If you would
like to skip the rant, probably a good idea, and just get an idea for this
blog, skip to the paragraph before the last. If you are Masochistic, please by
all means read the entire first post. Thanks for Reading.
About 3 years ago in January I got
overcharged 6 dollars for a pack of bacon. Technically it was two packs of
bacon for 12.98 instead of the price 1.98. What happened was as I walked
through my local grocery store’s meat department, I spotted a pack of slab
bacon for 0.99. I thought to myself, “That’s an amazing deal for bacon,” I’ll
try it. As I was checking out the girl scanned it with my other items and it
came out to be 6.99. I told her that the price was 0.99. She sent someone back
and of ‘course they said, “No sir, the price is 6.99” I went back to check
myself, not trusting a bloodshot eyed teenager with a pot leaf tattoo on his
hand, and found the 0.99 price with a poorly drawn 6 over the 0.
Huh… that’s
new. I turned to look at the boy, BTW with a black sharpie in his shirt pocket
and said, “You just did that.” He turned red as a beet and responded with,
“Nun-uh.” REALLY, this is who I am getting my food from. I ask for a manager
and the manager came out. He saw the “NEW” price, coughs, and turns to me.
“Well, the price is 6.99 sir. I don’t know what you want me to do.” Now at this
point I gave up. No more would I trust these people to feed me and my family.
With a middle finger and a long list of clever obscenity I left.
But, after
about a day, I need to figure a way to get food. I went to a different grocery
store and got my food for the week. I knew that for now I’d have to continue
going here. “But,” I began to think, “What would I do if something happened and
I couldn’t get any food?” I looked in my pantry. I had a couple of box of
popcorn, Jell-O, some soup mixes, some cans of vegetables, fish, beans, peanut
butter and other crap that was long since forgotten. I decided that I wanted
something to change. That summer of 2014 I grew a garden and got one pot of
beans and figured it be awhile 'till I could be self-sufficient, or
self-reliant.
That’s when I
learned about bushcraft.
One September
day of 2014 I was youtubing (hope that’s a word) for videos about gardening and
hunting. For years I would visit my papaw’s farm and I knew a little bit about
the growing and hunting. I was watching a video on “Twang n Bang” Awesome
Folding Survival Bow! Primal Gear Unlimited’s CFSB. This guy is super awesome
if you have never seen him, check out his videos. Now after the video I got a
related link for this video. Arrow Making for the Common Man from Dave
Canterbury’s channel, “wildernessoutfitters” I could not stop. Video after
video was so amazing and intriguing that I got super hyped. I felt that
everything in my whole life had kind of led me to this place of bushcraft.
Being both outdoors and being self-reliant.
Summer of 2015
I got my pack together and decided to test my gear. While building a fire for
me is still kind of challenging, that’s what I did all summer at least twice a
week. After about the 2nd week I didn’t have to use lighter fluid anymore, and
I was able to keep my fire going for more than 45 minutes. Last Saturday,
February 18th of 2017, as winter finally start to leave, I started to test my
pack again. I got my fire kit, containing a Ferro-rod, char-cloth, lens,
lighter, and candle in my tall char-can, and tried out my new 4 brick rocket
stove. I got it lit with my char-cloth and a few small sticks that my little boy
collected with me. We made a fire. I remembered, how much I enjoyed this and
just like my little pile of sticks, I caught the fire again.
Now, you are
probably wondering to yourself, “Why have I read 726 words by this guy?” Well, this is why I’m writing. This is not
just my journal, but also my story and experiences while bushcrafting. While I
may not be able to help everyone, maybe I’ll be able to help someone else as
they begin working on this. That would be enough. I want to try and post ideas,
tests, modifications, and finally conclusions. I will try to keep my focus on
bushcraft, but I may include some homesteading and prepping stuff. Please feel free to comment, share this blog, and check back next week for a new one. Follow me on Facebook: @BPackBushcraft and on Twitter @BPackBushCraft. Until next time, keep those fires burning and put another log on for me.
