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SARCRAFT SARCRAFT is an outdoor skills school based in Waleska, GA. We specialize in the areas of wilderness survival, bushcraft, and search & rescue training.

SARCRAFT is an outdoor skills school based in Cherokee County, Georgia. We specialize in the areas of wilderness survival, bushcraft, and search & rescue training.

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09/23/2026

WILD EDIBLE WEDNESDAY: GOLDEN SCUPPERNONG (Vitis rotundifolia var. "Scuppernong")

Welcome back to a special Muscadine Bonus Edition of Wild Edible Wednesday! That's right, we're still not done talking about the South's favorite native grape in all its forms.

We had a few comments and DMs from last week's video from people mentioning that they had vines that were identical to a muscadine in every way except the fruit.

Well, if it's a light golden bronze instead of dark purple, what you have is a Golden Scuppernong. Scuppernongs are not technically wild - they're what's known as a cultivar, or cultivated variety.

One specific vine on the Scuppernong River in North Carolina, known as the Mother Vine, had a genetic mutation that caused it to bear different fruit than most wild muscadines. Seeds were saved and cuttings were taken, and over the years, this Scuppernong muscadine spread like wildfire across the gardens and vineyards of the South.

Amazingly enough, the Mother Vine is verified to be at least 200 years old and is still thriving, producing huge crops of golden grapes every year. It is thought to be the oldest grapevine in the United States.

Scuppernongs are the state fruit of North Carolina, and other than their distinct appearance and flavor, are identical to regular muscadines in every way. Identification and preferred habitat are the same, and so are the uses.

They're much rarer though, so if you have one, count yourself lucky! Follow us for more wild edible and foraging tips, and happy Wednesday!

09/22/2026

FORTY DAYS OF FIRECRAFT: DAY 11 - GRASS TINDERS

For whatever reason, grasses really don't seem to get the love they deserve in the survival and bushcraft community like other tinders do. I don't know why people keep sleeping on grasses for starting fires, because they're great for it. Anyone who's ever witnessed a prairie fire can attest to this.

The only downside is they tend to absorb moisture very rapidly, and they obviously don't burn well at all when they're green. But the flip side of that is they dry out fast, and standing dry grasses are often the first natural tinder to become viable again after a big rain.

I typically only use them as my primary tinder if they're all I have, but where they really shine is as the "fire Q-tip" or "fire taco" outer layer of a large tinder bundle for dropping a friction fire coal or a piece of lit char into. They hold together well while still allowing for great airflow, and they make for a nice handle, too.

Broomsedge bluestem is what I was using in this video, but there are dozens of other grasses that work just as well. If you have the option, harvest them in late fall or early winter after they totally dry out but while they still have their fluffy seed heads - they'll light just a little bit better.

Follow us for more Forty Days of Firecraft, and stay tuned for more wilderness survival and bushcraft tips!

Ferro rod: Exotac
Knife: Chris Elkins
Kneepad: Tuff Possum Gear

09/21/2026

COMMS IN 90 SECONDS: COMMS WINDOWS AMD SCHEDULED COMMS CHECKS

A lot of important aspects of offgrid comms aren't technical, they're logistical. The technology is cool, and learning the ins and outs of how it works and how to get the most out of your comms equipment is vital.

But equally important are the logistics and planning surrounding tactical and offgrid communication that don't involve any technical skill at all.

One of those is the idea of comms windows.

In tactical professions, unlike in the movies, we don't normally keep our radios on all the time, especially if there's not a lot going on. There are a lot of reasons for this - it saves battery, makes noise and light discipline easier, and also helps with the overall flow and planning of the mission.

Scheduled comms windows on set intervals to report information, coordinate movements, and make plans in a logical manner clean up your overall comms plan and information flow A LOT.

Like we talked about in our video on PACE planning, if you don't have a plan in place of who you're going to talk to, when you're going to talk to them, on what device, and what frequency, you're literally shouting into the void.

