The-Atlantic-thefemalesurvivalist

I've heard about dandelions for a long time. Supposedly full of iron, wine makers love the yellow flowers.

I harvested quite a handful of greens. The stems are too bitter for my taste, so I took just the leaves.
History buffs teach us this plant was actually brought over from England by the first settlers as a spring crop. Its very early bloomer and grows even in gravel. I should know, that's where I got mine.
Check out wikipedia for more information : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dandelion


Anyways, back on the "farm", after harvesting a goodly handful, I washed them, sprayed them with the typical vegetable sanitizer (one drop of bleach in a quart of water), and rinsed them.

Heating a couple tablespoons of canola oil in a cast iron pan, I sauteed them, and served them with rice, red beans, onions and corn tortillas. Salsa on the side, it made a nice green garnish.

I admit, raw is not near as flavorful as sauteed.
I love finding organic edibles that grow wild.

Pharmaceuticals are important in daily life.
Its really nice to take some benydryl or ibuprofen when needed.

But, what happens when TEOTWAWKI or SHTF comes? How does a person amass all the drugs they may be currently taking, to last for X number of months or years?
I haven't read many ideas on this and my plan is pretty radical. I am not a health professional, so the ideas here are strictly from a lay person with observation and research skills. Consult your doctor, the writer of this blog is not liable for any decisions you may make after reading this blog.

I read Americans watch 30 hours of commercials each year for prescription drugs. Many of these commercials peddle remedies for weight control, depression, erectile disfunction, female issues, anxiety, high blood pressure, diabetics, cholestrol control. The law does not require drug companies to tell us what the success rate of these drugs are or if we can avoid them all together by life style change. The possible side effects are rattled off so quickly, the visual of happy couples and people regaining health after taking said drugs are very potent.

How strange that we're also bombarded with commercials from lawyers pleading with us to call them if we've had any adverse effects from these drugs.
What if we could get away from drugs, completely? In preparation for survival and emergency situations, we're advised to have all medications on hand. There are shelf lives to this stuff, and so people on drugs are at a disadvantage in the long haul.

Studies show that if we adopt a healthy life style and a seriously responsible approach to our own well being, many drugs can be eliminated.

Next time you go to the doctor, ask how you can get off the high blood pressure meds. Loose weight? Exercise? Get rid of that competitive stress? Eat some fruits and veggies, avoid red meat and pastries?

Quit smoking is the first and best economical move for a survivalist.
Get in shape by loosing weight, and exercising. Fresh air is your friend.
Drink lots of water, good old tap water. Dehydration is a killer, chemicals in processed drinks can be avoided all together.

I'm pretty radical, I know. Last time I was at the doctor, the nurse was amazed I didn't take any meds or herbal rememdies. When my blood work is done, I request a copy and take serious inventory of its contents. With so many great online sites, a person can research any medical concerns and get information that your health provider may not even be aware of.
http://labtestonline.org/ has a wealth of information, http://mayoclinic.com/
and even just doing a google search.

Bottom line is to take control of your health, reduce and rethink medications with your doctors help, by choosing natural healthy life style.

Eliminating obesity and smoking are necessary steps, the sooner the better.

Hi, my name is Brawny, and I'm an addict.
I had heard about this series, but only watched one, years ago, at a friends. Season three I think. There were commercials. I wasn't into it. Too weird.


Now we got NetFlicks. You can watch all 100 episodes back to back if you like, no commercials.

Commercials are for taking a pee break, grabbing a cup of coffee, shutting windows. Never watch a commercial unless its super cute. Loving those Gieco kids. I watch those every time.

Back to Lost.

Who knew? We got hooked in the first season. You can't help loving the main characters. Their back stories are interspersed with the current drama. Series of disasters keep the 43 minutes of each episode flying. Of course, with netflicks, you can pause it, back wind it (did he say he hated his father?)
and play it over again.

Yeah, well, I keep reading the next episodes description, and can't go to bed. So far we've watched 51 out of the hundred. All other programing must wait.

