DS and I spent the weekend with my mom at her trailer a couple of weekends ago. I took it as an opportunity talk to her about her plans in case of another power failure. We stocked up a few essentials and she's in better shape now than she was. She also has a weekly to do list to keep improving.

It also presented a chance to let DS practice his fire skills and try again for a flame with his fire steel, and show her how she can cook over a campfire.

First we worked on her fire pit. We added an iron rim and cover a month or so ago, and this time we brought an old oven rack that fits over it and a small BBQ basket for cooking.

We collected firewood from the forest behind her lot, processed with ax and knife and then sorted it:


After fiddling with and repositioning the wood pile, we made tinder. He's much less anal about his pile(s) than his mom


Once he got his flame with his firesteel , I showed the boy how to give it CPR.(His first successful fire steel fire! YEAH!):


Then a lesson in patience - feeding the fire slowly:


Then campfire cooking with yummy fresh trout and a can of beans:


Finally, we were ready for marshmallows and hot chocolate:

I would add warm clothing and blankets.
Although the trailer is only used normally in the Summer, what if some disaster prevented leaving in the Autumn, and forced her to stay into the winter ?

Is she receptive to all this? Probably so, considering the daughter she produced.

I hope she has a place to keep her firewood dry. And a bag or two of charcoal wouldn't go amiss, either.

Sue

Wouldn't a small propane powered stove (Coleman or equiv) along with a few bottles, be even easier and more effective than starting an open fire? I have the same issues with my MIL...

Having now read the entire thread, I see you have propane on site. Depending upon the size of the tanks, location, etc. it might be possible to tie in the stove permanently.

Absolutely Adam. She goes up there through May through October, which can be pretty cold. We only get about 4-6 weeks of truly hot weather here in the summer. Through the rest of the summer it's cool enough to want a sweater/blanket at night and into the morning.

She has lots of blankets and extra clothes so she's all set for that.

She also has a 100 pound propane tank that fuels a stove, oven and furnace in the trailer. We got somebody out last weekend to check them all and make sure they're in good working order.

Thanks Hikermor. She's got a 100 pound propane tank tied into the trailer so, along with the bbq, she's in pretty good shape.

We did a coleman camp stove for her as a back-up though. She's pretty comfortable using propane so I'm with you thinking that campfire cooking would be only a back-up for her back-ups. It was fun watching her remember something she did long ago though. Making your own campfire is very empowering!

Good call Sue. She can get a bit like a deer in the headlights. That storm a few weeks back has her determined though.

We broke everything down into small pieces - protection, rescue, water and food (Bear's tip: Please Remember What's First) - and then took inventory to show her how well off she already is and where she can imrove. (i.e. she had a flashlight but no extra batteries, lots of canned food but only an electric can opener, etc.)

She's got a metal shed that she keeps her wood in. She's probably got a half a cord, already chopped. It was all big pieces though so DS and I went foraging for smaller stuff and top off her stores. She's got a pile of newspaper out there too, and DS showed her how well steel works too and then insisted on buying her a big box.