We're out of dog-tucker again, and I will have to remedy the situation. Otherwise the poor things may have to catch the next wallaby in the garden and work on doggy self-sufficiency. Or I will have to buy dogfood. (The kitties still have lots of frozen wrasse). We really do try to buy in as little as possible -transport to the island does make stuff expensive. Yet there are loads of islanders who buy everything - from $4 loaves of bread to lettuces. We obviously swap a lot of stuff, but basically basics like flour, rice and oil we still buy (although potatoes make a lot of starch, and all our bread gets a little potato too). We haven't bought any form of protein for years. I had some store bought chicken the other day. Odd tasting stuff :-). Of course there is still a lot of bush tucker and seafood still to investigate. And I'm looking for a few nice fat wallaby for Barbs's plan to make soap. I finally got my hands on some sheep caul - going to try it on a roast wallaby.
But in the meanwhile I am going to write about a kid starving in the outback. I've been researching desert bush tucker and conclude that in most cases, ordinary city types would die in days. I'd give myself a few more, if there was water (there are yabbies and crabs, if not fish) but most of the plants besides saltbush and warringal I would not recognise or know what to do with.
You really do need good local knowledge to survive as a gatherer in the Outback. It's why the army commissioned a big project in the 1970s to record the experience of the older generation of the Aboriginal people when it came to procuring bush tucker before all that knowledge effectively died out.
ReplyDelete[If there is water you are generally good. It's such a rarity most of the time that it is the centre of life in the region. Plus water lillies are reeds.]
Water lilies are reeds? (I know they're food). My heroes only need to survive for about 4 days, and some degree of luck is allowed. After which local knowledge is available.
DeleteThey're flowers that bloom on top of shallow ponds. I don't think they have any rigid stems like a reed; would be problematic when water levels change.
Deletehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nymphaeaceae
On the other hand I'm not sure how well I'd do in rainforest survival.
ReplyDeleteheh, most city folk would die in a matter of hours in the middle of any howling wilderness whether it be desert outback or the Rocky Mountains.
ReplyDeleteLook at the Donner party, starved to death and resorted to cannibalism in the middle of a grocery store. Just goes to prove sheeple can get themselves killed anywhere they want.
It's an important part of my life philosophy and books: food is real stuff that isn't pre-packaged and can be very hard to get. And knowledge, pragmatism, logic and common-sense are vital commodities, at which we have passed peak supply ;-)
DeleteI made a soil stil once in the desert near the Grand Canyon. A sheet of plastic over a mildly deep hole with a rock in the center. A cup underneath collected water...about a cup for the hole for the night. Eight holes and you're good.
ReplyDeleteI guess I'm weird. Of course a lot of certain Army courses helped...but...
the downside is the need for 1)Plastic. 2)knowledge. It's hard for my hero to have either. I used two ways I've used myself (and I'm weirder:-)
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