Living Car Free - Poor Foraging

Usually in the summer I can bike out to places and forage for berries. This summer, even the berry patches that aren't car accessible had already been picked over before I got there. Usually, I have the non-car accessible patches all to myself. It reminded me of conversations I've had with people who have lived through food shortages. A common theme I've heard is that everything edible disappears from the area. No ducks in the city park, no edible fruit or roots in the countryside, no squirrels etc. Living car free prepares you for gas shortages of course but I'm not prepared at all for serious food shortages. It looks like biking to the countryside to forage for wild food will be unworkable due to the stiff competition from everyone else with the same idea. Hopefully the peak oilers are wrong and free market capitalism will work its magic once again.

Ive been thinking of learning to identify edible plants of the area.
Im fascinated by it. Free healthy snacks are out there- we just need to find them.

Around here, the most common edible wild berry is the mulberry which you will see on just about every roadway and trail in the state. You can normally pick them by placing something like a groundsheet under the tree, then shaking it (or waiting for the wind to do it...). This summer -- because of the heavy rains I suppose -- has left a bumper crop.

I haven't pick anything serious in the way of mulberries this year, but I did plant an apple tree in the back yard and have some rhubarb and raspberries coming on.

Blueberries are in season right now, and black/raspberries are following right along. If we stop on any backroad up here, we can be pretty much assured that there will be some kind of snack waiting. Haven't been disappointed so far. ...but this is the first year I've ever seen someone else by the side of the road picking berries. I didn't mind--she presented a great view, while bent over, picking. That got me a smack on the ass from my stoker/wife...

Are you sure it's people? Animal populations go through booms and will eat through an area until it can't support them and they die back. We have more rabbits (just like the one in your photo) this year than I can ever remember.* There seem to be fewer deer here than in years past, and on a recent ride up the NCR (full of cyclists) only the berry bushes right on the path had been picked over. Is there a conneciton? Maybe.


*This may have something to do with the decline of the outside cat in my particular corner of suburbia. When did people stop letting their cats outside?

Are you sure it's people? Animal populations go through booms and will eat through an area until it can't support them and they die back. We have more rabbits (just like the one in your photo) this year than I can ever remember.* There seem to be fewer deer here than in years past, and on a recent ride up the NCR (full of cyclists) only the berry bushes right on the path had been picked over. Is there a conneciton? Maybe.


*This may have something to do with the decline of the outside cat in my particular corner of suburbia. When did people stop letting their cats outside?
No, but I notice trampling of the under brush that looks like its been made by feet wider than hooves. It doesn't seem like there are more rabbits or deer but I've not been live trapping or using raked soil to keep a careful census either.

Its too bad there aren't wild monkeys near me. Ive heard you can just watch what a
monkey eats if you need to find food safe for foraging.

This may have something to do with the decline of the outside cat in my particular corner of suburbia. When did people stop letting their cats outside?

When we noticed that cats hunt birds in preference to almost any other animal... and thus they were laying waste to all our nice insectivore birds. For those of us who aren't fond of mosquitoes and gnats, this is a major downside of cat ownership.

Dogs are more likely to hunt rabbits and squirrels. While most dogs will try, IME, only dogs from hunting breeds are particularly good at it.

Folks, um--at any given time the country is only nine meals away from anarchy.
Three days without food = full blown riots, high gas prices or not.

But when the time comes to eat your neighbors' pets and other small game, here (http://www.redneckpossum.com/PossumRecipes.htm) are a few recipes for possum, saying your cooking fire won't draw undue attention.

When we noticed that cats hunt birds in preference to almost any other animal... and thus they were laying waste to all our nice insectivore birds. For those of us who aren't fond of mosquitoes and gnats, this is a major downside of cat ownership.

Dogs are more likely to hunt rabbits and squirrels. While most dogs will try, IME, only dogs from hunting breeds are particularly good at it.


We let our cat out, but he's near sighted so birds have a large advantage on him. What he is good at though is killing moles. We've, unfortunately, have an unlimited supply of those. :notamused:

Dogs are more likely to hunt rabbits and squirrels. While most dogs will try, IME, only dogs from hunting breeds are particularly good at it.

