I am not much of a forager. However, the Carduan Chronicles is forcing me to learn more about foraging. One book to read is “Foraging the Ozarks” by Bo Brown.
Ozark Survival
One of the ships in the Carduan Chronicles lands in a Ozark ravine. Those on board are stranded and must learn to live on this strange, new planet.
An immediate need is food. The Carduans must discover which plants growing wild in a ravine and old pasture are edible and which parts of the plants taste good.
As a Writer
I am a gardener, not a forager. Many years ago I wrote a Nature Note column for a local paper and met an old woman who had grown up foraging. She introduced me to several so-called weeds that were good to eat.
Most of these plants were brought over from Europe and grow wild. But they prefer disturbed places like gardens and lawns. They are rarely found out on the hills and in the ravines.
Most foraging books focus on these common plants. I needed to learn about the others. “Foraging the Ozarks” is a book including many of these other plants.
The Next Step
It’s fine to read about these edible plants. The problem is that I must rely on someone else’s opinion about them.
This leaves me looking for and taste testing these wild plants. I’ve found many of them before taking pictures for my Dent count Flora project. Now I’m looking them up again to take a nibble of leaves and fruit. Many do have edible roots, but I hate to dig the plants up.
A final consideration is the size of the plants. The Carduans are only four inches tall. Trees might present very big problems for them.
