Stocking a camp for 4-6 months.

[nathancooper]

Hello all, new member here with a question(s).

Short Form Question: I'm looking for info about how to approach stocking a tent/cabin for 4-6 months for winter.

Context: I'm a kayak guide on Salt Spring Island, BC, Canada and have decided rather then going mad trying to find work to pay rent when the island "shuts down" for winter to live in a 12x16 Prospector canvas tent with stove (http://atuktents.com). I have lots of experience (10+ years as a paid leader/educator and diploma in Outdoor Recreation) traveling solo through the great outdoors (including a 5 month solo journey running, kayaking and cycling the length of Canada) but little in staying in one place living on my own skills. I'm learning to fish and harvesting locally from the ocean as well as gather local plants for food. Water will not be an issue and have a bicycle generator for limited electrical needs (I am very athletic and once ran a 100 mile trail race in 19 hours). The island sees mild weather in the winter with little snow but great amounts of rain and rarely sunny. Rarely does it dip below freezing. My food needs is about double the average adult male as I travel about 100-150 km per week with some cycling but mostly by running (this can drop a bit in the winter).

Long Form Question: Given the context how do I plan for the following needs,

1)Food: What dry goods should I buy and how much in advanced. Hoping to get up a green house for growing greens (climate mild enough in winter for some veg) as well as foraging but will buy anything I need as I go if no other option. Any special skill to store food for the long term? Any suggestions for where to buy the dry goods (Canada)?

2)Lighting: Intent to use candles. How many theoretical hours of light should I stock. I have petroleum allergies and don't like using such products so will most likely use beeswax.

3)Heating: How much wood should I stock. I will have both the time and access to cut my own wood but would like to stock what I need up front. The stove is 12" x 12" x 22" steel 28 GA for the tent. I don't mind the cold so much but need to keep the place dry in the winter.

4)Any considerations I'm missing?

Thank you for the time. Long time reader but first post.
Nathan Cooper

 

[Seadog]

Sorry no direct experience but you might like to look at the experience of people who provision small boats for long ocean passages. If weight not issue, and not really limited by fuel or water - then issues are 1. variety so you do not bore yourself to death 2. easy taste (good stocks of spices etc. - I am a fan of curries) 3. bombproof (rodent proof) packaging. Also need to think calories
some thoughts: dried pulses, tinned tomatoes, sweetcorn etc. remember for carbs rice more robust in storage than potato (unless freeze-dried as in high Andes).

 

[fozzy]

Beans , lots of beans

 

[Elen Sentier]

Hello. I've no experience but a favourite book of mine is Dick Poenneke's One Man's Wilderness, you may get some tips from that. He wasn't kayaking but you speak of a base camp so there may be correlations. Be good to hear how you fare

behind every creative woman there's usually a very talented cat ...

 

[rik_uk3]

Really Nathan I'd have thought there were Canadian forums with members who have experience of this type of camp?

Really your looking at lots of canned food and dried food like flour and legumes, salt, coffee, sugar, chocolate and candy et al stored in waterproof tubs like you use with your canoe. Are you in Bear country? If you are you'll need to store and cook your food well away from your tent.

Fuel, as I'm sure your aware you'll go through a LOT of wood. I'd look at a white gas stove like a couple of small Coleman or a Coleman twin burner and a lantern with a few gallon cans of fuel too. Couple of small solar panels might be worthwhile as is a sat phone if there is no cell phone reception there...emergencies can happen.

Dick Poenneke's book is good but he had supplies flown in to supplement the fish and meat he hunted.

 

[santaman2000]

Really Nathan I'd have thought there were Canadian forums with members who have experience of this type of camp?.....

.......Are you in Bear country? If you are you'll need to store and cook your food well away from your tent.

Fuel, as I'm sure your aware you'll go through a LOT of wood. I'd look at a white gas stove like a couple of small Coleman or a Coleman twin burner and a lantern with a few gallon cans of fuel too.......

