Search17 min read
January, evening, a dozen or so degrees below zero outside. Suddenly the lights go out and the fridge goes quiet. For the first hour nothing happens, the flat is still warm. But put your hand on the radiator after two or three hours. What will you do if the power isn’t back by morning? And… Read More »
5 min read
You hear two things about birch bark. That it’s the best tinder you’ll find in the forest, and that it burns even when wet. I wrote about it myself in my post on 8 kinds of fire everyone should know, but there I was writing from research and a few quick tries “in the field”.… Read More »
27 min read
You have a basement. Concrete, dry, under the whole house. Reading the news, you have probably thought more than once that if it came to it, the whole family would go down there. That’s a good instinct, because concrete and earth overhead really do their job. But what will you all breathe down there for… Read More »
38 min read
A rocket stove is a wood-burning firebox shaped like the letter J or L. You push sticks into a short feed opening, the fire burns in a horizontal channel, and the hot gases escape upwards through an insulated vertical channel. Its proper name is the heat riser, and in this article I simply call it… Read More »
29 min read
If you’re wondering which trekking boots to take on the trail, you’ve come to the right place. In this article you’ll find out what to look for when buying them, which types of footwear work best in which weather, which models are versatile, and which do better in winter or in summer. Let’s get to… Read More »
