Survivalist Christopher Nyerges (School of Self-Reliance) will cover basic to intermediate wilderness survival in this class taught by Keith Farrar and Christopher Nyerges.
This is a full-day with quite a bit of hands-on training. These are some of the topics to be discussed:
priorities in a wilderness survival situation
the importance of the correct mindset
first aid
emergency shelters
useful knots
water collection and purification
signaling for rescue
getting "found"
several methods for making fire
the difference between the "10 essentials" and a survival kit
Christopher Nyerges has 39 years of experience teaching survival skills in Los Angeles.
We're learning the ropes to survive. Thanks, Christopher!
Wait, you can pick and eat plants? - Yeah, where'd you think food came from? - The store.
.
Participants will understand exactly how to build a "wilderness survival kit" that is complete and organized. This kit will be built on concepts rather than lists. This method assures survivalists will have everything they need based on level of experience, knowledge, and familiarity and comfort with products.
Can you start a fire with sticks?
Please bring a comfortable camp chair along with lunch, water, and anything normally carried on a short day-hike. Dress appropriately for the weather. Additionally, Christopher Nyerges will conduct a "wild food" plant walk so everyone can learn to spot some of the edible plants in this part of Southern California.
Hahamongna Watershed Park*
Saturday, Dec. 2, 2017, 10 AM
Cost of full day, $65.00
*DIRECTIONS: Park entrance at Foothill Bl. and Oak Grove Dr., Pasadena, northeast Los Angeles. Meet at south end of the upper area (across the street from La Canada High School), near the outdoor bathrooms. One way to arrive is to travel west on the 210 Freeway, exit on Foothill in La Canada. Turn right (east), and take Foothill about a half-mile till it ends, which is the entrance of the park. Enter, go right, and drive south until the outdoor bathrooms. (Do not make a left turn at any time, which would lead downhill).
Imagine learning how to survive in the wild. What if there were a way to conquer California when disaster conquers city life and comfortable civilization. Why worry about chemtrails, earthquakes, a radioactive tsunami, a Chinese or Russian invasion, epidemic, or the disclosure of extraterrestrial meddling in earthling affairs? Do something about it. Nothing trumps self-reliance.
Christopher Nyerges has provided survival education since 1974 through The School of Self-Reliance (Facebook).He runs field trips and workshops. Learn urban and wilderness self-reliance and survival [see schedule]. Learn about:
BOOKS: Guide to Wild Foods and Useful Plantshas been re-published in full color. It is available now from major book retailers, Amazon, and in Christopher's store.
Foraging California is a full color guide to California's wild food organized by plant families with lots of additional information like recipes (by Pascal Baudar and Mia) and charts about nutrition. [It's] "an amazing book," according to Paul Campbell.
Nuts and Berries of California: Tips and Recipes for Gatherers is a Falcon Field Guide by Nyerges divides native nuts and berries and horticulturally-introduced plants (HIPs), which thrive in the cities and wilderness. Includes unique information on the processing of buckeye seeds, details on processing olives, and recipes throughout. See STORE.
The school was founded by Christopher and Dolores Nyerges, who had a dream to live and teach practical skills to urban folk who have lost touch with our most basic roots.
Since Dolores’ passing in 2008 Christopher has carried on with peripatetic faculty with unique skills.
Since 1974 Christopher has taken over 30,000 children and adults on his Wild Food and Survival Skills Outings, as well as other field trips and outdoor programs.
Nyerges has worked with such groups as Sierra Club, Tree People, the Southwest Museum, the Boy Scouts of America, Elder Hostel, home schools, public and private schools, churches, and libraries.
Prince Siddhartha's kingdom, Afghanistan, came to rack and ruin, and he would have, too, had he not relied on himself to find a solution he then gave to the his people and the world. Shown here the aftermath of a landslide (Ahmad Zubair/latimes.com).
.
