Imagine being lost in the woods for four or five days. Would you know what to do to survive?
Now change that and imagine it is your eight year old child who is lost in the woods for four or five days. Can you even fathom it?
Living just outside of Aberdeen is a unique eight year old who not only could survive on her own under these extreme conditions, she could probably be the person that would help me or you survive.
Her name is Brelynn (Sassy) McFarland. She is 8 years old and has been around the survival and homesteading world since before she could walk.
I recently sat down to talk to Sassy and her parents about the many adventures that she has been on and the many unique skills that she has acquired along the way over the years.
Her parents are Paul and Becky Christopher. To say that the two have an intense interest in outdoor survival and homesteading is an understatement.
Besides being a way of life for them, the two own Lostways Survival & Homestead LLC which teaches outdoor survival skills and old-fashioned homesteading skills such as gardening, canning and food preservation, or making homemade blueberry jam and a huge variety in-between.
Since birth Sassy too has lived this back to basics lifestyle attending every seminar or convention that they attend, and she actually participates in assisting with the instruction at the outdoor survival classes her parents and others teach.
At every class she is the first one to show participants how to start a fire without having matches or a lighter. This proves that if an 8 year old can do it, so can the participants.
At home you will usually find Sassy helping around the Homestead or working on one of the many items she custom makes to sell at some of the events that they attend.
One of her favorite things to make is handcrafted walking sticks for children. This begins when she goes into the woods to find the exact right size tree that she wants to use. After cutting the stick to the right length, she removes all of the bark and prepares it to be clear coated.
Among her other unusual hobbies, at the age of seven, she had forged her own knife and hatchet from steel. Taking the original hot piece of metal, she used the large mallet and pounded each one into the correct shape. Once finished, she created a custom handle for each one.
Sassy also knows wilderness first aid including how to do CPR.
She Is probably one of the only children who has backpacked part of the Appalachian Trail 3 different times before the age of 8. She even carried her own backpack.
Certainly a child with many unique interest Sassy was a pleasure to spend time talking with. I know if I am ever lost in the woods there is one certain 8 year old who I hope is with me.
Check them out online at
07/22/24
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