Anyone interested in foraging?

[Skovand]

I was wondering if anyone here was also interested in the benefits of micro biodiversity within their body created through foraging? Like finding edible wild plants and fungi?

 

[oldethennew]

in the late 70's and there after, God taught my husband and myself how to survive off of His Creation,
for about (7)yrs., without any worldly 'help'...
and so, we both were taught through our Faith that we were given, just what we could forage and survive on
by His Holy instructions -
it was by far, a momentous experience, not to be equaled, until He brought us to the next level
of wisdom and understanding, etc.

 

[Kim82]

What is this foraging about?

 

[Kim82]

in the late 70's and there after, God taught my husband and myself how to survive off of His Creation,
for about (7)yrs., without any worldly 'help'...
and so, we both were taught through our Faith that we were given, just what we could forage and survive on
by His Holy instructions -
it was by far, a momentous experience, not to be equaled, until He brought us to the next level
of wisdom and understanding, etc.

What did you survive on?

 

[Skovand]

What is this foraging about?

Foraging is hunting for wild and edible plants and mushrooms.

 

[NotmebutHim]

For a second there, I thought I was an insect..............

 

[Skovand]

For a second there, I thought I was an insect..............

Lol. Well we can only dream lol.

 

[Kim82]

Foraging is hunting for wild and edible plants and mushrooms.

OK...but unless you were stranded in the middle of nowhere, why would anyone do that?

And how does anyone out in the wild know what is edible? Not to mention all the mosquitoes and wild animals one would encounter.

Hunting in the supermarket seems safer to me, and oh boy its really stressful in there, so how much worst would foraging be?

 

[Skovand]

OK...but unless you were stranded in the middle of nowhere, why would anyone do that?

And how does anyone out in the wild know what is edible? Not to mention all the mosquitoes and wild animals one would encounter.

Hunting in the supermarket seems safer to me, and oh boy its really stressful in there, so how much worst would foraging be?

Depends on what you are interested in. I hike outdoors 28+ hours a week. I really care about the environment and study ecology and focus on the botanical aspect of a ecosystem. I also enjoy collecting seeds and so on. So it’s part of my life.

Beyond that there are many people who enjoy making part of their diet based off of wild foods. It fits in with their general lifestyle and it opens up the possibility of so much more foods. Most people only eat a few types of mushrooms. I have eaten over 20 species of mushrooms that are in my woods. Most people have never had the fruits of pawpaws, wild grapes, or gopher apples. I get to eat them all and they don’t grow commercially. It helps to preserve these foods being lost to habitat destruction. God told us to be good stewards of the land. We are failing. So anything we can do to learn more about it is important.

There is also the cultural aspect of it as well. Traditional foods of different tribes and countries are being lost to the same typical foods found across the whole world. Dozens of native fruits have been replaced by apples and those apples are being replaced by select apples. Diversity is dying.

 

[Kim82]

Oh OK, I see what you mean there. It depends on where you live though, because not everyone has access to those areas you described where one can go and get different foods.

 

[Skovand]

That’s true not everyone lives in a area that can. Such as cities built in deserts ( though it’s there it’s far less ) or they live in an area that’s predominantly all pavement and concrete. A city surrounded by lots of commercialized town’s throughout its county. But in most places there is somewhere just takes time to learn it and what available.

That’s one reason I collect seeds locally. It keeps the genetic diversity alive and strong. Most yards now days are just grass and a few exotic plants from another country in places like USA. I try to help show people how
They can cut back with grass that is useless and have a native plant wildflower garden. Thousands of insects like butterflies and moths depend on specific plants for their caterpillars. Like many know of monarch butterflies and milkweeds. Without milkweeds, the butterflies won’t lay eggs because that’s what their caterpillars need to eat. But there are thousands of other examples like the zebra swallowtail needs pawpaws to eat their leaves. The spicebush butterfly needs sweetbay magnolias and spice bushes for theirs. Even many mushrooms are dependent on specific trees. Like lions mane mushrooms grow on oaks. Oyster mushrooms grow on oaks and sweet gums.

So I help people focus on landscaping with these native plants. They can have several edible native species in their yards surrounded with native wildflowers and trees. It creates a mini sanctuary not only for them but also for local animals.

