The Country Wisdom Thread

[Vel454]

Virtually everything can have multiple uses that you would never consider if you use your imagination. An empty soda can, can be cut into shims to pop open twist-dial type locks (assuming the lock is yours, you merely forgot the password, and are legally breaking it open). A am/fm radio and a calculator can be used together to create a metal detector (I haven't tried it yet, but my kid's cartoon said it was so! ...Yes, I'm going to give it a try haha). Empty bottles for makeshift wind chimes/burglar trip alarms around your camp. Hell, watch dual survivor. Fire from a bag of piss, go figure.

I realize that this thread is about specific pieces of wisdom and knowledge. But never forget the power of your imagination. When in a survival situation, try to view all things around you, through the eyes of a child. Cut out a tongue of an old boot, grab it's laces and make a sling. Use the rubber sole to throw up black smoke as a signal fire. Use the remaining leather pieces to protect dressed wounds from brush. Everything can have dozens of uses, never limit your mind, by taking for granted, the realization of an item's originally intended use.

... It is with this spirit, that the bulk of the reply's in this thread so far, have been discovered.

[Smü]

A farmer's saying that has been proven itself this year goes like this in german:

"Blüht die Eiche vor der Esche bringt der Sommer große Wäsche"
which would translate into:
"If oak thrives before ash, summer will be quite a wash" (sucky rhiming translation), with "Wäsche / wash" meaning "rainy".

Yet I don't know if that applies to mideurope only or would be helpful in other countries of the northern hemisphere.

[Ad'lan]

A farmer's saying that has been proven itself this year goes like this in german:

"Blüht die Eiche vor der Esche bringt der Sommer große Wäsche"
which would translate into:
"If oak thrives before ash, summer will be quite a wash" (sucky rhiming translation), with "Wäsche / wash" meaning "rainy".

Yet I don't know if that applies to mideurope only or would be helpful in other countries of the northern hemisphere.

The Norfolk varient is "Ash before Oak, and you're in for a Soak, Oak before Ash and you're in for a Splash."

So it's true for East Anglia as well.

[ODA 226]

Does it need to be relatively fresh tobacco, or would a nice stale cigarette work?
Nobody around here smokes, so a pack would most likely be several years old.

Since I don't smoke, I've only used Skoal, Copenhagen and Red Man to neutralize bee/wasp/spider venom. All of these work very,very well.

BTW: The dip or chew applied to the sting or bite MUST BE WET!

[Smü]

The Norfolk varient is "Ash before Oak, and you're in for a Soak, Oak before Ash and you're in for a Splash."

So it's true for East Anglia as well.

So either way, you're getting wet.

[WY_Not]

All kinds of country wisdom in this book...




"Storey's Basic Country Skills: A Practical Guide" by John Storey and "The Encyclopedia of Country Living" by Carla Emery are both excellent books.

If you have the cash to spare, a full set of the Foxfire books.

[Ad'lan]

The Norfolk varient is "Ash before Oak, and you're in for a Soak, Oak before Ash and you're in for a Splash."

So it's true for East Anglia as well.

So either way, you're getting wet.

Welcome to sunny Norfolk.

[wee drop o' bush]

My grandmother always made me soak a sprained ankle in a tub of foul smelling White Vinegar/Metholated Spirits mix.
It was ghastly stuff, made my ankle throb and I was bored sitting there. But it worked!
The pain and swelling vanished

[TravisM.1]

"God loves a workin' man."
"If you got it, go to the doctor and get rid of it."
"Don't trust Whitey."

[ZombieGranny]

Frankly, TravisM.1, I don't see how that post is helpful.

There is another thread on ant control just now, and I posted the trick of mixing yeast and honey to get rid of them.
There are of course different kinds of ants, but the honey/yeast works well on the small black sugar-eating ants.

I usually use a Tablespoon or so of honey and an equal amount of yeast for each nest. Just mix the two together and drizzle near the holes.
The ants are attracted to the honey and take it in the nest, yeast and all. Within two days no more ants.
I do that with the nests that hide under the driveway slabs. Works every time.

[DarkAxel]

Here's some local country wisdom:

If the turtles are headed away from water, there's going to be a flood. If they are heading to water, the river's crested and going back down.

From my great-grandfather: "Build yer house on the sunny side of the mountain". And "You don't need bottom-land to grow corn".

If your nose starts itching while you are thinking of someone, you will see them soon.

[TravisM.1]

Frankly, TravisM.1, I don't see how that post is helpful.

