+Bilder Posted September 9, 2003 Share Posted September 9, 2003 I used to gather wild plants and mushrooms all the time when camping and such, but have not done so for the last 10 years. Thinking of taking a refresher course in wild edible plants and start up on the gathering while cache hunting. Anyone else do this? There are lots of edible plants out there that are tasty as well as very healthy. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I have never been lost. Been awful confused for a few days, but never lost! N61.12.041 W149.43.734 Quote Link to comment
+Snoogans Posted September 9, 2003 Share Posted September 9, 2003 Check out my 5/3/03 log on this cache. At $4.60 a lb, I would estimate that I was lookin at about $100,000 worth and free for the taking. A wine makers dream. I wish I had a wine making set-up. MMmmmmm, Blackberry wine. Sngans Sacred cows make the best hamburger....Mark Twain. Quote Link to comment
+SamLowrey Posted September 9, 2003 Share Posted September 9, 2003 quote:Originally posted by Bilder:I used to gather wild plants and mushrooms all the time when camping and such, but have not done so for the last 10 years. Thinking of taking a refresher course in wild edible plants and start up on the gathering while cache hunting. Anyone else do this? There are lots of edible plants out there that are tasty as well as very healthy. I guess fruit and berries are too easy? Nevertheless, I found some grape vines growing in a forest and some blackberries, too. They grow wild in Texas. I was told never to even try to eat mushrooms. Quote Link to comment
+Snoogans Posted September 9, 2003 Share Posted September 9, 2003 quote:Originally posted by SamLowrey:I was told never to even try to eat mushrooms. If you squeeze the stem and it bruises blue here in Texas.....Well, I wouldn't eat 'em either. Sngans Sacred cows make the best hamburger....Mark Twain. Quote Link to comment
+nincehelser Posted September 9, 2003 Share Posted September 9, 2003 I've seen what look like morel mushrooms around Austin. I wasn't sure enough to risk eating one, though. Gathering such mushrooms was popular where I'm from, but I've never heard of people doing it in Texas. It's probably best to stay clear of 'shrooms unless you really know what you're doing. George Quote Link to comment
+pater47 Posted September 9, 2003 Share Posted September 9, 2003 Whenever they start growing wild mushrooms with bar code tags on 'em, I'll start pickin' 'em. Visit the Mississippi Geocaching Forum at http://pub98.ezboard.com/bgeocachingms Quote Link to comment
+Bilder Posted September 9, 2003 Author Share Posted September 9, 2003 I used to pick wild mushrooms all the time. I need a refresher course to remember the edible from the nasty ones. Just take a couple classes to learn to identify and if in doubt, dont eat. Berries and some plants I remember and pick, but I need to brush up on some of the other kinds out there. You could find all you need in the woods and never have to buy salad greens again if you knew what to look for. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I have never been lost. Been awful confused for a few days, but never lost! N61.12.041 W149.43.734 Quote Link to comment
+BadAndy Posted September 9, 2003 Share Posted September 9, 2003 Last month we were in Huckleberry heaven. Most the other berries are going fast. We'll have to wait til springtime for the morels. Quote Link to comment
Dinoprophet Posted September 9, 2003 Share Posted September 9, 2003 I never recognized stinging nettles until I wandered into some at a cache a few months back. Then I recognized one right in my own yard. I ate it. The tea it made was really good. Hey, didn't my renewal check clear? Quote Link to comment
Team Sidewinder Posted September 9, 2003 Share Posted September 9, 2003 I love the huckleberries and they can be the best part of a geocache that is hidden in a area that has lots of them. We find the cache first and then pick huckleberries all the way back to the truck. Team sidewinder LOST AND FOUND DEPT. Quote Link to comment
+carleenp Posted September 9, 2003 Share Posted September 9, 2003 I have always wanted to go after Morels but wanted to be sure I knew what I was doing. My parents set some up in their yard a few years ago that will hopefully begin producing soon (takes a few years). I have used dandelion greens in salads before and will readily chew on wild mint. There is also a plant around here with little flat round things on it that are edible and taste peppery. Sorry, but I have no idea what it is! All I know is that I learned about it in camp as a child and that it adds a good flavor to salads! Quote Link to comment
