Discount Code for Milwaukee Survival Class

Resiliency Training will be doing an outdoor survival class June 15, 2013 that will be open to anyone aged 12 and up. The class is 9:00- am to 4:00 pm and will take place at Grobschmidt Park located at 3751 W. College Avenue in Franklin, WI. Grobschmidt Park contains approximately 154 acres of planted prairie, oak-hickory woodland, sedge meadow, and a six-acre pond with beaver. Grobschmidt Park is an area formerly used by Native Americans and is virtually undeveloped except for the park sign and walking trail. Birds you might encounter here include Red-winged Blackbird, Woodcock, Northern Flicker, Osprey, Brown Thrasher, Catbird, Northern Cardinal, Eastern Kingbird, Green Heron, Tree Swallow, and Sora rail. The park also provides great opportunities for viewing dragonflies and butterflies.

Join us for a fun, hands-on experience to learn the necessary skills to survive in the outdoors. Limited to 8 participants. Skills you will learn include:

Start a matchless fire, build a shelter, collect and purify water, create and use a paracord bracelet, identify and use survival plants and make cordage from plant material. Includes lunch, refreshments, and materials.

For those that have been following my blog, I offer a 20% discount on the individual fee of $75 for this class. You need only use the voucher code U3SKSIM5 to be used at the check-out. Go to resiliencytraining.net.

Survival Plant Identification and Use Class

We had a great class on Wednesday, March 20th at Hawthorn Nature Center. Nearly 20 people came to hear about plants that can sustain them in a survival situation. There was a wide age range which was great to see. In addition to talking about survival plants, the class also learned how to make cordage from a variety of plant materials and how to make a healing salve using plants they learned about which contain chemicals that are known to assist in the healing of wounds and keep them clean. Many thanks to the Hawthorn Nature Center staff who stayed to participate in the class and assisted facilitating the hands-on portion of the class. I have one more class scheduled there next week for cattail basket making and it looks like it will be another full class!

Women's Outdoor Survival Classes Coming in May!

In May, Resiliency Training will feature four different days for women only to learn outdoor survival skills. The classes will take place at May 11, 12, 18 and 19th. They will run from 9:00 am to 4:00 pm and take place at Grobschmidt Park in Franklin. Grobschmidt Park is a perfect environment to learn survival skills. It contains approximately 154 acres of planted prairie, oak-hickory woodland, sedge meadow, and a six-acre pond with beaver. Grobschmidt Park is an area formerly used by Native Americans and is virtually undeveloped except for the park sign and walking trail. Birds you might encounter here include Red-winged Blackbird, Woodcock, Northern Flicker, Osprey, Brown thrasher, Catbird, Northern Cardinal, Eastern Kingbird, Green Heron, Tree Swallow, and Sora rail. The park also provides great opportunities for viewing dragonflies and butterflies.

The class will be limited to 8 participants to maximize the one on one learning potential. No previous camping or wilderness experience necessary. Participants will practice starting a matchless fire, building a shelter, collecting and purifing water, creating and using a paracord bracelet, identifing and using survival plants and making cordage from plant material. The costs will be $75 per person or 2 for $120. Includes lunch, refreshments, and materials.

Whitnall Park Craft Fair

Had a great time at the Whitnall Park Craft Fair on March 16th. Over 100 booths of homemade items were set up and we had great traffic. I sold soaps, healing salves, drawing salves, body butters, lip balms and paracord bracelets. I want to thank everyone from my classes who stopped by to say hi and to purchase some items. I have just created new classes for the city of Milwaukee and Greenfield Rec Departments to teach how to make all of these items. I'll post the upcoming schedule soon on my blog and website!

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Activated Charcoal

Activated charcoal has been coming into my life so many ways that it's hard to believe that there was a time that I knew nothing of it at all. Activated charcoal is profoundly powerful and useful in so many ways. First off, let me explain what it is. Most people would probably know what charcoal is. The charred portion of wood after a fire is what is referred to as charcoal. This alone has some great qualities just to a lesser degree than its more powerful cousin, activated charcoal. In short, activated charcoal is charcoal that has been treated with oxygen. The treatment process results in creating multitudes of tiny pores on the surface of the charcoal. It can actively absorb impurities and contaminants including chlorine, odors, and other toxins such as poisons in insects. Because we don't absorb activated charcoal in our systems, we can take take it orally and it will help draw out toxins in our body. Hospitals give out activated charcoal in cases of poisoning. You can find the same product in many health food stores.

You can clean water with activated charcoal because it will attract and absorb water contaminants such as bacteria, herbicides, and other chemicals. Recent studies of the wrecks of Phoenician trading ships from around 450 B.C. suggest that drinking water was stored in charred wooden barrels. This practice was still in use in the 18th Century for extending the use of potable water on long sea voyages. Wood-staved barrels were scorched to preserve them, and the water or other items stored in them. How ingenious it was, a completely natural, organic, and environmentally friendly preservative!

You can even use activated charcoal as a poultice (activated charcoal mixed with water) and apply it to a beesting to pull out the poison and speed up the healing of the wound. In fact any time you have pus, it is a sign that there is an infection. Sometimes that is caused by something foreign getting past the first barrier your body has - the skin. Activated charcoal can help draw out the foreign object and again start your body on the path to healing faster.

Activated charcoal is a great thing to have on hand in the house. You can buy it on line or pick some up at any pet store in the aquatic section. You can learn how to use it to make an emergency water purifier at an upcoming class at Riverside High School. To find out more and sign up, go to resiliencytraining.net.