Holly - Your Survival Guide

04/09/2026

The survival industry is weirdly obsessed with how long you’ve been doing something but let’s break it down🌿

1. Experience only matters if you’re learning from it.
Doing something for 30 years doesn’t automatically make you good at it. You can absolutely repeat the same bad habits for three decades. Congrats on the consistency, I guess.

2. You can build serious skills surprisingly quickly.
Practise often, ask lots of questions, test your skills, reflect on your methods. Intentional learning moves fast.

3. Good judgement will save you before a flashy skill does.
Knowing when to turn around, treat your water, call for help or admit conditions are beyond you is survival. Nobody cares about your perfect bow drill ember if your decision-making is cooked.

4. You are not supposed to know everything.
I teach survival and there are still things I don’t know…. Obviously. Personally I trust someone who can say “I need to learn more about that” far more than someone with an answer for everything. It truly takes a village.

5. Controlled practice is still real experience.
You do not need to be in extreme conditions every weekend for your experience to count. Safe practice is how you build skills you can actually rely on.

6. Humility is part of competence.
The more I learn, the more aware I am of how much I still don’t know. If 30 years has convinced you you’re right about everything, I fear we missed the assignment.

7. Good survivalists adapt.
Knowledge changes, gear evolves, Techniques improve. “I’ve done it this way for 30 years” can be wisdom… or just a very long way of saying you stopped learning in 1996.

8. You don’t need permission to become capable.
There will always be someone older, more experienced or more qualified. Learn from them, respect them and continue to keep building your own skills.

While extensive years of experience is valuable, it doesn’t translate to being more capable or qualified than anyone else.

If you are new to learning survival skills trust the journey you are on and there is never a finish line to learn it all.

Save this for when you need a reminder of how capable you are🦘

03/09/2026

Controversial I know but the results are in🍁

I wanted to go copper after a very pivotal point in my grief journey and the transition was symbolic to me. It’s a change that needed to feel permanent and the mess and chaos of the henna process reminds me of what it took to get to where I am today.

In the words of Florence “burned but not buried this time” and I’m grateful it’s a metaphoric fire I’ve grown so close to🔥

02/09/2026

Some survival advice sounds smart until you actually have to rely on it 🌿

1. “You need an expensive survival kit.”
You don’t. Learn to use a few reliable items properly. If I was spending money anywhere, I’d invest in things that genuinely change outcomes like a PLB, decent first aid kit, water treatment and warm layers.

2. “You can just improvise if something goes wrong.”
Sometimes, sure. But I’d rather you carry the boring essentials than discover at 8pm that optimism is not a waterproof layer. Preparation beats trying to MacGyver your way out of everything.

3. “If you’re hungry, find food.”
You’ve been lost for five hours, please don’t enter your hunter-gatherer era. Sort shelter, warmth, water and rescue first.

4. “Real survivalists make fire from friction.”
I love friction fire. I also carry a lighter. Survival is not the Olympics of suffering and there’s no need to “prove yourself”.

5. “Running water is safe to drink.”
Unfortunately the bacteria being on the move does not make them friendlier And yes, some waterborne pathogens can make you seriously ill long before dehydration becomes your biggest problem. Treat your water.

6. “Survival is about being tough.”
Survival is usually about making boring, sensible decisions early. Put the jacket on before you’re freezing. Turn around before dark. Call for help before things become catastrophic.

7. “You need to prepare for every possible disaster.”
You really don’t need a bunker and 14 knives. Prepare for what is actually likely… getting lost, injury, bad weather, a breakdown or an unexpected night outside.

Good survival isn’t about owning the most gear. It’s knowing what matters, practising your skills and making smart decisions before things go sideways🌴

What survival advice do you completely disagree with?

01/09/2026

Should I commit to the timber stained skirting boards?

22/08/2026

If you’re going to dedicate your time to learning something new I recommend that it’s something that will help you to become more self sufficient🌿

1. Start a fire without a lighter.
Carry a lighter, obviously. But there is something deeply satisfying about knowing you can make fire without one.

2. Grow something you can eat.
You do not need a homestead. Start with herbs, potatoes or tomatoes and learn how much work actually goes into turning soil into dinner.

3. Fix things before replacing them.
Sew the button, patch the hole, tighten the screw. Not everything needs to be replaced because one small part gave up.

4. Cook from basic ingredients.
Bread, broth, sauces, simple meals. Being able to look at what you already have and make dinner is an underrated skill.

5. Navigate without relying entirely on your phone.
Maps, compass, landmarks, sun. The blue dot is great until your phone dies and suddenly your sense of direction becomes a personality test.

6. Sharpen and maintain your tools.
Knives, axes, garden tools. Owning good gear is only half the job. Knowing how to keep it useful is the other half.

7. Know basic first aid.
CPR, bleeding, burns, sprains. Not very exciting until somebody starts bleeding and everyone suddenly looks at you.

8. Preserve food.
Freeze it, dry it, ferment it, pickle it. Because letting perfectly good food slowly die in the back of the fridge feels unnecessary.

9. Learn what grows around you.
What’s edible, useful, medicinal and what should absolutely remain admired from a safe distance.

