I teach outdoor living skills (it's only survival if it's not happening on purpose) to a lot of folks. There's lots to learn! if you can find an OLS instructor/ mentor in your area, that's your best bet. Otherwise, read Tom Brown, Jr.
Here are some random appetizers, in the order which they fall outta my brain.
Some useful wild plants for y'all to look up:
Yarrow- the single most important plant I can imagine. Whole medicine cabinet in one little plant.
Mullein- great medicinal tea, awesome fire starter, stuns fish in calm water, best toilet paper by far.
Plantain- highly nutritious leaves and seed, grows everywhere.
Sorrel (or shamrock)- not bad nutritionally, but very sweet and sour, so it makes stuff taste good.
Basswood- big f-ing deciduous tree. Inner bark makes strong cordage. Natives in my area called it "string tree."
Cattail- even more uses than mullein, if you can believe that.
Sumac- Mmmmm, better than lemon aid! Avoid the ones with white berries though, or you're gonna have a bad week. That one's poisonous.
Jewelweed- Poison ivy? Mosquito's? Didn't notice. . .I've got my trusty jewelweed!
You just can't learn enough about wild edible and medicinal plants. Read a LOT.
Google methods to build a wiki-up and practice doing that. Same with cattail mats. Same with hardwood utensils. Same with birch-bark containers.
You can google friction fire, but have someone show you or you'll more than likely just get frustrated. I prefer the spindle method using a dried mullein stalk for the spindle and any hardwood for a fireboard, but you don't always get to choose!
If you look at a crescent moon at any stage, and draw an imaginary line from the top point to the bottom point and follow that imaginary strait line to the horizon, you have found south, roughly. Sometimes very roughly!
In the northern hemisphere, shadows point north at noon. Earlier they will lean northwest, and later they lean northeast. Likewise, the sun is to the south at noon, to the southeast A.M. and to the southwest P.M.
If you are hiking through the Alaskan wilderness and you come upon an old bus in the middle of nowhere, turn around very slowly and go back whence you came. If you hear Eddie Veder singing really loud, run! And don't eat the moldy wild pea rhizomes.
Learn a lot about birds. Much as you can. They tell everything that's happening in a five mile radius.
Buy every book available from the Peterson's Field Guide series. But, Silby's is the best bird book.
Start a daily weather journal, and include your observations.
Keep repeating that comfort is a luxury; not a necessity.
Never, never, never, NEVER leave your bedroom without a quality knife!
