Living off the Land

[Frederico]

It's about time that I educate myself about what wild food I can safely eat. I see so many mushrooms and berries that are tempting. Then I wonder why the animals haven't eaten them - so I leave them well alone.

 

[Hayley]

You have to be educated about the do's and don'ts if you want to live off of the land. Eat the wrong thing and you're dead. Make sure you know what you are doing.

 

[woodsman]

As a general rule I stay away from mushrooms since the differences are subtle enough to confuse even experts, but just because an animal hasn't touched it doesn't mean they are bad.

 

[Frederico]

Hi Hayley and Woodsman - thank you for your advice. I never eat anything except the fish I catch - and there's a debate about that elsewhere on this site ! I have to say it is mushrooms that intrigue me most -but I have never and would never eat any in my current state of ignorance !

 

[oldsarge]

This is a weak spot for me, I too need to learn more about what's out there to survive on if need be. I have sat through some training on local plants and even ventured out with the instructor and eaten a wide variety of them, but it's a perishable skill and I have a hard time remembering all the info.

 

[Barney]

I won't touch any berries or mushrooms in the forest if I'm not sure that they are edible. But I agree with you that living off the land should be learned.

 

[Betty]

This has me thinking it would be good to pick up a book on the subject to keep in my knap sack as part of my survival kit......

 

[dinosaur]

A lot of times the reason the animals haven't touched the fruits is because they aren't ripe. This is true of things like gooseberries, wild grapes, elderberries, russian olives, and currants. The most extreme one around here is the chokecherry. These ripen in the fall and you can eat them but they are so tart you will want to spit them out, hence the name. However, once a frost hits them, they turn sweet and the deer love them.

Mushrooms are harvestable in the Spring and the Fall (mostly). But, no amount of description will make them recognizable. Hunt them with an expert.

Wild onions, wild garlic and wild carrots are easy. Once dug, give them a sniff. There are plenty of other things like poke salad that are only edible for a short time before becoming toxic. And always cook the wild asparagus you cut. It's toxic too.

I could print a list of things you can find but it's not going to do you any good unless you know what you're looking for. Illustrated books are a help but it's still best to have an expert with you.

 

[hunter44mag]

Dinosaur, Do gooseberries ever get ripe or good to eat? I'm from Louisiana and we don/t have gooseberries. Had gooseberry pie twice at my wife's relatives in Missouri, I believe that they tried to poison me. Nasty!

 

[kodiak]

The Book "Nature's Garden" by Samuel Thayer may be the best $17 I've ever spent [Amazon].

Once you check that book out, you'll see why other books on the subject don't compare.

The main thing I've learned is that this is not a casual pursuit. This is a lifelong learning process for a crucial primitive skill.

 

[oldsarge]

Got to hand it to our ansestors...there were some very smart and tough people. Todays society sure has made us ( Not everone mind you) soft and highly uneducated when it come to sustaining one self. As stated earlier, "it's a life long learning process", great point!

 

[ChadTower]

My uncle used to say "whatever doesn't kill me probably gives me the runs for a while but at least I learned not to eat any more of it".

 

[Michael]

As a general rule I stay away from mushrooms since the differences are subtle enough to confuse even experts, but just because an animal hasn't touched it doesn't mean they are bad.

My brother found an illustrated field guide that notes lookalikes. There are some that are basically totally safe to eat. Like Chicken of the Woods and Hen of the Woods are the two lookalikes in this area, and they're both safe to eat; which one is the one you hunt for and which is the lookalike actually changes by book based on the tastes of the authors.

I've personally eaten both, and they were just amazingly delicious. I fed some to my dad, and he thought it was really juicy chicken; he didn't want to believe me when I said it was a mushroom.