Live Outdoors

Camping, Paddling, Hunting, Inventing, Modifying, and Self Sufficiency. I have a passion for the outdoors and working with my hands. This blog will keep up-to-date entries of recent trips, a log cabin I am building, tips and tricks for camping and bushcraft, along with any other small things I build or modify (survival kits, camp stoves, wood-gas stoves, knives, traps, etc..)

[backwoodsbeckson]

[stonedsoldiergifs]

[somethingredneck]

[backwoodsbeckson]

Good to know, as I want to butcher my own deer next season.

[backwoodsbeckson]

I want to build one of these! There are other more in-depth videos, but this video has a quick explanation of the mechanics of a Stirling Engine. I plan to use a large wood-gas stove (about 2 cubic feet of fuel space) as the heat source and an alternator from a scrapped car to make a wood powered generator. Seems simple enough, right?

[backwoodsbeckson]

Once my cabin is complete, I'll want a source of water for dishes, showers, and drinking without manual pumping, external power sources or having to go down to the lake to fetch it. A "Ram Pump" fits the bill. This video shows how to make one of the valves necessary in the operation of the pump.

[backwoodsbeckson]

Don't throw out your old, broken laundry baskets! I cut out the unbroken grid pieces, and the bottom piece. The bottom piece will be a tray underneath my window garden, and the grid pieces will be used as lattice for the plants to climb.

[backwoodsbeckson]

100% All natural honeycomb from British Columbia. Apparently never touched by human hands, or machinery. Also: it's delicious. 

[mothernaturenetwork]

Recipe: Camp Stove Pizza There’s something about a daylong hike and being miles from civilization that makes you long for a greasy slice of pizza. Feed that craving. More gourmet backpacking dinner recipes

[backwoodsbeckson]

"How wolf reintroduction is changing Yellowstone rivers". Although it could also be called "How deer just fuck everything up".

[ama-ar-gi]

[backwoodsbeckson]

The raven is sometimes known as “the wolf-bird.” Ravens, like many other animals, scavenge at wolf kills, but there’s more to it than that.  Both wolves and ravens have the ability to form social attachments and they seem to have evolved over many years to form these attachments with each other, to both species’ benefit. Ravens have been observed circling a sick elk or moose and calling out, possibly alerting wolves to an easy kill.  Ravens also respond to the howls of wolves preparing to hunt (and, for that matter, to human hunters shooting guns). They find out where the wolves are going, and follow. Wolves and ravens also play. A raven will sneak up behind a wolf and yank its tail and the wolf will play back. Ravens sometimes respond to wolf howls with calls of their own, resulting in a concert of howls and calls.  Sources: Mind of the Raven, Bernd Heinrich, The American Crow and the Common Raven, Lawrence Kilham 

[pitter--patter-deactivated20170]

Underground Greenhouse

Growers in colder climates often utilize various approaches to extend the growing season or to give their crops a boost, whether it’s coldframes, hoop houses or greenhouses.

  Greenhouses are usually glazed structures, but are typically expensive to construct and heat throughout the winter. A much more affordable and effective alternative to glass greenhouses is the walipini (an Aymara Indian word for a “place of warmth”), also known as an underground or pit greenhouse. First developed over 20 years ago for the cold mountainous regions of South America, this method allows growers to maintain a productive garden year-round, even in the coldest of climates.

[backwoodsbeckson]

Update on Dehydrated Onion

After about 5-6 hours, the 12oz of onion dried down to weigh just over one ounce; cutting over 90% of the weight. I'll definitely be doing this again to stock up, and try new recipes before I hit the trail this spring.

[backwoodsbeckson]

Wood-gas stove made from an apple juice can nesting inside a slightly larger pineapple juice can. The smaller can hangs about an inch and a quarter from the bottom of the larger can. The top holes of the inner can are  bent inwards for my airflow, and the bottom holes are all bent inwards in the same direction to create a spiraling effect and drive air upwards. The pot stand is two halves of a can with corresponding slits to fasten together. They can be taken apart and bent to wrap around the stove in your pack when traveling. Also; a one litre Nalgene bottle nests perfectly inside the inner can, to maximize space in your pack.

[sanborncanoecompany]

[backwoodsbeckson]

Sanborn Canoe Company

[moderngypsies-blog]

Makes 1 1/2 – 2 cups

Enjoy this healthy snack by the handful or sprinkled over fresh fruit, applesauce, or smoothies for some added crunch. For extra sweetness, stir 1/2 cup raisins or other dried fruit into the mixture upon removing it from the oven.

1/2 cup quinoa, covered with water...

[backwoodsbeckson]

Dehydrating 12oz of onion to use this camping season. Curious to see how much weight is cut from the 12oz once they're fully dried. These will be mixed into instant mashed potatoes, quinoa, or scrambled eggs. Depending on how nicely they dehydrate, I might try to saute them with jerky for a Goulash-style topping to potatoes or rice.

[backwoodsbeckson]

Two days after the third harvest from these green onions that have been growing in my window sill. (Just stuck the cut-offs of green onion from the store in the dirt et voila.) There are no drainage holes in the can, and I keep the soil constantly just over full saturation. They grow crazy fast, especially considering it is considerably colder near the window than the rest of the apartment, and I'm using water that is also kept beside the window to water them. Once I get enough growing in a proper cycle, bye-bye weekly 89¢ green onion bill!