Sheep “mow” an orchard. This relatively inexpensive livestock will eat both grass and tender weeds, and can be rotationally grazed using movable electric fencing. PHOTO: DEBORAH RENDON

Sheep aren’t the only livestock that can serve multiple purposes. Each type of livestock has natural habits with potential uses around your homestead. Pigs are nature’s plows. Geese feast on grassy weeds. Ducks eat slugs and bugs.

Though using working animals on your homestead has many benefits, it involves some work, too. Unlike gas-powered equipment, animals can’t be put away in the garage until the next time you need them. They need food, water, shelter, fencing and occasional veterinary care. So, why keep them?

Multipurpose Livestock

Integrating working animals into your landscape makes your backyard more of a natural ecosystem in which flora and fauna interact. John Hayden, who runs an integrated farm called “The Farm Between” in Jeffersonville, Vt., raises plant crops and livestock. He manages his livestock to reduce the amount of labor and fertilizer he puts into his plant crops. He refers to the technique of using animals for more than one purpose as “stacking functions.”

“We use our animals for their animal purpose — for meat — and we have draft horses we use for work, but we also use them for their manure or to work the ground, control weeds or graze cover crops,” Hayden says.

Matt Elston and Kirk Fackrell own Cascade Meadows Farm, a diversified farm in Sandy, Ore. Their livestock consist of Dexter cattle, pastured poultry, American Guinea hogs, Icelandic sheep and miniature dairy goats. They recently had piglets from their pair of Guinea hogs, and they plan to use this small breed of swine to remove unwanted vegetation. Elston and Fackrell find their miniature dairy goats to be especially effective at blackberry control, and they provide tasty milk, as well. “What we’re trying to do here is bring together a new understanding of old techniques, to have our farm work holistically with as few outside inputs as possible, and get as much as we can out of each individual on the farm,” Elston says.

Sheep Shear Shrubs and More

Though he no longer keeps sheep, Hayden found them useful for controlling vegetation. “We had some stone walls that were overgrown and brushy, and we mobbed sheep on them and let the sheep kill everything there,” he says. “Now we have nice stone walls to look at again.” (“Mob” grazing means confining a group of animals in a small space so they feed on vegetation that may be less desirable to them.)

(Continue reading page 2 at Mother Earth News) >>

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Coffee in a Post-Collapse Society
By James Wesley Rawles

I have read many articles stating that if you have any addictions to nicotine, caffeine or alcohol that now is the time to change your habits so that your dependency on them in their absence are easier to tolerate. My coffee habit is less a habit-at least that’s what I tell myself-and more of an enjoyment of life. That being said, in moderation coffee actually has an anti-oxidant property- justification is always a sign of a habit I know – not to mention the benefit of assisting in staying alert during a night watch task.

As a previous specialty coffee shop owner-prior to the commercialization of the industry by Starbucks -no I am not bitter- the storage of “freshly” roasted coffee has always been an issue. In fact, there is really only one method for long term storage of coffee since once the bean is roasted the oils and converted sugars begin to deteriorate and go rancid very quickly. Most off the shelf coffees that you buy in vacuum sealed containers or bags are actually made stale so that they can be vacuum sealed. Otherwise the bag would burst from the off gassing of the beans. Vacuum sealed freshness is a marketing term that actually means vacuum sealed staleness. I would always tell my customers you would never buy stale bread, why do you insist on paying a premium for stale coffee?

As I said there is a method for long term storage, unless you plan on rotating your roasted/ground coffee on a regular basis-eventually the coffee you have stored will become undrinkable. Or unless you live in the very narrow band of coffee producing countries that are 20 degrees on each side of the equator and 3,000 feet above sea level- coffee in a post-collapse society will disappear quickly. The answer is to purchase green coffee beans. These are the natural unroasted beans. There are many sites available on the internet where you can purchase anywhere from one pound to fifty pound bags. One advantage is that you will save 50% on your coffee budget paying anywhere from $5-7 per pound by purchasing green coffee beans. The prices of coffee have been escalating just as other commodities and the anticipation of future inflation on coffee is expected to continue. If ordering by the internet and paying shipping costs are to be avoided then you could also check your local coffee roaster in the yellow pages and inquire, they may sell you coffee thus avoiding the shipping costs. Most however will make you pay a small fee above their costs to account for their lost profit, it never hurts to ask though.

Now that you have purchased a twenty five pound bag of beans it will arrive in a burlap bag, long term storage in a five gallon bucket and Mylar should follow your preferred method. You may want to store in multiple smaller Mylar bags for extended storage times. At this point the beans are not off gassing so vacuum sealing with oxygen absorbers is possible. Stored in this method your beans will stay fresh from 2-5 years until you decide to roast them. Some Columbian Estate coffees are actually aged prior to roasting and command premium prices.

The fear of roasting your green beans is not scary at all. In fact, I would expect readers of SurvivalBlog to see it as a challenge to learn how to and master it. It should not take any longer than fifteen minutes on the stovetop or in a Dutch oven over a fire if necessary to roast enough beans for a week. I roasted our coffee for the week this Sunday in a Panini Pan (a pan with ridges on the bottom to help distribute the beans and heat) but any pan will work. To roast coffee, start by placing a layer of beans on the bottom of the pan with medium-high heat. As the pan begins to roast your beans, continue to stir your beans slowly, your technique will develop over time, just don’t leave the beans unattended, continue to stir or move the beans around or you wont get an even roast. You may need to decrease or increase the setting on your stove accordingly, but you will start to get the feel of the right setting after your second roast of beans. The oils in the bean will begin to heat up and caramelize, as they do you will hear them begin to crack open, this is the first of two pops you will hear during the roast.

The color will change from green to yellow to a light caramel and finally to a dark brown to black depending on how dark a roast you like. Also, the chaff from the beans outer coating will start to smoke, if you are inside on the stovetop, turn on the exhaust fan-trust me. About ten minutes into your roast and continual stirring you will have a mix of color ranging from light brown to dark brown and the second crack will begin. The last five minutes the colors change over very quickly to dark brown to black and you will need to monitor the color. Unless you like an espresso roast where you have now burnt the sugars and oils you will need to stop the roasting process just prior to the desired roast or color. As the second crack subsides remove the pan from the heat store and continue to stir. There will be a lot of chaff, you do not want this in your beans so I put mine in a colander and toss them out side and either let the breeze remove the chaff or blow across the beans to remove as much chaff as possible. Let the beans cool before grinding. Once you grind your first truly freshly roasted coffee you will be amazed at the depth of flavors. In some coffees you will not have to add milk or sugar. Bitterness that is in brewed coffee comes from staleness not the true nature of brewed coffee. In a post-collapse society a hand operated coffee grinder will be necessary and can be found online as well.

As for brewing your coffee in the absence of an electric coffee brewer, the Cowboy coffee and French press coffee methods work great and both make a great cup of coffee.

Cowboy Coffee
Over a campfire
Fill coffee pot with cold water.
Add one rounded tablespoon of ground coffee for each two cups of water.  (Add the coffee directly to the water.)
Bring the water just to a rolling boil.  Take off heat.  

Add a splash (a couple of tablespoons) of cold water.  This is to settle the coffee grounds.  Allow the coffee to set for a couple of minutes for the settling to take place.

French Press Coffee
Over a campfire
Heat water in a container
Place ground coffee in French Press, about 1tbs per cup

Pour hot (almost to a boil) over coffee
Put lid back on the press, leave in the up position
Steep for about four minutes
Slowly press down plunger after four minutes
Pour coffee to strain grounds v

Post-Collapse Coffee Equipment and Costs

I always appreciate sources for procurement so I will make mine that seem to be the most affordable. Some items-camp coffee pot, heavy bottomed pan, Dutch oven, and coffee press-you can locate at your local big box store. I would still recommend doing your research for the best product for the best price.

• Green Coffee beans $5-7 per pound (Guatemalan $143 for 25# plus shipping from Coffee Bean Corral)
• 5 gallon pails with Gamma Seal lids
• Oxygen absorbers (I always order from HoneyvilleGrain.com along with other items)
• Mylar bags, include smaller sizes for use as a barter item (your favorite supplier)
• Manual Coffee Grinder (such as a Kyocera Ceramic Coffee Grinder Model CM-50 CF $49.99 #1678)
• Camp style coffee pot or French Press (Primula 6-Cup Coffee Press – Black  Item # PCP2906 $9.99)
• Heavy-bottomed pan or Dutch oven for roasting

My last thoughts concern bartering coffee. During the Civil War the Northern states had coffee for their soldiers in the field because of their ability to import from coffee producing countries. The South was not as fortunate and had to rely on Chicory as a substitute–a poor one at that. Southern troops however had an abundance of tobacco, which the Northern Troops lacked. And through barter each side would arrange for a truce to trade, in fact there are many stories of agreements being yelled across the lines- where soldiers much to their officers disapproval would make unapproved but look the other way arrangements of tobacco for coffee. I can envision trading some scarce freshly roasted coffee for rice/beans or bullets. As a bartering item that contains one of those things that can be habit forming, in the grand scheme of things, coffee is less destructive than alcohol or tobacco.

Having coffee in your provisions could be a very valuable commodity from enjoyment, staying alert and to use as a barter item for other needed provisions.

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Post image by cgfan on flickr.

This time around, Bob shares his favorite methods for making sauerkraut at home.

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So around thanksgiving the snows were getting two feet deep and it was getting cold enough to just about freeze solid all the fruits and vegetables we store outside our home in a big ‘ol busted down chest freezer by the woodshed.

The ol’ chest freezer before the snows hit:

So y’all know what that means, it’s time to finish preserving the stuff we wanted to keep but not freeze solid. As part of our annual fall “stocking up” trip we’d gone to cash and carry and I’d gotten a fifty pound sack of onions for five bucks, forty-five pounds of cabbage for nine bucks and change, and the carrots had gone up to six bucks for twenty five pounds so we only got fifty pounds of those. The cabbages were starting to silver in the cold, so it was time for cabbage chopping and sauerkraut salting!

