Welll…. Not abundance here but I’ve found some things over the decades:
I’ve harvested the wild currants near us for this year. There would be few cattails on the pond near us…for that pollen stuff to stretch flour and the roots. [young roots better, I’ve eaten the old ones]
Inner bark of trees…but we’ve only got the evergreen/pines..and aspen, willow. Vit C in pine needle tea..I’ve used that. Aspen or willow bark tea is like aspirin. Can ‘tap’ an aspen tree for sap…have never tried that…yet. Pine nuts…don’t believe we have a kind with any abundance but…
…anything helps. Unless you’re spending more calories in gathering…than you get by eating.
Yarrow is good for clotting blood. Used to have a lot of wild rose…rose hip tea. But deer ate it all during the droughts.
Roots of thistles are said to be edible…haven’t tried that one. Lots of thistles available. The Lambs Quarters (like spinach) is dried up by now but available earlier. I’ve eaten that.
Our small wildlife is not abundant but: squirrel and rabbit..I’ve eaten both. We have a number of different birds and in great need, they’d be an option……{do they all taste like chicken? lol } Mt Blue Jay. Um – the black and white ones. Black birds. Sparrows. One carrion bird: Turkey neck Vulture. That one might be nasty?
One ABUNDANT small critter is our pasture varmints. Just the other day I was threatening to put them on the menu. Those just might be our main course cuz they multiply like crazy. Might still have night time voles here too. Then too…the other bane of our house: mice. If it keeps you alive…
I have live traps, wire traps, mouse and rat traps.
Of course there is deer and even elk but those are obvious targets and will be dead or will have run for the very high country quickly. MtLion, bear, bobcat, fox, and coyote…they’re all meat. They’re seen rarely tho…..except coyote. A pressure cooker would take care of tough texture. Taste likely depends on what they ate last.
Our pond/creek do not have fish. It freezes over in winter. It would be a long way to reach a trout stream or reservoir with fish. But our water draws the wildlife.
Can’t think if any bug [I’d have to be really desperate]…are crickets edible? Snakes are very few and small. No big rattlers here. [for which I am everlastingly grateful!!! Hate snakes!}
Oh….we grow a lot of ball mushrooms. [forgot the official name at this moment] They are edible but aren’t really tasty. Yes, we’ve tried them too. Tasty doesn’t matter as much if you need it. AND I just looked up dock. Leaves are edible…and dried seeds after soaking to cut down on bitterness. I know my goats loved them in the fall.
I may be forgetting some things I’ve found here in the past decades….
Due to harsh climate and altitude, we are not “lush”…meaning: “great variety and profusion of life”. I’ve always taken note when I hear of something up here that is edible or medicinal. Probably way more than I’ve heard about yet.
OldMtWoman
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This reply was modified 9 months ago by
OldMt Woman.