2018 Bois D' Arc

Hafted Notched Blades

Edible Insects Class @Bois D' Arc

 I attended the Bois D' Arc Primitive Skills Camp & Knap In, in Missouri, in 2017.  One of the reasons I attended was to participate in the Edible Insects class, conducted by Bo Brown.  We gathered in the early morning, and set out walking the perimeter of a open field looking for bugs.  We managed to find grasshoppers, crickets, grubs, and some wolf and orb spiders.  We even opened some mud dabber nests to harvest the larvae.  I've eaten bugs before but I still have some mental blocks eating insects, that require making a "shift".   Bo Brown preached that all life is precious, and encouraged us to give thanks for their sacrifice that we might learn  and be nourished.  We took the wings and lower hooked legs off the grasshoppers, and cooked the insects to kill any parasites.  I watched one young participant, Celeste, tentatively eat a wolf spider, and then go on to clean up any left overs.  Eating insects is all a state of mind.  I thought it was interesting that the United Nations released a paper years ago stating that using insects as a protein source would become a necessity to feed growing populations.  Insects are highly nutritious in protein and vitamins compared equally to beef.  Many native populations relied on the seasonal crops of insects to supplement their food sources. This summer I look forward to the influx of June bugs, a staple of some of Plains Indians.

Bois D' Arc Primitive Skills Camp & Knap In

I had been looking at the Bois D' Arc Primitive Skills Camp & Knap-In for a few years, and finally had the chance to attend in September of 2017.  What a great setting, in a dale at the historic Hulston Mill, near Greenfield, Missouri.  IHALA (Interior Highlands Ancestral Lifeways Association), founded by primitive skill enthusiast, Bo Brown, hosts this annual event - now numbering 20 years.  This is a gathering of several hundred flintknappers, vendors, and primitive skill artisans, open to the public.  Students gathered in the morning, over a three day period, to sign up for classes - available were flintknapping, bow making, primitive fishing technics, edible and medicinal plants, traps & snares, edible insects, darts & atlatls, basketry, etc.  There was a little bit of something for everyone.The evenings were filled with laughter and music, as musicians and drumming circles played into the night.  The local historic society, which maintains the Hulston Mill, runs a snack shack for anyone wanting to buy a meal, drinks, or ice. The camping area is abundant with plenty of room for some seclusion.  The 21st annual is scheduled for September 28 - 30, 2018.  Check out their website at: http://boisdarc.info/

Primitive Skills on TV

There are several programs I've been following this year, Dual Survival, Naked and Afraid, and Fat Guys in the Woods...they're mind candy. One particular guy that stands out is Matt Graham, from Dual Survival and Dude, You're Screwed.  He is touted as a long term primitive skills expert and it shows in some of the technics he exhibits.  He has been shown hunting wild boar and fishing with the dart & atlatl, spinning friction fires, foraging wild edible plants, and demonstrating ingenious building technics for shelters, beds, and rafts.  Matt is a very charismatic and knowledgeable survivalist...I really enjoy him.  A new show, on the Weather Channel is Fat Guys in the Woods, with Creek Stuart.  I was surprised to find that I had several books by him in my library, that I revisited, after watching him in action.  Basically, he takes several unskilled guys into the woods for a week with only the clothes on their backs and a few basic tools.  One common theme is that it always seems to be freezing temperatures and raining, so their shelter and fire making skills are vital.  Naked and Afraid really pushes it to the limit as a man and woman try to survive for 21 days, starting out naked and with only a couple tools.  They get to bring a survival item, which is usually a knife or machete, a fire starter, or maybe a pot.  In all these shows you see the importance of building a proper shelter, and making fire for heat, purifying water, cooking, and controlling insects.  The quest for water, and later food, and the various tools, traps, and containers are instructive.  My family has commented that I've been spending too much time in front of the tv lately...maybe they're right.

Purslane

I have been searching for this plant for awhile trying to identify it.  Purslane is more of a summer plant that carpets the ground.  It is described as a succulent-the stems and leaves are thicker and hold more water.  The whole plant is edible raw or cooked, except the single taproot, which the plant stems out from.  Walking my dog, I came across a healthy patch and sampled it on the spot.  Not a bad taste.  I will introduce this plant to the family by adding it to salads and steaming it with some traditional vegetables.  It has more vitamins than spinach, plus Omega 3.  I step out of my door and see plants for eating, cordage, medicine, and firemaking - lamb's quarters, plantain, wood sorrel, jerusalem artichoke, yucca, mullein, mint, dandelion, etc.  There are a number of patches of plants I do not recognize, so that should be my next goal - identifying them.  I agree with the 80/20 principle, Creek Stewart states in his book "The Unofficial Hunger Games Wilderness Survival Guide":  there are hundreds of wild edible plants, focus on learning/using the 20% you see 80% of the time.

Dandelion Roots

Every spring I make a resolution to work on my edible & medicinal plant identification and actually eat it or try it.  I had always read you could eat dandelion leaves.  A couple decades ago, while backpacking in Colorado, we ran low on food.  I decided to try eating dandelion leaves. I boiled them and found them too bitter to eat.  Today, locating some well established patches I took a digging stick and harvested some.  I read in a new book, "The Unofficial Hunger Games Wilderness Survival Guide", by Creek Stewart, about boiling & eating the roots.  In the past the only references I saw with the roots were as use as a coffee substitute.  I washed and scraped them, and tried one raw.  It was a little bitter, but not overly.  I tried a raw leaf also and it was not overly bitter...yet.  I'm sure that later in the season this would change.  I boiled the roots in a couple changes of water, till it no longer was green.  They were tender, still with a hint of green taste, but not bad. They reminded of some vegetable I've had before.  I could eat a quantity of it, if I had something else to eat with it.  A little salt or butter would probably be good. The roots were a little small but a large quantity could be harvested in a reasonable period of time.
One principle Mr. Stewart puts forth in his book I like is to concentrate on the 20 % of the plants that you see 80% of the time. There are hundreds of edible plants, but it is better to focus on the ones you see all the time - not the ones that require effort to locate or have poisonous look-alikes.