Our hunter-gatherer ancestors survived for generations by gathering the food that nature provided. Some of those plants contain natural remedies to many common problems, and in fact are where many modern pharmaceuticals come from. 

In this article we will be discussing various edible plants mostly found in the north east United States, as well as a few others.

Provisos: Before getting started you should be warned that some plants can be highly toxic. We will cover some common look-a-likes, but you should never eat a plant unless you are one hundred percent sure of what you’re eating. Wild poisonous plants often resemble non-poisonous varieties, and also often grow side by side. Some edible plants can have non-edible parts. It is up to you to make the right decisions when applying this information in the wilderness. With that in mind, once you can identify wild edibles accurately you will find that natures garden is full of delicious and healthy food, fresh and at your finger tips. Also, I’ve included a few definitions at the end of this article you may find helpful.

Common Dandelion

AKA: Lions Tooth, Priest Crown, Swine’s Snout
How To Spot It: One yellow flower on a hollow, hairless stem,or spherical cluster of white “parachute” seeds, no leaves other than basal leaves with large teeth pointing toward the base. There are no poisonous look-alikes, however other edible relative can look similar when young. 
Cautions: Dandelion root should be avoided for those with an irritable bowels or stomach.
Uses: Use young leaves or flower tops in salads. The taste can be slightly bitter, so use sparingly. Light cooking will increase the bitterness, however further cooking (about twenty minutes) will make the taste almost disappear, especially when combined with a sauce or spices.
Notes: Dandelion root contains a substance called inulin.  Inulin has very little impact on blood sugar levels, and—unlike fructose—is not insulemic and does not raise triglycerides making it increasingly popular among  diabetics and potentially helpful in managing blood sugar-related illnesses ; Dandelion has also been known to be especially beneficial for treating chronic hepatitis and gall stones.

Japanese Knotweed

AKA: Monkeyweed, Hancock’s Curse, Water Weeds, Elephant Ears, Donkey Rhubarb, Japanese Bamboo, Pea Shooters, Fleeceflower, American Bamboo
How To Spot It: Tall, bushy plant with a bamboo like sheathed stalk. Alternating triangular leaves, green and/or red-ish in color. Hundreds of tiny white flowers grow on long lacy spikes in the spring and summer. Mature plants can grow to be nine to twelve feet tall. It’s interconnected root system often creates a dense bamboo like thicket. There are no poisonous look-alikes, however it could be confused with Giant Knotweed, which is used the same way except it is much less common, or wild Asparagus or Rhubarb (a relative), which of course are also edible.
Cautions: Do not eat large quantities of Knotweed raw. It contains substantially more oxalic acid than cooked Knotweed which could potentially cause problems in a survival situation. Smaller portions, however, are fine.
Uses: Collect the young shoots, discard the leaves, discard the rinds of older shoots and chop or slice the stalks.Has a nice sour flavor. Use in fruit dishes or pies just as you would Rhubarb. Also excellent addition to soups, stews, jams, or applesauce.
Notes: The large hollow stalks contain some fresh drinking water. To collect it chop the plant at the base the hold it upside down. Take a stick and poke through the inner wall of the joint, opening the ‘chambers’ one at a time, then simply pour the water into your mouth. ;  Larger quantities can act as a laxative, breaking down fats and stimulating digestion, which of course, could possibly be fatal in a survival situation. ; Extracts of this plant are currently being tested to help lower the risk of cardiovascular disease, dely the onset of Alzheimer’s or slow its progression, and to help treat or lower the risk of certain types of cancers.

Poor Man’s Pepper

AKA: Virginia Pepperweed, Peppergrass
How To Spot It: The small spicy annual grows six inches to three feet tall, beginning with a ‘basal rosette’ in early spring. The narrow stalked basal leaves grow two to five inches long and soon the lobes become deep, sharp teeth that usually point toward the leaf tips. A long, wiry, branching flower stalk grows from the plants center mid-spring to fall with similar, but smaller, lance shaped toothed leaves tapering toward the base. From spring to fall the plant is covered in tiny, white four petaled flowers at the tips. In summer and fall the flowers are replaced with flat, circular seed pods, slightly notched at the tip, and containing many yellow-brown seeds. There in no no colored sap when you break open the stem, and the plant has a short, white taproot. There are no poisonous look-alikes, however it could be confused with other edible species.
Cautions: It should not be given to very young children, or others that may be sensitive to spicy foods.
Uses: The leaves, seeds, pods, flowers, tender part of the top of the stem, and taproot are all edible raw or cooked, and make excellent addition to salads, stews, soups, ground as a seasoning for meats, etc. The flavor can be compared to horseradish or wasabe. They tend to lose a little of the kick when cooked. 
Notes: The Poor Man’s Pepper is actually not a pepper at all, rather a member of the mustard family. ; The leaves contain notable levels of vitamin c, calcium, iron, and potassium. ; A ‘tea’ made from the leaves has been used historically for diabetes, to expel intentional worms, as a diuretic, and to ease arthritis. The seed pods have been used to treat coughs and colds, to help break up and expel fluid built up in the chest.

