Wild Food

In a way we are going to take a little time away from the wilderness survival topic. However, what I am going to talk about today is very important to wilderness survival. That topic is the finding and gathering of wild food. You will be able to catch small animals and birds and if you have a firearm with you, you will be able to take somewhat larger game. How large depends on what type of weapon you are carrying. You should also be prepared to catch fish if there is any water around. But first of all we need to look at plants, nuts and berries. In the spring, summer and fall, they will provide you the most food for the least effort.

One of the things that I do each and every spring, summer and fall is to find wild plants that are edible. Some of them are actually delicious. In the spring I usually start with two old favorites of mine: dandelions and plantain. These are two plants that are so common that they are easily recognized and they cannot be mistaken for anything else. If you get these two plants when they are very young they make an excellent salad. Once they get a little older the need to be cooked like any greens. With both of them I like to cover with cold water, bring to a boil and then take them off the heat and drain off all of the water. I then put them back into some cold water and bring them to a boil once again. Add a little salt to the water and if you want to get fancy, you can add a little butter and you have an excellent meal. Well, not exactly a meal, but an excellent addition to any meal. I normally find these plants right in my yard. Just make sure that there are no poisons used on the area where you are picking these plants. In the spring I also have morel mushrooms on my property, so I get those also. On a camping/fishing trip I made a number of years ago, I went out trout fishing in the morning. I caught three trout, I found some watercress in the stream I was fishing and wound up finding some morel mushrooms on my way back to my camp. That was one of the best meals I have ever had. I fried the trout and morels in butter and used the watercress as a salad and I felt like I was living like a king.

I am not going to get too deep into plants because there are so many and some are only in one part of the country. I just want to show how easy it can be to live off the land. What everyone needs to do is to get a good field guide to edible plants in their area and study it. You may only want to try out one plant per month or maybe not even that many. Just remember, the more you try out now the less you will have to worry if it becomes a necessity. Cattails are one of the best food plants that you can find. Their root can be used like a potato, the stem can be peeled and eaten like celery and if the plant has the white fuzz on the upper part, this can be used as flour or to stretch flour you might have.

Summer is a great time for berries. So far this year I have picked wild strawberries, wild raspberries, wild blueberries and am waiting for the wild blackberries to ripen. I will also hopefully be able to pick some elderberries and some choke cherries. They come a little later in the summer or early fall. Then there will be the nuts. I will gather acorns and hazel nuts if I can beat the squirrels to them. The acorns will be leeched out to get the bitter tanic acid out and then will be ground up for flour. If I get enough this year I will be roasting some and roasting some dandelion roots and then I will grind both and use them as a coffee substitute. I have a spot where I can get walnuts and I will get all I can. They are a little difficult to shell, but at the price of walnuts in the store, it is well worth it.

Then there are strange things like Canada thistles. Using gloves I get one as large as possible and I take all of the leaves off and then I peel the outer skin off of the main stalk. Eaten raw with maybe a little salt on them they are excellent. Stinging nettles is another one that you need gloves to tackle but they are excellent table fare.

Something to look for in the wild is what appear to be old farmsteads. Here you can find apple trees, plum trees and many other domestic plants that have gone wild. The fruit may not be as large or as pretty as what you find in a store, but they can be tasty and healthy.

These are just a few suggestions on what to find in the woods. There are many more as I stated but there are many books out there that will give you all the information you need. You can also go on the web and Google wild plants for food and I am sure you will have plenty to keep you busy. If you have never done it, gathering wild plants for food can be a fun thing. You need to start right now and learn at least a couple of the most common ones in your area. Then go out and pick them and eat them. You may find, like any food, there will be some you will not like. You need to know this before the time comes when you may have to live off these plants.

We will get back to where I left off last time with the next entry. Until then Survive.

Wilderness Survival-4

Back to the pack with which to head for higher ground as they say. We have pretty much packed everything but food. Food can be one of the trickiest things to pack. First, let me say that my pack is always ready to go. That means that any food that I keep in the pack needs to be long lasting and oblivious to the weather. It has to be able to stand one hundred degree heat as well as thirty degrees below zero. I keep my pack in my pop-up camping trailer. That way if I am already set up in a camp and that becomes dangerous, I can bug out directly from there. This is why I keep all non-perishable food. Those of you who keep your packs in the house or somewhere else where the weather will not hurt it may want to include different food than I have in mine.

This pack is one of the few places that I would recommend MREs or at least some type of freeze dried camping food. I actually have two of each in my pack, two packages of MREs and two packages of commercial freeze dried camping food. These are long lasting, last resort types of food. I feel that nowadays there are so many items in the grocery store that are dried and need only to be heated or water added that the need for the more expensive freeze dried food is unnecessary. Think of things you enjoy eating now. There are dried soups, boxed pasta meals, and many more types of food. I will say right here and now, anything that I purchase in a grocery store is usually repackaged. The reason for this is that I like to have everything vacuum sealed so that bugs do not get into the food and the food stays fresh longer. Another thing that I do is to dehydrate as much of my own food as possible. I currently own two dehydrators; one is solar, which I prefer using but the other is electric so that if the weather is not conducive to solar dehydration I can still make food. I do many fruits such as apples, peaches, pineapple and many more. I also do tomatoes and some other vegetables. I make jerky and vacuum pack that also. I make up trail mix that can be used as a light lunch. I have camped many times and had a couple of good sized sticks of jerky and some of my trail mix and found it to be an excellent lunch.

