Book Review: Edible Wild Plants by John Kallas

One thing that I am interested in is the edible plants that grow all around us.  It's amazing how many plants that grow in your own backyard are not only edible, but are higher in beneficial nutrients than the ones that you can buy at your local grocery store.  I started this journey last year when hunting season started, and I began to see a multitude of what I thought might be wild foods.

The first thing that piqued my interest was Hank Shaw's book Hunt, Gather, Cook.  I had originally purchased it for his recipes on wild game and fish.  But he has several chapters on wild foods.  I highly recommend his book for all readers of this blog.  Whether you like to hunt, fish, or even just gather your own wild food, I think you will enjoy it.  He has some recipes that look interesting, and I've tried several of the ones from his blog (http://honest-food.net/)  I've never been disappointed in the results.  He really has a good insight into all things consisting of wild food.

But my problem has always been that I can't identify wild foods by sight.  Trying to do a web search for them is just about as hard.  You first have to think about what the food might be, then you have to sift through results looking for any good identifiers that you can find that might help you identify the plants you are looking at.  It's a tough process.  Enter Edible Wild Plants (The Wild Food Adventure) by John Kallas, Ph.D.

Dr. Kallas starts the book with the usual disclaimers about how you shouldn't eat wild foods unless you can positively identify them, he also mentions how you're mileage may vary over what he has said.  This is all good advice.  You really don't know what you're allergic until you've tried something or how it might affect you.  You should start small, and work you're way up to larger quantities.  He also discusses his credentials which are quite extensive.


The book is organized into sections based on different taste categories.  He has a section based on mild greens, bitter greens, and so on.  Each chapter consists of one plant within these genres.

The big difference between his book and others that I have looked at is that he really explains every plant in detail.  Each chapter starts with a distribution map of North America, scientific name, common names, and  edible parts.  He  also gives a brief history of the plant, and nutrient and phytochemical breakdown.  This makes for a very interesting read.  His book not only teaches you a lot about plants, but also a little history behind the plant.

The next part of each chapter is where he really breaks down the plant.  He starts by describing the life cycle of the plant, gives some interesting definitions of different words he is using. And lots of pictures.  I think the book is worth buying just because of the plant pictures in different forms.  He usually shows what the plant looks like in the early stages and in the later stages of its life. 

Next he will describe when to harvest the plant and what parts are good to eat.  He will describe when a plant is prime for harvesting, and what parts are good to harvest.  This makes looking for edible plants a lot more fun.  You can find the plants in the early stage, and help them along to make them even more tasty. 

Lastly, each chapter has at least one recipe that will help highlight a good use of the plant.  These recipes are unique for each plant, and I have found several that I would love to try this spring and summer when my local wild plants start coming up.

If you are interested in spending a little more time outdoors this summer, and doing a little gathering.  I highly recommend Dr. Kalla's book.  It's the perfect companion to your adventures in both hunting and fishing.  I can't think of a better way to fix dinner than with foods you've gathered yourself. 

Spring Gardening

Depending on where you live it's just about time time to put in a garden for the spring.  Spring gardens are great way to start off the season.  They are usually plants that are relatively quick to grow, they are nutritious, and they can give you something do if you're not into cold weather fishing. 

Depending on where you live, some plants can only be grown in the spring.  They require cooler temperatures so that the plant won't bolt.  (Bolting refers to the act of a plant quickly adding growth so that it can produce seed).  Plants that are likely to bolt during the hot summer months include cucumbers, lettuces, other greens, and other similar plants.  There are a few places in the United States where you could grow these all year, but that's about all you could grow in those climates. 

I went with a small variety of lettuces, a type of peas, cucumbers, spinach and carrots.  I planted about two weeks ago, when we had a false spring.  This was probably a mistake on my part.  Not two days later, we had a week long cold front come through, and even had a little snow.  We'll see what happens to my small plot in a few more weeks.  Luckily, we've also had enough rain, that I didn't have to worry about watering my plants right now. 

A lot of what you grow, and how you grow it depends on how much room you have, and how much experience you have.  I don't have much of either.  I'm just winging it right now.  One success I can report is that my no-till method that I blogged about last year (http://twentyfirstcenturyrenaissanceman.blogspot.com/2012/08/how-to-no-till-gardening.html) really helped my soil.  I had maybe an inch of good soil for growing, and the rest was hard clay.  I noticed this year that the good soil was much deeper.  Hopefully, this will translate to a better harvest this year.  I'll report back when I actually get to harvest something. 