Also by removing exotic plants we help keep exotic diseases out. America use to be full of millions of 150+ feet tall American chestnuts that were 300+ years old. Along with them was millions of ozark chinquapins which is a type of chestnut tree as well. In the late 1800s the americas was full of these giant beautiful trees along the south eastern and eastern coast. Someone brought a chinese chestnut to America in New Jersey. That tree had a diseased called chestnut blight. Within 100 years the chestnuts and chinquapins almost went extinct and went down to under 1% of their previous numbers. Now in another 100 years oak will almost be extinct as well because someone brought over an oak with the disease called sudden oak death and it’s spreading throughout USA

Even if all you have is a porch or patio you can help by growing native plants in pots.

 

[oldethennew]

What did you survive on?

=============================
the BIG picture was, that God was teaching us how to HEAR HIM!!!,
and the way He did this was to tell us what we could EAT or not EAT!!!
we learned the art of survival through obeying Him:
we ate many wild mushrooms-berries-greens-fish-turtle-clams, etc. -
but, the true 'lesson' for us was learning HOW to LISTEN to our Lord's Voice',
for there are many 'harmful-poisonous species out there, and so, what our
Lord had us do when we were foraging, was to put our 'hands upon the plants, etc,
and ASK HIM, can we partake??? - and the answer would always be, a 'yes or a no'.
and thus He taught us both what it means to be obedient and to truly HEAR His Voice...
a very good seven year lesson...

 

[Kim82]

=============================
the BIG picture was, that God was teaching us how to HEAR HIM!!!,
and the way He did this was to tell us what we could EAT or not EAT!!!
we learned the art of survival through obeying Him:
we ate many wild mushrooms-berries-greens-fish-turtle-clams, etc. -
but, the true 'lesson' for us was learning HOW to LISTEN to our Lord's Voice',
for there are many 'harmful-poisonous species out there, and so, what our
Lord had us do when we were foraging, was to put our 'hands upon the plants, etc,
and ASK HIM, can we partake??? - and the answer would always be, a 'yes or a no'.
and thus He taught us both what it means to be obedient and to truly HEAR His Voice...
a very good seven year lesson...

 

[mar09]

That’s true not everyone lives in a area that can. Such as cities built in deserts ( though it’s there it’s far less ) or they live in an area that’s predominantly all pavement and concrete. A city surrounded by lots of commercialized town’s throughout its county. But in most places there is somewhere just takes time to learn it and what available.

That’s one reason I collect seeds locally. It keeps the genetic diversity alive and strong. Most yards now days are just grass and a few exotic plants from another country in places like USA. I try to help show people how
They can cut back with grass that is useless and have a native plant wildflower garden. Thousands of insects like butterflies and moths depend on specific plants for their caterpillars. Like many know of monarch butterflies and milkweeds. Without milkweeds, the butterflies won’t lay eggs because that’s what their caterpillars need to eat. But there are thousands of other examples like the zebra swallowtail needs pawpaws to eat their leaves. The spicebush butterfly needs sweetbay magnolias and spice bushes for theirs. Even many mushrooms are dependent on specific trees. Like lions mane mushrooms grow on oaks. Oyster mushrooms grow on oaks and sweet gums.

So I help people focus on landscaping with these native plants. They can have several edible native species in their yards surrounded with native wildflowers and trees. It creates a mini sanctuary not only for them but also for local animals.

Also by removing exotic plants we help keep exotic diseases out. America use to be full of millions of 150+ feet tall American chestnuts that were 300+ years old. Along with them was millions of ozark chinquapins which is a type of chestnut tree as well. In the late 1800s the americas was full of these giant beautiful trees along the south eastern and eastern coast. Someone brought a chinese chestnut to America in New Jersey. That tree had a diseased called chestnut blight. Within 100 years the chestnuts and chinquapins almost went extinct and went down to under 1% of their previous numbers. Now in another 100 years oak will almost be extinct as well because someone brought over an oak with the disease called sudden oak death and it’s spreading throughout USA

Even if all you have is a porch or patio you can help by growing native plants in pots.

This is interesting. I have a brother who's into ecology, and other family in horticulture, pathology... When i was young, i found this big book of my brother called The World's Worst Weeds.. and while mushrooms arent in there, it was nice to get to meet some of our neighbors in Kingdom plantae.. In college, i wanted to take an elective on Crop Science, but wasnt allowed as the subject was too far from my course, i was told. A pity.. but there are ways to learn and get to know abt these now.

