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wareagle69
08-09-2009, 06:16 PM
so how many of you own these 3 books and rely upon them wholeheartedly to identify what you find and eat

lee petersons -feild guide to wild edible plants

bradford angiers- a feild guide to wild edible plants

elias and dykemans -feild guide to north american wild edible plants

curious to see then i will state my reasons in another thread

palerider
08-09-2009, 09:43 PM
these three books are the best selling out of all the books on the market.packed full of info, sure but do you rely on these three books, do you trust what is in them? just curious, well not really have been doing some research and have some interesting results but just want to hear what ya'll have found

erunkiswldrnssurvival
08-09-2009, 10:02 PM
so how many of you own these 3 books and rely upon them wholeheartedly to identify what you find and eat

lee petersons -feild guide to wild edible plants

bradford angiers- a feild guide to wild edible plants

elias and dykemans -feild guide to north american wild edible plants

curious to see then i will state my reasons in another thread

I have studied several books but the one i decided to buy is petersons field guide. comprehensive and accurate it is the only one that you realy need.
other books may be good for other cuontries. but for north american plant get petersons.....

erunkiswldrnssurvival
08-09-2009, 10:08 PM
I was trained by Native Americans to forage. thier practices are not well demonstrated in most books. so processing the plants as described in most books have a european background and some descriptions differ from American. petersons field guide does a good job of expressing many Native plants and the procedure of preparing them as determined by the Indians whom i trust

Rick
08-09-2009, 10:41 PM
You sort of stalled me by using the term wholeheartedly. I can't say I trust any book "wholeheartedly". Can I use it as a reference? Yes. Could it be wrong? Yes. Could it better describe some plants? Yes. Is it better than most of the other's I've read? Yes.

But to put your trust, "wholeheartedly" in any reference source is sort of asking yourself to take a fall. If something is just a little fuzzy or wrong guess who pays the price?

wareagle69
08-10-2009, 06:48 PM
going once...

pocomoonskyeyes
08-10-2009, 08:42 PM
You know I was thinking the other day that in most edible plant books that Pokeweed is said to be poisonous, but people here in Kentucky and in Tennessee eat it. I don't know how they prepare it, but everyone tells me it is good. I'm not going to try it as I don't know how or what is done to make it edible. But just one of the things that Rick kinda' hit on. No they can't be totally right as this is one thing they have wrong. People eating something the books say is poison. I DO NOT ADVISE ANYONE TO TRY IT!! I'm just saying this is an Inconsistency I've noticed.

Rick
08-10-2009, 08:47 PM
Poco - It is. It contains alkaloids. You can cook it through three changes of water to get rid of them. My mom used to cook it when I was a kid. The fact that I could not remember how she cooked Pokeweed is what started me on my road of re-discovery! Bless the lowly pokeweed!!

I just choose not to ingest anything that might have serious consequences for me. I'll bet if you check with those folks around you they are discarding at least the first cooking water they use for poke.

crashdive123
08-10-2009, 09:05 PM
In part from Petersons:



Pokeweed, Poke
Use: Asparagus, cooked green, pickle. The young shoots - up to 6 in. - or just the leafy tips, are excellent boiled for 20-30 min. (until tender) in at least 2 changes of water. The peeled shoots can be boiled for 15 min. in several changes of water and pickled in hot vinegar. WARNING Root, seeds, and mature stems and leaves dangerously poisonous. Be very careful not to include part of the root when collecting the shoots, and peel or discard any shoots tinged with red.

pocomoonskyeyes
08-10-2009, 09:10 PM
I'd have to say that you are right Rick. I'm just not willing to take the chance,for the same reason wild carrot is off my list - Poison Hemlock is a close look a like, and a few others for the same reason. I don't want to die that kinda' goes against the basic idea of survival, Unless I am ABSOLUTELY 100% sure I'm not taking the chance with wild edibles. Even Ewell Gibbons(SP?) made one mistake and it cost him big time, the ultimate price.

wareagle69
08-10-2009, 10:35 PM
i must coorect a misnomer here
euell gibbons died from a heart attack, more specifically a ruptured aortic anerysim a complication from marfan syndrome- which means a genetic disorder of connective tissue
now that being said i don't know him or know anyone that knows him(to my knowledge) but i can quote several reputable sources that say he died of a heart attack , not from eating wild foods and ask anyone who has info to the contrary post it.

Rick
08-10-2009, 10:40 PM
All brought on by eating the wrong wild edible....or non-edible as the case may be.

Actually, I have no idea. I just haven't pulled WE's chain in a while and it looked like a good chance.

wareagle69
08-10-2009, 10:43 PM
sorry rick your on my ignore list so you can't pull my chain anymore

pocomoonskyeyes
08-10-2009, 10:43 PM
My mistake I just rembered what was on the news at that time and must have missed the correction. he was doing the "GrapeNuts" commercials and they pulled all those endorsements at that time. Thanks WarEagle. I DO make Mistakes.:blushing:

Rick
08-10-2009, 10:44 PM
Well if I'm on your ignore list.....wait....what?

wareagle69
08-10-2009, 10:48 PM
My mistake I just rembered what was on the news at that time and must have missed the correction. he was doing the "GrapeNuts" commercials and they pulled all those endorsements at that time. Thanks WarEagle. I DO make Mistakes.:blushing:

dude are you that old? he died in like dec 29 of 1975 or something like that

ps ricks just made cuz i beat him to the info, just ignore him, i do, matter of fact i killed a couple of twinkies just a minute ago