10. Make something from scratch.
Cordage, pottery, bread, furniture, clothing. Anything that reminds you your hands are capable of making things, not just buying them.

Save this for when you are looking for your next hobby✨

21/08/2026

I’ve been keeping a list✨

-Learn blacksmithing and forge my own tools
-Throw pottery well enough to make an entire dinner set
-Build furniture using actual joinery, not screws and optimism
-Grow enough food to preserve a meaningful chunk of the year
-Learn leatherworking from raw hide to finished piece
-Learn basic mechanics well enough to know what my car is complaining about
-Spin raw fibre into something I can actually wear
-Build a working bow from raw timber
-Learn celestial navigation properly
-Learn about mushroom cultivation
-Making baskets but specifically from willow

What do you recommend I add to my list🌿

21/08/2026

19/08/2026

The feminine urge to become one with nature🌿

1. Grow some of your own food.
Not because society is collapsing, you just want to walk outside, pull dinner out of the ground and become absolutely unbearable about it.

2. Know how to use an axe properly.
It’s practical, wildly satisfying and excellent for maintaining a healthy amount of mystery around your neighbours.

3. Learn what the plants around you actually do.
Once you know what can feed you, heal you, make fibre, start a fire or ruin your day, a casual bush walk becomes a very chaotic supermarket run.

4. Make things instead of immediately buying them.
You start with broth and fire starters, then somehow you’re making cordage and furniture and wondering how difficult it could really be to forge your own cutlery.

5. Know how to feed yourself.
Grow it, forage it, fish for it or hunt it, you don’t need supermarkets to disappear, you’d just like them to know you have other options.

6. Fix things yourself.
Do you always know what you’re doing? Absolutely not, but you have a screwdriver, YouTube and a deeply unreasonable amount of confidence.

7. Get comfortable being uncomfortable.
Cold, rain, dirt, bugs and sleeping outside become significantly less intimidating when you refuse to let one pair of damp socks dismantle your entire personality.

You don’t need to disappear into the bush and reject modern society but we do love to try our best and give things a go.

Most importantly don’t forget to frolic through nature as often as possible✨

18/08/2026

You do not need to become a full-time bush goblin to learn survival skills🪶

But I do think everyone should know a few basics, because blind confidence and a half-charged phone is a wild strategy.

1. Light a fire without a lighter.
Matches and lighters are great and I support them both. But learning to make fire another way teaches patience, problem solving and it’ll be the best fire you’ve ever made.

2. Use a map and compass.
Your phone is fantastic until it dies, loses service or decides it’s no longer participating. Knowing how to navigate without it is an underrated skill, even for urban environments.

3. Make dodgy water safe to drink.
“It looked clear” is unfortunately not a water treatment method. Learn how to boil, filter or purify water properly and save your stomach the character development.

4. Build a basic shelter.
I’m not talking about a Pinterest worthy shelter but rather something cozy. Just learn how to get yourself out of the wind, rain and cold when your “little walk” becomes significantly less little.

5. Learn basic first aid.
It’s not the sexiest survival skill, but it might be one of the most useful. This is another skill that that can be used in urban environments and everyone should take a basic CPR and first aid course at a minimum.

6. Spend a night outside with very little.
Nothing teaches you faster what actually matters. It also reveals exactly how dramatic you become when you’re slightly cold and your socks are damp.

7. Learn how to stay calm.
This might actually be the most important one and honestly one of the hardest skills to learn. Being able to stop, think and make a plan will get you much further than freestyle panicking your way through the bush (or life).

Survival skills aren’t about preparing for the apocalypse every weekend. They’re about learning that when things get uncomfortable, unfamiliar or a little chaotic, you are still capable.

Comment a survival skill you would love to learn or recommend one that others should try🌿

17/08/2026

Some survival advice needs to be respectfully retired🌿

1. “If you’re lost, just follow a river.”
Please don’t… Rivers can lead you into gorges, cliffs and worse terrain. Often the smartest move is to stop moving and actually reassess.

2. “Moss grows on the south side of trees.”
Moss grows where moss is happy, let’s normalise packing a compass or on of the other various option for navigating via the sun or the stars.

3. “You can survive three days without water.”
The rule of threes is a guide and not a countdown timer.
Heat, exertion and environmental conditions change everything.

4. “If you’re hungry, start looking for food.”
You’ve been lost for six hours, you do not need to build a squirrel trap. Let’s focus on sorting shelter, water, warmth and rescue first.

5. “Eat what the animals eat.”
Absolutely not… different species tolerate different things. A bird eating a berry is not botanical certification.

6. “Running water is safe to drink.”
Oh good, the bacteria are moving quickly which does not make them less bacterial. Clear water can still make you horrifically sick. Always treat your water.

7. “If you’re lost, climb a tree to get your bearings.”
Potentially getting lost and falling out of a tree?
We love the Multitasking queen but I’m going to need you to stay on the ground unless you genuinely know what you’re doing.

Survival skills take trial and error in the field and often you’ll learn the hard way. Practise and perseverance will always take you a very long way🦘