Nature Can Help You Survive

 I have had questions as to what books are good to help with natural ideas of surviving.  Ideas for foraging.  There are a couple books that I think are invaluable.  They contain information on just about everything you can think of.  Recipes to how to dress out a chicken to planting potatoes - you name it.

                                      These books are fantastic.  If you get no others, get these.

We need knowledge.  If things ever get so bad that we are in total upheaval - there will be no white knight coming.  Your goal will be to survive and help your family.  Your knowledge and your pantry will be your security.

You all know I am not an alarmist - but I am not stupid either.  I know I need to have some skills and some information that could help me and others.

Foraging can be our friend.  I know people live in cities too - not everyone is country.  I am suburbs - yet I can forage around the area.  I can forage my own yard!  There is a park close by.  There are empty properties.  Trust me - if I were hungry, I could find something to eat.  It may not be a well-rounded diet - but I would survive and have some decent intake of vitamins and minerals.

HOW you say?

EDIBLES

I was out pulling weeds the other and there is this one weed that is prolific in my yard.  Creeping Charlie (ground ivy) takes over in no time.  As I was pulling, I thought, goodness if this was edible, the surrounding kingdom would be saved!!!!!  LOL!  Guess what?  It is!!!!!!

It has a pungent minty flavor.  Read it can be cooked like spinach or added to soups.  Dried leaves can be made into a tea with verbena.  Back in the day - it was used in place of hops in making beer!

Dandelions - all parts are edible and useable.  Roots, leaves, and flowers.  I remember my folks fixing dandelion greens.  Teas and tinctures can be made from the roots.  Flowers used in making jelly or added to salads.  

Purslane - I have a lot of this as well.  I do use it in salads in the summer.  It has a light peppery taste.  It can be cooked or used raw.  Super high in vitamins and minerals.   It is a great antioxidant.

Clover - flowers can be made into jelly.  Clover is used mainly as a medicinal.  Do research before eating a lot of the plant.

Wild violets - both flower and plant are edible.  Cooked or raw.  The leaves are great for medicinal purposes.  It is antifungal, antiseptic and anti-inflammatory.  Valued as a pain reliever.

There are many, many weeds that are perfectly fine to eat.  You want to make sure they have not been treated with chemicals and are in 'pet free' areas (if you know what I mean).

FLOWERS

There are tons of flowers that are edible.  They can be eaten in salads with greens or other plants or used in many other way.  You can make flavored honeys, syrups, sugars, vinegar, teas, liquor, etc.

Nasturtiums, daylily, tulips, roses, chives, sunflower, lilac, lavender, bee balm flowers, calendula (marigold), mums, gladiola flowers, carnations/dianthus..........

You can young shoots of Hosta - supposedly this is a delicacy.  Fiddleheads - you ng shoots of ferns are good.  Don't forget mushrooms!  YES, you need to know what you are getting to be safe.  This is when knowledge is important!!!!!  Now is the time in my area/state for morel mushrooms.  They grow profusely in the woodsy areas after a period of cool and damp weather.  Oh my goodness, they are wonderful.  They are super expensive if you can find them to buy - like $50+ a pound!!!!

I am a huge fan of holistic medicine and living.  I hate doctors.  It is just my opinion, but I believe - Natural is for long term health and pharma is covering up the symptoms.  I truly don't believe pharma cures anything - it just masks it.  If you live healthy and natural I believe you can truly stay healthier.  

AGAIN - this is just MY opinion - so not looking to be beat up for it.  We all have to do what we think is right for us.  

We have become a world of people that expects to be taken care of.  It aint going to happen when to going gets tough.  You will need to secure in the idea that you are on your own.  You need knowledge!  You need skills.  You need to embrace new ideas and methods.

God gave us what we need on this earth.  We just have to educate ourselves.  Do the research and learn.

And God said, "Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit; you shall have them for food.  And to every beast of the earth, and to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has breath of life, I have given every green plant for food."  And it is so.

Genesis 2:29-30

I will follow up soon, with a post on many medicinal plants and herbs.  There are many that help with all kinds of problems.

Hope this answers a few questions.  There is so much to learn about what nature has to offer us.