Survival:Beyond the Bug-Out Bag

Survival: Foraging, Self-Defense, and Preparedness

• Bill Bateman • Season 7 • Episode 6

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Unlock the secrets to mastering survival with our enlightening discussion  as we journey through essential preparation techniques that transcend mere survival. Imagine confidently identifying edible and medicinal plants, or skillfully navigating the wilderness from Oregon's dense forests to Maine's picturesque beaches. We promise practical insights into homeopathic remedies and hands-on training, offering you pathways to enhance your wilderness expertise. Discover valuable resources for foraging classes across the US, Canada, and the UK, ensuring you're primed to thrive in diverse environments.

But survival isn't just about foraging—it's about being prepared for any challenge. We explore the art of self-defense and firearm safety, underscoring the importance of reputable training to ensure responsible use. Reflecting on the wisdom of naturalists like Ewell Gibbons, we discuss the intricacies of safely gathering food from nature and understanding local ecosystems. Plus, we remind you of the power of your voice through voting and extend a warm invitation to join us at the range for safety-focused sessions. This episode promises a comprehensive approach to personal safety and community engagement, ensuring you're prepared and informed.
Links:

US Foraging Tours, Classes and Groups Near You - Eat The Planet

https://wildfoodadventures.com/

https://earthworkprograms.com/adult-programs/wilderness-living-skills/wild-edibles-and-medicinal-plants-immersion-series/

Google Search: Edible in Oregon
 https://bit.ly/4hIy3ZM]

Class Information: Refuse to be a Victim Personal ProtectionTraining

For questions and comments, email me at: profprepper@protonmail.com

Please "Follow Us" or Subscribe, and remember that this program may be downloaded and shared for educational purposes. It may not be resold, edited, or used for other purposes without written permission.
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Copyright: Refuse to be a Victim Personal Protection Training 2018-2024

Speaker 1:

Let's set the Wayback Machine for March 17th 2019 and review an episode and some ideas which we haven't spent enough time on. Come on in, let's talk about it. Hi everybody, I'm Bill Bateman, part of the team here at Refuse to be a Victim Personal Protection Training, and this is another episode of Survival Beyond the Bug Out Bag. Now, I had an opportunity to talk to Phil Just sit down and chew the fat and I always enjoy doing that because he's got a lot of good observations and good information. And I always enjoy doing that because he's got a lot of good observations and good information. And we're talking about this program. And he pointed out that you know, we are not talking literally about survival. We're talking about preparation, and that's kind of what I do. And he said there is the survival of, you know, foraging, figuring out what plants you can use for medicine, what plants and local flora and fauna you can use for food, and this is like you might find in the military. This is what you might find on a hiking project or a wilderness experience project, that type of thing. So the idea is, let's go back and let's dig into that. Here on the program, you have access to everything we've done so go back to March 17th 2019. That's season one, episode 21, and we talked about finding out homeopathic things you could use to treat illnesses. Now we all know that certain tree bark is a precursor to what we now use for aspirin. We know there's a lot of good homeopathic products out there and I'd like to urge you to re-listen to that episode. In addition to that, I've come up with some new links for classes and foraging and guides on what to eat. Now, I have to admit I have been remiss on doing this, primarily because it's a fairly serious subject. If you go wandering through the forest and decide you're going to nosh down on some of the different things growing there, that can have a really bad, bad outcome if you don't know what you're doing. So I want to be clear and be very careful of what I recommend, and to do that, I'm going to provide you a lot of links today on where you can go get hands-on training.

Speaker 1:

Now, a big part of this we're in the southern Oregon area, and even where we live is inland. We're off I-5, if you're following along at home with your Google Maps. Inland. We're off I-5, if you're following along at home with your Google Maps. But there's a lot of good things at the shore. You can eat at the beach Mussels, clams, things like that and there are things in the forest berries, things like that and different game that can be captured. Bearing in mind that, in the event of everybody and their brother is going to be out there trying to catch the last squirrels, let's keep in mind. Let's go to the first link I'm going to share with you and finding local foraging tours, groups and classes in your area.

Speaker 1:

Now, this is good for the United States, canada or the United Kingdom and they've got every state as well as continued information for our overseas listeners, and I think that's a very important thing. Know your area, know the fact that here, where I live, we have rivers, we have woods we call them woods, but not so much for the ocean, not a lot of opportunities for seafood. So if you're in Alaska versus Colorado, kansas versus Maine, you're going to have a lot of different things to consider. You also have to consider the climate, have to consider the climate. Arizona is going to be different in January than Alaska or Maine. This site, when you go to it, will give you a list of links all over the United States and as it mentions Canada and the United Kingdom. So that's a good start.

Speaker 1:

A Google search in your area will turn up things and you're going to have to make sure you get someone who is reputable, because, just like you don't want me telling you here's what you should be eating, because I don't know Quite frankly, I do not know. The last time I did this stuff was over 50 years ago in the military, and I've kind of lost my edge since. Get good information from someone you trust, someone who's got experience and got some bona fides. Now I checked on the list for the Oregon area and let's take a look area and let's take a look. There's a place has a wilderness survival training preparation program and that's the second link. It's earthworks programs, wild edibles and medicinal plants. Now, this is interesting in that they have different classes, they have different leaders, depending upon what you're talking about and it's by season. What's happening in the summer is going to be a whole lot different than what's happening as we head into the colder winter months.

