The tasting of wild food could become the cornerstone of teaching your children or even yourself about conservation. What’s wrong with a few botany lessons while we enjoy the great natural world? What’s wrong with learning a few lessons which might be helpful in surviving in an emergency?

All regions have a good many wild edible plants, fruits, and nuts. I will cover plants that are at least in the south east. Many of the plants covered can be located in most other regions. Beginners should build their knowledge of wild foods slowly and carefully. Learn to identify a dozen or so species, and learn how to use them in their full potential. Check out plant books from your local library, search the Internet, or buy a plant key book for your region and start learning a few wild plants very thoroughly. Better yet, maybe a grand parent or elderly friend could assist you while taking a slow walk around a park or farm.

Below are some common wild edible plants:

Arrowhead (also called swamp potato, tule potato): It is a plant of marshy soils, found in shallow, mud-bottomed sections of ponds, lakes and rivers. The large arrow shaped leaves and three pedaled white flowers make identification easy. The plant may grow to three feet with it’s roots growing up to five feet. The entire root section is edible but the best food is contained in the tubers attached to the root.. Although the tubers can be peeled and eaten, they are much better boiled for 30 minutes before peeling and seasoning with sat, pepper, and butter. In an emergency you may wrap them in the leaves and roasting them in fire coals.

Blueberry: Most are very aware of commercially grown blue berries. Many may not know that wild blueberries and their wild relatives such as Huckleberries are common in the wild. Look for wild blueberries in burnt over woodlands, and along the edge of log roads and trails. They are delicious eaten raw but may be cooked and added to oatmeal. Maybe even better, gather them and cook a blueberry pie back home! Double this treat by making home made ice cream and your kids might nominate you for the hall of fame.

Bulrush: This tall, green-stemmed plant is another edible plant located around marshes and wetlands. The shoots and young root stalks can be eaten raw or cooked. The root stalks need to be peeled before boiling. Bulrush stall can be added to camp stews. Even the roots can be roasted after carefully wiping away their root hairs.

Burdock: This sunflower family member grows in disturbed soils all over the country. The young shoots and leaves make an excellent salad or they can be cooked like spinach. Young stalks may be also be eaten raw or added to stews after the outer rind is removed. Burdock roots may be roasted and ground into a coffee substitute.
Please let me of your favorite wild foods and adventures you had in gathering and preparing them.

As a child my Father would take me camping at least once a year on the family farm owned by my Grandfather. I always loved camping and my favorite part was spending quality time with my Dad and cooking around the camp fire. It always seemed like the coldest nights when we would camp, but as a child it did not bother me much as long as I was outside. Our version of camping was not near as extravagant or lavish as many people’s today. We pretty much roughed it with a basic tent, sleeping bag, a number of quilts and blankets, and some old pots and pans that my Grandmother did not use any more. It would have been a lot warmer with a cot or blow-up mattress, but I did not learn about those until many years down the road. I thought it was fantastic and the only way to camp.

One of my favorite part of camping was building the camp fire. My Dad and I would take turns stacking the wood different ways to see who’s fire would light and burn the best. Looking back it was a great learning experience and it also taught me how to safely build a fire. One thing that we were also careful to do was to put the fire out properly. We would never leave the camp until that job was completed properly. 

The shivers

The one camping trip that I do remember getting cold at, is probably one of the most memorable of my childhood. We must have been in a hurry packing and forgot to bring enough blankets because we seemed to never sleep and shiver all night. I remember vividly setting up camp and getting a fire going then cooking a small meal before getting ready for the night. I even remember discussing sleeping in the vehicle instead of in the tent, but I was young and thought I was invincible I’m sure. 

I must have fallen to sleep eventually, but it seemed like hours of moving around and shivering. It was the coldest time I can ever remember. I can not even imagine how cold it is up North, because I was in central Alabama and could not hardly take it. I hear people even from the North say that it is a different kind of cold down here and they too get cold here. But, when I see 0 and -10 temperatures up North my teeth tighten and I shake my head and wonder how anyone can take it. 

Staying warm with new products

As I grew older I began to camp a lot less and hunt a lot more. I would build all my own tree stand and scout out all my hunting areas. I loved getting ready for the hunting season more than the actual hunting season. I was never a great hunter because I have always had a problem with staying still and being patient. How can blame me though, when the wind chill is 5 degrees and I’m in a tree 15 to 20 feet off the ground. I use to stalk hunt many times just so I could curl up by a log and get out of the wind.

Last year I found an amazing hand warming product that I bought for my brother-in-law for Christmas. My brother-in-law is an avid hunter and outdoorsman that is always in the woods or on the water. I have been duck hunting with him once and sure wish I would have had this amazing product on the hunt. I was amazed how well it worked and how long it lasted. The product is shown in the picture below and is made by Zippo Manufacturing.

• No flame – The hand warmer uses a platinum-catalyzed glass fiber burner. I’m not fully sure what that type of burner is and neither is anyone on the internet that I can find, but it sure sounds cool.
• Hot Hot Hot – The hand warmer is much warmer than any disposable hand warmer that I have ever tried.  With out the case the warmer is quite hot!
• Long  Lasting – After the warmer is lite it last any where from 12 to 36 hours depending on the measured amount of fuel you add to it.
• Reusable – What else can you say, you can reuse it and it is environmentally friendly!

Reader Contributions

Here at Living4Outdoors we would like to invite anyone and everyone that has an opinion on our article to comment and be interactive. If you have used the Zippo Hand Warmer please let us know how you liked it or if you hated it. I also want to invite you to let us know about any amazing camping product that you would like to share or even any outdoors product that you would like to share.