I noticed that my cucumbers grew really well during the fall.  I decided to plant some pickling cucumbers this spring, because we really liked the fridge pickles I was able to make last year.  I'll add that recipe in a few weeks. 

We really like to eat salads around my house, but even if you don't, planting a spring garden is a great way to start getting the soil ready for you're summer plantings.  This is a practice referred to as cover crops.  Anytime a plant is growing in soil, it will draw up nutrients, loosen the soil, and keep beneficial organisms around. 

All in all a spring garden is a great way to get ready for the summer time.  You don't need a lot of space to plant, but any space used for gardening will repay many times over in great tasting food. 

One last note about fishing.  If you can brave the cold weather, right now is a great time to catch some big blue catfish.  They are just starting to come out of the winter blues, and starting to feed in the shallows on baitfish.  Get you the biggest minnows you can, and thread it through the back with a circle hook.  Throw on a big weight, and cast it out.  One guy I saw last week caught a 20-30 pounder from the bank with a big minnow. 

Why I Hunt

Today I thought I would write a more philosophical post.  Yesterday was the last day I would be able to hunt until September of next year.  The last weekend of hunting season always make a little sad.  I had several goals this year, only one of which I accomplished.  It sure wasn't for lack of trying.  I hunted every weekend since September 1st.  I did take January off because my daughter was on the girls basketball team.  Good times.  On to philosophy.  

Contrary to popular belief, I don't believe that most hunters hunt to kill.  I don't even like that term in relation to the sport of hunting.  I prefer to use the term harvest.  Less negative connotations with harvesting an animal as opposed to killing it.  My goal for this season was to harvest a squirrel, a rabbit, a deer, and a duck.  Of those goals I only got a squirrel, I actually think my season total was four.  Seems like a lot of wasted time for little payback.  I think I walked over 40 miles this year, and I spent at least 160 hours in the woods.  So for every full week of "work", I was rewarded with about a half pound of meat.  Seems like a waste of time.  But I don't hunt to harvest animals.  

No, I hunt to enjoy a simpler life.  There is something magical about being in the woods before dark.  There is something magical in watching two ducks burst forth from a hidden pond, I didn't know existed.  Just watching them climb to sky and quack to let every other animal in the woods know there is a predator nearby is magical.  That is one reason why I hunt.  To see all of God's majestic creations in their natural glory.

I hunt because I like to think I'm smarter than a wild animal.  I'm wrong.  When most people think of squirrels.  They think of city squirrels, the ones that chase each other all around a tree, and will sit there and eat nuts while you watch them in the park.  A forest squirrel is a completely different creature.  One wrong step, and all you will see is a bounding bushy tail, before it's up a tree and and always running up the side you are not on.  Yep, forest squirrels are some of the most wary creatures in the world.  If you don't believe me, take a trip to one of the public forested areas in your state.  And try and count how many you actually see.  I like to refer to them as tree ninjas.  I've seen them jump from twigs and land on other twigs that even birds won't dare land on.  That's why I hunt, to see God's creations show me how stupid I really am.

I hunt because I have to be shown how much I have to learn.  I learn where deer are bedding down at night, I learn what beavers do in their spare time, I learn where squirrels like to hide nuts.  I learn that wild creatures are just as lazy as I am.  They tend to make the same trails year after year.  There is something magical about watching an animal trail appear in the middle of the forest.  That's why I hunt to see what God can teach me about life.  

I hunt to see all of God's glory expressed in the natural places.

Frost Flower

Box Turtle

Stick Bug

Skink

 

Wild Garlic, I think

Mushroom Covered Log

Circle of Trees

I hunt to find God's "treasures" like these. 

Growing Garlic and Green Onions

Growing Garlic

I never realized how easy it was to grow garlic.  If you have a small space in your backyard, you can also grow your own garlic.  Growing your own food is a big part of being a renaissance man.  Growing garlic is not essential to being able to feed yourself, but it can be a useful ingredient in many dishes.  And since it is so easy to grow, I ask why not add it to your garden.  

