It’s been a pretty long winter here in Maine so far. It’s late February and the weather guesser is saying that we’re in for another snowstorm by this weekend. Now the big deal here in Maine are “Bean Boots” made and sold by LL Bean. They’re nice… with leather uppers and rubberized lower parts of the boot. They’re great for the cold slushy muck of northern winter. But they are kind of pricey. And part of the problem with rubberized boots is that they trap moisture against your

I decided to experiment some more with my long term storage foods that I keep on hand for camping and for emergencies. I live in a fairly remote part of Maine, (by choice) and sometimes in winter the power gets knocked out when snow tips the trees over onto power lines. Not to mention that I often haul my camping gear out into the backwoods for up to a week or more at a time during warmer months. So today I broke out some of my baggies of freeze dried stuff. Freeze dried bee

I’m pretty much an experimenter as far as food can go. Hey — I have a dog, so if it doesn’t turn out OK, I got an automatic “garbage disposal” of sorts. All except for ingredients that dogs can’t eat without getting sick. Today’s kitchen experiment was using just a few ingredients to make this dish. I have a box of ditalini pasta, and some freeze dried components, so let’s experiment ! I started off with about 2/3 cup of freeze dried beef crumbles. I add a cup of ditalin

Long term storage bread solutions.

This is a tasty lasagna made with a pasta substitute. It’s especially good for those of us who are raging diabetics, and need to find a way of keeping our blood sugar levels lower.

A lightweight easy to pack stew that adds good calories to your meals out in the backwoods.

Perhaps one of the best new innovations in outdoors gear in a while. The Valtcan 1.8 liter pressure cooker.

Tonight was the first significant snowfall of the season. I was going to test out my new Bushcrafting tarp by pitching it tent style. Unfortunately we had about 2 inches of snow and it immediately turned to rain. Cold driving rain that just soaked everything, including me, to chill to the bone. My gear is drenched and frozen. Once the ice started falling out of the clouds I decided I’d had enough. Common sense being the better part of valor — I decided that I’m going to wait

The Bemco oven is IT ! A must have for motorcycle adventures.

Weaving an Algonquin style back pack to carry my gear in the backwoods.

Make a pair of tongs in the backwoods to help you with camping chores around the fire pit.

There’s nothing quite like baking a pizza in the middle of nowhere.

A way to bake a quick bread in field conditions.

With deer season coming up soon, take a look my load out for a week spent in the hunting woods.

What goes in a haversack for the 21st century mountain man ? the possibilites are endless.

The Kephart style knife is a simple must have item for bushcrafting in the backwoods.

A better dry biscuit mix for making field expedient quick breads on bushcrafting trips.

Pulling the driveline to replace the u-joints