How many have foraged for food? As a child, I was taught to forage for berries, wild onions, ramps, and mushrooms, to name a few. It is amazing how many skills of the past we have lost. I learned to hunt and fish and even to raise live stock.
Foraging
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As kids we spent our summers in the “wilds” of Idaho. Our dad taught us much about survival techniques with edible plants and insects that could be found at various times of the year for survival.
So many things you would never consider. Wild berries in spring and summer of course. Dandelions, the entire plant is edible.
The tuber of the columbine is edible, so many more. Termites, grubs, ants, crickets and grasshoppers. Finding and if you’re lucky, the ability to get wild honey. Mushrooms were abundant, however I was never confident in my ability to distinguish lethal from non, so I left those alone.
We learned to make fire using sticks and our shoe strings, and small animal traps. Also we always carried several yards of fishing line and several hooks.
One such outing I had an accident that sliced my knee open quite badly. I just sat in the cold clear running water for a time then used the barb of a fish hook and some line to suture it closed.
Once back in town I went to the doc and he looked at it, said it was crude, healing fine. Leave in for another five days then remove. He then handed me a handful of suture packs to add to our gear.
Confident I could survive in the wild, sure. It is a lost art, and sad to say, probably one I won’t pass down to my son, since I have long been “urbanized.”
So many things you would never consider. Wild berries in spring and summer of course. Dandelions, the entire plant is edible.
The tuber of the columbine is edible, so many more. Termites, grubs, ants, crickets and grasshoppers. Finding and if you’re lucky, the ability to get wild honey. Mushrooms were abundant, however I was never confident in my ability to distinguish lethal from non, so I left those alone.
We learned to make fire using sticks and our shoe strings, and small animal traps. Also we always carried several yards of fishing line and several hooks.
One such outing I had an accident that sliced my knee open quite badly. I just sat in the cold clear running water for a time then used the barb of a fish hook and some line to suture it closed.
Once back in town I went to the doc and he looked at it, said it was crude, healing fine. Leave in for another five days then remove. He then handed me a handful of suture packs to add to our gear.
Confident I could survive in the wild, sure. It is a lost art, and sad to say, probably one I won’t pass down to my son, since I have long been “urbanized.”
That is pretty much my point. I think we have been softened. There is something to be said by the song "A Country Boy Can Survive".
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I forage in the kitchen.
Plenty of people can't do that.
ThirstyBarbarian
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I never really “foraged” in the sense of gathering enough wild food to make a full, sustaining meal, or enough to survive long term. I’ve picked wild berries, and I’ve found and eaten other wild plant that were identified and pointed out to me in Boy Scouts. And when I was younger, I caught a lot of trout that we ate on backpacking trips. But that was always just a nice supplement to the foods we had bought.
ThirstyBarbarian
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There are a LOT of wild mushrooms in the area during the winter. Tons of chanterelles, which I think I can identify, plus other varieties I have no idea what they are. I don’t know enough about it to risk eating anything, but for someone who does know, this is a good area for mushroom foraging.
NTP2
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I know how, black berries, my brother is a top notch fisherman and hunter, I know how to make a trap but I’ve never actually done it so take that with a grain of salt. I think I could live long enough to get to civilization.
Have you tried the root?
I have.
Yes, you can boil it for tea, or slow roast and eat plain. It’s kind of bitter, but edible. My opinion radishes taste worse.
Leaves and young flowers for salads.
Just as a precaution I would seriously refrain from harvesting any from your lawn or local parks. So many chemicals applied I doubt they would be safe for consumption.
Euell Gibbons probably belongs in the 70's thread (" . . . many parts are edible.")
I've done a lot of wilderness travel, but almost no foraging along the way. The thing about foraging is calories. There is a fair amount of nutrients up for grabs in the wild but, with a few exceptions, it takes more calories to forage than the activity yields as well as considerable time. The main exceptions are nuts, only available for a short time in the autumn (in competition with squirrels and bugs), and hunting/fishing which probably don't count as foraging. Bugs/worms are also high nutrition, but most of us would probably hesitate to go there (I'm sure I passed enough mormon crickets while hiking the Oregon Trail a couple of years ago to keep me well fed, but nope).
It gets a lot easier when you learn what to look for, where and when - I never got beyond the basics.
