Wild Edibles - Smilax

Let me begin with a disclaimer.

I am not an expert or authority on the subject of wild edibles.

When it comes to this business of being an expert or authority on anything … I make no personal claims.

Experienced?

Yes.

I am, in a number of areas, fairly experienced and have been garnering and building upon these experiences for a good long time. I will also, where my own repertoire of experiences is concerned, be the first to admit that there are a lot of people that have more experience and know a lot more than I do about the things of which I write in these blog articles.

I do, with a sense of being careful and exercising as much integrity and due diligence as possible, make it a practice to always continue learning something about how to get along in the particular natural environment that surrounds me. This environment is, after all, the one that will either offer its support or observe my demise on account of my knowledge or my ignorance.

We do not co-exist with the natural environment. No. The natural environment can hang on its own hook without us. It can also, in time, recover itself from all the damage we do to it if we would only leave it alone long enough to do its natural thing. The opposite is not true. We humans cannot exist without the surrounding natural world that supports us. We are, as human beings, totally dependent upon the natural world. Total dependence is a far cry from co-existence!

I do not remember where I read the statistic regarding percentages. It’s one of those seeds that settled into my memory at some point. Of all the vegetation growing in the natural world only three or four percent of it is edible. Quite a lot of the larger 96 or 97 percent will not only give you a bad gut but it can also kill you. This only, when you consider the vast diversity of vegetation in the natural world, amounts to a lot of only.

Being familiar with some of the only can make a difference in being able to stretch things out and get along better in the food department during a short-term situation. Having this familiarity can mean the difference between life and death in a long-term situation. These two reasons would be enough.

I find another reason though … learning.

The school of the woods has a vast curriculum. One that is so exhaustive that not one among us has time enough to learn everything it has to teach.

A cram course in survival skills can be taught in a weekend. I’m not knocking cram courses. They are a good thing considering they introduce folks to certain skills and tools that possess the potential to help them get along in a bad situation. I can and do host these courses when there is interest and commitment. The problem I find with cram courses is that folks can go away afterward thinking they are ready for the big exam when, in fact, all they’ve learned to do is hack a rough point on their pencil.

Smilax is one of our readily available wild edibles and one well worth our attention.

I graze on it raw during the active growing months. It can also be cooked as a vegetable or added raw to salads.

The tips, tendrils, and tender young leaves are edible. I find it difficult to describe the taste of wild edibles. It’s kind of like trying to tell someone what a frog or a raccoon tastes like when they’ve never tasted them. Things have their own particular taste and it is really unfair to compare everything wild to things domestic or cultivated. But, for lack of a better description, I’ll go along with what others say about the taste of smilax … something of a cross between a green bean and asparagus.

I’ve also dug and chewed a few of the small roots. The roots get woody and tough. It’s hard for our systems to digest woody fibers.

It’s the starch that we are after in the roots ... something that can be added to soups as a thickener.

I have never, until yesterday, did any real experimental archaeology with smilax roots. Shirli and I dug this one yesterday in the yard. This one is really still on the small side. These root masses can grow as large as a bushel basket. I processed one small tuber in about a pint of water on the stove for twenty minutes or so then poured what turned into a soft jelly-like substance through a strainer.

How does the soft jelly-like substance taste?

It is rather bland with a smilax taste.

There are a lot of other elements in the smilax root as well. Some of them are considered medicinal. Studying up on smilax makes for interesting reading.

DISCLAIMER ... There are numerous manuals, websites, and youtube videos on wild edibles. Be certain of your identification before eating anything wild. Also, go about experimenting with wild edibles SLOWLY and keep a record of what you are experimenting with. If you have an allergic reaction, you (or someone that finds you) will have a clue as to what your condition is related to. Be advised, I am not responsible or liable for errors in your plant identification or personal judgment. 

Shave Horse Project - Getting Started

This project was not occupying my mind at the time. It’s one that’s been an interest for quite a long time now. It has, in fact, been an interest for years. Time, and matters that seemed to take priority, have always been the issues that would run interference where tackling the project was concerned.

I was not looking for a hunk of wood for a project. I was on a firewood gathering errand for that retirement-birthday soiree Shirli has scheduled for me to attend next month … the one that coincides with my 62nd birthday and this thing called retirement.

I put the oak on the ground. By the time I sawed my way to the log I had all I cared to haul across some rough spots before I would be back onto good level ground with the truck. My plan was to return the next day, saw the log into firewood lengths, then haul it home and split it for the woodpile.

The plan changed when I got back to the log the next day and started looking it over. A good four feet at the small end was straight and without any serious knots. A good four feet at the larger end was also straight and without any serious knots. The six or so feet between the ends had some knots and qualified as firewood. I stood there studying on the log and hatched an alternative plan that would utilize the smaller end section to construct a rustic shave horse. The larger end section? I may split it and make a couple benches from it.

I used my chainsaw to rip the log in half. This is the last time a non-human powered tool is used on this project. 

I’ve built a lot of stuff over the years using an assortment of tools associated with several trades. Carpentry tools. Masonry tools. Tools used in shipbuilding and repair. No. My name isn’t Jack. I’m not quite as diversely skilled as him but I have developed quite a repertoire of skills over the years of scratching out a living.

