Will You Survive?

[LadyDigger]

MD...hope you don't mind...but I wanted to see how to prepare some dishes with wildflowers and I found these links and wanted to share with our fellow TN'ers:

http://www.stoptheride.net/2007/06/eating-wild-flowers.html

http://www.countrylovers.co.uk/wildfoodjj/cassvdan.htm

http://www.sallys-place.com/food/single-articles/flowers.htm

Here's a page on Polk Salad I found...this is what we have growing WILD in our yard and yes, they do get real tall. My mother in law told me you do have to boil it to remove toxins....so this I knew...but this comment made me think of how this could happen again:

".....4. POLK SALAD
Polk salad is a toxic plant containing phytolaccatoxin and phytolaccigenin. These substances are toxic to mammals and may cause death. Polk salad is however eaten in the Southeren United states. The young greens should be boiled and drained three times to purge the toxins before they are fried in hot oil or bacon fat with eggs. Polk salad likley gained popularity in the south during hard times when people had little else to eat. That Polk Salad tastes like spinach...."
(http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=polk+salad)


Some interesting reading.....
Enjoy,
Annmarie

 

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[MD Dog]

Ron and Ann By all means post whatever you want, I certainly have no say in anything around here.

As far as labor, everyone better get used to doing allot more labor for their food than their used to. I will agree that their are allot better alternatives to Polk salad that are more nutritious and as easy or easier to fix. Like lambs ear. But just stocking up on radish seeds which take only one month to grow to maturity would be smart. Both roots and greens are edible. Grow twice as much as you need and harvest the seed by letting half grow all the way to flowering stage. After the flowers wilt collect the seed pods that are left on the branch. This same thing can be done to most if not all of the major plant foods we as Americans eat. One thing you must know is that the heirloom varieties are what you want for this as Large companies like Monsanto have been for many years trying to corner the world food markets. They do this by making seeds that will grow plants that are sterile. They'll grow a food product but only once any seed you take from these plants will be sterile. They also have created an agricultural nightmare is in the wings waiting to happen. It used to be that we grew as many as 100 different types of corn in this country. Now days, because corporations like Monsanto have taken over huge farm combines and are growing only 3-4 types of corn or green beans or whatever they do the same thing for all our main food crops. The problem is that if a disease hits for instance our corn crops then the disease will spread like wild fire through all the genetically similar corn types which is just about all of them. That's why there's actually whole countries out there who are stocking up on Heirloom variety seeds.

 

[rmptr]

I've heard information somewhat such as MD is describing...

Petroleum/chemical/fertilizer conglomerates are ALSO the seed companies.

The seed that is sold to farmers worldwide is genetically engineered to produce very high yield,
but only if certain and specific fertilizers are applied.
The seed is sold cheaply, and perhaps even financed. Then they slay them on the fertilizer costs.

Without the fertilizer, yield may be marginal, or worse.

As far as gardens go, there are many things that are prolific.
Here it's tomatos and squash.

I don't know how well a person could do, foraging for wild plants, though...
Human population was always pretty small until the clans and tribes developed into agricultural societies.
...and they supplemented their success by raiding other small groups and eventually encompassing them.

I would suspect that indoor grown veggies, and hothouse or hydroponic plants have substantially less actual nutritional value than those grown outdoors in natural soil.

Still, 'rope soup' would be at least a bit better with a few fresher leaves in it!

Far as I'm concerned, there's nothing better to have around than chickens if you are allowed to keep 'em.

LoL Following the debacle of our excursion into the East, a significant number of Vietnamese were settled into the area in which I lived. They immediately found jobs and were very hard workers.
Some time later, people noticed there were fewer stray dogs about town, as there had been in the past!

Best,
rmptr

 

[LadyDigger]

No offense meant, but boiling and draining Polk Salad 3 times is an awful waste of energy and water, unless you can use sea water. In that regard it's like acorn mush - acorn mush must be purged of its toxins before it becomes edible. Better to expend your energy on something less labor-intensive perhaps?

I agree TT....but my mother in law only boils it once and then adds other things to it and spices it to her taste. It's not too bad LOL...but when the time comes and hungry....it will be eaten'! LOL

That was just a link I found .... I still don't know how she cooks it....we pick it, she cooks it! Guess I better learn...huh?

