It's interesting to me how wild camping, survivalism, bushcraft and the like have become popular, particularly on social media where bearded men show you twenty ways to pitch a tent or how to find your way home with spit and wind. Before all this had a name, and could be commodified, I was sleeping in the back of my car or in a tent far away from the lights of cities, relying on my wits and the sparsest of equipment. These days there's a huge industry that revolves around it - the skill is saying no to shit you don't need, and deciding what's most important.
The Pew community is not something I'd ordinarily post in, but this week the challenge is fantastic and reminds me why this community is exactly a place I should be thinking about contributing to! I was turned off by 'guns' in the community title - as this challenge suggests, this community is far 'more' than arming oneself with cold steel, but also - and this is the bit I'm interested in - 'outdoors, hiking, camping, survival'. In fact, 
1. Moro Knife
I take my moro knife with me everywhere - it's a good all round knife you can use for picking mushrooms and herbs, as well as chopping vegetables for your dinner! We have a lot of different knives, because they are beautiful objects as well as handy. But the moro knife is the one that fits me the best. Morakniv have been making knives for over 400 years according to their website, and although there's many generic versions of this knife, when I was in the UK I immediately ordered one from the source, in stainless steel. I lost one foraging this season so I had to go back to the non stainless version, but it's still a great knife.
We also have some other lovely knives such as this one I used to carve ogham sticks with one year - I'm sure 
We also carry two axes - one larger, one smaller. I love the smaller one for carving or taking smaller branches off trees, or kindling, whereas Jamie likes the big one. I dont ever want to be in a situation where I have to take an animal's life but if it's a matter of survival the axes and knives would also be good for preparing the carcass to eat - but god forbid I'm ever forced into that situation.
2. A Wood Gasification Stove
Many years ago I wrote about this bit of kit on Hive - you can read about it more here. It's a really simple bit of kit that uses twigs to cook, and creates no smoke at all, instead turning the fuel into a clean burning gas that is super effective at cooking dinner. Whilst we have quite a few options for camp cooking, this one always stays in the car for emergencies, and packs down really small so it can be carried in a backpack. What I love about it is that you don't have to hoard huge logs and keep them dry - a bag of twigs in the boot in rainy weather would boil your water for days. To extend this point, any fire making skills are pretty important - lucky I have your bog standard husband pyromaniac model which many of you have access to cheap.
3. A Knowledge of Edible and Medicinal Plants
Below are two plants that are commonly found here in Australia and across the world, yet people will often ignore them or walk by them not knowing how important they are. On the left is plantain, and on the right is nettle. Both can be added to stews, soups and teas, eaten as a vegetable or for the medicinal and nutritional content they contain. I have never been on a road trip where I haven't supplemented our diet by using these plants.
Whilst the above is a broad leaf plantain, great for cooking as a spinach, the narrow leaved plantain is a fantastic natural medicine. Last time we went on a road trip in winter our lungs were suffering, and my husband's sinuses were painful from an operation. Strong plantain tea helped immeasurably. It's also good for UTI's and stomach pain. In fact, in my head I think it's good for anything with internal or external bleeding. Cut your finger? Chew a bit of plantain and stick it as a poultice to the wound and it'll close it up in no time. One just has to use it to believe it - and once you do, you won't go back.
There's a lot of plants out there everyone should know about and use and it really freaks me out that people don't bother to learn. Cleavers are another good one, also wild garlic - in Australia, more commonly three cornered garlic. There's also indigenous foods we should be learning about just in case - wattle seeds are a good source of protein, for example, and even though on your usual camping trip you wouldn't bother, it's worth being able to identify them in season, give them a taste, and think about what you'd do with them.
4. A Basha - And a Tarpology Degree
Tarpology is the science of creating a shelter out of a tarp, and it's even handier when you have a friend to support you. Anyone that's been to a festival in Australia in the bush or gone camping in the heat of the Aussie summer will know exactly how important a tarp is, and how securely to tie it against high winds, rain and other weather eventualities.
Our favourite is what is called a 'basha' which is British military slang for a shelter or sleeping area and is used for small tarps used for this purpose. One can fling it over a branch or a tree to make a quick shelter but it also is great for wind breaks or rain shelters tied off the back of the car. We bought ours at an army disposal in the UK and found them so good that we bought another one - you can see it erected in the photo above when we went to the Flinders Ranges.
5. A Jet Boil
This is a serious bit of kit and worth every penny. There's not a single person who's bought one that's regretted it. Of course, this means that you need the gas canisters, so it's not something for a long term survival kit - but wow, this boils water in a minute, even in the wind.
6. Something To Make A Good Coffee With
Okay if it's the apocalypse we're all learning to make do without coffee - and that not be far away, given climate disasters and the coffee trade. For the purposes of this post, let's presume we have unlimited coffee. In the above photo, you'll see a v60 contraption, which you simply put a coffee filter in, a scoop of coffee, and it's not bad at all. We've also used an aeropress - for years, which works like a syringe, forcing hot water through a tube through the coffee to extract the good stuff. However, we've gone back to a stove top coffee maker, which I believe makes far superior coffee. For this small pot, we firstly boil the water in the jetboil, then add it to the machine so it boils faster.
7. An Outdoor Pot Belly Stove
I've written about this many times on Hive but I can't recommend it enough. This is probably one of the best whims we've ever had. It only takes twigs and very small logs, so doesn't need a lot of fuel to cook your dinner, packs up into a small bag (including the flue, which sits inside the belly of the stove) and not only cooks your dinner but keeps you warm without smoke getting in your eyes. No more crying 'white rabbit' every time the wind changes and you get a face full of camp smoke. If you're in Australia, you can buy the new version here. There's not a single person we've met that hasn't totally admired this from afar and it's even acceptable at some places that don't allow open fires. But wait - there's more! The new model also has the option for a wood fired water boiler that you attach to it, which is absolute genius - in fact, I'm saving my pennies!
8. Basic Mushroom Foraging Ability
I know people are scared of mushrooms, but it is not that hard to learn a few that are super easy to identify and easy to find. Once you know, you know. Educate yourself! This not only means you have an extra food and nutrition source, but also a reason to be in the great outdoors. Get yourself a foraging book and get out there. Don't be scared.
9. A First Aid Kit
I'm a little lax with our first aid but I'm getting more organised. I tell you one thing though, I'd never go anywhere without tea tree oil. It's a good antiseptic for wounds and infections and most Aussies will carry it. However, there's other things too I throw in a box - panadol, bandages, alcohol wipes, tweezers, scissors, dinfectant and so on. You just never know what might happen.
10. Bushcraft Skills
Okay this is a pretty broad one, and of course there's some detailed above such as making a fire or having a good knife and the ability to find wild food and medicine. But there's others that are invaluable, such as paying attention to your surroundings and knowing where the sun rises and sets to get your bearings, or how to find water (putting a plastic bag over gum leaves overnight and tying it with a band is a good one I have stored in my head just in case I get lost in the desert!). There's a whole heap of personal resources one needs in emergencies or camping in the wilderness or in ultimate survival situations, so educating yourself in key. Do you leave the car in a bushfire, for example? How do you treat a snakebite? If you don't know the answers to these important questions, it's probably a good idea you start to learn. Between Jamie and I we have a lot of these resources that would give me confidence to survive with him at least - survival is always better together, after all. A husband makes a good hot water bottle.
What are your favourite camping and/or survival/bushcraft items?
I had a lot of fun making this post, and there's a lot of other things I could write about.
With Love,
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