iCampingAdventure.com

1. View basements and garages as rooms and plan how you’re going to use the space; visualize how you’d like it to look and feel. Grouping like things together is one of the most basic organizing principles. So create “zones”; a gardening zone, a camping zone, a recycling zone, etc. This makes for a logical system. PS: always label!

2. Make sure all your equipment is clean and maintained before storing. Mud or dirt can cause rust, mildew or deterioration. PS: donate or throw away before you store; why make room for items that need replacement?

3. Your storage area should be dry and ventilated. Wrap items. appropriately. Lawn furniture cushions should be thoroughly dry before storing and then placed loosely in a nylon bag or plastic storage bin to keep them dust free.

4. Don’t keep anything directly on a basement floor in case of water damage. Cement blocks with wood pieces create instant shelves. Better yet, use clear plastic bins. You can see what’s inside and the bins protect from water damage. PS: remember to label them!

5. Turn a plastic wading pool into a holding bin for inflatable toys, beach totes, swim goggles, and other seasonal accessories.

6. Don’t forget valuable wall space. Hang pegboards and hooks, add shelving, and put a sturdy utility shelf unit (metal or plastic is better than wood) in an empty closet. PS: Lowe’s sells one I love: it’s made by Plano and costs about $20+-.

7. Place gardening toolsrakes, shovels, hoes, etc.inside a sturdy trash barrel with wheels. Hang small tools around the rim. When it’s time to garden just roll the can to wherever you want to work. PS: trash barrels are also great for hockey sticks, bats, balls, etc.

8. Store the lawn mower in a ventilated area, away from flammable items. PS: get the leaf blower and snow blower serviced and ready for fall and winter.

9. Drawers from old furniture and empty luggage are great for storing. The luggage is going to be sitting there anyway; why not put it to good use?

10. If you still need more room, consider a storage shed behind your home. PS: make sure it can be locked and is thoroughly protected from the elements.

Disorganization takes up so much space! Organize all your clutter and you’ll be amazed how much more stuff you can fit! And imagine actually parking your car in the garage! By the way, all those trips to the beach and taking the dog to the park have taken their toll on the car. Clean the upholstery, floor mats, and car seats. The car will look great and have a new home!

Rosemary Chieppo has been a professional organizer, writer and public speaker since 1999. The costs of not being organized are enormous: time, money and stress. Organizing is the greatest gift people can give themselves; it clears the path to life’s more important destinations! Visit Rosemary’s website at http://www.borntoorganize.com.

[tags]article submission, articles, writers, writing, publishing, ezine, email marketing, email newsletter, email[/tags]

The old saying goes “when life hands you lemons, make lemonade”. However, in this age of “spin doctors” who create new images for the rich and powerful, why not put a little creativity into our own re-inventions and make lemon-coconut bars?

This was the personal question I asked myself four years ago, when at age 44, I realized that a chronic health condition was forcing me to make a major change in my lifestyle and my career. I ran my own pre-school and daycare business, successfully I might add, for almost 10 years. My doctor strongly recommended I work fewer hours and that whatever I chose; it had to be less physically demanding.

I learned several things right away:

1. Having operated your own business doesn’t mean anyone else will hire you
2. A degree in communications from 1978 guarantees you nothing
3. Being over 40 and intelligent is almost a deterrent. Employers think you’re both over qualified and too close to retirement to want to give you a chance

But I had to make a living. Finding a low-paying job was easy. Finding and building a new career was not.

When I first graduated college, I found a radio news job in the Los Angeles area right away. Upon falling in love and getting married, I decided to go into teaching (one form or another) for the next 20+ years, to ensure a stable family life. Now I was being thrust into morphing into a third career.

Somehow, I found my way into the world of high-end plumbing. But I had always wanted to go back to writing. My motto became “There are no small articles!”

Four years later, I’m happy to say, I’ve had “lines”, “blurbs” and, thanks to a passion for cooking, many recipes published in major magazines and a major newspaper. I’ve also been lucky enough to be part of a couple of major magazine articles. I started my own blog, which I update on a weekly basis. No, I do not earn enough to give up the day job, but that’s more than okay, I’ve found I actually enjoy faucets and fixtures.

