The Darkling Wilderness

Three billion people have no or little access to internet. This can be because of costs, lack of infrastructure, or outright censorship. Major disasters, extended power outages, and failure of the grid can deny whole communities access to the Internet. Kiwix ( https://kiwix.org/en/ ) allows you to download key websites (such as Wikipedia, MedlinePlus, Project Gutenberg, and TED Talks) and access them even when the Internet is down. Download Kiwix, and if you currently have a fast Internet connection you can download as many files from the Kiwix library as you want. Or, you can purchase various Kiwix packages and receive them on a SD Card thtough the mail. For example, the Kiwix "Preppers Package" ( https://kiwix.org/en/wifi-hotspot/ ), available for $25, contains: dozens of resources on homesteading, water treatment, military and emergency medicine, etc. WikiHow, iFixit, and other repair resources, and the entire Wikipedia, along with "TrailSense" and other survival...

  In ' The Encyclopedia of Outdoor Survival: Based on the Training and Techniques of the SAS ', Barry Davies, BEM (1999) ( https://amzn.to/3BS5rNe ) listed the " Five Golden Rules of Survival " 1. Life itself is survival, all that changes is the environment or the conditions under which you live. When crossing a wilderness area or entering a dangerous environment do so properly equipped. 2. A quick rescue is the best rescue. Use every modern aid to make others aware of your plight and location. No matter what the danger, good communications will prevent a survival situation evolving. 3. We only need the basics. Given that you are uninjured and functioning properly, you need only air to breathe, water to drink, food to eat and shelter from the environment. However scarce, nature supplies all of these elements but you cannot expect nature to change in order to accommodate your requirements. You must learn to adapt to use whatever she provides. 4. Plan your survival. Whe...

The Herbalists’ Charter Ordained by Henry VIII, 1543 Be it ordained, established and enacted, by Authority of this present Parliament, That at all Time from henceforth it shall be lawful to every Person being the King's subject, having Knowledge and Experience of the Nature of Herbs, Roots and Waters, or of the Operation of the same, by Speculation or Practice, within any part of the Realm of England, or within any other of the King's Dominions, to practice, use and minister in and to any outward Sore, Uncome Wound, Aposelmations, outward Swelling or Disease, any Herb or Herbs, Ointments, Baths, Pultess, and Emplaisters, according to their Cunning, Experience and Knowledge in any of the Diseases, Sorea and Maladies before said, and all other like to the same, or Drinks for the Stone, Strangury or Agues, without suit, vexation, trouble, penalty or loss of their goods . Barefoot Doctors Barefoot doctors (simplified Chinese: 赤脚医生; traditional Chinese: 赤腳醫生; pinyin: chìjiǎo yīshēng...

  Outdoor books are top-heavy with survival suggestions. Gather watercress, plantain, wild tubers, and concoct a wilderness salad; make a deadfall and trap an edible critter; roast it on a fire conjured up from bits of bark, a bow and drill, all whittled with a stone knife scrounged from a streambed! And like the Mounties of old, signal for help with a pocket mirror. The truth is, not one outdoorsman in 10,000 is sufficiently learned as a botanist to know watercress from skunk cabbage. And the sportsman who can successfully rig a deadfall is as rare as a whooping crane. To acquire the skills for this type of survival calls for years in the wilderness, plus substantial exposure to "book knowledge". However, the genuine need for such spartan effort to survive arises during the life of no more than one man in a million. With such odds, an outdoorsman is better off first acquiring the basic skills which will prevent the need for such survival effort. If he can live through the fi...

Hedge is a word that describes the border between the wilderness and civilization. In medieval Europe a hedge was a physical boundary between the forest and the village, a tangle of wild plants and undergrowth that separated the village from that which lay beyond. Those who lived beyond the hedge lived closer to nature and were often thought to possess hidden knowledge, practice folk magic, or even have the ability to cross the boundary into the Otherworld, the lands of the Tuatha Dé Danann, the abode of the Fae.   Those who lived beyond the hedge acted as defenders of the forest and guardians of nature, and could, at times, be called upon to aid those who had become lost or injured in the wilderness. They might provide herbal medicines to heal the sick, wild bounty to feed the hungry, and charms to protect travelers through the dark forest. Yet, those who lived beyond the hedge didn’t necessarily adhere to the many rules of government, nor follow the logic, ethics, or morals of th...

Ready Gov ( https://www.ready.gov/ ) provides general guidance for anyone who wants to be better prepared to respond to a major disaster or emergency. The Washington Emergency Management Division ( https://mil.wa.gov/preparedness ) provides guidance on how to "Prepare in a Year", along with several other resources to help you become better prepared. For those who want to develop a greater knowledge of disaster and emergency preparedness, I have made a list of free* courses that will help you develop that knowledge. These courses are presented online, allowing you to study at your own pace and in the comfort of your home. I have completed all of the listed courses and found that each of them provided useful and relevant information. While this knowledge is important, it is essential that one practice the skills taught in these courses. (i.e., In an online first aid course you will learn how to splint a broken bone, but to be able to actually apply that knowledge you must pract...

My great panacea for all emergencies is the ditty-bag. It is the first thing taken off and hung on a twig when a camp site is decided upon and the last thing put on when camp is broken. It has everything in it for repairs, accidents, emergencies of all kinds. Canoe leaking? In the ditty-bag is a small stick of canoe glue, a heavy needle, and strong thread. Moccasin stitch out? You'll find a leather needle with a thread of moccasin twine in the d.b. Suspender button off? In that repository of repairdom is another button, a needle, and shoe thread. Sick? There is a medicine-kit in the emollient of emergencies which will cure anything you have, from fever to delirium tremors. Hurt? Right this way, we have it right here, surgical bandages, tape, stitch needle, antiseptics - can give you a whole new rubber neck on demand. Gun needs cleaning? The whole works are in the ditty-bag. Hungry? There are a dozen square meals lurking inside the covers of that—grab it from me—justly famous ditty-...

You may tramp, camp and live in the woods for years and never have occasion to use medicines, stimulants, bandages or first-aid, but accidents will happen and when you are hurt or sick in the woods a bit of medicine, a bandage or some other simple remedy or aid will be worth more than all the rest of your outfit put together. -- Book of Camping -by Alpheus Hyatt Verrill (1917) Taking the Place of the Doctor A knowledge of the various principles of first aid in the efficient treatment of the ailments encountered on the wilderness trail should be taken as a solemn responsibility. Once you come face to face with an accident which endangers the life of yourself or a companion, you will realize how indispensable is this ability to meet the exigencies incidental to active outdoor life — exigencies which force you alone to act, because first aid is generally required where one cannot shift the responsibility by stepping to a telephone and acquiring the assistance of an expert who is trained ...

Woodcraft is a term that denote skills and experience in matters relating to living and thriving in the woods—such as hunting, fishing, and camping—whether on a short- or long-term basis. Woodcraft pertains to subsistence lifestyles, with implications of hunting-gathering. Traditional woodcraft has particular importance in American folklore, especially that relating to the early American frontier. Woodcraft is also a recreational/educational program devised by Ernest Thompson Seton in 1902, for young people based on camping, outdoor skills, and woodcrafts. Thompson Seton's Woodcraft ideas were incorporated into the early Scout movement, but also in many other organizations in many countries. In his 1916 book Camping and Woodcraft , Horace Kephart wrote: “Woodcraft may be defined as the art of getting along well in the wilderness by utilizing nature’s storehouse. When we say that Daniel Boone, for example, was a good woodsman, we mean that he could confidently enter an unmapped wild...