Mercer Ridge Field Book · No. I · MMXXVI

Your grandfather did it for free.
Then they sold it back to you.

Every old frontier skill in one place — the light, the fire, the cure, the cellar, the trail — the ones that still work, and still beat the three-hundred-dollar plastic version at the store. This is my written record of the old ways, the way my grandfather Eli kept them.

Not to run off to the woods, friend. Not for the end of the world. Civilization is fine — the stores are open. This is just so you get to choose. A man who can choose is a free man.

A mountain man at a campfire with a cast-iron pot on the snowy ridge
Get the Handbook — $37 Or read the plain math first →
Written by a seventh-generation Appalachian frontiersman 60 pages · 3 printable sheets 60-day money-back · you keep it either way
01 · The whole thing, in one place

The Lost Frontier Skills Handbook

It is the channel, organized. The same skills I show on the ridge — gathered in one book, with the ratios, the temperatures, the years, and the honest prices written down, so you do not have to hold any of it in your head.

$37 $59 Launch price · ends Sunday
Launch price ends in —
  • The Lost Frontier Skills Handbook — 60-page illustrated book$37
  • The Ridge Kitchen Card — every ratio & temperature on one page$17
  • What Would Get You Killed — the 12 mistakes to never make$16
  • Eli’s Sourcing List — where to get the real materials & what they cost$22
  • Everything, together$92  →  $37

60 days. If it’s not worth more than a bag of store bacon, email me and I send your $37 back the same day. You keep the book.

Get the Handbook $37 once · no subscription · yours forever
02 · The plain math

What you pay now, and what it used to cost

I’m not going to compare this book to other books. I’m going to compare it to what the store charges you, every year, for skills your grandparents did for free. Go pull your own receipts and check me. A man selling you a story is afraid of your receipts.

The skillThe store versionStore priceThe old way
Evening lightLantern & fuel, forever$25–45supper fat
Staying warmSleeping bag & tent$300–1,100wool & fire
Safe waterFilter & cartridges$30–100a pot & heat
Keeping food coldChest freezer & power$200–600cellar / spring
Trail foodSurvival bars & buckets$25–150pemmican
Cooking fatCanned shorteningongoingrendered tallow
Finding your wayGPS unit & batteries$100–400sun & stars

An honest word: how much you save depends on how many of these you actually do, and prices bend with where you live. I’d rather give you a real number you can check than a fat one you can’t. Earn the $37 back the first month, and the rest is yours to keep.

Get the Handbook $37 once · 60-day money-back · yours forever
03 · What’s inside

Fifteen skills, nine parts, one library

You do not have to do all of them. Read it easy, pick the one that stirs something in you, and do the little Saturday job at the end of that chapter. Then the next.

Fire

The 2-cent lamp that lit half the frontier. Fatwood and char cloth — the fire that starts wet.

Warmth & Shelter

The reflector wall the Army still teaches. How a wool blanket beat a $200 sleeping bag.

Water & Food You Can Trust

The water test that saved more men than any filter. Foraging the free plates your grandmother set.

Keeping Meat Without a Grid

Salt, smoke, and the one step between supper and a funeral. The springhouse and the root cellar.

The Frontier Larder

Pemmican — 4,000 calories a pound. Rendering tallow, and the great fat lie.

Tools & Repair

One blade, not ten. Cast iron, canvas, and leather — gear you fix instead of replace.

Finding Your Way

How men crossed a continent with no map and no compass.

Old-Way Medicine

The remedies that worked — and the ones that killed you.

The Skill of Not Needing

He was not poor, friend. He was sovereign. The thing all the others point to.

A campfire with a log reflector wall behind it beside a lean-to
The reflector-wall camp — one of fifteen skills, drawn plain.
Get the Handbook $37 once · 60-day money-back · yours forever
04 · And three sheets for the kitchen wall

The parts you’ll actually reach for

A book is fine on the shelf. But some things you want on one page, up where you work. So three of them come printable, apart from the book.

Pork packed in salt in a wooden curing box
Salt, smoke, and the one step that matters — all the numbers on a card by the stove.
Get the Handbook & the Sheets $37 once · 60-day money-back · yours forever
05 · From the folks on the ridge

These are real comments, word for word

I did not make these up, and I will not put fake ones here. These are people from the channel, in their own words.

“Thank you! These skills and tips need resurrecting. I agree with everything you say about ‘modern’ gear.”

