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The reunion show didn't reveal much that I haven't uncovered from various radio shows I've hosted with the majority of the cast. The one thing I did find revealing was the portion of the episode dedicated to Mary Kate and her visit to the hospital. From that segment alone it became very safe to say that many people misjudged her injury's severity as it was actually much more severe than the episode let on.
Bears:
Desmond- This was vastly different than
anything I've ever experienced in my life. “I did talk a lot of
smack about the bears but that's just my upbringing.” Every place
he went had bear scat and while he was gathering firewood a bear
came out of the woods and bluff charged him and he decided to run
out of the woods and call for help. He admits he was no where near
prepared for large predators and wish he had spent more time around
them to prepare.
Tracy- Hears the snapping of twigs beside her and deep
breathing so escalates force from sound to flame. Says it broke her
heart when she saw that the mamma bear was simply protecting her cub
and that feeling of remorse for being so aggressive made her decide
it was time to tap out. She also says that she feels lucky to be
alive since being between a mother and a cub is one of the most
dangerous situations you can be in out in the woods.
Staying Busy To Not Go Crazy:
Mike- His mind must stay
busy. Drying rack, elevated kitchen fire, hands free water faucet,
bowling, dice football game, boat, table, elevated bed,. Only saw
about half the things he built on TV. Once he got to the end of the
project list it was time to go home as he didn't have anything left
to do but miss his wife.
Justin- Built a gym to
use daily and had the day 22 trek up the mountain to raise awareness
for suicide awareness. Idea of the Mountain climb came to him on day
12 while he was out there. I personally think this was the biggest
project undertaken just because of the sheer physical toll,
calories burnt and time required that late into the show.
Build Your ALONE Survival Kit? Start Here:
Mood Swings:
Larry- He really felt
truly alone and when the camera was on he just decided to open up to
it. Says he really didn't think to self edit like he probably should
have. Thinks most of his mood swings were related to a lack of
sunlight and also a complete lack of food because once he got a
little food his mood improved greatly. Got a huge tattoo on his back
of the island surrounded by things that meant the most to him while
he was out there including: Pathfinder Bush Pot, L.T. Wright
Genesis, Axe, boat, Fish, buck saw, mouse, mushrooms, ferro rod,
limpets and his bush spear.
Nicole's Variety of Food Intake:
Ate 25 different plants while out
there and also used another 10+ plants for medicinal use. She
assumed that all of the other participants were eating like she was
and it didn't even cross her mind that others would be struggling
with food.
Mary Kate goes to Hospital:
Says she it took quite awhile for the
boat to get to her and that she ended up severing the tendon in her
hand but didn't damage the bone. The movement of her left thumb is
still impaired to this day as she can't move it up and down and her
grip is still quite week.
Season 3 Sneak Peak:
Next season in Patagonia looks to be
quite an interesting experience for the participants from Puma's to
fresh water fishing to deadly reptiles to snow covered mountains to
desserts to woodlands. It seems like next year will be able to bring
several new skills to the forefront as the ecosystem alone is just
so different and allows for a wider variety skills to be utilized.
Anyway, I can't wait to see the new season and wish I was able to
take part in it.... oh well there is always Season 4 one can hold out
hope.
This week on History's ALONE no one goes home, several
contestants get much needed protein, we get a few looks more significant
shelters, encounters with predators, rope swings, woods gym Inc., mouse for dinner, a massive storm, in-shelter sewage system and much more! Also don't
forget Tomorrow 05/24/2016 at 9pm Eastern time over at Prepper Broadcasting Network (LINK)
I will be talking to Dave McIntyre about his time on ALONE and what he
has been up to since returning home, so be sure to join us in chat or
feel free to call 347-202-0228 to listen to the show and press 1 to ask
any questions you may have live on the air.
Want To Build Your ALONE Survival Kit? Start Here:
Justin:
Day 10:
-Why in the world are you swinging from a rope alone in the middle of nowhere? That was the first thing that came to mind when I saw him swinging on that thing and I was just waiting for the mechanical injury to occur. But I guess if he is careful it could be a lot of fun and relaxing. I think I would have made a swing with a seat just because I'm a little more conservative and would try to avoid mechanical injuries a bit more.
Day 12:
-Built a gym much like Mick Dodges (guy is crazy but knows how to work out in the woods)- pull up bar, chain weights, rock weights, log dumbbell. I agree it will keep your spirits up and and much more but that's a lot of calories you need to replace quickly, hopefully he is able to keep those calories up so he can keep going to the gym.
-Survival workout program, great idea teach people how to workout in the woods while doing a survival class. I see a partnership with a gym in your future!
DAY 13:
-The little bit I can see of your shelter looks good, wish they would give us a good look at your shelter, appears to be a decent A frame type of shelter with some fairly large logs in place. I can't tell much about insulation but it looks like it could hold off a bear for a little bit!
