In this episode of squared away, we’re going to be talking about the past TWO weeks worth of preparation, which has unfortunately not been very much. I’m honestly pretty upset about how little I’ve been able to accomplish, but I have worked out a few things. So lets hop right on in and get Squared Away.
Manual of Field Fortification, Military Sketching, And Reconnaissance
So this is one of my more recent purchases in the books category, and I’ve learned a decent bit of information from it. It’s a scan of an old British guide on the construction of fortifications, foxholes, and other good stuff. But it also comes with some problems. The first being how absolutely ancient it is. It’s a complicated, poorly formatted, and very strangely worded book from the 1870’s. I’m working on pulling out all of the good stuff to put in the Survivalists Dictionary, and the rest will get put away on my bookshelf. I’m still looking for a better guide to building these fighting structures, as well as ways to protect your home. Obviously, I don’t intend to build a large trench system in my yard, but I wanted to understand the thought processes and geometry of defending a location.
Shemagh Head Scarves
So, I decided to go ahead and grab a couple of Shemaghs for my bag. The Shemagh is a kind of Middle Eastern head scarf that is traditionally used as protection from sun and sand, but since they were adopted by Western cultures, we’ve adapted them for our own needs. For example, I am wildly opposed to the use of improvised tourniquets unless absolutely necessary, and I’ve selected the shemagh as my cloth of choice for this task. It’s long, can be folded over onto itself into a two inch thick band, and it will stand up to the twisting pressure of your windlass to ensure a strong pressure. This is just one of the uses for a shemagh scarf and there’s a lot of lists you can look up on other websites. I’ll try and put a dedicated post on this in the Survivalists Dictionary sometime down the road.
Southeast Foraging, Edible Wild Plants, And Plant Propagation.
So I picked these books up a long, long time ago, but I’ve started studying them now as part of my preparations more lately. I want to start collecting these plants which grow well in my area, determining which have medicinal and food value, and then propagating them to start my own garden space. My hope is that this will ensure a hardy, long lasting food supply in the case something bad happens.
The Puppy
This isn’t really a prep, but rather a bit of a fun detail about my life. I’ve always wanted a dog of my own, but I’ve never had the opportunity or time to care for a pet properly. Lately, that’s started to change, so I decided it’s the perfect time to get a little puppy to start training. I’m probably going to be making lots of screw ups, but hey, that’s my life anyways.
modernsurvivalarkansas.com 