Wild Foods Day

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By Diane Forrest

Many years ago you couldn't run down to the grocery store or restaurant and fill your kitchen or stomach with food.  People would have to go to the woods and lakes for their meals.   This was the hunter and gatherer time period.  These days’ people mostly hunt and gather for enjoyment.  You can tell when hunting season starts because my local newspaper starts publishing pictures of hunters with their game.  My stepson belongs to a hunting club, and when he is home from work, he will take his family to the camp and spend time in the woods hunting for deer to stock his freezer with.  He and his wife hunt for sport, not out of necessity as in the old days.

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Not only are you able to hunt for meat, but you can also find other food in the wild, such as roots and berries, mushrooms and greens.   If you want to go grocery shopping in nature, the first thing you need to know is what is edible, and what is not.  The ability of identifying plants and berries is becoming a lost art much like many other talents passed down from older generations.  Before gobbling up some leaves I would suggest you invest in a book to be able to identify these plants.  Organizations such as the Boys and Girl scouts of America teach how to identify safe plants, you can also check with your local forestry commission.

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Learning about what nature provides is very satisfying and could possibly help you survive if you are ever lost or trapped in nature.  Plants are also useful with medicinal care, and made me think of this story.

I have an earache:

• 2000 B.C. - Here, eat this root.
• 1000 A.D. - That root is heathen. Here, say this prayer.
• 1850 A.D. - That prayer is superstition. Here, drink this potion.
• 1940 A.D. - That potion is snake oil. Here, swallow this pill.
• 1985 A.D. - That pill is ineffective. Here, take this antibiotic.
• 2000 A.D. - That antibiotic is artificial. Here, eat this root.

I was recently watching a segment of Blue Ribbon Hunter.  It's a little video article that is published on yahoo.com every week or so where the host visits different festivals or restaurants across the country.  This episode was about the road kill festival.  The food prepared there was from critters people had hit with their car.  Click here to see the different foods they prepared:

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http://screen.yahoo.com/the-roadkill-cook-off-30784538.html;_ylt=AnnneErsSKm8UKGIUOjJNTRZc0Iv;_ylu=X3oDMTJkbWozbmJ0BG1pdANVUFAgUmVsYXRlZCBWaWRlbzIgV2l0aCBWaWV3IENvdW50cwRwa2cDaWQtMzA3ODQ1MzgEcG9zAzYEc2VjA3ZjX25hdgR2ZXID;_ylg=X3oDMTFoOTlpZTNlBGludGwDdXMEbGFuZwNlbi11cwRwc3RhaWQDBHBzdGNhdAMEcHQDdmlkLWdhbGxlcnk-;_ylv=3

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Today is Wild Foods Day.  Why not spend the day hunting and gathering in the woods or waters in your area.  You will be able to find some food and it will be a lot stressful than fighting the crowds and standing in line at the grocery store, and the foods will be preservative free.

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Roots

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Over the river and through the woods

To Grandmother's house we go.

The horse knows the way to carry the sleigh

Through white and drifted snow.

By Diane Forrest,

I used to sing this song every year on my way to my grandmother's house at Christmas.  Every year when I was young, we would make the three hour trip to visit grandparents, great grandmothers, great aunts and other family.  We would always take those 4 generation pictures...Great grandmother, grandmother, mother and me.  I would listen as they talked about years past, and how their Christmases were like.  One of the favorite traditions involved chocolate!  (See where I get it from?)  One of my great grandmother's sons lived in California, and couldn't come home during the holidays.  So every year he would send her a huge box of chocolate candy.   Well...because she had so many family members, she would offer each person 1 piece.  That was such a treasured piece of candy because it was sent with love, and shared with love from family across the country, to family at home.  And...it was chocolate!

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Today on Root Day, share some family memories with your family, and if you are like me, you may want to write the stories down, or use a tape recorder so you can pass stories along to future generations.

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For more information about your roots, visit http://www.ancestry.com/?o_xid=21837&o_lid=21837&o_sch=Search