First Aid Kit

My first aid kit has home remedies that I have used for ages that I know work in it as well as some emergency stuff.

First for the emergency stuff:
Instant ice packs. You can buy these at any chain drug store or even box store. They usually carry them in the first aid section but sometimes its in health and beauty.

A tube of Crazy glue. Yes crazy glue! brand new never been used before crazy glue is best because you want to know it can be used not stuck together and never to be opened again. I keep this on hand for the just in case you have a minor cut that just wont go back together... crazy glue works fast and will keep dirt out of the cut better then a band-aid.

Steri strips. These are for just in case that little cut is not really so little but not really big enough to abandon camping and run to the ER.

Iodine. A small bottle of Iodine is perfect for cleaning out cuts so that you know that there is no way you will get any infection.

Peroxide. For those small things you might step on or get cut by.

Band-aides, Thermometer, Gauze, Tape and of course Ace Bandages. Always bring at least one Ace Bandage. They work wonderfully for a variety of treatments. Don't forget the safety pins to hold the ace bandage shut, bring a few extra because those come in handy too!

Some form of antihistamine, acetaminophen, both in adult and children's formula's.
A box of rubber gloves, qtips, tweezers, sewing needles, tiger balm, and biofreeze are also in this box for sore muscle relief.

Now for the Natural Remedies.

Tea Tree oil. This little power house can be used for a whole ton of things. It is a natural antiseptic so it can be used on minor wounds. It can also be used on bug bites that itch.

Eucalyptus oil. This is wonderful natural way to repel mosquitoes as well as spiders. A little of this inside the tent and you wont have any bugs in the tent either.

Baking Soda. Now I know that you are thinking "But that is a kitchen item" or something along those lines. But the truth is that Baking Soda has many many many uses and it is wonderful for bee stings, or any bug bite that leaves anything swollen. Baking Soda will draw out the poison and help reduce the swelling.

Epsom Salts. This stuff is great for soaking your feet in but it also can be used to draw out things.

Aloe Vera gel. This is clearly the best stuff on the planet for burns. The plant is best but not ideal to take camping so I take the gel.

Apple Cider Vinegar. This stuff is awesome for upset tummies. A little honey and ACV in water and generally the tummy ache will go away.

GSE. Grapefruit seed extract is a wonderful natural tool. You can discover some of the uses here.

Camping prep

In the midst of trying to sell things off and pack the other things we are not selling I am also trying to compile the needed items for the camping that will be happening as we make our way across country.

There are so many things that make camping more enjoyable. I find that when the little things are planned out it makes the experience so much better.

For me practicing the tent set up and being proficient at that is a big thing. If you double check your tent for holes, rips and tears as well as making sure all the poles are there it will be less stressful when you get there to set up.

Air beds certainly make it more comfortable to sleep out. I recently found twin size air beds for all 4 children for less then 20.00 each. I jumped on the chance to get them so that each child will have their own air bed. When buying an air bed be sure that you get a sturdy one. The ones I found are Coleman brand and I know they have a great product that us durable.

Sleeping bags are certainly a must. I insisted we buy cold weather ones because even if you are camping in the summer you really can't know how cold it will get over night. The average temps at night can drop even in the summer to 40* or lower depending on the area.

I insist on having a folding card table when I go camping. This can be used as an extra prep space for food or a place to sit and play games in the evenings.

I have a two burner Coleman camp stove. I always buy extra propane tanks they are not that expensive and the small ones last a long time, but you just never know how long it might take to cook because altitude effects cooking times.

I also always bring my cast iron pans. Should something happen to my Coleman, or I run out of propane I can cook directly over the fire pit. I have a cast iron griddle, 2 large frying pans, 1 medium pan, 1 small pan and 2 dutch ovens. I always bring wooden cooking utensils and one metal spatchula for flipping pancakes. Cast iron gets hot and if you try using plastic you can melt your plastic cook ware.

