Paleo Pursuits

Today I am going out to the Range. Aside from archery, I will be testing out the first completed atlatl dart I have. If it flies satisfactorily I have three others to complete as well. I will have my sling along as well. Since I haven't made any flint tipped thrusting spears..yet..I shan't have one of those along. ;)

I do have a nice obsidian knife. The blade is mounted in an elk antler grip with a piece of walnut capping the end. Artificial sinew binds it in place.

Knapping has begun. So has hunting up appropriate stones for such use in my area. Also, the use of clay for making various things.

Use of the hand drill, bow drill, fire piston and other items continues. I am also experimenting with using a rolled tube of birch bark, grass, and other items as a kind of smudge stick..really for keeping embers alive for making a fire elsewhere. That is also where the clay comes in for a pot to carry such in comfortably is in my mind.

I am sorely tempted to have a to at Ötzis' shoes. They are surprisingly complex consisting of a bear hide sole and a woven net for the uppers, over which is deer hide and inside of which is straw. Reconstructions show them to be very comfortable and quite warm except in the rain, which they soak up fiercely. The uppers are fur out, by the way. I strongly suspect some kind of tallow-beeswax mixture for making them water resistant.

His patchwork leather leggings are interesting, but I do not think I will be copying those..tempting as it is. One piece each please. LOL

Shifting my eating habits, I won't call it a diet because it isn't one, has been ongoing. Eggs are a big staple here, and these days meats tend to be carefully chosen and processed food is finally disappearing (mostly) from the routine. In time perhaps completely. I still need to increase consumption of fruits, nuts, and vegetables. I do eat bread, but we are more and more making our own and often things like Iron Age bread types. So no, it isn't that dratted faddish 'paleo diet' that takes up every reference to the Paleolithic on every search engine. We are, however, eating far more healthily than before and will continue to increase it.

The world is broken, from a societal perspective. In my opinion, it cannot be fixed without tearing everything apart and starting over. That won't happen without massive trauma of some kind. So I am, in a way, 'checking out' and really focusing on a far simpler, if far more difficult, way of living. It makes me happy. There is the key.

At the moment I am pretty much alone in my Paleo pursuits, but that is fine. Others may come and go, but I will remain. For a while. Until She calls me to Her. I wouldn't have it any other way.

Eledhwen