the willow. Buff willow, because there is no bark for the water to penetrate is soaked for a much shorter time, the rule of thumb is based on the length of the rods because he length of the rods determines the thickness at the butt ends that the water must penetrated Three foot buff rods can be soaked for as little as one hour but six foot buff rods can take about 3 hours.With the brown willow (ie. bark on) the soaking time is much longer and the saying goes - one day per foot So, a four foot bolt will take four days in the pond

Willow

FOR WEAVING

Mellowing - This isn't the end of the process however because after it’s bath the willow likes to mellow for a while - after you remove it from the bath/pond the willow works best if its wrapped in wet towels for a further amount of time proportionate to the soaking time ie soak for an hour then mellow for an hour

I always think of this part like the willow is lounging around in a dressing gown for a bit until its ready to work

Anatomy of a rod - You will see that the rod is thicker at the base end, the end that was closest to the ground when it was growing, this is known as the butt, the topmost end, the thin end is known as the tip. Rods will have a natural curve to them, the inside curve is known as the belly, the outer curve is the back It is useful when weaving to work with the natural shape of the rod and not bend it at an un-natural angle to itself or it can snap. Wild Harvest are producing a series of videos teaching each stage of basket weaving On the videos we will talk about butts and tips when teaching weaving.

Cut - Dry - Soak - Mellow - Weave

HOW TO MAKE A

Willow Fence

1. 2.

Depending on whether you want a living fence or a brown fence that won't sprout and need trimming you can choose the uprights for your fence to be either freshly harvested willow or dead, brown or buff willow that you have bought or dried yourself. You will need an odd number of uprights, choose at least five thick, straight rods that are as tall as you need Cut the butt end to a point, so that it pokes more easily into the ground, simply slice off the end at an angle with some secateurs. To stand them upright either poke them into the ground in situ or make a 'block' by drilling holes into a long chunky peice of 3 x 4" timber. For a each panel use between 5 and 9 uprights for a good mix of strength and ease.

With your uprights ready, you can now create the first part of the weave of your fence. The bottom section For this you will need ten thick straight rods of willow, pre soaked/mellowed, no thicker than the uprights, but thicker than the rest of your weaver rods. Inserting one at a time, weave them from one end of your uprights, in front, then behind until you reach the other end. Alternate the rows, so that the butt end of the first rod, has the tip of the second row above it, to give an even balance to your fence. Once you have woven in your ten thick rods, push them down tightly and straighten your uprights.

3.

Now its time to begin the weave. You will need bundles of five thinner weaver rods roughly 35 per foot of fence height for a smaller fence or as few as 15 per foot for a larger fence. Taking one bundle of five, with all the tips the same way, weave the bundle, horizontally in and out of the uprights, from one end to the other Treat the bundle as one rod. Try to splay out the individual rods so they lay flat along the upright as in the picture above. The second row will go top to tail so that where tips ended on the last one, butts will end Weave all the way to the top, leaving a gap of about 4inches (10cm). To finish, trim the sides into a straight line.

Rag-Rugging

Rag Rugging is a traditional craft that makes use of scraps of old clothes, cut into strips and pushed through a piece of hessian to make a rug or cushion cover. The craft needs the minimum of tools and makes use of clothes that are not 'good enough' for charity shops There is more on the history of rag rug making in my blog but for this book I will stick with the pragmatic stuff. The two types of rag rugging I teach in my day course are; 'clippy'; also known as 'proddy' or 'proggy' and also the 'hooky' method. See students work below.

CLIPPY - As its name suggests, involves cutting 'clips' of cloth. Usually about 2-3" (5-7.5cm) long by about 3/4 " (about 2cm) wide.

The best fabrics to use for your 'clips' are knitted fabrics:

T-shirts

Sweatshirts

Felted wool

Fleece

Fabrics less useful for 'clippy' rag rugs are woven fabrics such as:

silk

satin

sheet cotton

shirt cotton

denim

Hooky Rag Rug

Hooky Bag and Clippy Mats

Rug Combining Hooky and Clippy

Rag-Rugging

CLIPPY CONT

The clips are then prodded through the hessian, in lines, as if you were writing a letter.

TOOLS

Scissors

Hessian the size of your rug plus 15 inches for a seam.

Chalk - to mark your design

Fabric cut into clips

Pencil

TO MAKE:

Cut your clips of different colours so you have a pile ready to prod into your hessian

Work from the back of your rug

Pre-make a hole with your pencil in the hessian, remembering to leave your 15"gap at the edge, all the way round, to turn over as a hem

Poke one clip through half way

Make a second hole next to the first Poke the clip back down through the hole

TIP ONE

Squares Not Slugs - this is a saying that encourages you not to make your proddings too long, see the example below From the back, the clips, when poked through, should form squares, not slug shapes. The reason for this is the rug will have bald bits at the front if you make slugs not squares.

TIP TWO

Every few rows of clippy, leave a gap of about half an inch (175cm), in other words; after every say 15-20 rows, leave a line un-worked This prevents tension build-up. If you don't leave a break, or a holiday as they are often called, then the rug will be so tense it can curl into an arch Leaving breaks will help it lie flat

Pre-make hole with pencil

Push clip in with pencil halfway.

A row of clippy

Rag-Rugging

THE HOOKY METHOD

Hooky gives a more detailed, tight-close, bubble effect finish rather than the shag pile effect of clippy. It involves threading a long strip of fabric over and under the weave of the hessian, forming little balls on the topside of the hessian with ‘hooks’ of fabric. Although these are two distinct methods with different appearances, they can be combined in one rug If you look back at the leaf rug on the first page you will see that the lady did a random pattern in clippy 'outside' and the more detailed leaf was done in hooky

The best fabrics to use for your 'hooky strips' are knitted fabrics with a bit of stretch:

stretch velvets

leggings

tights

t-shirts with lycra in

TOOLS

Scissors

Tape measure (though you can guestimate as above)

Hessian the size of your rug plus 1.5 inches for a seam, all the way around Chalk - to mark out your design

*Fabric cut into long strips rather than clips Strong thread and needle for hemming or bondaweb :)

Hook - you don't need to buy a rug hook, a chunky wooden crochet hook will do.

TIPS

The reason a bit of stretch works good in fabrics for the hooky methods is that when you cut them into long strips, the strips 'tube' making achieving the little 'balls' easier

Cut strips of fabric as long as you can and about 3/4 inch (2cmish) wide*

Work from the front of your work

Rag-Rugging

HOOKY CONTINUED

TO MAKE:

Cut your strips about 3/4" wide and as long as possible, of different colours so you have a pile ready to hook in and out of your hessian. Work from the front of your rug

Pre-make a hole with your hook in the hessian, remembering to leave your 1.5" gap at the edge, all the way around, to turn over as a hem Poke one end of your strip through the hessian from back to front, this is a tail sticking up through the water

Insert your hook a few strands of hessian along, grab the fabric with the hook (catch the fish) and pull it up through the hessian to make a ball of about 1cm diameter.

