Advice needed please- long-term survival diet

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Jan 13, 2018
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Rural Lincolnshire
Plus the most importsnt question that I have been reluctant to ask until now:

What do you plan to use instead of loo paper?
Moss and leaves are a pain to use. Leaves debris behind that scratches!

An interesting question that (maybe) many of us were thinking.

In several Asian countries they do not use toilet paper. My Son lives in Phnom Penn (Capital of Cambodia) and I have some experience of this 'subject', which led me to hunting thru the supermarkets to try and find some 'toilet-tissue'.
As their toilet system cannot cope with paper, it is a case of keeping the paper in a bin at the side of the toilet (much as in some of the Greek Islands)
 

Broch

Life Member
Jan 18, 2009
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Mid Wales
www.mont-hmg.co.uk
Perhaps slightly off topic but it's these things that add up to make life more difficult off-grid.
In many countries where there are no flushing toilets you'll find a bucket of water; it's why you only eat with your right hand :)
 
Jul 24, 2017
1,163
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somerset
I wonder what the original posters thoughts are now after our collective thoughts and recommendations?
That it might be free living so to speak, but there is a lot of comforts that you give up, both my brother and step father lost about half there teeth by 40, if you have no concept of what that kind of life can ask of you, time for a re-think.
 

Janne

Sent off - Not allowed to play
Feb 10, 2016
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Grand Cayman, Norway, Sweden
I never take pictures. Have taken maybe 10 ‘24 picture rolls’ of film in my whole life, and that was eith. Kodak Instamatic ( I think the name was) in the early 1970’s.

I keep pictures in my head. Memories.
 
Jul 24, 2017
1,163
444
somerset
I have found that sphagnum moss makes good "toilet paper". Just the right amount of abrasion and, most times of the year, enough moisture for a clean finish. However it seems that it is protected in the UK (so put it back afterwards?).
I have used that, did not know it was protected so I will take your lead and be putting it back afterwards :D
 
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Broch

Life Member
Jan 18, 2009
7,981
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www.mont-hmg.co.uk
I hope he/she considers our points. Potentially life saving.

Mods!: would it be kosher to start a thread about lower rear abdomen hygiene?

The daft thing though Janne is that this is quite a fundamental subject for safe and respectful outdoor living!! - just never discussed in detail :)

I look forward to the new thread (I think)
 
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C_Claycomb

Moderator staff
Mod
Oct 6, 2003
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Bedfordshire
Janne,
Please put the idea on hold for a few weeks. It could have value, but it could also cause disagreements. A lot of the mods are going to be busy with the Moot for the next couple of weeks. If you press for an answer, the easiest is to say no, and if you start a thread and it goes awry it is more likely to simply be removed rather than moderated.

I am pretty sure that the subject has been covered in some detail on the forum, but it was a while ago, and it may be that my memory is putting together pieces from multiple threads.

Cheers

Chris
 
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Billy-o

Native
Apr 19, 2018
1,981
975
Canada
.. a fundamental subject


For best, I use my sleeve or shirt tail, as is proper in these parts, and find the Bison Bushcraft Guide shirt provides most efficacy here.

Aside: my grandad used to stuff pillows with sphagnum, and sometimes a bit of lavender. Smelled lovely, they did, and were quite soporific
 
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Billy-o

Native
Apr 19, 2018
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975
Canada
Sounds a bit OTT - Were they for single or multiple use ?

What does OTT mean? Off theme or over the top? :)

They were for the bed, and it wasn't an uncommon practice .. well, I knew of other people, and not just in our admittedly eccentric-seeming family, who did it. Welsh hills are covered in sphagnum. It was probably as much a poor or just rural thing as it was a Welsh thing, and likely not at all bushcraft/tradition. He/we just liked it.

Funny places old mining towns. They are urban and industrial, but you only have to walk halfway up a hill to find yourself back in farmed or uncultivated countryside. Consequently, lots of people I knew then in the 70s/80s regarded themselves as urban but owned ferrets. And our extended family was a mixture of farm labourers, technical types and office workers. In general, people had a pretty sharp and rather everyday sense of the countryside and its use.

Which rambling brings me to my point to the OP ... get a ferret. Smelly things to keep and abstractly violent, but if you like rabbit, get some nets ... usual business about getting permission obviously applies.
 
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Janne

Sent off - Not allowed to play
Feb 10, 2016
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Grand Cayman, Norway, Sweden
I guess it was poor people that did it.
Sphagnum moss pulverises when dry, so it could not have been a totally pleasant way to sleep. But cost nothing.

Tengu: young people have these ideas. Remember the Hippie movement? Same stuff. Young people having it all dreaming of getting ’liberated from the demanding society/9-5 slog’ or what you call it.

I have one friend in Sweden that after an ’ interesting’ teen life in Stockholm decided to break with his old criminal life and move to the country, farming and living as in the old days.
Organic decades before the word was invented.

He and his wife lived incredibly inventive.
Made own soap. Repurposed other peoples rubbish.
Worked incredibly hard. Took menial jobs when they needed cash.

Takes 100% dedication, multi skills and an incredible work morale.

His beef was the best I have ever eaten.
 
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