Foraging.

FORAGING.




How much do you see on your bush walks? I would imagine that primitive man was always on the look-out for useful items along the way. So here is something you can try next time you are out and about, something that may add a little more interest and adventure to your trekking or bush walks.


Do you have a haversack? A haversack is a bag with one strap, a knapsack has two straps. For this exercise we only really need a haversack, a bag that is easy to get into whilst on the trail without having to take it off.

Next time you are out and about, take the haversack with you and collect as many useful items as you can that you find along the way. You don’t need a lot of any one thing, and ideally these items should be natural things that are normally found in nature.

I want you to set yourself a scenario. Let us say you are a hunter and forager, you are on the move from one area to another. You know that when you camp for the night there are certain things you are going to need to be comfortable, so you need to look for these items along the trail. You are also going to need a good camp site and shelter. You can’t pack these in your haversack, but you can store them in your memory. In reality you never know when a natural shelter along the way might come in handy, say as shelter from a sudden storm. Or if it is getting late, now might be as good a time to stop and camp as any.

How good is this natural shelter? A rock overhang or just a hollow fallen tree? Maybe it is not a hollow tree, maybe it. Is just a fallen tree that affords some shelter under it or just along side of it. Maybe you can add to this fallen tree to make a better shelter. You can either stop and do this, or you can just memorise it for later. If you have a pencil and pad on you, you can just jot it down.


So what will you need when you stop for the night? Well let’s start with a fire. If it is raining or the ground is wet or covered in snow, all the better for this exercise. You have to keep an eye open for areas that will keep tinder and kindling dry. Remember that tinder is what catches a spark, and kindling is what actually flames. Tinder can be many things, punk wood is probably the most common, this is the dry rotted soft wood that can often be found in the base of dead fallen trees. Some fungus like the Horse-Hoof fungus or here in Australia the Ryvardenia Cretacea. The dried heads of the Cattail or Cumbungi. The fungus grows on trees, so you will have to look up to find these.

Fomes Fomantarius.

Amadou.

Ryvardenia Cretaceus

Ryvardenia Cretaceus

Punk Wood.

Cattail.

Kindling is dried grass and leaves, twigs and sticks. The sticks need to be dead, not green. But at the same time they should be firm and not rotten, and you will need a variety of sizes so you can build your fire slowly.

When you find this good camping place are you going to set up a trap line? If so then you need to look out for any particular shaped limbs that you may need. A forked limb is good for making trap pegs, with one side of the “V” longer than the other for hammering into the ground.

Food plants are good items to look for, like I said, you don’t have to collect a lot unless you actually intend to make a meal, but you can just collect a leaf here and a flower there as you go along. What do you have in your area? Dandelion leaves and flowers? Cattail shoots, bases and roots? Stinging nettles? Dock leaves? If you have a wild plant book for your area, why not take it along with you and see what you can find.

Dandelion.

Nettles.

Dock.

Appleberry.

Blackberry.

Warrigal Greens.

Cordage is always a handy item to have with you, and if you can find the materials to make cordage along the way all the better. You can sit in your shelter at night and make cordage in front of the fire. So what can you use for cordage? Well practically any plant fibre, it is just a matter of which is the best for the job in hand, which is the strongest. The dried leaves of the cattail will work after soaking in water for a while, but it does not make a very strong cordage. Nettle fibre is good as is blackberry vine, but I must admit I have not tried either as yet. Mostly I use the inner bark of the Stringybark tree which is plentiful around here. But I have used grass, goat hair, wool fleece, horse hair, leather, green hide, rawhide, tree bark as is without cording the same as rawhide. Whenever I see anything along the trail that I think may make cordage, I pick some and try it.

Cordage.

Throwing Sticks.

How about tools? What can be used for tools? Bone, wood, stone, shell. John at Musings Of Murphyfish http://murphyfish-musing.blogspot.com/ found several useful items on one of his walks. Pine cones for instance, great kindling. Foraging like this can be good fun, and it trains your brain to recognise useful items even when you are not actually looking for them. Good luck.