Make the next hole by poking your hook back down through the hessian next to your ball, grab the fabric from under the surface and pull a second ball up through the hessian

Keep going until you have made a row of fabric balls

Join in a new strip when you have run out. Do the 'tail up through the hessian' to start the new strip

TIPS FOR HOOKY

Try to keep all the balls roughly the same size

Remember to have holidays occasionally if you feel the rug is getting tense

You can cut really long strips by cutting a t-shirt up as a spiral.

Pre-make hole

Poke hook through hole Grab strip with hook

Pull it through, forming a ball

Repeat to make a row

Rag-Rugging

Finishing your rug off:

You should have rag-rugged just up to the seam, ie, left the 15 inch gap near the edge all the way round.

This can now be folded over twice to make a neat edge that you can tack down

When you get to the corners, do envelope corners, as if you were covering a book at school

You can add a backing to your rug, eg if it will be on a damp floor near a back door you could back it using an old plastic bag.

You can also back your rug using an old blanket, though you don't need to back it at all.

Make your rug non-slip by putting lines of a Copydex type glue on the back

If you have clips of different lengths don't worry, add them to the rug as they are, then afterwards give your rug a hair cut. This is useful if, like me, you employ child labour and the clips offered by helpers vary in size

Caring For your Rug:

Rag Rugs can last for years, but cats do like to claw them and if you store it in a garage for a while, mice will chew them up, so store in sealed containers.

To wash, pop your rug in a pillowcase to protect the clips coming loose and being lost.

Cotton Fabric Rugs

If you have fabric that is not suitable for hooky or clippy but don't want to bin it, you can make the U.S. style, braided-cotton rugs. These are usually circular as they involve plaiting strips of cotton then coiling the plait around and around to make a spiral Each 'round' would be stitched to the previous 'round' This is a good way of using old sheets and duvet covers.

Making a Broom

Brooms can be made from the natural materials around you For a handle choose a straight length of ash, chestnut or hazel about five feet long and about 1.5 inch diametre (3.5 ish cm). For the bristles you need to gather either dried heather off the moor (ensuring you cut the bundles at the base to keep the stems on) or leafless bushy winter branches of birch. The bundles of bristle need to be about 1.5 feet long. This gives a foot for the brush and 6 inches to be lashed to the pole The image above shows one area of lashing, I prefer to lash in two places. For the lashing you will need soaked and mellow three or four foot willow, just four rods.

Drill a hole (a hand drill will do) at two points up the pole. The holes should be the width of the based of your willow, with the first hole being around 14 inches from the bottom of the pole (so it lashes the bottom of the top part of the bundle and the second around 16 inches so that it lashes the top part of the bundle). When you have drilled the two holes, poke the butt ends of the soaked willow into them, working quickly before the willow dries out, arrange the bristles around the pole and wrap the willow tightly around the bristles finishing off by tucking it in a couple of times. Trim your your brush ends. These brooms can be easily repaired by putting new brushes and lashings on every year.

Leather Pouch

Tools.

A dinner plate or something round as a template. 30 cm/12" ish.

Craft knife or sharp scissors. Hole punch or 6" nail and hammer.

Pencil, pen or chalk.

Materials.

Piece of leather from old coat, sofa sample book or off animal, 1 foot (30cm) square ish.

Shoe Lace, strip of leather, twine or other tying material 5mm or less in thickness.

Method.

Draw around the template using pencil, pen or chalk, on the suede side. Cut the circle out.

Using hole punch set to around 5mm hole or nail pierce 12 holes in six groups of two, evenly around the circle.

'Sew' the thonging through the holes, experiment till you get it the best way for closing.

Natural Dyeing

I got into natural dyeing when my third child was born and all the hand-me-down white babygrows and t-shirts were greyed. with years of wear. I did a ten week course at a local centre in rag-rugging and during this we learned to dye our own fabrics. You can, of course, use these methods on wool jumpers and blankets or if you are a spinner or livestock keeper your own fleeces

MORDANTS

A mordant is a substance that alters the fabric or raw material in someway to cause the colour to adhere and to stick to it. If you do not use a mordant, the colour can wash out in the first wash.

Substances that will help fix your colour:

Alum (gives the most fixed and consistently good results, it is natural but still you need good ventilation when you heat it up.

Vinegar (5% acetic acid, white)

Urine (thankfully I had two boys using a potty)

Bicarbonate of Soda or Cream of Tartar

Old Rusty Nails (iron) leave in a jar of half water/vinegar for a week. Strain.

Copper Pennies (as above)

Rhubarb leaves (Oxalic Acid) Fill a pan, bring to boil, simmer 45 mins, strain.

DYES

You can use plant or mineral materials out of your kitchen, garden or the wild to dye fibre Here is a list of options that I have tried, there will be more

Red Cabbage

Red Onion Skin

Onion Skin

Spices - Tumeric is amazing!

Leaves (fresh or dried) Nettle, Elder

Berries - I've tried Hawthorn, Elder, Bilberries

Bark (oak, blackthorn)

Flowers (dandelion, calendula)

The actual colour result will depend on a combination of several things:

Fibre used

Mordant choice

Strength of the dye solution

Duration of Soak

To dye your textiles you will need:

Two large pans/stock pots

Your mordant and water

Your dye material and water

Your fabric/fibre

Some tongs or a slotted spoon

To make up your dye, chop or pulverise the plant material, cover it in cold water overnight then boil it up for an hour*.

You will need around 9 litres of dye solution for 250 g cloth/fibre. Put this solution by and in the meantime:

NB* You may want to strain any plant material out at the last minute if you are dyeing wool just so it doesnt get stuck in the fibres.

Make up your mordant as per packet instructions or use between 12% and 20% of the fabrics weight in alum.

So, if you are dying a 300g jumper use between 36g and 60g alum The more alum within this range the stronger the colour. Mix the alum powder into a jug of hot water, then add this to your pan of hot water along with your item. Simmer it, if you can for an hour, during this time re-heat the dye pan, then put the mordanted fabric into the hot dye. Leave it in for an hour or more, the pan can still be on the heat during this time, (I used to turn it off after the hour and leave the fabric in overnight). Remove and dunk in cold water. Admire your results

MY PLANT DYE NOTEBOOK

PLANT PART MORDANT COLOUR RESULT

Car Care

Always, at any time of they year have the following in your car:

Bottle of water

Boots (for all the walkers in your family)

Coat/blanket each, kept in the car.

Long shelf-life snacks

Jump leads (the long version is easier to use)

Spare screen wash (see recipe for making your own if you run out).

Phone charging cable

*Spare Fuel in a can with spout

Spare wiper blade (learn to fit one before an emergency)

Seatbelt cutter/window smasher

Torch fully charged or chargeable in the cigarette lighter

Paper road map of the whole country.

Spare litre of oil.

In winter, large flask of hot salt water, bag of grit, shovel.

*Regarding spare fuel, you should have a small amount in the car but at home you should have steel jerry cans to the tune of one and a half times the capacity of your fuel tank, eg for a 40 lt tank try to store 60 litres. This spare fuel should be replaced yearly to keep fresh. If you need to escape, everyone else who is either chasing you or competing with you, will have a maximum of one car full of fuel so you can get further. The ideal amount of fuel to store should be the right amount to get your vehicle from empty to your choice of remote off-grid location that you may need to escape to.