He is the author of ten books including Enter the Forest,Self-Sufficient Home: How to Go Green and Save Money, How to Survive Anywhere, and Guide to Wild Foods. He was the editor of Wilderness Way magazine for seven years and has authored several thousand newspaper and magazine articles in such publications as the Los Angeles Times, Pasadena Star News, Pasadena Weekly, Whole Life Times, and American Survival Guide.
School of Self-Reliance classes and workshops have been featured on Los Angeles-area television stations, including KCET’s “Life and Times” and “Visiting with Huell Howser.” For two years, Nyerges appeared on FOX TV’s “X Show,” where he demonstrated survival skills on the streets of Los Angeles. See special tribute to the late Huell Howser. More
January 25, 2018: How the LA County Arboretum changed my life with Christopher Nyerges Christopher Nyerges is the author of ten books, including Self-Sufficient Home, How to Survive Anywhere, Enter the Forest, and Guide to Wild Foods. He was the editor of Wilderness Waymagazine for seven years. Christopher will share how his interest in ethnobotany got sparked at the LA County Arboretum working with Dr. Enari, who helped him write his first book. (2.5 APLD CEU Credits). More
Cost: $25 per class (also covers Arboretum admission) or $140 for the series.
To register, call the Education Department at (626) 821-4623 or just drop in and pay at the beginning of the class.
Bloody guilty crimes against humanity by European invaders (newyorkupstate.com)
"510 years resistance" vandalism on Christopher Columbus monument
Let's stop celebrating the genocide of An Inglorious Columbus (Edward P. Vining)
Our old roots are under your new land. Maybe you should go back to your cannibalistic, disease ridded continent, and we each stay on our side of the sea?
Kill them ALL, men, and let's let our God figure it out. They're not human or saved like us.
There's a reason CC is maligned today
It's time to learn the truth about Cristobal Columbus, a Portuguese-Italian Converso Jew expelled from his country and motivated by debt to go to Asia by a new passage.
Would he be able to find it? Would he rape and enslave those standing in his way? Would he burn his own crew? Would he be able to get his investors to live up to the contract he squeezed out of them? Find.
Columbus landed in India (actually the Carribean) where he met "Indians," whom he found docile and naive, welcoming and cordial, exchanging trinket gifts with them until he laid down the boom: rape, rampant disease, chattel slavery, forced labor, kidnapping specimen to send them back to Europe like creatures destined for a zoo and indefinite servitude.
Columbus didn't "discover" anything. His fame arose because he went BACK to Europe. Other white men had arrived but stayed and blended in. Columbus had more greed than that. He was here to take it all for the Catholic Church and the highest bidder.
But maybe he wasn't all bad. Sure, he shortchanged his men -- not paying them what he promised -- until they were more indebted and more willing to do anything (think crimes against humanity) for their freedom.
Did he really convert to Catholicism, or was it a cynical bid to be a Crypto-Jew, working for the crown to bring Spain riches and encouraging other Europeans to go, exploit, rape, pillage, conquer, commit genocide, kill off, colonize, and convert the locals to the "right" religion?
Author Christopher Nyerges (an American of Eastern European extraction, born and raised in Los Angeles) presents a report of his findings on the real Columbus. Not Everything can be laid at the feat of this "monster." He may have opened the door and gotten the ball rolling, but the Conquistadores did most of the damage and killing. Conclusion: What day to celebrate, CCD (along with Catholic CCD) or Indigenous People's Day? Both? Neither?
We look forward to Mr. Nyerges' findings, which certainly differ from those of Wisdom Quarterly. Q&A follows. Refreshments. Free/by donation:
Sunday, October 8, 2023, join in a 9:45 am presentation by author Christopher Nyerges under the banyan tree in the yard at 5835 Burwood Ave., Highland Park. This week's topic is "Columbus," part of a larger week that includes Indigenous Peoples' Day at the non-profit. Donations accepted. No one is turned away. Questions? Call Prudence (323) 620-4720.
