The Wild Food Trailguide [antikvár]

Introduction Long before man learned to hunt, harvested his first crop, or domesticated his first animal, he had collected an extensive body of plant lore. He knew what plants could be used as food and as medicine, and which would fill a number of his other needs including shelter, implements, and clothing. And even after he became a farmer, he continued to gather and use those plants that grew wild and needed no cultivation. Up to quite recent times when increasing urbanization, large-scale farming, and commercial medicines caused much wild lore to fall from common knowledge, it was a rare woodsman, farmer, or mother who lacked a familiarity with local edible and medicinal plants and their uses. Today, the number of people who regularly gather and use wild plants has dwindled, so that only the most dedicated woodsmen and the inhabitants of the more isolated rural areas keep the tradition alive, and many plants (such as Dandelion and Purslane) whose use extends back beyond man's earliest written records have come to be regarded as noxious weeds by the majority of people. Ironically, this majority spends millions of dollars yearly in frantic, fruitless, and senseless attempts at their eradication. Fortunately, the plants are still out there growing, and as more and more people take to the outdoors, whether backpacking or canoeing into the remote wilderness or simply walking or bicycling along rural roads and amid farm country, increasing numbers are once again reaping nature's free harvest. The advent of ultralight camping gear and freeze-dried and dehydrated foods has made it possible for a man to go farther, stay out longer, and carry less than ever before, but far too often the modern camper lacks survival skills and is totally dependent on the contents of his pack. He is in a position where a simple mishap that separates him from his pack or his food supply can be a disaster ending in death. Yet even a rudimentary knowledge of the more common edible plants would enable him not only to survive, but to thrive. As Art Howe, who for 50 years was a mountain guide in the Adiron-dacks, once told me, "In the woods a little knowledge can go a long way it can get you out alive." Possibly the greatest tragedy in the woods is the number of people who have starved - fI '1,11 i'' ¦ i,'I ¦ I' . ih I ^ >' i. < ' . f nil' . "'¦li'.n ., i, VII