In this episode of the Primitive Camping & Bushcraft Podcast, Chris dives into real-time conversations from the Primitive Camping and Bushcraft Facebook group, spotlighting member posts, gear debates, camp setups, and the importance of community learning. Blending field-tested wisdom, faith, and real talk, this episode is a laid-back yet deeply reflective fireside chat about making do with what you have, staying grounded in your gear and in grace.
In this episode, Chris pulls straight from the Primitive Camping and Bushcraft Facebook group to reflect on the posts, questions, and tips shared by its members. From tarp shelter setups and gear hacks to battling Mississippi mosquitoes and testing DIY fish hooks, it's a gritty mix of story, survival, and spiritual insight. You’ll hear about Rhett’s summer tarp camp, the underrated genius of 10x10 tarps, bush pots and bedrolls, and even freeze-dried meals cooked in a state-licensed restaurant. The episode wraps with a heartfelt devotional from Psalm 51 on repentance, restoration, and the kind of real transformation that only God can bring.
What You'll Learn
The pros and cons of different tarp sizes (8x8 vs 10x10 vs 12x12)
Why low-budget gear might outperform high-end brands
How to use dog fennel as a natural mosquito repellent
Tips for summer camping in high heat and humidity
Behind the scenes of launching freeze-dried camping meals
How Psalm 51 speaks to personal repentance and community encouragement
Mentioned in This Episode
Primitive Camping and Bushcraft Facebook group
→ Join here
Cold Cracker Bushpot & Self Reliance Outfitters Bedroll
DD 3x3 tarp and the new DD 4x4 tarp
Tony Powers’ custom “Bobcat” knife (Dirtbound Survival)
Thermacell & Tiny Repel mosquito solutions
Freeze-dried meal experiments: Stroganoff, Chili Mac, Breakfast Skillet
Faith Reflection
Psalm 51:15 — “O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth shall show forth your praise.”
Chris reflects on David’s brokenness and how the words we speak reflect our heart, especially in a group where encouragement and honesty go hand in hand.
(upbeat music)
Welcome to the Primitive
Camping and Bushcraft Podcast.
I'm your host, Chris Speir.
So here we're gonna talk about gear,
red and the kind of stories
you only get around the fire.
It's all about learning, adapting
and keeping your faith strong.
So whether you're a seasoned outdoorsman
or just looking to unplug and reconnect,
you're in the right place.
So pull up a chair by the
fire and let's get into it.
All right, welcome back to the podcast
and today we're gonna do
a little bit different.
Really a lot different.
So what we're gonna do
today is we are actually going
through the Primitive
Camping and Bushcraft group
on Facebook, looking at some of the posts
that people have placed and put
and we're gonna talk about them.
And right now we have some
pretty good stuff going on.
And if you're not a member of the group,
Primitive Camping and
Bushcraft on Facebook,
go ahead and look us up, sign up.
I'm pretty sure any of
the admin will go ahead
and let you on in and it's no big deal.
Come on in, enjoy the camaraderie
and start making some posts
and just join in on the communication,
become part of the conversation.
So we're gonna be ping
ponging back and forth
with that in between the book.
If you haven't picked
up a copy of the book,
Primitive Camping and
Bushcraft, go ahead,
swing on over to your
favorite online retailer
and pick up a copy of
the Primitive Camping
and Bushcraft book.
And it is still going strong.
It is still going strong.
I've had some individuals reach out to me
and tell me how much
they really enjoy the book.
So swing by, pick that up,
join the group on Facebook.
So let's dig right on in.
So we got one of our
top contributors, Rhett,
and he's been here for a while
and he's made a post on here.
It says it's been a while since they
posted a camping pic
and he's camped a couple of times,
just didn't take any pictures.
Him and his daughters, they
slept out behind the house
and due to the heat wave in Indiana,
so they just set up a tarp shelter.
And so that really,
really right there is the key
in summer camping.
Hot weather camping is a tarp shelter.
And I can't reiterate to you guys enough,
personally down here in South
Mississippi, it's hot.
I mean, it gets cool in the wintertime.
It'll dip down to the 30s,
but it doesn't stay that way.
It's always like overnight it'll be 30
and then it'll jump
back up into the 60s or 80s
the next day.
But it's still, it's
kind of cool at night.
