Dont forget that seaweed is edible and full of vitamins and mineralsI've always suspected that there was enough food at the BOL that we could survive on the Earth's bounty alone. The Indians did it, so why not?
But I am now getting very serious about identifying what can be eaten.
Of course there is the meat...
Deer, ducks, doves, rabbits, quail, squirrels, raccoons, opossums, armadillos, beavers, etc.
But you gotta have more than meat.
Previously, I identified muscadines, blackberries, poke salad, wild greens (wild lettuce and wild brassica species), cattails, palmetto shoots (heart of palm), chanterelle mushrooms, etc.
This trip I found three new things. First, which I kind of suspected, was muscadine leaves. You can use them just like commercial grape leaves for things like dolmas (stuffed grape leaves), but you can also fry them in olive oil with a little salt and make tasty crispy chips out of them!
You can drink muscadine sap. You can also use a section of muscadine vine as a water filter.
But this was the BIG discovery. Those big white morning glory flowers? I discovered they are Ipomoea pandurata - wild potato.
They have many names because they have been an important food source in the past for many different people.
Indian potato, bigroot morning glory, man of the earth, wild potato vine, manroot, wild sweet potato, and wild rhubarb, among others.
There is conflicting information about the edibility of the leaves, but I think it is most accurate to say they are "edible" but not "palatable."
The leaves have no taste at all and are very fibrous. Kind of like trying to eat twine. I tried a very young leaf and it was no better than an old one.
The plant is very similar to modern sweet potatoes, similar leaves and flower. But the root goes down much deeper and the plant is a perennial which can survive freezing weather, unlike the sweet potato which dies in the winter. The tuber must be boiled first for 30 minutes to remove bitterness, then it can be cooked like a sweet potato.
And these things are EVERYWHERE at the BOL.
Bounty of the earth
- Thread starter DrHenley
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Dont forget that seaweed is edible and full of vitamins and minerals
Thanks Marjie, that will be useful info for a lot of people but I'm not sure if that will be of much help for us. It's a 4 1/2 hour drive to the coast from the BOL right now, and who knows how long that will take when the excrement hits the fan.
Maybe some enterprising people can find a way to smuggle seaweed to the interior and sell/barter it.
OK, so round 1 with the roasted persimmon seeds was a total bust.
I have discovered a material that is so hard and tough it cannot be bent, dented, scratched or broken, LOL
They are so hard I cannot break them with a fairly heavy mortar and pestle much less my teeth. Not sure what I did wrong, but maybe I need some oil on them. Perhaps steam them first?
I have discovered a material that is so hard and tough it cannot be bent, dented, scratched or broken, LOL
They are so hard I cannot break them with a fairly heavy mortar and pestle much less my teeth. Not sure what I did wrong, but maybe I need some oil on them. Perhaps steam them first?
the Indian potato root you are talking about was one of the very first plants I learned about while in the Boy Scouts in CA back in 1974 and was a small staple in my journey around America.
That's very cool Gary!
Evidently Mr. Ringo is an educated man , now I know I hate him.
Caveat Emptor
Did you cut on open to see the seed shape? Fork, spoon or knife. How the winter will be.And the third thing was persimmons. I knew we had some, but I didn't know how many because I'm usually not there when they are on the trees.
I found a tree that was just about ready to start dropping persimmons and stood up on the back of my truck and picked a bunch of nearly ripe persimmons. When they get ripe...COMPLETELY RIPE...man are they good! But if they are not completely ripe...
Uh...knife, I guess.
The wind will cut you.
DirtDiva
A True Doomsday Prepper
Doc years ago when we first bought our Midwest acreage we put parts of it in CRP that was not good for farming or pasture. It was basically an overused dairy farm. A wildlife biologist came out and designed what needed to be added to benefit the wildlife deer/turkey/quail etc. We planted over 6,000 trees on that property oak/ hickory/walnut but one of the important ones according to the biologist was the American persimmon. I guess many animals and birds benefit from that ripe fruit.
Arcticdude
Top Poster
Several years ago we bought a farm about 150 miles north of here. In the old days they raised wheat on this place. It was abandoned many years ago and the owner enrolled all the farm land in CRP. I thought about planting trees on the CRP ground, but since there was several tree filled canyons on the property I decided aginst planting any more trees. There were a lot of old fruit trees around the old house too.
I bought out 5 acres of the CRP ground from the government and built a barn and equipment shed, plus put in a new well.
Yep, we already have a good many that grew naturally scattered out over the place, but we just planted a lot more on a CRP a couple of years ago, along with nuttall oaks and swamp chestnut oaks.
Most of the persimmon trees I know about are usually inaccessible when they have fruit on them due to flooding, but this one was right on the levee. I don't know why I never noticed it before.
From what I understand, when they drop they start fermenting, so the persimmon trees are the local bar for the wildlife, LMAO.
Most of the persimmon trees I know about are usually inaccessible when they have fruit on them due to flooding, but this one was right on the levee. I don't know why I never noticed it before.
From what I understand, when they drop they start fermenting, so the persimmon trees are the local bar for the wildlife, LMAO.
We have a persimmon next to the parking lot at the boat ramp. It is a shame how man fall on the blacktop and get ran over.
They are so good after a frost but pucker city prior to.
We used to dare people who didn't know their pucker power to take a big bite. We thought it was funny.
They are so good after a frost but pucker city prior to.
We used to dare people who didn't know their pucker power to take a big bite. We thought it was funny.
Arcticdude
Top Poster
The problem that we had with planting trees on the CRP ground was lack of rainfall. Even though our CRP ground was about 3,000 feet lower in elevation than here, there still wasn't any rain in the summer. Just like here, a lot of snow in winter but almost zero rain in summer.
There is a chemical in unripe American persimmons that reacts with stomach acid and creates a polymer. This polymer forms a three dimensional matrix which traps indigestible fiber and can block your stomach.
The only effective treatment short of surgery is...get this...Coca cola! Coke can dissolve the matrix.
The only effective treatment short of surgery is...get this...Coca cola! Coke can dissolve the matrix.
Arcticdude
Top Poster
Makes sense. Isn't Coca-Cola used as a solvent too?
It cleans Batteryou terminals
Very corrosive too.
I like to think of coke as the elixer of life
tmttactical
A True Doomsday Prepper
Next to coffee.