We hauled all the stuff into the cottage and I set my wife to chopping while I scrounged around for suitable containers. The containers I usually use for kraut were not gonna be big enough this time around. I was never happy with the mold growing on my kraut anyway, and my wife never cared for the smell of tubs of fermenting cabbage in our tiny cottage so I thought I’d try a new trick this year.

The raw materials stacked by the back door:

We chopped up two heads of cabbage, one onion and grated a carrot or two, threw it in a large bowl then mixed in a small salt shaker of salt.

The bowl was dumped into a clean five gallon bucket and I packed it down firm with a wooden mallet. Don’t ask me how many times we did this or how many heads of cabbage it takes to fill a five gallon bucket because before long it all became a blur!

When the bucket was close to full we still had cabbages left over. We decided to keep six heads in the fridge and experiment with two small batches of kraut. One was cabbage, onions and chunks of some very strong home grown garlic.

The next was cabbage and apples.

Now to seal the kraut. Traditionally a plate is placed on top of the kraut and weighted down with a clean stone. This is how my wife’s great grandmother made kraut.

The trouble is mold can grow on the liquid above the plate and the fermenting kraut smells a bit, especially is you’re leaving the crock on the kitchen counter. Stuffed in a root cellar nobody would care about the smell, but we don’t have a root cellar yet.

This year, I tried a new trick to seal the kraut. I took two plastic garbage bags and put one inside the other, then put the bags over the kraut. The inner bag was filled with water and tied closed and the outer bag was draped over the outside of the container. This formed a perfect seal!

No smell, no mold formation (yet) and any odd shaped jar can be used because you don’t have to worry about fitting a plate down in there.

Two plastic bags over the kraut, filling the inner with water:

The five gallon bucket with the bags in and water added to weigh the kraut down:

One of the small batches all sealed up and the kraut is starting to produce plenty of liquid:

A week later I started eating the kraut and the stuff from the bucket is excellent!

I like it kinda crunchy and not salty, and this stuff is excellent, rather more like coleslaw but with a nice tang than the limp, salty kraut you get in a store. I placed the bucket right by our French doors, the coldest place in the cottage. Hopefully this is cold enough to keep it pleasantly crisp all winter long.

Too warm a temp and it will ferment fast, and you’ll get limp sauerkraut. I have read that the right amount of salt is about 2% of the weight of the cabbage, but I’ve always just guessed the amount and have learned what seems to work for me.

The garlic kraut is coming out very strong, I think I’ll give that away to a brother in law who thinks garlic is one of the major food groups. Sadly the apple kraut is a failure, so don’t try that one at home!

The next day we made a year’s supply of apple butter and apple sauce, but that’s a different story…

This is the ninth chapter from Les’ online novel titled, Spiritual Survival In A Temporal World, for our companion site JustGetThere. This chapter again covers diet on multiple levels and how it relates to  inner peace and relative harmony.

Spiritual Survival in a Temporal World

Chapter 9

I’ve been thinking about what’s been said so far and I thought it might be a good idea to do another chapter on diet before moving along to something else. Although ‘eating’ is a physical act, it has major spiritual implications. In a certain sense there is no such thing as the physical. It is just a more manifest expression of the spiritual which is… everything. It’s all spiritual. Light is life and there are degrees of light precipitating downward into the manifest until light becomes solid. The sun is an expression of something finer and that is, itself, an expression of something finer and so on and so on up and in; the reverse being more and more down and out; for the sake of illustration.

The sun causes plants to grow. There is a fiery nutrition there which is absorbed by animal forms which consume them, including your own. Sunlight transforms into a power which makes the physical body possible. So, let us think of your body as frozen sunlight; light in extension.

This power can take the form of many things beneficial and many things poisonous. It’s a mere alteration of one thing assuming a myriad of states all as a result of the operation of the sun which, as has been said, is itself an expression of something finer.

Alcohol is a poison. Snake venom is a poison, whereas the serpent power is the resident motive force in everything. Snake venom anti-toxins are made from snake venom. There are many powerful truths that can be intuited from this by the inquiring mind. It appears from this that life and the conditions in which we find ourselves are all a result of the choices that we make. We make these choices based upon our reasoning and knowledge. When reasoning and knowledge are sound we make profitable and correct choices. When they are not, our choices are unsound and lead to undesirable conditions and complications. One of these is dis-ease or, the loss of harmony. Harmony in being is the optimum goal.

In today’s world, the common diet is more garbage than gold. So it is with our other diets; what we take in with our minds, what provokes our feelings, what we breathe and HOW we breathe. Proper breathing and eating both require a similar degree of attention. Fifty percent of the digestion takes place in the mouth. If you don’t chew your food long enough for this to take place well, …you do the math. It is the same with breathing. People who do not have control of their breath are in a poor position to manage negative emotion or to center their mind. Their energy is much less than it could be. Every organ is affected because posture is affected which effects everything else. Much of what I say may seem simplistic. It is up to the reader to extrapolate from what they read.

It’s the reverse of what it natural and normal for you to put shit into your body. Shit is supposed to come ‘out’ of your body. We’ve come to a point as a society where we put garbage in and garbage out. It’s a small percentage of humanity that takes the proper course.

Unfortunately, with many who are attempting to do the right thing another feature enters the mix and that is to become extremist in one’s practice and in one’s judgment of others. Keep in mind what has been said about snake venom. You can poison yourself trying to do the right thing, just as much as by doing the wrong thing. It is harmony you want, not some idealized white dove in the meadow of personal purity. Don’t scrub the pot so hard that you break it.

Some alternative dietary modalities verge on insanity, such as those who proclaim that eating honey is stealing from the bees, or that milk is only for calves and so on. I’m not a meat eater but I know that for some people at their level of personal development it is necessary. I’ve seen as many healthy meat eaters as I have unhealthy vegetarians. The thing to remember is that some meat may well be better than other meat. Some vegetables are better for you than others and, more importantly, some vegetables are better for you personally than others. A lot depends on your heritage and where you live and the particular genetic complex you have arrived at in your ongoing journey which does not end with death or begin at birth.

You can stop all input from the world outside and wind up unhappy in a room alone with no idea where to go. Consider balance above everything else and include ‘intention’ and a sincere desire to encounter the indwelling self. I have said in other places that if anyone were to go into a room for several days and take only water and for the duration ‘pray without ceasing; falling to sleep when it is unavoidable and awakening to immediate prayer with out ceasing that they could not fail to have an experience with the indwelling self. Think about it. You could not fail to have an experience. But who would do this? Not many would do this.

This is preferable to walking away from the world when you are not ready. But you do want to step away from the world at this time because the world has become a whirlpool that is sucking the inattentive and the willing down into a maelstrom of darkness. It is so because the opportunity for spiritual transformation is so great. Whenever the door begins to open for a spiritual quantum leap, all of the forces of ‘the world’ manifest strong attractions for the purpose of distraction from this possibility. It’s physics really.

Develop a burning need for union within. Let is accompany you on your daily rounds. In the midst of the chaos and lies and false advertisements for something that cannot be acquired or purchased in the marketplace, let your mind and heart be made aware that all is well and that none of this can touch you.

Diet is one of the keys to being able to do this. Breathing is also diet because you are eating air. Investigate the blood, oxygen exchange. The mind eats as well. Controlling your diet on all of these levels will grant you a positive state in which to experience inner peace and relative harmony.

People get stoned because they don’t feel good. They don’t feel good because of all the bad diet on all the levels of consumption. You would become very high if you were judicious and cautious about your diet. When you practice meditation as well, the collective benefits are truly impressive. It’s not only the bad advice that you need to avoid. It is also the bad advice that masquerades as good advice.

The key to gaining benefit from this book is to think about what you have read and then let your intuition guide you toward realizations that are uniquely your own. You must seek out your intuition and thereby widen the gateway through which the information passes. Think of it as doing spiritual sit-up and push-ups because it is just that. You must exercise something in order to develop strength and ability. Good diet on all levels is a good start.

In That Shape Again

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By Les Visible | JustGetThere Featured Author

Letters from the Devic Realm

Les Visible is a writer and recording artist. He has had a lifelong love affair with the Hermetic Sciences and the Martial Arts. He is a seasoned traveler in psychedelic realms and prefers the Devic Kingdom over the suffocating confinements of the Sub-Matrix. Along the way he has matriculated from the military to prisons and the maximum security wards for the criminally insane.

He has owned a metaphysical bookstore and some restaurants and worked in construction, as a cook, a club bouncer, a newspaper editor, a resort manager, a radio announcer, a standup comedian, as a lead singer in a rock and roll band and whatever he had to do to get by.

He lives somewhere in Europe with his wife Susanne and his memories. The truth has not been injured in the writing of this blurb. A collection of his works in various media can be found at www.lesvisible.com

This is the eighth chapter from Les’ online novel titled, Spiritual Survival In A Temporal World, for our companion site JustGetThere. This chapter highlights several different diet techniques that could best suit your lifestyle and goals for weight loss.

Spiritual Survival in a Temporal World

Chapter 8

Now where was I? Diet, right… Today I think we talk about types of diet and let me set them out and then discuss them. I won’t be discussing any of the specialized diets that deal with particular maladies, physical imbalances or weight loss programs. You can find this sort of thing in Cosmo where their relative merits can be considered in the context of the advertisers present in the magazine.