Talking to static is not a comms plan! So when you're building your comms plan, make sure to include comms windows.

Follow us for more wilderness survival and offgrid comms tips!

09/17/2026

WILD EDIBLE WEDNESDAY: MUSCADINE (Vitis rotundifolia)

Today's plant for Wild Edible Wednesday (and yes, we know it's Thursday, deal with it) is one of the South's most beloved and prized native wild edibles - the Muscadine grape.

Valued for jellies, w**e, pies, or just eating straight off the vine, muscadines are a thick-skinned grape that has a very distinct sweet-tart musky flavor that's much richer and more complex than a table grape.

Found in a wide variety of habitat from east Texas through the coastal plain and up through southern Appalachia, your best bet to find good foraging grounds is to look for a field edge or open woods where the vines can get plenty of sunlight.

The vines are also extremely strong and can work in a pinch as primitive cordage. As we learned a few weeks ago, they're also a great basketry material!

When the vine is green and growing, it can also be utilized as an emergency water source. Vines of any kind have powerful vascular systems, and cutting a muscadine vine can give you quarts of clean, safe water in the right season. Don't do this unless you have to though, it kills the vine and these grow very slowly.

It has no deadly or toxic mimics, and all parts of the plant are safe. So go out there and get you some!

We know this is longer than our usual videos, but muscadines are worth celebrating. Follow us for more wilderness survival and foraging tips, and happy Wednesday!

Well, after being on this property my entire life, hunting it since I was a teenager, and teaching here for a decade, we...
09/15/2026

Well, after being on this property my entire life, hunting it since I was a teenager, and teaching here for a decade, we finally had our first bear sighting.

We've known this guy was here for at least a few years - one of the classes found his den at one point, and there's been distinct bear sign like dug up yellowjacket nests, torn up rotting logs, and clawed trees.

But never a sighting, either on on camera or in the flesh, until now.

I was waiting on a private class to arrive, heard something moving behind the pavilion, went to check it out, and there he was. I had just enough time to get this picture before he was gone again.

It was an incredibly cool moment that I'm grateful to have had, and it makes the property feel just a little bit wilder.

09/14/2026

FORTY DAYS OF FIRECRAFT: DAY 10 - MY FAVORITE FERRO ROD

Whether online or in class, I often get the question, "What ferro rod do you recommend?"

It's this one. This is the FireRod XL by Exotac.

I had no hand in designing this, and there are *still* no companies that pay me to say nice things about them. (Hey Exotac, wanna change that? šŸ¤£) Full disclosure, we do sell these in the SARCRAFT Outfitter Store, but we started carrying them because it's an awesome product and I put it through its paces for the better part of a year before we started selling them.

Simply put, it does everything right.

It's a good size, throws a huge shower of sparks, and has a lot of smart design features like a replaceable rod, waterproof tinder capsule, and gorilla tape handle wrap. Oh, and it's made right here in Georgia.

The only change I would make, which I may do in the future, is to add a striker on the lanyard as a redundancy in case the worst happens and I'm without a knife.

Otherwise, it's perfect. Pick one up at sarcraft.com or from Exotac. Follow us for more Forty Days of Firecraft!

Twenty-five years goes by fast. Everyone who was alive on 9/11/01 remembers exactly where they were. If you saw it on TV...
09/11/2026

Twenty-five years goes by fast. Everyone who was alive on 9/11/01 remembers exactly where they were. If you saw it on TV, it'll be burned into your consciousness til the day you die. But those memories fade like any other.

And a new generation has been born and grown who weren't alive yet to remember that singular day... some of which even fought in the war on terror that resulted from it.

Over time, the narrative has shifted from "never forget" to "how do we tell the story?"

Here's how. We tell the countless stories of courage and heroism of ordinary Americans who were just doing the right thing, like NYFD Ladder Truck 118 in this photo. Not a single one of those six men made it home and instead sacrificed themselves in the hope of saving others, along with 337 other additional New York firefighters, paramedics, and EMTs.

