I'm not a survivalist per se, even though I improved my personal best every day for consecutive days of being alive.
That said, I know many survivors. They are mostly men and fall into two camps: responsible older men determined to survive through what they see as difficult times that they hope will never come. The other camp consists of young men who think along the lines of Rambo: a gun and a mountain peak are all they need, plus a few sex ointments. They fear that society will fall apart. Now that the group is in charge, the issue of edible wild plants inevitably comes up. I have a lot of people saying they plan to come to my house if there is ever a food shortage. However, I think there are some misnomers about nourished soil life.
I often walk fifteen kilometers or leisurely cycle about thirty kilometers. And when I do that, I make note of what edible plants I see along the way and what kind of meal or meals I might make at the end of the day. When you do that inventory, three things often emerge. One of these is that every opportunity for food had to be taken, no matter how meager. Secondly, gathering and preparing the food would take most of the time. And finally, catching a few critters makes the whole endeavor that much more worthwhile.
Let's take them backwards. When I'm walking or cycling this time of year, I usually see a turtle. In really tough times it would also be dinner, breakfast and the next dinner. In fact, it's easy to get – to pick up – and a huge concentration of the things our bodies want and need. All life feeds on the living, even vegetarians (who seem to discriminate against vegetables just by eating them). The turtle I see every time would keep me alive for another day or two. (It's protected, by the way.)
The next thing is time. It would take a long time to find enough food to survive each day. Sometimes there was something very special, such as a grape harvest, but usually it took a long time before enough was found to live on. And then you have to collect firewood, find clean water, prepare and cook the food. There are only so many hours in a day. It's hard for one person to do all the things that need to be done to survive, let alone thrive.
Then there's the variety, or specifically the lack thereof. Here in Florida I can always count on someBiden albaleaves to eat, some acorns to wash, cattails, lichens, nettle roots, seasonal fruits, seasonal leaves and other seasonal nuts. Sustainable perhaps, but there will also be lean days, weeks, months and seasons. Even worse, the menu will be the same and only change seasonally.
Compare that to someone who can fish. A medium sized fish and you won't starve that day. Although fishing requires some skill, it is not difficult to learn. (Personally, I have five cast nets and almost never come home to an empty fishing basket.) The hunter, more controversially, gets even more food than the fisherman, but it requires much more skill, and of course a weapon, which is much more difficult. come and make a fishing rod, line and hooks. (While trapping can also be part of hunting, it also requires more skill than fishing and takes longer to learn.)
And then there's the foraging, which we started with. Although foraging is close to my heart, it is the skill that takes the longest to learn and produces the least amount of calories, typically 34% of a hunter/gatherer's calorie needs. It also takes the most time. It all seems to indicate, especially for my survivalist friends, that learning to fish would be a priority, then hunting, and foraging later. In fact, fishing and trapping can be very effective because they can be done while doing something else that needs to be done, such as setting up camp. Oddly enough, foraging can still have greater long-term value than fishing or hunting.
If we were ever in true survival mode where we had to gather our food (by hand, hook or Colt 45), fish would be the first food to run out. Animals next. Plants last a long time, and there may simply be fewer people around at that time. So even for the survivor, foraging can have value, even for Rambos. Many survivors, who like to think they are a breed apart, have this in common with most people: they don't know much about plants, and like many people, they simply ignore them. They think all they need is a good foraging book with pictures. That mentality also extends to gardening, because all you have to do is put the seeds in the ground. Gardening is humbling and it takes about ten years of study to be able to produce what you want to produce, when you want to produce it.
I love foraging because it makes me feel part of the world I am in, whether the community is together or falling apart. I look for pleasure and taste, whether society is tactful or not. And while I don't expect society to fall apart, I like the idea that I can find something to eat almost anywhere.