My “spin” hasn’t made me rich or famous, but it has made me both healthy and happy. My family has been supportive. In fact, my husband is the person who told me my idea for this article is one I should pursue, that it would make an encouraging “read” for many women who are at a crossroads of one kind or another. My daughter has my blog on her list of favorites and said she didn’t know I could be that funny!

In researching the “spin” factor on making a new life, especially when you are past the age many employers feel they want to take a chance on, I have talked to some wonderfully interesting and brave women, women who, by want or need, have found that you don’t have to settle for “lemonade”. Here are three who have been kind enough to share their “lemon-coconut bar” stories:

(In the interest of privacy, names have been changed)

Teresa, 49
Former career: Customer Support Account Manager
New career: Massage Therapist

Reasons for change: Tired of downsizing in the tech companies she worked for. Also she recently married a gentleman who had retired, so working 60 hours a week wasn’t practical.
Teresa decided that working for herself may not pay as much but it was far more rewarding.
Being a planner, she researched the time and cost of schooling and saved enough to take the required year off from work. She put her finances in order with the help of her accountant and made sure her husband’s health benefits would also cover her. Her family and friends were supportive and she had many willing volunteers on whom to practice!

The outcome, Teresa loves being her own boss. With a little planning, she takes vacations when she wants and works the hours she prefers. She loves working in a room filled with quiet music instead of a tension filled office with over 20 people on conference calls. Her feeling is “what more do you need in life besides your health, a happy home life and food on the table, with a little time left over for fishing, hiking and spending time with your family?”

Kim, 50-ish

Former career: teaching
New career: opened her own Events-planning business

Kim decided at age 40 that “my life sucked”. She hated teaching, was unhappily married and didn’t even like her friends. She decided it was “now or never” to have a happy life.
She asked her husband for a divorce. “It really wasn’t that bad, we had nothing left in common but our 2 kids”. They have remained very close. Friends resented her for leaving, as they were the “fun” couple. New friendships had to be developed. With a communications degree in hand she started her company. With each decision, Kim decided she was getting stronger and ready to take on more chances as they presented themselves.

This included falling in love and marrying a man fourteen years her junior. They have had two children of their own. Kim feels her biggest obstacle besides blending two families was overcoming her fears of letting someone else be responsible again, at least partly, for her happiness. Her children range from 5-23.

Fast forward ten years, she feels her life is as close to perfect as anyone can expect. “Once I took that enormous leap of faith, I NEVER looked back”

Finally, we have Sarah, soon to be 70
Former career: retired freelance writer and developer of supplemental curriculum materials
New career: Newsletter editor and publicity person for her church.

Sarah felt she was in a rut. She felt herself “slowing down” both physically and mentally. Her energy was so low she decided to re-evaluate her life and step into some new activities. When she and her husband joined a new church, the opportunity to do the congregation’s newsletter piqued her interest. She had long wanted to write another column (the previous one was as a drama critic) and this would give her the chance! She found herself eager to handle the job and try new things. Far from being too much, she found herself excited at acquiring the new skills (layout and PR work) needed for the position. Her writing, always good, began to sparkle-and she was being complimented by people whose opinions she valued. She has begun writing articles again and submitting them to magazines and papers. There is more Sarah says she wants to do. She feels “young” again and loves it.

Her invalid husband actively encourages her to take on more and more. “While this is normal for him, I suspect an added dimension in that he sees it as improving my life when he is no longer with me.” The rest of her family has also been supportive-many read everything she writes. “All think what I am doing, is right for me, that I’ve found my niche”.

Starting over several times in one’s life has become so “normal” there are people who have made a career out of showing both men and women just how to do so. They call themselves “life coaches”. They help their clients’ form and shape new and realistic goals. To find information on how prevalent this situation is I Googled “women over 40, starting over”-a vast display of over 10 pages of specific websites came up for me to weed through! All of them dedicated toward coaching women on how to attain new loves, lifestyles and careers. Walking in to several books stores, I found there are areas dedicated primarily to helping women in transition in both the book and magazine sections.

At the beginning of this article, I alluded to the old saying about taking life’s lemons and making something more unique than lemonade. Many, many women find themselves with a huge basket of “lemons;” what they decide to do is up to them. Some will decide that there is nothing wrong with a nice tall glass of ice cold lemonade. Others, however, will look for ways to make lemon-coconut bars.