First off, there is ‘macrobiotics’, a system of bringing into balance ones physical being by eating particular foods in proportion to each other. It should be noted that the founder, George Ohsawa was a chain smoker who was working on making a macrobiotic Coca Cola when he died of heart disease. I practiced macrobiotics for a period of time and I can tell you that it is a near perfect diet for those it is suitable for. I had tremendous energy as well as a sense of enduring equilibrium. The downside to macrobiotics that I have seen involves two conditions. One of them is that a certain portion of practitioners become food Nazis. These people are no fun to be around. The other is having insufficient information followed by reduced benefits.

If I were to want to explore macrobiotics at this time I would not read George Ohsawa because it could well have you tired, confused and moving on in a short period of time. I recommend Michio Kushi and you can get all the information you want from one of his centers around the world. It makes sense to attend one or more of their courses. For those whose systems and temperaments are sympathetic to this diet you will find the changes that you experience to be remarkable and possibly even supernatural.

I’ve mentioned temperament and suitability. Let me be very clear here. No one diet is the answer for everyone. No diet will be successful if you ignore basic eating disciplines such as thoroughly chewing your food; not drinking during your meal or for twenty minutes before and after, observing correct posture and having a peaceful or ‘settled’ demeanor while you are eating. These are all big considerations whether they seem to be or not.

The next diet I would recommend is Arnold Ehret’s mucusless healing system. This basically presupposes that mucus in the body is responsible for most of the body’s ills. Arnold came up with a system that substantially eliminates the mucus from your body. Arnold was capable of incredible strength and endurance. Wikipedia (which I don’t like to use) has some interesting things to say about Arnold including his manner of death. I have practiced this diet as well and it’s a good one for those so disposed.

I suspect the raw foods diet might have evolved out of this and I’m not going to spend a lot of time on that one and here is why. I’ve observed the raw foods discipline and it’s another of those fanatically-disposed systems that one should be careful with. Elements of Veganism also fit into this category. This system can have you spending most of your waking hours preparing your food. It can be quite expensive and time consuming and has become a temporary trend among celebrities and trust fund babies. I’m not saying it isn’t a good system though I think it would cause a gas problem with a lot of people. You’ll have to look into it and see if it is for you. I think that saying cooked food is poison is a pretty stupid comment and makes everything else suspect to me. However… this diet is far superior to the ordinary human diet and you would be better off with this than with the rest of the options in the mass diet.

Basic vegetarianism is a good catchall for anyone seeking to evolve their diet. It’s a good place to start and after a period of adjustment and familiarization you can specialize further on. Veganism is a curious one for me and I find that I don’t generally like to be around Vegans because they have a real capacity to develop a fascist mindset. You might hear that, “I don’t eat anything with a face.” Well, potatoes have eyes. Sorry, I couldn’t resist. When I hear that eating honey is stealing from the bees, my bullshit meter starts to act funny. When I hear that a cow’s milk is for the calf or curious views on chicken eggs, I begin to wonder. I’m not saying milk and eggs are good for you. I rarely if ever consume them but I do eat cheese and yogurt on occasion. My system of operation violates tenants of every one of the systems I have mentioned but that’s me. I’m basically a vegetarian but I occasionally eat fish and have NO PLANS to stop. Probably the Hindu and Thai diets suit me most.

Kinesiology is something you might look into as you develop a diet for yourself. All of us have some intolerance to something and it would be good to find out what that was.

Here are some things you should absolutely avoid; soft drinks, refined sugar and artificial sweeteners, processed foods, commercial meats, milk as a beverage, commercial snack foods and candies, most canned foods. This isn’t a comprehensive list but it’s a good start. You will note that I don’t mention caffeinated products like coffee and tea. I think moderation is the key with these but you must remember that caffeine affects the adrenals in a way similar to continuously starting your car while it is already running. Certainly caffeine is no good for you.

You can’t go wrong by eating whole foods, fresh vegetables and fruits. I’m not sure about organic foods as a total commitment; then again, if you can afford it, why not? It’s good to maintain perspective. Eating right will not make you immortal. It will not change other bad behavior not connected to diet. It might make changes easier and that’s the idea. Diet is just one thing to be concerned with. It is a big concern. Take a look around you at the appearance of people who have no concern about what they eat. Look at the society as a whole. Need I say more?

Nothing that I will discuss or consider in this book is going to be comprehensive. You need to look into things on your own. One thing I will HIGHLY recommend is Robert Gray’s healing system. You want to get The Colon Health Handbook by Robert Gray and his healing products. There are a lot of colon cleansers out there and some of them are radical and uncomfortable to use. This is the best, the slowest program and the most complete. It takes around two months to accomplish it but you will NOT BELIEVE how you will feel after you have done it. It will blow your mind. I’ve done it several times now. It makes very good sense to clean your colon at the beginning. Follow the instructions exactly and do not waver. It may cost you 2 or 3 hundred dollars to follow the complete program but you will not regret it. You absolutely will not regret doing this and the energy harvested will give you a major jolt in terms of continuing.

Regardless of which diet you embrace you must remember that eating too much is a mistake no matter what. Try to learn to stop eating when you are only half to two thirds full. It will make a tremendous difference in your well being. Remember to eat slowly and consciously and with gratitude. Remember to fully chew your food and not to drink liquids while you are eating. Look into occasional fasting.

If you should choose to follow up on what you read here you will find the benefits to be priceless. Don’t get sucked down into the hole that the wider culture presents. That is not the way to go. We may have more to say about diet as we go along. For myself I usually eat only once a day. Don’t be a fanatic. George Ohsawa says that if you follow his diet 90% of the time you can eat ten percent of whatever you want. I don’t know where we are going next but we’ll find out when it happens. Be well.

And a song

Everlasting Love

___

By Les Visible | JustGetThere Featured Author

Letters from the Devic Realm

Les Visible is a writer and recording artist. He has had a lifelong love affair with the Hermetic Sciences and the Martial Arts. He is a seasoned traveler in psychedelic realms and prefers the Devic Kingdom over the suffocating confinements of the Sub-Matrix. Along the way he has matriculated from the military to prisons and the maximum security wards for the criminally insane.

He has owned a metaphysical bookstore and some restaurants and worked in construction, as a cook, a club bouncer, a newspaper editor, a resort manager, a radio announcer, a standup comedian, as a lead singer in a rock and roll band and whatever he had to do to get by.

He lives somewhere in Europe with his wife Susanne and his memories. The truth has not been injured in the writing of this blurb. A collection of his works in various media can be found at www.lesvisible.com

This is another great set of tips from my online buddy, Bob. He is a genuinely self-sufficient soul, living off the grid somewhere on the North American continent.

This time around, Bob discusses the optimal backpacking setup.

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My standard list of backpacking gear has changed very little in the past twenty years.

I favor fairly heavy leather boots that just cover the ankles, with Vibram soles.

In fine weather I’ll generally wear shorts, a long sleeve shirt with two button-down pockets, the sleeves rolled up, and I’ll always have a bandana around my neck. A broad brimmed felt “cowboy” hat tops it all off.

Don’t forget a hat. On our last 50 mile hike my wife didn’t bring one, so she wound up stealing mine and I wore a bandana on my head the whole time. Even if I’m going without a shirt, I’ll keep the hat on to keep the sun out of my eyes or the rain off my face and so forth, and it keeps my brain from frying in the sun now that my hair is thinning…

A boonie hat is comfortable enough and I have used them over the years, but they don’t shed rain and the brim isn’t wide enough to shade the eyes. I simply despise ball caps.

Do not wear a pants belt. Now, normally I feel naked without one, but most of the load rides on the pack’s hip belt, so don’t put anything under it that will be ground into your waist all day long; like a nice, thick leather belt would.

In my pants pockets I’ll carry a small locking knife like the Gerber LST, and a Bic lighter. It is not uncommon for me to have another bandana in my back pocket.

In my shirt pockets I’ll carry a compass and maybe a much folded map, and a pocket pack of Kleenex for toiletry purposes.

The heavy gear starts with an old Karrimor 75 liter internal frame pack in dark green. For me, this is just the right size. Not to big (and I seldom stuff it tight) and not too small. This pack has a bottom compartment and zipper, but I cut out the divider long ago, and have never once used the lower zipper. To me, a pack should be just one big bag. It has two side pockets big enough to hold a quart water bottle and a few odds and ends besides. It has a big top pocket built into the top flap.

On the pack’s hip belt on the right side I’ll clip a stainless steel Sierra Cup, and on the left hip rides the holster for my Ruger Bisley .44 magnum.

This heavy 7-1/2 inch revolver rides pretty good in a modified Uncle Mike’s shoulder holster. The holster has only one strap, and it goes around my right shoulder. The back of the holster has a strap with a snap that connects to the back hip belt. I can adjust it to put the weight on my shoulder, on the hip, or to share the load, depending upon my mood. On side trips without the pack I can simply sling the holster over my shoulder.

I’ve carried all sorts of sidearms while backpacking over the years, carried in all sorts of ways. Everything from small .22 autos right up to my .44 magnum boat anchor. I experimented with various drop-leg holsters that carry the gun below the hip belt but gave up on ‘em. Shoulder holsters work well enough with small guns like .38 snub-nosed revolvers and .380 autos. A great many times they simply wind up as dead weight in the pack.

Now, I do hike where the big bears may roam so I mostly do take my .44 caliber Boat Anchor with me, but it’s really just for moral support. In all the miles I’ve tramped I have never needed a gun. Of course the one time I leave it home is the day I’ll need it…

A pistol is a big problem to a backpacker. Ordinarily, a backpacker would never in a million years carry two pounds of dead weight! And if having it might throw ya in jail to boot, ya better think long and hard about taking one. If open carry where you hike is illegal, move out west — just kidding, stick it in the top of your pack, just under the flap; it’s the best you can do.

Now we finally get to what’s in the bloody pack!

In the bottom gets stuffed my sleeping bag. All my life I’ve drooled over nice down bags. But things being what they are, it’s often as not a synthetic bag of one type or another that I stuff in there.