I've done a lot of wilderness travel, but almost no foraging along the way. The thing about foraging is calories. There is a fair amount of nutrients up for grabs in the wild but, with a few exceptions, it takes more calories to forage than the activity yields as well as considerable time. The main exceptions are nuts, only available for a short time in the autumn (in competition with squirrels and bugs), and hunting/fishing which probably don't count as foraging. Bugs/worms are also high nutrition, but most of us would probably hesitate to go there (I'm sure I passed enough mormon crickets while hiking the Oregon Trail a couple of years ago to keep me well fed, but nope).
It gets a lot easier when you learn what to look for, where and when - I never got beyond the basics.
I'm curious because I like most root vegetables raw. I don't know if I'd ever try one, as they've always been such a nuisance.
No worries about chemicals on my lawn, I've been here 19 years and know it well.
ThirstyBarbarian
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Yeah, there are not a lot of calories available to forage. Not a lot of starches and fats free for the picking that are not already going to be claimed by wildlife.
@cwbullet mentioned learning to hunt and fish, but the main issue he asked about was foraging, which I understand to mostly be about gathering plants to eat. So I have a related question I hope is not off-topic. How many have hunted or trapped and eaten “small game”, and what’s it like? I have a .22 rifle and different forums I’ve visited about setting up and customizing 22s always have number of people who mention setting up for plinking and “small game”, which I take to mean critters, like squirrels and rabbits. I know people do shoot and eat squirrels and rabbits and some other small animals. I’ve never done it, but I would try some if offered. I just don’t think of this as something people do a lot, at least not where I live, so I wonder if people are talking more about killing pests and varmints, or if there are more small game hunters than I imagined. Have you hunted or trapped small game and eaten it, and how was it?
I knwo added hunting. I will explain why I started the focus on foraging. A friend recently said he did not know why we send grain to countries for free. The same person said we should just provide it to our own people who are impoverished. The conversation quickly moved to the face that post Americans know longer know how to use whole grains, hunt, farm, or forage.
I do think that we could do a lot to teach children the basics even if they live is cities. Learning how it is done can teach you a level of respect for those that do it. It is hard work.
MClark
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Forage samples at Costco
Hmm, new fangled foraging.
stealth6
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I think it's an extremely valuable skill to have, with the possibility of it becoming essential.
Every once in a while I make myself "survive" this way, just to test my skills and knowledge.
I'm always surprised out how rusty I've become, how much more difficult it is to do well/efficiently, and how weak my skills have become.
I can manage, but it ain't pretty. More knowledge and regular practice would be wise.
My strength is fishing, mainly because I do so much of it (though for "sport" usually, and almost always catch and release).
Foraging in terms of nuts and berries and the most obvious things I'm fine with, less so with the things that are not somewhat common knowledge.
My main weakness is hunting (and turning dead animals into edible food)....it's not something I do much at all, it's not something I enjoy doing for it's own sake, and therefore my knowledge and skills base is very limited. I could manage if I had to, but it's not something I regularly practice.
As far as the other "survival skills", things like shelter, water, fire, weather management, first aid/health, navigation, etc., I'm pretty good with all that.
I don't think in terms of defense against enemies in my "regular" life all that much, so my skills and awareness when it comes to possibly dealing with human predators or adversaries are next to useless I suppose. If some "bad people" come to take away my stuff, they'll probably get it. Maybe if I offer to cook them a really nice fish dinner, they'd be nice?
s6
Every once in a while I make myself "survive" this way, just to test my skills and knowledge.
I'm always surprised out how rusty I've become, how much more difficult it is to do well/efficiently, and how weak my skills have become.
I can manage, but it ain't pretty. More knowledge and regular practice would be wise.
My strength is fishing, mainly because I do so much of it (though for "sport" usually, and almost always catch and release).
Foraging in terms of nuts and berries and the most obvious things I'm fine with, less so with the things that are not somewhat common knowledge.
My main weakness is hunting (and turning dead animals into edible food)....it's not something I do much at all, it's not something I enjoy doing for it's own sake, and therefore my knowledge and skills base is very limited. I could manage if I had to, but it's not something I regularly practice.
As far as the other "survival skills", things like shelter, water, fire, weather management, first aid/health, navigation, etc., I'm pretty good with all that.
