How to practice homesteading skill while camping?

Awesome, thank you for the recommendation!

I'm looking over the recommendations now. Looking closer at the seneca shadow campsites as that seem closer to what I want to try out.

I second starting with developed campgrounds for your wife. Camping is actually what made me realize I needed to get back to the country and rural living. When we spent every weekend camping to feed our souls we realized it was time to plan to move!

But I didn't grow up camping so it was all a transition. I really appreciate a bathroom/outhouse but really prefer not to have too many people around (midweek camping and off season is the best for developed campgrounds). Now we're stuck with only weekends so I'm giving up the outhouse for disperse camping.

And don't feel you have to stick only to boring foods camping, eating only beans or hotdogs could turn her off quickly!

I have plan to learn how to cook with a cast iron dutch oven :-) gonna give a lot of variety. I once went to a teardrop trailer gathering and I hung out with them. They had a dutch oven potluck dinner and it was quite delicious!

I like the seneca shadow place so far because it seem like it would have less people than some of the other more developed place. And that campsite have toilets so that's a big plus. I'm not too worried about shower because I intend to purchase a solar shower bag and a shower stall (like this, http://amzn.com/B004P92WN0 and http://amzn.com/B000VNITQS ).

Spend the .money and get a good shower bag... trust me on that..THis is the one we use... Great bags... http://www.amazon.com/Advanced-Eleme...lar+shower+bag



You will have to put the shower under a tree branch or something. Those shower stalls won't hold a bag... I make my own using black plastic and a few thick stick tied between small trees

__________________
Never let your fear decide your fate!
Kein Mitleid für die Mehrheit

yeah, I have that bag on my wish list. I'm just referencing to examples. For now, I am looking at as many potential items and adding them to my wish list to weed through at a later time.

http://www.amazon.com/registry/wishl...visitor-view=1

this is just a very rough list of what I need to purchase. I have a current budget of $100 so I have to decide which to buy or not. So some of these items are not intended to be purchased via amazon but rather elsewhere. Like tarp from home depot or walmart.

Once you're in the area, spend a day or two exploring (by vehicle ) The Monongahela National Forest is huge and allows backpacking and overnight camping: think week-long hiking trips! In addition, you would only be a short drive from Canaan Valley with its Wildlife Refuge.

If you are feeling really frisky, visit Davis, WV and Thomas, WV and ask around at the shops for anyone who used to work at the Aldredge Academy. The former Wilderness Instructors would take troubled teens into the Refuge and Forest for month long survival and search and rescue training. The instructors wouldn't be cheap, but knowledge like this is extremely hard to find!

I hate camping/RVing with my DH. He won't help with anything, camp set up or cooking, fire building ect. Yet it's always his idea to go, he just wants to fish and expects everything to be ready when he decides to show up. Don't be that guy, you might come back to camp and have to hitchhike home. Just saying.

Heh, don't worry. I'm the opposite of that guy by far

I fully intend to let my wife relax as much as she want to on the first few trips. Just to get used to the idea of camping. Eventually, I'll start working with her on learning how to do stuff together only when she is comfortable to do so.

We usually only take the shower stuff when we're on a week long trip... For a weekend trip we just take wash cloths and soap... wet wash, or if you have creek... use a pan for hair washing... The less you can take and have to deal with the better...

If you intend to do hiking trips, take several ways to start a fire... Learn how to make a shoe wax can stove.. .or get a small backpacker stove.... take dehydrated food and camel pack....

It's a HUGE long list of things to do and learn... It's vbest if you can find a seasoned camper to go with... My wife and I have been camping for about 10 years together now, both light minimalism camping, and taking the truck with the grill and 55 gallon barrels of water and Tentmahall for week and a half trips... We do all kinds of camping, and we're still learning all kinds of new little tips and tricks and how to use gear in ways it was never meant to be used...

Learning to pack for the kind of trip you are taking will take you a while.... the better you can pack, the more you can take, whether a backpack, or your toy hauler behind the truck....

__________________
Never let your fear decide your fate!
Kein Mitleid für die Mehrheit

I am a little confused as to whether you are interested in learning survival skills or homesteading skills. Camping is great for learning survival skills.