Lighten up. It's a joke, from a movie called "The Jerk". Steve Martin plays a guy who was raised by a family of poor black sharecroppers (which would be of no consequence, if Martin weren't snow white and painly oblivious to the fact that he was adopted throughout the film), and that's the advice his adopted Dad (IIRC) gives him before he leaves home.

If the turtles are headed away from water, there's going to be a flood. If they are heading to water, the river's crested and going back down.

I wonder if there's any scientific validity to that? I took the kids camping in a state park a couple years back, and the rangers were doing a presentation on Turtles at the park's ampitheater. The biggerst thing that I took away from it was that 99% of the time, if you see a turtle, you're within 200 yards of where it was born and lived it's whole life.

[Anianna]

THANK YOU all you people who have mentioned tobacco for the relief of stings here and elsewhere. While our power was out after Irene, we tied the dog up outside because it was so hot in the house and she got herself into some yellow jackets. We pulled 30 or so of them out of her fur once we discovered what had happened (she's a long hair GSD and we didn't even see them on her at all) and the poor thing was in misery. I went out for tobacco and rubbed it all over her and she stopped rolling and crying almost immediately. I love you people! Thank you so much for my dog's relief!

[skyreep]

Agree on the tobacco, any works, just put spit all over it and apply.

Country fences need to be horse high, pig tight, and bull strong.

Divining, no not tea leaves. You can use either bent copper (clothes hangars) or a forked willow branch, when you walk over underground water the copper wires will cross or the willow branch will bend downwards, worth researching.

Ground up christmas tree ferns are a natural bug repellent when rubbed on your skin.

A cat will track a wounded deer's blood for the warmth of the body.

Firesuckers can take the burn out of sunburn up to 2nd degree burns so it doesn't hurt anymore, but you have to know somebody you knows somebody because it's a skill handed down through certain members in a family.

Jewelweed treats poison ivy.

Save your ashes to make lye soap.

Tulip poplar leaves can be folded to make a cup.

Aloe vera obviously has multiple uses.

Honey = Most amazing thing ever.

burned up cloth in a can with a hole in the top makes the ultimate fire starter to catch sparks on.

Sweet feed for horses makes a fine mash for alcohol distilling.

If you hear a woman in your woods screaming like she's being raped, don't worry, it's just a bobcat.

Clean the tight spots in your guns, shaving cream+hot shower. Obviously be careful if you have blued parts. (Military cheat)

Beeswax/Linseed oil are excellent wood conditioners

If a can lid is popped up don't eat it, botulism sign.

That's all I can think of right now.

[scurvy]

I've never heard of this before, but thought it belonged here:

"Crickets like it warm. And the warmer it gets, the faster they chirp. A gentleman by the name of Amos Dolbear noticed this fact back in 1898. He came up with a cricket chirping temperature formula, which is know as Dolbears Law. The equation is as follows: T = 50 + (N - 40) / 4, where T = temperature in degrees Fahrenheit and N = number of chirps per minute.

If that seems like too much work to figure out, there’s an simplified version that goes like this: temperature = number of chirps in 13 seconds + 40. "

if your packing a stopwatch and your math skills instead of a thermometer, and are just that damn curious about the actual temp. . .

[duodecima]

I've never heard of this before, but thought it belonged here:

"Crickets like it warm. And the warmer it gets, the faster they chirp. A gentleman by the name of Amos Dolbear noticed this fact back in 1898. He came up with a cricket chirping temperature formula, which is know as Dolbears Law. The equation is as follows: T = 50 + (N - 40) / 4, where T = temperature in degrees Fahrenheit and N = number of chirps per minute.

If that seems like too much work to figure out, there’s an simplified version that goes like this: temperature = number of chirps in 13 seconds + 40. "

if your packing a stopwatch and your math skills instead of a thermometer, and are just that damn curious about the actual temp. . .

I am totally checking this out tonite!!! (Since I don't pack a thermometer, watches have second hands, and I am a math geek )

Edit : This is
a) calibrated to a different species of cricket, or
b) we have sick/stupid/temperature insensitive crickets at my place, or
c) is only accurate within a certain temperature range higher than 66 degrees, or
d) yet another thing that just doesn't quite work...

Off (low) by about 18 degrees by either formula. Altho the crickets are chirping at roughly the same rate, which I'd never really paid attention to before.

[KnightoftheRoc]

I've never heard of this before, but thought it belonged here:

"Crickets like it warm. And the warmer it gets, the faster they chirp. A gentleman by the name of Amos Dolbear noticed this fact back in 1898. He came up with a cricket chirping temperature formula, which is know as Dolbears Law. The equation is as follows: T = 50 + (N - 40) / 4, where T = temperature in degrees Fahrenheit and N = number of chirps per minute.

