While many of us would love to have hundreds of acres of wilderness to call our own, that’s just not realistic for a lot of people. Instead, it might be a quarter-acre at best that lies outside the back door. Fortunately, that’s still more than enough space for backyard camping.
This is a great way to hone basic wilderness skills in a safe environment. You can make mistakes and learn from them with little risk. As you gain some experience, you can then transition to more challenging situations.
Backyard camping is an excellent way to pass skills along to your kids and grandkids. Trust me, they’ll have a blast, and those memories will stay with them forever.
Here are just a few skillsets you can practice right in your backyard.
Fire Making
This is a basic survival skill. It’s something anyone who ventures into the wilderness should master. If you don’t have a great spot in the yard to build a fire, consider picking up a patio fire pit. You might even find one cheap at a yard sale.
Practice using a variety of methods and tools to get a fire going, including strike-anywhere matches and ferrocerium rods. Don’t overlook more primitive approaches like a bow drill. Experiment with different types of tinder, too. Dryer lint is great, provided it’s from clothing that’s mostly natural fibers like cotton. Run a load of jeans and flannel shirts and you have it made.
Getting a fire lit and maintaining it on a calm summer evening is a piece of cake. Get out there and do it when the weather isn’t awesome, such as when it’s raining or blowing snow. That’s where the rubber meets the road, so to speak.
Knot Tying
This one doesn’t necessarily require backyard camping to practice. But it adds an air of authenticity to the exercises. There are several basic knots that should be learned. These include the Bowline, Taut-Line Hitch, Trucker’s Hitch, and Prusik.
There are any number of books you can find at the library that show these and many other knots step by step. Another option is YouTube. This video from Nature Reliance is a great place to start.
Wild Edible Identification
Many of the plants we think of as weeds are actually beneficial, if you’re not hyper-focused on growing the perfect lawn. Dandelion, clover, chickweed, purslane, and many others are found all over the place.
One big advantage of practicing this skill while backyard camping is that if a particular plant doesn’t agree with you, you’re not miles from decent bathroom facilities.
The Forager’s Harvest by Samuel Thayer is one of the best resources out there for identifying wild edibles, as well as how to use them.
Campfire Cooking
This one might be the most fun of the bunch. Anytime you can combine great food and the outdoors, it’s a win for all involved. Make no mistake, cooking over an open fire is absolutely a skill that must be learned and practiced.
To be clear, we’re not talking about just boiling water to pour into a packet of freeze-dried vittles. There are all sorts of meals you can prepare for you and the family. The Outdoor Boys YouTube channel is a great starting point to see just how amazing campfire cooked meals can be. While these videos aren’t strictly instructional, you’ll get the gist easily enough.