SKILLS TO LEARN:

Change a wheel

Replace wiper blades

Replace bulbs

Change filters

Pump tyres up

Top up oil

Breaking in to your car AKA My dads coat hanger trick.

Jump start a car off another car with jump leads

Syphon fuel from a car

Car Care

CHANGING A WHEEL

Its one thing having the knowledge to change a wheel, this is the easy bit, the hard bit is loosening workshop-tightened nuts usually, put on with a machine. But if you want to have-a-go from the safety of your drive first, this is the process:

In the boot, lift up the base cover and find the spare wheel, lift it out. Under, or nestled in the spare wheel should be a wheel changing kit:

wheel nut cover removing tool (like a bit of metal wire)

Socket spanner for wheel nuts

car jack (to lift the car off the road so can remove the wheel) it can also be useful for a female to carry an electric impact driver with a socket spanner attachment. Choose one that can be charged by a cigarette lighter. Another option for helping get more power behind loosening the nuts is a piece of scaffold bar to slot over the spanner to lengthen it, giving it more leverage.

Open up the car jack, which will be folded in on itself to save space. Try to position the car on a flat hard surface (the road is fine) or if you can't; find a paving slab or flat rock. Place the jack under the car body behind or in front of the flat tyre, in the main-body of the car. Feel under your car or look for part of the sill that has a different feel, where it has been strengthened for the jack to sit.

Ensuring the flat surface is under this part, now sit your jack under it and open up the arm turning it, until the jack lifts up to touch the sill. Don't lift the car yet.

Now using the wire tool, remove the wheel nut covers, your car may not have them, if it does, and they are plastic you simply use the wire hook to poke into the covers and kind of pull/flick them off.

Now grab your socket spanner and loosen the wheel nuts, there will be five to do. This is the only bit I struggle with as often these nuts are put on with machinery. Use the tools above in the list if needed or flag someone stronger down. Once they are loosened you NOW lift the car up into the air using the jack, wind the handle again, it will feel harder to turn now but you should be able to keep turning to lift the car up so that the wheel is off the ground.

Grab the wheel and wobble it to loosen carefully sliding it to you, remember your car is only jacked up so be careful when doing anything underneath the car.

Get the spare wheel and slide it on, matching up the holes in the centre of the wheel with the bolts on the car.

Replace the nuts, tighten a little.

Lower the jack

Tighten the nuts as tight as you can by hand, then with socket spanner/impact driver.

Replace any plastic wheel nut covers.

Put your jack and metal wire away with your dead wheel, in the boot.

SCREEN WASH

Car Care

If you run out you can make your own from a mixture of water, big squirt of washing up liquid, decent glug of vodka and a big glug of vinegar, shake it all up Not only is this eco but it works Screen wash goes under the bonnet, where the blue cap lifts up into a water reservoir with a mesh net on the inlet If you are buying screenwash, buy concentrate and mix it with water rather than waste money buying ready mixed (you are paying for water).

BREAKING INTO A CAR

I was taught to break into my own home and car from an early age, not because we were crooks but because the two men in charge were forever misplacing keys. When locked out his car my Dad had the following trick. You may need this trick to rescue a toddler from a locked car or because you've lost your spare set.

Take a wire coat hanger. Unbend it.

Make a ' v ' shaped hook at one end, about 2.5 cm (1 inch) tall. Peel the rubber weather seal off the bottom of one of your door windows.

Push the ' v ' end down between the glass and the metal, above where the inside handle is The wire will go in-between the inner door liner and the outer metal, to where the lock mechanism is Wiggle the wire around until you can hook it onto a lever. Gently tug to pull the lever. The latch should pop up.

However, many cars have automatic locks these days so the following applies:

Take a metal rod eg. a metal aerial, a coat hanger may work if it's sturdy enough.

Move to the side of the car where that has the central door open button (usually the drivers).

At the top of the window this time, try to poke the rod between the door and the car, above where the button is. You will risk splitting the rubber door seal but hey ho

Angle the rod straight towards the button and push it

Car Care

CHANGING FILTERS

AIR FILTER

This is the easiest, the air filter made of folded cardboard or fabric held in a frame Under the bonnet there will be a plastic box with a clip or screws to undo it, look in your manual for which box as there will be others similar! Unscrew/unclip it and simply take the old filter out and drop in a new one the same way round, fasten up the clip/screw the screws back in.

CHANGING OIL FILTER AND OIL

This needs doing once a year usually as part of your service, unless you do lots of miles then you can do it twice a year. You need to empty the old oil out and replace it with new oil, making sure you buy the right oil for you car. You can find this out online or in your manual.

YOU WILL NEED:

A low tray for the old oil to pour into, it must be at least as big volume wise as the amount of oil, as you don't want it to spill over, I used to use a cat litter tray or plant pot trays. Average cars are around 3 - 7 litres. Your manual will tell you.

Socket Spanner for the oil nut under your car - do check the shape and size of your nut first and buy the right tool before you start the job. You could use a blob of blutac to take an imprint. New oil filter for your model and year.

A pair of sturdy ramps, or a pit. Ramps can be bought online or from an autoparts shop, make sure they are the right strength for your vehicle, eg. don't use car ramps for a van. You need a bit of height to get under the engine. If you have curbs near you that lift your car up enough you can simply drive the front wheels up onto the curb. Ideally two wheel chocks for the back wheels.

New oil

Roll of kitchen roll

Funnel or cut-off plastic bottle for pouring new oil in.

Firstly drive your car round the block to warm up the oil

Then drive it up onto the ramp making sure your handbreak is on and if possible chock the back wheels to stop it rolling. Remove the engine cover if there is one. Sometimes there is one on top and one underneath the engine. Each car can have a different tool requirement for that, I can only speak for VW Golfs which require a 10 mm star key for many jobs. Loosen the nuts/screws/or simply unclip the engine covers onto the top and bottom of your engine and remove it. This will expose the engine. Remove the oil cap at the top of your engine where you put the oil in, this will help it empty by not allowing a vacuum to form when you drain the oil out the bottom

Now put the tray under the car, find the oil nut, this is usually the lowest point under the engine Use your wrench to loosen it but not open it Get ready with your tray, then turn and remove, you can just drop the nut into the oil and fish it out after The oil can take up to ten mins to drain so while its emptying Come back up top and find the filter, its usually in a cylinder metal can and the location will be in your manual Some cars have the oil filter underneath Using a socket spanner again undo the nut and lift out the filter housing There may be a bracket to undo first The filter should be easy to remove from the housing If there is a new rubber ring seal with your filter, remove the old one and add the new one in its pace Clean the housing with kitchen roll and put the new filter in, clipping it in Put the housing back together and put the nut back tight using the socket spanner

Go under the car again and check the oil has stoped pouring out Wipe the nut and put it back in, again if there was a rubber washer on the nut, remember to add this back too or your new oil will gush out You can take this opportunity to replace this washer against perishing Tighten well, making sure the bolt is threaded right Go back up and put just a litre of oil in, start the engine, check for leaks then put the rest of the oil in The amount will be in your manual , if not look online or ask your dealer

Car Care

SKILLS

CHANGING DIESEL FILTER

A diesel filter needs replacing between every six months to a year. This is another car care task you can learn to do yourself. Note this only applies to diesel cars, if you have a petrol you will have other jobs to do like replacing points, my dad used to do this but I didn't learn as I've always had diesel cars.