Don’t bother with compression stuff-sacks. The silly sacks alone can weight half a pound or more! Use a big oversized stuff-sack for your sleeping bag so that the thing will conform to the shape of the pack. This way, you can stuff it right in there and fill all the corners at the bottom of the pack that would otherwise go to waste; not to mention it’s much faster to do than trying to contort and compress a bulky bag into a small brick. It’s also better for the bag. Just make sure the stuff-sack is pretty waterproof, or line it with a plastic trash bag.

The bag will be the bulkiest thing you carry by far, and may well take up half the pack. That’s OK, don’t skimp on your bag. A fella can survive almost any kind of day, so long as he gets a good hot meal and a warm, dry, comfortable bed at the end of that miserable day. So don’t scrimp here. And, above all else, that sleeping bag must stay dry!

Then a small stuff-sack that contains my spare clothing goes in. What you’re carrying is just an extra pair of socks and some supplemental clothing.

Next goes whatever I am using for a shelter.

Then my kitchen bag goes in next, and the folded-up ground cloth on top.

My pack has a kind of open pocket sewn into the back inside, right below the top flap. Into this is usually slid my rain gear, where I can get to it easily.

That’s it!

Into the very top pocket in the flap goes a one-gallon-sized zippy-bag that contains my “office;” which contains all the little, miscellaneous gear.

The side pockets each contain a quart water bottle, and whatever snacks I’m nibbling on that day. On trips with longish dry spells, I’ll also stash a flattish G.I two quart plastic canteen under the top flap of my pack (minus the cloth canteen cover, of course).

Under the flap straps outside the pack is where my sleeping pad goes.

So, you see that the pack contains just a very few sub-units, kitchen bag, clothes bag, rolled or stuffed shelter or tent, and at the bottom the stuff-sack with the sleeping bag. It’s easy to pack and unpack, and it stays organized. All the individual stuff-sacks add protection — one may get wet, but never all. They also keep things cleaner, by containing the mess from sooty pots, and so forth.

I despise packs with thousands of pockets, flaps and zippers all over them. At first glance they may seem a boon to organization, but they are not. What they are is more costly, less robust, less water proof, heavier, and instead of a few tidy sub-units, you get gear strewn all about the place.

My kitchen sack is pretty simple:

• Old sleeping bag stuff-sack
• 2 qt. Aluminum cooking pail with lid
• WhisperLite stove and fuel bottle
• Spoon
• Bic lighter
• P-38 can opener
• Plastic mug
• Plastic bottle for sugar, and one for powdered milk (For my tea, of course. These bottles are empty honey containers. Remember, I also carry a Sierra Cup on my hip belt)
• 2 one-quart plastic water bottles (carried in outside pockets. May also carry G.I. two quart canteen under top flap of pack)

Right now I’m using a USGI “mountain cook kit”

I’ll usually take only the big pot, and an aluminum lid from an old Palco cooking pail that died years ago. If I’m melting snow for water, or think I might want a separate pot of tea, or I’m cooking fancy meals, I’ll bring both pots. They are quite light. What I almost never ever take is the heavy stainless steel lid/fry pan.

You don’t need blackened, Teflon coated, titanium plated stainless steel pots in odd shapes with clever folding legs, patented detachable handles, and built in temperature regulators that cost a week’s pay. Take a simple aluminum pail with a lid, and make sure it’s at least two quart size.

The bigger pot has a wide base that is very stable, and covers the whole stove to absorb the greatest amount of heat, rather than a tall narrow pot perched atop a tiny wiggly stove. Even if you only plan to boil two cups of water, take the big pot. The small amount of water in the bottom boils almost instantly. Not to mention the bigger pot makes a much better pail to lug water from a creek to douse a camp fire, and on more than one occasion I’ve made an impromptu pot of stew for all to enjoy with contents donated by several backpackers met in camp.

The lid is well worth it’s weight because a covered pot boils much faster, saving fuel. If you cook over a fire, the lid keeps flying ash and bugs out. Besides, it’s useful for scooping snow, setting your cup down on when your done cooking, playing Frisbee, and other things.

The stove folds up and is kept in a small stuff-sack of it’s own. Inside this sack also goes the aluminum foil wind screen these stoves use, the spoon, Bic lighter, and a tiny plastic bag with the P-38 can opener and usually a vent pick, extra jet for the stove, and a tiny sheet metal jet wrench.

The pot lid goes in the bag first, then the pot, then the little bag with the stove and the fuel bottle fit in the pot, and the food is piled in on top of that. I can get three day’s or so worth of food in there. on longer trips I’ll use a second stuff-sack for the bulk of my food and use the kitchen sack for the gear and one day’s worth of food.

I simply love my little WhisperLite stove and can’t say enough about them. One little fuel bottle has lasted me five days, cooking three hot meals for two people every day, plus a few extra pots of coffee or tea thrown in! It simply can’t be beat for fuel-efficiency/heat-output/weight.

If your worried about TEOTWAWKI, you can get the multi-fuel version, which will burn gas, diesel, white gas, and what have you.

My clothing bag is even simpler, it’s an old stuff-sack containing:

• Extra pair of socks
• Pile jacket
• T-shirt
• Knit watch cap
• Another spare bandana (OK FINE! SO I’M A BANDANA FREAK! Remember, I also have my rain gear carried elsewhere)

Those are the basics that don’t change. Even in the summer I’ll run into snow pack up high, and it gets quite cold at night. I just don’t sleep comfortably without a cap on my balding head… and the same for the cotton T shirt. I use it only to sleep in. I’m more comfortable that way and it’s just one of those quirks I’ve developed over the years.

Of course the contents vary according to season.

I often carry my shorts and wear BDU trousers if I know I have to do lots of bushwhacking through nasty brush.

In the winter I’ll wear wool pants, and pack long johns. I have carried a very light set of long johns, and put them on under my shorts and my rain pants on over that when things got really cold and windy.

I use heavy, short, mostly wool socks that hold their shape when worn day after day after day…

For river crossings I go barefoot, and possibly even naked, with all my clothes stashed where they will stay good and dry.

Shelter:

• Black Diamond Megamid, pole, stakes, and ropes (carried an yet another stuff-sack)
• Sleeping bag (in oversized, waterproof stuff-sack)
• Ensolite pad (carried outside the pack, under the top flap straps. In wet weather, this is encased in a plastic garbage bag)
• Ground sheet (carried in top of pack, right under flap)

I think the Megamid and similar designs like the Sierra Designs Origami are the ultimate tent. It’s very light weight, and is the modern day equivalent of the teepee. It has no floor and plenty of head room so you can easily cook inside, yet has a door to keep out the wind (and windblown rain). You can sit up inside! I find it easier to set up than a tarp, and they offer more protection, even offering some protection from bugs. For TEOTWAWKI, they are the only lightweight tent that is comfortable to live out of for extended periods of time.

Always carry your pole and more stakes than you think you’ll need. They are lighter than a hatchet, and you’ll always have them right when you need them without having to chop up the surrounding greenery.

Bivy sacks and ultra-small tents are an abomination to be avoided at all costs.

Tarps are OK if you can set them up quickly and properly in all types of terrain and wind when fatigued, and the bugs ain’t too bad. I certainly have made great use of them in the past, but not anymore.

After a long and difficult day spent climbing a mountain in the rain, you can set up your Megamid, and go in with your pack and shake off the wet. Lay down your ground cloth in the back of the tent and set yourself down. Change into some dry long johns, slip into your pile jacket, and lounge on your sleeping bag while you fire up your stove and enjoy a hot meal while listening to the storm howling outside. Your wet gear gets to dry a bit on the other side of the tent, off the ground cloth, and all your equipment is close to hand.

Or, you could be battling with a flapping tarp (which is usually too small), looking for just the right trees to tie it to, fumbling in the dark with cold hands to cut stakes and poles, trying to rig it to get some semblance of shelter.

Or, you could drop your wet pack to the ground, grab a cold snack while shaking out a bivy bag (body bag), and crawl in to spend a miserable night.

You pick.

I have also made very good use of a truly wonderful tent by Eureka, but it is too heavy for solo use.

I do have two inflatable Therm-A-Rest pads, and have made good use of them, but they are simply much to heavy for solo use. I’d rather have an extra pound of food, and prefer to use a simple Ensolite pad such as the green G.I. pad one often comes across. I do like a full-length pad though. The sleeping pad is to provide insulation, and a dry spot to put your sleeping bag on. It isn’t intended as a mattress away from home that rivals the comfy bed you left behind, so don’t be tempted by heavy, bulky pads. When you lie in your bag, you compress the insulation under you which renders it much less effective at keeping you warm. The pad is to compensate for this. You soon get used to sleeping on the ground.

A word about rain gear:

Mine is a brand called “Spray Away,” I purchased it in ‘86 in England, so don’t try and find the same brand [the company does seem to still be around, see link — ed.]. It’s a very simple nylon shell with Gore-Tex inside. No liner! Don’t get rain gear with cloth shells, fabric liners, a zillion zippers and extra pockets. The more crap built into it, the more expensive it is, more likely to leak and will take longer to dry. You can shake the rain off a bare, impermeable nylon jacket. A soaked fabric liner or shell will take days to dry.

All you want is a durable, light weight, wind proof, water proof shell jacket and pants. Make sure the jacket has a good hood, and is quite large — if not downright huge — on you. I got mine big enough to fit over a bulky down coat. The pants don’t have to be so oversized.

Don’t mess with ponchos. I sure as heck did in my youth, and would use it for shelter and as a rain garment. The trouble was they do neither task very well, and if it rains all day long you’re wearing the silly thing, so now how do you set up your shelter? Take the silly, soaked thing off and rig it as a miniature tarp in the driving rain? You might just as well, because after a day in the rain wearing one, you’ll be soaked anyway.