+CYBret Posted September 9, 2003 Share Posted September 9, 2003 We've got many rabid morel mushroom hunters here in Illinois. My uncle first heard about Geocaching because he had bought a GPS to keep track of all of his secret mushroom patches. He's a little disturbed about the cachers moving in on his territory There was a cache in our area last spring that was archived for a while. I suspect it was to keep the geocachers away from the owner's mushroom patch. Unforunately I didn't find any this year. Man, they're good! Bret "The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again." Mt. 13:44 Quote Link to comment
+Renegade Knight Posted September 9, 2003 Share Posted September 9, 2003 When in Oregon the blackberries were everywhere. Earlier we got a few gallons of huckleberries. Even got the spot marked on my GPS. As for stinging nettle...Until geocaching and the forums I never knew you could eat it. I always just cussed those puppies. Quote Link to comment
+RJFerret Posted September 9, 2003 Share Posted September 9, 2003 Clover flowers! The more pink the sweeter/more flavorful. I make the rounds before mowing... Enjoy, Randy Quote Link to comment
+ZachMJ2345 Posted September 9, 2003 Share Posted September 9, 2003 There's nothing better than picking wild plants that are edible. They taste so much better than anything you can buy in the store. Last spring I picked 50-75 HUGE morel mushrooms growing right on my fiancee's grandparents land. I was walking around and happened to see a patch of 15 giant white morels... with a little more searching and a couple weeks we had a ton. Man... they are great. Any edible berries are superb too... I don't know too much about it though. I'd say... carry a book with you identifying what you can and cannot eat. You should be able to order one from amazon.com or someplace similar. I'm actually considering doing that too now that you brought up this topic. -Zach -Team Zen- Quote Link to comment
+SamLowrey Posted September 9, 2003 Share Posted September 9, 2003 quote:Originally posted by RJFerret:Clover flowers! The more pink the sweeter/more flavorful. I make the rounds before mowing... Enjoy, Randy Thanks for the tip - I didn't know clover flowers were edible. quote:Originally posted by Zach and Shannon - Team Zen:There's nothing better than picking wild plants that are edible. .... Well, they don't tend to survive in the wild, but plenty people plant cherry tomatoes in these parts. I can eat them like grapes! Quote Link to comment
Mr. Big Posted September 10, 2003 Share Posted September 10, 2003 Himalayan blackberries are regarded as a pest, especially further north and into Oregon. You bet we pick them! Cobbler and pie made from these is just this side of heaven. Wild greens, miner's lettuce, curly dock, pennyroyal, California bay laurel, lots of things. Mushrooms? I took a weekend class taught by David Aurora once. He lives in Santa Cruz County, CA, and wrote "Mushrooms Demystified," the essential field guide for these parts. We ate lots of mushrooms, then, but I havn't the confidence to do it myself. One of the finds during the class were candy caps, small woodland mushrooms that smell -- and taste -- like maple syrup. I've heard of people putting them in cookies and ice cream. Curious thing about them is their odor is carried through -- unchanged -- in one's urine, so it smells like you're boiling sap in the bathroom for a day or two after a meal. Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean someone really isn't out to get you. Quote Link to comment
+Huntnlady Posted September 10, 2003 Share Posted September 10, 2003 Yes, in the spring I dig the bulbs of Ithuriel's Spear, Wild Hyacinth, Mariposa Lilly, and Golden Globelily. When I can find them, there are morels, inky caps, and puffballs, (mushrooms.) The roasted nut of the California Bay Laurel in fall or winter, tea made from the bark of Chaparral Coffee Berry Bush, or tea from Yarrow, and of corse, the wild blackberries, raspberries, and currants. Late this spring the berries of squaw bush were plentiful, tasty and tart. They are a close relative of poison oak, without the rash, though many people mistake them for poison oak. A couple of times a year I will don my survival pack and spend a few days living off the woods. I also do quite a bit of hunting for wild game. What's fun now is going for geocaches in areas where I can forage, but mostly these have been the ones that I myself have planted. After hunting season this fall I will be investigating more wilderness geocaches in order to find new areas to hunt and forage. I have a small Survival Web Site. _______________________________ Ever consider what our dogs must think of us? I mean, here we come back from a grocery store with the most amazing haul -- chicken, pork, half a cow. They must think we're the greatest hunters on earth! http://www.geocities.com/cacheinon Quote Link to comment
+1911 Posted September 10, 2003 Share Posted September 10, 2003 I have a cache called "boardwalk" thats has a bunch of blackberry bushes along the trail to the cache. They were very tasty! so far no one has commented on them Quote Link to comment
