Extopian

Depending on your region and hunting technique, hunting season for deer and some other large game is just around the corner (a few weeks to a couple months).  While I haven’t had the opportunity to do as much hunting as I’d like, I have enjoyed several excellent venison meals in my life, so it always comes as a disappointment when I hear about people having bad experience with venison.  I think most of these experiences are rooted in some of the fundamental differences and expectations between game and domestic animals.  The following is a basic overview of venison and how best to appreciate it.

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Popularity: 6% [?]

Roses can do more than grace our landscapes and floral designs. Like its cousins the apple, pear, peach and cherry, roses produce a fruit. Rose Hips are a valuable source of vitamin C, containing as much as 20 times more vitamin C than oranges. They are also an excellent antioxidant. Rose Hips can be found in dried form in most health food stores, but why not gather your own? You’ll save money and you’ll know where they came from and the conditions in which they grew. Furthermore, you’ll be adding to your own self-sufficiency by locating and gathering a nutrient-dense food source to nourish yourself and your family. In many parts of the country, large hedges grow in great abundance producing attractive and fragrant pink and red flowers.

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Popularity: 16% [?]

Unfortunately, the contents of our gardens, forests and waterways don’t come with a nutritional label like the products that line the aisles of our super markets. Putting aside the sometimes “creative’ efforts that go into creating those labels, I think most of use instinctively know that many of these home-grown and field-harvested alternatives just might be more nutritious for us than their industrial alternatives. Let’s take a look at some of the nutritional realities of wild hunting verses the product of feed lots.

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Popularity: 5% [?]

You probably won’t find the Purslane at your local grocery store, but given its wide distribution, you MIGHT find it growing in lots and parks near your grocer. In fact, it’s found in nearly every temperate climate zone in the world north of the Equator. In North America, if can be found as far south as Mexico right up to the Arctic Circle, though some contend the plant is an invasive species in the New World. Regardless of its origins, this “lowly weed” is a hardy and versatile, if somewhat under-appreciated, source of nutrition. And yet, most people couldn’t distinguish the plant from a line up of common plants in their region. If you can learn to identify the Purslane, you’ll be well ahead of your contemporaries and able to enjoy a free, tasty treat with little competition.

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Popularity: 4% [?]

No one would argue that having the right tool for the job is not one of the cornerstones of preparedness. And, while improvisation is another vital trait for the prepared individual, the use of tools is one of the hallmarks of humanity. With that in mind, we’re going to look at the Knife… one of man’s earliest tools and how it fits into modern survival and preparedness scenarios.

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Popularity: 4% [?]

Some are recreational off-roaders, to whom, much of this will be core knowledge. Some of us drive off-road only occasionally to access some of the more remote portions of our regions; such as the Forest “Roads” of National Forests. More commonly, though people find themselves occasional off-roaders because of weather conditions or other unexpected situations. This article is for the last two categories. It can save you damage to your vehicle, hazard to life/limb and hopefully and being stranded.

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Popularity: 3% [?]