It doesn’t have to be breathable stuff. Inexpensive impermeable stuff is just fine, if it’s durable. Starting over, I might pick Campmor’s Cascade II rain gear.
The jacket costs 23 bucks, weighs 12.8 oz. The pants run 15 bucks and 9.6 oz.

Office (carried in the top flap pocket, contained in a gallon zippy-bag with a heavy rubber band around it to compress it):

• Sewing kit/repair kit
• Match safe
• Fishing kit
• Flashlight (these days usually a small LED headlamp)
• First aid kit (packed in it’s own sandwich sized zippy bag)
• Extra set of eyeglasses
• Paracord
• Bic lighter
• Notebook (small spiral bound kind, usually with most of the pages missing. May have bit of fine sand paper taped to cover to sharpen knife with)
• Pencil stub
• Toothbrush

The list does change from trip-to-trip as I add things, but that’s about the basics that don’t change.

The fishing kit, sewing kit and match safe are contained in identical small plastic tubes with snap tops, maybe three inches long. I’ve used the sewing kit a time or two, but never needed the others. Still carry ‘em though.

I’ll usually add an item or two to this “office,” but it is never allowed to overflow, or even completely fill, that gallon zippy bag.

Some things it might also hold:

• Candle lantern (heavy, but nice on winter trips)
• Paperback book
• Extra ammo (usually six rounds rubber banded into a consolidated lump. Usually only carried on long trips in real back country)
• Very small container of Dr. Bronner’s soap
• Bug repellent
• Small flask of rubbing alcohol (empty bug repellent container)
• 35 MM film container of foot powder
• Extra Kleenex or toilet paper (uh, I often use empty instant oatmeal packets instead of toilet paper… you probably didn’t need to know that, huh?)
• Space blanket (carried for years, never found a use for it, finally left it home)
• Space blanket sleeping bag (much better than the blankets. Used to cover sleeping bag when sleeping under dripping poncho during howling storm, or inside sleeping bag when it gets freaking cold)
• Pipe and tobacco
• Garbage bag

The alcohol and foot powder is used to pamper your sore feet several times a day. The alcohol will toughen your feet and cool them, and the foot powder keeps ‘em cool and helps prevent blisters. Few people carry this stuff but it makes good sense on long hikes.

Well, the list goes on-and-on. The Office is where you stash all the little odds and ends and gadgets you just couldn’t bring yourself to leave at home. The gallon-sized zippy bag ensures that they will stay dry and organized. In use, I pull the whole bag out, and since it’s transparent I can locate what I need, then open it and pull it out.

Remember that with these little gadgets, less is more! Don’t carry a ton of stuff that you just never use. Some small bits of “survival gear,” such as extra matches, a tiny sewing kit, and a few feet of paracord are fine. Just don’t go overboard there. Do carry extra eyeglasses if you wear them!

My top flap pocket is pretty big, and in the past I’ve also crammed in a camera, binoculars, flask of booze, or something along those lines. Not very often though.

Rather than take my old heavy 35 MM camera, or our newer, delicate, battery munching, digital camera, I’ll buy a small disposable camera just for that trip.

As you can probably tell by now, I despise having gear loose in my pack. As much as possible, it all goes into sub-units.

Water purification:

I just strain the stuff through my front teeth. Seriously, I have tramped many miles all over the place, and have never once in my life used a filter or chemicals. Often I’ll throw my bandana down on a muddy bit of water and laying down, suck the water up through the bandana to strain most of the chewy bits.

Everyone has a different comfort level, and has to make up their own minds. Me, I’m comfortable sucking water from muddy hoof prints, and have never has so much as a hint of trouble doing so.

I live without running water. In the winter we melt snow, filter it through a strainer lined with (you guessed it) a bandana, and drink that.

In the spring and fall, we drink rainwater from our roofs. In the summer, we drink from various springs around our homestead. I’ve never lived on chlorinated water, and I drink gallons and gallons of raw goat milk. I suspect I may have some pretty tough intestinal bacteria. Maybe I’m just lucky. Either way, I don’t bother with filters and crap, and never will. One less thing I need to carry.

I know folk who are just simply horrified at the thought of going out into the woods and drinking water right from a stream! They are positive they will get sick… so naturally they do every time they try it.

Now, I’m a northerner. My backpacking beat has been from New Jersey north through Maine, and out west, Idaho, Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia. I’ve hiked northern bits of the Appalachian trail and had no trouble with the water. But I can’t say if a filter on the southern Appalachian trail is a good idea, or if you’ll get sick and die without one.

So there you have it, my very opinionated version of what to carry on your back.

Everyone’s list will differ. The best way to figure out what you’re comfortable with is to practice as much as you can. Sleep out in the backyard a lot. Especially on rainy or snowy or windy winter days. Don’t wait till you’re miles from home, it’s dark, the rain is falling and the wind is howling to try out that tarp or sleeping bag.

Remember to travel as light as you possibly can. It is a joy to ramble with a 20 pound pack, still fun with 30 pounds but it’s work at times, not really fun anymore with 40 pounds and the sweat is pouring off you, and a downright chore with 50. The lighter you pack the freer you’ll be, and that’s a good thing.

Backpacking is about the-getting-there. You can go and camp in one spot by a lake and have fun, but you’ll not have the same feeling of fun, self-sufficient, complete contentment that wandering about with everything you need to be perfectly comfortable (well, almost, anyway) right on your back brings. Traveling at your own pace, where you will, and having fun doing it is what it’s all about.

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(post photo by Jef Maion)

This is the seventh chapter from Les’ online novel titled, Spiritual Survival In A Temporal World, for our companion site JustGetThere. This chapter addresses diet, and the practice of eating with gratitude.

Spiritual Survival in a Temporal World

Chapter 7

We’ve all heard the phrase, “You are what you eat.” You’ve probably also heard, “As a man thinketh in his heart so is he” You’ve likely heard, “for where thy treasure is, there will thy heart be also.” These are all connected to a common truth. Life feeds on itself and how you think and feel about what you eat has a great deal to do with its impact on you.

Life is a radiant ‘serpent power’. You’ve seen the mystical serpent with its tail in its mouth. It’s called ‘serpent power’ because when viewed in operation by those capable of seeing it, it behaves in a serpentine fashion. If you want to see an example of our mysterious origin and how the force that animates us behaves then close your fist and look at the spiral that it makes.

It is important to follow a proper diet. A proper diet functions on more levels than that which affects the stomach. We consume with our hearts and minds as well. It’s good to remember that both heart and mind are only different levels, or expressions of the same thing. It’s also good to remember that one does not live by bread alone.

Everything is composed of sunlight which is also radiant energy. The green in your vegetables is a chemical change that sunlight went through. We are light in extension. Think of your body as frozen sunlight that feeds on sunlight. Without the sun there is no life and no light. Of course, this sun is a physical expression of another sun and there may be more rarefied examples deeper in or further up; depending on how you see it.

I’ve said at other locations and on many another occasion that I believe one of the most powerful emotions that a person can possess is ‘gratitude’. A key feature that you should possess when you eat is, ‘gratitude’. Eating with gratitude is a magical act of great power. Observe how people eat and you will learn a lot should you be open to the evidence. Observation of life and a willingness to see into it will reveal understandings and truths that are hidden from most.

I am not a religious person and I belong to no religion. This does not mean that religion is not, in part, based on real truth. It means that religion obscures as much as it reveals and it often and invariably interprets wrong. Religion tends to view God anthropomorphically. It makes God a bigger you with all of your prejudices and shortcomings. God becomes a big idiot who reflects your little idiot perspectives.

Those who have looked more deeply into spiritual things with a questioning mind often come to see that all spiritual things have a scientific basis and can be explained and understood in scientific terms. Of course, there are those elements that will always be beyond the conscious, reasoning mind but even they conform to rules of behavior.

So, I practice certain behaviors that you also see among religious people. I always say ‘grace’ and I am, as much as I can remember to be… grateful. Eating with gratitude will change your life. I do not pray in the conventional way but I do contemplate and aspire toward a higher ideal of myself. I not only profoundly believe in a divine agency, I ‘know’ it is there. I possess a capacity to be willful and rebellious against my own best interest too… but, I’m trying to quit (grin). As will be the pattern here, before we can talk about the best diets and the choices of diet it is necessary to talk about the philosophical and metaphysical aspects of eating. It is important to know that we are feeding on different levels all the time and that the physical act of eating is only the most widely recognized practice.

In these times gratitude has been bred out of the process the same way that whole and nutritious food has been replaced by unhealthy garbage. You don’t see people take a moment to bless their food these days. You see them pile in, talk with their mouths full, drink while eating so that the digestive process is interfered with, not bother to chew so that complete digestion doesn’t take place, etc. You see the litter of our fast food nation everywhere and you see the physical condition of those who exist off of it. If I can get any idea across to you, I would want it to be gratitude. Be grateful. Get in the habit of being grateful for everything and you will see that you have more and more reasons to be grateful.

You don’t have to believe in a white-bearded fascist on a far away throne. This god is no more real than the god that the atheists do not believe in. But there is a living conscious force in you and if you feed it, its presence will grow. My wife does not believe in this god and generally is not inclined in this direction; though she is more spiritual than she will admit. The key inducement to my marrying her was during the first dinner I prepared when I asked if she minded if I took a moment to be grateful for my food. “Not at all.” she said and she joined me and has since. She understood the principle.

Don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater. Just because much of contemporary religion and the religion of any time may be filled with absurdities and priest centric machinations to part you from your money and your reason does not mean something is not there. It is what feeds you. Be smart. Be grateful. Grow into a better idea of yourself and let your suffering diminish. Eating smart is a way to turn down the flame. If, as the Buddha taught, “All life is pain caused by ignorant desire.” then the more erratic and impure your flame, the greater is your suffering. Passionate people suffer more than others, DEPENDING on the nature of their passion. Turn down the flame and consciously feed it. True enjoyment will come and you will be healthy and filled with life.