-I was wondering the same things. We all have our opinions and methods but somebody closer to homw would be able to offer more relevant advice than any of us.
-Regarding bears, I know they hibernate but the climate you describe is fairly mild so you might well get a raid or two. As Rik said, you'll need to keep your food and cooking separate (which I'm sure you already know) for your safety. But even so, have you considered how you'd replace any food they might pilfer?
-You said you have petroleum allergies so a white gas stove night not suit but perhaps an alcohol stove would?

 

[Everything Mac]

Any chance of resupply?

The only thing I could add is make sure you have a back up plan. Ie what happens if your food gets raided by bears etc or what happens if your wood runs out in a storm?

I'd be looking into a strong box with emergency rations to see you through a storm or something serious. A gas stove and decent supply of gas just in case. Are storms a risk to the tent?

Using candles etc sounds very romantic though I reckon you'd need a lot!

How will you keep yourself entertained? Will you have a vehicle?

The stove sounds quite thin sheet.... What happens if you dent it?


Good luck
Andy

 

[Jared]

This does remind me of the "North of the Sun" guys. https://www.facebook.com/nordforsola

Two guys built a cabin from scrap/driftwood which they lived in for 9 winter months inside the arctic circle.

http://cabinporn.com/post/34097710799/in-2010-inge-wegge-and-j-rn-ranum-spent-9-months


Though I think they were supplied with out of date food, and had a van running biodesiel (recycled cooking oil)

 

[Tengu]

You must be incredibly wealthy to consider using beeswax candles

 

[Miniwhisk]

Tallow candled. Will you be hunting? Have a plan to make your own.

Wood. Not being the owner of a wood stove I would hate to guess but judging by the copious number of youtbe vids on cabin living I would guess you'd need a few chords of wood and a ready supply from woodland if you run short.

Wool - plenty of wool blankets are a must. You can use on floors, walls and even repair your tent with them. Wool is brilliant insulation even in damp conditions.

Knives, axe and sharpener,

Plastic buckets to keep your food ... Dry.

Tools to repair eveything of importance. Some high temperature weld in case your stove pipe springs a leak.

Bowls.

Plastic bags.

Silversan soap. You can use that to wash everything.

Honey.

Salt.

Yeast, flour enough for one loaf per week.

Just work out your food by the week, then doule it. Don't forget tea and coffeE and dried milk.

 

[petrochemicals]

nathan, hold everything, saw on the t.v. Last night the romans used olive oil in their lamps, far safer than having a few gallons of meths lying around. Mongolianyurts.com should be more up your street!

 

[nathancooper]

Sorry for not chiming in sooner, Just got on to a good connection. I'll start with a copy of a reply that didn't make it.

Old Post-----
Sorry for the late reply. Lets see if I can hit all/most of the points.

I'll be set up in the back woods of a good friends farm so not too hard to get back on the roads.

Coms: I'm at the very edge of cell connections so cellular phone will work most of the time. I may reactivate my SPOT (satellite emergency communicator/beacon).

Bears: Island is small and peopled enough to drive the bears off that swim over and the cougers keep to themselves (plenty of food for them). Wolves were killed off in the early 1900's.

Resupply/transport: Totally a chance for resupply if needed. I haven't driven a car in over 10 years but I don't mind "humping" a hundred pounds up island in a cart if needed. Would prefer to do dry goods verses caned goods for this reason.

Wood/Fuel: I intend to stretch out my fuel by adding lots of thermal mass (aka bricks) to the stove to help regulate heat. I often use pressure cookers to save on fuel during trips and will work here. I will get some sort of other stove as well. White gas or perhaps kerosene as it is much cheaper. The stove fuels only give me massive migraines with open fumes and not when vaporised in a stove so I can live with that (its use in lighting doesn't fully vaporise the fuel and makes me ill). I've test fired the stove a bit and feel there is no need to worry that it is too thin.

