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Category: Ecological sustainability articles
Useful Wild Plants For Backpackers
Edible Wild Plants For Backpackers
By Steven
Gillman
Knowing a few edible wild plants can make
your next backpacking trip, or any trip into the wilderness,
a lot more enjoyable.
You can pack lighter if you eat wild berries
every morning for breakfast, for example, and leave your oatmeal
behind. So push the bears out of the way and gorge yourself
on blueberries. Less weight on your back always feels better.
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You'll also enjoy your backpacking more when
you know that you won't be completely helpless the moment
you lose your pack, or a raccoon empties it for you. You don't
have to be a survivalist to see the value of knowing which
of the wild plants around you can be eaten.
I eat dandelions, wild courants, pine nuts and other edible
wild plants regularly. I ate hundreds of calories in wild
rasberries during a break, while hiking in the Colorado Rockies.
During a kayak trip on Lake Superior, a friend and I spent
half a day stopping at every litle island, to fill our stomachs
with wild blueberries. We were almost out of food, so our
foraging helped us get through the rest of the trip. Edible
Berries
Here are just some of the wild berries my
wife and I ate while hiking to Grinnel Glacier in Glacier
National Park: Blueberries, Service Berries, Rose Hips, Blackberries,
High Bush Cranberries, Strawberries, Rasberries, Thimbleberries,
and Currants. Berries are the most convenient, calorie rich
and nutritious of the edible wild plants out there. They are
also the easiest to learn to identify.
Raspberry
Edible Wild Plants And Survival
If you travel in isolated wilderness areas,
learning to identify a few edible wild plants can keep you
safe also. Someday you may be lost or injured, or a bear will
push you out of the way to gorge himself your freeze-dried
meals. In a survival situation, food isn't usually a priority
(warmth and water are), but a pile of roasted cattail hearts
sure will cheer you up and warm you up, and they even taste
good.
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Stay
away from protected plants, of course, unless you are in a
true life-or-death situation. Also, don't eat all the beautiful
flowers, or kill off the lilies by eating all the bulbs. Use
common sense. If you aren't sure if you're doing harm, stick
to eating wild berries.
Check out a few books on harvesting wild food.
You don't need to become a wilderness survival fanatic. You
really only need to learn to recognise a dozen high-calorie,
abundant wild edible plants to be a lot safer in the wilderness,
and to enjoy it more.
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Wild Plants Backpackers Should Know
Why learn about wild plants just to go backpacking?
Of course it is interesting for some of us, but beyond that,
a little knowledge of plants can save your life. This isn't
just about the edible ones. Food is actually a low priority
in most wilderness emergencies. However, there are many other
important uses for the plants out there.
Useful Wild Plants
Cattails: The cattail is one of the most useful
wild plants in the wilderness. Swampy or wet areas throughout
the northern hemisphere have cattail plants, and once you
identified them, you'll never forget them. While they have
five edible parts, cattails are much more than food plants.
Their long flat leaves have been used for centuries to make
baskets and food-serving trays. You can weave them into mats
for sleeping on, and even make crude clothing out of them.
The "fluff" of the cattail seed
head that makes it one of the first wild plants you should
learn about. The old fluffy seed heads often cling to the
tops of the stalks year-round. Put a spark to these and it
they can burst into flame. This can be a life-saver if you
don't have matches. Stuff your jacket full of cattail fluff
and you'll turn it into a winter coat, possibly saving you
from the number one killer in the wilderness: hypothermia.
Some have also reported using cattail as an
insect repellent. Just keep a smudgy fire going by burning
the seed fluff. This may not be any more effective than any
smoky fire would be, but it's so simple to collect and burn
cattail fluff that it is worth remembering. |
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Yuccas: Sword-like leaves with sharply pointed
ends make these easy plants to recognize. Few plants can be
used so easily to make rope or twine. In the California desert
I peeled yucca leaves into strips and braided them into a
rope in a matter of thirty minutes. With two men pulling hard
on either end, we couldn't break it. This is one of the better
plants for making ropes as well as finer string (separate
out the finest fibers).
Yucca can also provide needle and thread for
emergency repairs. Cut the tip of a yucca leaf from the inside,
an inch down and about halfway through. Bend it back, and
you'll be able to peel some fibers out of the leaf, which
stay attached to the "needle" or tip of the leaf.
I've pulled out two-foot long strands of fibers this way,
and sewn up clothing with them. |
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Milkweeds: Several parts are edible with proper
preparation, and some people apply the white sap to warts
to get rid of them. The really useful part of the milkweed,
however, is the seed fluff. It is even more flammable than
cattail fluff, so you can use it for starting fires from sparks.
It is a great insulater, too, even looking
something like goose down. Fill bread bags with milkweed down
and these "mittens" will keep your hands very warm.
Insert your hands and tie the bags around your wrist or tuck
it into your sleeves. |
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Some other useful wild plants? The bark the
white birch tree burns better than paper, even when wet. Pop
sap blisters on fir trees (young ones) and you can use the
sap as an antiseptic dressing for small cuts. Smear the juice
from crushed wild garlic and onion on yourself as an insect
repellent. There are endless ways to use wild plants, so why
not learn and practice a few?
Steve Gillman is a long-time backpacker, and
advocate ultralight backpacking. His advice and stories can
be found at http://www.TheUltralightBackpackingSite.com
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