Your backyard is a perfect place to practice survival skills.  It’s also a great place to learn to identify plants or mushrooms. Everyone thinks the time to try and learn survival skills is when you are out in the woods. This is not true. As they say, practice makes perfect and your home is the great place to start!

You can start off by learning to make a fire pit. A simple way is to start by digging a small hole, making sure there’s no tree roots in the area.  After that line the pit area with rocks – but don’t use creek or stream stones. Those rocks from water sources will contain water inside and after heating will explode!  Not good.  After your pit is finished, you can now add a cooking branch over the top. The best is by using green branches. Make one branch that will go to two others. One branch on each side that is pounded into the ground so they will hold the branch over the pit. Keep the height about 4 feet over the pit. The branches should be thick enough to hold the weight of a pot you are going to cook in. I usually use the rule of about 2 inches.

Now that your fire pit is constructed, learn to make a fire with materials other than matches or a lighter.  I like to use either flint and steel or my ferrous rod. For either of these methods you will have to use what is called a fire nest. Small shavings of dry tinder such as pine bark, birch bark or things like cattail down work great. Think of materials that a spark will ignite when produced.

Most ferrous rods come with a striker. But, I don’t depend on the striker that the company provides with a ferrous rod. I usually use one of my knives for striking a fire. I don’t use the blade of any knife with a ferrous rod. I use the back of the knife to keep the blade sharp. The knife will have to have a 90 degree spine to properly throw sparks. A great knife to use with a ferrous rod is a Mora Garberg. These knives are very dependable to have in the outdoors.

Hopefully when you strike the ferrous rod, sparks will then ignite the small tinder you have gathered. This will take practice to learn. If you have a small flame going, add your small sticks you have gathered. As the fire continues to grow, add bigger sticks to it. Practice making a flame till you can do it over and over again and are successful. Learning to make a fire without matches is a valuable skill that you should definitely learn if you want to be self-sufficient.

Around the fire pit we can add a tarp shelter. The best way is to make a ridge line. This is just a cord between to trees or poles. Old tent poles work great. Anything like ski poles will work to make a ridge line, but, the ideal situation would be to connect it to two trees.  Paracord, rope or any other cordage, will work to hang a tarp off of. The tarp is tied or clipped to the rope and the remaining back of the tarp is staked down in the back. The tarp can also be hung evenly over the ridge line to make a tent. It’s your choice how you want to hang the tarp.

If you wanted to before you made a ridge line between two trees, you could have hung a backpacking hammock; then put your tarp over to keep the rain or dew off. This is a great setup that I have used many times. Backpacking hammocks are a great way to go if traveling light. There are many models to choose from. I have some with netting to keep bugs out which works really well.

Your backyard is a great place to learn survival skills with no pressure. You can learn at your own pace as you go. Check out YouTube on tarp shelters and ridge line making. There are thousands of videos on there about shelter making and fire pit building. I will cover other skills in my next article coming up.

Till next time.

Barry Knights

Barry Knights is a lifelong resident of Kinderhook village in Kinderhook, NY.Has been foraging for 54 years. Also taught in wilderness survival and other outdoor skills. Has had articles published in the Conservationist, Field and Stream and Outdoor life. Has also taught different classes on various survival techniques Upstate New York.