This book is about ‘spiritual survival’. It is necessary to constantly point out that everything we can see and perceive has an invisible source. Acknowledge it. Be grateful. For those who are sincere and possessed of genuine interest, you will find much to assist you in these pages. And it is important not to associate any of it with me. Take what is useful and place your gratitude where it belongs. I’m just another climber on the ‘spiral staircase’. Since we are all on this staircase and since it is a spiral, always remember, try to never piss over the railing.

Remember too that this is a book about being welcomed into a community that will form around you as you think and feel and eat your way into it. Gratitude will be the light source that allows you to see AND recognize your companions. We all want to live in this community and we can but we must journey there and it is a journey within as well as without. You don’t simply buy a bus ticket. Many a prosperous soul eats properly but misses the connection between the spirit, mind and body. Living on a trust fund and dressing in white; attending seminars and talking about high minded things doesn’t guarantee anything. We need to approach the thing itself with humility and awe and most of all, gratitude. Talking about it steals the energy to do it.

In the next chapter we will present various diets and the esoteric practices that complete them. We have different needs and no one diet will work for all. For the moment you can start feeling grateful. Let your heart soar in the contemplation of what awaits you. Be grateful that someone attends your every footstep and waits at every point along the way. You are never alone and all the forces of good will fly to your side once you have taken hold of the conviction to carry on… once this conviction has taken hold of you.

Prevail

___

By Les Visible | JustGetThere Featured Author

Letters from the Devic Realm

Les Visible is a writer and recording artist. He has had a lifelong love affair with the Hermetic Sciences and the Martial Arts. He is a seasoned traveler in psychedelic realms and prefers the Devic Kingdom over the suffocating confinements of the Sub-Matrix. Along the way he has matriculated from the military to prisons and the maximum security wards for the criminally insane.

He has owned a metaphysical bookstore and some restaurants and worked in construction, as a cook, a club bouncer, a newspaper editor, a resort manager, a radio announcer, a standup comedian, as a lead singer in a rock and roll band and whatever he had to do to get by.

He lives somewhere in Europe with his wife Susanne and his memories. The truth has not been injured in the writing of this blurb. A collection of his works in various media can be found at www.lesvisible.com

Celine Kuklowsky of Dr. Pop Blog posted this inspiring article about the growth of community in the face of hardship and urban collapse in Detroit.

This article is a sample of a topic JustLive will be focusing on some in the near future — stories of individual and community resilience in times of economic and natural disaster. We’re going to be looking at Detroit, specifically, but will branch out to other areas around the world as well. If you have any stories like this, please share them with us.

When thinking about urban environmental repair, there is perhaps no better place to start than in what may seem to be the most unlikely of places: Detroit, MI. Yes, the ex-capital of the auto-industry is rewriting the rules of urban regeneration as we know them and Detroit residents are creating a whole new way of thinking city-life.

As Rebecca Solnit says, Detroit’s best-known recent history is one of urban apocalypse characterized by “deindustrialization, depopulation, and resource depletion” [...]

But out of this land, another story is emerging, in which the people of Detroit are re-inventing their city as the urban agriculture center of the country.

I recently met Asenath Andrews, the principal of the Catherine Ferguson Academy, a high school for young mothers and pregnant teens who raise animals and organic fruits and vegetables. The school also offers classes on beekeeping and more to the community..

The conversation opened a window for me upon Detroit Green.

In 2009 alone, the Detroit Garden Resource Program Collaborative provided support to 236 community gardens, 55 schools, and 557 families who are growing food. [...]

Read the article at Dr. Pop Blog »

(post photo by jessicareeder on flickr)

Brewing is a tradition that stems back thousands of years. Some anthropologists suggest that it was beer, and not bread, that led to the birth of agriculture. Homebrewing is the art and hobby of creating alcoholic beverages at home. Alcohol is produced by fermentation, or the chemical break down of sugars by yeasts and bacteria. More commonly, the term homebrewing means “beer brewing” but most homebrewers today branch out and brew several or all of the possible beverages at home.

This handy little six-page pamphlet offers up heady information on the following topics, each with useful breakdowns:

• What is Homebrewing
• Why is homebrewing important to Agorists?
• “The Very Basics”
• Where to go from here.

My mouth is watering already.

A new wood burning stove invention powered by a thermoelectric generator, will have the ability to convert waste heat from fire to electricity. The inventors say their BioLite stove can burn a wide variety of biomass fuels from wood, pine cones and underbrush to pellets, rice husks and even dung. The BioLite burning process performs efficiently, using less than 1/2 the wood of an open fire and reduces smoke emissions by more than 95%. This product is not yet available, but is slated for Spring 2010 and 2011. Check out the videos and if interested contact them through the email provided below. For more information on rocket stoves in general look here.

Via Biolite:

With the BioLite Stove you can step off the grid and leave the petrol at home. Whether you’re spending a month in Alaska or a night in the backyard the BioLite stove will quickly and cleanly cook meals using nothing but the underbrush you collect on your journey.

BioLite is no yet available on the commercial market but we hope to be in stores Spring of 2010. If you are a retailer or distributor interested in carrying the BioLite stove please contact us here. If you are a consumer and would like to be placed on our mailing list please email us here.

Here is a basic overview listed on the site:

A farmer offers a certain number of “shares” to the public. Typically the share consists of a box of vegetables, but other farm products may be included. Interested consumers purchase a share (aka a “membership” or a “subscription”) and in return receive a box (bag, basket) of seasonal produce each week throughout the farming season.

This arrangement creates several rewards for both the farmer and the consumer. In brief…

Advantages for farmers:

• Get to spend time marketing the food early in the year, before their 16 hour days in the field begin
• Receive payment early in the season, which helps with the farm’s cash flow
• Have an opportunity to get to know the people who eat the food they grow

Advantages for consumers:

• Eat ultra-fresh food, with all the flavor and vitamin benefits
• Get exposed to new vegetables and new ways of cooking
• Usually get to visit the farm at least once a season
• Find that kids typically favor food from “their” farm – even veggies they’ve never been known to eat
• Develop a relationship with the farmer who grows their food and learn more about how food is grown

It’s a simple enough idea, but its impact has been profound. Tens of thousands of families have joined CSAs, and in some areas of the country there is more demand than there are CSA farms to fill it. The government does not track CSAs, so there is no official count of how many CSAs there are in the U.S.. LocalHarvest has the most comprehensive directory of CSA farms, with over 2,500 listed in our grassroots database. In 2008, 557 CSAs signed up with LocalHarvest, and in the first two months of 2009, an additional 300 CSAs joined the site.

Visit localharvest.org to learn more

Hat Tip PuppetGov.com

You are sitting there in your recliner chair in your small city apartment desperately longing for the day when you can escape to the country and become a homesteader and become more self-sufficient. Well, don’t just sit there… Begin making your dreams a reality, now.

Nancy outlines methods for procuring materials, along with suggestions for what materials to use, and how to use them. For example:

Make your own compost to add to your potting soil in a dark corner (or under the sink) by putting shredded newspaper, kitchen wastes (not meat or grease), and coffee grounds in a large container and adding a few earthworms (which you can either buy or collect for free after a rain at the nearby park). Maybe you can get some leaves and grass for your compost bin at the park too. Keep the composting materials moistened.

She also goes into great detail about which fruits and vegetables are best suited for small-space growing. One such recommendation:

Small miracle broccoli, from Park Seed are little beauties that can be planted as close as eight inches apart so you can fit many in a small space. Broccoli is a heavy feeder so compost well and maybe add a sprinkling of blood meal as a side dressing once or twice during the season.

Head over to the article to see the rest of Nancy’s fantastic recommendations.

To cross-check the plants she lists with their hardiness in your area, check out the National Gardening Association’s USDA Hardiness Zone Finder, which locates zone information by postal code.

You can also use their helpful Plant Finder to determine which zone a particular plant will do best in.

Guerrilla Gardening, is a growing method environmental activists are using, in order to take back abandoned pieces of land, and either beautify it or grow food. This is an example of how individuals, without the permission of the state, can take action in a productive manner that benefits the community as a whole. Among the biggest benefit, is the absence of raising your taxes, voting for a bond issue for funding, or inevitably running over budget like government usually does.

The volunteers ambition, is the only thing that is needed for this idea to manifest. The history of guerrilla gardening is rich with stories of huge gardens erected overnight, communal gardens and even mass guerrilla gardening actions during special orchestrated events.

Turning abandoned eyesores around town into thriving botanical displays that brightens the community is a noble action, but the idea of planting free food in a community is a brilliant idea.

There have been examples of this throughout history that I dug up on Wikipedia:

In Northern Utah, apple trees commonly grow along the banks of canals. Asparagus grows along the smaller ditch banks. Many of these plants were seeded 150 years ago by the workers who dug the canals, by burying their lunch apple core in the freshly dug soil or by surreptitiously spreading seeds along a new ditchbank

Tacamiche banana plantation workers in Honduras illegally grew vegetables on the abandoned plantation land, rather than leave with the plantation’s closure in 1995.

Guerrilla gardening is prominent in Melbourne where most of the inner northern suburbs have community vegetable gardens; land adjoining rail lines has undergone regeneration of the native vegetation, including nature strips.

There is a small community group in Melbourne called “Permablitz” who gather regularly to design and construct suburban vegetable gardens for free, in an effort to educate residents in Melbourne on how to grow their own food and better prepare them if/when food prices become too expensive.

The concept of having communal gardens is another way to counter the agricultural-industrial complex, and promote locally grown food. Care should be taking when choosing a location for food that will be eaten, due to possible toxicity from close proximity to highways or toxic runoff.