You will need:

New diesel filter (order online using your registration to get the exact one)

Grips or pliers to grip the housing clip to squeeze it to get it off. Kitchen roll or cloth

A small amount of diesel (you can use the diesel in the old filter). Screwdriver to undo the filter housing from its bracket

You usually work from the top to replace a diesel filter so no need for ramps or to go under the car

Engine off for at least half an hour so diesel can settle. Open the bonnet.

Find diesel filter, usually in a round metal cylinder clipped in by a bracket.

Unscrew the bracket that holds it in place to allow the housing to slide up and out.

There will be a rubber pipe connected to the top of the filter and held in place with some kind of bent pin, often the ends of this need squeezing together to let the pin release the pipe from the top of the filter

When you have freed the filter from the housing and the pipe you will see it will have some diesel in it so be careful how you hold it. Pour this diesel into the top of your new filter, there may be a dust cap to remove first on the new filter I once forgot to put diesel in the new filter - pre- priming it, and the car simply won't start again. Take this opportunity to replace any 'o'rings/gaskets, a new one often comes with a new filter.

Put the filter back in the housing, back into its bracket, loosely fastening it there.

Re-connect the pipes. Fully tighten the bracket.

Start your car and run it for a few minutes to get the diesel circulating again.

Car Care

SKILLS

JUMP START YOUR CAR

if you start your car and hear nothing, one of the easiest electrical things to eliminate yourself is battery failure.

Always carry jump leads, these are electric cables, coloured red and black that connect your car battery to someone elses from whom you can borrow power to jump start your car Leads are available to buy for around £20 aim to get the longer ones, around 3m long as it makes life easier trying to get two cars really close together whilst also allowing enough room to get in and out the driving seat.

The process is as follows:

Your handbrake on and key removed

Open bonnet

Helper car handbrake on, engine off, open bonnet

Find batteries on both cars.

Flip up battery cover to expose the battery. There will be two silver connections like nuts, clip the red crocodile clip to your plus symbol connection then clip the other end to the other cars plus symbol.

Now clip the black lead from your minus symbol connector to the helper-cars minus symbol connector

Start the helper cars engine and let it run for two minutes

Try starting your car. If it starts, leave the engine running and remove the jump leads. Keep your car running for another 20 mins or take it for a drive around the block. Don't stop and start it again. If the car doesn't start, remove the key and wait another five minutes or so, and try to start it again, revving the engine a little. If it starts read number 8 again.

9. If your car doesn't start at all after ten minutes of charging assume it's not the battery.

BUMPING A CAR OFF.

Useful Links: Halfords Video About Jump Starting Your Car

Note: Jumping a car off is different to bumping a car off The latter involves pushing it to a gentle slope and pushing it downhill allowing momentum to carry it, freewheeling in first or second gear, then when the car hits 7mph ish starting the engine at the same time as lifting the clutch. This can sometimes bump the battery into action and is only possible on manual cars. This can be a bit scary if your car has power steering as this won't work with no engine, so remember, if the engine doesn't start you won't be able to steer

DRIVING IN SNOW

Some of the scariest moments of living remotely in North Yorkshire was the dark journeys up and down 33% banks in snow blizzards as a single Mum with three small children in the car. Once we broke down and it took the RAC over 6 hours to find us so it is best to be prepared Over the 12 years on the moors I learned some tips for getting around in the snow in a normal car.

Going up-hill in snow.

Remember ice is totally different and nigh-on impossible to go uphill on. If you can't find another flatter way around and absolutely have to go up a snowy hill then:

Approach at an even speed and from directly of the hill, not from an angle if possible, and not slowing down. Go into first gear before the assent and keep in first, keep an even pressure on the accelerator; no easing off, no speeding up, no gear changes. If towards the end of the momentum you start to feel a slip on the wheels, move the steering wheel left and right quickly, almost like mini traversing upwards, this seems to give a bit more upward movement to get you higher, never losing the same pressure on the accelerator.

I once passed many stranded cars one dark evening going up a snowy hill onto the Moors, holding my breath in fear, passing about 8 other cars newly stranded. We got all the way to the top just to have someone crash into me on the downward slope at the other end of the moor

There was a very quirky man who lived in our dale who swore by reversing up snowy banks, presumably to put the extra weight bearing on the driving wheels at the 'back' (the front that was at the back) and also because reverse gear can in some cars transmit slower torque than first.

Driving downhill in snow.

This is even scarier, stay in the lowest gear possible and let the engine speed, as determined by this gear and NOT the brakes keep you slow.

If you must crash as a means of stopping use soft verges on corners to crash into if you feel continuing to a straight steep bit will be more dangerous. By this I mean let your two off-side wheels go into softer, banked snow, gravel or whatever at the side. You are better slowly crashing into a dry stone wall or hedge or corner of snow, than a tree or a solid wall after a steep straight run, because they have 'give.'

Other things that can help driving on snowy roads.

Weight

Most standard cars are front wheel drive, this is good as it means the heaviest part of the car - the engine, is over the front wheels I used to add more weight to the front by putting the heaviest child in the front along with two sacks of coal in the front footwell. If you are in a rear wheel drive vehicle, you can put paving stones in your boot, they don't take much room but are heavier than coal!

Take your own salt, grit and shovel.

I also used to take a flask of hot salty water out, and if our little VW ever got pushed into the side by a tourist, and we couldn't get out, I'd simply draw two lines with hot salty water in front of the front tyres to the road, and follow them. The female dairy lorry driver dug her wagon out with a coal shovel once, then used grit, which you can buy and keep in your car.

Remember, even four-wheel drives will slip on ice and they can give you a false sense of confidence so don't think you are invincible in a four wheel drive. I have witnessed women in Landrovers and Freelanders come a-cropper on Moorland snowy banks, so still exercise caution

Readying a Horse To Ride

READYING A HORSE TO RIDE, THE NATURAL WAY

If you find yourself with a pony or horse, not yet hand-tame and would like to help him or her give you sustainable, future-proof transport here are some tips to ready a horse to ride. This is a much gentler method than 'breaking a horse' to ride.

Always approach him from the front, not the rear. Any action from the horses behind will drive it forward.

Approach from the front at a 45 degree angle, moving slowly as if through water and avoiding eye contact.

Don’t walk straight up to horse but arc around its front, traversing slowly closer.

Stop and leave, each day getting closer.

Give treats of nose rubs, then move to ear rubs Avoid direct eye contact (prey animals find this threatening) and keep movements slow

Once the horse is OK being touched at the front end slowly introduce stroking and touch towards the back end but from the safety of the side.

Over time (days/weeks) put hand pressure, small blanket etc onto the horses back.

