James Burnette, Author at Survivalpunk

Foraging For Fun And Survival | episode 233

September 9, 2024September 8, 2024 James Burnette

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Foraging For Fun And Survival | episode 233

Today I talk all about foraging for fun and survival. What is foraging you might be asking. Foraging is going and finding wild edible and medicinal plants. All around us in nature, plants are growing that are safe to eat and delicious.

With everything getting so much more expensive getting any portion of your food for free helps a lot. All It takes to start foraging is some knowledge and a way to gather it.

In the audio, I talk about gathering purslane at a walking trail with my daughter. I just grabbed some empty grocery store bags from my car and picked them.

I used the Plantsnap app to confirm identification. The app is great but I always like to get a secondary confirmation. With Purslane it was pretty easy with no real lookalikes. I consulted a foraging book when I got home to super make sure it was purslane. It turned out to be delicious and my family loved it.

As a secondary benefit, my daughter learned her first wild edible. Now she can identify purslane and asks to pick it.

Fire Starting For Survival | episode 232

September 6, 2024September 6, 2024 James Burnette

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Fire Starting For Survival | episode 232

Today I’m going to talk all about fire starting for survival. This is part of my National Preparedness Month series. I go into many reasons why you would want to be able to start a fire. And not just for a SHTF scenario. You might need to start a grill and your lighter is out. Where I live a store trip takes at least fifteen minutes. Fire starting is an invaluable skill to have for survival.

There are a million different ways to start a fire. Some very easy and some incredibly hard. Starting a fire with a lighter and vaseline-soaked cotton ball is about as easy as it gets. On the other end is hand-drill fire and natural tinder. Finding natural fuel in the humidity of the south is not an easy task.

I talk about several of the methods for starting a fire. The different tools you can use and pair them with. There’s two parts to it. You need a way to generate a spark and a way to ignite that spark.

Composting Toilets for Survival | Episode 231

September 5, 2024September 5, 2024 James Burnette

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Composting Toilets for Survival | Episode 231

This week I’m going to talk all about composting toilets. Why they are great for survival situations and for normal times, to be honest. I’ve used a composting toilette for ten years now. So I have quite a bit of experience with them.

If you are not familiar with composting toilets they are a bucket with a toilet lid filled with sawdust. Many of them have a nice wooden box built around them. Mine included. You use the toilet like usual but instead of flushing, you throw in a handful of sawdust or two. Continue this until it’s full then dump it.

You have a few options when dumping it. Some people put a lid on the bucket and use a new one. Others choose to use a large trash can or barrel with a lid. once you fill it seal it for at least a year. After that year you can dump it out. Lastly, you can build an enclosure and dump it in there. Building two would be optimal. Fill up one then let it compost for a full year.

Camping For Family Fun And Survival Practice | episode 230

September 4, 2024September 4, 2024 James Burnette 2 Comments

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Camping For Family Fun And Survival Practice

This week I’m talking all about Camping For Family Fun And Survival Practice. Recently my family and I went camping. And It was a great time. For my daughter, it was her first time. For my wife and I, it had been a long time. The last time we had been camping was on our wedding night.

My wife only thinks about camping when it’s insanely hot outside though. This time we went in the 90-something-degree heat and no regrets were had.

Buying Quality Gear That Lasts | episode 228

September 3, 2024September 3, 2024 James Burnette

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Survival Smart: Expert Tips for Buying Quality Gear That Lasts

This week I’m talking all about buying quality gear. I had some trouble recently replacing items that broke after a long time. I had a can opener that was more than ten years old and a mixing bowl that was probably as old. When replacing both the replacements immediately broke.

I had to end up doing a lot of research to find a replacement for the can opener that would work. I still haven’t replaced the bowl yet.

My main point in this episode was to document the sudden drop in the quality of goods. Quality has been going down in many things for a long time. However, it seems that the decrease got much worse post-pandemic.