You just sleep by the
fire, keep yourself warm
and then the rest of the
day you're perfectly fine.
But for this right here, what he's got
is a tarp shelter going on.
He's made a setup there with a,
it looks like a modified
plow point type shelter.
He's run a ridge line from tree to tree
and it looks like he
has set up a plow point.
And the plow point is very good coverage
and it really does a real good job.
It covers you from the
backside and to your sides
and then it allows you to go ahead and
have plenty of cover.
You can keep that
open up towards the fire
where you have the fire
coming in there in the winter
and keep warm reflecting
off of the warmth or the heat
reflecting off of both
of the sides and the back
and the top and it's all
reflecting in one direction
to keep you warm and that is awesome.
So Red, I love the setup
that you got there going on.
It's pretty cool.
Now it's a little hot and
according to your picture there,
you have a very small fire going
and due to the summertime,
yep, I'd have a small fire.
And then it looks like, let me
zoom in on your picture here,
it looks like you may
have some dog fennel
back behind you in
the field there growing
and there might be some there,
it's hard to tell with this picture,
but that's the perfect setup
and the perfect place that
dog fennel will be growing.
So get familiar with some dog fennel,
run back out there and get you some
and then rake you some
of them coals to decide
in the evening time
and just throw the green,
watered up into like a
bird's nest, green dog fennel
and then throw it on top of
the coals, not in the fire,
fire, just put it on some coals
so it'll sit there and smolder
and put off the smell and the heat
and it'll actually
help rid of skater bugs
and get rid of some of the mosquitoes
and keep the insects down.
But it looked like y'all was doing
some little clearing out there.
Pretty cool.
So let's get back to the
rest of the topic there,
what he was saying.
He used his new cold cracker bush pot set
and his self-reliance
outfitter's bed roll cook set
to make a chicken alfredo dinner.
Oh, that sounds good.
So let's zoom in and take a look at that.
Oh, that's pretty cool.
All right, so the bed roll,
so we've talked about
that plenty of times
in the book, "Premium
Camping in Bushcraft"
and I talked about that a lot,
a bed roll stove and a good pot.
I mean, you cannot beat those two items.
It's crazy.
So, you know, I got a lot,
there's a lot of comments in here.
He used plenty of bug spray.
All right, so we talked
about that a little bit.
Some campfire smoke and a thermosil
to battle mosquitoes.
Now, I'm telling you right now,
if you are a avid
hunter or anything like that,
especially down here in South Mississippi
where you're hunting in the swamps,
thermosil is a godsend.
Thermosil is the absolute,
one of the most
amazing things ever invented
when it comes to mosquito control,
but it's still, you know,
still I've hunted where
I needed two thermosils
because the mosquitoes were so bad.
But,
mosquitoes, gators, go out, leave me in.
They drive me nuts.
But you know what,
Flakestale has a couple little items
and Rhett, you might
want to look into this.
Flakestale has a little lantern.
It's called the tiny
repel or tiny lantern repel
or something to that effect.
And I'm actually going
to be doing a video on it
here shortly.
And it has two pads in
there just like the thermosil,
but it will put off a 30 foot
radius of mosquito repellent.
Plus it has a lantern that
you can hang into your tent.
So it's got a light for
your tent or your tarp
or your overhang or whatever it is.
But at the same time, it
actually does mosquito repellent
like a thermosil.
And you just put these pads in there
and change these pads out.
So the kids definitely
slept better than Rhett did.
And he said that they could
sleep on a pile of livestock.
So I'm pretty sure they
have some stuff on the ground
and him sleeping on his back.
I could do a full gear
list if anyone is interested.
It's nothing fancy or high end,
but it works.
Hey, let me tell you,
that's the beauty about gear.
If it works, it works.
And you don't have to have high end stuff
if your gear works.
And that's one thing
that I cannot stress enough
that with folks, don't
worry about the price tag
or whatever.
It's not a popularity contest.
It's about what works for you.
If it works for you, you
ain't got to worry about
what somebody else thinks.
We had a couple of other folks in here
in the comments with this.
I was talking about how
they understand the humidity
and how summer's their
least favorite time to camp.
That's old Chris.
And he's bragging on how
he had a nice setup there.
And then Jody, he was like,
man, that's a slick setup.
