So, You Decided You Don’t Want to Take the COVID-19 Vaccine. Are You Prepared to Live Life Without a Job?

Taking the COVID-19 vaccine is a personal choice. Personally, I won’t be taking it. But I didn’t reach that decision easily. I had to consider the consequences of not taking it. I would have to be prepared to lose everything…my job, my apartment, my car, and possibly the respect of my family who depend on me to take care of them. Am I ready for that? Hell no. I am scared as hell.

Years ago, I started building a stockpile and learning new skills. When they deny me access to the restaurants and grocery stores, I will have to learn to live off the land. Here are some basic survival skills to learn if you are considering the same:

Building a Fire

Fires will provide heat for cooking, ward off predators, and keep you warm. Building a fire may be more difficult than it looks, particularly if the weather is overcast or damp or in survival circumstances when there are few or no supplies.

There are many innovative methods to make fire without gear; however, they’ll require patience and practice. Testing some fire-building skills in the backyard is a great way to prepare yourself for an emergency situation.

Practice creating or finding dry tinder by hunting for amadou (fungus growing inside the bark of coniferous trees) or carving a feather stick. It’s also possible to dig around the backyard for quartz to design a flint that will produce a spark.

Making Potable Water

Finding clean drinking water is likely the most critical skill required in a survival scenario. Natural sources of water, unfortunately, aren’t always hygienic and may harbor bacteria, viruses, and parasites. It’s possible to make potable water with some easy methods you can practice at home.

The simplest method of purifying water includes boiling it; however, you might be left with sediment or additional particulate matter, affecting the taste. Filter your water through a tee-shirt, or construct a filtration system with the use of charcoal from your sand, fire, and small river rocks within an upside-down PET bottle.

If you can’t locate a water source, it’s possible to practice getting water from the earth by constructing a solar still. Solar stills consist of holes around 2’ across by 1’ deep. Put a container at the bottom then cover the hole using a plastic sheet or tarp, sealing the corners with sand or dirt. Put a little rock in the middle of the cover, and then moisture will condense beneath the cover and rip into your container.

Food Foraging

It is shocking how many edible wild plants are out there in the backyard farm or around the neighborhood. In survival circumstances, plants are an important nutrient source that may offer a low-impact energy source.

Identifying wild edible plants may be tricky, because a lot of toxic species have similar traits as non-toxic plants. However, there are some easily identifiable plants that are rampantly growing around the country that aren’t just nutrient-dense yet also delicious, which includes miner’s lettuce, lamb’s quarters, dandelion, and stinging nettle.

If you’re inexperienced at food foraging, it’s better to avoid mushrooms and fungi, since most species are fatal. Also, you can brush up on your identification methods by consulting a botanical guidebook.

Knot-Tying

Knot-tying may help your odds of survival by assisting you in building a shelter, setting snares, and creating tools. Learning how to tie knots takes practice and time; therefore, get a rope and brush up on those knot-tying skills!

Creating a Weapon

If you discover yourself without a weapon, you’ll have little defense against predators searching for a meal. Slingshots are underrated tools that are easy and quick to make from materials you can easily find around the house. You just need canvas or leather for the pad, rubber tubing, and a forked stick.

Once you’ve built the slingshot, set up some targets around the yard and practice shooting and aiming. Use eye protection and make sure that no one comes into your line of sight when you release the ammo.

Constructing a Shelter

Looking for shelter is among the first things you should accomplish if you become lost in the woods; however, a safe space to keep out of the weather elements may be difficult to find. Use those fort-building skills you learned as a child and practice building a shelter in the backyard.

Depending upon the season, environment, and terrain, there are multiple options for shelters that it’s possible to build. Begin with a lean-to tent or tarp-tent, and slowly build up those skills until you’re at ease lashing together branches to make a teepee. If you reside in a region that has heavy winter snows, it’s possible to take advantage of the frigid weather to practice making a snow cave shelter.

Basic First Aid

While you are out in the woods, if you don’t have the vaccine, at some point, you can probably forget about getting medical or emergency services if you’re injured or sick. Understanding and having the ability to administer first aid might save the life of a loved one or yourself.

Gather a family member, partner, or friend and practice administering first aid for a variety of typical threats in survival scenarios. Those include the CPR procedure, treating burns, controlling bleeding, finding soothing plants for abrasions and insect stings, as well as stabilizing limbs.

Fishing and Trapping

Survival fishing and setting snares to catch small game are key skills that enable you to get valuable protein sources with very little expenditure of energy. Depending on your prey, fishing techniques and snares vary, so it’s vital that you practice setting different snares and deploying an array of fishing techniques so you’re ready for any situation.

Conclusion

Don’t let the government take away control of your life. Take back control. We have had enough of our control taken away during this pandemic. Do not wait until you’re stuck in the woods to practice those survival skills. Learning key skills like building a shelter and fire building is an excellent weekend project to perform in the safety of a backyard.

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