Speaker 1:

This is an ongoing idea for you to follow up on. What can you eat? Up on what can you eat? Well, buds, flowers, leaves, pollen, rhizomes, seeds and shoots. How to cook, how to preserve, how to identify is the big thing, and it's something that is something that's very important, because if you are out in a true crisis situation I'm sitting here in my den, I'm recording this.

Speaker 1:

If the X-Roman hits the air conditioning, I've got my stuff I can grab. If I've got three minutes, I can get quite a bit out of the house into the car and I'll be okay. But if you're driving from plan A to plan B or you're heading across country and something happens, your car bag is only going to last so long and that should be your last items to eat. Bear in mind, your emergency food is for just that emergencies Gathering water in the wild, gathering food, creating shelter. Yes, you have your tarp with you, don't you? There's a lot more to do than deal with that, especially if we're heading into the winter months. In Oregon, there can be snow and heavy rain involved. So this is a good time as good a time as any to look a little deeper at the what-if scenario.

Speaker 1:

Yes, you've got food in a bag. Yes, you've got water in a pouch or a can or a bottle, but what else do you have? I'm going to supply you next with something from Wild Food Adventures. They have postings for their upcoming workshops for 2025. Gifts you can get your fellow posters, your fellow composters or, I guess, fellow foragers would be the thing to do. And I will say, the more I read about this, the more you get a group together, the more you have shared knowledge and shared abilities. This is a really good thing to get a group involved. There's not only a lot of books, there's a lot of interesting ideas.

Speaker 1:

Now, a side note it has a thing for acorn pancakes. Now, sharing a little family information, my wife and I like to try out interesting things. We actually did the acorn pancakes. Now, you need to understand this is something, and I found this from a survival or an emergency situation, really, really interesting. We gathered a whole bunch of acorns and we're going to make some acorn flour to make the acorn pancakes. Acorns, and we're going to make some acorn flour to make the acorn pancakes.

Speaker 1:

Okay, the first thing you have to realize is you have to soak the acorns for like a month to get the tannin out of them, because they are bitter and inedible unless you do so. There's a lot of steps. If you study the recipes in the books and it'll give you details on how to do this, but this is not something you can do instantly. This is something that takes a long time. To soak the acorns. We did make the flour by grinding the acorns and we did make acorn pancakes. Now we soaked them for, I want to say, 45 days, and this is changing it out every day. The water would turn dark. It would get looking pretty bitter, pretty smelly. So we just kept rinsing them, putting in fresh water and following the recipe.

Speaker 1:

After 45 days and freshly grinding the acorn flour, the pancakes came up like pretty much pancakes. They were not that tasty. They were still, in spite of some natural blueberry jam we put on them, rather bitter. So keep in mind, some of this stuff is not going to be like it's from a restaurant. It was edible. We didn't get sick. We managed to get enough tannin out, we didn't poison ourselves. We followed the recipe. We had good advice.

Speaker 1:

But by golly you're not going to be finding all this stuff is really, really wonderful. Now the other side of that is I mentioned we had a jam on it. We collected blueberries and made a very nice homemade blueberry jam. That worked out quite well. So I'm not poo-pooing this. I am saying manage your expectations, especially when you're looking at strong flavors things like nuts and some roots than things that you may not be familiar with.

Speaker 1:

And finally, I'm including a link to the Amazon search I did. I searched Amazon guide to edible plants in Oregon and there are a land office supply of books and directories identifying wild edible foods. The Practical Guide to Survival Oregon plants, identifying and categorizing these are fairly inexpensive. We even have one guide that's like $7.95. The average price point is mid-15 to mid-20s and a couple of the bigger books are going to be around $30, $35.

Speaker 1:

A quick trip to Google is going to help you find out what is going on with foraging classes in your area, and a lot of these places have good, good references. I think that's very important. As I said earlier, some of these people who are they? Where do they operate from? Mushrooms are a big thing. Oh my gosh. That's something you've got to be really, really careful of, because mushrooms, as we know, can kill you Not in the sense of you're going to get stoned and fall off the roof putting up your Christmas decorations, but some of these things can be highly toxic. So this is why I'm recommending you get things from you, get your information, you get your foraging training from someone who you know and who has a certifiable reputation. But I am suggesting you do it because that is the missing piece we have in our emergency planning training.

Speaker 1:

You got the stuff in the car, you got the stuff in the house, but if you're just kind of dropped out there and having to deal with something, you're gonna have to be able to get through to hike back to the car. For example, you get off the off the path and you end up eating up your granola bars and the stuff you have in your backpack. Could you, are you able to successfully forage for food? And I know a lot of people say well, yeah, we'll just collect something in the woods. Well, it's not that easy. Not that easy.

