Identifying Blue Camas and Other Edible Bulbs
Photo by Holly A. Heyser Edible bulbs, a forager’s conundrum. Part of what I do in my leisure time is read scientific articles about the wild food plants that live here in North America. What you are looking at above is a bowl of the bulbs from camassia quamash, or blue camas. To eat a bulb is to kill the plant. Photo by Hank Shaw I’ll admit it: I hesitated not only because the bulbs of these plants are only about the size of the end of your thumb, and with the stand being only about 30-40 plants, a dozen such bulbs would not be such a huge meal. I could stare at this flower for hours. I have, however, harvested a few bulbs from a thick stand of white brodiaea’s cousin, Dichelostemma pulchellum, also known as the wild hyacinth or “blue dicks.” They look tasty, right? All of this brings us to the Queen of Bulbs here in the West, the blue camas. Photos courtesy of the US Bureau of Land Management Blue camas is, obviously, on the left. Another key indicator is on the leaves of the camas.
Wildcrafting.net: Foraging Database, Edible & Medicinal Plants
Food and Permaculture by David Blume
Food and Permaculture by David Blume I wrote this in response to post to the bioregional listserve from a woman at ATTRA who said something like "Of course you couldn't feed the world with such a hippy-dippy, hunter-gatherer, landscape system like permaculture." Well that got me a little steamed so this is what I wrote. Dear Folks, I would like to inject some real world experience into this otherwise abstract discussion of food and permaculture. In addition to being an ecological biologist, a permaculture production food farmer for 9 years, and an expert on biomass fuels, I have also been teaching permaculture since 1997 and have worked in many countries on food/energy production design issues. So in light of my experience I have a couple of things to say. As far as I know I was one of the only farmers fully utilizing permaculture to produce surplus food for sale in the US as a full time occupation. The math is easy. Can't do this on a commercial scale?
Cooking and Eating Blue Camas Bulbs
Photo by Holly A. Heyser I’d been searching for blue camas for several years because it has a reputation as a world class food. When I finally found some near Truckee last week, I was excited to put these bulbs to the test in my kitchen. Going into this process, I knew a few key things about eating and cooking with blue camas, camassia quamash: First, they are nasty when eaten raw. I also knew that camas is loaded with inulin. When in doubt, go to the Indians. What did the Indians do with camas? This slow and low cooking breaks the inulin down into fructose, a simple sugar we can all enjoy. I wasn’t sure I wanted a camas dessert just yet. Next morning I took them out and tasted a small one. I put the bulbs back in the oven for 3 more hours. Decision time. Booyah! camas bulbs, cooked two ways Camas bulbs are native to North America, and there are several varieties — all blue. Camas needs to be cooked slowly and for a long time before you do anything else with it. Serves 2 as a side dish.
Wild Food School - Foraging Data Sheets
Edible Weed Datasheets - FREE Foraging for edible weeds is, for some folks, a way of life and a fun challenge. Knowing exactly which edible weed is the correct one to pick can be a bit tricky until you become familiar with the plants throughout their life-cycle. Below are a number of short foraging datasheets specific to particular species of edible weed in PDF format. Click on any of the filenames below to download the file: CHICKWEED.pdf [approx. 207k]DANDELION.pdf [approx. 231k]HOPS.pdf [approx. 126k]NETTLE.pdf [approx. 186k]PLANTAIN.pdf [approx. 186k]SOW-THISTLE.pdf [approx. 120k] See also the range of Wild Food WISDOM Cooking with Weeds eBooks at wildfoodwisdom.co.uk Wild Food School Homepage
Ta vara på tomaterna 3 | ekoplantan
Så här mitt i vintern är jag glad för mitt tomatförråd. Det förgyller våra måltider på många sätt. Jag har tidigare skrivit om olika sätt att ta vara på tomater och idag handlar det om konservering, eller hermetisk inkokning som det också heter, och lite mer om att torka tomater. Ett gott tillbehör Bilden visar en tallrik körsbärstomater, både gula, orange, gröna, röda och bruna, inlagda i vitlök, färska örter och olivolja. Förutom dessa körsbärstomater som är ”ätklara” direkt ur burken behövs en hel del tomatsås och tomatpuré för att klara vinterns tomatbehov. Något jag lärt mig förra året är att konservera hela, flådda tomater. Konservering av tomater Det gick både snabbt och enkelt att flå och stoppa ner i burkarna och smaken, den är i en helt annan klass än hela konserverade tomater på plåtburk! Tomatkonserver Varje höst, när squashskörden är så stor att vi inte hinner äta upp allt och paprikorna mognar i massor, kokar jag ratatouille (burken till höger på bilden).
How to Catch Shrimp, and How to Catch Prawns
When I was a child, my family would visit my relatives in Charleston, South Carolina. We'd caravan out to their house in the country that was smack dab next to a salt water creek. There was a dock and we'd spend hours fishing for blue crabs off the dock, using a length of cotten string, and a chicken neck for bait. We'd tie on a weight and the chicken neck and lower it down into the water until we felt the tug from a crab. Slowly and carefully we'd pull up the crab and then scoop it up with a ready net. When the tide was low, my Uncle Ike and Cousin Tommy and my Dad Lamar would take out the seine and drag it down the creek in the remaining pools, to catch shrimp and fish and crabs. Now, I live in the San Francisco Bay Area, and I go fishing and crabbing on the ocean with the Tolman Skiff Jumbo Tolman Skiff - A boat designed by Renn Tolman of Homer Alaska. It's Fall, and the season that we head out the Golden Gate to drop our best crab pots List of Shrimping Materials . List of Tools Size:
Foraging Guide - Edible Wild Plants of Temperate North America and the UK
Now FREE!! Image page of the Rose profile. The Mobile Foraging Companion is a feature-laden, cross-platform guide for common wild and naturalised edible plants of temperate North America, and Britain and Northern Europe (there is a guide for each of those two areas, to suit your needs). Whether you forage on a leisurely weekend walk, want to know about that weed in the garden, or want to prepare for a potential survival situation, this guide is one of the handiest reference guides on foraging. This unique guide packs a lot of information into a small space: What is the difference between the N. There isn't a lot of difference, as most of the plants included grow throughout most of the temperate northern hemisphere. Common names of plants vary, so each guide is written with the appropriate names for those countries. What format is the guide? It is cross-platform. Web-technology is very flexible. There is a small price to pay for this flexibility. See what the guide is like Advertising Download