Start to rub a halter over its nose each day and around its ears, as part of a stroking routine.

Keep stroking towards the back and putting pressure of a blanket or hands on its back.

Once it allows the head collar to be compforatbly moved around its face in a slow stroking way, try to put the head collar on, then remove it straight away do this for a few days/weeks

Build up to leaving it on for a couple of hours then return to remove it.

After this, attach a lead rein, and test walking forward positively, saying 'walk on', and stopping. Each time using your shoulder to stop his shoulder and saying 'whoa'. Then moving forward with a 'walk-on' again.

Once the horse is happy to wear a head collar and be led a little, get someone to stand and hold him next to a strong fence while the rider sits on the fence next to him, stroking his back.

One day while you’re doing this, also add putting weight to its back, draping your leg over the horse, whilst reassuring the horse with your usual words and stroking.

NOTE WE ARE NOT QUALIFIED HORSE TRAINERS; THIS IS WHAT WE READ BACK THEN TO DO AND IT WORKED TO GET OUR PONY TO THE POINT HE COULD BE SAT ON. HOWEVER MY DAUGHTER IS NOW DOING A DEGREE IN HORSE BLOODSTOCK AND PERFORMANCE AT THE ROYAL AGRICULTURAL UNIVERSITY SO DO EMAIL IN WITH ANY QUESTIONS

Map and Compass

Learning to map read is an essential skill. We won't always have phone battery or good signal, so back-up map skills can, literally, save lives If you found yourself stranded on a moor would you be able to find civilisation? Try to keep a selection of OS maps covering all the places you go, you can download them off the internet and print them off or buy printed versions.

PLANNING A ROUTE ON A MAP

Using a walking not a driving map (ie. a 1:25,000 or less rather than 1:50,0000) find out where you are on the map by looking around you for features such as hills, rivers, streams, cliff, obvious bumps or delves in the landscape, bog or plateau. Use the tips from Natural Navigation chapter to help orientate yourself North

Now, place the map horizontally above the ground, flat, in the position that reflects your surroundings. When you have matched the map to the landscape around you, put a dot on where you are or use your thumb to keep it marked. The top of the map will be North, double check this with the sun, trees etc. around you or use a compass. Face yourself north for now. This process is known as ‘map to ground'.

Find out where you want to go on the map. Mark this point with a second dot.

For your journey you need to consider the five D’s.

Destination (eg Holly Farm, Smallville)

Direction. (Roughly North East as a rough direction with no compass*.

Description ( of the route so eg. Up the hill, keeping the fence on the right, past a cliff on the left, find the top of the stream, walk down the stream, cross over the bridge and up the lane to the right for 1 5 km )

Duration (eg 6km which equates to about 60 minutes depending on the individual/terrain).

Danger (eg. rocky terrain, river to cross, wild animals in woods)

Note your 5 D’s on paper.

*Remembering that the lines on the map from top to bottom represent North to South, take a rough directional estimateeg South West or North, North East.

Map and Compass

Now; look up and point in that direction (assuming you remained orientated North).

Take a rough distance estimate, using the scale of the map at the bottom (1 cm equals 1km on a 1:25,000 scale map, diagonal across a map square will be 1.5km ish). Make a note to yourself; "I need to travel 6.5 km, in that direction".

Using the average walking speed of 4 or 5 km an hour, work out how many minutes it should take to walk that distance If the terrain is hilly; pace can drop to 1 or 2 km an hour.

So now you have your navigational information; you can set off; eg. west south west and keep walking for three hours to get to your destination. Remember to time it. This method is more helpful than guessing BUT, bare in mind humans, as they walk, tend to veer-off to their dominant side and also, that, if you meet ponds, woodland, or other difficult to cross terrain and you choose to move around them you will may lose your course. If you veer just five degrees off course you can end up totally missing your destination over a long period of travel.

To remedy this, refer back to the map to re-orientate yourself every so often especially once you’ve come around an obstacle. Do this by finding the obstacle itself on the map and positioning the map horizontally flat, in the correct position using that obstacle as a reference (map to ground again). Now walk again picking up the direction you were meant to be travelling.

COMPASS SKILLS

The above situation, is assuming you need to find somewhere with a map only and no compass. Adding a compass will increase your travelling accuracy and reduce the chance of missing your destination.

The red needle on the compass naturally swings to point to magnetic north, in the UK this isn’t far off True North. Bare with me, they are different. There are actually three Norths - Magnetic North (red compass arrow), Grid North (top of your map) and True North (polar cap).

Depending on where you are in the world, magnetic North will be a few degrees left or right of true North, unless you are somewhere centre-line like the UK. This means you will have to adjust your compass first to account for this difference. As in the UK we don't, I won't include this here, other than to say this is known as adjusting your compass for 'declination'. Don’t worry about how much you would need to adjust for declination if not in the UK, because each map has the adjustment for declination printed on

Map and Compass

CHOOSING A COMPASS

Buy a good quality compass and keep it in your handbag, get used to the idea of seeing which direction it shows Choose a compass with a clear rectangular base plate, with a line showing direction of travel plus a scale, up the side, to show distance. A good make is Silva and an entry level compass will set you back about £12.

GRID NORTH

The compass base plate should have a series of lines on it, under the rotating face and the first thing to do is line these up with the vertical North/South lines on your map. ie. Align them to grid North.

RED IN THE SHED

Holding the compass tight to the paper, you need to turn your body around until the red magnetic needle goes into the red part of your compass face. This is known as 'putting the red in the shed' and means you are now facing North and the landscape around you should exactly reflect that on the map

DIRECTION OF TRAVEL

Next; keeping the bezel lined up with grid north, move the base plate only, to line up the edge of the compass base plate, (or the central black line if your compass has one), from the dot showing where you are now to the dot showing where you want to go.

The arrow at the end of the base plate shows the direction you should now travel

TAKING A BEARING.

When you have the compass edge/central black line, lined up with where you are now and the dot on the map you want to travel too, with the grid lines under the bezel still aligned along the North/South lines of the map; you can take a 'bearing' A bearing is the number of degrees you are travelling away from North.

Looking at the numbers on your compass bezel there are !"# degrees because it is a circle. The angle away from North moving clockwise is your bearing. So if you were about to head off North East for example, your bearing would be 45 degrees, if your direction of travel was South East your bearing would be 225 degrees $f your direction of travel was North West it would be 315 degrees So your bearing is the angle away from the North, degrees clockwise, that you are travelling on Think of yourself inside the circle facing north to take the bearing, then move to follow it.

STAYING ON TRACK TO YOUR BEARING

So far so good. you can set of walking in the direction your compasses 'direction of travel' arrow shows. You must keep your compass pinned tightly to your map, lines matched up. You will only walk so far before you meet an obstacle. Here are some useful tips for staying on a bearing:

You can box it off, going 90 degrees left eg. 20 paces, 90 degrees right 20 paces then turn 90 degrees right again for 20 paces bringing you back on track again

You can take a reverse bearing, which is where you walk so far and self-check by turning back to look at a point you just left, the needle should line up exactly the other way round or

You can choose a point on the horizon like a tree or rock that is in line with your bearing and aim for that, then retake your bearing forwards from there to a new marker. So breaking the journey into chunks.