One of the reasons that I prefer to purchase items from the grocery store is that I can purchase things that I enjoy eating. That way you can take things out of the pack and rotate your food. Most items will last from two to five years. Check everything you buy and list it in a place where you will remember to use it up and put in new. That is the reason that I put freeze dried camping food and MREs in the pack; they last the longest, at least five years. I really do not know how long my vacuum packed food will last. I tend to use some of it when we go camping, even in the camper, and then replacing it when we get home.

I am not going to go into specific items for the pack. Everyone has their preferences as far as food goes and can make out their own list. Make up a two week menu and then begin to put that into the pack. Be sure to include things like instant orange juice powder, coffee, tea and other things to use to flavor water that may not taste too good. Also take salt and pepper and possibly other flavorings.

Some of you may want to know how I came up with the two week supply. First of all, it is about all that is recommended to carry in a backpack. Secondly, a two week supply of food should last a person well over six weeks. I once did a five week camping trip (combination of van and backpacking) which I began with a two week supply of food. As part of the trip was van camping I felt I could find a store if I ran out of food. By gathering wild plants and fishing, I came home with food to spare from my two week supply. This was after five weeks on the road. The time of the year was from the last week in April to the last week of May. I camped in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, Northern Wisconsin and Minnesota so you know that the weather was not the most conducive to food gathering. Next week I will see if there is anything I feel I missed and we will perhaps build a personal first aid kit.

And now for the medical kit. First it think we should put in a bottle of water purification tablets. This is one of two or three bottles of these that I think one should have. Next some Tylenol extra strength, rapid release capsules. They can also be of the generic type as long as they are the equivalent of the Tylenol. A bottle of rubbing alcohol and a bottle of peroxide are next. Add a good pair of surgical quality scissors and we will be done for this week.

See you soon for more survival tips.

Wilderness Survival-3

We are back to packing our pack. We will need two space blankets, which are only about four inches square when they are purchased and weigh next to nothing. If you choose to carry a sleeping bag or a wool blanket, they should be tied to the outside of the pack, either to the top or to the bottom of the pack. If you have a pack with a external frame, they usually extend enough past the bottom of the pack itself to tie the bag or blanket there. You are going to want a small first aid kit. This is not the medical kit we are making up but the small personal first aid kit. If several people are traveling and surviving together, one of you may want to carry the medical kit also. This is why I am using a surplus Polish Army Medical Shoulder Bag in which to set up my medical kit. If this is done, someone else may want to carry some of that person's personal items. For my personal first aid kit, I have one which hangs on my pistol belt which is something I always wear when backpacking. The large knife I suggested for the pack usually hangs on this belt also.

You will also need a compass, but I suggest that it goes into your pocket rather than your pack. That way it is always handy. You will also need some clothing. Socks are the most important item of clothing you can possibly carry. You will be on your feet, doing a lot of walking and having good, dry, well fitting socks is very important. I would carry four extra pair besides the ones you are wearing. Two of them can be cotton and two of them wool. Never wear the same socks two days in a row. Even if you have no chance to wash the ones you are wearing, air them out overnight and put a different pair on in the morning. Air them out the second night and then it is not too bad to wear them. The best policy is if there is water available, wash them or at least rinse them out. You will be packing a bar of face soap and this can be used to wash socks and shorts as well. You will need at least one change of underwear and if it is winter in the north a change of long johns. A couple of hankies will not hurt either. It is hard to get into the outer clothing, not knowing what type of weather each one of you will be finding. If you are in an area such as the south or southwestern United States, you will want certain things and people in the north will need different things. It will also matter if you are going out in the summer or winter and how long you intend to stay. I would have to know each survivalist's situation before I could make a good judgement. All I will say here is pack the clothing you feel you will need, but do not over pack. The pack will be heavy enough without adding extra, unneeded clothing.

Next week we will get into the food and miscellaneous items. Now let us get back to our medical kit. Remember this kit will be for taking care of you and others in your party when there is no medical help around.

Add you the last two week's list: Sweet oil for the softening of ear wax, an ear syringe to clean out ears, a bottle of boric acid to make eye wash and a glass eye cup. They make plastic disposable eye cups, but I prefer the glass ones as I can sterilize them and use them over and over. The last thing we will add this week is a pill splitter. This is especially necessary for a group having younger children who may need a half of a tablet of some type. Also, many prescriptions call for a person to take a half pill. I, personally am on three such prescriptions.

Back next week with another dose of survival.