Carine Nadel was a broadcast journalist in a much earlier life (B.C.-BEFORE CHILDREN), now that they’re adults, Carine has been rediscovering her natural talent. Her publications have been culinary and writing about life’s ups and downs. Some of her work has been published in Woman’s Day, Family Circle and Orange County Register.

[tags]women, reinventing, themselves, after, age, 40[/tags]

Planning an outdoor educational field trip can be a painful and time consuming project for any teacher. There is the budget to consider, risk management to prepare and logistics to plan. All this background work must be done in order to gain the school board’s administration approval.

In Southern Ontario a different approach is being taken to gain business from surrounding schools. Outdoor education companies have taken advantage of the fact that their area of expertise is something a teacher often lacks or does not have the time to research. So they have created a program called “Teacher’s Aid” which custom designs field trips to meet the teacher’s needs free of charge.

The process works by having the teacher submit the outdoor curriculum requirements; minimum expected students, the time frame, available working budget and required safety standards. These are the main ingredients needed by the “Teacher’s Aid” to design an educational outdoor field trip.

The outdoor companies then use their experience and skills to design a program tailored to the school’s curricular needs. And within one week return a draft with a possible matched field trip within the working budget and safety concerns. With the curriculum outlay is also included a risk management plan, a complete price quote and a written itinerary that can be delivered to the school’s administration for approval.

In return the outdoor educational company asks that if the draft is approved; they are reimbursed in the venture by receiving the school’s field trip business. It is also understood that if the school chooses not to do the field trip, there is no charge and the school/teachers are always welcome to inquire about a quote for another program idea.

For the teacher this is minimum work and for the learning adventure companies this is maximum business. This successful approach is an excellent working venture for any business in the outdoor educational field wishing to develop a working relationship with schools.

Garth Pottruff specializes in outdoor learning experiences relating to school curriculum. He believes outdoor field trips add a needed dimension in learning… seeing, believing and applying become very real within a field trip.

He goes further then just writing field trip itineraries… he offers complimentary trips at no charge to teachers interested in developing field trip programs. He feels it is important for teachers to meet his staff and to see first hand what they do.

He instructs canoeing, kayaking, camping and how to do wilderness canoe trips. He also does hikes that teach native and settlement history, edible & medicinal plants, environmental concerns, wildlife and trees.

For Garth building a successful working relationship with teachers is based on integrity, flexibility and competence. He does not believe in promising what he cannot do well.

For more information on Learning Adventures offered by Garth visit:
http://www.grandriverrafting.ca

[tags]outdoor educational field trips, eduactional outdoor school field trips,outdoor curriculum[/tags]

Soon West Nile Virus will again be in full swing and it will end up killing people and livestock. Many ranchers lost their horses due to West Nile Virus and many people around the country died. Mosquito abatement is a serious issue and yet many people are worried about the chemicals and the affect these chemicals have on our food chain and the food chains of other living creatures amongst us.

It is for this reason that one brilliant thinker, has considered a new device, which he calls the Mosquito Abatement hat to create a negative attraction rather than allowing the Mosquitoes to home in on the CO2 our bodies naturally create. In a memo the innovator stated;

What about a hat, which sent a cone downward of a different signature of lets say something that the Mosquito considered to be hostile or registered a negative attraction too, some light wave signature or gas signature of such?

I once read a paper by William H. Steinecker at University of Michigan and he had made tiny gas sensors, well reverse this find out what Mosquitoes dislike and then what image that projects on the sensors and see if you can mimic it and see if the Mosquitoes, respond negatively too it?

He also said; I bet they would then put this on the whip antenna of a convoy vehicle and send the wrong image surrounding the Mosquitoes? Great for soccer fields, football stadiums, fishing hats, construction, you name it? It would not take very much energy? Joggers could use the bouncing and run the device by electromagnetic induction.

You could make them in hats for about $29.00 and sell them for the tops of tents for camping for $49.00 and military industrial quality stuff on antennas for $200.00 which were fully enclosed, never could break and never needed charging? Just thinking out loud. Consider all this in 2006.

