Wrist-deep in herbs, vodka and oil. Last Saturday I participated in an all-day herbology class taught by Sam Coffman of The Human Path in which we made herbal salves that would be appropriate for an herbal first-aid kit. What are salves? Salves are preparations of natural oils and beeswax with the addition of the constituent… Continue reading Herbal first-aid kit: Salves
Imagine, if you will… It’s 10:15pm and you step outside to quickly water a couple of plants. You’re barefoot, wearing only a tank top and underwear, but you’re not really worried about anyone driving by. Then the bar across your patio door drops and locks you outside. Your front door and your car are both… Continue reading Never leave home in your underwear
Mother Nature knows what we’re doing, and she’s not happy. As readers of this blog will know, this summer I’ve taken classes covering everything from learning wilderness survival skills to investigating my spirituality to understanding the principles of permaculture. All of these classes have a common goal: they teach those of us who live in… Continue reading We need to stop pissing off Mother Nature
It’s always good to pay attention and notice things around you. You never know when something random might make a difference. It’s been a rough week: I’ve had a bunch of projects to work on, personal issues to deal with, and yesterday I was feeling pretty low and stressed out. Topping it all off, I… Continue reading One man’s weed…
This will be a quick post, but I’m very proud to have had the opportunity to redesign the website for one of my favorite survival/prepping resources, and I wanted to announce that here and give that site a little plug. The Survival Podcast is a daily (Monday-Friday) hour-long original podcast produced by Jack Spirko. He’s… Continue reading The Survival Podcast
We just finished our second Hunter-Gatherer weekend class taught by Sam Coffman of The Human Path. This time our class was primarily devoted to primitive fishing techniques. Having survived the previous weekend on nothing to eat for a day and a half other than grasshoppers and roasted prickly pear cactus, the group of 10 hunter-gatherers… Continue reading Fish heads, fish heads…
Never tell your frustrations to a prickly ash tree. Back in May I attended a two-day spirituality and energetics workshop taught by Scott Schoner of The Human Path. I’ve been trying to get more in touch with my own spiritual identity lately, but I really didn’t know what to expect from the class. The weekend’s… Continue reading The wisdom of trees
There was no way I was going to be outrun by a yorkie. Even though it a holiday, we were out at 7:00am yesterday on the hike and bike trail for our regular three miles of Couch to 5K running. Despite knowing I could run the route in 46 minutes based on my last attempt,… Continue reading The Yorkie Effect
I like not coming in last. As a kid, I was one of the slowest in my class, and generally big and clumsy. Whenever we had to choose teams, I was invariably the last one picked. Then there were the dreaded Presidential Fitness tests, in which I always scored way below the average percentile for… Continue reading Pushing limits
Surviving the Modern World 