We have always camped - tents - including winter camping and learning about living in tents is useful if you are planning on building your homestead house and have no other shelter but you can learn a lot living in a house in the suburbs before you homestead.

The hardest thing about tent life was the cleaning - of everything including people - and keeping things dry. Other than that it is just careful planning and endurance.

We were suburban homesteaders long before we were country steaders and we sure learned a lot. When we first started thinking that we wanted to live without electricity and running water or thermosat heat we simply shut down our house for the length of our vacation and played at homesteading. Wow was that an eye opener.

We only kept the fridge plugged in and used lamps and candles for light and the wood stove for cooking and hot water. We turned off all the taps in the house and only had a hose for cold water. If you wanted water you had to go outside with your bucket. We set up a composting toilet in the garden shed so if you wanted to use the bathroom you had to take a walk to the outhouse. I drew the line at going without toilet paper. We had done this while camping and later we did it while homesteading but it is not something I want to do without.

This really gives you an idea as to the actual work involved as well as the inconvenience and how much you have to plan to live this way. And again the cleaning of everything - the house, dishes, people, laundry, animals - was the hardest part without running water or electricity. It took up so much time.

We had already been gardening and chopping wood (including learning to fell trees) and preserving food for a few years so we did not have to learn everything at once. Canning on a wood stove in the summer is a whole different ball game from an electric stove even when you have it set up as an outdoor kitchen. We cooked over campfires while camping but for everyday meals and seasonal food preservation (canning) the campfire is back breaking and not easy to control.

Please dont' be offended but this is one of the most brilliant auto-correct/freudian spellings I've seen in a long time. Cheers!!!!!

You are wise to do it yourself the first time, to scope things out and do a dry run. If you're trying to introduce a reluctant person--especially someone you are married to--to camping and hope they "take" to it, it's best to get the (your) kinks worked out first. Try to keep it simple as possible. If it starts to dump rain make sure there is a warm dry place to huddle, or just go to a motel. A forced march will not a happy convert make. The point of these first few camping outings is to hopefully give your wife pleasant experiences so the two of you can enjoy this together the rest of your lives.

Remember to take a tie strap to go around your cooler, coons know how to get latches open.

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Alot of good info at Bushcraftusa.

E A S E into it!
Get that nice cabin and and stay there. Walk the park, shop the antique stores, shop something like a Tractor supply or rural king , a farm supply store fore something like snacks but look at everything.
Eat in the lodge or cafe except for a noon picnic.
Then replace the sleeping in the cabin with staying in the tent. Then add more of the cooking out.

Spend some time at farmers markets local festivals and such.
And Shop FARMS! Look for those country home features that appeal to you, ponds sheds kitchens etc.

Okay, it is official. I am now free to start looking for a campsite to try out from March 18? to March 22nd. That's right during the middle of the week so hopefully, it'll keep the campsite relatively quiet.

My only issue is that I am trying to figure out the price and whether the campsite is even open or not during that week.
Big Bend Campground seem to be closed until memorial day.


this REALLY helped me with figuring this out.
http://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_...rdb5066249.pdf

Unfortunately, I found only one campsite that seem to be open this early.

Lake Sherwood Rec Area

I have a very limited budget so I will be grabbing the cheapest lot at $10 per night here. At least many of these lot are near the toilet.


Is this a good campsite to try out?

Keep in mind that I have only really searched in WVA for the campsites. I still have to check out VA, MD, PA, NJ, and any other places within a few hours (up to 6 hours, I think) drive of DC.


Any suggestion or advice would be greatly appreciated!


One of my goal during this trip is to learn how to do multiple method of fire starting, basic navigation (used to have AWFUL navigational skill until I lived in Colorado Springs for a few years. Now I don't feel like I can get lost that easily, be interested in testing that out in the mountain), and just practicing hiking. This first trip, I'm taking the car along and will only be doing short day hikes as I am still out of shape. I will be taking thing VERY easy so don't worry about me racing out into the wood and getting lost.

