Here's one you haven't done.

[Erwin]

Wow this is amazing. How I wish to live this simple! It is a shame that someone intruded on you and called in the township. They were only jealous!

[dinosaur]

Food is something that God provided in such variety that I am in awe to describe. However, when one is placed in an environment that does not allow weekly trips to the supermarket, you make do with what you have.

I bought coffee but I enhanced it by digging chicory, roasting the roots, grinding it and adding it to my blend. Most coffee stores will hit you up big time for this and you can do it for yourself. I picked strawberries in the Spring. I took mushrooms, cherries, currants, dandelion greens, dandelion flowers for wine, garlic, wild onions, parsnips, carrots ( oh, yeah, wild carrots are white and strong. You have to cook the crap out of them but they are great in a stew.), apples, pears, russian olives, apricots, serviceberries, chokecherries, rosehips, sassafras, chamomile, peppermint, spearmint, ginger and wild asparagus. I'm probably forgetting a few others but you know how it is when you are walikng along and you see something that you know is edible and it doesn't dawn on you until you see it?

Then there's grains. One must have flour to make cakes for the morning and bread for the afternoon meal. There are many varieties of rye grass but the fact is you can make flour from any grain. One of the forgotten things to make flour with is May Apples. These grow everywhere in the central United States, well into Canada and in the South. The fruit is about the size of a quarter and can be dried and ground into flour that makes great griddle cakes.

So much for gathering. Next is hunting and trapping. My favorite and a genuine source of vitamin B-12.

[dinosaur]

Originally Posted by Erwin

Wow this is amazing. How I wish to live this simple! It is a shame that someone intruded on you and called in the township. They were only jealous!

God bless ya, Erwin. You're right. What they don't seem to be able to stand is that I am living without paying them something for doing so.

[dinosaur]

Meat is a whole subject on its' own. The animals I ate when I was camping included deer, squirrel, rabbit, groundhog, muskrat, coyote, fox, starling, pheasant, turkey, quail, chukkar, mink, heron, crow, and bobcat. I would have eaten the neighbor's dog but my dog had to eat also so I barbequed them for him. They were attacking my horses. I shot three of them in two days, cooked them and fed them to my wolf. He's a red wolf. His name is chewbacca. He's still around. He is about one hundred pounds of very cool animal that loves camping. He keeps me safe.

[paloma]

Looks to me like a very simple and peaceful existence. No telephone, no tv to bother you as you go along doing what needs to be done, and go to bed at peace with yourself. I'd like to live like that, with the right person of course!

[Seven]

I was going to say the same thing paloma! I would give anything to leave the hustle and bustle (not to mention the rip off utility companies) of life and just resort to the land.

[Jade]

That kind of self-reliant lifestyle not only ensures you are never bored, but often in far better health than a contemporary from the City.

Dinosaur, too-shay on the turkey tales, and yes, I've known the stupid things to drown in rainstorms: Gramps still says they're good for nothing but vermin bait (foxes, coyotes).

I may live in the City again, but there are times when I'd love to be able to rusticate like I knew and did as a younger person. Unfortunately with the changing of the times, the family farm is now IN City limits, and if I let the the 30.06 loose on a buck or a bear, the neighbors will have my butt busted inside of 20 minutes.

I have the pride of knowing that if I have to, I can.

[CatsEye]

That sounds wonderful to me. I don't mind a bit of hard work if it's put to good use. Bravo to you for living your dream. There are too many regulations these days to suit me. I would rather we live like we used to where we were all expected to make our own way. If someone got hurt, we all pulled together to help and we all made our own livings. I miss that time.

[AK Hunter]

dinosaur, if you still have your cabin and land to do your back to nature life-style you could teach the rest of us how to live in the outdoors like you did. Then you could call your life-style a business, not sure but don't think they could shut you down then.
I sure would like to learn how, and by the sound of it on this thread there are a lot of other people would like the same.

[Tired_Sneakers]

I would love to read about your experiences. You should start your own website. You wouldn't even have to write it all at the same time. You can write it on installments.