Lance Winslow

[tags]Mosquito Abatement Hat, New Concept Invention, innovation, light waves, CO2[/tags]

Some of the most rewarding days that I have ever experienced have been taking a walk in the woods. I’ve been hiking since I was a boy in Georgia both alone and with friends and to this day when I feel shut in behind the desk at work the thing I most often daydream about is putting on my boots, grabbing a daypack and setting out for a good hike. I really can’t think of another activity that rewards individuals in so many ways. There are of course, the physical benefits - cardiovascular exercise, strength training and fresh air for the lungs but hiking also affords many spiritual benefits as well, especially in the area of relationships.

I can hike with people of all ages and I’m generally not to out of breath to have a conversation with them. I get to know them in ways that I never would while standing around the water cooler or watching a game on tv. When you are climbing over rocks and breaking a good sweat the things that often alienate people from one another like income, past arguments and misunderstandings, job stress or you name it often seem to slip away. People’s barriers seem to be lowered when your out in the wilderness and they feel more freedom to just be themselves. Another good thing about taking a hike together is that regardless of the other person’s physical abilities or age you can find the right trail that works for both of you. I’ve had great moments hiking with people that are my senior by 30 years and with my eight year old nieces as well. The former allowed me to learn and the latter allowed me to teach.

Offer to go with someone on a short hike through a city park and test the waters of a new friendship. You can find out a lot more about them than you can at work or at a party. Taking a short local hike does not require the full commitment of going camping together and you can stop for a cup of coffee afterwards. People who may not be used to the outdoors would often love to get out for some fresh air and sun but the fear of going alone might prevent them from ever going. You can make a contribution to their lives that will be appreciated.

All across the USA cities and states have invested millions of dollars to make trails available for you and a friend. A good place to search for locally available parks and activities is at http://www.packyourgear.com/ where you can find a nation wide database of parks offering trails, water activities and camping facilities. Invest in yourself and in someone else be getting out this weekend.

Rodney Whittle enjoys the outdoors and maintains a web site that maintains a database of campgrounds and national parks and features articles about family camping and other outdoor experiences.

[tags]hiking,relationships,friendship,exercise[/tags]

With today’s planned lifestyle communities, golf and boating enthusiasts have an opportunity to purchase the home of their dreams just a chip shot away from the green or stone’s throw from the marina. In addition to an ideal home setting, golf and waterfront community residents enjoy an active and diversified lifestyle experience complete with first-class golf courses, marinas, beaches, spas, clubhouses, recreation areas, fine dining and countless other amenities.

Out of the 10,000 master planned communities across the United States, over 2,500 are built around golf courses and pristine waterfront property. Making sense of all the options can be mind boggling. If you are thinking about relocating to one of these golf and waterfront communities, it is imperative to be able to distinguish one community from the next and more importantly, know what to look for before you buy.

Community Types

In the past, golf and waterfront master planned communities catered to distinct segments of the housing market, namely middle to upper income empty nesters and retirees. Things have changed. Today, golf course and waterfront developments are designed to accommodate budgets of all levels and generally fall into one of two categories: multi-generational and age restricted.

The construction of multi-generational communities represents a recent trend in planned community home building. The underlying idea is to attract a diverse population of families including retirees and young professionals of varying income levels and backgrounds in order to establish a robust and vibrant community. After decades of building age restricted communities, builders and developers have recognized that the traditional elements of planned community living such as security, on-site amenities and low maintenance housing appeal to home buyers of all ages.

Most new communities are multi-generational developments. Vistancia situated in the beautiful Sonoran desert outside of Peoria, Arizona is a recently opened golf community attracting individuals and families of all ages. Since home sales began in March 2004, almost 500 families have moved into this scenic development with 1,700 total acres of open space and a 900-acre mountain preserve.

Conversely, age restricted planned communities are developed for the +55 home owner with amenities and facilities for today’s discerning empty nester and retiree. Typically, the age restriction requires one household resident to be at least 55 in order to qualify for home ownership. Over the last decade, an evolution has occurred with the age restricted community model of yesteryear making way for contemporary activity based developments complete with lavish amenities and world-class recreation areas, not to mention the conventional facilities required by the +55 demographic.

