Any "Survivalists" Here?

[Brute]

Hurricane Charley devastated my town in 2004. My home was damaged somewhat, but it could have been worse. The worst part came after the storm. I had no electricity for five weeks. What an ordeal! August in Southwest Florida without air conditioning is not only rough on humans. The heat and humidity caused my beautiful 100 year-old violin to literally come apart at the seams.
My experience in that event caused a big change in my outlook. Now, I'm always thinking "what if?" and try to be ready for anything. I've made all sorts of emergency preparations around my place.
My question to you is this: Suppose some natural or man-made disaster struck your community and you couldn't find an open store or gas station and had no electricity, running water or any of the services we take for granted. Let's say this state of affairs lasted a long time. What would you do?
One thing I've been wondering about ever since I decided to try my hand at juicing is what type of emergency greens can be run through an manual juicer and consumed. What kind of plants could be foraged in the woods to get us through the crisis? Any ideas?

[Nurse in the Raw]

I have a disaster recovery backpack for each of my family members equipped with canteens that can filter sewer water. They have enough food to last several days and possibly several weeks if rationed properly. We also have a variety of survival items in each backpack. When you live with hurricanes, you learn to be prepared.

[Nurse in the Raw]

We survived Hurricanes Andrew in South Florida and Opal in North Florida.

[barose]

I've been trying to figure that out too.

I started a thread a week or so ago on a raw food emergency kit. My plan is to head out into the woods (we live right in front the woods on the Alameda and Contra Costa border) instead of wallowing with the masses if we can help it. We live in near smaller cities, but hiding out with the redwoods an and eucalyptus sounds like a better idea than taking out chances with the people. If the disaster is a wildfire and not an earthquake, we may just be SOL.

The only local wild thing I know of in my area is blackberries. I have seen wild fruit trees on the trails, but its usually hanging over a cliff. The herbs can be toxic in high amounts. Other than that...I'm not sure what to eat out there yet.

[Elsaraw]

Peter Ragnar's "Alive and Well With Wild Foods" is a great raw food foraging book, and it covers all of the U.S. I love reading the army survival manual and books like that because I think it's important to have that knowledge in my mind somewhere. I LOVE the idea of emergency backpacks and am totally going to do that!!
Oh, maybe consider forgoing the manual juicing and just pick and eat... save yourself the weight of carrying more gear :)

[the_lab_rat]

Those emergency backpacks sound like a great idea. Thanks for this thread (and barose for your previous thread too!)--it really got me thinking how unprepared we are and reminded me I need to do something about it!

[JEN]

I second Peter Ragnar's book. I know what ya mean about going thru hurricanes and losing it all. After surviving during and after Katrina Ive thought a lot about this too. I didnt go raw until after Katrina and its a good thing because I would have had nothing to eat. I remember how long it was before I could finally get a salad. If there is another disaster here as bad as Katrina then I will leave town for a while. If there is a major worldwide disaster then a backpack will only go so far so I think it helps to know what we can find to eat outdoors.

[KristensRaw]

Sounds like a terrific book. I'm going to check it out, too.

Thanks!

[EZ rider]

If you have a manual wheatgrass juicer you could juice your lawn and many other plants.

[barose]

If you have a manual wheatgrass juicer you could juice your lawn and many other plants.

Before you start juicing your neighbors lawn, I would just be aware of the possible chemical's used in lawns and grasses. Also stay away from commercial property (schools, businesses, etc). They almost always use pesticides and chemical fertilizers.

[Nurse in the Raw]

Does anyone ever watch Man Vs. Wild on TV. He shows you how to survive in various climates and shows you what plants are edible in the rain forests, deserts, mountains, islands, etc.

[Shoney]

isn't something we do anymore, and the availability of all varieties of food year-round has lulled us into complacency. Does anyone in mainstream society even know how to grow food anymore, or bake bread with nothing but a small campfire? Does anyone realize how many freight trucks a week it takes to keep just a regular grocery store supplied?

I know someone who has a well-stocked basement of home canned goods and is also stocking heirloom seeds just in case. It always amazes me when disaster hits how little food most people have on hand - usually less than a week's worth.

When it comes to long-term disaster survival, I prefer the rural setting. Watching what people in cities go through during various disasters scares me.

[tinystrawberry]

im all about this stuff!

[yasi]

I do forage a little on raw farms- we belong to a CSA and we forage the CSA's weeds!
Right now we are adding fresh chickweed to our smoothies. They also have amaranth and plantain (not the bananas), nettles, and shepherd's purse out there. We forage blackberries up here in WA too. My lawn is not treated and in the spring we eat the dandelions and dandelion YELLOW flowers. I am saving up seeds and growing a garden now so I know how to grow one later. I gotta work on the backpack though... I really need a 72 hr kit but with Raw I think that will be easier than vegan because I HATE canned stuff.
Marisa

[margi]

yup. i'm writing a book right now about wild edibles and foraging for raw foodists. my website is http://floratheforager.blogspot.com

i'm attending Tom Brown's Tracker School in August! can't wait.

[tinystrawberry]

margi, let me know when your book is done so i can buy one! plz

[tinystrawberry]

yasi - you eat the yellow flower part of the dandelion? i've always heard that you shouldn't but i'd be interested in hearing your info

[Brute]

Wow Margi! Tom Brown! That guy is a living legend! This is gonna be like "boot camp" for you. You'll never be the same.
I just visited your website and while I certainly appreciate your point of view, unfortunately, we're all stuck in the "System", whether we like it or not. The people who homesteaded Alaska when land was being given away decades ago are probably the last to escape before the door slammed shut for good.
"The System" is partially the result of our White ancestors growing tired of fighting their way to the outhouse in a blizzard, catching hideous diseases from their drinking water, losing an entire crop to swarms of insects, and watching their babies starve to death. Has the pendulum swung too far the other way? Sure. Just look at all the obesity surrounding us. That isn't natural! Anyway, good luck with your quest.

[Brute]

By the way, I have YET to find a useful book about wild edible plants found in south Florida. There have always been plenty of books about other parts of the country, but not here. Everything is completely different here. We don't have any of the plants that are found up north. Winter is our prime vegetable growing season. Everything is backwards here!
A long time ago a woman named Julia Morton wrote a book about edible Florida plants but the black-and-white drawings of those plants are completely useless for identification, at least for me. In a book like this, there must be good color photographs! :mad:

[Nurse in the Raw]

Are there any plants left in So Florida? Last time I visited, all I saw was concrete and condos. :D I lived in So Florida most of my life and I am now in the panhandle. But you guys at least have organic growers that will deliver to you and Whole Food stores where we just have 1 organic co-op.

[tvillemom]

What about storing dehydrated nuts, seeds, and fruits...even fruit and veggie leathers in vacuum sealed bags??? I thought of doing this for emergencies...and power outages, even camping...???? I'm scared of foraging because all the books I ever looked at had awful pictures and I was scared of picking the wrong thing and poisoning myself!!:eek: If someone can recommend a book with great pictures...I would like to know.

Wendi

[pixiepolar]

Hi there,
I think Valya Boutenko would know whats available to eat in the wild, since she, her brother and parents walked the whole distance from Mexico to Canada surviving on mostly food they found in the wild. have a look at this if you don't know it yet:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MPyf_Rv7Y48&mode=related&search=

[tvillemom]

Thanks pixiepolar for sharing!! I really enjoyed this video clip...and then got sucked in to watch more!

Wendi