Cruising the interwebs this morning, looking for some images of caravans I came across this nice sheep wagon on Blacksmith Angel’s Tumblr blog. I love the photo but there’s no information with it.
Author: George Crawford
archaeologist, archer, primitive technologist, and wannabee musician ... mostly
The Open Fire Yurt
This is our latest afghan yurt, seen here with a smoke flap type wheel cover, to allow for the open fire whilst ensuring the rain does not enter.
It has taken us a few years to research our theories about the double bend yurts of North Afghanistan. The conclusions are not conclusive enough, but it seems the high wheel profile is definitely the way to make enough draw whilst allowing the wheel to be covered from the storms.
Due to the fact that our yurts are made from canvas, that can never “breath” as much as the felts of Asian yurts, there is still a lack of circulation like the type one gets from tipi linings.
But all in all it was fun sitting by the large fire sides, over the New Year, with the howling storms outside.
We later put our usual star cap cover on, and installed a…
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Minimalism
“I make myself rich by making my wants few.”
— Henry David Thoreau
For thousands of years, great minds have warned us against the acquisition of “Stuff”. The more stuff we have, the more we’re obsessed with newer, better, more interesting stuff. For about six or seven years now, I have been eliminating extraneous possessions; since before I had even heard of the Minimalist philosophy. Long ago, I realized that possession and the grasping for possessions is a serious root of much of the world’s evil. Greed drives our government. Greed drives the whole crazy idea of banking; not the idea of doing something good or worthwhile, or even making ourselves happy or free. Making money, buying junk, and paying to be entertained. This unholy trinity is the basis for most people’s lives and I don’t want to participate in that.
By most American’s standards, I own very little, but the next few months will see a serious change and a move toward absolute minimalism. I’m posting this here to maybe inspire a few others to think about their possessions, what holds you down, and what makes you happy. Every possession is an anchor.
Crazy Cool Camper Build?
I couldn’t help but post this… Found on TheRoadToGlamperland Facebook site. Built on a Morris Minor of all platforms. As they say, “why not?”
Yuri’s Aluminum Nautilus
Tiny House Talk always features some great stuff from out there on the web and today is no exception!
I won’t attempt to steal anyone’s thunder here so I’m just showing a few images of this great house and leaving the rest to the links. This picture says it all:
And there’s even a short video of the very clever loft.
Way nicer than an RV, but still as portable. The aluminum frame is a great idea and should keep it light and strong.
Great job on this build and I’m so glad he shared this with the world.
Enjoy Your Right To Free Camping On BLM Public Lands
Is your budget feeling a bit stretched by the high cost of long-term camping?
Then you may be surprised to find out that there are huge areas of the American West where you can simply pull off the road and camp for free. And when I say “huge,” I mean HUGE!
All you have to do is look at your map to find areas marked as National Forest or BLM land, and you’ll see that they literally are everywhere. These lands are owned by the Federal Government. (BLM stands for the Bureau of Land Management). And you have the right as a citizen to politely pull off the road and set up camp, so long as there isn’t some local ordinance against it. It really is that easy.
Many of the cheap and free campgrounds listed on FreeCampsites.Net are within BLM or National Forest lands. Some are hardly more than…
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The American Dream
“If America could be, once again, a nation of self-reliant farmers, craftsmen, hunters, ranchers, and artists, then the rich would have little power to dominate others. Neither to serve nor to rule: That was the American dream.”
Edward Abbey
Now we relegate ourselves to be professional consumers who grudgingly toil to increase the status of those we will never really know. We will argue, sometimes to the death, to keep “our” side of the elite, empowered over our every freedom.
Sharpening a Scraper
The Breheimen Bronze Age Bow – 1300 BC
On 7 September 2011, an advanced constructed and complete bow was found at the edge of the Åndfonne glacier in Breheimen mountain range. The C14 dating shows that Norway’s oldest and best preserved bow is 3300 years old.
The 131 centimeters long bow was discovered by archaeologists in connection with the last check before summer fieldwork was completed. The bow was found at the ice edge about 1700 meters above sea level. This shows how important it is that archaeologists are present just when the ice is melting.
Findings of complete bows are very rare, and it turned out even rarer after the results of the C14 dating returned from the laboratory in the U.S.: The bow turned out to be 3300 years old – dating back to about 1300 BC – in other words from the early Bronze Age.
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It is the oldest bow ever found in…
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Router Plane
Stanley Model 71 Router Plane. Tools of a simpler time.
Preindustrial Craftsmanship 