Just in Case (49 page)
Road crews and electric and phone companies sometimes clear roadsides and leave wood to be picked up. Check with your local utilities and public works departments to see if this is a possibility in your area. Be sure to get permission, though, before picking up any wood. Wood stacked on the side of the road may well belong to someone, and throwing it in the back of your van could get you in a lot of trouble.
SAVING MONEY VERSUS INDEPENDENCE
I have to end this with a word or two about the financial benefits to burning wood rather than oil or gas. Unless you own your own wood lot, there aren’t any, at least usually. Cordwood, cut, split, and delivered, is almost always as expensive as any other fuel and just as vulnerable to the laws of supply and demand. The main benefit, besides the pleasure you are likely to get from the smell of wood smoke, is that it is there. If, like me, you have a well-developed independent streak, owning my fuel is worth whatever I have to pay.
WILD FDDDS
I
AM A CDNSTANT,
if not overly adventurous, forager. I take more pride in the elderberries I glean from an abandoned, overgrown field than I do from the ones I harvest from the bushes I planted. I guess foraging appeals to the frugal Yankee in me. I love the idea of getting something for nothing. And like gardening, foraging for wild foods is a long step toward the goal of taking care of the needs of yourself and your family in good times and in bad.
If you are interested in learning enough about plants to harvest some wild edibles, you will need a good field guide, preferably one that addresses the plants in your geographical area. Some guides have photographs, while others have drawings. Usually, although not always, the drawings are in color. The quality varies rather dramatically from guide to guide. A book with clear photographs may be your best bet, especially if the photographs show the plant you are interested in at different stages of development, since a plant may look entirely different from one stage to another. A good drawing, however, is better than a poor photograph. You want to be able to clearly see leaves, stems, stalks, and flowers. The guide should also provide information about habitat, lookalike plants, possible toxicity, and methods of harvesting. The guide I use also offers information about cooking and preserving, which I really appreciate.
I would not recommend relying on a guide that is part of a larger book, such as the case here. There is no way to give enough information in the space of a single chapter to allow a novice forager to wander around his or her backyard and return to the kitchen with dinner. The most that can be accomplished, and what I hope to do here, is to provide an overview and hopefully stimulate your interest to investigate further.
IDENTIFYING PLANTS
You don’t need to be trained as an herbalist or have a degree in botany to find a bounty of edibles in the fields, riverbanks, roadsides, and marshes that still abound in both rural and urban areas, but it is helpful to have some basic knowledge of plant structure. If you happen to read a description of a plant that refers to the “frond” or the “node,” you should know what that means.
COMMON PLANT ID TERMS
•
Alternate:
Describes leaves that are arranged alternately on a plant stem, in contrast to opposite leaves.
•
Basal rosette:
Leaves that radiate from a central point at the base of the stem.
•
Clasping:
Describes a leaf with no stalk that is attached directly to a stem.
•
Frond:
The leaf of a fern.
•
Margin:
The outer edge of a leaf.
•
Midrib:
The large middle vein of a leaf.
•
Node:
The place where a leaf attaches to a stem.
•
Opposite:
Describes leaves that are arranged opposite each other, in contrast to alternate leaves.
•
Perfoliate:
Describes a leaf that surrounds a stem.
•
Rhizome:
The underground stem of perennial plants.
•
Sessile:
Describes a leaf without a stalk.
•
Shoot:
New growth.
•
Simple:
Describes a leaf with a single blade.
•
Teeth:
The saw-blade-like edges of a leaf.
•
Veins:
Lines radiating from the leafstalk.
•
Venation pattern:
The way veins are arranged on a leaf.
TOOLS
Foraging requires very few tools. The few that are helpful are probably in your kitchen or garden shed. A trowel is useful for digging up roots. A jackknife or paring knife with a sheath is also necessary, as is a good pair of leather work gloves. You will need something in which to carry home your treasures. A basket or cloth bag is preferable to paper, which will fall apart when wet, or plastic, which will cause your tender greens to wilt.
HARVESTING
There are two big issues to keep in mind when harvesting wild foods. The first is toxicity. Mother Nature is not always benign. Just because a berry is blue doesn’t make it a blueberry. It may be a pokeberry, which is fatal if ingested in large amounts by a child. Don’t eat anything unless you are absolutely certain about its identity and edibility. I stick to the plants I know well and try to learn about one or two new species each year. I rely on my excellent field guide in addition to the advice of an expert forager before I ingest something new.
I would also be extra careful about medicinal herbs. Many can interact with prescription and over-the-counter medications. For instance, St. John’s wort, which is claimed to lift depression, should not be taken if you are already taking an antidepressant. Consult a physician knowledgeable in the subject before trying to treat yourself with homemade infusions and tinctures.