The undisputed leader in age restricted master planned community development is Del Webb. Since the 1960s, Del Webb has constructed numerous age restricted golf and waterfront communities across the United States. Del Webb’s Sun City developments are arguably the most recognizable line of age restricted communities stretching from coast to coast with Sun City Hilton Head in North Carolina and Sun City Lincoln Hill in California.

Location

The most important criterion in selecting a traditional home is location and the same is true when deciding on a golf and waterfront community. The old adage “location, location, location” aside, one has to consider whether the new property will serve as a primary residence, second home getaway or retirement abode. The final location decision is generally based on three primary factors: home use, surrounding area and local weather.

For most of us working folk, our primary residence is located within an hour or so of a major metropolitan center. Don’t fret, there are hundreds of golf and waterfront communities centrally located within driving distance from most major metropolitan areas. If by chance you live near Dallas, you have several options to choose from including Stonebridge Ranch in north Dallas and Black Horse Ranch which is only 25 minutes from downtown. Washington D.C. commuters are also in luck with conveniently located golf and waterfront communities in Virginia, Maryland and Delaware. Belmont Country Club, a Toll Brothers property, is a mere 40 minutes from Washington D.C. in Ashburn, Virginia. These examples represent only a fraction of the actual number of suburban golf and waterfront developments.

The location decision is a bit more complicated and not as clear cut when one considers purchasing a second home retreat or retirement residence. In this situation, other factors come in to play such as the activity and cultural richness of the immediate area and of course, local weather. If you are looking for a second home, would you like to be nestled in the woods away from the hustle and bustle of the city, located in a more suburban area or some in between?

Climate is also an integral factor to take into consideration when purchasing a home particularly if you are feeling abused by recent harsh winters. This may clearly point to a direction that takes you out of your home state or even to another part of the country. Conversely, the summer’s never ending heat may drive you to consider the cooler climates up north. Fortunately, there are 2,500 golf and waterfront communities spread out across the United States from Minnesota to Texas and California to Massachusetts.

What is clear in the case of retirement homes is that good local health care and transportation facilities are a must. For most retirees, living over 60 miles away from the closest hospital or airport is just not an option. In the end, it comes down to striking a balance between modern necessities and the beauty of the great outdoors.

Amenities

Once you have settled on a geographic location, the next area to focus on is amenities. These can vary greatly from one golf and waterfront development to the next. Typically, these expanded ‘goodies’ fall into two categories: conveniences and lifestyle enhancements. Conveniences include such things as security services, home maintenance, gardening services, concierge service, on-site retail and office space, cable television and high-speed internet.

Lifestyle enhancements relate to recreation activities and rest and relaxation befitting an enhanced life of leisure. One can find a mix of facilities at planned communities which support numerous activities like tennis, hunting, boating, skiing, and hiking. To balance the rigors of recreation, planned communities provide residents with rest and relaxation amenities such as spas, clubhouses, wilderness preserves, pools, beaches and fine dining.

With real estate opportunities for every budget, isn’t it about time you looked into moving to a golf and waterfront community that offers unbelievable vistas, year round activities, low maintenance living and first-class amenities?

Visit Golfidea and to find information on vacation and retirement real estate.

Read more at Golfidea

Aldwin Pet owns the websites

Golfidea

Tedsworld

[tags]golf,golfswing,hole,putting[/tags]

Mountain hiking demands great gear and more education than your typical trail hike. Why? Because as you ascend breathing becomes less efficient, passage grows rugged, and rescue becomes more challenging. So consider your mountain equipment to be your life support system.

Where in day hiking you may be able to get away with wearing light-weight boots or shoes, in remote mountain hiking it’s a good idea to wear heavier supportive boots to protect your ankles and feet. Walking with a sprained ankle on a day hike is inconvenient compared to trying to limp out of the back-country mountains with the same problem and a heavy pack. Thinking ahead and being prepared with the right mountain gear, guides, and information can literally mean the difference between a minor mishap and at times death. Take your safety seriously.

