Out of hibernation

Greetings sustainable blog readers, Youssef again coming out of the shortest hibernation ever recorded by the Sustainable Homestead Institute to give you an update. In the last week we've finished the debris hut, I spent my first night inside, and we survived a winter "storm." Photo op:

...

Bam.

Beforehand we shot a quick video of my bag, and all that is in it at the moment. Do be warned, it is not quick, nor is it as complete as would like at it's current stage of a sustainable bug-out bag, but it works. Luckily I had more than I needed, as the only tool one should need is a knife, and even that could be considered an accessory. Essentially, I had an RV.

Bag, Mattress Pad, Wool Blanket, Sleeping Bag

Furthermore, Scott had chosen to join me in this little outing, sleeping under the stars about two hundred meters up the hill in the woods. He awoke rather early and began gathering tinder and firewood pretty much immediately. I, on the other hand, exited the debris shelter later on to find Scott already had a fire going outside, preparing to cook our breakfast of eggs from the farm. Before any cooking could be done though, we both were tasked to make a spoon using sticks and coals from the fire. Naturally he was finished first, and with the wonderful aid of a steel pot, we feasted on farm fresh scrambled eggs. Afterwards, this happened.

As you can probably determine from the above picture and video, it snowed here recently and left us with about 6-7 inches of powder. This made debris gathering impossible and the sub-freezing temperatures had me grateful to be inside the next two nights. Believe me, neither of us thought it fit for me to sleep in an almost-complete shelter in those conditions. One upside to this? More photo ops.

Such beautiful country out here. Anyway, during our forced hibernation as a result of the snowstorm, Scott had me complete my right of passage: the harnessing of fire. Starting with a pine tree and a fortunately already crafted bow, after much aggravation I had my tools carved, and after much persistence, guidance, and three days; I lit my first fire completely naturally.

The best feeling.

I spent last night in the shelter to maximize my time, and learned the debris lodge is definitely livable, but simply not the preferred shelter for winter survival. The snow hindered our construction abilities and my second night in the shelter was as unpleasant as the first. Clearly I am meant to return during a warm time of the year and fully enjoy the shelter after some separation. Today though, we crammed in a tracking lesson with a new Sustainable dry erase board, and in between Scott helped the neighbors with some car trouble.

Well ladies and gents, I have one more full day at the Sustainable Homestead Institute, and I'll have a brief wrapping up of my entire experience for tomorrow's post, but in the mean time I leave you with this,

Peace and blessings,

Youssef