+Planet Posted September 19, 2003 Share Posted September 19, 2003 While at a historic cache site I picked up some literature called "The Role of Trees and Shrubs in Colonial Life" I thought I would share with you here. Verbatum. When early Colonial Americans arrived in this country, the forest abounded with game animals fish, fruits and vegetables. Mainly city-bred and unused to country life, many of the Colonists lacked the necessary tools, equipment and knowledge to deal with the wilderness existence. Through the guidance of Native Americans, the Colonists learned how to hunt, prepare and preserve the native food sources. As a result, the colonists came to rely heavily on the forests as a source of raw materials to provide food, medicine, shelter and tools. On this trail you will see some of the tress and shrubs that were important in the lives of the Colonists. Below you will find a list of trees and shrubs and their uses in Colonial life. *************************** TREES American Chestnut Nuts: Important food source both raw and raosted. Wood: Important source of lumber, tannin for leather curing, fencing, split rail fencing, shingles, barrels,a nd charcoal. (The wood was not used for firewood as it had a tendency to pop and crackle when burned and sparks could propel out onto the floor and start a fire) Black Birch Sap: to make beverages, syrup and vinegaar Wood: Lumber for tables, chairs, bedsteads, and fuel White Oak Acorns: Food, ground into meal, Also as livestock feed Wood: Ship building, tools, wine barrels, baskets, splitting malls, wagons, plows, fences, whip handles, pail handles, and fuel Red Oak Aconrs: food ground into meal. Livestock feed Bark: source of dye Wood: Lumber, barrel making and fuel Branch wood: source of charcoal that was used in the making of gunpowder Hickory Nuts: food, ground into flour, pastes, oil and nut butter, used for dye Bark: of young trees used as strapping in barrel making Wood: for wagon axles, ex handles, ox yokes, gun stocks, whip handles, large screws (used in grist and cider mills, mill-wheel teeth), sled runners, bows, hand spikes, barrel hoops, fuel and food preserving (smoking) Crabapple Fruit; food, cider, vinegar, preserves. Wood: food preserving (smoking) Sugar Maple Sap: making syrup and sugar and as a flavoring Bark: source of dye (dark blue0 Wood: Spinning wheels, saddle trees, shovels, bowls, bureaus, tables, fuel, potash for glass making and charcoal for blacksmithing Tulip Poplar Wood: shingles, carriage panels, chairs, bedsteads, trunks, and charcaol Dry heartwood; house timbers, rafters, and roofs due to its resistance to worms - the wood is light wieight with a straight grain Hemlock Needles: tea Bark: source of tannin for leather curing wood: source of lumber, flooring (wood is inferior) Locust Wood: rot resisitant, used for fencing, ship framing timbers, pins for attaching ship planking, axes and wooden cutlery Black Cherry Fruits: food and making liquors and wines Wood: furniture, fuel and food preserving 9smoking) Dogwood Wood: hammer handles, chisels, mallets, mill wheel teeth, harrow teeth and horse collar parts Sassafras Flowers: tea Bark: oil Leaes: thickening agent in cooking Wood: fence posts, fence rails, ship building and beverages Cedar Wood: fencing, cabin poles White Pine Branches: Christmas greenery Resin: making pine tar and turpentine Wood: Ship masts, shingles, boards, planks joists, beams, bridges, and doors. Popular due to light weight and smooth grain SHRUBS Barberry/Bayberry Fruits: beverages, preserves, jellies and pies Berries: candle wax Blueberry Fruits: food, preserves, jellies, pies Hazelnut Nuts: food Spicebush Berries: seasoning in place of black pepper Bark: tea Juniper Berries: seasoning Documentation: Division of Forestry, DEP, Trees "Uncle Phillip's Conversation With Children About Trees of America" (The American Forest) Pub Harper & Brothers, Franklin Square NY 1834. shrubs "Native Harvests", Barrie Kavasch, Random House Pub. 1977 Planet Quote Link to comment
GeoNightmare Posted September 19, 2003 Share Posted September 19, 2003 I saw on some TV show some guy picking mushrooms and their value was really expensive. Due to the fact they grow only a certain time of the year. For me, I wouldn't touch any mushroom. I have no clue which ones can poison you. Quote Link to comment
+SpongeRob Posted September 19, 2003 Share Posted September 19, 2003 Not sure if anyone knows this but collection of plants or anything else on Forrest Preserve lands is generally ILLEGAL. Doing this not only takes away from the preserve but also gives geocachers a black eye. Information like this out in the general public only makes geocaching in approved areas harder. Please don't collect anything from preserves/parks unless you have received permission to do so. -- SpongeRob rwmech@keenpeople.com www.keenpeople.com WPWU826 Cache'n Retrievers Quote Link to comment