Sources in Canada: Give yours selves a pat on the back rather then a scratch on the head. I've ended up at the forum here so many times in my research that it is my go to. Also much of the Canadian stuff follows the American trends so if I wanted to know how to stock for social unrest or a zombie invasion I'd be set but not for something more practical like living in a cabin for a bit.

Entertainment: I love books so this is not problem and I can hike in to my PO Box or a bit further to a library. The island hold many book exchanges as well. Also will be busy learning/practising new skills. Also will use it as a base camp to do all the longer trips I want to do as my summer job keeps me on call 24/7.

Sailing/resources: I only have one book on sailing that covers passage making and it has advice on food but no provisions list or rules of thumb. The only provisions list is from a camping book from 1910 for 4 people over 2 week periods and I was hoping for something a little newer. I have an itch that Walden had a list in one of his books so might have to look that one up.

Get what I'm looking for are a few sample provision lists or rules of thumb for supplies.

Thanks all!
-Nathan
Old post-------

Other stuff:

Burning Olive oil is hard to do with out a lot of soot. I've done it and it has a nice glow.

Bee's wax Can be expensive for the fancy stuff but isn't as bad as most people think when you consider that it last much longer then paraffin and so you need to store less. Example is the candles I use in my candle lantern have 15 hour bee's wax candles($2.50) and 9 hour paraffin candles ($0.85) (same size). So $0.17 an hour over $0.10 an hour. Besides bee's wax is my most favourite smell in the world. Also opens up other options. I can do a few beehives on the property if I want and might try wax bead and wick techniques (measure off the amount of wax beads for burn time into a small container and put in a wick and light).

Soo I'm thinking for dry goods: rice, flower, beans, milk, eggs...

Love that cabin in the link.

I've set the tent up temporarily in the field in front of my current cabin trying stuff out. I'll toss up a few pics when I can.

-Nathan

 

[Paul_B]

Read somewhere abt putting a tarp over top of tent to protect or add warmth. Think that was for tent life in colder areas of Canada to though.

 

[santaman2000]

Read somewhere abt putting a tarp over top of tent to protect or add warmth. Think that was for tent life in colder areas of Canada to though.

Ironicly I've also seen that done in hotter climatres such as deserts to protect from the heat.

 

[santaman2000]

For ease of transport and storeage you're probably right to go mainly with dehydrated, but for the sake of variety (your sanity may depend on it) take at least some canned goods as well. And learn how to bake! Not just bread, but also pies and sweets. Especially from rehydrated fruits.

As for closer sources of info that aren't geared toward zombie apacolypse, talk to the local outdoor hunting and fishing guides and outfitters. They'll likely be similar to the old book you referenced in that they're geared toward shorter trips of a few weeks but still will be full of good info.

 

[Tengu]

Robin Knox Johnsons `a world of my own` has a full food list

Do you have trouble with zombies in the US, Santaman?

 

[santaman2000]

Not personally Tengu. They mostly like eating brains so they usually leave me alone.

 

[Everything Mac]

Not personally Tengu. They mostly like eating brains so they usually leave me alone.

Chortle.

Just a thought Nathan but what's wring with using a battery powered lantern? Surely coupled with a solar powered charger or even a wind up model that would sort you out for most things?

Is beef jerky and air dried meat an option?

 

[Squidders]

One thing I would seriously think about is adding lots of insulation to your tent. Winters in BC can be harsh and adding lots of thickness to your tent by wool/felt layers inside or moss outside will massively reduce the fuel you require to keep the tent warm inside.

Also think a lot about running repairs on things, ensure that you have either spares of things that you need or the ability to fix those things. Over six months of use every day it's entirely possible your axe will not only need sharpening but that the handle may be damaged.

Give yourself a treat too... maybe once a month a nice bottle of wine and a stodgy pudding to go with your meal, this will give you something to really look forward to and plan for.

 

[franglais]

Is dried pasta available to you, great for carb's, tinned pasta with meat is a great survival food, high in salt and sugar with protein and carb's, don't forget a wind up radio and a decent first aid kit.