The first step in growing garlic, is to buy some garlic. Simple I know.  Split the garlic into cloves, and put in a jar with some baking soda.  Let the garlic soak overnight.  Now dig a row in the backyard, and plant the garlic with the little end up, about 6 inches apart.  It's best to do this in December, but it's better late than never.  

Growing Green Onions

Green onions are great little plants that are good in a variety of dishes.  We use them in enchiladas, quesadillas, mashed potatoes, baked potatoes, and other dishes that need a little kick.  Once you buy a set of green onions, why not use them to grow some more.  

There are several ways to grow green onions.  The two ways I like both use the bulb from onions that you have already purchased at the grocery store.  When you use the onions, cut off the green parts, but leave the white bulbs alone.  The easiest way to grow these onions is to take the bulbs and place in a jar of water on a window seal.  That's it, after a few weeks, you'll have brand new onions like these.  

Green onions grown from cuttings

I'm not sure how many times you cold regrow onions like this.  I think that if you kept the water clean, and added some liquid fertilizer, you could have fresh green onions all summer and winter.  I'm going to try and keep these alive as long as possible.

Second Growth

Probably the better way to keep the plantings alive as long as possible is to grow them in the garden.  I've done this unintentionally all fall and all winter long.  I would take the bulbs whenever we used them and throw them out in the garden.  One day I looked and noticed that I had "wild" green onions growing in my garden.  I would plant them much like I suggested with the garlic.  Dig a row in your garden, plant them about 6 inches apart.  Again, I imagine that if you only cut off the green parts, you could keep the plantings alive all summer long and probably through the fall.  I've got a couple in my garden that have survived snow, frost, freezing rain, and other winter related catastrophes.  If you like green onions and want a fresh supply all year long.  I would keep some on the windowsill, and some in the garden. I have managed to get a second growth from my the green onions I bought a few weeks.

Edit:  The second weeks growth didn't go so well.  I'm not sure if I should have changed the water more often,  or tried some liquid fertilizer.  The bases started to rot, so I planted them in my garden for the spring.

Edit: The second growth green onions I planted in my garden did extremely well.  I used some with some catfish we caught this weekend, and they were pretty tasty.

So in conclusion, you can grow and regrow green onions from the white bases using both a jar full of water, and by planting them directly in the ground.  I suggest the ground option as this seems to require less work on my part.  

Another Edit:  Since I haven't blogged had a chance to write a quality post in a while, I haven't.  I can tell you one thing, green onion bases planted in the garden will not die ever.  I have now harvest almost every week from the ones I planted earlier this year.  Not only do I have plenty of fresh green onions, I also harvested and froze 2 quarts worth of them for meals later on this year.  

How-to: Change A Tire

I've taken a long break from blogging. Between the holidays, starting a new job, and taking on new clients from my small business, it's been a busy few months. On to today's topic.

This may seem like a basic topic today, but it is one that all renaissance men need to know. I must admit, that I didn't know how to properly change a tire just a few short years ago. Also, the next post is going to be about changing the brakes on your vehicle. This will be difficult without knowing how to jack up your vehicle, remove the tire and replace it.

The most important thing I can say about changing your tire, is buy the proper tools. The proper tools always make working on your car so much easier. I've used scissor jacks, bottle jacks, and floor jacks. Buy the best one you can afford. I use bottle jacks, but you must use caution with them. They can be very dangerous if you're not careful. The best jacks to buy in my opinion are floor jacks. They are relatively safe, easy to use, and they make lifting a car a very simple and easy procedure.

I'll show you how to use a bottle jack safely and effectively. When using a bottle jack, you must always consider being safe. To be safe, always use a jack stand. Put the jack stand under the frame first, then put the bottle jack next to it. See the picture below.

Bottle Jack and Jack Stand

Proper Jack and Stand Placement when jacking up your car

Jacking the car is easy, make sure the little screw is tightened, and start to jack the car. When the car starts to lift, make sure the jack is secure and make sure the stand is in place in case either the car or the jack starts to shift.

Once the tire is able to be rotate freely, the car is high enough. To remove the tire is easy, use a tire iron, and loosen the bolts so that you turn them freely with your fingers. If the bolts are too tight to turn, you will have to use your weight. Put your foot on the iron, and apply a steady pressure to the bolt until it "breaks" free. Breaking free is a term used to say that the bolt can be turned freely with your fingers.