If that seems like too much work to figure out, there’s an simplified version that goes like this: temperature = number of chirps in 13 seconds + 40. "

if your packing a stopwatch and your math skills instead of a thermometer, and are just that damn curious about the actual temp. . .

I am totally checking this out tonite!!! (Since I don't pack a thermometer, watches have second hands, and I am a math geek )

Edit : This is
a) calibrated to a different species of cricket, or
b) we have sick/stupid/temperature insensitive crickets at my place, or
c) is only accurate within a certain temperature range higher than 66 degrees, or
d) yet another thing that just doesn't quite work...

Off (low) by about 18 degrees by either formula. Altho the crickets are chirping at roughly the same rate, which I'd never really paid attention to before.

Keep in mind, there's a temp difference between where you are probably holding your thermometer (shoulder height or so) and the ground, where it's cooler by quite a bit. Maybe not an 18 degree difference, but it certainly COULD be, depending on your location.

Related, and back OT: The air always changes temperature fastest, the ground next, and water slowest. This applies to rise or fall in temp.

[duodecima]

Edit : This is
a) calibrated to a different species of cricket, or
b) we have sick/stupid/temperature insensitive crickets at my place, or
c) is only accurate within a certain temperature range higher than 66 degrees, or
d) yet another thing that just doesn't quite work...

Off (low) by about 18 degrees by either formula. Altho the crickets are chirping at roughly the same rate, which I'd never really paid attention to before.

Keep in mind, there's a temp difference between where you are probably holding your thermometer (shoulder height or so) and the ground, where it's cooler by quite a bit. Maybe not an 18 degree difference, but it certainly COULD be, depending on your location.

Related, and back OT: The air always changes temperature fastest, the ground next, and water slowest. This applies to rise or fall in temp.

QFT on thermal mass!

Excellent thought - but I was going by the Wunderground website temp, and I was sitting outside on the ground in short sleeves counting. No way was it 48 degrees. 66 (per website) seemed about right. And one of the crickets was in a ground level bush, but the other one was up a tree a ways, no difference.

[scurvy]

So I'm sitting here with a 1980 penny duck taped to my elbow. . . .????


some one told me once that is you were stung by a bee and IMMEDIATELY put a copper penny on the sting and held it there, it would ease the pain and the swelling. . .

about two hours ago I felt the ZAP on the back of my elbow ( nice spot huh. . . ) scraped off the stinger and that memory hit me, ran over to my truck and dug through my change for a pre-83 penny ( I think they have more copper if I remember correctly ) grabbed some duck tape and strapped it on.

the verdict: no visible swelling, minimal annoying pain, I am kinda distracted by the duck tape pulling on my skin every time I move my arm but, that annoying itchy-stinging feeling is not there.

credit to who ever it was that told me, I can't remember who the hell it was.

For now. . . I would reccomend this copper penny thing to every one, it might just be the distraction, but hey it's working for me currently.

[Ad'lan]

Edit : This is
a) calibrated to a different species of cricket, or
b) we have sick/stupid/temperature insensitive crickets at my place, or
c) is only accurate within a certain temperature range higher than 66 degrees, or
d) yet another thing that just doesn't quite work...

Off (low) by about 18 degrees by either formula. Altho the crickets are chirping at roughly the same rate, which I'd never really paid attention to before.

Keep in mind, there's a temp difference between where you are probably holding your thermometer (shoulder height or so) and the ground, where it's cooler by quite a bit. Maybe not an 18 degree difference, but it certainly COULD be, depending on your location.

Related, and back OT: The air always changes temperature fastest, the ground next, and water slowest. This applies to rise or fall in temp.

QFT on thermal mass!

Excellent thought - but I was going by the Wunderground website temp, and I was sitting outside on the ground in short sleeves counting. No way was it 48 degrees. 66 (per website) seemed about right. And one of the crickets was in a ground level bush, but the other one was up a tree a ways, no difference.

While not country wisdom, so much as skeptics/chemist's, but Correlation =/= Causation. He may have found a direct correlation in his study of crickets, but it dosen't then hold that there will be a direct correlation elsewhere, so many different things could have caused the correlation, apart from the crickets responding to the temperature changes.

[ODA 226]

The Norfolk varient is "Ash before Oak, and you're in for a Soak, Oak before Ash and you're in for a Splash."

So it's true for East Anglia as well.

So either way, you're getting wet.

Welcome to sunny Norfolk.

I've been there a million times! We used to stage out of RAF Sculthorpe every year.

