According to Wal-Mart(paragraph 14), PopTarts are the number one food purchased in crisis. When hurricane Katrina hit, they sent semi loads of PopTarts to area Wal-Marts. However, as much as we all love PopTarts around here (cinnamon and brown sugar), I'm not talkin' 'bout prepackaged survival food, no no. Around here it's the kind one can find in the woods.
Lee has been fascinated by the idea of banking a supply of food or knowledge to have in his little fort by the water. He has a beautiful mud flat with a nice tree canopy along the water's edge. Friends, siblings and parents are taken to this area as frequently as he can convince them to go. But as of late, it's not enough to just sit on the log enjoying the occasional swan sighting or fish swirl. He's ready to take it a step further. He's ready to spend some serious time in the fort, long enough he might actually get hungry. So he pulled out the Peterson Guide to Edible Plants and is honing his research skills. My knowledge has increased 10 fold as well, due to all the narration he's providing me. The goal was to find foods with the salad fork, meaning part of the plant can be eaten raw. Today Lee (and I) tried the fleshy part of a rose hip, which was a little bitter. Cattail rootstock is bland with an odd texture. Raw potato was eaten to identify with the term starchy flavor. Plans are underway for next spring already. I guess we'll be frying fiddleheads and candying rose petals. In the end, Lee was a little disappointed; the flavors weren't all that palatable and he wondered aloud if this information will ever help him? Will he really need to know this sometime? I had a brief discussion about knowledge and that he might not ever be in a survival situation (although you really never know), but knowledge always leads to a better understanding of the world. And that understanding might just be what keeps him out of potential survival situations.