I have a LOT of experience in packing so no problem there Only challenge is in knowing WHAT to pack... so likely, I will overpack anyway. at least this time. Heh

Well, we are interested in learning both survival skills and homesteading skills. We currently live in an university's dorm in DC so homesteading is not that easy to practice in here. It is our hope to use the camping trips as a way to mentally prepare us and allow us to be used to the surviving mentality which should help with the homesteading too. I know that mentality plays a huge factor in both surviving and homesteading.

We may be able to practice some homesteading at my parent-in-law's home as they live out in the wood and use a well and wood stove. But we can't exactly do that much until after we graduate and move out in a year and half or so.

Yep, I have a tendency to want to make everything as comfortable and easy for my wife as possible. It sometime really grates on my fiercely independent wife's nerve though! heh

Thank you for the cooler's tip :-)


[Sorry for the lack of responses lately, been a crazy time for me here in DC! ]

I'd practice your alternative fire starting skills after you get your main fire lit.... for a camping trip, especially your first, take the charcoal lighter and a Bic... You'll have a lot of things you'll want to get done, and when camping, especially if you are relying on a fire for cooking and heat (which you'll need heat this time of the year) you will have other things to do than worry about getting wet wood lit, unless you bring your own dry wood... Everything is wet this time of year...

Here's a good list to get you started...

http://www.isu.edu/outdoor/packlist.htm

I'd modify some of it, some I'd stick close to... We don't do all the wool they suggest... We do a lot of what they suggest for kitchen, and we also take more at times... I would have a small hand saw... I couldn't live without ones.. They say wire saw... would work too.. First Aid kit FOR SURE.. I always take something pretty substantial that can deal with some serious injuries... You just never know...

Look for some more camping lists out there to get ideas... It all depends on what kind of camping you intend to do... Your first trip out, you can never take too much.. You'll learn over time what you can and can' live without.

Speaking of the cooler tip, don't leave your trash bag out at night either... You'll have your wife wake you up freaked out asking what all the noise is... been there...

__________________
Never let your fear decide your fate!
Kein Mitleid für die Mehrheit

I do plan to bring a gaurenteed fire starter like a lighter and dry wood. No worries there.

Thank you for the check list just printed it out.

We have a box of first aid stuff so I'll be taking that along.

I'm familiar with the no food left out policy regarding the wildlife. I'm probably gonna be a bit meticulous about that actually. My wife is deaf too, heh. So we won't be surprised in this way until we wake up and find missing food and whatnot.

We started our "homesteading" in a very small one bedroom apartment so I can see the problems of homesteading in a university dorm.

If you are going to be in the same area for a while in the same living conditions perhaps you can find out if there are community gardens near-by or even advertise for someone who has a big yard and wants to share any produce you grow. We did this for quite a few years with a neighbour.

You might also check with local churches and see if they have summer and fall canning arrangements. Some churches or local community halls will allow people to use their big kitchens for food preservation for a minimum fee - and you sure do learn a lot from experienced canners.

You can also offer your services to local farmers or orchardists or produce gardeners. We did this and that is actually how we learned about orchards and some great gardening tricks and animals and chopping wood and a dozen other things which helped to prepare us. We even worked in a big greenhouse growing flowers. That was a lovely experience.

Good idea about volunteering :-) I'll have to contact my local church down in VA over the summer to check out for that kind of opportunity.

Okay, I'm asking more directly.

Do anybody know of ANY campsites open this early in the year within a 6 hours drive of DC?

The features of the campsite does not matter at this point in time (restroom, shower, electricity, and whatnot). I'm still doing my research. But I am still wanting to find ANYTHING that I can head to by this Monday, March 18.

Thanks

Just found out that I got terminated from my job. Now I REALLY want to get away from the campus for a while. Spring break is next week but I want to leave this Friday after I drop my wife off at the airport. Unfortunately due to being terminated, I'll essentially have to look for free campsites to save on cost. I need to disconnect and be isolated for a little bit. Sigh...

I plan to head to Walmart this wednesday for some of the basic camping supplies (dunno of any decent outdoor store in or around DC though).