Even knowing that a plant is generally edible doesn’t ensure that it is edible at every stage or that every part is edible. Some plants are tasty and healthful only when cooked, and a few require several changes of water. This is where a good field guide and knowledgeable mentor are essential.
Mushrooms require special consideration. There are a few that I consume without worry because I know them so well, but unless you are certain, stay away from mushroom gathering. The results of a mistake won’t be just uncomfortable; they can be deadly. If you want to learn about mushrooms, join an established mushroom club and learn from experts. If you are interested in growing mushrooms, there are kits available that allow you to grow almost any variety you like. The kits are fairly foolproof if you follow the directions carefully. Mushrooms can be grown in basement areas that are not good for growing anything else.
While on the subject of protecting yourself, be sure to dress for foraging. Edible plants are often at their peak at the same time bugs are biting. Lyme disease from the common deer tick is a real threat in the Northeast. You will also be frequenting the same spaces that snakes and spiders prefer, so be sure to look before you touch and dress for protection with long sleeves, long pants, heavy shoes or hiking boots, and a pair of leather gloves. A hat is always a good idea. Even with that protection, keep a close eye out for toxic plants such as poison ivy and oak. The New England rule is “leaves of three, let it be,” because the triad of leaves usually heralds one of those misery-producing species.
If you come home with a bounty of greens, wash them well in clean water. Greens gathered near waterways can carry giardia, a nasty intestinal parasite carried by beavers and passed into the water with their feces. Dirt can carry a number of germs and bacteria, not just on tubers but also on the leaves and stems of many plants. Fortunately, a good scrub with plenty of clean water will remove them.
The next issue in harvesting is protecting not you but the plant. Be sure to leave any plant on the rare or endangered list alone. If any plant is locally scarce, not necessarily endangered but just not abundant where you live, take small amounts from as large a grouping as possible. Leave enough of the plant behind that it can reproduce.
I
HOPE I HAVEN’T
discouraged you from adding some wild foods to your diet. If you exercise common sense and take the time to learn about the foods in your area, foraging is a wonderful way to get closer to nature and learn more about our place in it. Given the news coverage of food recalls due to salmonella and
E. coli
out breaks, I am actually starting to feel better about eating food from my own backyard than I do about eating the food from who-knows-where that I buy in my local supermarket.
And while I certainly hope I never need to rely on the woods, pastures, and streams near my home to provide me with all I need for sustenance, I am glad to know where there is a ready supply, free for the picking.
WILD FOOD FAVORITES
• Apples
• Blackberries
• Blueberries
• Cattails
• Cherries (wild)
• Crab apples
• Dandelions
• Daylilies
• Elderberries
• Fiddleheads
• Fox grapes
• Lamb’s quarters
• Leeks (wild)
• Milkweed
• Raspberries
• Rose hips
• Violets
• White pine (for tea)
In addition to the plant foods, we also enjoy all manner of fish, especially brook trout, and if we can get a couple of the kids to go to the river with a big bucket, we relish a meal of crayfish, the Western Massachusetts answer to lobster.
WILDERNESS SURVIVAL
I
MAGINE YDU ARE
on a camping trip. You are walking with friends along a wooded trail toward a remote waterfall. Dusk is fast approaching, but you want to get a picture of the falls, so when everyone else heads back to camp, you decide to continue on alone for the final quarter-mile push. You follow the blaze marks, but after a tough fifteen minutes realize that you have somehow lost the path. You attempt to retrace your steps, but nothing looks familiar. Another ten minutes goes by before you have to admit the truth: You’re lost.
Think about taking a road trip to visit a friend. A storm is forecast, but you think there should be plenty of time to make the five-hour trip before snow flies. When the sky turns ominously dark, it is apparent that the storm is going to hit much earlier than expected. You try to follow the directions, but it has gotten really dark. The snow is falling, heavy and persistent, and you aren’t at all sure about that last turn. It should have taken you to a well-traveled interstate. Instead, you seem to be headed farther and farther from civilization. You decide to head back to the main road and hole up for the night at a motel, but when you back up, your car slips over an embankment. It is clear that without a tow truck you aren’t going anywhere. You take out your cell phone to call for help but realize that you are in a dead zone. You are stranded, miles from the nearest phone, in the middle of a blizzard. What are you going to do? How can you reach help or manage to stay warm, comfortable, and safe until help finds you?
These are really scary scenarios, far more frightening than thinking about caring for yourself in the comfort and security of your own home. How well you manage depends in large part upon how well you prepared prior to leaving home. To an even greater extent, it depends on your psychological preparedness, your ability to keep a level head. In wilderness survival, panic kills.
PREPARATION
If you are a frequent hiker, a few simple items should always be in your pocket or daypack:
Whistle