Speaker 1:

Now, I don't know if any of you recall Ewell Gibbons, but he was a early naturalist. He did a thing that said yes, parts of pine trees are edible and pine nuts, in fact, are available. If you have a cosigner and two credit references, you can get those to eat. And he was the first naturalist and he caught a lot of grief. There's a couple of comedians talking about how his bit began with yes, basketball courts are edible, and I think the favorite was a takeoff. I don't know if it was Saturday Night Live, but you can find it on YouTube. Yes, parts of the pine tree are edible, including the squirrel.

Speaker 1:

So keep in mind there has always been a movement on foraging and stop and think as you go back, even 50 years, it was not uncommon for people to actually live on what they found. You had to be able to not only start a fire, you had to build a temporary shelter if you need to. But if you got a squirrel, would you know how to cook it? Would you know if the squirrel was fit to eat, if it was a healthy squirrel, if the meat was good? A rabbit? The same thing. Yeah, I'm going to get a rabbit. Okay, does it have rabies? Does it have a virus? Is it something you can eat? Do you know how to cook it and do you know how to not attract every other animal in the forest with your cooking and foraging process? And, by the way, what kind of spices are you carrying with it to put on your rabbit or your squirrel?

Speaker 1:

This is short term. This is something you're going to have to think about that fits your lifestyle. Bear in mind I'm an older guy, so me running through the forest with a snare and trying to bring down something is a lot less likely than some of you younger people, less likely than some of you younger people Looking at where I am looking at where you are looking at the health of the animals in your community. This is something you can find out through nature programs, through your local university, through some good classes or contacts with the rangers in the area. There's a number of resources and I think it's really, really good to know your community. And this is if you're in Germany, this is if you're in the Slovakian Republic, this is if you're Chicago, michigan, it doesn't matter. Everything's going to be different. So one size does not fit all.

Speaker 1:

Know what you're hunting for, know what's edible and what's not edible in your area, and know how to process it, how to collect it, how to keep it. Things can spoil quickly. So even if you did get lucky and get a squirrel and were able to eat it, how long will that meat stay good? These are questions you need to be able to figure out. So that's my reminder. Go on back and listen to that earlier podcast about the medicine woman. She is no longer working with the company, but she had a very, very excellent set of information and skills to share with us. And even checking around at your drugstore, there are sections on homeopathic remedies and things you can get. They don't need a prescription but they can be useful. So when you're looking at the foraging skills information, let's look at that as a good holiday gift idea.

Speaker 1:

And while we're on the subject of holiday gifts, let's remind ourselves that gift certificates for all of our classes are, of course, available. You can purchase any class we offer. You purchase the certificate. You do still have to schedule the date. You can't just show up and spring it like a theater ticket, but you do have a seat in the class, schedule that class and you're ready to go. And we're finding that our non-ballistic self-defense class, as well as our basic pistol class, is very, very popular and I think I read this in a magazine, so it's not mine originally but buying a gun doesn't make you an effective shooter, any more than buying a guitar makes you a guitar player.

Speaker 1:

Too many people will purchase a gun, take it home, put it in the drawer for an emergency. Well, the first emergency is you taking it home and sticking it in the drawer, not doing anything with it. Because with part of that gun purchase it's not only ammunition, a holster, a proper lockbox and storage facility, but part of that purchase you're making is training. You want to be safe. You want to be ensuring you're doing things correctly, lawfully, with your firearm, knowing when to shoot, how to avoid problems so you don't have to shoot. That's your best defense, staying out of a situation which you have to pull your gun to begin with.

Speaker 1:

Television has spoiled us thinking that the answer is to pull out a firearm and start blasting. It's not. That's your last recourse, that's your last step. If you can't avoid, if you can't evade, if you can't escape, then you have to defend, and there are rules to that, there are techniques and that's what we're all about Safety, safety, safety. And what's that last one? Oh, safety. That's what we're all about. It refused to be a victim of personal protection. That's why you find our staff. When you look at Phil CJ and myself, we have a combined experience level of like 50 years behind the gun, knowing what we're doing.

Speaker 1:

We have a total of 12 certifications in the various NRA-rated disciplines, so this is not just about getting you a piece of paper and now you can carry a gun. No, this is about doing it lawfully, safely and successfully, so that if you ever God forbid have to start firing, you're doing it in a manner that is safe and you're not going to be hitting innocent people. So, with that said, stop into the website there's a section on gift certificates or give us a call If you've got a specific class or series of classes. It's a good time to get a series of classes. By the way, oh, my goodness. Yes, the Intro to Pistol, the Basic Pistol Study, followed up by a Concealed Carry Class, followed by Concealed Carry Mastery, concealed Carry class followed by Concealed Carry Mastery. That's just one of the tracks you can take to ensure you're doing things in a safe and lawful manner.

Speaker 1:

With that said, I hope you all had an opportunity. I'm recording this on election day. I know I got my ballot in early. I hope you have all had an opportunity to vote today and make your voices heard. With that said, I'll say be safe. We look forward to seeing you at the range and, if not, hey, maybe you can come on out for a class. Either way, keep your head on a swivel. We'll see you next week. The preceding program was a presentation of Retired Guy Productions.

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