I Am A Survivor

Make your own survival pack to have ready when you and your friends want to take a hike. [beginner]

Your pack should consist of:

1) matches in waterproof containers - lighter.  We also practiced setting fires with my ferro rod necklace and lint in a safe space at home.  

2) a pocketknife - razor blade in protective case

3) unbreakable mirror for signaling rescuers - reflective side of space blanket.  We also practiced signaling with the mirror in a folding brush and my compass mirror.

4) whistle - check

5) high-energy bar or a few pieces of hard candy - beef jerky!

6) rainproof poncho - given our climate (desert) we opted to double down on sun protection and water.  If this were an extended hike in a non-urban environment, we have a set of ponchos we could deploy, but that would dramatically up the pack weight.

7) space blanket - check!

8) reflective nylon cord - on the whistle!

9) first-aid supplies - band-aids in several sizes, cleaning wipes

**10) hanky/bandana - collecting/storing foraging materials and more (think "the towel" in Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy) as suggested by Professor Kent

Parts of this kit were cobbled together from a highly-recommended monthly box subscription (Think Outside).  We stashed it into a sturdy fanny pack Fallon had made herself at fashion camp.  It weighed in at 217 grams without the water bottle, which seemed manageable for an almost-60 pounder to carry.  Prior to the hike, we watched several episodes of Jessie Krebs's Masterclass on Wilderness Survival.  She reminds me so much of MaryJane with her pluckiness and positivity.  She has an excellent penultimate class that reviews how to use the items in your emergency pack [expert]  

With the help of your mentoring Sister, a school or home-school club, or local nature/outdoors group, take a hike.  Make sure everyone in the group is clear on what to do and where to go if you are accidentally separated. [intermediate]

We were blessed to be able to connect with the author of one of the references for the foraging book when I sent him a thank you note.  Not only was he willing to answer email, he was willing to meet us for a foraging hike in a local park!  

We stayed in a buddy/truddy formation for most of the foray but pointed out landmarks (the bathroom, the stairs, the bridge, the playground) to regroup at if we got separated.  

While on your hike, identify five native plants and their properties as food, medicine, or poison. [expert] *Fallon IDs*

*Fennel- edible. 

*Prickly pear - edible, but required more PPE 

*Prickly lettuce- edible ancestor of cultivated lettuce

*Oak- acorns edible with work

*Plantain- edible/poultice for mosquito bites, etc. (past prime to eat)

*California pepper - not edible, but harboring a bee hive.

Lemonade berry - Fallon wasn't a fan, but could be used to flavor water

Carob - yum, we took some seeds home to try to germinate

Castor beans - generally listed as toxic, but our guide says he has had success boiling the ricin off and using the oil for hair and scalp growth, mild laxative, etc.  Be careful, the beans will pop out of their seed pods with great force!   

California Sage - cowboy cologne - fools mosquitoes

Brazil pepper - tastes like a fruity peppercorn

Wild radish- edible.  We liked the flowers

Elderberry flowers- relaxing tea that knocked us out when we got home.  

Wild mustard- edible. 

Dock- edible (but mostly past prime harvest time)

Bladderpod- edible when pods are very small (past snacking prime)

Catalina cherry- edible but not ready yet

Arbutus/Strawberry- edible but not ready yet-- let them get super ripe like persimmons

Evening primrose- edible, tastes like tissue paper

Redbud- edible, no fruit set yet

Amaranth- edible (past prime season)

Buckwheat- edible

Black walnut- fantastic dye

Mugwort/Artemisia- fantastic dreams

Biden/Spanish needles- not edible but will hitch a ride on your clothes!

My Fair Farmgirl

Research the difference between cruelty-free and organic health and beauty products versus commercially made.

We don't need to dump chemicals in mega doses on animal's most sensitive tissues to determine if they are safe and effective for humans.  We can use in vitro testing of cells in culture (like our girl, Henrietta Lacks/HeLa).  We can do in silico testing, using computer simulations of our biochemistry to determine toxicity.  We can even recruit human volunteers to test products.  

Leaping bunny - internationally trusted certification that a manufacturer must seek out.  Once certified, licensing their logo to put on packaging costs $500-$4,500.  Not every cruelty-free company seeks this credential.  I am mildly annoyed this requires downloading an app since I do not purchase product at a frequency that justifies cluttering up my phone.      

Cruelty-free kitty - a third-party blog which contacts companies for comment about their animal testing policies.  I found their posts had more information on drugstore brands.

Organic cosmetic products, like organic foods, mean a lower chemical load for your body to detox.  Nothing was doused with pesticides prior to harvest.  Organic ingredients may also be more nutrient-rich than their conventionally grown peers.  They are less likely to have additives and fragrance that irritate skin or cause headaches and other side effects.  However, like food at the farmer's markets, I found small businesses with super-fresh stuff may not have the bandwidth to seek organic status, but are happy to go into detail about their ingredients and how they are sourced.    

Companies embracing organic and cruelty-free philosophies may also be more likely to choose formulations with more natural (generally regarded as safe) ingredients.  They may put more thought into the sustainability of their packaging and how their ingredients were sourced to reduce environmental impact.  

Over time, as you run out of each product, replace it with a healthy, preferably organic version. Examples: toothpaste, shampoo, body lotion.

I stumbled upon Lush Cosmetics in my hunt for sustainable shampoo packaging.  So much of it comes in plastic bottles!  Lush had some pretty solid solid shampoo bars.  I couldn't find a conditioner bar that was effective, but was comforted to know that their cream conditioners were cruelty-free and that they will give you a store credit for your empty containers.  Their solid massage/moisturizer bars and bath bombs are also household staples and have defied my efforts to copy-cat.  That said, they aren't licensing the Leaping Bunny logo, but Cruelty-Free Kitty was satisfied with their statements.  

Toothpaste - Fygg - their website says they are cruelty-free.  They did use in vitro bovine enamel to test their product performance against alternative toothpastes.  

Cleanser - Dove - CFC promoted to cruelty free 

!Moisturizer - Vanicream - tests on animals.  Restock with Ceramedx.  2.39x more expensive per ounce but it takes forever to use this stuff up.  

!Sunscreen - LRP Anthelios - tests on animals.  It took so long to find a sunscreen I loved enough to use daily!  Kosas DreamBeam looks similar and has been bunnied since 2018.  Adding that to the wishlist when I need to restock.  

!Deodorant - Mitchum - tests on animals...

Make one simple product like lip balm, deodorant, or scented bath salts. Stay away from synthetic ingredients, using only natural ingredients. 

Since Lush does not have an impressive deodorant product and all the aluminum-free alternatives I have tried have been unimpressive, I decided to find a DIY recipe with a lot of positive ratings.  While this recipe claims to fill 2 empties and I had but a twee travel-sized sunscreen stick cartridge and a candle mold, I halved the recipe.  Using the candle-making double boiler rig was pretty straight-forward.  Outside of the possibility of leaving zinc-streaks on clothes, I am happy with this so far.  I will sweat test it at the climbing gym tomorrow where zinc-streaks could be dismissed as rogue chalk.  I've asked MacGyver to save his deodorant empties so I can refill them with a larger batch for my personal use and not have to bother with so much clean up after each micro-batch.  Plus quite a few other recipes for diy sunscreen and moisturizer call for these ingredients!