Sample Course Section - Foraging For Cat-Tails
The video above and the text below are taken directly from the Frontier Bushcraft Tree & Plant Identification Masterclass. This is an example of one section from the course. There are over 130 sections in the course, spread over 12 modules. This is one of the shortest sections in the course but it highlights a species which is important to know, from the perspective of realistically feeding yourself directly from nature, without any pre-prepared materials or foodstuffs processed and stored from prior months or seasons. I am happy to share it here with you for free. Please watch the video and read the information below for an idea of the type and quality of material you will gain access to by joining the Tree & Plant Identification Masterclass. To get instant access to the course, click the button above, then choose the purchase option that suits you best.
Cat-tails or Greater Reedmace, Typha latifolia
Cat-tails are the single most important survival food in the Northern Hemisphere. They also have many other practical uses. They are a plant you should know very well.
Greater reedmace, Typha latifolia, is a wetland plant. Typha latifolia and its very similar yet slightly smaller relative, Typha angustifolia, are commonly referred to as cat-tails due to the shape of their flowers/seed-heads.
Cat-tails are widely distributed around the Northern Hemisphere. They also occur in South America and parts of Africa, as well as having been introduced to many other territories, where they are often considered an invasive weed.
Cat-tails have many uses and several parts the plants are edible. The parts we are primarily interested in for survival food are the ropey rhizomes at the base of the plant. These rhizomes grow horizontally from the base of the plant and eventually allow new shoots to grow upwards. The energy required for this new growth is stored as starch in amongst the fibres at the core of each rhizome. For us, they also have the advantage of providing a source of food year-round.
In the above video students on an Intermediate Wilderness Bushcraft Course, harvest cat-tails for food.
Please note that entering bodies of water, particularly when they are cold and/or you do not know what lies beneath the surface can be hazardous.
Reference Articles:
A Realistic Approach To Survival Foraging
There are many edible wild plants. Leaves, shoots, flowers, berries, nuts, seeds, roots, and bark of different plants and trees can provide us with some form of sustenance at different times of the year.
What’s more, foraging is fashionable, having featured on several TV programmes in recent years. Wild foods are even showing up on restaurant menus. Whether harvesting from nearby hedgerows or purchasing from a local market, many people are taking a greater interest in wild foods gathered from the countryside.
But there is a big difference between nibbling on some tasty wayside morsels and being able to live from the land. For a given environment, living from the land requires a detailed knowledge of the food resources available as well as the hunting, fishing and foraging skills to utilise those resources.
Read the full article via the link below...
Survival Foraging: A Realistic Approach
Five Survival Plants Every Forager Should Know
In the above article - Survival Foraging: A Realistic Approach - I outline a pragmatic, realistic approach to foraging for the calories you need to sustain yourself in what would be for most people a desperate situation.
In such a situation, you would have nothing stored or preserved from previous seasons, little or no gathering or processing equipment (such as baskets, bags or grinding vessels), limited experience and possibly little or no familiarity with the geographic area.
In short, if you do find yourself needing to keep yourself alive from only what you can forage, you are starting from a tough position.
Read the full article via the link below...
Five Survival Plants Every Forager Should Know