Canuck Cacti

TX prickly pear jelly - we swirled them around a colander under cold water for about 20+ min... I imagine you could use a stream to a similar effect...

it taste good and it helps with constipation ;)



 
That is a great book. I have a few from that collection and enjoy carrying it around in the bush. British Colombia has a lot to offer in plant diversity, but sometimes that makes identifying a edible plant difficult. (well for me anyway)
 
upnorth said:
Yes, in the west on south facing slopes. I have seen it, surprisingly, quite a ways to the north. I wanted to see if the fruits made it through winter and were an emergency food source, but I couldn't find any in the snow last year. The larger fruiting ears must die off as the Cactus is barely a clump of nubs in spring. Other than catching small game, deer and buffalo, I really don't know how the Indians made it through the bitter winters out on the northern prairies. Maybe they smoked a lot of meat ?
Click to expand...

Pemmican was a food staple in the winter months-dried and ground bison, berries etc-very nutritious and high calorie. Along with other dried and stored nuts and grains and meat.

And, thanks for posting, I have never seen a cactus in Canada! And if I did I don't think I would have eaten it.
Problem with wild edibles and me is that I get into learning about them in the winter months and then once warmer weather comes I get side tracked with all the other things I wanna do. Good on ya for making time and sharing!
 
Sullie said:
Pemmican was a food staple in the winter months-dried and ground bison, berries etc-very nutritious and high calorie. Along with other dried and stored nuts and grains and meat.

And, thanks for posting, I have never seen a cactus in Canada! And if I did I don't think I would have eaten it.
Problem with wild edibles and me is that I get into learning about them in the winter months and then once warmer weather comes I get side tracked with all the other things I wanna do. Good on ya for making time and sharing!
Click to expand...

I have to clean the car trunk out. I still have a few big cracked buffalo bones in it. I find them on the river shore were Pemmican was processed for fur trade posts. I have been trying to find an intact buff skull for years. A few years ago I found a buffalo rib sticking out of the river bank. I pulled it out and it had a perfect diamond shape puncture in it, from a stone tipped arrow. The arrow didn't pass through but the bone was punctured on both sides and a crack line ran about 6-7 inches down along the rib. It was a rare and fascinating find, to me anyway. The rib was very old\fragile and the day was cold , wet, and pizzy. I tripped later on and the bone was kind of munched. I still kept it as a rare find until I found a large silver fur trade broach from the late 1700's on a nearby site, later that day. I tossed the buggered up rib. I kind of wish that I kept it now..................
 
ISKski said:
TX prickly pear jelly - we swirled them around a colander under cold water for about 20+ min... I imagine you could use a stream to a similar effect...

it taste good and it helps with constipation ;)



Click to expand...

Cool post buddy. :thumbup:
 
upnorth said:
I have to clean the car trunk out. I still have a few big cracked buffalo bones in it. I find them on the river shore were Pemmican was processed for fur trade posts. I have been trying to find an intact buff skull for years. A few years ago I found a buffalo rib sticking out of the river bank. I pulled it out and it had a perfect diamond shape puncture in it, from a stone tipped arrow. The arrow didn't pass through but the bone was punctured on both sides and a crack line ran about 6-7 inches down along the rib. It was a rare and fascinating find, to me anyway. The rib was very old\fragile and the day was cold , wet, and pizzy. I tripped later on and the bone was kind of munched. I still kept it as a rare find until I found a large silver fur trade broach from the late 1700's on a nearby site, later that day. I tossed the buggered up rib. I kind of wish that I kept it now..................
Click to expand...

Awesome finds! You should start a thread for things you find in the bush.
I'd love to see some pics of your finds
 
Sullie said:
Awesome finds! You should start a thread for things you find in the bush.
I'd love to see some pics of your finds
Click to expand...

Thanks. I might just do that. I have always found the outdoors to be multi faceted in regard to my interests. There is so much out there to do. Mushrooms, fishing, metal detecting, camping, knife\axe use, indigenous plant uses, on and on. But then these aren't really specific ''wilderness and bush craft skills'', for the most part, as they seem to be defined here. People should realize by now that this topic area is so narrowly focused that very little new info can be brought to table. And old topics just keep getting recycled through the forum endlessly.
 
Cool, those look the same as the cactus that can be found in and around point pelee, ontario. Got a couple of that series of books as well, the trees one and birds one.
 
