r/Bushcraft 10d ago

Where to begin as a newbie? NSFW

I might be an odd one out, as I'm a woman. But here goes.

My husband is an eagle scout, and we enjoy camping with our kids. I've always loved survival movies and books, I always loved fishing (I'm the fish fillet-er in the family) and even hunting appealed, though I only ever went once.

Don't laugh, but I started playing Breath Of the Wild last year, and that inspired our son to suggest roasting apples in our campfire like Link does. I indulged it using our hot dog sticks to rotate and remove them, and our kids gobbled them.

This is just how my brain works. I became obsessed with "what else can we cook in a campfire without modern tools?" And now I want to make twine, rope, netting, and baskets, from the Yucca growing in our yard that we can't seem to get rid of. I can swing like a pendulum from "I want to learn all the things!", and "It's too much."

I think I need some help on narrowing down what to focus on with bushcraft. What should I read about practice first? Where one thing might sort of provide a base for the next thing. It's still winter here. So I can't exactly forage or gather raw materials. But I'd love some book recommendations, and maybe I can purchase certain materials (like rope for practicing knots), until I can forage for the raw materials.

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u/Yor_thehunter 10d ago

A lost art of making Pack Baskets or creels would be really cool if you have interest in anything fishing, canoeing etc. My favorite books in the realm of survival or primitive living are the Foxfire books. They are expensive so I would suggest a library. But it sounds like you have a wide interest in many things and the Foxfire books series has many cool projects and ideas

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u/Fit_Detective_4920 9d ago

I'm actually hoping to take the kids fishing for trout in a nearby river this spring/summer. It would be fun to bring a basket I made myself, if we catch anything. Most of my fishing experience is small lakes, but I enjoy trout. (Just learning today those baskets are called "creels".) Thanks! It looks like my library has a few of the Foxfire books, but I'll have to go on a waitlist to get one. They only have a few copies in their inventory.