When Disaster Strikes by Matt Stein

Author:Matt Stein
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Chelsea Green Publishing
Published: 2011-10-14T16:00:00+00:00

Figure 7-39. Tree-well snow shelter.

Figure 7-40. Snow cave.

Emergency Snowshoes

Boughs of flexible spruce branches with a healthy supply of green needles will suffice for snowshoes in an emergency. Use string or green branches to tie boughs to your feet. Weaving a second or third branch into the boughs ties individual branches together for better flotation and more stability. With a roll of duct tape or string, you can make a decent pair of pine bough snowshoes in a short period of time. The task will be tougher if you must rely solely on green branches for holding the snowshoes onto your feet.

Cordage

Primitive living can be greatly enhanced with cordage, which is just a fancy term for string, twine, and rope. Cordage is handy for thatching your roof, lashing together branches for your shelter, stringing a bow, sewing your garments, making nets for fish, snaring animals, and so on. Many indigenous societies have been literally held together with string. You can make cordage from a variety of materials, including hair, fur, hides, narrow strips of cloth, and a multitude of plant fibers.

Recommended Plant Fibers

For many thousands of years, native peoples have gathered and spun plant fibers from thousands of different plants. Their cords have made ropes strong enough to hold elephants and carry suspension bridges across hundred-foot-wide gorges in the Himalayas. Archaeologists have discovered 10,000-year-old fishing nets that are still intact. Any strong flexible plant can make cordage. The following list is for starters, but use the “fiber test” to ensure that the plants you are working with are adequate for cordage. Some of the plants on the list can work well only at certain times of the year or under certain conditions. Common plant fiber sources are listed below.

• Leaf fibers: Yucca, cattail, reeds, iris, agave, and palmetto.

• Dry outer bark: Bulrush, sage, willow, and cattail.

• Wet inner bark: Aspen, cottonwood, sage, juniper, willow, cedar, mesquite, walnut, cherry, slippery elm, and hawthorn.

• Bast fibers: Soft fibers located between the outer bark and a woody stem on many common weeds, such as dogbane, milkweed, hemp, stinging nettle, evening primrose, flax, fireweed, hollyhock, and wild licorice. Dogbane is commonly acknowledged as one of the best fibers for cordage.

• Roots: Spruces, poplar, and lupines.

• Whole plants: Rushes, cattail, sedge, and various grasses (most grasses are weak when dry).

Fiber Test

• Tie a knot in a small bundle of fibers to check for flexibility. If it breaks, the fibers are too brittle.

• Spin a small length of twine. Pull on the twine to check for strength. Good fibers for cordage grip together when spun tightly, but fibers that are too slippery and smooth will not hold together.

• Remember that some fibers are stronger wet, while some are better dry. You may be able to make adequate cordage for a fire drill from green grasses that break once they dry.

Preparing Fibers

Different fiber types must be prepared in different ways. Leaf fibers, such as yucca, are usually best harvested green. Bast fibers, such as hemp and

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