“If you’ve ever felt left behind, out-of-step or just plain bewildered by the stampeding madness of the herd-like behavior of modern life, come along with Scott B. Williams on an irreverent and humorous examination of the materialism, technology and regulations of contemporary America. Williams shares his perspective as one who lives on the fringes of the mainstream. Just as Henry David Thoreau went to Walden Pond in 1845 to seek simplicity and separation from his peers in nature, Williams chose to go astray by paddling a 17-foot kayak to the Caribbean. Astray of the Herd is a collection of observations resulting from his life on “island time” with little money, no job, and boundless freedom to ponder the deeper questions of life. Read this book for a laugh, give it to your stressed-out friends, or get inspired to do some straying of your own.”
– the publisher
Humorous and true indeed. Humans of the so called sheeple modern world are pathetic. Hell I’m pathetic and so are you. I’ll laugh at myself and you can laugh at you and others. If we can truly break away in the best way we can from modern herd mentality, we can begin once again to appreciate life and feel the connection to the natural world. Why wait til retirement to live life when you are either too old to enjoy life or too far gone from the poisons of of this herd mentality world. In this modern herd world we are groomed (cloned) to act like the next guy with the same memes: clothing, hair, automobile, groomed lawn, yuppie McMansion, a job that occupies all the time to pay you in federal reserve fiat currency to buy the essential items we need to survive. I read “Astray Of The Herd: Observations, Commentaries and Rants from Outside the Mainstream” in one sitting. It was a short, but informative read on my Kindle. Being a survivalist is outside the mainstream, well kinda, for some, not all. One thing I have observed in popularity amongst survivalists are those survivalists who appeal to the herd to be like the herd are listened too more than dangerous strays who are viewed with suspect and contempt, however attract a core audience of other strays, or stray wannabes.

Scott B Williams is a writer with a passion for exploring and outdoor adventures on land and sea. Mr. Willaims began writing magazine articles about solo long-distance kayaking voyages in 1990, and since written seven books and continues to write for magazines and blogs on boatbuilding, sailing and outdoor survival.To find out more about the work and additional information on the topics of his books can be found on his websites at: www.scottbwilliams.com and www.bugoutsurvival.com

Other books by Scott B Williams:

2-3 tablespoons olive oil
2 cups chopped carrots
1 cup chopped onion (about one whole onion) white onion, yellow, maybe sweet onion
8 cloves garlic, minced
10 habanero peppers (more or less, depending on your tastes)
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup lime juice, or juice from about three fresh squezzed lime
1/2 cup white wine vinegar
2 roma tomatoes
salt to taste

Directions

1. Heat the oil in a sauce pan over medium heat. Cook and stir the carrots, oil, onion, and garlic in the hot oil until soft, about five to ten minutes; transfer to a blender. Add the whole habanero peppers, water, lime juice, white wine vinegar, salt and tomatoes to blender; blend until smooth.

2. Take the blended mixture and add mixture to the saucepan, and simmer for about five minutes. Let cool and enjoy. Store in cool locations or low room temperatures and enjoy.

Congradulations, you just saved money by not buying little bottles at the grocery store. Depending on the brand, a 5oz bottle can cost around 4.00 to 7.00 USD. I made the entire batch, with ingredients remaining (vinegar, lime juice, salt, water (of course), and olive oil) of about a yeild of about 40oz. I lost some in transfer because I did not have a funnel to transfer the finished habanero sauce into the smaller bottles. Be prepared when working with habaneros. Have protection for hands and eyes, or be careful. Over and out. Enjoy!

habanero peppers

Well, M.D. Creekmore covers this way of life in the book Dirt Cheap Survival Retreat. In an depth look at all the aspects of how he survives in a tin can travel trailer which are hot in the summer and cold in the winter. He covers insulation techniques, electricity with solar and generators, battery banks. There are sections on finding and securing water, growing a food production garden, rain water collection, grey water disposal, small scale animal farming, and most important tips on finding the cheap piece of vacant land and your trailer.

I read through Dirt Cheap Survival and found the information presented to be familiar to how I was living in Montana in a travel trailer with solar, propane, 12 volt battery bank and 12 volt appliances. However, we had a wood stove to keep it warm in the winter, I could have used this reference book from M.D. Creekmore on tips of retaining the heat generated from the wood stove.

Waking at 3:00am to a cold trailer and walking to the stove to add

chimny pipe out the side at a 45 degree angle, bad idea - wind drafts

80 watt solar, battery bank

Blue Cloud, Helena, Montana

MD Creekmore, is a full-time blog writer at www.thesurvivalistblog.net, emergency preparedness consultant, author of “The Dirt Cheap Survival Retreat” available from Paladin Press as well as over 2,000 articles on survival and self-reliance topics.

Some of the lesser priced kukri machetes also have softer carbon steel in 1055 like the Cold Steel Kukri. The Ka Bar Kukri has tougher 1085 steel and if you need a kukri that goes the extra expedition and stands up to tough work and sharpens to “razor”, field sharp after a long hard day of shelter building and securing firewood for the cold night and you need the tool to last, look no further than the Ka Bar Kukri.

I sharpened it with a course / extra course diamond sharpener from DMT company or a file from the department box store. Sometimes I could go all day merely give six strokes on each side of the blade, but going down the blade, and not up the blade. Why? got that advice from an expert woodsman on YouTube.

ouch!

Anyways, hope you enjoyed reading, watching the videos, and the pictures I took over the past year in 2011 of working with the Ka Bar Machete.

Public Library View in Salt Lake City, Utah

Recently I was in a modern urban survival situation in Salt Lake City, Utah. Some of the realities I encountered differed greatly from what I read in Survival Quarterly, Issue #2, “Shelter”. First hand experience taught me most of the article was bias or living in the 1970′s. I did find some stuff helpful like picking up pennies was not a way to buy food or living expenses, but might top off a purchase when a few pennies short. It ends there.

First and foremost, you can not walk into a restaurant and wash dishes for a meal. You need to go through job service or craigslist, email a resume, and show ID, and maybe multiple interviews to get that minimum wage dish washing job and with the job market in depression, expect the competition to be fierce.

Urban camping is great if you can find a spot to stay more than one night without geting your shit ripped off or going to jail for trespassing. Some parks, like during this Occcupy Salt Lake City have the park open to tent campers and others who wish to stay but not sell crack and heroin or smoke outside designated areas on the sidewalk or fours corners. Of course, this is temporary. Most likely, like I found myself without bedding and sleeping pad, to sleep in a Road Home for three nights in a room with 300 (or so) guys, shitters, pissers, showers (no soap or anything beyond a grab of paper roll towels and toilet to dry, or use your clothes).

Food. Yeah, I see lots of wild edibles around urban areas, but it a big risk getting sick from poisons or even dieing so even the most skilled botanist will stay away. During the Occupy and End the Fed protests there were more than the usual meals in the park, meals under the bridge near Salt Lake Central on Sunday mornings with bread and other resources offered, including sending off snail mail for you if you brought a letter and had addressed it, meals at the Rescue Mission that kicked ass, and daily at the CCS (Catholic Community Services) for lunch and dinner, the rescue mission had breakfast. A coffee line starts at 7:30am at the place where crack is also sold, take my advice and choose the Christian crank and not the other stuff. Included are pastries. Yeah, the homeless and whoever wants them get the perishable leftovers, like pastries and fruit. There were so many options I just could not eat that much. So, you are going to starve and be lightheaded, docile, and risk injury for your pride? Nonsense.