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I'm so jealous -- it's too cold for nut trees up here We don't even have the right conifers for good pine nuts... spruce nuts are not particularly tasty.
I'm looking at a dwarf Siberian hazelnut/filbert that's supposed to be hardy to Zone 3-4, but we're Zone 2-3 so I'm probably going to need to put up a high tunnel if I want them to survive the winter, at least until they get older. The other option for "nuts" is sunflower seeds, but you have to start those under plastic mulch in the rows. Also can't do many tree fruits, although there has been some success with apples that have been grafted onto hardy crabapple root stock, and a few pears & plums are being experimented with (high tunnel dwarf orchard looks promising). But that's not really wild foraging Good thing we have more berries up here than I know what to do with or we wouldn't have any fruit!!
As for non-edible bushcrafting, we also harvest the thin paper birch bark that has fallen off... it makes excellent firestarter and is good for layering between veggies in storage. If we're going to fell a birch for firewood, we'll ring the tree and take off thicker layers of the bark to make baskets... but that kills the tree, so it's only for ones we're harvesting for firewood. And spruce cones also make excellent firestarters after soaking in old wax or used cooking oil... plus they're pretty in crafts and are good in the winter bird feeder.
I am not disputing your information or experience. But it would seem to me that when you are leaching out the tannins that nutrients would be lost as well, is this the case? Just wondering. (We have tons of oak trees).
What kind of acorns are the best (which variety of oak, I guess is what I want to know). LOL
20yrsinBranson
If you have white oak, you should find the acorns good to go for the breaking and eatting as they are.
Missing if you go for birch bark in spring, you will get 'winter bark' which is best for boxes, baskets and canoes.
In spring here means late May or early June. I don't know when that is in your neck of the woods though.
What I do is check on the tree I plan to kill for fire wood, with nick in the bark. If the bark lifts on a nick it's ready to jump right off the tree.
If it is with a chain saw I ring the bottom, and with a knife I ring the top most cut, since I don't like to be up a ladder with a chain saw.
Then one cut right straight from top to bottom, and if it's really right you hear the crack of a 30-06 sound as the bark jumps off the tree. You wanna be aware as it will hurt if it hits you.
That bark will let go and curl up backwards to the way it was on the tree.
Also you have to move fast to get all the cuts cleanly, as the bark can and will tear. Sometimes I add line around the tree to hold the bark on, which is a pain, but it helps save really good bark fro larger projects.
I have yet to build a real canoe, but hope to in this lifetime once. A problem there is finding the right tree and getting permission to harvest it. Both things are hard to do these days around here.
I'm so jealous -- it's too cold for nut trees up here We don't even have the right conifers for good pine nuts... spruce nuts are not particularly tasty.
I'm looking at a dwarf Siberian hazelnut/filbert that's supposed to be hardy to Zone 3-4, but we're Zone 2-3 so I'm probably going to need to put up a high tunnel if I want them to survive the winter, at least until they get older. The other option for "nuts" is sunflower seeds, but you have to start those under plastic mulch in the rows. Also can't do many tree fruits, although there has been some success with apples that have been grafted onto hardy crabapple root stock, and a few pears & plums are being experimented with (high tunnel dwarf orchard looks promising). But that's not really wild foraging Good thing we have more berries up here than I know what to do with or we wouldn't have any fruit!!
As for non-edible bushcrafting, we also harvest the thin paper birch bark that has fallen off... it makes excellent firestarter and is good for layering between veggies in storage. If we're going to fell a birch for firewood, we'll ring the tree and take off thicker layers of the bark to make baskets... but that kills the tree, so it's only for ones we're harvesting for firewood. And spruce cones also make excellent firestarters after soaking in old wax or used cooking oil... plus they're pretty in crafts and are good in the winter bird feeder.
Hi MissingAll4Seasons,
That is one tough zone. For fruit, go with service berries. They laugh at zone 3. The tasty cultivar named Saskatoon is named after a town in the middle of Saskatchewan in a zone 2B. I have seen service berries are said to be in zone 1. I also can assure you I eat lots of them.
You can tap the birch as well.
For hazel nuts, beaked hazelnuts are the most hardy. I did get a nice sized sample of some of its cousin American hazels this year(corylus Americana). They are smaller than the commercial varieties, but still worth doing with a dave-built nut cracker. This one has a more range to the north, corylus cornuta.
I am not disputing your information or experience. But it would seem to me that when you are leaching out the tannins that nutrients would be lost as well, is this the case? Just wondering. (We have tons of oak trees).
What kind of acorns are the best (which variety of oak, I guess is what I want to know). LOL
20yrsinBranson
Hi 20yrsinBranson,
One way to help leach acorns is to do it in clay. The reason is the acidic tannin binds with the minerals found in the clay.That is also what tannins will do in your body; thus, as is, they contain anti-nutrients far in excess of the nutrients at that stage. The nutritional profile will go up for humans after leaching. Besides that, nutrition is so easy to come by in wild food. Fall over and you will land in something with more nutrition than spinach ever will. Its the calories that are hard to come by. Dandelions were used as essentially a vitamin pill. That said, acorn is considered health food in Korea.