I don't think in terms of defense against enemies in my "regular" life all that much, so my skills and awareness when it comes to possibly dealing with human predators or adversaries are next to useless I suppose. If some "bad people" come to take away my stuff, they'll probably get it. Maybe if I offer to cook them a really nice fish dinner, they'd be nice?
s6
Again in the 70's, gleaning was a thing. Picking through soybean or cornfields after the combine did its thing. I ate a fair quantity of soybeans (which my parents never really worked out how to cook) as a child.
Even today, I suspect there are a lot more calories left in fields after harvest than in wildlands (and usually more small game, too). Our ag industry is about end-to end to market, not product efficiency - if it won't get to market in saleable condition (or can't be readily harvested) it will stay in the field. One change today - poking around in cropland without prior arrangements is a felony in many places and a good way to get ventilated in others.
Even today, I suspect there are a lot more calories left in fields after harvest than in wildlands (and usually more small game, too). Our ag industry is about end-to end to market, not product efficiency - if it won't get to market in saleable condition (or can't be readily harvested) it will stay in the field. One change today - poking around in cropland without prior arrangements is a felony in many places and a good way to get ventilated in others.
ThirstyBarbarian
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In keeping with the tendency of people to assume anything you don’t understand must be easy to do, I think there are a lot of people who have no idea what is required to survive by hunting, fishing, foraging, or farming, who assume it is a lot easier than it is.
I remember when the show The Walking Dead first came out, and the characters had to survive not just zombie attacks, but also had to forage and hunt food (along with scavenging resources from the fallen civilization). I was talking to a relative who suggested the “we”, meaning he, myself, his brothers, and dad, could make a pretty good go of it, and he was very dejected when I told him I didn’t think so. He was basing it on the idea we were experienced with camping, and some of us were good at gardening, and some of us were experienced with firearms. Obviously, that won’t cut it long term.
I think there are very few people who could gather or hunt enough food on their own to survive long term. The calories just aren’t there. People don’t have any idea how much food they really eat or where all the calories come from. And if they had to replace them from the natural world, they would have no idea how to do it. Even if they did know a lot about how to do it, there’s really just not that much stuff out there to hunt and gather, especially if you are competing with every other hungry person in the world.
Even growing enough food would be hard. A lot of people have backyard gardens that can supplement their diets with fresh, nutritious, delicious fruits and vegetables, but it not enough to live on by a long shot. People don’t tend to grow high-calorie foods at home. They grow the things that taste better homegrown and maybe save a little money. They aren’t growing row after row of potatoes, wheat, or corn. I wonder how many acres of land it would take to provide all the food needed for a family of four. More than your typical garden, by an order of magnitude, for sure.
I remember when the show The Walking Dead first came out, and the characters had to survive not just zombie attacks, but also had to forage and hunt food (along with scavenging resources from the fallen civilization). I was talking to a relative who suggested the “we”, meaning he, myself, his brothers, and dad, could make a pretty good go of it, and he was very dejected when I told him I didn’t think so. He was basing it on the idea we were experienced with camping, and some of us were good at gardening, and some of us were experienced with firearms. Obviously, that won’t cut it long term.
I think there are very few people who could gather or hunt enough food on their own to survive long term. The calories just aren’t there. People don’t have any idea how much food they really eat or where all the calories come from. And if they had to replace them from the natural world, they would have no idea how to do it. Even if they did know a lot about how to do it, there’s really just not that much stuff out there to hunt and gather, especially if you are competing with every other hungry person in the world.
Even growing enough food would be hard. A lot of people have backyard gardens that can supplement their diets with fresh, nutritious, delicious fruits and vegetables, but it not enough to live on by a long shot. People don’t tend to grow high-calorie foods at home. They grow the things that taste better homegrown and maybe save a little money. They aren’t growing row after row of potatoes, wheat, or corn. I wonder how many acres of land it would take to provide all the food needed for a family of four. More than your typical garden, by an order of magnitude, for sure.
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ThirstyBarbarian
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Today is a good day for foraging eggs. Start looking, and you might be surprised how many you find!
I've picked a lot of huckleberries in southern Idaho. Gotten lots of thimble berries and saskatoons as well. I feel like for the amount of calories I have collected through foraging , I've burned more in the process.
Ken
Ken
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The modern HOA is a great example of this. Most places would fine you for planting edible perennials in your own front yard, can you imagine replacing the front yard with wheat or corn
. We live in the country on purpose, and I don’t understand how people deal with cities at all.
