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Location: where you sip the tea of the breasts of the spinsters of Utica
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I didn't know there was such a variety of wild edibles in the Bay Area! All I knew about was mussels, fish, deer, javelina, California Prickle-Back Monkey-Faced eels, and kelp.
Quote:
........But few American chefs take foraging wild foods quite as seriously as Daniel Patterson, of Coi restaurant in San Francisco. At any given day, he might be cooking with clams, lichens, coastal spinach, Monterey Cypress, angelica root, and forest mushrooms — all native California foods from the beaches and forests a few dozen miles from his restaurant. (In 2010, on the Cook It Raw chef trip to Finland, he cooked beets in reindeer blood....... full article at Wilderness On A Plate: A California Chef On His Foraged Feasts : The Salt : NPR
Location: where you sip the tea of the breasts of the spinsters of Utica
8,297 posts, read 14,166,733 times
Reputation: 8105
I think there's too much emphasis in these articles on greens and other low-calorie plant foods, Mo, if it came right down to living largely on foraged, hunted, and fished foods - perhaps due to some economic disaster. You really can't live off seaweed and wild fennel, though you can get vitamins and minerals from them. Acorns will get you started, but they're a pain to select and process. Even shellfish don't supply a lot of calories.
I think in the general Bay Area, wild pigs and feral dogs might supply most of the calories if you can get them, and there's plenty of sea salt to preserve the pork. Squirrels caught by squirrel poles in the parks. Also fish of course, freshwater and seafish. Some of those items could be traded for dairy products or wine.
I think there's too much emphasis in these articles on greens and other low-calorie plant foods, Mo, if it came right down to living largely on foraged, hunted, and fished foods - perhaps due to some economic disaster. You really can't live off seaweed and wild fennel, though you can get vitamins and minerals from them. Acorns will get you started, but they're a pain to select and process. Even shellfish don't supply a lot of calories.
I think in the general Bay Area, wild pigs and feral dogs might supply most of the calories if you can get them, and there's plenty of sea salt to preserve the pork. Squirrels caught by squirrel poles in the parks. Also fish of course, freshwater and seafish. Some of those items could be traded for dairy products or wine.
In a WROL scenario those in major urban areas will be completely SOL unless they have bushcraft skills and a bugout plan. I agree, protein will be very important. It is highly likely there are edibles all over, as decorative plants, which people overlook every day. Learn what is available, learn to identify it, and how to survive on it.
Most people inside and outside the Bay Area just do not realize the size and scope of natural resources to be found.
I have personally hunted and fished just about every environ in Northern and Central California over the last 35 years.
The biggest problem for the Bay Area in a SHTF is evacuation. My suggestion get a boat.
After having lived through the traffic nightmare that was created by the Loma Prieta earthquake in 89 it has given me a different perspective on evacuations from large urban areas. Dirt Bikes.
There is no question that a dirt bike will go a lot of places, but it won't carry much. I think more of a dirt bike as a scout vehicle to be strapped to the front of your getaway rig. Too bad that there are not many good diesel dirt bikes.
When I originally conceived my getaway rig it was in response to that earthquake. My Unimog, with a little ingenuity, can be lowered from an expressway over pass to a highway below with its own winch. I personally would not want to do it, but I am confident it could be done. I have a complete Hurst Jaws of Life setup (cutters and spreaders) which would come in handy to remove guard rails and the like.
Last edited by Wilson513; 02-15-2012 at 11:48 PM..
My brother had a different take when he lived in Cali. He drove a sturdy yet dirty Toyota pickup, with a camper shell that had his bugout gear stored within and locked. He boarded their horses just outside the city, and kept a horse trailer there. The family had designated 'meeting spots' - but their whole intent was to get to the stables. There they could either use the horses and transfer their gear - or load them in the trailer and haul bootie.
There is no question that a dirt bike will go a lot of places, but it won't carry much. I think more of a dirt bike as a scout vehicle to be strapped to the front of your getaway rig. Too bad that there are not many good diesel dirt bikes.
When I originally conceived my getaway rig it was in response to that earthquake. My Unimog, with a little ingenuity, can be lowered from an expressway over pass to a highway below with its own winch. I personally would not want to do it, but I am confident it could be done. I have a complete Hurst Jaws of Life setup (cutters and spreaders) which would come in handy to remove guard rails and the like.
Mountain bike are good - yes . . if one is fit enough to cover a lot of rough terrain.
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