Most people who get into wild food do it when the land is generous. Leaves are broad and easy to identify and berries hang at eye level. Mushrooms announce themselves after rain and even some mistakes are usually forgiving. That experience quietly trains people to believe that foraging is a year-round skill that simply slows down when winter hits.
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Famine Foods of Europe: When Survival Replaced Cuisine
When the topic of the famine foods of Europe is brought up, it often pictures strange recipes or lost peasant traditions. That misses the point because these weren’t foods chosen for flavor, culture, or even nutrition. They were eaten because the alternative was watching children starve, elders fade, and whole villages empty out. Cuisine disappears fast when granaries are bare.
Medicinal Plants You Can Forage All Year Round
When we talk about prepping, most people think about food stockpiles, ammo, and water storage. But there’s another layer to survival that doesn’t always get the spotlight it deserves: medicine.
Top Five Deadly Plants To Avoid
Out in the wild, danger doesn’t always roar or rattle. Sometimes it just stands there, swaying in the breeze, looking harmless enough to touch or even taste. For preppers and survivalists, that’s the tricky part, the biggest threats aren’t always the ones with teeth or claws. Some of the most dangerous encounters you’ll ever have could be with deadly plants hiding in plain sight.
These Are The Top 10 Most Nutritious Wild Edibles You Can Forage in North America
When the chips are down, or heck, even when you just want to add some free, powerhouse nutrition to your table, knowing what wild plants you can actually eat – and more importantly, which ones will send you on a one-way trip to the emergency room – isn’t just a hobby.
How To Use Stinging Nettle For Food And Medicine
You know what most people do when they see stinging nettle? They avoid it like the plague. And honestly, who can blame them? One brush against those tiny, needle-like hairs, and you’re hit with a sting that feels like fire ants decided to throw a party on your skin.
Harvesting And Eating Invasive Plants
A wealth of edible wild plants is flourishing all around us, often unnoticed. Despite their attractive attributes, many of these wild edibles have been neglected, overlooked, or deemed unimportant. Some remain practically invisible to most people. The edible invasive plants highlighted here are wild foods that I regularly incorporate into my meals when they’re in season.
The Wild Cherry – A Tasty Summer Fruit You Can Forage Nationwide
Wild cherry (Prunus virginiana) trees are widespread across North America and are quite prevalent in some dry areas. Many are surprised to discover that these trees thrive in the western regions, which are often thought of as too dry for cherries.
Foraging Habits Of The Pioneers
The concept of “self-sufficiency” evokes a sense of fundamental independence. We often romanticize an era when modest cabins served as the primary abode for individuals resisting what they perceived as government intrusion or those simply seeking solitude despite enduring considerable challenges.
Tips For Harvesting And Using The Chaga Mushroom – A Special Mushroom With Many Health Benefits
I first learned about Chaga when I was just a young boy, and my grandfather was the one that taught me everything he knew about this strange mushroom and how to reap its many benefits. Chaga has been used in old folk medicine, and many people do not even know it exists since they mistake it for something else.
7 Tips For Mushroom Foraging
I’ll never forget the moment when all of the stars aligned: good weather, a dead apple tree, a south-facing slope, the day before Mother’s Day—and there it was. Peeking up through the dead leaves below me was the first morel mushroom I’d found on purpose, and I beamed with pride. Since that significant day, I’ve become a hopeless, morel-mushroom-hunting addict.
A Few Wild Beverages Everyone Should Try
Wild teas and, more generally, wild beverages serve a number of purposes. First, if you are boiling water to make it safe to drink from pathogenic organisms, waiting for your water to cool down – particularly in summer – to have a cool drink can take too long for you to stay well hydrated.
Tips For Harvesting And Using Chokecherries
As chokecherries are found in nearly every state and climate, it’s no wonder that Native Americans (who really lived self-reliance to the max) of most tribes used them extensively. And, like ancient Indians, we also rely on these fruits of the wild orchard.