It's so strange the way animals work...my dog (a terrier mix of some kind, we suspect Wheaton + ???) totally ignores rabbits, even when they run in front of him. Squirrels and deer, on the other hand he will take off after but water bugs and mosquito hawks seem to be his favorite prey.

It's so strange the way animals work...my dog (a terrier mix of some kind, we suspect Wheaton + ???) totally ignores rabbits, even when they run in front of him. Squirrels and deer, on the other hand he will take off after but water bugs and mosquito hawks seem to be his favorite prey.

Yeah, they are odd. I had a dog that would freak out when she saw a UPS truck, but would ignore FedEx. I thought dogs were color blind.

Wonder if the ups driver, or one in the past had sprayed your dog with Halt, and a Fedex Driver gave your dog a Dog Biscuit.......I know if I were a dog, that might prejudice me against UPS drivers and tend to make me regard Fedex drivers in a favorable light. ;)


Yeah, they are odd. I had a dog that would freak out when she saw a UPS truck, but would ignore FedEx. I thought dogs were color blind.

I just walked out into my backyard and picked a full pint of blueberries. No dearth of berries here...

Are you sure it's people? Animal populations go through booms and will eat through an area until it can't support them and they die back. We have more rabbits (just like the one in your photo) this year than I can ever remember.* There seem to be fewer deer here than in years past, and on a recent ride up the NCR (full of cyclists) only the berry bushes right on the path had been picked over. Is there a conneciton? Maybe.


*This may have something to do with the decline of the outside cat in my particular corner of suburbia. When did people stop letting their cats outside?

Plenty of deer in my backyard this year and I live in town.

My 17 1/2 year old cat still goes outside but only catches rays now. Hasn't caught a mouse since we left Germany in 2002, and stopped catching rabbits several years ago. Seldom ever showed any interest in birds, chipmunks, or squirrels though the yard is always filled with them.

Sounds fun, but don't go off the beaten path in Mendicino County, CA or Humbolt County, CA and go "foraging" for plants.

You might get in some trouble with the locals, if you know what I mean.

To explore the options, of foraging of existing of surviving, you do what you need to do. Realize also though that the body has many ways to deal with times of starvation. There was no mention of strawberries which can be found on some of the routes going up to some rather interesting locations. Certainly you can always find what you need when you start to look.

My first tour was like that, where the things I needed I found when I needed them. And A previous journey with my brother had him finding a 50 dollar bill that helped in the last days of the tour. So certainly the Universe has ways of attending to needs. Being aware of the local food and options is always a good thing. An interesting topic it surely is.

Mostly blackberries around here, but it would take a pannier full to put a dent in my appetite. By the end of that I'd probably never want to see a blackberry again. :D

Yeah that is usually how it works don't it. Well so far as it goes never hurts to find snacks along the way without the lightening of the wallet. Fun stuff it surely is.

Ok so it's not as appetizing as wild strawberries or blueberries, but you guys should give quickweed a try...It's my new favorite addition to salad. You can eat wild violets too which are a sweet little snack when you come across them...just be careful where you pick from, you never know what kinds of fertilizers/pesticides people put down. Best to eat off your own property or somewhere deep in the woods

http://www.arthurleej.com/a-quickweed.html

Ok so it's not as appetizing as wild strawberries or blueberries, but you guys should give quickweed a try...It's my new favorite addition to salad. You can eat wild violets too which are a sweet little snack when you come across them...just be careful where you pick from, you never know what kinds of fertilizers/pesticides people put down. Best to eat off your own property or somewhere deep in the woods

http://www.arthurleej.com/a-quickweed.html

Was just thinking the other day how much more unique it would be to be able to find edible plants along a tour and this is one to research. Seems you can do quite alot with what is grown in the local area. Of course you need to be careful on the edible itemms.

Hey, I found a patch of berries that hadn't been picked over. I got excited over getting those plump juicy things. The poison ivy rash on my legs tells me why other foragers had left those berries for me. I got too excited and forgot to look at what else was growing among the briers.

