Living of the land

[Bizz901]

Living of the land in woodland areas. What would you eat and use to have a balanced diet ??

[Plymtom]

Living of the land in woodland areas. What would you eat and use to have a balanced diet ??

I'm not sure, it depends what's there, whatever I knew I could if we are talking desperate situation, I don't think worrying about balancing the diet would be an initial concern.

[preppingsu]

If you are thinking that a woodland area is where you might have your BOL then I would start by doing some guerrilla gardening now. Root veg and perennials are ideal in these areas. Plant some wild strawberries, raspberries etc. There would probably be brambles so blackberries.

Also a copy of Food for Free would be beneficial to identify those plants that you can eat. Familiarise yourself with edible fungi now.

Knowledge is the line between hunger and food.

[Briggs]

Wood sorrel is abundant right now. Try it, it's not bad. Goes well with pheasant. Su's advice to read up on foraging is spot on, although if you're planning on planting root veg in the woods you need to make your plot vermin proof and deer proof.

[adrian007]

there is a technique with mushrooms.

1 - it is usually recommended you need 3 mushroom books - to x-ref properly what you have found. I would recommend any two + the River Cottage one, which goes beyond 'edible' to 'edible and tastes nice' which, is after all, the importnant thing.

2 - learn what the really poisonous ones look like. There aren't many.

3 - although there are about 6000 species, you don't need to know many. You can probably narrow down 5900 of them by saying 'does it look like something I'd want to put in my mouth'. Then learn the easiest 6 or 10, the ones that taste nice and have no poisoninous lookylikey's.

Keep a record of what you find where. Not every mushroom grows every year. Oh, and don't tell anyone and don't decimate the crop.

The River Cottage hedgerow book is the best foraging book I've read as well, so then you have mushrooms and planst covered.

Good luck

[SoCal92057]

Without the ability to hunt for protein, living off the land is highly problematic. Even if you had a firearm, in a SHTF event most wild game would be taken by other hunters in a matter of weeks. Fishing is the most likely long-term source of protein. Both fresh and salt water.

[damaralenoire]

When i read about Living off the land i automatically think Bear Grylls, cos lets face it, he seems to eat anything that grows, but i have heard of people who camp to regular locations and have planted a few types of edible plants near to where they camp just so they know there is emergency food for them. I wonder.... I would quite like the idea of hiring an expert to walk with me through woodlands etc for a day to just physically show me what i can and cant eat. Sometimes pictures in the books dont do any justice.

[SoCal92057]

When i read about Living off the land i automatically think Bear Grylls, cos lets face it, he seems to eat anything that grows, but i have heard of people who camp to regular locations and have planted a few types of edible plants near to where they camp just so they know there is emergency food for them. I wonder.... I would quite like the idea of hiring an expert to walk with me through woodlands etc for a day to just physically show me what i can and cant eat. Sometimes pictures in the books dont do any justice.

I agree with you about pictures in a book, but I'm not sure how long you can exist eating a meager diet of rabbit food and burning up huge amounts of calories trying to survive. Better to eat the rabbit.

By the way, Grylls was discredited several years ago. He is a phony. Visit the link I have provided.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... otels.html

The Canadian, Les Stroud, seems to be the real thing and also has his own survival series. Stroud does his own camera work.

Semper Fidelis

[ForgeCorvus]

Damaralenoire: I flexed my Google and found This as one of several options

[damaralenoire]

Damaralenoire: I flexed my Google and found This as one of several options

Thanks for that, will look into it