NateB
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I don't claim to be a hunter, but I have caught and tried a number of critters. Rabbit it pretty good. Duck is greasy oven roasted, but really good smoked. Frog legs are good fried or grilled. I found snapping turtle, rattlesnake and ground hog to be edible, but tough. I don't think I would seek them out again.
Morel mushroom season is coming up and they are a delicacy with a dusting of flour and fried in butter. The woods behind my dad's house are full of black raspberries which can make an excellent pie around the 4th of July if you beat the birds and squirrels to the fruit.
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[Please no political replys. We all know some topics can raise controversy, hunting being one of them.]
Yep. Pretty much you name I've at least tried it for stuff available in eastern USA. (Hunting with 22 is harder than a shotgun, but at least you don't need to chew carefully and spit out the lead BBs.) The usual: squirrels make good pot-pie. Smaller squirrels (Red, chipmunks, etc ) not worth the effort, but edible. Rabbits (can be raised in a hutch in your yard) pan fry like chicken. Doves pop out the brest and you basically have 2 "dove nuggets" per bird. Groundhogs (I didn't like), but ate it. Ducks, Geese ok, but too much work cleaning. Phesent I liked. Froglegs OK breaded and fried. Turtle soup was good. Fried Rattle snake was good.
Big game: deer great, elk even better, black bear too greasy, wild bore good...
Fish, I'll eat any of them.
I'll stop now, but suffice it to say when people were "freaking out" over empty shelves at the start of the Covid pandemic, my wife looked at me, and new we wouldn't starve.
Concur. 23 acres and loving it.The modern HOA is a great example of this. Most places would fine you for planting edible perennials in your own front yard, can you imagine replacing the front yard with wheat or corn
As for foraging I don't care for mushrooms, but have had people I trust teach me what is edible vs not.
Berries I know well what can be eaten, and do give wild ones to my kids on nature hikes.
Bark, leaves, roots, etc I am ok with, but should "brush up" on my memory.
As for grains, I know how to clean and process most to make them edible, also given some plumbing accessories. ... whiskey is good long term storage technique.
Fruits, eat what you can fresh, canning and jams for storage, and wine for drinking, cooking with, and making vinegar.
Berries I know well what can be eaten, and do give wild ones to my kids on nature hikes.
Bark, leaves, roots, etc I am ok with, but should "brush up" on my memory.
As for grains, I know how to clean and process most to make them edible, also given some plumbing accessories. ... whiskey is good long term storage technique.
Fruits, eat what you can fresh, canning and jams for storage, and wine for drinking, cooking with, and making vinegar.
ThirstyBarbarian
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I have no idea how all those pictures got added to my post I’ve quoted here. I didn’t include any pictures. Text only.
lr64
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My mother used to pick roadside volunteer asparagus. I wonder how much lead we consumed that way. She also did things with dandelions. Ugh! I think there were some salad things she'd find, too.
Plenty of fishing when I was a kid, though I don't really enjoy it. But if that's what the rest of the family is doing.... We usually ate what we caught. Perch, trout, walleye (I think), pike (bony!), eel, bass. Eel is actually pretty good. Ice fishing is cold and boring.
If I was the only one hunting, I could probably get enough game to live on. But as soon as food was tight for anyone else, all the animals would be gone, because there are a lot of people around here. Our area has rabbits, turkey, squirrel, raccoon, occasional deer, fox, etc. And aerial rats, i.e. geese. There used to be coyotes, but I haven't seen or heard one for some years now. Ever since they blasted away a good chunk of the opposite side of the hill and put in a shopping center.
Plenty of fishing when I was a kid, though I don't really enjoy it. But if that's what the rest of the family is doing.... We usually ate what we caught. Perch, trout, walleye (I think), pike (bony!), eel, bass. Eel is actually pretty good. Ice fishing is cold and boring.
If I was the only one hunting, I could probably get enough game to live on. But as soon as food was tight for anyone else, all the animals would be gone, because there are a lot of people around here. Our area has rabbits, turkey, squirrel, raccoon, occasional deer, fox, etc. And aerial rats, i.e. geese. There used to be coyotes, but I haven't seen or heard one for some years now. Ever since they blasted away a good chunk of the opposite side of the hill and put in a shopping center.
nope, never foraged