And he can't wait till cooler weather.
He said he can't
bring himself to camp out
in the heat of the summer.
A lot of times I can't either.
Now, Rip made another post here as well
saying that he is,
he said, I may have already
brought this up previously,
but why is an eight foot by eight foot
not a popular size for camping tarts?
Why is the five by seven
good for emergency shelter
or ultra light fair weather cover?
But personally, I feel like a 10 by 10
is just a little too big for one person.
Well, let's talk about that.
And the comments in here,
Jeff and Chris and
James all commented on this
and Jeff was talking
about things to consider.
Do you like keeping
your gear out of the rain?
And what if the rain's
blowing sideways type deal?
So that is good things to talk about
because I use the three by three,
which is three meters by three meters
or 10 foot by 10 foot basically.
And it is amazing.
It does great.
It does everything I need.
And it folds up real nice.
It's real lightweight.
It's a very good tarp.
The DD three by three.
Now I have just recently learned
that the double D
makes a four by four tarp,
four meters by four meters.
So that'd be what, 12
by 12 foot by 12 foot.
And those, I'm thinking
about getting one of those
because here's the reason why.
And I agree with Jeff on this comment
that it helps you keep all your gear
under the cover as well
because when you're going camping,
a lot of times it's not just yourself
that you're trying to keep protected
as just somebody else with you
or you brought a big
old backpack full of gear
that you want to keep
out of the rain as well.
And if it starts raining,
you could lower that
down to lower to the ground
and keep yourself high and dry.
Keep yourself from
getting soaked and saturated
and anything like that.
Now James comments that
he has a DD three by three
and he loves it.
It's perfect.
He says it's the perfect size.
Now Chris, he answered
this the same way I would
that there is no wrong answer.
It's whatever you prefer that, you know,
Chris personally in the fall and winter,
he does prefer a 10 by 10
only because he could feel,
he feels that he can configure it
in many different setups
and still have plenty of
room for him in his pack.
And with that said, summer,
you could be
comfortable in a poncho shelter.
You know, me, here's what I'm gonna do.
I'm always gonna have a tarp overhead
because in South Mississippi,
it's gonna rain in the drop of an eye,
a drop of a hat, you know, in a flash.
And you can, one second,
it is not a single cloud in the sky.
And the next second, it is
thunderstorms and rain and,
you know, an inch of
rain drop on top of you.
And, you know, whenever you get out there
in a situation like that,
it's great to have that tarp
because that tarp collects your water
and there's less water that
you have to actually filtrate
and you get to really save the filter
on your water filtration system.
So which coming up, I got
a couple of gravity bags
that I'm going to be
doing some videos on,
be talking about here
in the group as well.
Now, number, the next one,
the next post was by Red again.
Now, no wonder why Red is the top
contributor, you know.
He's asking if
anybody would be interested
in a three foot by seven
and a half foot ground sheet.
And that he has a piece
of vinyl billboard tarp
that he's cutting up.
So if anybody wanted
some of that, let him know.
And, you know, it's just,
I love the people in
this group, you know.
There are 7,000 people in this group,
but, you know, there's only a few people
that actually post or post questions
or do anything about that.
You know, James, and he
posed a question a few days ago
about, you know, what kind of belt knife
do you like to use while you're in woods?
Which style of sheaf do you prefer?
One that dangles so it moves with you
or one that's fixed to your belt?
You know, I've always used
one that was fixed to my belt
for years until BPS sent me
a knife to try out for video.
And I fell in love with that knife.
And I really fell in love
with the sheath that it came with
because it dangled and
it allowed more freedom
and flexibility.
And, you know, the only
problem I found with it
is the sitting down
always set on the knife.
But the knife itself is amazing.
BPS makes a great knife.
Now, I'm telling you right now,
my most recent upgrade
is a dirt bound survival.
Mr. Tony Powers, he's
a member of this group,
primitive camping and bushcraft.
And he makes knives.
And I'm telling you right
now, this knife is something.
I bought the Bobcat from him.
It was like $120, something like that,
sent a sheath with it.
And, you know, he did a
real good job on this knife.
And I got some videos
gonna be coming out.
I wanna show you guys the knife itself.
And I want to also be running it through.
I wanna cut down some trees with it.
I wanna slice some firewood with it.