Those 343, along with the fighting flight 93, the deluge of military enlistments in the days after the attack, and the outpouring of charity and support that followed are all stories of who Americans are at our best.

If there's anything good to take from this day, it's that. So much damage was done - thousands of people died, 9/11 was the birth of the surveillance state, it dragged us into decades of foreign wars in which I and many others lost personal friends, and it was the end of the party of the Pax Americana decades of peace and prosperity.

But that feeling of unity is worth finding again, or at least pursuing. I don't have much hope that we can find it again, but it's still worth telling the story to our progeny that at one point, it was real. Damn, it really was. We were together, we were united, and we were proud.

If there's one memory we take from that day and pass forward, it should be that. That no matter what the origins and results of that day, we were together as a nation. And regardless of the tragic circumstances that birthed it, we should all aspire to that again, because it's the only thing that will save us.

09/03/2026

COMMS IN 90 SECONDS: SHOULD YOU GET YOUR GENERAL LICENSE?

The majority of people who get their HAM radio license and aren't dedicated comms nerds stop at the entry Technician level. It checks the box that allows them to buy a radio and operate on commonly used amateur frequencies.

For a lot of people, that's all they need. But there is a whole other world out there. The next level General license opens up a lot more options as far as band space, frequencies, power, and more.

Thankfully, it's not really any harder to study for than your Technician license. Go to hamstudy.com, get spooled up, and schedule a test date.

And if you don't have your Technician license yet, what are you doing? Go get it! It's not hard, it massively increases your legal offgrid comms options, and getting caught for illegal broadcasting is no fun.

Follow us for more offgrid comms and survival tips!

09/02/2026

WILD EDIBLE WEDNESDAY: PECAN (Carya illinoinensis)

Today's plant for Wild Edible Wednesday is one of the South's most beloved trees: the Pecan.

Now, technically Pecan is a species of hickory, sharing the Latin name of Carya with the rest of that genus. However, in practice, it's very much considered its own distinct tree.

Native to the Mississippi Valley region, it thrives in the wooded flatlands of Illinois, Missouri, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Mississippi, East Texas, and the rest of that region.

Which means that although there are countless pecans in Georgia, Alabama, and the Carolinas, they were almost certainly planted, which can tell you a lot about the history of the area they're growing in.

The nuts are the real prize of this tree - thinner hulled and easier to shell out than hickory nuts or walnuts, they are delicious and have been used in countless creative confections by generations of Southern cooks.

They're also highly nutritious, high in fats, carbohydrates, and protein, as well as many trace minerals. They're starting to drop now in early fall, and after a curing time in a cool dry place before shelling out, they'll be at their best.

If you've got one of these (or several) in your yard or on your property, consider yourself blessed!

Happy Wednesday, and follow us for more edible and medicinal plants!

09/01/2026

FORTY DAYS OF FIRECRAFT: DAY 9 - RIVER BIRCH BARK TINDER

For today's video, I want to share one of my favorite natural tinders - birch bark. Birches are super widespread across North America, and can be found in any temperate region that has reasonable rainfall.

I've used White Birch/Paper Birch when I've been in Alaska and the Rockies, but here at home, we have River Birch. As the name suggests, it grows in river bottoms and other moist areas near water, but it's also a popular ornamental tree. To be clear, peeling the flammable outer bark does not hurt the tree as long as you don't go too deep.

Birch bark has natural oils that are highly flammable even when damp. It burns almost immediately when exposed to an open flame. I've heard more than one person say that it's not a spark tinder and won't light with a ferro rod, and I'm here to tell you that is not the case.

Just break it down and peel the layers apart to process it like any other tinder, and it'll do just fine.

Go get you some and add it to your fire kit - it's a great one to keep on hand for bad conditions.

Follow us for more survival and firecraft tips, and stay tuned for more Forty Days of Firecraft!

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