CGS-101 Week 10: Foraging Wild Food Along the Waterways

From Survival and Beyond

We have been talking a lot about water lately. Water is a valuable resource. You can live only a matter of days without it. Less if you are working hard during the summer months that we find ourselves in now. We have covered how to find water and how to make it drinkable. That alone may save your life, but there is much more to the subject than merely drinking water. This is especially true in the western U.S. where drier conditions cause the smallest of puddles to become a priceless resource for plants and animals that could not live in the area without it. Such plants and animals are also resources for survivalists. We must now learn to recognize those resources and gain the skills to put them to good use.

Since we have found and explored our water source, the next most important resource will be  food. We will focus on foraging for food along our water source in this week’s lesson. Plant life will be abundant along the banks of the creek. Grasses will be prevalent and will serve as graze for wildlife or for gathering seed such as wild rice or grain. Low growing herbs with a heavy need for water should

also be sought along creek, stream and river banks. These include the mints, such as peppermint, spearmint, pennyroyal and catnip. Watercress also grows here. Cattails grow in wet areas and water sources as well. They provide survivalists and foragers with food and craft material. The pollen produced on the corndog looking head is quite edible and makes excellent pancake batter. The shoots

are edible and provide minerals to the diet. The long, broad leaves were gathered by Native Americans and woven into baskets, mats, hats and a variety of woven goods. The tuber-like root is also dug and boiled with three changes of water and eaten or can be dried and ground into flour for soup stock or gravy. Don’t overlook the obvious favorites along the waterways either. These will include dandelion, plantain, goat’s beard, shepherd’s purse and wild spinach, wild onion, wild garlic, and wild mustard. All of which may be found in many regions along water sources.

More dependent on spring rains on the forest floors are the wild pansies and wild violets that carpet the forests in yellow, purple and green during the spring flowering season. The leaves of these plants are very edible and are often used in my parts to make a jelly and used very much like mint jelly. They can grow many yards off of your water source, but you can extend the season for foraging these plants by finding those that are still fresh along gulch waterways after those in the forests have faded away.

Bulrushes growing along river and stream edges are excellent resources. They propagate by rhizomes running underneath the surface of the water or sometimes ground, as they also grow in seasonally marshy areas. The rhizomes are easy to collect when the weather is wet or when the plant is growing in the water. After a marsh dries in the summer months, however, the rhizomes are tougher to pull up through the dry, cement like soil. Wash and dry the rhizomes, then pound into flour. Use in pancakes, gravy and to thicken stews and to extend wheat flour. Bulrushes produce fuzzy flower heads that are somewhat akin to tiny cattail flower heads. They grow from nodes on the stalk with about three to four flower heads per node. These are edible when young. Pluck them from the plant and peel the outer husk or membrane from the inner ‘blossom’. These can be fried like dandelion blossoms or added to soups and stews like okra.

The flower heads produce seeds which are also edible and utilized by various cultures world wide as a source of food. Like other grass and rush seeds, these are thrashed and ground for flour. Edibility is not the only useful quality of rushes. Rushes are excellent sources of material to make expedient rope and twine. The thin, triangular stalks are very strong, yet flexible and easy to twist into twine. This is quite helpful when building expedient shelters, pack frames, travois and varieties of camping utensils and tools, including fishing nets.

Wild rice is basically any grass growing along marshy areas and river banks that experience spring flooding and grow large seed kernels. Almost every area in America has it’s own native variety of wild rice. Wild rice is an excellent source of grain that provides some protein and a lot of carbohydrates. When in season this is a special boon to survivors and homesteaders. The best way to collect wild rice is from the water. Wade or row along the banks and thrash the seeds directly into a small boat or floating bucket or basket. Take these seeds back to your camp and “crack” the seed by rolling a log firmly over them or clapping them with a log while they are on a hard surface like the face of a stump or large, flat rock. Place these cracked seeds on a blanket and winnow or place on a flat surface and blow on them to remove the chaff.

Wild rice is usually distinguished by its tall size, having stalks as tall as a man and in some instances taller. Its leaves grow alternating on the stalk and there will be between two and four leaves for this plant. The plant will also have large kernels of grain compared to other species of grass. Wild rice needs marshy or wet conditions in the spring, but can grow in drier ground in the summer and fall.

Roots and tubers are important sources of carbohydrates and minerals and they grow best along waterways as the cow parsnip does in the mountain west. Root crops and greens are best collected in the spring while the plants are yet tender. First year root crops are identified by their leafy tops and lack of last year’s stem and are the more tender and edible of the root crops.

As mentioned in our earlier lesson on finding water, lusher greener vegetation grows along winding stream and river rows. This gives away the water source, but also shows that the water source is allowing edible plants to grow along its sides. This is where you not only find water, but food. Native

Americans would collect the wild plants they needed at water sources and spread seeds and cuttings along the water’s path to promote more abundance and to assure the continuation of the food source. As advanced survival skills are merely the basics mastered, one can see building upon this skill by planting clandestine gardens of indigenous wild edibles along a water source as a survival food source for your family and group.Your task this week is to go to your library and check out a book on your local area’s wild edible food sources. Xerox or otherwise copy likely pages of plantlife information, then re-scout your water source. Find plantlife that you have positively identified that is in season and enjoy some tidbits of wild forage fare at your table. Also identify all of the wild edibles along your water source whether in season or not. Take note of where and how much on your water source each plant species can be found. Building on this basic skill, you are also building an advanced skill of scouting a retreat area or fade back area. We will have more next week. Good luck.

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