Real life survival

[Shask]

I live in the middle of a big city in the UK. I just caught a pidgeon in my garden using a box, a stick, a string and some seeds. Any other cool survivalist things that can be done in the city?

(I let it go immediately, it was fine, but if I were hungry it would be pidgeon BBQ time)

[novaalpha]

pics or it didnt happen

[Jiskra]

I live in a city too and I have 4 chickens in my backyard, there's nothing better than fresh eggs every morning.

pics
here as babies (3 days old) got them in the mail


adults


the eggs


not really sure if this would count as survivalist thing since I didnt catch the chickens but bought them online heh

[novaalpha]

awesome

[AAlex]

bawwwhhh

[MagicManICT]

Start your own veggie farm. Tomatoes, strawberries, and a few other vine plants grow great in pots. Many herbs can be grown in a window box.

Squab (pigeon) is quite the delicacy. I wouldn't eat anything that eats from polluted areas (such as an inner city), though.

[SuchANerd]

Everything around drinkable water is a must if you are interested in survival.

Try to find / list all the source of water and the mean to make it drinkable around you. Assume the water delivery system don't work.

You can make it more difficult by assuming you don't have access to energy like fire. Or make up a scenario where there has been a massive toxic pollution.

People always think about food, but water is really the key to survival. Fun mind games.

[Dondy]

There are a lot of interesting wild plants in the city where weeds are growing. Some of these are edible. Others can be used to make fibre. Others make suitable insect repellent.

You could try making a solar still.

The thing about a city is that although you can practice survival there, it is urban survival, not wilderness survival. This means you have the use of a huge amount of resources. Black tarmac areas for example are a good source of solar energy as they heat up nicely. If you scavenge dumpsters you can get such tons of stuff it would be impossible to even list the range of it. But just newspaper/waste paper has plenty of cold weather survival uses. Twisted tightly into logs it can be burnt as viable fuel. Made into paper mash with water it can be used to plug drafty holes in a shelter. A layer of between you and the ground is insulation. Put inside your outer clothes it keeps you a trifle warmer. Put on the ground it provides mulch to slow down the growth of weeds around the plants you do want to grow, such as say, your tomato plant which would otherwise disappear in a jungle thicket.

There are so many things you can do it is hard to figure out where to start. In a couple of cities where I live when they dig deep holes to repair underwater pipes or build foundations they often get down to a layer of clay. It is fun to climb down into a deep damp hole in the road after the workmen have gone home and get the clay out.

You might want to get out a book on wilderness survival from the library and check what resources they suggest you use in your climate zone, and see if any of them are available to you. If not birch bark to make a kuksa, is there a local scrub tree that has suitable bark? Is there waste ground where you can tunnel into a bank to make a cave type of shelter? Can you use stones heated in a fire to cook food in a basket?

[ninja_yodeler]

if only this was about non-urban survival.

4500 acres of farmland, 1 imagination with an obsession for H&H...oh the storys i could tell..

but meh, urban would be harder because everything is so polluted

[Sarchi]

if only this was about non-urban survival.

4500 acres of farmland, 1 imagination with an obsession for H&H...oh the storys i could tell..

but meh, urban would be harder because everything is so polluted

It's called being a bum.