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Epilobium angustifolium. Massive mountain slopes covered with it for it's name = Fire weed, in the autumn. Should have taken pictures but we kinda got lost on logging roads. The map was no help. Weekly artisan's market here in the village. I found some jars of "Fireweed Jelly." Blindfolded...

The Canadian province of British Columbia borders the Pacific coast. It is bigger than the UK+Japan+NewZealand. For the most part, it is very sparsely populated. Some cities, some villages and a great deal of empty forest. The law says you must move your camp (on public/crown land) every 2...

I'd be fishing locally, might be a pleasant surprise to keep quiet about (says a calamari lover.) West coast sea temperatures here have gone up enough to keep the Monterey calamari moving a little north, every decade.

Welcome from 120W x 53N in the Rockies.

Take a look at simple large tiffens. My kids gave me several in different sizes, any of which sit well on a single burner stove (or hang above it if too hot for reheating stuff like rice, soups and curries. Looks like coffee, smells like chicken soup and tastes like orange juice. I must be...

In addition to being wind proof, Carhartt Chore coats are quite waterproof or at least minimally absorbent. I've still got the 40 yr old coat hanging in the front hall. Yes, they are expensive. Yes, I'm very comfortable. They are some sort of very heavy cotton(?) canvas, treated with a water...

I want to eat them as very young plants. I don't care what a plant under 5cm is called. Sort of a simple salad. Location and technique seems irrelevant. They sprout 12mm and die. Always. Predictable. I can buy bricks of alfalfa sprouts most weeks in our little grocery store, Alfalfa (aka...

For the second time, I have bought seeds: Sunflower, Peas, Alfalfa, Mung beans and Red Clover. To that, I have bought 4 dozen fiber germination pads this time(Lee Valley). Probably spent no more than $100 this time. The germination percentage is really good, I'll say 90% or more. First trial...

The old OP on fishing was wonderful to read. If I can clean perch (Perca flavescens) boneless, so can you. Some other items I need as essential kit for fishing: 1. A dedicated fish cleaning knife. The standard seems to be fixed 6" thin flexible blades. Learn to keep it razor sharp. Slide...

I have a nice little butane cartridge stove which works really well in warm weather. Or in the house during a total power failure. It's an extreme disappointment in cold weather as the butane is so slow to vaporize. It burns like a bomb for the first 5 minutes. Then as the butane cools by...

I have a deep drawer in my kitchen with 4 kinds of rice and CDN Wild grass "rice." The cook times vary so much. Wild rice is 60 minutes, my plain basmati is 20 minutes. Which will it be? I can't help but keep thinking about the fuel cost to cook it vs the energy benefit to you, the camper...

I never believed in ghosts until November 2021. My little, old runt of a cat, Heidi, died in October of that year. She would have been pushing 18, I guess. She walks across the bed almost every night, stepping on my legs. Like she did so often when she was alive. Wakes me up, nobody there...

Most of you don't have nearby mountain ranges 7,000'+ to put your home in shadow early in the afternoon and delay the sunrises. It's about an hour at each end. My house is in shadow on the solstice at 1:52PM. Gloomy & cold is understatement. I really enjoy the wood carving, sort of gave up on...

For many years, my only pack was a really big one. An empty wine box in the bottom would lift a comfortable load up onto my shoulders. I tried tying stuff to the sides. NO. Our forest understory can be quite dense. It's exhausting, getting hung up in the damn bushes. Better has been to try...

Welcome. I suggest that you do a few weekends and a few weeks of camping at home (the USA) before you venture abroad. Europe and the UK have some serious sharp-edge laws that you need be mindful of. It's no where near as slack and casual as a week in the shadows of the Grand Tetons or up on...

I have 3 of the Lagostina glass ones. One or another gets used about daily. One big and two smaller. With boiling water and repeated use, I never would have imagined that rancid would be a concern. The neat thing is that I can ask a visitor if they would like tea or coffee. I can do three...

"Clean?" How does it get "dirty"? Coffee + boiling water was never "dirty" in my kitchen. The patina from the coffee bean oils separated my drink from the glass. I'll wash out the coffee bean fragments to avoid clogging screens and filters but dirty? Never.

A question. End of season, I can buy 20-50 lbs very ripe and very big tomatoes for very cheap. They are sloppy wet juicy runny. How can I deal with the juice and still set these up for drying? I absolutely adore dried tomatoes.

I'm home in the evenings, the wilderness is so close to me and too cold for these old bones. Never watch TV. Lots of hobby and craft things. Needed to do a lot of rope splicing for tool box handles. Funny, I can't ever get started without Des Pawson's book to show me the first knots. Best is...

Welcome. You need 4 lists of suppliers with options: 1. Food(includes fire) 2. Shelter (includes fire) 3. Clothing 4. Tools (a known black hole for money) A lot of the food & (knife) tools, you can experience in your own home. About all I learned over the decades was that the food that...