Sounds fun, but don't go off the beaten path in Mendicino County, CA or Humbolt County, CA and go "foraging" for plants.

You might get in some trouble with the locals, if you know what I mean.

Uhhh? No you won't.

I forage for berries, roots and herbs all summer and fall (sometimes in winter too) and I've never had this problem. It's a suburban legend.

Another popular foraging item around here are morel mushrooms in the Spring.

http://thegreatmorel.com/images/mushmove.gif

Unfortunately, I haven't run into any travelling in the country on my bike. I think you have to wander into some trees.

Another popular foraging item around here are morel mushrooms in the Spring.

http://thegreatmorel.com/images/mushmove.gif

Unfortunately, I haven't run into any travelling in the country on my bike. I think you have to wander into some trees.

Please, Please, Please, do not pick mushrooms unless you are positive that they are editable, and even at that double check, many poisonous shrooms look like edible and can kill you quite quickly as their poisons attack the nervous system, many do not get a second chance with eating the wrong mushroom, Yes in other countries it is less of an issue as their are fewer breeds of shrooms. But in the US it is a major concern. and most survival guides including the military do not recommend eating mushrooms. just looking out for you all :thumb:

Please, Please, Please, do not pick mushrooms unless you are positive that they are editable, and even at that double check, many poisonous shrooms look like edible and can kill you quite quickly as their poisons attack the nervous system, many do not get a second chance with eating the wrong mushroom, Yes in other countries it is less of an issue as their are fewer breeds of shrooms. But in the US it is a major concern. and most survival guides including the military do not recommend eating mushrooms. just looking out for you all :thumb:

+1. There are much safer things to look for. Stay away from fungi unless you're absolutely sure (read: do this for a living) what's safe and what's not.

Usually in the summer I can bike out to places and forage for berries. This summer, even the berry patches that aren't car accessible had already been picked over before I got there. Usually, I have the non-car accessible patches all to myself. It reminded me of conversations I've had with people who have lived through food shortages. A common theme I've heard is that everything edible disappears from the area. No ducks in the city park, no edible fruit or roots in the countryside, no squirrels etc. Living car free prepares you for gas shortages of course but I'm not prepared at all for serious food shortages. It looks like biking to the countryside to forage for wild food will be unworkable due to the stiff competition from everyone else with the same idea. Hopefully the peak oilers are wrong and free market capitalism will work its magic once again.

Jeesh. I don't think the economy has hit so hard in the USA that people are eating squirrels from the city parks.

I was in San Fran earlier this week and saw a guy fish out two loaves of artisan French bread and half a sandwich out of a curb-side garbage can. As long as that kind of bounty can be found, I think the economy is still not so bad and I think the squirrels are safe.

+1. There are much safer things to look for. Stay away from fungi unless you're absolutely sure (read: do this for a living) what's safe and what's not.

Dad used to come home with these big "puffballs". He would fry them up in butter. Here in DC there is this mycology club. The members I've talked to don't do it for a living but seem pretty knowledgeable. You might be able to draw on reliable local knowledge about the safe mushrooms in your area. They aren't that nutritious anyway are they?

While certainly the accessible berries and other fruits may disappear quickly, with just a little education you can find enough edible weeds that you could supplement your diet quite easily without having to venture to far afield. Myself I make a salad / cooked greens for my dinner a few times a week during the summer with dandelions and this italian green whose name I forget but it was imported to North America and grows as a weed in any lawn (in Ohio at least) that hasn't been treated with pesticides. I only gather these greens from my lawn.

I eat these either fresh or steamed with a little olive oil and vinegar, or a spritz of citrus.

For more sustaining energy I like the roots of dandelions, burdock, and queen annes lace. Again the dandelions and burdock I only ever harvest from my yard (my neighbors think I'm crazy letting my burdock grow) and the queen annes lace I dig up once a week or so on my way home from the side of the bike path, it won't grow in my yard for some reason, I think because the soil isn't crappy enough. You prep the roots of plants basically always the same way: scrub off the dirt, bring water to a boil and simmer the roots, change the water once to get rid of dirt, and simmer until tender. I then either chop up or mash, add a dash of maple syrup and smidge of butter and salt and its dinner time.