I’ve bought a lot of tools over the years to utilize in these areas and still have a good assortment of them. A good many years ago I started selectively collecting “old school” tools at estate sales, yard sales, flea markets, and wherever I could find them without paying an arm and a leg for them … tools that require no power other than human power to operate them. 

The adz is an old heirloom from the farm that I laid claim to. It was sitting on a concrete floor rusting away. It's got some deep pits but the cutting edge is still solid and takes a good edge.

As electrically powered tools give up the ghost I simply reach back in time, pull out its predecessor, and press it into service. The non-electrical versions are not unfamiliar to me. I became quite familiar with them as a child growing up on the farm. It’s what we had and what we used day in and day out.

Removing the bark with an antique draw knife that I picked up somewhere along the way. I'm working off the bark and outer growth ring. Sharp. I once learned that it's smart to wear leather gloves when working with one of these.

From time to time, if you take your time, you can happen across some good old tools that need a little cleaning up and TLC to put them back into good condition. The alternative to going the slow route is to shell out a lot of cash for new human powered tools. 

Good new tools are expensive. 

Cheap ones are more often just that. 

Cheap. 

The quality is poor, they are a bane to work with, and they just don’t hold up well for the long haul.

I used an old axe head to get the split started. Wood wedges and a maul did the rest of the job of splitting off a plank.

Why this project?

One of the reasons for this project has to do with my interest in keeping history alive in a world where the past is easily forgotten and replaced with all the modern “flip the switch” conveniences associated with life in modernity. There is a broad learning curve where tools and processes are concerned. There is a lot of learning where particular natural materials and how they behave are concerned.  A large part of the learning involves space within my own personal interior life … an area that can always stand some improvement.

Crafting. Add whatever prefix you prefer to the beginning of the word. A major part of this crafting, for me anyway, is about being able to take some raw material from the surrounding environment and process it into a functioning product that will serve a purpose. Process. There’s not much self-reliant process in going to the store or ordering a readymade product off the internet.

Another reason has to do with uncertainty and the issue of personal preparedness in this modern world where uncertainty seems to be the only real certainty. Possessing the skills and tools to return to an 18^th Century lifestyle simply makes sense to me.

The wood is still too green to plane well but I worked on the two pieces a little with the old Stanley to clean them up some. 

The Art of Self-Reliance - Deer Bone Soup

I remember when I was a kid growing up on the farm.

We raised practically everything that we ate. Money was always in short supply where our small hardscrabble farming family was concerned. Spending money was scarce. Food wasn’t. Though we were some of the poorest of the poor in our community, I never once missed a meal. Meat was always on the table. When it started running low in the freezer we loaded something up and took it to the slaughterhouse.

One of the things that stands out in my memory is that even the bones came home with us when the processing had been done. Those packages were labeled “Soup Bones” and soup, with biscuits, corn bread, or, if my mom had time, yeast bread on the side made for many a winter meal for us.

One of my objectives, where subsistence hunting as a part of self-reliance is concerned, is to utilize as much as possible from the animals that I kill. I feel like I owe it to the animals. In fact, I was telling Shirli the other day that if we didn’t need the meat I wouldn’t kill another deer. I would still sit in the woods and watch them. But, for the two of us, these deer feed us in the same way those domestic animals fed our family when I was a kid growing up. Similar self-reliant way of life. Different animals. Different feedlots.

This is the first year to cook deer bones.

I’m pretty good with a sharp blade. There’s honestly not a lot left on those bones when I’m finished with the blade work. Regardless of my efficiency with a blade, there is always some meat left on those bones. Until this year I would simply haul them to the farm and contribute them to the diet of the possums, coons, buzzards, and coyotes. I have, for years, felt bad about that. Not feeding the critters. Deep inside of me I knew I wasn’t getting all I could from those bones in the nutrition department.

Down through the ages folks used those bones in their diets. Why am I not doing the same today?

So, rather than tossing them into a bucket to go to the farm, once the major meat was off them and in the sink, the bones went into the big pot. Once all the bones were in the pot I set it on the stove to simmer while I finished all the steak slicing, burger grinding, vacuum bagging, and moving finished products to the freezer. Then I let them simmer some more. I suppose they spent around three hours on the stove doing the simmering thing.

Those bones? I picked a pound or better of nice lean meat from them and added the meat to the 3 quarts of nutrition rich stock that resulted from those hours of simmering.

Diced an onion, 3 large carrots, and about 2 cups of celery for the pot.

Seasonings of salt, coarse black pepper, a little garlic powder, and about a dozen drops of liquid smoke. Once the vegetables were cooked I stirred in a cup of rice and set the timer for 14 minutes.

Deer bones? As the primary animal matter in a soup or stew?

I’ll tell you this.

I can’t think of a good reason why I should ever haul a bucket of deer bones to the farm to feed the critters again.

Oh. I figured some bread would go good with the deer bone soup so I made a pan of molasses muffins to go along with it.

Molasses muffins?

My own recipe.

But that’s a recipe for another day.