How Many Here Could Survive On Wild Edibles Tomorrow If TSHTF?

**crashdive123** · 01-25-2010, 09:16 PM

You.......

**rwc1969** · 01-26-2010, 01:11 AM

I've held off posting on this or voting for a long while now. But, based on the poll question, the definition of sustain and the OP guidelines...

Yes! I do know my local wild edibles well enough to sustain on them indefinitely. And I don't know them very well BTW.

Would I? NO!

I would eat animals and fish too, and probably bugs before I ever tried to exist on WE's alone.

Most of the local high carb WE's taste awful and/ or require extensive preparation.

Same goes for many of the wild greens around here.

But, if I could gather, prepare and store them I could easily sustain off them. It would be a miserable, exhaustive and un-productive experience, but I could do it and stay quite healthy doing so.

Most of my time would be spent gathering, preparing and storing my food, so I wouldn't have a lot of time or energy for anything else. If you look at herbivores that's pretty much how they spend their lives. Eating, storing, sleeping and breeding with very little time for frollicking in the woods.

The reason we advanced as a society and as a species is we were able to farm food, domesticate wild animals, hunt and such. This gave us all kinds of free time to frollick, think, plan, overbreed and overcome nature. We're omnivores with reasoning abilities! We eat anything that's reasonable and it's not reasonable to just eat flora or vegetable matter. We eat anything that won't kill us or make us sick and sometimes we even eat that.

**countrymech** · 01-26-2010, 01:20 AM

First off, if I were to survive on wild edibles in Wyoming I'd get real sick of prickly pear cactus. Beyond that I wouldn't have a clue. In some areas one can find wild onion. I don't think it would be possible to live here on vegetation alone. Or maybe I'm not looking hard enough???????

**preachtheWORD** · 01-26-2010, 10:32 AM

I think I could sustain myself, but unless I happen upon someone's abandoned tater patch, I don't think I could forage enough to feed many more. Also, I am sure that you would have to supplement wild veggies with small game, fish, crayfish, bugs, or some kind of protien. It would be almost impossible to have anything like a balanced diet eating only wild plants. I imagine you would have a serious protein deficiency.

**Old GI** · 01-26-2010, 12:46 PM

Can I count lots of cattle, horses, alpacas, llama, etc. around my location?

**Rick** · 01-26-2010, 03:23 PM

You can but be very careful. Those dang llamas spit.

**Old GI** · 01-26-2010, 06:00 PM

OH yes they do!! Among other things that sound like that.

**trax** · 01-26-2010, 06:06 PM

Originally Posted by crashdive123

My biggest issue is that I am not knowledgeable enough with wild edibles. I know that I walk past food every day without realizing it.

I have more of a problem walking past things every day and making myself realize that they're not food

**rwc1969** · 01-27-2010, 12:14 AM

Originally Posted by preachtheWORD

... Also, I am sure that you would have to supplement wild veggies with small game, fish, crayfish, bugs, or some kind of protien. It would be almost impossible to have anything like a balanced diet eating only wild plants. I imagine you would have a serious protein deficiency.

You could eat mushrooms and get protien along with many of the other nutrients that plants lack and animals have.

...and I think this thread needs to take into account where a person lives as some places don't have a wide variety of edibles to choose from. Here in MI we have a virtual smorgasboard of wild edibles.

**Excalibur** · 01-30-2010, 11:23 AM

I may not know by first glance most of the wild food around my area but i know enough to live. I WILL be hungry but alive. I have learned the different tests to see if the food is safe. Plus I raise rabbits, chickens, and dogs. Even mans best friend will become dinner if i get hungry enough