What I've been noticing here is many more of my neighbors asking for advice (or help) gardening. I think if people are becoming willing to turn their back yards into gardens we are entering a good place.

What amazes me is the number of people I see fishing along the rivers here, often right next to the sewage overflow outlet (ick!).

I think you are all looking in the wrong place for food to forage.

Try the Dumpster behind the natural foods grocery store. Try the one behind the regular grocery store, too, if they don't compact. I haven't gone this far myself, but apparently there's a whole subculture of people who forage perfectly good stuff out of Dumpsters.

Backyard fruit that hangs over the fence is fair game. Apricots, plums, apples should all be falling off the trees by now. You might also ask people who have a tree dropping fruit all over their property if they'd mind if you picked some. They'd probably be happy for you to take it. You might also want to make friends with someone who has a zucchini or tomato plant.

Good luck.

I forgot to mention a favorite forage item my parents would pick up near the end of summer, Cattails, I think we ate the root of more mature plants and the seed stalk of less mature, but I'm a little hazy on the details, haven't lived within biking distance of Cattails in a long time.

Mmm, giant puffballs... the only wild mushroom I can identify well enough to eat. We used to find a volleyball-sized puffball every couple of years out at my dad's place. Note that these are not the same species as the 'poison pigskin' puffball, which is the little brown one that dries out and goes puff when you kick it. Giant puffballs are pure snowy white and have no stem, and can be smooth and round or rather lumpy.

Frying them up in strips with butter is the best way to eat them. You can also cut them into thicker slabs or sticks, and dip them in egg and breadcrumbs and deep-fry them like fish. Don't cook them too long, just until the breading is solid and there's no raw egg left.

Funny how when people start talking about survival food, it's always about stealing and trespassing and eating out of garbage cans and hoping nobody will miss a stray pet. The discussion seems to skip right over intermediary steps like gardening. No, not everyone has a big yard, but it's surprising how much food you can get by growing things in pots on your fire escape or back step.

The best one I know for sheer volume of food, and I haven't tried it yet but I've heard it's good, is potatoes. You cut up a seed potato and bury it in dirt or straw in the bottom of a big bucket. When you see green shoots coming up, put more dirt over top. Keep doing that as the plant grows. When it gets to the top, dig into the bucket and you will have a ridiculous number of potatoes growing in there.

I would recommend reading Gayla Trail's You Grow, Girl if you want to learn how to grow your own food for more than just an occasional show-off dinner party.

If you know any elderly English, American, or Canadian types who lived through World War II, ask them if they had victory gardens (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victory_garden). I think that's something we'll see more of before we get desperate, and if we start learning how to produce and share food there may very well be fewer desperate people.

Some very interesting points, yet on growing, it seems it would depend, if you are on a tour, on the road you really do not have much time to grow anything just pick what is already growing. Or using plants that grow in the wild as a supplement. Botany would be par for this course, though any good guidebook on available foods would be good. So far as foraging goes, keep the views hopping.

On a Separate Point I am looking for 50 cycle commuters in Ohio who commute year round and how they do it. http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=451405 in that topic.

Pretty sure that "poor foraging" can be associated with weather and "natural" occurances rather than blamed on people... at least in California. We had a very dry winter, so I would suppose that foraging around here is pretty bad this time of year too. Interesting thread though... it's got me interested in looking at local food sources. The local native americans ate acorns, but it's a lot of work to make the edible.

We gather and eat bushels of morels in northern Michigan every spring. You see cars and a few bikes parked along the country roads all over.

Urban fishing is very popular. When I lived in San Diego, a friend and I used to go to the municipal beaches and dig clams. We would stuff them in our tube socks and go home on the city bus. The other passengers got a kick out of seeing that.

It's hard to imagine a better meal than fresh steamed clams, or morels sauteed in butter or olive oil. Like my old dad says, "You'd pay 50 bucks in a restaurant...if you could get it at all."