Rick
08-10-2009, 10:52 PM
Blasphemer!!! I cast aspersions upon thee.

pocomoonskyeyes
08-10-2009, 10:54 PM
dude are you that old? he died in like dec 29 of 1975 or something like that

ps ricks just made cuz i beat him to the info, just ignore him, i do, matter of fact i killed a couple of twinkies just a minute ago

I'M almost 49. Born in 60. I was 15 when he died unless I'm going by the old math.:innocent:

palerider
08-10-2009, 11:00 PM
Blasphemer!!! I cast aspersions upon thee.

can you define as.. asp... what ever it is you said:alien:

Rick
08-10-2009, 11:08 PM
Sure. Let's say you were driving down the street and you saw...oh, I don't know...a dancing bear on the corner. And let's say you said some not so nice things about that same bear. Maybe you hoped he would rip the crotch out of his fur when he did the splits or would land on his head doing a back flip. That sort of thing. That would be an aspersion. Or aspersions 'cause you said two things.

(Notice: No dancing bears were harmed in the making of this post)

Jonesy
08-11-2009, 11:15 AM
Your killing me LOL :)

Rick
08-11-2009, 11:35 AM
Shows nightly at 7:00 and 9:00.

Sarge47
08-12-2009, 12:44 AM
What about these?

http://www.amazon.com/Illustrated-Guide-Edible-Wild-Plants/dp/1585746614/ref=pd_sim_b_2

http://www.amazon.com/Identifying-Harvesting-Edible-Medicinal-Plants/dp/0688114253/ref=pd_sim_b_3

http://www.amazon.com/Field-Guide-Medicinal-Plants-Herbs/dp/0395988144/ref=pd_sim_b_6

:cool2:

wareagle69
08-12-2009, 07:59 AM
i own these 3 as well sarge and highly recommend steve brill;s book
petersons guide is the same as the other one i listed, good information to a point
the us army one i never use, not very good info, for me.

the question was ,tho sarge about the big 3 books those 3 are the best selling books on the market, yes i have around 30 books just on edibles,but that is for a reason

rwc1969
08-13-2009, 09:02 PM
Besides peterson's book, I also have Brad Angier's "feasting free on wild edibles". Although, I like Thayer's book the best so far.

wareagle69
08-14-2009, 07:43 AM
thayer has a new book coming out soon, he told me at the latest next spring, but i am hoping to purchase and autographed copy from him

NightShade
08-24-2009, 07:33 PM
I have all 3 and a whole bunch more.. I would never rely on any 1 book "wholeheartedly" as I have found differences and learned things in one book that may have been omitted in others... I've found that cross referencing books to have absolute positive id and find all possible information is best way to go. once I'm sure I know what it is I'll try it out for myself as first hand experience is probably the best possible knowledge you can have on... well... any subject really!!!

Might I suggest Tom Brown's field guide to medicinal and edible plants?... def. not a good book for identifying plants..( he admits as much) but a great book to learn about the plants once you learn how to id them from other sources.. one of my favorite books in an extensive "survival" library.

wareagle69
08-24-2009, 09:06 PM
not really big on tom brown anymore, was in the early 90's, but i try to stick with steve brill and samuel thayer and the publication 505 i have talked about before also lone pine puts out a great bunch of books, tom is great for an entertaining read but i go else where for my knowledge

wildWoman
08-24-2009, 09:39 PM
I don't have any of them; I think it makes the most sense to have books for the area you live in or where you plan on doing your wild munching. Up north, the (tasty) options are very limited.
I use wild plants way more for medicinal purposes than eating and refer to these excellent books:
Discovering wild plants by Janice Schofield
Plants of coastal BC and Plants of northern BC by Pojar and MacKinnon
Medicinal plants of the mountain west by Michael Moore

pocomoonskyeyes
09-01-2009, 09:48 PM
Well I have the petersons guide. I have always relied on it if for no other reason than it is the easiest to get. Bookstores all over carry it. You really have to do research to find this kind of stuff. When I first was interested in survival as a kid I usually bought anything I came across good or bad. Just for the reason it was hard to find.

rwc1969
09-03-2009, 07:38 AM
I have 6 different books now and all I can say is that for a newb Thayer's book beats em all hands down.

I've positively ID'd quite a few different plants now and can see how they look in different stages without having to wait a year. Peterson's book is good because of the huge variety, but it lacks alot when it comes to a newb trying to make a positive ID on a plant.

Gibbon's and Brill's books are a good read but they lack ID stuff too. All future books should be laid out in the fashion of Thayer's. Focusing on a few well known varieties and providing enough pics and details to allow a newb to get a positive ID and actual knowledge of how to use the plant and in what stage to use it.

I got Teresa Marrone's book "Abundantly wild" because it's area specific, but she doesn't provide any real info pertaining to ID or even harvesting of species. It's essentially just a wild foods cookbook and very limited at that. IMO! when someone lists the giant puffball mushroom as one of the top 10 wild edibles I have to seriously question their taste/ knowledge of the outdoors.

The thing that bothers me about most of the books is that authors will include vague descriptions or brief mentions of certain edibles without expanding upon it. Apparently, as a filler so they can say "this book lists over ### species of plants", Making you think the book or author has more to offer than it really does.

Oh well!

wareagle69
09-03-2009, 07:44 AM
thayer is awesome, he has a new book coming out this spring, can't hardly wait for that