5 rules for foragers

Five Basic Rules for Beginner Foragers

1) Be cautious

Make sure you can identify a plant with 100 percent certainty before touching or consuming it. Hone your skills by attending plant walks with an expert, studying basic botany, cross-referencing multiple guidebooks, or using websites like gobotany.nativeplanttrust.org. We recommend getting started with regional field guides and books by Thomas Elpel, Samuel Thayer, and Briana Wiles.null

2) Understand your land

Study up on the area you plan to forage. What poisonous or endangered plants grow there, and what edibles are abundant? Avoid spots near factories, golf courses, roads, or places where water and soil could be contaminated (off-trail areas away from human activity tend to be safe).

3) Harvest responsibly

Check local land management guidelines for harvesting limits or restrictions. Only gather in areas—and amounts—that are permitted. Take only what you need, leaving enough for the wildlife and for regrowth (no more than 5 percent of one species in a given spot is a good rule of thumb). Be mindful of your impact in sensitive habitats like wetlands, tundra, or desert. Areas that are frequently disturbed (grazing fields, trailsides, and campsites) are good places for beginners to try, since the impact you’ll have is minimal compared to more sensitive habitats.

4) Feed on weeds

Seek weedy patches where edible species grow in abundance. (A weed is an unwanted plant that grows aggressively, especially in disturbed habitats.) Dandelion, nettle, and other weeds are great to eat, and you’re unlikely to deplete them by taking your fill.

5) Walk lightly

Be mindful of your impact when venturing off trail in search of plants. Travel on durable surfaces like logs and rocks and beware of trampling other flora as you go. Always practice Leave No Trace.

6) Know the poisons

As important as being able to recognize the plants you can eat is identifying the ones you can’t. Some poisonous plants only give you a rash, but others could kill you. Study up so you can recognize the traits of toxic species, especially those that look similar to edible and medicinal plants. 

Foraging Tips

• Your senses of smell, taste, and sight all help with identification and will become attuned with practice.
• Clean your tools and clothes between harvests to avoid transplanting invasive seeds or disease to new areas.
• Clip leaves and plant parts with a sharp knife to allow the plant to continue growing. 
• Plastic containers will suffocate your harvest and cause it to mildew. Collect plants in a breathable cotton sack, basket, or your shirt.

Americans are loading up on doomsday supplies as pandemic drones on

 August 1, 2020 8:31 amNews 4 TucsonCORONAVIRUS COVERAGE, NATIONAL, NEWS

(NBC News) Once the obsession of serious survivalists, disaster preparedness is now more commonplace.
 
With the onset of a global pandemic came a “Doom Boom” – surging sales for the survival industry.
 
“There’s definitely the people who are prepping by having a couple of emergency items and then the people who are going all out and spending a lot of money,” says CNET’s Claire Reilly.
 
On the higher end, you can buy your own bunker or even a tsunami escape pod.

More common purchases focus on the basics.
 
“It’s a really good idea to have a go-bag or survival kit ready so you can grab it and go,” Reilly says. 
 
Solar chargers or portable battery packs can keep your devices charged, while a water filter like the LifeStraw allows access to drinking water without transporting heavy bottles or jugs.

Finally, it’s important not to forget the basics: Non-perishable food, a first aid kit and a hand-crank radio are all essentials.

Everyone armed is everyone equal is everyone polite and everyone is protected

Tools to save lives

Being responsible

Knife importance

The knife is the most important survival tool and is an absolute necessity for survival and everyday carry, as you never know when it will be needed.

A good knife can be used for everyday projects, quick fixes to equipment or vehicles, defense, shelter building, fire starting, hunting, cleaning and preparing food, etc.

A quality knife or set of knives is the most important tool required for survival. There is a wide variety of types of knives out there from the ridiculous Rambo knife to the practical Swiss Army tool.

Fire

Fire is very important in survival situations. It gives warmth, provides light, helps you cook food and gives a reassuring feeling that you can survive any end-of-the-world scenario as well as a simple camp-out on the weekend.

What to do if bit by a poisonous snake in the Sierra Nevadas and high deserts

Keep the victim calm. Stress increases blood flow, thereby endangering the patient by speeding the venom into the system.
• Stop all movement of the injured extremity. Movement will move the venom into the circulation faster, so do your best to keep the limb still.
• Clean the wound thoroughly to remove any venom that isn’t deep in the wound, and
• Remove rings and bracelets from an affected extremity. Swelling is likely to occur.
• Position the extremity below the level of the heart; this also slows the transport of venom.
• Wrap with compression bandages as you would an orthopedic injury, but continue it further up the limb than usual. Bandaging begins two to four inches above the bite (towards the heart), winding around and moving up, then back down over the bite and past it towards the hand or foot.
• Keep the wrapping about as tight as when dressing a sprained ankle. If it is too tight, the patient will reflexively move the limb, and move the venom around.
• Do not use tourniquets, which will do more harm than good.
• Draw a circle, if possible, around the affected area. As time progresses, you will see improvement or worsening at the site more clearly. This is a useful strategy to follow any local reaction or infection.
The limb should then be rested, and perhaps immobilized with a splint or sling. The less movement there is, the better. Keep the patient on bed rest, with the bite site lower than the heart for 24-48 hours. This strategy also works for bites from venomous lizards, like Gila monsters.
It is no longer recommended to make an incision and try to suck out the venom with your mouth. If done more than 3 minutes after the actual bite, it would remove perhaps 1/1000 of the venom and could cause damage or infection to the bitten area. A Sawyer Extractor (a syringe with a suction cup) is more modern, but is also fairly ineffective in eliminating more than a small amount of the venom. These methods fail, mostly, due to the speed at which the venom is absorbed.

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Purify water

A clear plastic bottle filled with water, exposed to the sun for 6 hours will make the water safe to drink (see the caveat list). In fact, the effectiveness of terminating harmful bacteria is an amazing 5-Nines, that is, 99.999 percent!

List of germs that are terminated from UV-A sunlight exposure at 6 hours

• Bacteria – Escherichia coli
• Bacteria – Vibrio cholera
• Bacteria – Salmonella
• Bacteria – Shigella flexneri
• Bacteria – Campylobacter jejuni
• Bacteria – Yersinia enterocolitica
• Virus – Rotavirus
• Parasites – Giardia
• Parasites – Cryptosporidium (needs 10 hours exposure)