MD....I just didn't want to take over your thread...that is why I hoped you didn't mind But we all learn from each other, by sharing what knowledge we have or research we have done....

This lady at work is real good with plants and all, and she recently told me how to pick the seeds off plants to grow my own (thinking, WOW...how much money I can save now on pretty flowers for my yard! LOL)...I NEVER knew that and I just learned something new. See, everyday is a learning experience.

Working in Pricing now at work and really seeing what the cost of food is...OMG...it really is ridiculous!!! For one GREEN PEPPER...nearly a buck 65!!! So glad I am growing my own....

I don't mind putting some extra labor into getting something done...My Daddy always told me about applying that elbow grease!!! But, I have to admit, I have become LAZY like many due to the CONVIENCES available....but learning an old trick is like riding a bicycle....and I will relearn!

My mother in law has a butter churner from when her mother used it....I may even see if she will let me give it a whirl. My mother in law knows how to do it...I better get going and have her teach me lots of things....she's 72 now. Her mind is as sharp as whip! You show her a plant, she can tell you what it is and good uses for it....

Best we learn from our eldery as much as we can...once they are gone ... there goes the knowledge.

Ya'll have a Blessed Day!
Annmarie

 

[MD Dog]

Just wanna point out this is Michigan Badgers thread, guess that means I'm the High jacker. Sorry MB, Thought this was the dirrection you wanted to take this thread but I'll shut up now and go back into hiding. Love ya brother.

 

[LadyDigger]

OOPSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! MY BAD!!!!!!!!!! I meant to say MB as per the thread....It was MD as per his post!....Hey, it's been a long day...heck, it's been a long week....LOL.....I was having a JUNIOR MOMENT!!! Or a Brain Fart...however you wish to call it!

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>going to the corner now (I need some rest anyways!)

 

[stoney56]

Ann, my grandmother taught me how to make butter almost half a century ago. You actually don't need a churn but it does make it easier. She showed me how in her mother's barrel type churn that you see with the stick in the top. That works OK. She also had a Daisy Churn with the gears on top of the jar. We wrapped a towel around the jar, not to keep the legs from getting too cold but to keep the cream from getting too warm from body heat. You can also just use a wide mouth mason jar w/lid and agitate the cream that way.

I won't go into much detail as it's easy to find on the net. But cow's milk works best and putting it into the fridge helps get the cream to rise to the top. Then it's scooped off till you get to the buttermilk layer between the milk and cream. Let the cream sit and age on the counter till about room temp. (about 70* or so). Too cold and the butter will be hard, too warm and it'll be too soft. She used about a 1/3 to 1/2 teaspoon of salt per half lb. of butter, after the buttermilk was squeezed out and the ball rinsed.

We used to take the butter, buttermilk, fresh milk, and eggs into town usually on Tues. and Sat. and sell it.

 

[stoney56]

Yes I will survive...Thanks for Asking...

Do you know how to make Beef Stroganoff with rabbit and deer milk? I hope so because I want to eat good when the world ends.

That's one thing I never learned....how do you milk a rabbit?

 

[Robin]

Way to go Nicky ! I also Love that plate shifting thing to and the view !

LoL Robin

 

[Captain Loosechange]

OK so lets say that things really get that bad. All those folks "learning to make soap" and "raising chickens and pigs" and growing vegetables will be the first targets of all the thugs that lay around living off the rest of us hard working people now. I'm sorry but truth is they will be over run in days if not hours. No matter how many guns they have they can only fire one, maybe two apiece. Thats maybe four guns versus, oh say fifty or more. So all that hard work and preparation will be enjoyed by all the others, for a little while. If things get that bad the only way to survive would be disappear to some mountain top and stay on the move surviving day to day. Hunt and gather and move on like it used to be years ago. I think that oil is constantly being replinished just as everything else is, if it comes from rotting dinosaurs and plants as they say then there are still layers of rotting dinosaurs and plants that havent turned into oil yet. Also maybe we can kill and eat the treehuggers then drill in Alaska and all the other places there is plenty of oil we can't get to for them.