-Kelp urinal, wow he has indoor plumbing! I don't know if its something I would try because of the potential smell but it is pretty nice not to have to get your rain gear on every time you need to pee in the middle of the night!
David:
Day 10:
-Had a stake come out of his gill net, yielded 0 fish in a week of deployment. That's crappy luck man, you have a cove but it doesn't look like you have a fresh water stream like several others to give you a prime spot to place your gill net.
-Thus far he has only ate limpets and seaweed, the lack of protein has got to be wearing on your energy levels by now.
-I like your log lounger, looks comfy there in that Lester River Borel Coat
-$500k is a lot of money but couldn't be your whole motivation for being there. I know it would drive me to stay, but at some point if it isn't about proving something to yourself and just about the money it won't be enough to keep going.
-Great quote: "Whatever you do, do it for the glory of God!"
Day 12:
-Got to love old school cane pole fishing, used to make rods a good bit as a kid. Glad you had luck with the process! Maybe this will inspire a few kids to get out there and try fishing with limited resources or what they find along the banks!
-A rock fish can live 200 years, wow.
-I like your table, good stuff man!
-Nice fast split wood fire! Check out one of my favorite split wood fires to make in the video below!
Day 13:
-About to loose your kitchen/fish processing log.... why not just pull it further onto shore?
Nicole:
Day 10:
-Shelter is looking really insulated these days, great work!
-Still digging the positive attitude with bears, ability to sleep post bear encounter, etc.You're becoming the person I'm rooting for and I try to remain neutral. Your attitude, skill set, camp setup and the fact you're an underdog (all of the medical issues you had to fight through and the longest lasting female contestant) make you easy to root for sticking around for a very long time.
Day 11:
-Holy crap she caught one heck of a fish! Going to have to smoke the heck out of that fish
-Wow cutting that fish head off while in the water it's going to drawl bears quick! She needs to get out of there asap!
-I think I would try to process my fish a little away from that area just because of the bear presence and the fact it would compromise my future fishing with the bear being really close to that gill net. It is essentially pulling their attention to the net where it might not have in the past ventured there due to her presence and scent.
-Might want to do a cooking camp as well, I noticed no one is doing that this year and I have no idea why? Maybe I'm just a little cautious, but without my trusty 44 Magnum strapped to my chest I don't want to fight a 600lb bear from a dead sleep and that says something because I'm a pretty big guy and will generally not back down from much.
-That's a ton of salmon to eat in one setting! I would probably smoke the crap out of salmon and eat a little each day with whatever I could gather thinking more long-term for those days when the massive storms hit.
Day 12:
-WOW, look at that shelter! That is by far the best shelter I've seen on a survival show bar none. That salmon gave her a ton of energy. She also insulated the shelter further with ferns. Heck of a job Nicole, you are putting the boys to shame on long-term shelter construction (at least what we have seen), granted Mike's projects are great and Justin looks like he has a mini cabin but one has perks and the other we haven't seen as much of. I really wish they would show more shelters and the resources in their immediate area.
Day 13:
-Take a look at her spare wood pile, good amount of wood stored in preparation of the storm. Really like Mike's setup better but hers looks like it will serve her well.
-Great work on that lean-to/Yurt, 0 leaks amazing!
-Gill net looks to be 40' from shore where as it is normally just a creek. Storm surge is crazy, good example for people to remember when camping near water!
Randy:
Day 12:
-Working on a permanent structure
-That log cabin is looking good for such a short time, why not try to make more of a permanent roof instead of solely relying on the tarp for insulation
-Has a trout line and small game traps out
Day 14:
-Desperate man eating slugs... don't think i could do it
-Mouse its whats for dinner. singed it, gut it and pull hair off cook a little more
-That was his first meet in 14 days... nuts!
Jose:
Day 13:
-His gill net is out in high tide and is at risk of loosing the net
-I think I would have got naked or down to boxers and a t-shirt before I got into the water, just to keep my clothes dry in such a wet environment.
-Wow that was good luck catching a salmon while cleaning your gill net!
-Chop stick seems like they are working great, now for the millions of Americians who have no idea how to use the chop sticks that come with their Chinese food you need to do a tutorial for eating with them and making them!
-Shelter is still just a tarp shelter it appears, that was a big surprise for me. Being that he teaches a good bit with Nicole (or so I've been told) I just thought their shelters would be a good bit alike and their approach would mirror each other, but sometime opposing theories are brought together to put on an epic class!
-The amount we are seeing of Jose really leads me to believe he is going to be one of the finalist for sure, two weeks and they have only given him 5 minutes of screen time.