Sharp_Canadian said:
Cool, those look the same as the cactus that can be found in and around point pelee, ontario. Got a couple of that series of books as well, the trees one and birds one.
Click to expand...

I grew up around Oshawa\Bowmanville. There is a ton of asparagus all around the Newcastle area countryside, and a bit further east. The big white puff ball mushrooms should be showing up in the apple orchards also around this time, give or take.
 
Love working with that cacti. We have similar types out here in CA. Great grilled on tacos or fried like green fried tomatoes.

As a chef I've activley pursued wild edilbes, and more times than not, it's a great wealth of knowledge not tapped often enough. Most of the greens we consider "weeds" in North America are ounce for ounce more nutritous than any cultivated green. As Upnorth pointed out, I always advise newbies to excersie the unless you're 100% sure, don't eat it policy. Mushrooms are just the same, lots of look alikes, but easy to identify once you nkow what you're lokoing for. I'll get a photo or two up of some of my favorite earlier resources.
 
B34NS said:
Love working with that cacti. We have similar types out here in CA. Great grilled on tacos or fried like green fried tomatoes.

As a chef I've activley pursued wild edilbes, and more times than not, it's a great wealth of knowledge not tapped often enough. Most of the greens we consider "weeds" in North America are ounce for ounce more nutritous than any cultivated green. As Upnorth pointed out, I always advise newbies to excersie the unless you're 100% sure, don't eat it policy. Mushrooms are just the same, lots of look alikes, but easy to identify once you nkow what you're lokoing for. I'll get a photo or two up of some of my favorite earlier resources.
Click to expand...

Shaggy mane mushrooms have been popping up for the last few weeks. I just can't find enough at one spot, on any given time, to use for soup etc. Shaggies basically turn to mush over night in the fridge, they are very perishable.
 
upnorth said:
I grew up around Oshawa\Bowmanville. There is a ton of asparagus all around the Newcastle area countryside, and a bit further east. The big white puff ball mushrooms should be showing up in the apple orchards also around this time, give or take.
Click to expand...

Plenty now that fall is here. I've never eaten one
And prefer to find them when they are brown and puff when you step on them. :P wish I had pictures of a couple I've found, the size of large snow globes.
 
Sharp_Canadian said:
Plenty now that fall is here. I've never eaten one
And prefer to find them when they are brown and puff when you step on them. :P wish I had pictures of a couple I've found, the size of large snow globes.
Click to expand...

I have found the puff balls about the size of a large grapefruit before. I just sliced and fried with butter and pepper. I remember knocking down a bunch of pigeons with a .410 once in a farm field when I was a young teenager back then. I came around a bush and they were pecking the corn out of some spread cow s..t. BOOM. I let fly and about 3-4 ? went down. I couldn't believe that I did that with a .410. I was only about 20-30 ? feet from the birds as they rose in a group. I cooked the pigeon up, just to try them. The meat was a greyish colour and reminded me of chicken.
 
Haha isn't that squab? I heard they're pretty good when young.... And no where close to city limits. Remember once when I was young-er I beaned two partridge with one shot from my old cooey 84 .410. One was flying and the other perched in a tree, pure luck but I still tell everyone to this day :P
 
upnorth said:
Shaggy mane mushrooms have been popping up for the last few weeks. I just can't find enough at one spot, on any given time, to use for soup etc. Shaggies basically turn to mush over night in the fridge, they are very perishable.
Click to expand...

Love em! Tis the season! I hear that, I've had similar problems with them keeping in the past as well, but had good luck with dehydrating them in the oven.

Love doing it with morels for soups and stocks too
pl5kZH0l.jpg
 
Sharp_Canadian said:
Haha isn't that squab? I heard they're pretty good when young.... And no where close to city limits. Remember once when I was young-er I beaned two partridge with one shot from my old cooey 84 .410. One was flying and the other perched in a tree, pure luck but I still tell everyone to this day :P
Click to expand...

The old Cooey.22's. :D Kind of wish that I still had one. I sold all my firearms off years ago. I used to whack ducks and geese out here, and I have been jaw boning about them a bit, to the wife. Maybe I'll go through all that PAL or whatever malarkey and get a smoke pole again for the geese. I hunted for decades and bought guns when they had the old original FAC for ten bucks or whatever, at 16 years old.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top