[KnightoftheRoc]

just heard this one yesterday, cannot verify it from personal experience. I DO trust the person who told me (he's the one who told me about the tobacco trick), and he says he witnessed it first hand. Anyway, Jellyfish Stings- douse with vinegar immediately, and the pain is washed away with the vinegar. I'm not much for spending time on the shore, and honestly, I would have NEVER thought of this one on my own, but it's a pretty cool trick, and cheap to prep for.

[ninja-elbow]

I had my truck for about 5 months. Just went thtough a rough break-up and has just quit drinking. Was out shooting my, then new, Ruger 10-22. It was February, sunny day in the woods, but it had rained all week so there was some mud. The road was busy so I (all alone up at the old range) decided to move my truck a bit deeper off the road and closer to me. Backing up I hit a patch of mud and started sliding on a downgrade on the other side of the road. It lead to a bunch of trees and bushes down at the bottom. I'm thinking, "Ohhhh maaaaaan..." when I back right into the 5 foot tall remnants of an young, chopped down, beech tree about as wide around as my arm. The rear right part of my truck sort of caved in on that little stump and the dent was huge, but it stopped my truck from sliding any further down that mud hill.

So I'm back there, bitching about the huge dent, when a little Honda with 2 country boys in it comes down the road. "

"Ya'll stuckin the mud?" the fat one asks.

"Yeah, I'll be all right though." I'm a bit paranoid while alone in the woods. I look Mexican and the woods aint' friendly, in my parts, to Mexicans. I was open carrying though so I was hoping that that would deter any foul play.

"Well, we can't drive by leaving you all stuck in the mud like that." So they pull over and both them boys got out and told me to get up in the cab and steer. "Don't you worry about splashing us now!"

Them boys pushed my truck right up out of the little ditch I was in and we got all of it done in less than 30 seconds, I was back up on that road and across it and up by my shooting spot in no time. When I got out I had to go look at that dent though. Good news was the huge dent looked to pop back out after getting off the stump. Bad news was there still was a really shallow (and you can barely see it if I point it out) dent in the big dents place.

Me and the fat guy were looking at it. I mentioned, "Damn, just got this truck and already got a dent in it."

The fat redneck looks at me and says, "Well... if you didn't want dents in your truck, you wouldn't drive it in the woods."

I smilled and said, "You're a fucking genius dude." and offered him a smoke and some coffee. Later I helped him and his buddy pick up some brass off the ground at the range and and let them shoot my Baretta.

[angelofwar]

To catch a bee, just clasp him in your hands...if a bee can't see, it won't sting. Don't close your hand however, since bee's can A) Sting on sight, or B) as a muscle reflex...that's why dead bee's can still sting you.

Wasps don't have an "ejectable" stinger...they can just keep on stinging you.

Honey is the ultimate survival food; as previously stated, it doesn't go bad. Also, in a survival scenario, you can live for months off a teaspoon of honey a day. Yes you need water, and yes you will have hunger pangs, but a teaspoon of honey has enough nutrients to keep you kickin'.

As was mentioned about black snakes, same goes for wolf spiders...they're not venomous, but will greatly reduce the number of insects in and around your home...so don't kill them.

If you can't eat a lot, eat right; during excercises, when we can't bring in a lot to eat, people bring in junk food...and they end up draggin' ass all day. If you can;t pack a full blown meal with meats, veggies, taters, etc., at least eat right; beef jerky, peanuts, and hard candy/chocolate. These will keep you goin' full speed until you can get a full meal. If there's one thing SF packs on a long mission, it's chocolate.

MRE's. They not just just for eating; MRE's have enough nutrients/calories, to where you could eat one COMPLETE MRE every three days and live the rest of your life. This doesn't take into account the extra energy expelled on the battlefield. Also, MRE bags are designed to float, as expedient life preservers. AND, don't trash your MRE bag...cut it open with a small slit all the way across the top, and then use it as a sandbag. That's what they were designed for...seriously.

Rubbing two $.50 pieces together rapidly (on the edges) make for an expedient squirrel call.

Avoiding snakes...snakes are afraid of us...if you step on one, you caught it sleeping/off guard...when walking through "snake country", every 4-5 steps, "stomp" one of your feet. The snakes will feel this from yards away, and leave before you even knew they were there.

Eat a spoonful of fresh/wet garlic about 30 minutes before you head out into the boonies...this will keep the mosquitoes off of ya.

TIC removal; For babies/toddlers, smother the area in vaseline; the tic won't be able to breath and will A) Die or B) Fall off. For large tics, burn them off, and make sure you remove the pincers. Even after the body is gone, Lyme disease can still be transferred through the pincers.