Michael R. · Tennessee ·

“In 1978, a 10 year old was taught about lighter wood, fatwood, pine knots, in his dad’s woods… I’ve not forgotten.”

Ken H. · Kentucky ·

“I’m 70 and remember helping grandpa pack salt on hams… We weren’t rich but we ate better than rich people. Lots of work but Dear God I miss those days.”

a neighbor, age 70 · Ohio

“Great Video. Many years ago I acquired a set of ‘Foxfire’ books, which provided what can now be considered lost knowledge.”

a longtime viewer ·

“Keep teaching those of us that want to learn and respect the old ways.”

Ricky G. · Georgia ·

“You have resurrected an almost forgotten skill.”

Kerry W. ·

As folks read the handbook and write in, I’ll share what they say here — real words only.

Get the Handbook $37 once · 60-day money-back · yours forever
06 · Who you’re buying from

About Amos Ward

Amos Ward on his Appalachian ridge holding a leather journal

My name is Amos Ward. I’m fifty-five years old, seventh generation on this ridge in the Southern Appalachians — my people settled it in the seventeen-nineties and I’ve never left it. My grandfather Eli raised me, and before he passed he made me copy every last thing he knew into a leather journal and swear the old ways would not die with me. This is me keeping that promise.

This handbook is the channel, organized — the same skills I teach on the ridge, gathered in one place with the numbers written down. If you want to see the ridge itself, watch the channel here. The book is for when you want it all in one place, for keeps.

07 · One price. No subscription.

$37 once. Yours forever.

No monthly bill. No app. No account to keep alive. That would go against the whole point of this book — you buy it once, it’s yours, the way a good tool is yours. And if it isn’t worth it, email me and the $37 comes back the same day. You keep the book anyway.

Get the Handbook — $37 $37 once · 60-day money-back · yours forever

SECURE CHECKOUT · VISA · MASTERCARD · AMEX · DISCOVER

08 · Questions folks ask

Fair questions, straight answers

Isn’t this all free on your channel?
A lot of it is, and I’m glad you watch. The book is the same skills organized — in one place, in order, with the ratios and temperatures and honest prices written down so you’re not scrubbing through hours of video to find the one number you need. You’re paying for it gathered and kept, not for a secret.
I’m not handy. Is this over my head?
No. Every chapter ends with one small thing you can do this Saturday with what you already have — save some fat, char a tin of cloth, find north in the backyard. Start with one. You’ll surprise yourself.
Won’t I get in trouble doing this stuff?
This isn’t about breaking any law. It’s things you can do on your own land, in your own kitchen, quietly and legally — rendering fat, curing a ham, keeping a root cellar. Civilization is fine. The stores are open. This is just so you can choose.
What do I actually get, and how?
A 60-page illustrated book plus three printable sheets, all as PDFs you can read on any phone, tablet, or computer and print at home. After you buy, the download link comes to your email. No app, no subscription, no waiting on the mail.
What if I don’t like it?
Email me within 60 days and I send your $37 back the same day, no fuss. And you keep the book. I’d rather you trust me than feel stuck.
Is there more coming?
Yes. This is Volume I. The Ridge Kitchen and The Old Homeplace are on the way, and a real bound print edition after that. Buy this one and you’ll get first word and the launch price on each.
Get the Handbook $37 once · 60-day money-back · yours forever
09 · Before you go

Stop renting back what your people did for free.

Every skill in this book is one more thing they can’t sell you, and one more thing you can hand your grandchildren. Keep the old ways. They kept us.

Get the Handbook — $37 $37 once · 60-day money-back · yours forever
❧ ❧ ❧

The Lost Frontier Skills Handbook · by Amos Ward · Mercer Ridge, Southern Appalachians

This handbook is for skill and knowledge. Some of it — curing meat, making water safe, foraging, deep cold, old remedies — can hurt you if done wrong. Identify every wild plant with an expert before eating it. Follow a current tested recipe for any cure. See a doctor for any real illness or injury. Do these skills on your own land, within your own laws, at your own risk. Not medical, legal, or professional advice.

❧

Earn the $37 back the first month.

Render one jar of tallow instead of buying shortening. Keep a ham the old way. Light one evening off supper fat. The book pays for itself before the month is out — and it’s yours to keep for good.

Get the Handbook — $37 $37 once · 60-day money-back · yours forever