+Xitron Posted September 19, 2003 Share Posted September 19, 2003 The one berry I see people picking here while caching is blueberries. We have tons of them on a bunch of different cache sites. I'd never pick a shroom cause I have no idea what is good and bad and don't want to take the chance to get a bad one. As for picking berries and shrooms on forest Preserve lands it may be Illegal in law, but if someone picks a few it will not impact the eco in such a way as to cause harm. I also know about the agrument that if 1 million people pick a few then it a few million. I don't buy that as must of us don't know enough to pick out whats good and whats bad. So imho if you pick a few berries or shrooms to add to your dinner or desert whats the harm. If you go out and harvest an area to make money you should be jailed. Hope thats clear as mud to ya. Quote Link to comment
ScrubJ Posted September 19, 2003 Share Posted September 19, 2003 Living in the tropics, most edibles are much different than in other areas. I eat everything that I know is edible. I love mushrooms, but from a survival point of view, they have no food value. The ones that turn purple when brused do have a value to the party people. I don't know which is worse, the ants I'm standing in, or the sand spurs I walked through to get here... Quote Link to comment
+Web-ling Posted September 19, 2003 Share Posted September 19, 2003 Don't any of you people read the guidelines: NO FOOD IN CACHES! Quote Link to comment
+Xitron Posted September 19, 2003 Share Posted September 19, 2003 What about food outside of caches? Quote Link to comment
LowranceTracker1 Posted September 26, 2003 Share Posted September 26, 2003 Yeah if I am hungry and there's good berries around I'll pick em and eat em anyway. Nature preserve or not. I gotta preserve ME too. Quote Link to comment
+seneca Posted September 26, 2003 Share Posted September 26, 2003 Does anybody remember, Euell Gibbons, the king of wild foods, and his famous line, "Many parts of the pine tree are edible" ? When I was a teenager it was kind of cool to mimic him. I have never in my life learned anything from any man who agreed with me. Quote Link to comment
+Xitron Posted September 26, 2003 Share Posted September 26, 2003 UMM no, how old are you again? lol Quote Link to comment
Cholo Posted September 26, 2003 Share Posted September 26, 2003 I knew a woman who grew several types of weeds in her garden, on purpose. When cooked, most of these tasted like spinach. The difference being that they acted like a laxitive. As a kid in Chicago, I remember the mulberry trees. These were great for climbing and eating the berries. Quote Link to comment
+New England n00b Posted September 27, 2003 Share Posted September 27, 2003 There is a small plant called that has little berries on it. We call them Teaberries, and they are delicious - but they only have one per plant (or so), so you have to savor each one. Clark's makes a Teaberry chewing gum, and it is pretty good, if you can find it. You'll have to do a google search or something to identify the plant. It has bneen a long time since I have seen one, and I have forgotten the proper identification... --------------------- Don't hurt me. I'm new here. Quote Link to comment
+nincehelser Posted September 27, 2003 Share Posted September 27, 2003 quote:Originally posted by seneca:Does anybody remember, Euell Gibbons, the king of wild foods, and his famous line, "Many parts of the pine tree are edible" ? When I was a teenager it was kind of cool to mimic him. http://www.wildfoodadventures.com/euellgibbons.html Quote Link to comment
The John Lee Supertasters Posted September 27, 2003 Share Posted September 27, 2003 Mrs. Supertaster always looks for mushrooms when on cache hunt. It can be slow going at times as she keeps running off to look for them. She and her mother are members of the Boston Mycological Club.http://www.bostonmycologicalclub.org They offer identifcation classes at Harvard and mushroom walks around New England. One of our best finds was not at a cache site but we found on our way to the Paint bed red cache.http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=368ab32b-1e8a-460c-8448-922c71d8fb75 We Might Be Giants Quote Link to comment
+iBrew Posted September 28, 2003 Share Posted September 28, 2003 quote:Originally posted by New England n00b:There is a small plant called that has little berries on it. We call them Teaberries, and they are delicious - but they only have one per plant (or so), so you have to savor each one. QUOTE] These Teaberry plants are ALL over the caches along the Appalachian Trail Caches here in PA like this one Hochste GebirgscRegion Der Berks Grafschaft Cache Peace! iBrew Click here to see my Completely Useless Webpage Oh, Great Spirit, let us greet the dawn of a new day when all men live as brothers and peace reigns everywhere! "Indian Prayer" Quote Link to comment
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