As elevation increases the atmospheric pressure decreases (amount of oxygen doesn’t actually drop until over 50,000 feet) which means there’s less pressure to ‘push’ the air into and fill your lungs. Because there is less air going into your lungs you’ll fatigue more quickly. How much does the pressure really change? According to an academiclibrary.com article (that can be applied to mountain hiking) the barometric pressure can drop by 40% between sea level (average 760 millimeters of mercury) and 12,000 feet (483 millimeters of mercury). Obviously having 40% less oxygen available to your body (because of the pressure drop) will impact you.

Now if you had a 40% decrease in your ability to deliver oxygen to your body during an average day wouldn’t you be concerned? Add in the fact you’re asking more of your body in terms of keeping you warm in a cooler/cold environment, you are constantly losing water from your system, your reactions are slowed, and your not around the corner from the nearest hospital. Your mountain hiking equipment becomes a more important consideration the higher the altitude and the more remote your location.

Depending on how cold the temperatures you might encounter are you’ll probably want some good insulated hiking boots (depending on the altitude and temperature you may need mountaineering boots), hiking clothes, sleeping bags, camping tents, and other equipment used for hiking rated for lower temperature than what you think you’ll actually experience. This will give you an extra margin of safety. Also keep in mind that mildly uncomfortable mountain hiking gear will become a bigger problem…

If you’d like more information about mountain hiking click here for the rest of the article. You may also want to take a look at a couple of related articles on how to pick the best hiking footwear.

Marc Wiltse learned how important good quality hiking equipment and camping gear were after his pup tent flooded with over 3 inches of water forcing him to sleep in the front seat of his 2-seat Honda CRX (translation: research is a good thing). His hiking equipment & camping gear guides & reviews save you time & money. Subscribe to his camping & hiking newsletter & get the most usable information FREE! © Marc Wiltse. Reprint permission if author, copyright, links & this notice are intact.

[tags]mountain hiking, mountain gear, mountain equipment, mountain trekking, mountain trek[/tags]

Dehydrated/freeze-dried camping food is great for hiking, backpacking, or camping meals because you don’t have to keep it cold to avoid spoiling.

While coolers/refrigerators can work well in some situations, ice or electricity isn’t always available making dehydrated/freeze dried food very attractive. While removing the water helps preserve camping food it also has another benefit…

Camping, backpacking, or hiking food that’s freeze-dried or dehydrated can reduce weight by sixty to ninety percent. If you’re carrying a backpack or other hiking gear with a few days worth of camping food and supplies this can make a BIG difference.

As with any prepackaged food you’ll probably find most camping food portion/serving sizes extremely optimistic or after a long day of hiking…laughable. I’m not sure who dreamed up the system but keep it in mind when you’re buying it because otherwise you’ll probably be going hungry, or if you’re carrying a pack all day you might even be undernourished.

Something else to keep in mind is the design of the container itself. The containers with corners can make it difficult for the boiling water to mix with the camping food leaving dry spots. Also tall narrow containers make it almost impossible to reach inside with a spoon without getting as messy as a two year-old, as you work your way down to the bottom. (A quick fix is to trim off the top as you eat.) And if you’re a light eater or use them afterwards for trash some of the containers have a “ziplock” type of closure which can come in handy, if they’re not trimmed to ribbons.

Some camping foods can now be heated with a heating pouch by adding water to a chemical heating source. The advantage is there’s no flame. The drawback is they weigh more than the pouch by itself and there’s more trash to dispose of properly. So it may be better to just bring a small stove if you’re backpacking.

Camping food offers tradeoffs. While it isn’t usually gourmet that doesn’t mean it has to be bad. After all a gourmet meal would make for a lot of extra weight and inconvenience. Not my idea of a fun trip. The reason people buy it is because it’s light, convenient, and it can provide a quick hot meal. As for taste…

If you’d like more information on camping food please click here for the complete article. Also you may want to take a look at a related article on camping stove performance, ease-of-use & what to avoid.

Marc Wiltse learned how important good quality hiking equipment and camping gear were after his pup tent flooded with over 3 inches of water forcing him to sleep in the front seat of his 2-seat Honda CRX (translation: research is a good thing). His hiking equipment & camping gear guides & reviews save you time & money. Subscribe to his camping & hiking newsletter & get the most usable information FREE! © Marc Wiltse. Reprint permission if author, copyright, links & this notice are intact.

