In any survival situation, the key to staying alive is to make use of the resources around you. Depending on the specific circumstances, though, you might to have to rely only on what Mother Nature provides. The good news is that the Earth supplies leaves in abundance in many places of the world, and leaves can have a variety of different uses.
What purposes can leaves serve in a survival situation? Here are just a few:
Insulation – One of the most common hurdles to overcome when trying to stay alive is simply keeping warm. When hypothermia is a big problem, leaves function as nature’s ideal insulation. They can be placed all around you to capture that dead space that cold air tends to creep in on. A critical use of leaves for insulation is acting as a buffer between you and the ground in order to sleep.
Rope – Believe it or not leaves can actually be made into rope. For this purpose, you’ll want to stick to certain types of leaves, usually fibrous ones like those from Cattail or Yucca. The rope can then be fashioned using different weaving techniques. Of course, it makes sense to practice some of these techniques before having to do it in a real emergency.
Roofing – Leaves not only make good insulation for shelters but they can make up the shelter itself. In order to stay dry, simply take some large leaves and lay them over some branches to create a lean-to shelter. The key is to start from the bottom and work your way up to produce an overlapping pattern of leaves.
Cooking – If you need to cook something over the coals of a fire and find yourself fresh out of tin foil, reach for some large leaves instead. Be sure to use three or four layers of thick leaves for the best result. Don’t just use leaves to cook with, however. They can also be employed as plates, bowls, and even napkins.
Bandages – Leaves often make good bandages that can be wrapped around an open wound. Fibrous leaves could be fashioned into cords that can be used to help splint a broken bone.
Collecting Water – One of the easiest forms of drinking water out in the wilderness is that of rain water. Actually collecting it, though, can be a problem. By using leaves, you can devise a collection system to harvest larger quantities of rain water than you could gather by yourself.
Food – Last but not certainly not least, leaves can be used for food. There are thousands of different edible leaves to take advantage of in an emergency. The trick is to know how to identify the edible ones from the poisonous ones.