When gathering plants for survival uses, keep in mind that you can do more than just eat them. You can do many things with them. For instance you can thatch a roof with thick grasses. Fluffed up milkweed own or cattails can be used as rudimentary bedding or insulation.  Any type of leaf material that is not crumbling or hay can be used as bedding or insulation as well.

All kinds of plants can be used to make cords and rope. The stems from nettles, milkweed, yucca plants and the inner bark of trees can be used to construct useful things.  If you are lucky enough to find hemp or corn you can make very durable rope and ties of the stems and leaves.

Dried seaweed can also be used as bedding or insulation in a shelter. Seaweed can be very durable and can be useful as a scrubber or rag.

Walnut hulls can also be used to catch fish. You put a cluster of walnut hulls in a quiet part of a stream. The fish swim near the hulls and then slow down and die. It is a way of “passive fishing” that might come in useful if you happen to have walnut hulls on her.

Plants can also be used to make insect repellent.  One effective repellent is the juice of wild garlic or onion applied to the skin.  Another old trick is to burn cattails inside a dwelling to keep the bugs away.

Big leaves of many plants can be used as rags, toilet paper or whatever you need. Some plant leaves, if curled properly, can be used as ladles or as vessels for collecting and gathering water.   Very thick leaves can also be strapped to the feet to use as shoes or they can protect the hands from handling hot objects.

There are numerous uses for branches including building material, to carry and support structures and as fishing tools.  Branches can be combined with roped plant material to build houses, rafts and fishing lines.  Rudimentary traps for animals can also be created using natural things from the forest.

You can also use plants to dye clothing or fabric.  If you boil walnut hulls you can get a brown color. Pokeberries provide a purple dye and onion skins turn fabric yellow.   Chamomile buds can also dye things a dark yellow.  When using berries to dye clothing make sure that they are not poisonous so nobody has an allergic reaction when the final result is placed next to the skin.

If you are in a survivalist situation you may have no way of really telling what is going to happen with the weather. There may be no television, no radio or newscaster.  If this might be the case it is good to know that you can tell the weather by the shape of the clouds.

Being familiar with the different cloud formations and what they predict can help you take the action needed to protect you and your family from inclement conditions.  It is also useful to know this skill if you think you might have to be avoiding toxic or radioactive rain.

Cirrus clouds are high clouds that look like thin streaks or curls and are usually at least six kilometres above the earth. They are a sign of fair weather.  However if you are in a very cold climate and you see these wispy clouds multiplying it can mean there is a blizzard on the way. This is especially true if the wind is blowing from the north.

Cumulus clouds are the fluffy white clods that look like mashed potatoes. These also usually predict fair weather. They appear around midday on a sunny day looking like large cotton balls with flat bottoms. As the day goes on the clouds will pile higher and higher and turn dark at the top.  The darker they come the more ominous the news is – a thunderstorm is on the way.

Stratus clouds are low, gray clouds that make the entire sky seem massed over with a gray layer. These clouds generally mean rain.  Nimbus clouds are layers of uniform grayness that extend over the sky that are a bit thicker and they also forbode rain.

A Cumulonimbus is a hybrid cloud that extends to great heights and forms in the shape of anvil. This indicates that a big thunderstorm is on its way.

Cirrostratus clouds is fairly uniform lair of high stratus clouds that are slightly darker than the usual cirrus clouds but they still indicate good weather. Cirrocumulus clouds are small, round white clouds that exist at a high altitude and indicate good weather.

Finally there are scuds. These are loose clouds that look like wafts of drifting vapour and they mean that bad weather is on the way.

Knowing even a little bit of information about bad weather can do a lot to warn you to get inside before all of your survivalist gear is ruined by a violent storm.