I want to, you know, do
some camp stuff with it
just to show you guys how
durable these things are.
And I told him I was gonna
be doing some videos on it,
help promote it and do some,
run it through its paces.
So hopefully it holds up, you know.
This is Tony, hopefully it holds up.
(laughs)
Just to throw that out there, man.
But yeah, we got tons of more questions
and stuff like that.
So, you know, we have
one individual, Jeff,
and one of our rising contributors,
he said he had a dilemma where they,
he was asking, "What would we do?"
You know, he, "Let me pull that post up."
It says that he
reserved a site at a campground
we've been going to
for 11 years next week.
Only they just experienced an act of God
and experienced catastrophe damage
in meteorological terms, a microburst.
Posting this here because we're good.
I always plan on camping
with the bare minimum catch,
cook, all that.
And we got an email regarding
cancellations and refunds,
but the place is 4th,
5th's, Glamrs, and we're not.
So would you cancel or
would you take a refund?
So what would you do in
a situation like that?
Would you cancel out?
Would you refund?
What would you do?
Would you go?
You know, most of the places that you go
on 4th of July
weekend, believe it or not,
everybody thinks 4th of
July is camping season,
goes out camping, but
they always, like he said,
in their Glamrs, they're
gonna go out with their campers.
And you know, I'm talking
bumper pull trailers or RVs
or you know, stuff
like that, massive tents
and everything like that.
Now, I'm not gonna cut it down.
I'm not going to say
anything bad or negative about it
because you know, there's a
place and a time for it all
and you don't know the situations.
And so where you and I may
enjoy going out into the woods
by ourselves with
gear and just heading out
and setting up our camp
primitive like, you know,
primitively, the
folks that do the campers,
they may not like the
primitive lifestyle.
They may like the taste of
the woods or the outdoors,
but the comfort of home.
You know, that's fine.
That's what they prefer,
let them go for it, you know,
but you know, for me,
for me, I am all about,
I'm gonna load some gear in my boat,
head out to the woods,
you know, in my kayak
or my flat bottom,
head out into the woods
and just camp, you know,
set up a spot somewhere,
find my firewood, you
know, put my firewood,
light my firewood, cook my
dinners, all that good stuff,
you know, so it's different
strokes for different folks.
And I know we've always heard that term.
We've heard that
people say that, you know,
and it is true.
It's like whatever works for one person
is not gonna work for all.
That's why we are called individuals
because each one of us like,
individually like things different.
So I'm just,
I'm just not going to
put down on the people
that are glampers, you
know, they like the glamping
because, you know, if
that's their way, let them do it.
I personally am not going to.
So then we had a couple
of videos that I posted
and then while Bob
hiccup, he posted taking down
a dangerous tree or widow maker in there.
And that was back in June
and he saw one down this tree
that could have fell, a dead
tree that fell on the camp.
And then we got a couple of other stuff
that could go all the
way back to June 3rd where,
hey, I'm posting
topics, taking podcast topics.
So, you know,
I'm working on a video that should be up,
not this coming.
So I'll post a YouTube video
every Sunday at two o'clock.
And I posted one today about the kayaks,
you know, Vibe kayaks,
are sponsoring me for some videos.
And I got a contract
with them for the next year
to post a video a month.
And so I've been posting more
than video a month, honestly.
And, you know, cause I
really, I really enjoy the product.
I really enjoy their kayaks.
I really enjoy what
they're doing, you know,
they got some good products.
So, but, you know, I
got a video coming up
in a couple of weeks that I'm working on.
I have to reshoot some stuff,
but I'm trying to make a fish hook
out of a pop top, you
know, a pop tab or a coke,
coke can tab or a soda bottle, whatever,
whatever you want to call it, you know,
to us down here in South Mississippi,
is that every, every soft
drink is called a coke, you know,
you want a coke.
Yeah. What kind?
You know, Sprite, seven up, you know,
what kind of coat do you want?
That's what we call it.
But, you know, it is the tab, pull tab
that you open the coat with.
You see on these videos all the time
of people making fish hooks,
but you never see anybody
actually using that hook
to catch a fish.
So I made one.
I made one.
I made some plastic
stream from a plastic bottle.
And I went out and I went fishing.
And let me tell you, a heads up,
spoiler alert on this
video, these hooks up.
