Lost Outdoors and Edible Foods

Making Tea from Pine Needles:


Spruce needles have high levels of Vitamins A and C.

Gather fresh pine and spruce needles Spruce needles are sharp and slightly square completely surrounded by their twigs, and they can prick your fingers. (Follow animal tracks to water, if you’re not by a stream or river. Also follow the stream as it may help you find your way out) Crush the needles with a rock and drop into boiling water. Remove the mixture and steep for five to ten minutes.



Edible Plants for Food:

Maple trees have many edible parts including the sap which is sweet.

Dandelion leaves are tasty and nutritious, the plants are ubiquitous.

Acorns are abundant and are easy to gather. Blackberries, raspberries and even mulberries are easy to find in season.



Avoid the following:

Any plants, with bitter or soapy taste and plants with mildew or fungus.

Toxic flowers like foxglove, monkshood, buttercup bluebonnet and the highly toxic death camas and lupines.

White berries, mushrooms, toadstools, and red plants unless you know for certain they are safe, like rhubarb.

Castor been seeds found in the wild.

Horse chestnuts/ buckeyes

Any plant growing in contaminated/ stagnant water.

Plants with milky or off colored sap. Plants with pods that have beans, seeds or bulbs inside.

Plants that smell like almonds in the stems or leaves may contain cyanide.



Animals to Shun:

Toads, box turtles/ poisonous flesh, insects with bright colors: likely toxic and wasps: very aggressive and they love to sting.



Animals that are Nourishing:

Adult females are the best as they have good flavor and an abundance of meat.

Young animals are lean. Older animals will be tough.

Relatively easy to catch and a high protein content are insects.

Porcupines have tasty meat and are easily killed.

Birds and bird eggs, fish can be caught with a little ingenuity.

Except for those under leaves, grubs are good to eat.



Tips from the experts:

Do not assume that because one part of a plant is edible, other parts are, too. Likewise, do not assume that if cooked plant matter is edible, the raw matter must be, or vice versa. Finally, note that different people may have different reactions to the same point. U S ARMY

Making a Shelter for Severe Weather

In a Forest in the winter, it’s usually easy to find shelter, such as fir and spruce, provide natural canopies of green boughs that shield the soil near the trunks. Break or hack off boughs from other evergreens and layer them at one angle for the bottom and another for the second layer. This provides a bed to lay a tarp on and helps keep you dry. Try to use non sappy boughs.

Now gather other longer boughs and stand or lean them against the trunk of the tree at an angle to provide a lean-to, closing off the ends. To provide a further means of cutting a cold wind. A tarp can then be placed across the limbs to keep out rain or snow. Angle you entry at 45 degrees away from the wind to keep snow from building up at the entrance.

Any one who has built a snow fort knows that snow is an excellent insulator. You can also build your cave by digging into a snow bank or drift that is large and deep. Avoid snow banks that are new and fresh, soft or powdery, again angle your entry away from the prevailing wind to keep new snow from building up and blocking your entry. Stay away from potential avalanche areas. Your space should not be too big as a smaller one will keep you warmer. A larger one is great for groups rather than a group of small ones. Be sure to partially block the entrance with snow or a backpack(s) once you are in with a ventilation hole by the floor for fresh air also poke a hole in the roof to release Carbon monoxide. If you have a candle this will help provide heat. Sleeping platform(s) can be made with evergreen boughs.

Hazards to be aware of:

Excessively cramped construction, air circulation is inadequate.
Buildup of Carbon Monoxide, too much heat will cause weakening of the roof and walls. Wet clothing and socks in damp boots that will cause illness or foot trouble. Avalanches. Your breaths condensation inside your tent because of improper tent layers causing loss of thermal insulation.