survival, foraging, etc

Quote: odiousgambit

The closest I've come to this is starting a fire from scratch as far as the tinder and kindling. I would use though a little gizmo that gets you a shower of sparks. You will not be able replicate the gizmo unless I am very much mistaken. PS, I found getting the right tinder a challenge... however, tinder for sparks may be harder to get right than tinder for a little coal.

Now that you mention "tinder", I recall several of the survival type shows I have watched, [ survivorman with Les Stroud, Bear Grylls, etc.] often the star of the show mentions on his walkabout of finding something that will make good tinder later on and collecting it for later use.

Up north, several people have pointed out on the underside of spruce branch's something dry and mossy they call "old man's beard". In the PNW, it seems there is always some dry grass to use,,,I assumed.

The last wet camping I did was on Montague island on the southern end of Prince William sound. The place gives meaning to wind, rain and cold. Hard to believe how large a fire one needs to get any warmth from it as most heat goes up in vapor burning off the water. That's where I came up with the idea of using road flares to light a fire. : ) They are the worlds largest strike anywhere match.

I am semi hooked on watching those types of shows. We are currently following a series "Alone" on Dish. If you aren't following, this season they are in Mongolia.

Basically it's a competition of who started with the most body fat, and can endure cold and misery, without becoming ill. This years prize is 500k.

http://diversitytomorrow.com/thread/2712/12/#post107789

When watching the Alone series, it's easy to kick back and remark, "why don't they do this or that", while knowing full well that hindsight is 20/20.

This years competition in Mongolia, the contestants are surrounded by many birch trees. I've eaten Birch syrup, it's fine. I have been wondering why the contestants don't carve a tap, and get Birch sap and get some calories that way?

Can't believe one fool went out there and was allowed to take 25 fish hooks with him, but decided not to. Plenty of fish in the river.

ummm, I don't like 'survivor' type shows, but rather 'survival' shows. That make any sense? I just don't like reality tv. But different strokes, you know.

There's definitely a difference between tinder and kindling. As a matter of fact I am testing striped cedar bark as tinder, as in that youtube episode we've been remarking on. more on that later. Of course it is fine for kindling.

Quote: odiousgambit

ummm, I don't like 'survivor' type shows, but rather 'survival' shows. That make any sense?

Absolutely. I don't watch that one where people run around nude and blocked out. That is so stupid. If it were me, the first thing I would make would be a loin cloth, to protect the nads.

I spent some time with a guy that taught survival to the coast guard, and we would take turns shooting down Bear Grylls claims. I remember once he said he could drink the liquid from elephant dung. Like the trainer said, the first thing that happens if you do that is you puke, and become dehydrated.

Quote: petroglyph

Absolutely. I don't watch that one where people run around nude and blocked out. That is so stupid.

Its mainly done for its effect on the participants and their interactions. One woman immediately wanted her partner's duct tape to make panties and a bra. Panties would have been using resources for survival, the bra would have been using resources for modesty. The producers only want good film clips.

Quote: petroglyph

I remember once he said he could drink the liquid from elephant dung. .

Few will ever be in that situation and if they all die from it he will never be sued.

Note: camp fires are, I'm told, best employed with some reflector such as a rock or set of rocks. Also if the thin branches are soaking wet, I'm told its possible to 'shave' them down to where it is dry and you then have tinder. Don't know if its true or not.

Videos on youtube. The people are trying to get you to subscribe. Remember that guy I told you about who bought a boat but didn't know how to sail? He just got himself a bargain because he ran into three Italian guys who were fighting and he low balled them. It only later turned out that he and a girl he picked up the next night have never worked a day in their life ever since. He learned to sail and she learned to cook but neither of them knew anything for those first few videos. Now that they are millionaires they are probably qualified to make youtube videos but at the start... heck , no.

Yes, poisonous mushrooms usually make their status known to the consumer about two days after ingestion and by then its usually too late. You can die foraging or you can die crossing a street to attend a safety lecture. So you might as well live the way you choose and enjoy whatever time you have. Most foragers ingest such wild yeasts and have such high vitamin intake that they seem to live a long time. I think the smartest people are those mushroom brokers: they don't tramp thru the woods, they don't eat the stuff, they just buy it from the recluses and mark the price up several thousand percent.

Regarding those mushrooms ...

I'm backing off from being so sure I'll add Chanterelles to the list of mushrooms I'd be confident enough about to eat at this stage of things, mainly because there is such a thing as the False Chanterelle. I was out investigation behind my house and came across what looked like the Chanterelle and thought, man, that has to be it. I hadn't investigated what the imposter is supposed to look like yet and now that I have, yikes! these two are too close in appearance. That's even though the inedible one is only going to make you sick, not kill you. Still that's not worth the risk. And then there's the Jack O'lantern, possibly only slightly harder to misidentify as the Chanterelle and definitely will make you sick or kill you.

The first image shows what I rounded up. Initially my thoughts were that I had a Chanterelle below, a poisonous agaric relative with reddish cap, and up at top an Oyster Mushroom; practically ready to eat two of those [not really]. Now after further check I would say most likely a False Chanterelle, an agaric relative, and *possibly* an Oyster type, and I'm definitely not eating any of them!

The next image was definitely instantly identifiable as the often beautiful Fly Agaric mushroom, poisonous for sure.




So my new comfort zone is, I feel OK with identifying and eating the Morel, which maddeningly I have never found; the Chicken of the Woods, which I have likely spotted before, but wasn't into investigating further at the time; the Hen of the Woods, never seen one, not after knowing what to look for anyway. Note that two out of three grow on trees, which generally does indeed seem to be somewhat of a safety factor the more I look into it.

I never worry about mushrooms. I got
gout in 1986 and gave them up for
good. Them and organ meats will
cause horrible gout flareup's even
when you're on meds. And anchovies.

Quote: Evenbob

I got gout in 1986.

Just as people now go around saying 'maths' instead of 'math', gout sufferers now go around saying 'the gout'. Organ meats, anchovies, some beers/stouts, etc. though its often that the beer 'triggers' are due to mushroom derivatives left over from the brewing process.
Big difference between 'triggers' and 'causative agents' though.
I've always been concerned about P. multocida and P. pasterella but Portugal is the only country that tests for infective agents in newly diagnosed gout sufferers. Ofcourse liver flukes from ticks is likely a cause of much gout.
Antimalaria drugs often help gout sufferers which is strange because many sites advise gout sufferers to avoid quinine such as in tonic water, yet some patient groups advocate quinine.

I'm now adding milkweed to my yard. Edible if cooked, and besides that, everyone should do this if they have a handy spot, to help the Monarch butterfly [only thing it will eat]

I ran into a guy some time ago who was showing his grandkids where the butterflies had laid eggs on some that he had planted. That was pretty cool, so I asked him if he had to initially send off for some eggs. He said 'nope' if you plant the milkweed the butterflies will find them.

https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/ornamental/flowers/milkweed/growing-milkweed.htm