Survival Contest!

H

Hoodoo

Joined
Aug 18, 1999
Messages
2,355
OK guys here's a contest for ya. It's based on edible plants (I liked fracmieister's contest so much in the for sale forum (http://www.bladeforums.com/ubb/Forum7/HTML/017848.html), I thought I'd try something similar here.)

Rules:
1. Name all 9 plants. Since common names vary, and since identification of edible plants is essential in a survival situation, you must identify each plant by genus. That's the first part of their scientific name.

2. One of the plants is poisonous. Indicate which one.

3. The prize is a knife. You must also identify the name of the knife and the manufacturer {a gimme).

If all plants are not identified, the one who first identifies the most plants wins. The cutoff time is arbitrary.
wink.gif


Here are the plants:
http://www4.gvsu.edu/triert/images/edibleplants1.jpg

And here's the knife:
http://www4.gvsu.edu/triert/images/x1.jpg

Giver 'er!
smile.gif


------------------
Hoodoo

I get some pleasure from finding a relentlessly peaceful use for a combative looking knife.
JKM


[This message has been edited by Hoodoo (edited 05-29-2001).]
 
Kinda quite in here, isn't it?
smile.gif
Reminds me of a story from Bradford Angier's book, How to Stay Alive in the Woods:

"One day you may be boating down the Peace River near the start of its more than 2000 mile journey, inland to Great Slave Lake and thence as the Mackenzie to the Arctic Ocean. Soon after the headwaters of this wilderness highway mingle in the Continental Trough, the river turns abruptly eastward to flow with surprising tranquility through the entire range of the Rocky Mountains. If you will watch the left shore after chuting through the minor turbulence known as Finlay Rapids, your eyes will likely as not catch the platinum gleam of Lost Cabin Creek.

Here it was at the turn of the century, during those apical days on the world's gold-fever chart, that four prospectors shared the cabin from which the stream has taken its name. Their grubstake dwindling, three watched with growing helplessness the first of their number die, by which time the survivors themselves had become so feeble that they lacked the vigor to open the frozen ground outside.

They buried their companion in the only spot they could find earth still loose enough to dig. A second prospector died and had also to be there interred. Before the fourth succumbed, he had by himself managed to scoop out enough of a grave so that a third emaciated body could join the others already beneath the cabin floor.

Yet as you will be able to testify from what you can see while boating past Lost Cabin Creek, and as I can substantiate from having camped there on several occasions, the vicinity abounds with wild edibles."

------------------
Hoodoo

I get some pleasure from finding a relentlessly peaceful use for a combative looking knife.
JKM
 
All right, all right…..
Lemme give it a shot just to show that we don’t get scared of some veggies
smile.gif


Here it goes:

1-Wild hyacinth (eastern camass) (Scamassia scilloides)

2-Yellow goat’s beard (Tragopogon pratensis_

3-It could be anything based on photo but I would put my vote on purslane (Portulaca oleracea)

4-Chickweed (Stelleria media)

5-Mustard (Brassica nigra)

6-Now, this is the bad boy (poisoneous) IMHO: false hellebore/indian poke (Veratrum viride)

7-Bulrush (Scirpus acutus)

8-Fireweed (Epilobium angustifolium)

9-Sheep or common sorrel (Rumex acetosella)

Now comes the knife part. The knife looks to me like the good old discontinued Schrade Volverine in Schrade+ SS steel as it reads on the blade stamp (
wink.gif
).

Thanks Hoodoo for the generous offer and the entertaining contest.

HM
 
What's a "Volverine"? Sounds like some creature with an appetite for boxy automobiles
tongue.gif
tongue.gif


This is one I'll never win (all my books are in boxes at the moment).
Nice one, Hoodoo
smile.gif


 
Volverine or wolverine....heck, what difference does it make in the course of the planets? Right, Oven
wink.gif
?

Have a good day,

HM
 
Actually Volverine is correct. This was a special production run contracted out to those people in Sweden who make boxes.
wink.gif


------------------
Hoodoo

I get some pleasure from finding a relentlessly peaceful use for a combative looking knife.
JKM
 
<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by HM:
All right, all right…..
Lemme give it a shot just to show that we don’t get scared of some veggies
smile.gif


Here it goes:

1-Wild hyacinth (eastern camass) (Scamassia scilloides)close enough

2-Yellow goat’s beard (Tragopogon pratensis_correct

3-It could be anything based on photo but I would put my vote on purslane (Portulaca oleracea)Amaranthus

4-Chickweed (Stelleria media)correct

5-Mustard (Brassica nigra)correct

6-Now, this is the bad boy (poisoneous) IMHO: false hellebore/indian poke (Veratrum viride)correct

7-Bulrush (Scirpus acutus)correct

8-Fireweed (Epilobium angustifolium)correct

9-Sheep or common sorrel (Rumex acetosella)correct

Now comes the knife part. The knife looks to me like the good old discontinued Schrade Volverine in Schrade+ SS steel as it reads on the blade stamp (
wink.gif
).Volverine it is
smile.gif


Thanks Hoodoo for the generous offer and the entertaining contest.

HM</font>
Click to expand...

