Survival Librarian!

My interest in survival started in elementary school as I read My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George, Five Boys in a Cave by Richard Church, and even The Adventures of Tom Sawyer where Tom and Becky are lost in a cave for three days. Later, my daughters read Hatchet by Gary Paulson and my niece introduced me to The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. Being able to survive with just your wits and a few items has always captured my imagination. Clearly, I may not be a good candidate for Naked and Afraid or the Alone series however, hope springs eternal, and last year I took a survival class on foraging and food with Sam Larson, my survival instructor. This year I tried a different class on fire-making.

Last Saturday morning was a perfect time for driving east on Highway 41 towards Gage County, Nebraska to make a bow drill and create fire with Sam Larson, made famous from his win on the Alone series that airs on the History Channel. After dodging three deer on the road, I had a beautiful drive into the landscape that Nebraska does best: an endless horizon of newly harvested fields up against a cloudless blue sky. It was my second class with Sam who is a very personable guy with a great sense of humor and a no-nonsense way of teaching. I’ve seen bow drills used many times on television and thought this would be a great learning experience in case the apocalypse rears its ugly head in the near future

The drill and the fireboard are made of softwood and we used wood from a linden tree. I carefully carved my drill using a very sharp knife and I admit, it took me quite a while. I also cut a branch off of a young locust tree to create my bow. Sam taught us that using a slightly green branch will stop the bow from breaking or cracking during the process. The other class participants were admittedly younger, more athletic, and well, more likely to survive than me. By the time I had a bit of smoke rising from my fireboard, my hands were a bit torn up and my ability to kneel on one knee was failing. But I did create smoke and char! I learned that jute twine can be pulled apart to create an excellent base for a tinder bundle and milkweed pod silk works as well.

In Nebraska, we are fortunate to have great people like Sam Larson who is accessible to the average librarian despite his fame and fortune. I’ve learned with a little bit of practice, I might eventually get a fire started with a bow drill, and doing this challenges me to continue learning throughout my life even when my success is nowhere near guaranteed. Previously, I’ve learned that making a deadfall trap is really harder than it looks, and creating a gill net requires more rope tying knots skills than I possess. Realistically, I’ve also learned it might be wise to bring some sort of a fire starter that is not dependent on my ability to use a bow drill, just in case!