Show Credits:
-Looks like randy will make a boat next episode and Larry is going to war with a mouse
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Taraxacum is a large genus of flowering plants and commonly referred to
as dandelion. Each single flower in a head is called a floret. Many
Taraxacum species produce seeds asexually by apomixis, where the seeds
are produced without pollination, resulting in offspring that are
genetically identical to the parent plant.
The leaves are 2”–12”
long, simple forming a rosette above the central taproot. The flower
heads are yellow to orange colored, and are open in the daytime but
closed at night. The heads are borne singly on a hollow stem (scape)
that rises .0.5”–5” above the leaves and releases a milky latex
when broken. A rosette may produce several flowering stems at a time.
The flower heads are .75”–2” in diameter. The flower heads
mature into spherical seed heads called clocks containing many
single-seeded fruits called achenes. Each achene is attached to a
pappus of fine hairs, which enable wind-aided dispersal over long
distances (thus why this plant is so invasive).
Found in temperate areas across the globe
(i.e. anywhere outside of the permafrost zone, every continent other
than Antarctica)
Edibility:
***Be sure to check out the video above featuring dandelion root in a wild edible stew)*** Dandelions are found on each continent
(with the exception of Antarctica) and have been gathered for food
since the beginning of recorded history. A perennial plant, its
leaves will grow back if the taproot is left intact. To make leaves
more palatable, they are often blanched to remove bitterness or
sauteed in the same way as spinach. Dandelion leaves and buds have
been a part of traditional Sephardic, Chinese, and Korean cuisine.
The flower petals, along with other ingredients, usually including
citrus, are used to make dandelion wine. The ground, roasted roots
can be used as a caffeine-free dandelion coffee. Dandelion was also
traditionally used to make the traditional British soft drink
dandelion and burdock, and is one of the ingredients of root beer.
Dandelion leaves contain abundant vitamins and minerals, especially
vitamins A, C and K, and are good sources of calcium, potassium, iron
and manganese. ***Be sure to watch the second part of the earlier video by clicking the picture below***
Medicinal Uses:
The fresh juice of Dandelion is
applied externally to fight bacteria and help heal wounds. The plant
has an antibacterial action, inhibiting the growth of Staphococcus
aureus, pneumococci, meningococci, Bacillus dysenteriae, B. typhi, C.
diphtheriae, proteus. The latex contained in the plant sap can be
used to remove corns and warts (beware using this plant if you have
severe latex allergies). Dandelion is also used for the treatment of
the gall bladder, kidney and urinary disorders, gallstones, jaundice,
cirrhosis, hypoglycemia, dyspepsia with constipation, edema
associated with high blood pressure and heart weakness, chronic joint
and skin complaints, gout, eczema and acne. As a tonic, Dandelion
strengthens the kidneys. An infusion of the root encourages the
steady elimination of toxins from the body. Dandelion is a powerful
diuretic but does not deplete the body of potassium. Dandelion is
traditionally used as a tonic and blood purifier, for constipation,
inflammatory skin conditions, joint pain, eczema and liver
dysfunction, including liver conditions such as hepatitis and
jaundice.
Cultural Importance:
Four dandelion flowers are the
emblem of White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia (LET’S GO
MOUNTAINEERS!). The citizens celebrate spring with an annual
Dandelion Festival .
Dandelion Recipes:
1) Dandelion Salad:
½ head of leaf lettuce, tear
½ head romaine lettuce, tear
½ cup dandelion leaves, tear
¼ cup dandelion stems, chop a few fresh mint leaves
½ cup apple, grated (optional)
Bragg Healthy Organic Vinaigrette or Ginger & Sesame Dressing
Toss all torn leaves, dandelion stems, mint and grated apple
together with Bragg Vinaigrette or Ginger Dressing.
Serves 4.
4) Dandelion Salve:
Ingredients:
16 oz of infused dandelion oil
2 oz coconut oil
2 oz of beeswax
10-15 drops of lavender essential oil
5)Dandelion
Decoction:
Use 1 to 3 teaspoons of chopped dandelion root per cup of water,
adjusting for taste. Bring to a boil, turn down heat and simmer in
covered saucepan for 10 to 20 minutes. Drink 1 to 2 cups daily as a
general tonic.
6) Dandelion Infusion:
Gather 10-20 dandelion flowers
Cut off the green bits and put the petals into a jar (I used a jar
that holds 1 cup for ease).
Pour boiling water over the petals, filling the jar
Put a lid on the jar and let it sit for at least an hour. I let
mine rest overnight.
7) Dandelion Syrup:
Strain the liquid into a pot. Add double the measure of sugar to
the liquid in a pot. (ex.: 1 cup liquid, 2 cups sugar)
Bring to boil, stirring occasionally
Turn to a low simmer until the liquid is reduced a bit and
starting to thicken.