Their is another form of guerrilla gardening that is more geared for personal gain, cannabis growers. There are forums that cover the subject and even a DVD called Never Get Busted from ex-narcotics officer Barry Cooper, that provides tips on how to avoid law enforcement and rogue harvesters.

There are some great sites with info on how to do this effectively. GuerrillaGardening.org has tons of info about the subject and a community of people worldwide who are practitioners. Richard Reynolds, who launched the blog 2004, also has book called Guerrilla Gardening that was published may of 2008.

Here is a 12 step guide that is outlined on his site:

I also found a great post submitted by Off Grid Ebert on livingoffgrid.org, that also has other useful tips on the subject.

1. Pick a space that is visible and will make an impact on your neighborhood – the spirit of guerrilla gardening is about community. Pick an ugly space that many people see on their drive to work every day – like a dirty median strip or a busy street corner. Beautify it by planting flowers. Or, if your aim is to grow food, pick a space in a centralized neighborhood location, like an old schoolyard or an abandoned lot.
2. Convert the soil – Most likely the space that you pick will have less than ideal soil conditions. Make sure that you clear the area of trash, large rocks, and small shrubs or weeds before you start. You’ll want to then decide on the shape and size of your garden. Next, stake it off and start digging. You’ll want to turn over the soil by digging at least 6 inches into the ground. Discard any rocks and roots that you find. Then, add manure and compost to the soil to ensure that the soil is nitrogen rich. Get the right tools – you don’t have to go high-tech. Guerrilla gardeners only need a few simple and easy to come by tools: a spading fork, a hoe, a trowel, a rake, and a watering can.

You may encounter the following barriers as you attempt to plant your garden:

1. Theft of food – Because guerrilla gardens are on public or abandoned property, you do run the risk of getting your bounty stolen. One way to stop potential looters is to post signage around your garden explaining your project. Make sure that your sign does not name specific people involved with the project. In some states, gardening on property that you do not own can be prosecuted as “environmental vandalism”. A simple sign that says, “Please don’t take what you don’t need – this is a community garden”. Anyone with half a conscience will be deterred. If people do steal food even with signs like this posted, just assume that they needed it and replant.
2. Yield – Many gardeners have been able to eat for at least a summer on their garden’s vegetable yield, but some never see their garden past the seedling stage before the lot owner discovers their garden and pulls it up. Check out the forums of Guerrillagardening.org to read about the experiences of other gardeners. The forums are organized by region.
3. Legal issues – The fact that the word “guerrilla” is attached to gardening in abandoned areas is no accident. What you are doing is illegal and can be unsafe. Most gardeners chose to do most of their work (tilling, watering, pruning, harvesting) at late at night or just before dawn. If you want to plant a garden that needs ongoing, long-term care(like a vegetable garden), you might consider asking the owner of the property very nicely – (tip: it helps to mention how beautifying the lot may help increase property values in the neighborhood, or offer them a percentage of your annual vegetable yield). For gardens that do not need ongoing care, (like flowers, trees, and shrubs), it is easy to plan an overnight mission with a large group of people. Plant everything that you can in a few hours, water what you need to, take a photo, and then get out.

This is a fascinating subject, and of course you should be aware of the risks you take by doing something that isn’t sanctioned by the state. (sarcasm)

-Agora!

Just because you’re short on space, doesn’t mean you have to be short on home-grown produce. The upside-down planter is a low-maintenance, small-footprint method of growing tomatoes and similar plants.

The links below cover different ways to construct these DIY planters, in different sizes, shapes, and looks. Of course, if you’d rather buy one pre-made, there are options listed for that too.

Five DIY Planters:

Using a 5-gallon Bucket [video]:

Learn how to make your own upside down tomato planter. Can also be used for peppers, cucumber, and some squash.

Using an Empty Soda Bottle:

Many people have been growing plants like tomatoes in 5 gallon buckets or hanging baskets for decades. Not having any spare bucket or hanging basket to sacrifice I went with my daughter’s suggestion and used a 2 liter bottle…

Using a Plastic Planter Pot (which can grow other plants on top!):

…here’s a really inexpensive and, I think, more attractive method than the other DIY how-to’s I’ve seen. First, find yourself a large… plastic hanging planter and a tomato plant. I chose a smaller fruit producing variety…

Using a Metal Pail:

They have substance compared to the cheap looking wind sock topsy turvy versions. …these guys have been through a season of classic Midwest thunderstorms, hail storms and tornadoes and are still in fine shape.

Using a Gallon Jug and (of course) Duct Tape:

My husband saw an info-mercial on upside down planters late one night and thought it would be a fun project to do with the kids. It was very easy to make but not very pretty.

Three Pre-made Planters:

The Original Infomercial Variety (warning: site plays video automatically):

Use your Topsy Turvy® tomato planter to grow deliciously ripe tomatoes for homemade sauces, sandwiches, salads and more without harmful pesticides or backbreaking work.

Fancy-pants Ceramic (looks nice indoors):

It’s like the Topsy-Turvy Tomato Planter, but for a way-hipper crowd. The New Zealand company Boskke… launched their Sky Planter project to serve the gardening set.

Upright Stand-Alone (it also can grow other plants on top):

Forget staking tomato vines! Let gravity take over with this innovative Planter that elevates the planting bed. Up to 4 tomato plants grow downward from 4 pop-out holes in the bottom.

(main post photo by Lorri37 on flickr)

He also does a side-by-side comparison of the time it takes to boil water in various weather conditions, relative to a normal kitchen range.

Very informative and useful stuff, as is to be expected from Bob!

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I would like to use this post to test, review, and compare various makes of small stoves for outdoor use.

My focus is primarily, but not wholly, on stoves suitable for backpacking, canoeing and cycling. On what to burn when traveling in a country where white gas may not be readily available and finally, it would be nice if others could post similar information about the various stoves that they own and use.

Recently, while planning for a trip I hope to take this summer I came to realize that because I was flying to my destination I would not be able to bring white gasoline ( Coleman Fuel ). This meant that I would have to scramble about looking for white gas at my destination, or come up with a different fuel! Automotive gas is the most widely available fuel, so with this in mind I set about looking over my gear.

Now I happen to have two backpacking stoves, an old Optimus 8R and an MSR Wisperlight. I don’t consider using auto gas in the MSR Wisperlight a good idea. It’s a rather complicated stove and pump system and I imagine it might tend to clog, it has plastic parts that might not like automotive gas, and even on the somewhat less powerful white gas it’s already a blowtorch.

Now the old Optimus stove has a warning label right on it that says not to use automotive gas in it, but I know for a fact that many folks used nothing but car gas in their 8Rs for many years. It’s a very simple all metal stove with but one moving part.

Well, Saturday we had fresh snow. It wasn’t a day to ride my bike or the horses, so I figure I’d do a comparison test on my stoves, and see if the old 8R would work safely on automotive gas, and save me the expense of a new multi-fuel stove.

Here we have my old MSR stove from 1986 on the pink sack, my new Wisperlight, and the Optimus 8R or “Blue Box” along with my original MRS fuel bottle fitted with the pump for my new MSR stove, an old SIGG fuel bottle and lots of gas.

The following tests were conducted when the air temp was 37 degrees, the humidity 20%. The water came from my below grade cistern, I do not know the water temp. it’s pretty cold, but not icy. There was essentially no movement to the air on the porch. The large pot and fry pan / lid from a USGI “Ranger” cook kit was used for all tests. The water to be boiled was keep covered at all times until a full rolling boil was achieved.

The stoves, fuels, and accessories -

A word on stove stuff sacks. If you get a plastic sack with a new stove, throw it away and make yourself one of cloth. Why? Because now you have a multipurpose stuff sack that doubles as a pot holder! My wife made my old soiled and soot stained pink stuff sack. Say what you will about the color, but I have never lost it in the woods!.

In fact, this stuff sack was used as a pot holder throughout this experiment. As with all things in Backpackingdom, light weight, reliability, utility and multiple uses must drive all equipment choices! Put a warm stove back in it’s plastic stuff sack, and it may melt it or stick in it!

The MSR Wisperlight –

I was given my first Wisperlight in 1986, and this little stove has been my steadfast companion ever since. I have used this stove for uncountable weekend tips, cooking in the barracks while in the Air Force, two week long canoe and backpacking trips, cooking on the porch at home in hot weather when I did not care to heat up the house, you name it.

It is so efficient, I have twice used it with but one bottle of white gas to cook three hot meals every day, plus the odd extra pot of coffee or tea, for my wife and myself on five day long backpacking trips. Nothing I know of comes close to the heating efficiency and low weight of the Wisperlight. In all the years I have carried this stove, only twice has it let me down.

Although I’d rebuilt my Wisperlight a time or two over the years, last spring it finally gave up the ghost. My old friend finally died for good. I immediately went out and bought another one, and still haven’t been able to throw out the old one.

Anyway, the Wisperlight is an odd stove, unlike anything that came before it.

MSR first produced a stove similar to this one in 1973. It’s nothing but a burner suspended by three wire legs. The pump used to pressurize the gas tank is screwed into and housed inside the gas tank itself!

The stove does not come with a gas tank. You buy whatever size aluminum MSR or SIGG bottle that strikes your fancy. A flexible and hopefully fireproof tube connects the two.

Now, the real secret behind the super efficiency Wisperlight is the funky wind screen they use.

Now the big draw back of these stoves is they have a horrible Fiddle Factor. To set the stove up you first shake everything out of the stuff sack. Unfold the lower bit of aluminum foil. If it’s an old stove, stick the legs of the stove through the hole in the middle of the foil, and swing the legs into position. Now the new stoves come with a big disc of foil for the bottom, and you simply set the stove down on it. I don’t think this is as efficient, but it is less of a fiddle.