Another very important item to bring is a sharp hatchet. You will need to cut firewood and kindling for a fire. Even if you think its summer time and it wont get cold enough for a fire you would be wrong. Those early morning hours are chilly. Not to mention the need to be able to start a fire to cook with should your camp stove go out is an important one.
Speaking of starting a fire... there are some important tricks to starting a fire and being responsible with your fire. If you are camping in a state park they have fire rings that are built for the sole purpose of building your fire in it. Always use it for that purpose only. If you are not camping in a state park and there are no designated fire rings build one! This is for your safety as well as the safety of the forest around you. Building one is easy. You will need a little shovel (my husband calls them E-tools, this is his Military code, but they are shovels that fold and take up little space.) and a few rocks. Dig a shallow pit that is at least 3 feet across and be sure there is no debris around the area. Line the perimeter of the pit with boulders as large as you can find and carry in the area. These do not have to be really large but you do have to surround the pit with them. Once you have built your fire pit you can start building your fire. Depending on the rules for the area you are camping in you can either gather natural materials for starting fires or you may have to chop kindling from your fire wood. Some good natural starters are moss, dried twigs, leaves (be careful though because leaves tend to smoke a lot). You can also use newspaper, if you are using newspaper be sure that you do not use the shiny paper of advertisements. If you use newspaper a trick my grandpa taught me years ago was to use a full length and tie it in a knot and lay them in a tee-pee pattern intermixing them with twigs or kindling.

Lets not forget a first aid kit! I pack a first aid kit that contains both natural remedies and emergency fixes. I think that I am going to expand on this in another blog. I am realizing that this blog post is growing and growing. I will even go as far as to tell you what natural remedies I always carry in my first aid kits.

I store all of my camping gear in a large plastic tote. The tote keeps everything together so that I always know where everything is. I go through it and make sure that its all there, because you never know when some little gremlin will make off with your stored item's ya know!

I also have a tote that I keep all my dry goods in for planned out meals. I prep pancake mix and put it in gallon bags so that I just add the liquid and we have from scratch pancakes. I also plan out what meals we will have when camping and pack my ice chest accordingly. I pack with day one on top and work my way down each day so that I do not have to dig through the ice chest to find any items. it works out beautifully. I keep a smaller ice chest for everyday items like condiments for sandwiches or drinks. I buy bottled water and freeze it so that we have plenty of drinking water and no messy ice. Freezing the juice or water means that I don't have to buy ice at the store and we can drink the defrosted part and still have cold drinks.

In todays edition we are going to continue our camping trip to the return home. From there our blogs shall take on a more present day adventure with a little pop into the past now and again.

I left off yesterday with our trip into the forest where the Ewoks lived... Can't you just see their cute little faces poking out of this fern ladened forest? While we were here we decided to walk through the forest and down to the river where the little darlings took their socks & shoes off to splash in the edges of the water.

and of course to skip rocks into that peaceful looking water flow.

From here we stopped at a lovely little shop and wanted to go in only to discover they were closed. However we did get to view some wonderful sculptures carved out of redwood.

at camp we enjoyed a simple meal then set about building fairy houses on our last night at camp. We sent children off to gather natural items that were laying about on the ground; rocks, moss, leaves, sticks, pine cones, and anything else they found that they thought would make nice houses. Then we divided up the finds between them

Then we paired the kids up, each little one got a big one and they had to work together to build their fairy houses.

A & C fairy house ... was built right into the base of a tree log that was laying on the ground.

H & D fairy house ...I love that it so well blends into the nature around it that you can hardly tell its a fairy house. :)

M & K fairy house theirs was butted up against a living tree and was so cute with a little fence around the whole thing.

Each house really took on the personalities of each child working on it and we had so much fun watching them from our spots around the fire pit. They each went off into different directions and built out of the way of any human eyes. We had loads of fun pondering which types of fairies would love these homes.

The next morning we packed up camp and headed for home. We stopped in a sleepy little town known as Willits along Highway 101 to have lunch in a lovely park.

subway sandwiches chips and drinks for everyone before we hit the road again!