Take all the bolts off, and make sure you put them in a safe secure place. You do not want to lose them. They are easy to misplace when you are working on your car. Take the tire off, grab a new tire, and put it back in place.

The next step is one of the most important. Start putting a bolt back on, and hand tighten it. To replace the bolts you want to use a star pattern. See picture below. Hand tighten all the bolts, the use your tire iron to make sure all the bolts are snug. This is another time that you will want to use your weight to make sure all the bolts are tightened as tight as you can get them.

Star Pattern for Tightening Bolts

That's all there is to it. You've changed your tire. Next week changing your breaks.

This was a barebones approach to changing your tire. You can make things a lot easier by spending some money and buying some new tools. If you can afford it, I would buy the best floor jack I could get. I would then buy air compressor. An air compressor will make it easier to remove the bolts and and make sure they tightened properly. See you next week.

Trapping

Trapping is one of the skills that built this country.  Some would consider trapping inhumane, and dangerous.  As with all hunting and fishing pursuits, there are those who don't take the time and do things right.  These give all outdoorsmen a bad name.  Trapping, when done right, is a great way to control local populations of furbearers.  Every state has it's own rules, so make sure you contact you're local wildlife enforcement division (Game and Fish, Department of Wildlife Resources, so on and so forth), and get the official rules on what you can and cannot do. 

I think that anyone who considers himself a renaissance man is really just interested in being self sufficient.  One part of being self sufficient is finding ways to make a little extra money to fund those side projects that you can't justify on your current salary.  You're never going to get rich trapping fur.  (You may, but I don't think anybody wants the socioeconomic changes that would entail).  You can make some extra money, and maybe have a little fun doing it on the side. 

I'm lucky in that I have a wooded area behind my house to trap.  Since I don't have a lot of time, I will be concentrating on this area during the week, and on the weekends I may run a few sets at the local Wildlife Management Area.  I'm primarily going to target raccoons.  Raccoons are supposed to be pretty easy to trap, so we'll see.  A good first set for raccoons is the bucket set.  You must be careful for with this set though, it's called a killing set.  If your neighbors have cats or small dogs, do not use this set.  It is unforgiving.  It will kill the target animal.  You have a little more leeway on public ground, every has the right to use it, and you have to right to trap there.  But still you must use common sense.  If you know that some guy has been hunting rabbits in the area with beagles, don't set you're traps there.  While this is perfectly legal, it's unethical.  You wouldn't like it if you're neighbor injured or killed your pet, now would you? 

If you're like me, you want to try you're hand and trapping without a huge investment.  You may like it, you may not.  I would suggest starting out with a dozen traps, and a dozen square buckets.  I just bought some and they set me back about $125.  I figure that if I can trap around 25 coons, I should be able to make my money back.  Set your sights low, and you won't be disappointed.  I think with a dozen traps, and a season that lasts about 120 days in my state, I should be able to trap enough coons to make the traps pay for themselves.  If I like it, then I can buy more traps, and increase my target catches.  One thing I would love to trap are bobcats and coyotes.  While coyotes aren't worth much, a nice bobcat can bring in some nice cash.

Coyote populations are exploding at alarming rates in many states.  Coyotes are opportunistic feeders.  By trapping coyotes, you will help out all the local species that you might like to hunt.  Coyotes will kill deer, rabbits, squirrels, turkeys, and many other species.  They can also be very bold, there have been reports of coyotes killing pets.  By all means please trap them.  I could write a whole article on why killing coyotes is a good idea, but I won't.  Suffice it to say, that they have good qualities in small quantities, but in large quantities they are a scourge on American soil.

What follows is a simple bucket set.  You will need a trap, and a square bucket.  There are several different sizes of traps.  A lot of your trap selection will depend on what your local regulations prescribe.  Where I hunt and trap, the largest trap I can use is one with a 6 inch jaw spread.  This means that I can use #160.  I went with Dukes, but there are several manufacturers out there.  Just google for it, and you will find several places that will sell you traps.  This trap size is just right for raccoon, possums, and muskrats.  It will also work for bobcats, and some foxes.  Again, this is a killing set.  Keep that in mind, when you decide to start trapping.  While the raccoon trapping season around here opens in September, I can't make this set until November when the rest of our seasons are open.  While my chances of catching a bobcat or fox are low, they are still high enough, that I don't want to get caught with out of season furs. 

