The Handbook for Primitive LivingImagine if tomorrow you had no hydro, no running water, no fuel, no phone. How could you survive? This site is a thought experiment designed to answer that question.How to determine North without using a compass.- (Found July 2, 2008 ) A variety of tricks are outlined on this page. It is part of a larger body of work called the Illustrated Guide on How to Use a Compass.http://www.tenletters.com/rhahn/hpl/2004/04/14#orientation Preserve Your Food With The Sun- (Found July 2, 2008 ) So you’re tired of hauling ice every morning, but still need to preserve a lot of food. There are methods to preserve food other than freezing or refrigerating, which include canning (the subject of a future post) and dehydrating, otherwise known as drying. Properly dried, food enzymes are deactivated to prevent discolouration, vitamins are preserved, and the moisture content is too low for bacteria or mould to form. Additionally, food becomes much lighter and sees a reduction in...http://www.tenletters.com/rhahn/hpl/2003/10/16#solar_dehydrator Snow Shelters- (Found July 2, 2008 ) A debris hut is good shelter when you can readily find dry leaves, branches, grasses, and other materials. What happens if all of that useful shelter-building material is hidden under a big pile of snow Naturally, you build a snow shelter instead. There are many different ways to build a snow shelter, but all of them share a few key features: Thick walls: Snow is a good insulator, but not exactly a stellar building material. Make sure you walls are good and thick to prevent...http://www.tenletters.com/rhahn/hpl/2003/10/20#snow_shelter Refrigerating With The Sun- (Found July 2, 2008 ) Update: Added info about Zeolite-water ice makers and re-edited. When your electricity fails, with it goes your ability to refrigerate. A well-insulated, full refrigerator will keep the perishable contents for perhaps 4 hours with the door kept shut. A full freezer should be fine for 48 hours. See Keeping Food Safe During An Emergency for further recommendations. So, what can you do if power goes off for days or weeks Well, you could use a propane refrigerator or if you would...http://www.tenletters.com/rhahn/hpl/2003/10/23#solar_ice_maker Making Fire- (Found July 2, 2008 ) Pretend once again you’re lost in the woods. You’ve already secured your source of water, you’re built your shelter, so now what do you need Likely, you’d want a fire for warmth, security, cooking, or any combination thereof. So you brought waterproof matches, right No Ah well, we can work around that... See more ...http://www.tenletters.com/rhahn/hpl/2003/10/27#making_fire Tidbits Volume 1- (Found July 2, 2008 ) Researching primitive living aspects forces one to do a lot of reading and sorting. In this process a lot of information is read, and lots of good information is not retained. Instead of letting these pearls of knowledge scatter in favour of finding only the motherlode, I’m introducing the Tidbits section. Tidbits will be full of random, singular, unordered, but potentially useful pieces of information that don’t have a home otherwise. Tidbits will be updated as information is...http://www.tenletters.com/rhahn/hpl/2004/02/10#tidbits_01 Watercone Water Still- (Found July 2, 2008 ) Back a couple of months I became motivated to design a cheap solar water still that could be econoically provided to refugees, natural disaster victims, and the like. During my information gathering phase, someone sent me a link to a product that was astoundingly similar to exactly what I was hoping to produce. Watercone is a super-simple solar water still. It’s a two-piece plastic design that uses nothing but the sun’s energy to produce over a litre of distilled water per...http://www.tenletters.com/rhahn/hpl/2004/02/10#watercone Water Filtering Using Ceramic Pots- (Found July 2, 2008 ) Pots for Peace have come up with an innovative way to ensure that water is over 98% pure. See their Ceramic Water Filter Project for more information.http://www.tenletters.com/rhahn/hpl/2004/03/23#ceramicWaterFilters Another No-Electricity Refrigerator- (Found July 2, 2008 ) Two pots, wet sand, and a wet blanket seems to be all that’s required to keep food from spoiling for up to 3 weeks. Check out the Pot-in-pot refrigerator! I wonder how well this would work in relatively cooler climes (like Canada)http://www.tenletters.com/rhahn/hpl/2004/03/24#potinpot How to Maintain and Repair a Bike.- (Found July 2, 2008 ) This looks like an excellent resource. Update: the link to the site has been updated.http://www.tenletters.com/rhahn/hpl/2003/10/16#HowToMaintainAndRepairABike |