Then once the kids had played we had ate and drank our fill we got back on the road to travel another several hours home. We decided to make one more pit stop at the Buffalo farm.

Man o Man was that some GOOD Jerky!

why is it that mom is always the last in line for the bathroom? I tossed this one in just so yall would believe I was really there! :) O and those hides behind me are so luxurously soft i wish I had the money to buy one!

We got to see the herd of buffalo outside, they had the yearling's separated from the rest of the herd and up close to the farm. my daughter thought it would be a good idea to take a picture of us looking at the baby buffalo.

We also saw a bunch of bird nests on the side of the building that were pretty cool.

These birds build their nests out of mud and live in colonies together like a very large extended family. They are called mud swallows here. I am not sure what the actual name is.

This concluded our camping adventures for August, we wrapped up our month with a birthday bash for my youngest, D turned 6. I do not know where time went but he sure has been fun to watch grow!

September started off with my oldest getting severely ill and ending up in the ICU for 8 full days. So it has been nice to look back and remember this fond time that really was not so long ago even if it does feel like years ago already!

What Fun We Had! part 2

Yesterday we covered all of July so in todays blog we will cover the wonderful adventures of August.

In august we had a visitor, My cousin came and stayed for several weeks and joined us on our camping adventures. I love camping! It is the best place to discover life in its simplistic form. It is easy to imagine what life was like out in the west when people came out with very little and had to make things work. It also lends itself to scientific discoveries very nicely.

So in the beginning of August we went to a little camp sight off of highway 101 in the north part of the state. We camped at a state park called Standish-Hickey. This land is beautiful. near the giant redwoods of California as well as near several wonderful natural attractions.

Here is our tent after we got to camp and set it up!

This tent is a giant 3 room tent and slept 8 people very comfortably! we could have fit 2 more easily. We had a boys room and a girls room and then us moms shared a room. My cousin had his own little tent, which he would probably die of mortification if I showed you the only shot I have of that one. :)

On our first evening there we walked around the camp site after we set up camp to get our bearings and enjoy the nature around us. We found lots of poison oak growing so stuck strictly to the trails. We did spot wild berries growing but they were not ripe yet. we had fun taking snap shots posing in the trees as well as of the trees.

Snap shot of the trees at dusk

When we were preparing to go camping we sat and discussed exactly what meals we wanted while we were there. It was a great idea as we were able to prep most of our food in advance and then just have it packed according to days in the ice chests and tupper container. On the first morning we had from scratch blueberry pancakes over the open fire, made on my cast iron griddle. Everyone swore they were the best pancakes they ever ate!

There just seems to be something so wonderful about fresh pancakes hot off a griddle that can make your mouth water! Later that day we went and discovered the drive through tree It is called the Chandelier tree because the top of it has many full size trees all growing off the one stump.

looking from the ground up very top of the chandelier tree

We took pictures standing inside the drive through tree.

Then we adventured into the gift shop to see what interesting discoveries we could find there. I saw this "logging truck" toy and thought it was cute.

We headed back to camp where we spotted interesting tree growth like this

as well as some beautiful shots like this

We headed back to camp had lunch and then decided for an afternoon hike. where we learned that the law of gravity is completely true. If you go down you have to go back up! We were completely deceived by this sign : .3 miles should not be far, however what the sign does not tell us is that nearly the whole trail is down a steep hill that we had to hike down, with 6 children! This picture is taken as we are coming back up the hill shortly after going down it. we also discovered what several insects while on our adventure hike into the woods, as well as markings left by the bugs. this wood has trails left by termites. And this is a dragon fly that matches the wood so well its almost hard to see him sitting there. Nature at its very best!

The next day of our camping adventure took us to discover a strange spot where gravity seems to be defied.

The kids are at the base of the totem pole that is carved out of one tree.

We spent several hours exploring the confusing area, as well as the beautiful tribute to 9/11

Once we left Confusion Hill we headed back towards camp with a quick lay over in the woods where they filmed part of Star Wars, home of the Ewoks.

and we discovered just how small on this planet we really are.