The "good" roots of Columbus Day -- trying to give Italians something of which to be proud? Columbus Citizens Foundation
Why did US lie to us about this mass murderer?
The presentation was also on Zoom, though the speaker did not mention that would be the case ahead of time and went for two hours of gory details and many different sources. There is no way to defend Columbus for what he did (and he did it more than once).
CONCLUSION: The US should abolish any honor or worship of this madman Columbus. Columbus Day had a good motive, to make Italian-Americans feel good about themselves and their contributions to this great land. Columbus wasn't even actually Italian! He referred to himself as Portuguese. He may have visited Italy or learned something there or played acted being a modern Roman for Rome and the Holy Roman Empire of the Catholic Church. But we do not see the Portuguese or Brazilian American community getting up in arms for their mascot and maniac as he is deposed, dethroned, and tossed onto the heap of failed humanity, the star hypocrite, claiming to be motivated by God and religion and saving the savage heathens.
The School of Self-Reliance annual get together (holiday sale and celebration) is this weekend, December 13, 2025, at 10:00 am at Hahamongna Watershed Park. It's not a formal class, but rather sharing survival and food foraging tips, hiking, living in nature, sourcing water, cooking, camping, and looking at products and packs. Stuff is offered for sale by various people. There's lots of food (of course). There might even be live music, as often happens. All are welcome to join for this end-of-year gathering. FREE. (There is no charge to attend).
See the list of classes offered by prolific author, nature guide, and regional expert Christopher Nyerges at SchoolofSelf-Reliance.com.
Outdoorsman Ed Parker is featured in the Pasadena Weekly (pasadenaweekly.com) in an article by Christopher Nyerges (Thursday, Dec. 4, 2025). Read it online, pick up a hard copy, or see the one Parker pasted on the wall of the REI in Arcadia so all the customers could enjoy it.
What happened?
It was a spectacular, warm, sunny Southern California day to be out in nature. Participants gathered to learn what should go in a "go bag," a survival pack to meet all expected and unexpected challenges after bugging out or heading for the woods to camp. Christopher Nyerges (author of more than 25 survival, foraging, and prepper books) is very generous and had many giveaways, lots of healthy hiking snacks, and a wealth of knowledge and wisdom to impart.
School of Self-Reliance Founder Christopher Nyerges led us through the woods at Pasadena's Hahamongna Watershed Park, foraging medicinal plants and mushroom hunting. We spotted chicken of the woods growing on a carob tree and green gilled lepiota (Chlorophyllum molybdites).
Tim Martinez is trying to save the Arroyo Seco through the foundation. So if there's anything to learn, learn meditation, and follow it with foraging. Then even in the aftermath, there will be survival and progress.
Today's class under an eclipsing sun had a massive turnout. A group of nursing students from a local university joined for class credit. And LAMS' Bat's women's group of plant foragers we're doing mycology next to the group.
So more than 50 people were present in two groups, picking up plant knowledge books, eating wild mushrooms and edibles, as Nyerges regaled everyone with quips and humorous anecdotes about his time on his TV survival program, The X-Show.
Nyerges was in Los Angeles so long that Huell Howser caught wind of him and came by for an episode of Visiting with Huell Howser.
"Suicide Bridge," Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, over the Arroyo Seco, Los Angeles Foothills
We came to the bridge by the distant City of JPL (Jet Propulsion Lab, a world unto itself in collaboration with nearby Caltech University and NASA) along the Gabrielino Trail behind the world-famous facility.
Clusters of mushrooms fluorescing
It was after a sudden spring rain that turned the whole area green and flowery.
Water rushed down the Flintridge Wash of the Upper Arroyo into Devil's Gate Dam to the delight of ducks paddling like pargeons in a pool.
