Making Pemmican.

Pioneer Handbooks: - How to make historic hardtack.

Pioneer Handbooks: - How to make historic hardtack.

18th Century Chocolate Part 1.

John Bartram 1743. Shelter & Food.

Colonial and Native Survival Foods, Foraging and Cumbungi.

In Australia the cattail plant is also known as the narrow leafed cumbungi. This plant is known as the most prolific food plant worlwide. The flower head is both male and female, the male being on the top and very thin can supply pollen for adding to meals, the female portion under the male spike is larger and can be eaten in it's green state like corn.
The new green shoots in spring are my favourite, because they taste good and they are easy to harvest. The roots or rhizomes contain starch, which can be extracted by washing the fibres and letting the starch settle, or by squeezing it out like getting the last out of a tube of toothpaste, or you can chew on it. I have chewed on it raw and baked and both are pretty tasteless. However, food is food when you are trying to survive.

Prolific and invasive. The leaves can be used to make mats for covering shelters or for weaving mats for the interior.

These fluffy seed heads are a good source of tinder and can be used for insulation. I have heard that woodland Indians used this to put inside their moccasins in winter, but if you use it be warned, some people are allergic to it bringing up hives!

This is a root/rhizome that I dug up today (Autumn). You can see on the right the old dead upper plant, and to the left more roots where another shoot would have come up in spring.

Here you can see on the right a new shoot. This is edible now.

Here is the fibrous root, the rhizome split open exposing the starchy inner core.

Period Survival Food. Jerusalem Artichoke.

It is said that once you have planted Jerusalem Artichokes you will always have them and never starve. I have heard that colonial settlers grew jerusalem artichokes, but they do not get as much mention as the "three sisters".

Our patch of Jerusalem Artichokes before they flowered.

The same patch now after the first frosts. Time for harvesting and drying.

The tubers need to be harvested after the first frosts, but you can leave some in the ground for next years crop. They will not keep for long once dug, so they need to be used, raw or cooked, or you can cut and dry them. You do not have to peel them, providing they are cleaned well, but if you want to peel them you will find it easier after cutting the protrusions off.

Native Wild Foods.

Food Place Seasons Collection Implements Persons involved Preparation Cooking method



Game


Kangaroo Mallee,


river plains All year Tracked,


Hunted


Stalked Spear


Woomera- club


Boomerang Males 1-6 Gutted


Joey's Skinned,


Sinews removed Singed, Cooked in coal / Under ground, Cut and shared


Emu Mallee All year Tracked


Stalked


Using Emu's instinctive curiosity Nets,


Spear,


Woomera,


Club,


Boomerang Males 1-6 Feathers removed


gutted Cooked in coals / Under ground


cut /shared


Possums Scrub, Bush All year Caught in hollow trees Club


digging stick Males Gutted,


skinned Cooked in coals


Wombat Burrows in higher ground Spring to autumn Trapped, netted Nets, clubs Males Gutted, Singed Hole covered with ashes


Reptiles


Food Place Seasons Collection Implements Persons involved Preparation Cooking method


Snakes Sandhills


Scrub


Bush


Waterways Summer Tracked


Dug out Digging stick Male


Female Not applicable Coked in ashes


Lizards Sandhills


Scrub


Bush Summer Tracked


dug out Digging stick Male


Female


Children Not applicable Cooked in ashes


Frogs Waterways


Swamps Warm weather Gathered


Caught Digging stick


Bag Female


Children Not applicable Cooked in coals


Insects


Food Place Seasons Collection Implements Persons involved Preparation Cooking method


Witchetty Grubs Red Gum tree Spring


Summer Dug out of trees Barbed stick or grass Male


Female


Children Not Applicable Cooked in ashes


Birds


Ducks


Swans Waterways


Swamps All year except breeding time Stalked


hunted into nets Large nets


Boomerangs


Clubs Males Packed in mud/ clay Cooked in coals


Galahs


Pigeons


other smal birds Bush, scrub All season except breeding time Caught by nets nets Males


Youths Plucked and gutted Cooked in underground oven


Mallee fowls


Turkey Mallee scrub All year except breeding time Stalked Nets and stick Males Plucked and gutted


(feathers kept) Cooked in underground oven


Eggs


Including turtle Trees, in / on ground


reed nest not applicable Gathered Bags Females


Children not applicable Eaten raw or boiled


Sugars


Food Place Seasons Collection Implements Persons involved Preparation Cooking method


(Exudates) Lerp Gum leaves


Trees Late summer Picked


Gathered Bark dishes Females


Children Not applicable Eaten raw


Manna Leaves/Grass Late summer Picked


Gathered Bark dishes No further infomation No further infomation No further infomation


Nectar Flowers All year Sucked


gathered Bark dishes Everyone Squeezed into water No further information


Honey Ants Mulga scrub, land and plains After rain in dry areas Dug and gathered Digging sticks and bark dish Females


Children Honey sac removed Sucked Sac


Sugar and exudates


Honey Hollow trees Spring to summer Smoked out bees, climbed trees, chopped hole pulled out of hive or grass sponge Stone axe


Bark dish Males No further information Eaten raw


(with Bunup)


Aboriginal bread


Tree exudates Trunks


Branches Summer Picked off,


Scraped Sharp sticks Everyone No further information No further information


Fungi


Food Place Seasons Collection Implements Persons involved Preparation Cooking method


Black fellows bread


(Tubar) Underground Autumn Dug up Digging stick


Bark dish Females No further information Eaten raw


Salt


Salt Dry water courses All year Gathered Bark dish Females No further information Used with food


when available


Water


Water River / lakes,


Tree roots,


soakes, Tree hollows


Dew on grass All year Drunk/carried


Roots dug out & squeezed


Sucked through hollow.