Not to give too much away, but between Sawyer and Jack, if I were Kate, not sure which one I'd base a future on. Right now she's sitting on the fence and enjoying the best of both worlds, but this is a family show.

No swearing, no nudity, some nice kisses, some fighting and murder, but that would probably be rated PG.

It's got twists and turns and I admit I find myself yelling at the screen"No! don't turn your back on that Other!" or "Why don't you split up the work load, you dunce?" and "Oh sure, you just happen to have the right antibiotics."

I think they used to call it Johnny Come Lately, or Been There Done That, but if you haven't watched Lost, try it. Interesting psychological drama, and I wonder whose dream, nightmare, or mental illness may be inducing the torture inflicted on various humans on The Island.

I'm pondering the applications as a survivalist. They seem to have an inordinate amount of tarps and medicines to make life easier. They prefer living on the beach to caves or The Amazing Survival Bunker with all the comforts of home. The weapondry, in spite of the leaders best efforts, have been spread around until you never know who will come up with a loaded glock.

People die, are buried, the good, the bad and the pretty. Doesn't matter. Some we hated anyways, they had it coming. Some we still misss. Its rumored only the good die young, but I'm not buying that line anymore.

If you've seen the end,please don't tell me.

Cube construction from Mike Page on Vimeo.

This video from http://treehugger.com raises some interesting questions. I know when I do seasonal work, we use less than 100 square feet per person in our dorm. But then, we are fed in the employee dinning room, do laundry in the laundry room, have a central lounge, and share a bathroom. Just goes to show there are many acceptable ways to downsize our living space. As mentioned in the page dedicated to this experiement, the psychology is being studied. Claustrophobia is a real issue. Personal areas combined with communal areas are possibilities. Independent facilities, downsized and multi purposed are others.

Make cordage from that mountain of plastic, or boil water in a bottle.



Of course you can take these tips into new territory using heat and plastic to mold or repair, plug holes or shape fishing nets or traps.


Creativity and base knowledge are key in survival, I've found.

I read an interesting article in Country Woman about Creative Junking-making awesome home furnishings by using "junk" or what I call found objects. I was glad to see the author recommend looking in your own stash of junk first, and cautioning people not to pick up stuff randomly. After all, have we not seen hoarders, or Buried Alive?

The mission I'm on is downsizing, minimalizing my collection of personal belongings. I did several films on http://youtube.com/user/brawny03 showing simple hand sewing techniques for repairing gear. Replacing buttons, adding drawcords, modifying exisiting stuff to prolong its life are all important skills.

Then I did a whole series of hobo gear ideas, from backpacking wood stoves, making cordage from plastic bags, survival in a can systems, and more. The idea here is to practice recycling otherwise useless items into things I need. Not that I need them now. These projects provide skills and useful knowledge about how raw materials behave under heat, cold, and stress.

For instance, I tested the idea of bringing water to a boil in a soda bottle over a camp fire, using cordage made entirely of plastic bags. This could become a survival tool in a SHTF scenario.

I tested the idea of various lamps using motor oil, cotton strips from a bandana, and tin can. This worked better than I anticipated!



As I repair stuff, or decide its not worth repairing, I look for ways it might be recycled into useful Other Items.

A lamp, a fuel starter, a stove, a boiling water apparatus, all made out of typical landfill, side of the road junk are items that a person would need if the world no longer functioned as we're used to.

Any half awake materialist knows that which you hold, holds you.--Tom Robbins, 1936 wrote this interestingly enough, just as the Great Depression was getting resolved.

There are two ways to be rich: one is by acquiring much, and the other is by desiring little.--Jackie French Koller wrote this in 1948, right after World War II.

Both quotes are good reminders that downsizing is a path to freedom. I'm working on reduction, not only in the larger sence of material belongings, but also in daily tasks. Its good to be effecient time wise so there's more time for play.

A final quote from E.F Schumacher, written in 1911, before World War I: Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius-and a lot of courage- to move in the opposite direction.