[tags]camping food, backpacking food, hiking food, camping, hiking[/tags]

Many moons ago, I studied edible plants with an expert. Maybe you know someone like her, the person that goes through the woods browsing and grazing–blithely munching away at the buffet that the rest of us call a hiking trail.

During those studies, I learned to identify a lot of edible and medicinal plants. But probably the most valuable lesson was on how to learn the individual plants. It’s a deceptively simple process, but could end up saving your life if you’re ever thrust into a survival situation.

First, find a good field guide that teaches you about the dangerous stuff. Peterson’s Field Guide to Venomous Animals & Poisonous Plants is a good place to start. Spend some time learning about the poisonous plants in your area. Learn to recognize them in all seasons and in all forms. Then stay away from those plants!

Second, get a good, reputable guide to edible plants. Again, Peterson’s (Field Guide to Edible Wild Plants) is a good place to start.

Now, go through the field guide and make a list of all the edible plants found in your area. If you wish, you can prioritize the list by listing the most common species first, less common species further down the list.

Choose a plant to start with. For the next week, this is your plant.

Every day for the next 7 days you will look at the picture and read the description. After looking at the field guide, close the book. Close your eyes and try to picture the plant in your mind. Then, open your eyes and sketch the plant. If you can’t draw, then write out a description that is as thorough as you can make it. This daily process shouldn’t take more that 5-10 minutes. Don’t make it difficult.

At the end of the week (or any day that works for you), go outdoors and collect some of the plants you are studying. Take it home, prepare it, and yes, eat it!

In one year, you will have intimate knowledge of 52 edible plants in your area. You’ll have extra confidence, knowing that if you get lost, you won’t go hungry!

Dave Sharpe writes about Urban & Wilderness Survival, Disaster Preparedness and Self-Sufficiency at www.TheBugoutBag.com

[tags]edible plants,survival[/tags]

If you have a family tent that goes camping with your family each year, you probably want it to last as long as possible. Since it may be used just a few days in the summer, or perhaps a few weeks at most, with proper care and storage your tent may continue to be a source of fun and wilderness protection for many years to come. But if the tent receives little or no protective care, it can quickly disintegrate and stop providing valued safety and coverage from the elements.

When setting up the tent, remember to follow the owner’s manual guidelines for erecting it the proper way. Carelessly placed poles or improperly secured tent pegs will not only lead to accidents and tent breakage, but this type of treatment also will cause the equipment to break down more quickly. Handle and place each piece correctly and carefully so it will continue to do a faithful job, year after year. Don’t let the kids or the family dog toss around the pieces in play or otherwise use them carelessly. Store unused pieces in their protective carton or casing to keep them safe and available for the next time they are needed.

While using your tent on a camping expedition, treat it carefully. Don’t place the portable cooking stove too close to your tent. Zip or button flaps so they don’t wave wildly in a breeze and perhaps get broken, or become soggy or muddy during a thunderstorm, especially if you will be away from the campsite and unable to secure it if a storm blows in. Avoid letting kids wrestle in or near the tent, and don’t let them hang heavy items on its sides or interior, which could snag or tear the canvas walls. Also be careful about setting anything on top of the tent that could cause it to sag or tear. Wipe up each stain promptly, using the recommended materials that are indicated in the owner’s manual.

As your trip comes to a close and you take down your camping tent, make time to correctly disengage each piece rather than pull it down hastily and perhaps lose or break important hardware. Fold the tent as indicated, making sure it is first dry. Rub it clear of any rain or twig and leaf debris so that it goes into storage clean. You can wait to give it a thorough cleaning at home, if you prefer. Store the tent as suggested in a cool, dry place. Try to keep it in an area that doesn’t leak or one that is unlikely to attract insects that could nest in the canvas material or eat through it during the winter. Avoid using pesticides or other chemicals on the tent or near it, as the residue could later be toxic to kids and pets.

At home, don’t lay heavy items on the tent that could cause it to break. Then it will be ready when you are for the next camping trip.

Learn more about how to keep your tents in great shape by visiting the Tent Spot at http://www.tentspot.com

[tags]family tent,cleaning,storing,camping,family tents,clean,store[/tags]