it's cold and snowy

It is cold and snowy outside now. I've been going for walks in the woods and looking for the meager wild edibles this time of year. The slim pickings are pine trees, cattails and tree bark. 

Pine tree needles, crushed and steeped in hot water, will give us a somewhat refreshing tea that has up to 5X the vitamin C of citrus. It is not hot chocolate but it is certainly a lot better than nothing. The inner bark of pines are edible, just slice thin vertical strips of inner bark and chew. Some people swallow the fiber, others just swallow the juice/nutrients and spit out the roughage. Don't cut all the way around the limbs or trunk of the tree to get the bark as this will kill it. Fried pine inner bark is much tastier but it certainly requires more work to process. 

Cattails are the true 4 season food source. Syracuse University conducted a study and found that Cattails had 9X more food value per acre than potatoes. This time of year you pull up the roots, slice and put them in a container of water. Pound the roots to release the starch, strain out the fibers and then let sit overnight. Next morning pour off the water and you have this amazing starch to cook with. If in a hardcore emergency, you can just pull up the roots/rinse/slice and pull them through your teeth and eat the starch raw. 

Lastly, the other tree inner barks that are edible. Pine, Basswood, Slipper Elm and the Birches. All are done the same, vertical thin strips of inner bark are what you are looking for. Chew thoroughly to release all the nutrients.

Next Primitive Survival skills workshop is March 30, 2019. Go to workshops for details. Now is a great time to go out and practice fire making. With lighter or bow drill, it is much harder with snow on the ground and everything wet. Another item to carry in your compact EDC bag is a few of the birthday candles that won't blow out. They are great for those windy/damp days. Also, don't forget that corn chips or potato chips make great fire starters. All that grease that clogs our insides really burns well !!

Winter reading material.  One Man's Wilderness by Sam Keith and Build The Perfect Bug Out Survival Skills by Creek Stewart. The last one has many great tips !!

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