I havent even read the rest of ur paragraphs (ur reply), but i hope to get back.. Was just from some online meets and checking in on CC-- and getting hungry! Ah but let me mention this pretty spiderling, a weed that dances in the wind. When i started to help weed at our church, i saw this was one of the most common plants that would quickly grow. Even when a few inches tall, it already has those small pretty pink bell-shaped flowers, and seeds that help it propagate quickly. So even if i had to pull so many of them out from our garden, i also know that it's already being used as medicine, and food (leaves as veggie) in some places around the world, incl. Africa. Ive read little on foraging once or twice, and would too if time permits! Learning abt them isnt just for us, but others around us too. What a magnificent world God gave us to explore and use.

 

[Kim82]

That’s true not everyone lives in a area that can. Such as cities built in deserts ( though it’s there it’s far less ) or they live in an area that’s predominantly all pavement and concrete. A city surrounded by lots of commercialized town’s throughout its county. But in most places there is somewhere just takes time to learn it and what available.

That’s one reason I collect seeds locally. It keeps the genetic diversity alive and strong. Most yards now days are just grass and a few exotic plants from another country in places like USA. I try to help show people how
They can cut back with grass that is useless and have a native plant wildflower garden. Thousands of insects like butterflies and moths depend on specific plants for their caterpillars. Like many know of monarch butterflies and milkweeds. Without milkweeds, the butterflies won’t lay eggs because that’s what their caterpillars need to eat. But there are thousands of other examples like the zebra swallowtail needs pawpaws to eat their leaves. The spicebush butterfly needs sweetbay magnolias and spice bushes for theirs. Even many mushrooms are dependent on specific trees. Like lions mane mushrooms grow on oaks. Oyster mushrooms grow on oaks and sweet gums.

So I help people focus on landscaping with these native plants. They can have several edible native species in their yards surrounded with native wildflowers and trees. It creates a mini sanctuary not only for them but also for local animals.

Also by removing exotic plants we help keep exotic diseases out. America use to be full of millions of 150+ feet tall American chestnuts that were 300+ years old. Along with them was millions of ozark chinquapins which is a type of chestnut tree as well. In the late 1800s the americas was full of these giant beautiful trees along the south eastern and eastern coast. Someone brought a chinese chestnut to America in New Jersey. That tree had a diseased called chestnut blight. Within 100 years the chestnuts and chinquapins almost went extinct and went down to under 1% of their previous numbers. Now in another 100 years oak will almost be extinct as well because someone brought over an oak with the disease called sudden oak death and it’s spreading throughout USA

Even if all you have is a porch or patio you can help by growing native plants in pots.

Do you do this for a living? What is your job title?

 

[Moses_Young]

Do you do this for a living? What is your job title?

I played a post-apocalyptic world computer game once, set in a city that had been overrun with zombies. One of the official job-titles was "scavenger", and these people were employed to forage for food, whilst taking great care not to be spotted by zombies.

 

[Skovand]

Do you do this for a living? What is your job title?

I do wildlife habitat restoration, mostly shallow creek banks. That involves a lot of work in itself from seed collection, transplants, testing and so on. Lots of data collection and problem solving. I also own a landscaping business that focuses on residential landscapes. I want to help protect nature by recreating it artistically and safely in backyards. My degree is in evolutionary ecology focused on the the relationship between plants and insects. But since my background has primarily been from the scientific side I am going through a 2 year program also in landscape design.

 

[Kim82]

Well it does seem quite rewarding.

 

[Lukwiz]

Sounds a bit fun. I do other stuff like herbs, composting, water garden and lawn care. Quite a few mushrooms erected up.

Sustainable agriculture does make a lot of sense. I hear about crop diversity on farms covering a range of nutrients and organic matter. Soil and water basics.

I suppose one could get carried away if they have a druggie-type personality with that. Nature could have its inhabitants deceived and such.

 

[Skovand]

Sounds a bit fun. I do other stuff like herbs, composting, water garden and lawn care. Quite a few mushrooms erected up.

Sustainable agriculture does make a lot of sense. I hear about crop diversity on farms covering a range of nutrients and organic matter. Soil and water basics.

I suppose one could get carried away if they have a druggie-type personality with that. Nature could have its inhabitants deceived and such.

Definitely there are some neat agricultural practices as well. With out species size it will always be something we require. Some companies are doing a lot more in the process of it though than others to make it good and safe. Such as using less destructive pesticides and having sedge and grass borders to help filter any water run off from the site before it hits the streams. Many are doing crop rotations and have numerous beneficial cover crops to help pull up nutrients from further down and drop it back into the upper soil for the next plant to use.

But I think foraging and home grown food is still things people should try to incorporate into their lives.