 
Well, I've carefully and painstakingly compiled and tabulated the results, fed it into my state of the art, Y2K Survival Computer, and ran it through a rigorous statistical analysis. The results indicate that HM is the winner, clearly outperforming all his fellow competitors. Congratulations HM! BTW, I was impressed.
smile.gif


So...email me your snail mail address and I will send you a rare, collectible, stainless steel, they-no-longer-makeum, brand spankin' new, Schrade Volverine.
smile.gif


------------------
Hoodoo

I get some pleasure from finding a relentlessly peaceful use for a combative looking knife.
JKM
 
YEAH-HOOOOOOO!!!!!!!! Great news!!!!

Hoodoo, thanks for the great prize and the less-than-trivial contest. We all appreciate your generosity and devotion to this forum. Contests like this are fun, educating and amusing to me. Also, I might have had a lucky day or something. At least with the plants…..
Hoodoo, check your mail tonight
smile.gif


Special thanks to OwenM for his special congrats
smile.gif


Best,

HM
 
I am very impressed, both with the author of the contest and the winner. I admit..I could NOT identify all of the plants and I know about the knife, but have never enjoyed viewing it.

I would like to extend this subject one step further with a "simple" question. I have no idea as to what the answer is and to that extent I hope to learn.

Do edible plants have nutritional value or, as some maintain, no...they are just stomach fillers. If they do, what are the values...vitimans, minerals, high in fiber, etc.? I am not looking for % of daily value per serving as established by the USDA (that would be nice...flip the leaf over and read away). If they have nutritional elements, does anyone know...are some loaded with those elements while others are marginal?

For example....yes they do and the one you should look for to get the highest value per plant is........ . Inquisitive mind needs to know.
 
Empty minds need to know too.....

------------------
The wise man said, "It can't be done." The fool came in and did it.

Muddy water is best cleared by leaving it alone.

Take the Test...
 
I think it's a common misconception that wild edibles are basically something that tastes really bad and will--just barely--prevent you from starving to death.

If you know what to look for and how to prepare it, wild foods are great. Back in the early 80s, I was part of a wild foods group and was fortunate to sample all kinds of wonderful wild food preparations. Not just grunge food but excellent, tasty, nutritious food.

Anyway, the nutrient content of some wild foods is available in the Handbook of the Nutritional Contents of Foods, a USDA publication.

For example, for a 100 g portion of Lambs Quarters (~3.5 ounces), you get: 43 calories, 4.2 g protein, 0.8 g fat, 7.3 g carbohydrate, 309 mg calcium, 72 mg Phosphorous, 1.2 mg Iron, 11,600 IU Vit A, 0.16 mg Thiamine, 0.44 mg Riboflavin, 1.2 mg Niacin, and 80 mg Ascorbic acid.


------------------
Hoodoo

I get some pleasure from finding a relentlessly peaceful use for a combative looking knife.
JKM
 
Thank you for the referance material and comments. Like many people I have on occasion eaten wild plants, both raw and prepared with other foods, and I believe most plants have food value.
 
I'm the cautious type when it comes to wild edibles
biggrin.gif


I'm starting small, with dandilions, cat tails, and Queen Anne's Lace.

I've got a book on what to look for, and I'm looking.


Great topic!
 
Nutritional values of some of plants included in the contest according to Christopher Nyerges (Guide to Wild Foods and Useful Plants):

Amaranth/pigweed/redroot (Amaranthus): Half a cup of leaves has 267-448 mg of calcium, 411-617 mg potassium, 53-80 mg vitamin C, 4.3 mg beta carotene, 1.3 mg niacin, and ~35 calories. 100 grams of seed has 358 calories, 247 mg of calcium, 500 mg of phosphorus, and 52.5 mg of potassium.

Chickweed (Stelleria media): Half a cup of leaves has 350 mg (!!!!!!compared to 500 or 1000 in tablets) of vitamin C, 160 mg calcium, 49 mg phosphorus, 29 mg iron, and 243 mg potassium. Chickens love it as name indicates.

Mustard (Brassica): Half a cup of leaves has 183 mg of calcium, 50 mg of phosphorus, 377 mg potassium, 7000 international units of vitamin A, 97 mg vitamin C.

Check out his website and his books for lot of interesting information. He is a well-known advocate of wild-food use for food.

As for edible wild food identification, I used Peterson’s Field Guide of Edible Plants and Larry D. Olsen’s Outdoor Survival Skills to identify the photos. I believe that the Peterson’s book would be enough for most of us. I have very little Botany background and was still able to use the book without difficulty.

Hope it helps to kindle your interest in the veggies
smile.gif
.

HM
 
WOW,HM...Thank you!! That was absolutely great references and answered a long nagging question I had about why I felt so good after eating Pearch, wild blueberries and wild plants once in a camp in West Virginia. I wrote the good feeling off to the extended hike ( exercise ), warm sunny days and a great bunch of people on the trip.

For sure those were factors, but it was a feeling of health not experienced before. I can now say with some authority ( to my non-beliving buddies )that in fact wild veggies are quite healthy for you, and reference the material...which I'll check into this weekend. Have a good one.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top