You can check on your map the distance to your next marker (1 cm map square is 1km@3km per hour takes 20 mins ish) and pace or time it to ensure you don't miss it.

Note:

A compass is magnetic which means it won't work well in a car, next to a mobile phone or e-cig

Natural Navigation BECOMING

Why You Should Ditch Your Sat Nav.

Are you the kind of person who, before you start the engine, has to program your sat nav gadget with a postcode? Do you then follow it blindly, turning left and right at the stated distances, until you "reach your destination"? If so you need to read this chapter! I have banned my children from using sat nav now they are driving. Here's why... I have always tended to look at a map (even online) before setting off and making a mental note of the whole of the country and the network or roads we will be using, then simply making a list M62 to M18 to M1 etc. I used to get my eldest child to follow this route on a map and be aware of which road we need to take next and look out for it. Sometimes, like when she was eight and we were trying to navigate Paris, it can get a little stressful but as a result of this method she and I have a pretty decent cognitive map of the layout of our countries main arteries. Using sat nav gives us the country, broken-down into tiny abstract chunks meaning young people today are losing an holistic view of their country So what? Well, without this in-built mental picture of the rough layout of our road networks, setting off without a sat nav now means many people wouldn't be able to find their way even in the right general direction, eg toward London or toward Edinburgh! Sat nav relies on… satellites... and therefore electricity and telecommunication. These resources may not always be available and even when sat nav is working fully - how many of you have still managed to get lost?

Ive been travelling with people with two sat navs (one in built and a ‘better’ second one bought at high cost and installed on the dash) who still spent two hours driving round Paris outskirts lost. I've also been in a hotel waiting for the rest of the group to arrive just to receive a phone call - ‘sat nav says we have arrived at the hotel but we are next to a field - can you come and get us?’ So, not only is she disempowering us, it is clear, however nice her voice, Sat Nav is just not that reliable.

It’s time to ditch the sat nav and reclaim your inner wisdom as to direction!

Six Points To Be Aware Of If You Have Sat Nav Dependency.

Maps are just beautiful patterns that convey information. Don't shy away from them.

Most cities consist of an inner and outer ring road and are often connected by straightish roads thanks to the Romans. Within this pattern there are key motorways to be aware of at a glance - test yourself and your family using a map - could you roughly place the main roads on a map of your own country?

Your ancestors managed to travel the world on foot and by sea long before electricity and gadgets wearing just fur loincloths.

We have a magnetic mineral in our nasal passages just like migratory birds. This helps them tap into true North - some people may have more of this than others. Eventually our biology will ‘evolve’ away from anything we don't use. Throughout history, to avoid extinction, species have to adapt, migrate or die If we need to migrate next year due to civil unrest, climatic disaster or some other large-scale event, how can we do it if we have adapted away from the ability to migrate to a safe place when there is no sat nav to guide us?

Getting lost is fine - you are merely extending your real-world knowledge about your country and building up a bigger picture of 'what is where'. Just make sure you set off with plenty of time to spare and remember the best part of getting lost is what you find on the way!

What is Navigation?

Navigation is the act of finding our way from A to B

Everyone navigates. If you have ever had to learn to travel from home to work or school you have navigated. You may feel you do this naturally without thinking but initially you would have had a system of landmarks.

For example; left at the shop, down to the house with the big tree, cross the road towards the drive with the big metal gates etc

Today most people use sat nav to find their way from A - B but in the absence of Sat Nav how could we do this… how can we find our way to a strange place without Sat Nav?

Survival of the fittest is a myth - it was in fact survival of those who could navigate best. It's ok to be able to run the fastest and carry the most BUT if you are running in the wrong direction, you're stuffed!

SOME USEFUL SAT NAV WEANING TIPS.

Sat Nav Weaning Step One:

Observe the signs

Look away from the dash mounted screen and look at the road signs. Signs are a good one, you may think this is obvious, but people who are sat nav dependent are notoriously bad at referring to the real-world signs that hang all over the motorways! My ex partner when driving north from London long after he has left london behind and is on the A1/M1 heading north will still then use the sat nav to find his way almost home despite this motorway being the backbone of our country and a road that will ultimately bring him north to a sign he recognises. It irks me to have to listen to sat nav butting in to interesting conversations because someone can't trust themselves enough to see a sign off a major road that says ‘somewhere near my local town’ .

Sat Nav Weaning Step Two:

Look at a map before you depart and make a list of the major road names.

Sat nav is simply bite size pieces of map but these pieces are so small and out of context that we can't possibly put them all together in our brains to make a county never mind a country. Start looking at maps to get a feel for which motorways lie where in the country then before you set off on a journey consult a map. It matters not whether this map is paper or a google map what is important is to make a note of all the roads you will travel down to your destination. Eg.. A64 to A1, A1 to M1, M1 to M62, M62 to to M18 you can add junction numbers to make it even easier eg. M1 to j32 onto A1. Keep the map open on route just in case you need to refer to it.

Sat Nav Weaning Step Three:

Using Nature As Your Guide

So having ditched sat nav in favour of relying on building your own, more holistic view of the country, we will now consider how can Nature help us.

The Sun, the moon, the stars, trees, puddles and spiders can all be quite reliably added to our navigation toolkit

The main information provided by these tools is - orientation - ie. Am I facing North, East, South or West? This has to, of course, work hand-in-hand with a bit of map knowledge; even if the map is just in your head.

Landmarks

Our ancestors would have used (and tribal people still living closely to nature around the world still use) large scale landmarks such as:

Hill tops

Coastline

Rivers

The Sun

But also smaller landmarks such as

Trees and even

Leaves

Puddles

Insects

Quiz

If I asked you to point South now could you?

If I asked you now which direction have you come from to get here would you know?

If I asked you now, in which direction lies London? Edinburgh? would you know?

Flowers and in the Sahara desert the Tourareg Tribe, amazing natural navigators, could use:

Tiny mounds of sand as indicators of orientation.

Some of these landmarks will be permanent and relatively immoveable across your life course such as a mountain, sun, coastline, river or a large oak tree while others are moveable landmarks and smaller. Giving snippets of information - these smaller landmarks could be items such as leaves, flowers, puddles, spiders webs or sheep

By learning to use natural navigation rather than sat nav you are learning to read the landscape! Looking for signs in the landscape and interpreting them to work out which way to go is like learning a new language and from then on your scenery will literally speak to you.

So, if the message given to us by all of these signs is ORIENTATION. Which way am I facing - north east south or west you can then surmise which direction do I need to travel now to get to my destination.

The Sun as Your Guide

The sun (and stars) are generally considered the most accurate indication of orientation which is useful because we have something available both day and night Sunrise.

Most people know that the sun rises in the East - many of us remember this because we have been told that American Indians placed tipi doors facing East to let the early sun into their windowless homes. This is kind of right but not totally accurate - the sun rises East-ish more than East, exactly where it rises can vary a whole 90 degrees.