The best acorns are what is available. I have burr oak and northern red oak in abundance. I thought the red oak acorns where terrible. I only need to leach the burr oak for a week. After trying that with the red oak, it was bitter and nasty. However I noticed the wild life thought so too. I was able to collect a lot of it. There were fewer that were wormy as well. They also seemed to store indefinitely. The tannin indeed preserves them. When I leached it for 3 weeks, I had a very nice product. I still have some of this variety and usually eat some every week. Most are hesitant to try until they get a taste. That last pizza did not last long. My favorite is a simple flat bread made with half acorn, half flour with water and a little oil. I add enough to make it spread and bake for about 10 minutes. I then have a nice flat bread that does rise just a bit from the steam. You can also flavor it as you like instead of using just water.
The burr oak are most convenient in the short term, but I would say the red oak is higher in subsistence value.
I have been told that I could tap birch, and so this past two seasons I have set taps in birch trees also. So far I have not seen one drip of birch sap to flow from a tap in a birch.
I have asked locals and I was told that to get birch sap you start with birch woodchips and steam express them.
I have also read online that where maple sap must be reduced 40:1 to make syrup, that birch must be reduced 80:1 to make syrup.
Does anyone here have first-hand experience with birch?
Other than having eaten birch syrup from local purveyors, no. The taste is pretty mild and it's hard to describe. Definitely different than maple. It has a tendency to be more runny in comparison as a finished product. To combat the high levels of water in raw birch syrup, many producers use reverse osmosis to get the mixture ready for condensation. For that reason alone, in a birch forest with no immediate source of clean water, a knife, a crude ink pen (or other) tap and a collection device, a birch will save a life.
I'm glad I started this thread. Here in south-central AK I have apple, sour cherry, raspberry, strawberries, currant, rose hips and rhubarb to satisfy my fruit needs along with the very choice wild lingonberry. I did plant a beaked hazelnut this year and it is taking off. We will see how it performs after a few years.
Calories as gwynedd noted are the issue. Up here it will have to come from fish or game in the wild, much like the native Alaskan diet did in the past. It's either that or grow your own, chickens for meat or eggs, goats for milk and meat and the like. Potatoes. I just harvested 15 pounds from a 7.5 sft area of a raised bed. Presumably I could grow a years worth in two decent sized beds but that is another topic.
I've heard fireweed is edible in most stages but have yet to try it, again, due to a reluctant husband who tends to cast a baleful eye on unknown greens. I did make kale chips last might and he loved them so maybe we are getting close...this from a man that wouldn't eat a bell pepper or many other veggies when I first met him 20 some years ago.
Keep the entries coming, I'm learning some things here.
Mac - that's pretty much how we skin our birch bark, too. We watch for the first few green buds to come up and ring it then cuz the sap's rising. It's usually still a little to cold at that point for the bark to jump off, but we twine it and it's loose enough to remove in a couple of days.
Gwynedd -- we have a couple wild service berries, I'm going to try to transplant/propagate them nearer the garden, but I'll look into the Saskatoons as well. I'll also look into those Beaked Hazelnuts... Cathy's a bit warmer down in South Central, but if they work for her there, at least I know that they might work for me here in the Interior.
Cathy - Yes, fireweed is edible as green. Not as bitter as dandelions, but pretty bitter (maybe up with collards). Better use for them IMO is to make infusions/decoctions from the flowers (for teas & jams), or use the fresh petals in salads. If you have honeybees, you can also make a very tasty fireweed infused mead
I've found that birch here flows a little earlier than the maple I remember when I was back East. When we ring our trees and remove bark, the sap oozes right out of the wood so I'd imagine tapping at that time would produce a lot as well. Seriously, spring birch is so sweet, you can gnaw on a twig just like I used to do with raw sugar cane in the South. Birch sap is a LOT more watery than maple, and it takes forever to boil down into a thicker syrup. It can also be a most excellent substitute for white sugar in high pectin berry preserves... one of the village matrons makes a wonderful cranberry/fireweed/birch jelly.
I have been told that I could tap birch, and so this past two seasons I have set taps in birch trees also. So far I have not seen one drip of birch sap to flow from a tap in a birch.
I have asked locals and I was told that to get birch sap you start with birch woodchips and steam express them.
I have also read online that where maple sap must be reduced 40:1 to make syrup, that birch must be reduced 80:1 to make syrup.
Does anyone here have first-hand experience with birch?
The season comes after maple. Did you tap both at the same time?
I fiddled with birch in Barlett NH in the mid 80's and made a gallon. I don't recall the ratio anymore. This year maple in my area was about 41:1. Back in the 80's that was closer to 34:1
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We don't even have the right conifers for good pine nuts... spruce nuts are not particularly tasty.
Good thing we have more berries up here than I know what to do with or we wouldn't have any fruit!!