California Foraging: Los Angeles
Real "Street Food": Urban Foraging in the City of Los Angeles (Great Big Story, July 11, 2017) Christopher Nyerges (The School of Self-Reliance) has always loved plants and the outdoors. When he was a kid, he would forage and store plants in his parents’ refrigerator. Now Nyerges is teaching others to do the same. But this isn’t some nature hike foraging. Nyerges uses his encyclopedic botanical knowledge and a keen eye for urban-dwelling edible wild plants to teach other residents of Los Angeles where to find them. At his School of Self-Reliance, he shows city folks how to scour alleyways, parking lots, city parks, and the sides of highways to find unexpected wild treats. From mushrooms to mustard flowers, radish pods to mallow fruits, Nyerges can help anyone forage the best veg street food ever.
California Foraging: Hahamongna
(KCETOnline) Mia, Eli, and Pascal show how fun it is to forage wild plants and live off the land.
Everywhere we turn in wild California, there's something to eat -- if one knows what to look for. Foragers Mia Wasilevich and Pascal Baudar of Transitional Gastronomy shop at the grocery store, but they also head into the woods regularly, carrying daypacks, little knives, and compasses, finding edible plants scattered across public lands.
Old ones, bold ones but no old-bold shroomers
They like it so much they've turned it into a business, with Pascal leading interested food nerds out into the woods to collect cat tails, purslane, wild radishes, and more, with which Mia cooks up a feast using these wild ingredients (SoCal Food). Eli Newell came along for one such VEGGIE HUNT with Pascal and learned about native versus invasive plants in Southern California's woodland parks. Which do you suppose peaches are?). We ate flowers and asked Pascal just why, exactly, he makes a habit of rubbing poison oak on his face.
California Foraging: The Gabrielino Trail
PART II: Beware the common poison oak, which didn't bother the Natives.
Underwater Mushrooms?
Oregon Mycologist Darlene Southworth reveals her new discovery: Psathyrella aquatica
A few days before we wandered through our hunt, finding ourselves under the big wooden bridge next to the dam. Looking below us we could see tree oysters in clusters.
We scrambled down in search of mycological samples blooming high in the trees, too high to reach.
Soon the water came and we needed to dive for them, not fancy scuba diving in the pollution, but messy snorkeling in the muck. Who tosses this plastic junk and automotive residue into the river way?
There they were, tree oysters! This was not the first time we had spotted them in these woods. They love willows. Nor was this the first time we fished for them. Monica and I came out in the mist of a swollen creek by the magic tree.
Not only did we collect the fruiting bodies from the tree, there was a big "fishy mushroom" floating in the water, pink as salmon, slick as rainbow trout.
Oysters grow on trees not on the ground!
We grabbed a branch and reeled it in in disbelief. It was such a large sample that, soaked, it had broken from the tree and plunged into the temporarily swollen creek, where the water can rise 12 feet or more in a day.
Founation preserving Los Angeles Foothill communities (arroyoseco.org)
The Great 2018 LA River CleanUp
April 21, 2018 Middle River
Los Feliz Blvd at Bond Park Register
Fletcher Drive/Bowtie Parcel Register
Marsh Park Register
The Frog Spot Register
April 28, 2018 Lower River
Compton Creek at Del Amo Metro Station
Register
Willow Street Estuary Register
Golden Shore Marine Reserve Register
All materials on this site are submitted by editors and readers. All images, unless otherwise noted, were taken from the Internet and are assumed to be in the public domain.
In the event that there is still a problem, issue, or error with copyrighted material, the break of the copyright is unintentional and noncommercial, and the material will be removed immediately upon presented proof.
Contact us by submitting a comment marked "private."
Do not follow this journal if you are under vinaya or parental restrictions. Secure protection by Sucuri.
Wisdom Quarterly: American Buddhist Journal is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License. Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at creativecommons.org/about/licenses.
Survivalist Christopher Nyerges (School of Self-Reliance) will cover basic to intermediate wilderness survival in this class taught by Keith Farrar and Christopher Nyerges.