The illustration shows that where the sun rises throughout the year - there can be as much as a 90 degree difference in place from Summer Solstice to Winter Solstice. So on the morning of December 21st (winter Solstice) the sun will rise East South East and on the morning of June 21st (summer Solstice) the sun will rise East North East - a whole 90 degrees from where it rose in winter. The mid-point between the winter and summer solstice places of sunrise is due East which happens only at the Equinoxes in March and September. Knowing this helps us because if we can observe the sunrise and know the rules of where in the 90 degree range he rises at what time of the year we can know in which direction this sunrise is and so work out from that which way is North, South and West. Not knowing this, then your guess at seeing the sun rise and assuming that direction is simply 'East' could send you miles off track. once you start moving.

The Sun as Your Guide

The above diagram shows that if you assume the sun rises due east when it is actually winter solstice and so south/east by a further 45 degrees than you anticipate, then you turn 90 degrees to the left to head what you think is North you are actually heading North East so after ten kilometres of walking with a 45 degree error you would be over seven kilometres off target

The 'Travelling' Sun

In addition to knowing where the sun will be rising at what point in the year you should learn that if you know the TIME of the sunrise at that point of they year, when the sun rises you know by looking at the sun at that time eg. 6am that it will rise in the sky 15 degrees every hour from the horizon. So, by the time it has moved up 90 degrees, six hours should have passed and it will be midday when the sun is straight overhead (6am plus 15 degrees an hour for six hours (15 x 6) will take the sun to 90 degrees above the horizon it appeared over. From midday until six pm the sun will then move 90 degrees down towards the West. This is useful because: If I look up at the sky at 2pm and see the sun, slightly off centre I will be able to plot its journey Westish as it descends to set on the Western horizon. Remember the time of the year will determine whether it descends to the south west or north west (as above).

Why 15 degrees every hour from sunrise to sunset?

The Earth is 360 degrees round, there are 24 hours in the day for it to turn. That means every one hour it rotates about 15 degrees. Your fist against the horizon represents about 15 degrees of the Earths circle.

The Sun as Your Guide

SUNSET

In the afternoon/evening if you have missed the morning sunrise the sun can still help you orientate as it heads towards the west from the centre of the sky above at midday. As the sun sets over the horizon you can work out, depending on the time of the year, whether the direction of the sun is West North West, West South West or anywhere in between, setting due west only at the Equinoxes (March and September)

THE SUN AS YOUR GUIDE TO ORIENTATION AS HE SHOWS HIMSELF IN OTHER LIVING THINGS AROUND US.

In the northern hemisphere, where we live, the sun rises easterly and sets westerly it is at its strongest hottest when it is high in the sky, southerly and westerly. If, as we know, the sun affects the growth of most of the living things we see around us…. trees, flowers. leaves, so we can observe these things to see which way they grow to make an informed guess as to which way is the hottest, the sunniest (ie. southerly aspect). On days that are not outrightly sunny the location of the sun in the sky can be found by looking for the brightest part of the sky.

THE SUN AS HE SHOWS HIMSELF IN THE TREES.

There are many ways a tree can give you a clue as to orientation - ie. which way is sunny south (and therefore north, east and west).

The tick shape. If you think of a tree as a slow growing, sunlight-dependent, living thing - it will, over the years, grow more out towards the sun, reaching its branches straight out towards it on the lighter side while the branches on the darker north side will have to reach up and over the tree to get to see this same sunlight. The silhouette of such a tree in either winter or summer can be seen as follows, a bit like a tick shape when viewed from the east or west.

1.

The Sun as Your Guide

If you look at the horizontal cross-section of a felled tree trunk so that you can see its concentric growth rings, you will see that the rings are spaced out fairly evenly but at one side of the circles; the rings may be wider apart giving an appearance like that in the picture below.

This shows that there was more growth on that side consistently and therefore it can be surmised more light ie more sunshine This is usually the south/south west side

NB the above two signs are only reliable if the tree has stood alone:

If it is part of a forest that has recently had one side exposed through felling then the lighter side will simply be the edge of the forest rather than the south. Equally trees by water will grow out towards reflected light from water. Or is a tree is next to a road its shape will be effected by pruning back. So, be aware of potential influences on light other than orientation.

2. Growth rings on a sawn tree.

3. One other sign could be the growth of moss/lichen on a trees trunk.

A basic rule is that moss prefers damp and lichen prefers light so if you have both growing on the same tree trunk this could suggest the mossy side is north/east and the lichen covered side is south/west. However, as above, there is a caveat here too in that moss will grow close to the ground on any side of a tree if the ground is wet so only use this as an indicator if the mossy growth is a few feet up the tree.

4. Leaves of

trees

Leaves grow different colours, sizes and even shapes according to how much light they get. If it can be seen that leaf shape and shade are different on the brighter side than the darker side that would give you a clue. Shade leaves are usually larger and paler green while sun leaves of the same tree are smaller, darker and have more jagged edges. Also a red colour caused by anthocyanin can be found in leaves on the sunniest part of the tree.

The Sun and Flowers

Some flowers are heliotropic or more specifically phototropic that is they have an ability to move their faces in order to keep them orientated towards the sun or light as it moves through the day. The Daisy or Days-Eye is one such flower, fox gloves also will point their flowers out more-so on one side, depending on which is the lightest side of the plant Sunflowers are heliotropic when young but the mature head fixes facing east

SUN NAVIGATION IN SUMMARY: THE SUN CAN HELP US WITH ORIENTING OURSELVES EITHER DIRECTLY OR VIA THE SHAPE AND DIRECTION OF PLANTS AND TREES IT INFLUENCES.

The Night Sky

A BASIC INTRODUCTION

STARS

If the sun, with its direction-giving hints, has long since set, it will be the stars then the moon that replace it as your guides. The point in the starry sky above us that is both easy to recognise and which also gives a good idea of orientation is the North Star. If you can learn how to find the north star Polaris, you can reliable work out which way to go to find east, south and west.

How to find the North star - Firstly you need to look for 'The Plough' ie the panshaped constellation of stars which is shaped like this:

and can, on its journey, be any way round i.e..

From the end of the pan if you go up about five star spaces (using the spacing of the stars in the plough as your guide) you will see a very bright star alone.

To cross reference this, to ensure it is the North Star, you need to find Cassiopeia, a constellation that forms an elongated 'W' shape and whose left tip is in-line with the North Star.

This is a way of double checking you have the North star. Once you have found the North star, draw an imaginary line from the star to the horizon directly below it, this True North.

Working For Yourself

FROM HOME

Ultimate self-reliance involves being your own boss. If you can't go full time self-employed, you could try to reduce your employment, once you have downshifted, to part-time, allowing space to build up one or more (a portfolio) of home-based income generation strategies. With the advent of online selling you can have a global marketplace from your lounge.