Dug, Stem,


Soaked in grass sponge Bark dishes,


sharp stone


Digging stick


Grass sponge


Hollow reed


Bark stem Males


Females Not applicable Not applicable


Food from water


Fish Rivers


Lakes Anytime but breeding season


during flood (Aug-


Sept-


Oct) Hooked


Netted


Trapped


Speared Lines


bone


hooks


nets


stone


reed or timber-traps


spears Males Making of clay


balls Cased in mud


Clay ball cooking


Food Place Seasons Collection Implements Person involved Preparation Cooking


Crayfish Fresh river


Creeks


lagoons Winter Nets Nets Everyone No further information Hole covered


with ashes


Yabbies


Shrimps Fresh water


Rivers


Creeks


Lagoons Summer Nets


Dug out of


banks Nets,


Dilly bags


Digging stick Everyone No further information Hole covered


with ashes


Turtles Rivers


Lakes October


March Netted Nets Males No further


information Hole covered


with ashes or


cooked in coals toast


Mussels In river bed


(sand) Summer Dug


Dived for Hands and feet


Bag Females No further


information Holes covered


with ashes


Water rats Banks of


water holes


Rivers Winter Netted in


hollow logs Nets


By hand Males Gutted and


skinned Hole covered


with ashes


Food Place Seasons Collection Implements Person involved Preparation Cooking


Water plant


Bulb and


stalk Billabongs Spring to


Autumn Dived


Picked Hands


Dilly bags Females


Children Sometimes


skinned Sometimes eaten raw


Sometimes steamed


Underground food


Yams


Common Reed


(Shoot &


rhizome) Marshes Spring Picked


Dug Digging sticks


Bags


Bark dishes Females No further


information Covered with ashes


or eaten raw


Cumbungi


(shoots) Marshes Spring Picked


dug Digging sticks


Bags


Bark dishes Females Cut off lower part Boiled


eaten raw


Bracken


(roots) Anywhere Autumn Dug Diging sticks No further


information Ground


beaten into paste Cooked in


ashes


Wild onions Dry areas Autumn Dug Digging stick Females No further


information Cooked in


ashes


Eaten raw


Fruit


Food Place Seasons Collection Implements Person involved Preparation Cooking


Quandongs Mallee Spring


summer Picked Bark disk Females


Children Kernel crush


made into paste


oil extracted Flesh eaten


raw or dried


Wild tomatoes


2 Varieties Mallee Summer Picked Bark dish Females


Children A) toxic juice,


squeezed out


B)Non-toxic Cooked in ashes


hole for juice to escape


Eaten raw


Berries


Toxic


non-toxic Mallee


low and tall


bushes Autumn Picked Bark dish Females


Children A) toxic juice


squeezed out


B)Non-toxic Eaten raw if


non-toxic


Seeds


Nardoo Swamps Late summer


Autumn Gathered Bark dish


grinding stone Females Grinding making


into paste Cooked in


ashes


pancake


Food Place Seasons Collection Implements Person involved Preparation Cooking


Grass seeds Mallee


Scrubland Summer Gathered Bark dish


Grinding stone Females Winnowing


Grinding


Making into


paste Cooked in


ashes


Pittosporum Scrub Summer


Autumn Gathered Bark dish


Grinding stone Females Grinding


paste Cooked in


ashes


Wattle


Acacia


toxic


non-toxic Scrub Autumn Gathered Bark dish Females No further


information seeds eaten


raw


Salt bush Scrub Spring


Autumn Gathered Bark dish


grinding stone Females Grinding


make dough Cooked in coals


Can be eaten as vegetables






http://home.vicnet.net.au/~bangercc/bushtuckerlist.html


Kindly provided by the Swan Hill Aboriginal Learning Centre.

Gardens For Food.

One of the first things any new settler would have to do is put in a garden. There are wild edible plants in the woods, but they are far and few between. There is no point foraging for wild food plants if the energy you expend is more than the energy you can gain from the plants you find.
Our garden has to feed two of us, but we do have other family that we supply with food if we can. Recently I purchased some rye grass to sow in various areas, especially in Fox Valley and Butterfly Valley. This is to encourage more wildlife and game into the area.
We have had some recent good rains and our garden is doing well. The corn is up and flowering and there are two more corn areas planted. In with the corn we have planted beans as the Indians do, and we have also planted pumpkins. Corn, beans and pumpkins are the staple of the Indians which they call the three sisters. We also keep some chooks for eggs so we need to grow enough food to feed them as well as ourselves.
We have a patch of Jerusalem atichokes which have little taste but grow in plenty and are a crop we can rely on. The sunflowers are pleasant to look at and attract a native bee to our garden but they too are grown as food. Once collected and dried the sunflower seeds keep well.
Today I planted more corn and a marrow patch.

One of our patches of corn and some sunflowers.

Our pumpkin patch.

Runner beans.

Broad beans.

Jerusalem Artichokes.