The next thing you are going to need is a bucket.  You can use round buckets, but conventional wisdom states to use square buckets.  You can find square buckets in lots of places, but I'm lazy, and just paid an extra $25 for mine when I ordered my traps.  If you want to try and scrounge some up, ask around at local eating establishments.  Lots of condiments come in square buckets, butter, mayo, pickles, and so on.  You can probably get a lot more than you will need for trapping.  The good thing is that plastic buckets always come in handy around the house.  So you can never have too many. 

Once you have a trap and a bucket, you will need to make a small notch in the bucket to hold the trap.  Place the trap in the notch, set and you're ready to go.  Of course, trapping is harder than that. You need to set the buckets in places that animals are already going to be, and you will need some bait.  There is a whole industry built around trapping baits, and there are more articles online about that special bait than you could probably read in a lifetime  For my raccoon trapping, I've been stocking up on sardines from the grocery store, and I'll also buy some apples.  Raccoons love fish, and fruit.  I've also read that apples are good for muskrats.  Sardines can also be used for bobcats.  This should give me a wide range of catches. 

Finding a good place to set a trap for an animal is hard work.  You will need to do lots of scouting to find just the right spot.  The only tip I can give you right now is to do like I do.  Find an area with a with a stream or creek in it, and set you're traps there.  I've trapped a few coons and possums in my backyard with a live cage trap, so I know that they are using the ditch behind my fence as a travel way.  I've seen tracks at my local WMA around some of the creeks, so I know this will also be a good spot to set traps.  Other than that, you will have to scout hard to trap wild animals. 

I will get some pictures up later this week.

Election Day 2012

I'm sure that if you are still reading this blog, you are probably as sick of the campaigning as I am.  Bear with me for a few minutes.  I'm not going to tell you who I'm voting for, I'm not going to campaign on behalf of any party, or political candidate.  What I am going to do is tell you why this election matters. 

This election matters, but not in the way you think.  I'm sure that the only thing on your mind is Barack Obama or Mitt Romney.  I'm here to tell you that honestly you should vote for the candidate that you believe will do the best job, but I'm also going to tell you that your vote for the president almost won't matter.  Don't get me wrong, all votes count, and you should really should vote.  But the important elections tomorrow aren't for the president.  The important elections are local.  I'm sure that you will be voting for local judges, state senates, state representatives, mayors, even alderman.

I've struggled with these thoughts for a long time.  How can I change the world?  What can I, as one person do, to make the world a better place.  And I'm here to tell you that local elections are the place to start. 

Barack Obama didn't wake up one day, and find himself in a political campaign to be President of the United States of America.  No, he woke up one day and wanted to run for the Illinois senate.  After that he decided to run for Congress, and finally to run for President.  Maybe this was his plan all along.  I'm sure it was at some point in his mind, that he wanted to be president of this country.  What kid doesn't want to be president one day.

The local elections are more important in the short term and long term.  Tired of that road to the interstate full of potholes?  Then call you're local mayor, and tell him to fix it.  Call your state senator, and tell him you're county needs more road money.  They may not listen to you, but this is where local elections matter.  You can vote against him, and they will know why you voted against them.  You can call the other candidate, and ask him what he intends to do about your bad road.  He may still lie to you, but at least you can hold him accountable to his promises.  You can't hold national offices accountable.  I wish you could, but you are just one of millions of people.  Neither Obama, or Romney actually cares about you.  They can't.  There are too many millions of other people to think about. 

I've read that we should think globally, but act locally.  That is why this election matters.  If you hold your mayor accountable, who knows maybe one day he'll be able to run for president, and then guess what he will care about you.  He'll care about millions of others also, but he will know that without the support of the local community, he would still just be a local guy. 

In closing, make sure you vote tomorrow.  Vote for every office that is on the ballot, but don't just vote because the person has an R or a D next to his name.  Go home tonight and look up the local candidates and vote for the one that will do the best job for you.  (And if he doesn't, go to his office and explain why he's failing at serving you, he might just change his mind). 

Next week:  I'll be talking about trapping.