IDEAS FOR WORKING FROM HOME

Logs and Kindling

Hair Braiding (My friend made over £100 a day doing this at events)

Rag Rugging

Scarves and Blankets

Child minding

Forest School Kids Club

Wool Spinning

Candle making

Herbal ointments and tinctures

Making notebooks and cards (stationary)

Manure

Compost

Baskets and Rush Mats

Jams, Cordials, Preserves

Baking Bread, Cakes, Tray Bakes

Sweet Making (Toffees and Fudge)

Teaching

Herbal Teas

Fruit and Veg

Eggs and Poultry

Animal Sales

Online freelance webdesign, P.A, or marketing

HOME BASED WORK IDEAS CONTINUED

Natural Beauty Products

Massage/Therapies

Jewellery Making

Christmas Tree Growing in Pots (4000 in one acre)

Garden Furniture Manufacture

Pet Sitting

Dressmaking/Repairs

Rent a Room out - Air Bnb

MY IDEAS:

time Management

Why Does It Matter?

If you can manage your time better, you will free up spare time to do useful stuff with that will help you grow!

Delegation Zoning

If you are not the only human who lives in your house or works in your business, it's essential you delegate some tasks. Even one, daily household task for each child, or two if they are on school holiday, will lighten the burden. Don't be tempted not to because "it won't be done properly and I'll have to do it again anyway". They will soon learn to do it right and years will be saved. If one of the tasks that ties you up is payable at a lower rate than that which you can earn with that time, then contract it out. Eg, if you can earn £20 sitting at your computer for an hour, then pay a cleaner £10 to tidy your workspace/home, this may sound paradoxical if you are struggling and think you have to do it all, but the minute you free yourself up with delegation you will achieve more. If repetitive admin or tech tasks tie you up, contract them out using an online company like Fiverr or Upwork Wood collecting and foraging absolutely are family level tasks. Everyone (even a pet) can be kitted-up to carry.

This is a permaculture landscape design technique that simply means place things where they get used. Have a basket on the stairs, keep all daily things to hand exactly where you use them in baskets or jars. Have a zone 2 in each room for monthly used things and a zone three for rarely used items. Store items according to where and how often they are used eg my summer dresses all go in the loft for six months of the year saving me half my wardrobe space, my desk is pretty tidy because of zoning of paperwork into now, read later and file. Think of some ways you can apply zoning in your home or workspace.

Planning

I love A3 paper because it's basically a brain-dump tool The data you dump can then be organised into an App as below. Draw 'You' in the middle of the paper and what you need to achieve around you at the outer perimeter. On the lines from you to the task, you can list all the things you need to do to get there together with the timesaving tools you can use to shorten the line. If you prefer tables that's fine, just get everything in your life that you need to achieve (and what you need to do to get there), written down .

Working Only To Next Deadline and Chunking

The idea here is that you can better focus if you live in the realm of a subject, totally immersed. You reemerge having achieved more, through lack of energy loss each time your attention moves. Choose the next deadline based on the cost implication/chronology needs of the task. Saving money should always be the thing you chunk to completion next. Chunking can also be seen in organising the domestic week, eg Monday is baking day, Tuesday is laundry, Wednesday is town day/shopping and admin, Thursday is gardening day and Friday is elderly care day. Have a theme to each day/time chunk.

Automation

Think of all the systems that are behind the tasks you need to achieve, then see if you can remove yourself by automation. The three-times-a-week shopping trip can be replaced with one delivery, from a pre-loaded set of favourites. Technology isn't frowned upon in this book as we are all still going to have our phones The trick is to make sure we use them for positive self-development purposes not as a time drain. Check out apps like Zapier that automate any online processes you have to do. Mailchimp to send out automatic emails periodically, whether its to family, friends to keep in touch or marketing emails. Create a set of email templates for common responses Set an automated morning routine on your phone that is triggered by the alarm You can add 'after alarm; 'text kids good morning'; open emails, open diary, all to start automatically from your phone each morning. Synch your google calendar with your project management app to get notifications of what task you need to do next.

Double up

This isn't being contradictory to my Chunking argument of focusing on one task - this involves using any one journey to do several functions Basically go full-handed, return full-handed, on any trip, whether on foot to your garden, upstairs, or in the car to the town.

A Time Management App that Syncs Across All Your devices.

We love our diaries, I know, I've stroked the cover of many a new diary myself, but isn't it annoying when you need to know or enter an appointment and your diary is not where you are? Or you have to enter a date on a separate family/work calendar. The fact is most of us have phones now so work with this to help free-up time and get organised. Download a project management app such as a) Trello or b) Ayoa plus a sharable calendar like Google or Ical, then load these on all your devices. Add your family/work colleagues to relevant task boards/calendars. This takes about ten minutes to set up. A project management app is simply a ready to hand place where you can brain dump and organise all your different realms onto boards and cards, then move them around and prioritise Wherever you are you will have access to your to-do list or projects with attachments and links if needed I have saved approximately 3 hours not running to the car for the diary, this year alone. If it's any consolation to diary lovers, you can personalise your online project management boards and calendars to make them look pretty.

Useless Pursuits

What pointless activities do you do, if any, that could be sacrificed for self-growth? How much TV do watch, do you consume any fiction books, blogs or social media scrolling? All the above are time to learn things, to exercise, to grow things. Analyse what, if any, less 'useless pursuits' you engage in, how much time each takes up, and reduce or replace them with something better

Clutter Clear

Are you a 'stuff manager'? Go through each room sorting things out into red-light, amber and green-light piles. Donate the red, think about the amber (leaving it in a pile in the middle of the room until it forces you to make a decision; don't 'put it back for now'), put away the green according to where and how often it will be used (zone it). It's ok to rotate kids toys - pack half away, then in three months bring them out and swap.

Fitness

Improving self-reliance requires higher energy levels. I find that energy begets energy. Train your body to be fit enough for the journey.

TRAIN ON A MORNING

TRAIN BEFORE FOOD BUT

HAVE A GREEN SMOOTHIE OR QUALITY JUICE FIRST

NEVER MISS A MONDAY

TRAIN THREE DAYS IN THE FIRST FOUR DAYS OF YOUR WEEK

YOU SHOULD TRAIN UNTIL YOU ARE SWEATING PROFUSELY AND/OR HUFFING AND PUFFING.

Add a subheading

TAKE A WATER BOTTLE AND DRINK IT ALL

USE AN APP TO PLOT YOUR PROGRESS AND MAKE YOURSELF ACCOUNTABLE TO YOURSELF

GET DECENT HEADPHONES THAT STAY ON/IN AND HAVE GOOD SOUND

PRE-CREATE TWO PUMPING HIGH ENERGY PLAYLISTS

BUY SPORTS WEAR THAT YOU LOVE; EVEN JUST ONE SET

DON'T THINK MORE EXERCISE MEANS MORE CAKE.

DON'T FOLLOW A DIET IF YOU ARE TRYING TO LOSE WEIGHTEATING LESS AND MOVING MORE IS AS EASY AS IT GETS

GOING TO A GYM OR CLASS IS NOT CHEATING. IT HELPS YOUR BODY, LUNGS AND HEART ACHIEVE MORE FITNESS IN LESS TIME

Contents:

Notes

TOTAL PER WEEK OR PER MONTH

TO SELF-RELIANCE

Notes

Notes