The downside is that the stove now sits on top of a slick surface of aluminum! Not good! Having that hot dinner you have been looking forward to for the last few hours fall off the stove is a horrible and heart wrenching experience! Ask me how I know…

So I’ll probably cut a hole in the center of the disc and go back to sticking the legs through it.

Next, you connect the flex tube of the stove to the pump that’s in the fuel bottle. I have always stuck the connector in my mouth and lubricated it with saliva before inserting it.

Then, you pump the stove up if it needs it, open the valve a bit to trickle fuel into the priming cup, and close the valve. Now light the fuel and let the stove flair up.

Now is the time to unfold the big aluminum foil wind screen, and get ready to place your pot on the stove.

When the stove has all but finished flaring, open the fuel valve, and the stove takes off. Put the pot on, and wrap the big aluminum foil windscreen about the stove and pot, BUT NOT THE FUEL BOTTLE.

What you get when you put it all together –

So the stove sorta has to be assembled every time you use it, and folded back up and stuffed into it’s sack when it’s cool again. You’ll get a certain amount of soot on your hands doing this. Multi-fuel versions of the MSR running on automotive gas will be dirtier.

Now I’ve used this thing so much I can run it in my sleep, but after a bad day when your exhausted and cold, you can’t feel your fingers and your brain is functioning at 10% capacity, a stove you need to put together might not be the best thing in the world. Simpler is almost always better. If it were not for the fantastic efficiency and light weight I don’t think the MSR would have become the instant classic that it has.

So how does it work? Believe me, this stove burns like a blow torch! The burner assembly heats up and glows red, and the stove has a nice blue flame.

My old stove did not simmer worth a darn. It’s basically a blowtorch, on or off. The new stoves may simmer better, but my old one sure didn’t so I never even tried. I came up with a cooking methodology that works well with a blowtorch, and lived with it.

Wisperlight on full throttle at night -

The wisperlight brought a measured full quart of water to a full rolling boil in 5 minutes and 50 seconds. As you can see, the wind screen simply can’t be beat for heating efficiency.

This was rather longer than I expected to take to boil one quart of water. The white gas I used is perhaps two years old. It is said that old gas does add a minute or two to the boil time.

Boiling water on a Whisperlight stove -

The Optimus 8R -

Now for a blast from the past – The Swedish firm of Optimus introduced the 8R a long time ago. Patent dates for the predecessor, the Optimus 8, go back to 1927.

I bought this stove about ten years ago simply because I came across one for sale. I didn’t think they were made anymore and I’d always wanted one.

When I was growing up one of my older brothers had a beautiful blue 8R that I drooled over and coveted. I remember he had the best of gear, a two pound down sleeping bag, that 8R, and a backpack with a frame! At the time I had to make due with a cheap Sears cotton sleeping bag, a sterno stove and a canvas rucksack.

Now I have to say I’ve never used the 8R much. So solid a hold did the Wisperlight have on me that the 8R hasn’t even been on a single trip! The 8R is heavier and does not burn as hot as the Wisperlight. Basically I have only used it on my front porch a time or two to boil down potash for lye water.

The 8R is simplicity itself. It has no pump, and the only moving part is the gas valve. The stove depends upon the heat generated by the stove itself to maintain pressure in the gas tank.

So how do you light it? The best way to light a self-pressurized stove has been hotly debated since they were invented! Every operator develops his or her preferred method. Supposedly, you can cradle the stove to you and warm the tank with your hands, allowing gas to well up out of the burner and into the priming cup. Some folk burn little bits of paper to warm the stove, some use alcohol carried in a small flask, or priming paste. Some brave fellows open the gas cap and blow into the tank. Me, I’ve always been an eye dropper man.

To use the stove, I simply plop it down and open it up. Open the gas cap and using an eye dropper take gas from the tank and squirt it into the priming cup under the burner. Or hell, squirt fuel all over the stove, it’s all good.

Light it, and stand back while it flairs up. When the gas goes out the burner should be hot enough to vaporize fuel, and the tank should be warm enough for some pressure.

I had to fill this stove with white gas before the test, and because of the tiny gas cap and the small capacity of the tank, I spilled fuel all over the stove. So what. WHOOSH!

When the stove was warmed, the valve opened and lit, the stove roared like a jet aircraft on takeoff! Optimus stoves are loud! After roaring away for 1 min, 30 seconds, the roar of the 8R subsided to it’s familiar pulsing, rather like the drone of a WWII buzz bomb.

If anyone else owns an 8R, I’d sure like to know if they pulse as well. It took 12 minutes to bring a measured quart of water to a full rolling boil.

I’m sure much of the difference in performance between this stove and the Wisperlight is that the 8R lacks the wrap around aluminum foil windscreen. I have tried to use the foil wind screen with the 8R in the past, but to do so risks overheating the stove. What happens then? Heh, we’ll get to that!

A full boil is achieved on the 8R -

The 8R in full flame. Not much is visible in daylight but note the pot support glowing red –

I went inside to make a pot of tea with all this hot water, and let the 8R cool for the next test.

When the stove was cool enough, I dumped out the white gas and poured in unleaded automotive gas. This gas had been in storage all winter, and has some stabilizer added to it. Again, I spilled gas on the stove, even with the use of a small funnel. I lit it ( WHOOSH! ) and let it heat up. The auto gas made greasy smoke, unlike the much cleaner burning white gas. This time, the 8R boiled it’s quart in only 9 minutes, 39 seconds! It seems auto gas is more powerful. This time, the stove roared the whole time it was running.

Auto gas would be a bit of a pain to run a backpacking stove on, primarily because of it’s smell. Spill white gas on your sleeping bag and it evaporates very fast, and leaves no stain. Spill automotive gas on your sleeping bag, and you’ll smell it the whole trip.

The big kicker using automotive gas is the danger of the fumes. White gas burns very cleanly. Car gas has many additives like Benzene and other stuff in it so it’s fumes are quite toxic. Of course, we all zoom back and forth every day in our cars, spewing gas fumes to the heavens without a care. But a small stove running on the same gas must be used out of doors, or at least with very good ventilation.

I have cooked indoors, in tents and even inside a car ( with the windows opened a bit ) with a stove burning white gas. I don’t think I’d try that with automotive gas. Still, the auto gas burned hotter, and is widely available world wide! I figure it might would work for my upcoming trip!

Now for the endurance test…

The stove warming up –

I placed the stove out away from the cottage, on a snow covered board and put precisely 1/2 cup of automotive gas in without spilling any this time.

I primed the stove with four 1/2 full eye dropper squirts, which filled the priming cup. I lit the stove, and off it went. I opened the supply valve as wide as it would go without flooding the stove with fuel.

The stove was still cold, and it chuff-chuffed along rather than roaring. On top of the stove I placed a very large pot with 1 and 1/2 gallons of water in it.

I started a timer, then went inside. I figured the stove would burn about an hour on that 1/2 cup of gas. I’d run this stove before for long periods of time, using white gas.

I wasn’t concerned with how fast it could boil so much water, but rather was interested in how long it would burn with 1/2 cup of gas.

Before to long I could hear the stove heat up and start roaring. My mistake was that I didn’t go out and turn down the stove.

Later, my wife and I got ready to go on a walk in the snowy woods to collect pine needles for basket making. I figured I could be away for 1/2 hour, and get back in time to catch the stove as it burned out.

21 minutes into the test we went out to take our walk, and saw that the pot and stove were engulfed in flame!
Flame was pouring out of the gas cap, as well as the burner. I was able to turn off the valve without burning my hand easily enough, then blew out the flame coming from the relief valve on the gas cap, and let the hissing stove cool down.

The water was quite warm, but not boiling. The oversized pot and wide-open gas valve had overheated the gas tank, and the safety valve on the tank had opened.

OK, so now we know what NOT to do with this little stove….

After dinner that night I wanted to see if my 8R still worked, or if it had been fried. I refilled it with fresh auto gas, and the stove was in the same exposed location.

It was now 27 degrees out, the humidity was still 20%, and a slight downhill breeze was blowing, maybe 3 MPH.
The stove lit and ran just fine, and the stove boiled a quart of water in 11 minutes and 30 seconds. Then I reduced the heat of the stove, and simmered the water for five full minutes. I wanted to see if the stove would cool to much to run at this low setting in below freezing weather, but simmer it did just fine.

The burner heats up red hot and the blue flame washes over the bottom of the pot – And the front of the gas tank!

The flame at night –

Looking at this one can see how the tank could overheat with to large a pot on top, a extra wind screen wrapped around the stove, or even just running it to long on to high a setting with automotive gasoline.

For a comparison I tested the propane stove in my cottage. My kitchen was a comfortable 70 degrees, 20% humidity. Same pot and so forth, and my kitchen range boiled it’s quart in six minutes, 20 seconds.

Cooking the easy way –

So the Wisperlight burns hotter than the kitchen stove! Even out in the cold, it boils a quart faster than the kitchen stove.

Conclusion -

All things considered, I’m quite pleased with my little 8R and think I will be using it on my upcoming trip. I’ll be able to walk off the plane with my pack, and get a quart of gas at the first gas station I pass. The trip will be in high summer, so I know it will perform even better than these cold weather tests.

For cold weather or long trips in this country or Canada, I’ll definitely stick to the Wisperlight. Nothing else is as light or efficient. It’s the only stove I’d consider for melting snow for drinking water.

For trips where white gas is unavailable, or the occasional weekend backpack trip, or for cycle or canoe trips where the last ounce need not be paired down, I think I might be using my old Blue Box.

I’d like to hear about tests from other folk with different backpacking stoves, butane or propane cartridge stoves, double burner Coleman stoves, and I think someone should test an electric range at home for reference! I’d also like to hear about other folks experiences using auto gas in these things.

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Thanks, Bob! Like he asked, if anyone has experiences with different stoves, fuels, etc., please let us know in the comments. — Ed.