Remove from heat, allow to cool, pour into glass bottle
Label and store in fridge.
Conclusions:
Dandelion is one of the most plentiful plants that you can find on the planet and many look at it as just an invasive weed that needs to be removed from your yard. The plant is a valuable resource for both medicine making, food and even back yard hooch (i.e. wine). This little plant is easy to identify without any notable lookalikes (when flowering) and is available from early spring (one of the first plants to come out) through late fall. This plant can give us anything from wine to salad to flour to medicine and is easily one of the top wild plants to adopt into your medicinal and edible plant game plan.
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This weeks challenge is simple, make a micro kit to carry with you 24/7 and test that kit's contents to determine their effectiveness. This doesn't have to be an Altoids tin kit, it can be a survival bracelet, key chain, belt, wallet or whatever else you can think of just as long as you can effect short-term survival with your kit. Below if a video of my current Micro 10 C's kit (minus survival blanket and trapping/small game card) to give you a starting point for an altoids kit. I will go over the key chain and bracelet kits below.
This is the kit I referenced in the video above and when all is said and done I can perform nearly any survival task required of me with this very small survival kit. Many if the items were grabbed from other smaller kits, taken from parts of my main kit or purchased with the specific purpose of going into this kit. While many commercial kits could be cheaper than the sum of the parts of this kit I have spent countless days over the last two years getting this kit setup the way I like and the components functioning as I like while being multifunctional. An alternative knife that could be used is the Minimalist by CRK (Click here to buy and for more information). I would like to find a means of getting the survival blanket into the actual tin but that would require the sacrifice of a lot of cordage that I prefer to keep in the kit. Aside from the lack of a blanket in the actual tin I would like to be able to find a true folding metal container that you can boil in aside from aluminum foil.
The survival bracelet is a little more limited in what it can carry on a daily basis but the Wazoo Mountaineer has just about everything you would need to survive minus a blade (Check out my 3 day review trip here- LINK). The ReFactor Tactical survival bracelet adds on a p38 can opener to act as a knife and a few other functions that the mountaineer does not contain but does add a good bit of bulk to your wrist. I will be adding a review in the very new future of this survival bracelet. If you go with the DIY option I highly recommend adding a can opener, aluminum foil (in the core), ferro rod and scraper and some kind of tinder material to the bracelet.
Key Chain Kit:
I have had this little key chain kit on my keys for a few years and haven't done much with it, but it is always there if I should require a knife, saw, ferro rod, cordage or tinder. If you make one yourself I highly recommend that you add a little aluminum foil to the kit to give you at least a very small container.
Want To Buy A Kit Instead Of Making Your Own? Try One Of These:
Conclusions:
The point of this challenge is to get some type of kit and keep it on your person 24/7. While I don't always carry my belt knife and full 10 C's Kit on my person (sometime you can't do that in the legal profession), I do always have a micro survival kit or three. I have done several week long tips with just these kit items over the last couple years and used them to effect my self reliance and the have effectively helped me survive at a functional level spring through fall. In all honesty if you are caught out in -20 degree temperatures with high winds and your are not lucky enough to find a pine grove for shelter your going to be in for a very long night without a larger kit. If you are going into the woods these should not be relied upon solely as your survival kit, they are meant as a last ditch type of kit where you lose your other gear or when you enter a survival situation when not in a woodland environment. So get out there and build then test out your kits to ensure you are prepared no matter what and share pictures or video of your adventure with us!
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The star fire lay depicted in the video below is mainly used when you are without a tool to process large fire material. I rarely use this fire lay unless on a minimalist camp as I tend to use the long fire (if any fire at all) in the winter. To put this fire lay together you simply need to build a large base of coals with any kind of twig or split wood fire of your choosing. Once you have a roughly 2" pile of hot coals and a decent flame you can begin to add your longer and thicker fire materials that you don't wish to process further. Be sure to have several smalls on hand when using this fire lay if the larger logs are wet which was the case in the video below. So check out the video and watch the entire process in action and I will have a few additional comments about this fire lay below!
So what does this fire lay excel at? There honestly are very few upsides to this fire lay when you consider the alternatives out there assuming you are making the fire with proper fire making tools (axe, saw and knife). If you were out in the woods and only carrying a knife, it's too dark to utilize your axe safely, or you are simply too tired to further process wood then this fire lay comes into play. I have also used this fire lay when there were several people camping in a square around the same fire and we would each push out logs in as we started to get chilly through the night with the occasional throwing on of some smaller materials to stoke the fire. It worked pretty well on a cold fall night so I would say that would be another scenario to possibly utilize this fire lay. Overall it isn't a particularly effective fire lay as there is often a gap between realizing you're cold and pushing the log further into the fire which would often require a little more stocking with small fire material.
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