Excuse my language, but
these hooks are horrible.
But it can be done.
So I wanted to try
another simpler hook method
like a gorge hook or something like that.
And I'm thinking
about using a safety pin.
You see safety pins
coming with different things.
And I want to see if I
can actually catch a fish
with a safety pin too.
So I'm going to be doing a lot of
different fishing videos
throughout the next couple
of months, stuff like that.
But I just be looking for that.
That's coming up.
And, you know, if you
got any ideas or anything
that you want to
contribute to the group, come on.
But we'd love to have you.
Primitive camping and
bushcraft, you know,
we're right here on Facebook.
Private group, go ahead, sign up.
Go ahead.
And myself or one of the admin will go
ahead and let you in.
The only time we're
not going to let you in
is if we know that you're
going to try to sell something
in the group.
You know?
Don't come in and spam us
with, hey, this shirt for sale
or this.
Because most of these
shirts are just spam anyway.
Now, like Tony Powers posting a knife
that he makes for the group to see
if anybody's
interested in a real bushcraft
knife that's different.
Me showing you
products of different things
that companies send me to
make videos for, showing you
the product and use in a video.
That's different.
You know?
That's not blatantly just coming out
and listening for people to buy stuff.
So I got a couple of ideas coming up.
I want to really
concentrate on dental floss.
And I want to--
I've been waiting for months.
It's just now, just now to
where you can get out on rivers.
Down here, the rivers have been so high.
It's crazy.
I cannot remember a time when
the water was so high for so
long.
But yeah, it's crazy.
Now the water's starting to subside.
It's starting to go down a little bit.
And it's July.
This is crazy.
Usually by July, it's so dry
you can walk across the rivers.
That's what's crazy.
And it's just now getting to
where it's like, unfleuded.
I have a game cam in the woods.
Been out there since January that I
haven't been able to get
to because it's been so flooded.
Crazy.
And it's still taking pictures.
It has been taking pictures
and videos and sending them to
me for six months.
And I'm like, this is crazy.
That's the Energizer
batteries and that thing.
So recently, I'm going to
be posting some more videos.
I wanted to talk about
food today in this video.
But I decided to take a
different route and go about
the comments and stuff
like that in the primitive
camping and bushcraft group.
But I recently made a
substantial purchase and went
ahead and got a freeze dryer.
And I'm going to be offering
freeze dried camping meals.
And these are home cooked.
So a lot of people will be
like, eh, I don't know about
that, you're cooking at home.
No, I'm not cooking at home.
Here's the thing.
My wife and I, we do own a restaurant.
And that restaurant is
licensed in the state of
Mississippi to serve food.
And because I have that
license, I am able to make
these packages and operate
underneath that license to
sell these products
throughout the United States.
And so the only thing is now
is coming up with a recipe.
So I have some stuff in
the freeze dryer right now.
I'm testing out my recipes.
And I'll be up at the
restaurant cutting and making
and preparing and
getting everything ready to go.
I'm going to be debuting some.
I'm going to be passing
some out to a few folks.
And having them try it out
to let me know, give me your
honest feedback.
If you want one, let me know.
Text me.
Get on these comments of this thing.
When I post this into the group or
whatever, let me know
what you think.
If you want to try one out, let me know.
Let me know.
We'll see what we can do.
But anyway, this is going
to be a huge experiment.
And I'm not a gambling man, but I'm
taking a gamble on this.
Because it's something,
one, it's always going to have
benefit for some reason.
For food stores for long term,
it's going to have a benefit.
And two, it's something
I've always wanted to do.
And I enjoy doing stuff like that.
And I'm really looking forward to
actually doing this.
So I'm going to be
debuting all my stuff in November.
Going to be doing a street
fair at the local street fair
here.
And I'm going to take that, and that's
going to be the kick
off.
I'm going to be selling the books.
Going to be selling the coffee.
And I'm going to be--
I made the new labels and
everything for the food.
I'm making three
different versions of that.
I'm making a stroganoff.
I'm making a chili mac.
And I'm making a breakfast skillet.
And I'm going to start off
with three different things.
And then until I can figure
something out, or we can come
together, and I can be
steered in the right direction.
I know everybody--
those three things are common.
And it seems to be the most common.
And I don't know if that's
because that's the easiest to
freeze dryer or what.
But the thing is, when you
get to these mountain houses and
all these big bulk meals and stuff like
that, you're looking
at lots of different ingredients.
And mine is just going to
be straight up store-bought,
home-cooked stuff.
And I like the meats.
And everything's going to be bought
locally and procured
locally and put together
and cooked in a restaurant and
freeze dried and shipped out.
And so it's going to be real
good quality food and stuff
like that.
So changing gears a little bit here.
We're in Psalms today.
And we're in Psalms--
we'll see-- 51 and verse 15.
It says, "O Lord, open my
lips, and my mouth shall show
forth your praise."
That reminds me that out of
the heart, the mouth speaks.
And that was talked in
Matthew, where Jesus was talking.
And he's talking, out of
the heart, the mouth speaks.
And it reminds me about
this group, where we take this
group, and we all come
together with our own ideas and
our own experiences and our
own thoughts and our own wants
and needs and stuff like that.
And we post it here for
everybody to see, to everybody
contribute, and for
everybody to actually help along, to
encourage.
And that's what we should
all be doing, is helping
encouraging each other.
And "Open my lips, O Lord,
open my lips, and my mouth shall
show forth your praise."
And we open our lips, and
we will praise the Lord.
I know that's a little bit different.
It's not as thought out as
the ones that I've done before.
And I'm going to try to
start being a little bit more
spontaneous with these
and make it more real.
And that's the whole name
of the game with this whole
thing, is being real.
When you let the Lord into
your heart, he will actually start
revealing to you the things
that are unreal, and he'll
start changing them.
That whole psalm that I just
read from was actually after
David screwed up, and David
sinned, and David went in with
Bathsheba.
And at first, in verse 1, he's like,
"Have mercy upon me, O
God, according to your
loving kindness, according to your
multitude, or your
tender mercies, blot out my
transgressions, wash me
thoroughly from my iniquity, and
cleanse me from my sin."
And he realized he did
something wrong, and he was
just begging, "God, please forgive me.
Please forgive me."
And how many times in our
lives have we done that?
How many times have we
done something that we weren't
supposed to, and we knew
we did something we weren't
supposed to, and we cry out
to the Lord and say, "Please
forgive me."
How many times have you done
something against somebody,
and you said something harshly to
someone, a loved one, or
something like that, and you said
something you regret?
How many times have you done that?
And then you had to go back and say,
"Oh," so and so, "please
forgive me.
I'm sorry.
I'm sorry."
And let me tell you, I don't know.
We got a lot of men.
We got a lot of women in this group.
But for a man, a prideful
man, it is hard for a man to go
back and say, "Hey, I'm sorry.
I screwed up." But, and
listen to what I'm saying, but it
takes a man to actually go
back and say, "I'm sorry.
Please forgive me."
So that one kind of just was
out there blowing around in
wind and everything, kind of
like this whole series today,
this whole episode today.
I'm going to be out of town.
I'm going to be in North
Georgia for this whole week,
taking some fatherless
boys up there to summer camp.
And then next week, I'll come back and
start doing some more
filming and stuff like that.
So go ahead, join the discussion.
Get involved in the community,
and let's start making this a
little bit more.
I would love to actually focus this
podcast around this group
and get everybody involved in this group
and in this podcast.
I would love to get, I'm thinking about
really thinking about getting
some of the top contributors
to actually set some time aside and get
on the podcast with me.
And we'll actually hash it out and talk
about it and make this
Primitive Camping in Bushcraft
podcast all about the Primitive Camping
in Bushcraft group and about the book,
and just go through
our skills one on one.
So hopefully you enjoyed this today,
guys, and I really
appreciate you so much,
because if it wasn't for you,
I wouldn't be here doing this.
And I thank you so much,
and I'll see you next time.
God bless you.
Thanks for sitting
around the fire with me today.
If this episode gave you something to
think about, if it
helped you feel a little bit
more prepared, or it even stirred your
faith a tiny bit, go ahead
and share it with someone
else who might need it as well.
We don't go camping
to run away from life.
We come out here to
slow down and recharge.
So grab another log, throw it on the
fire, and remember this.
In all your ways, acknowledge him, and he
will direct your path.
I'll see you next time.
God bless you.