Field Garlic

WARNING: THIS PLANT HAS A POISONOUS LOOK-ALIKE

AKA:  Wild Onion, Meadow Leek, Onion Grass, Wild Garlic
How To Spot It: Long, unbranched, hollow, rounded basal leaves six inches to two feet tall, with a strong onion /garlic smell, growing from an onion like bulb. In late spring consisting of stalkless, green or red-ish bulblets grow on top of a single long leafless stem, one to three feet tall. Each bulb has a curved side and a straight side, project a tiny green shoot upward, and lilac colored, six petaled flowers bloom from them. Later the bulb falls to the ground as the plant dies and turn into new plants next year.
Cautions: Field Garlic should not be confused with the highly toxic plant ‘Star of Bethlehem’, which also has a long linear leaf resembling various wild onions, except it has no odor, a white stripe running down the length of each leaf, and the six-tepaled white flowers don’t resemble that of any other edible plant.
Uses: Collect the leaves in early spring or fall, when the young plants are most tender. Consume them raw or cooked just as you would chives or scallions. The underground bulbs are more onion tasting in seasons with cold weather, and more garlic-like in seasons with warmer weather. Use them accordingly raw or cooked. The Young bulbs growing from the plants have an almost spicy taste and should be used when still young, before the skin toughens.
Notes: Field Garlic is a blood purifier, diuretic, and expectorant. Raw bulbs can help to lower blood pressure. It is also used to prevent worms in children and animals.

Daylily

WARNING: THIS PLANT HAS A POISONOUS LOOK-ALIKE

AKA: Tiger Daylily, Orange daylily, Ditch Daylily
How To Spot It: This perennial produces large, showy flower yellow-orange in color above a basal rosette of long, sword shaped leaves. Six to fifteen short stemmed, upward facing,  funnel shaped flowers stem from a slender, unbranched , smooth stem, three to four feet tall. During flowering, buds grow on the same branch as the flowers, which wither and die the same day they bloom. Other species while still edible, are not as tasty.
Cautions: This is not to be confused with Daffodil or Iris, which are both toxic to humans. By identifying the plant by its flowers, you can avoid confusion, as Daffodils and Iris look nothing like the orange Daylily.
Uses: The flowers and buds are a good source of beta caratine, vitamin c, and iron. Cook the larger, unopened flower pods in recipes that call for green beans, as the flavor is similar. They cook in about fifteen minutes. Be sure not to eat the green base of the flower, as the taste is rather unpleasant. Flowers and the pods can also be batter dipped and deep fried for a delicious side dish or snack.
Notes: The Daylily is an important herb in ancient Chinese medicine. An infusion is made from the flowers is used to treat Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, as a sedative, to reduce fever, as a pain killer, and to ease childbirth. The rhizomes and tuber has shown antimicrobial and antiparasitic properties. Research is also being done one how to use the Daylily to treat cancer.

Common Mallow

AKA: Buttonweed, Cheeseplant, Dwarf Mallow, Roundleaf Mallow
How To Spot It: The plant, which arises from a long, slender taproot, can creep along the ground or grow upright. The crinkled, rounded to heart-shaped, toothed, slightly hairy basal leaves grow up to three inches across, with five to seven shallow lobes. The leaf stalks can grow up to seven inches long, and the leaf is notched where it connects to the stalk. Flowers are white to pale-pink with five petals, have a bushy column of many stamens surrounding one pistil, and are under one inch across. Pink lines run through the petals, which are notched at the tip. At a quarter-inch across, the tiny, flattened, segmented fruits resemble a wheel of cheese. There are no poisonous look-alikes.
Cautions: Common Mallow could possibly be confused with various ivies if only ID’ed by the leaves, so be sure to look for the distinctive fruits and flowers.
Uses: A good source of vitamin c, iron, and calcium. The leaves, flowers, and fruits are good cooked for about 10 minutes as you would cook okra. The fruits are also excellent raw.
Notes: Tea made by boiling the root is said to be internally soothing. It has been used by natives to treat skin sores, stomach and dental ulcers, digestive irritations, as well as sore throats and coughs, Although thorough medical testing has yet to be done and results are not confirmed.

Garlic Mustard

AKA: Jack-by-the-hedge, Garlic Root, Hedge Garlic, Penny Hedge, Poor Man’s Mustard
How To Spot It: This common, highly invasive woodland biennial has a distinct garlic smell when crushed. The sprouts of new plants resemble alfalfa sprouts, each with a singular red-ish stalk about two inches tall, and a single strap shaped leaf about half an inch tall. The thin white taproot smells and tastes like horseradish. By mid-spring plants grow to be one to the and a half feet tall, slightly hairy, with more pointed, alternate, deeply veined triangular leaves. A flower bud resembling broccoli gives way to clusters of white four-petaled flowers. The flowers are replaced with long, green, four-parted seedpods curving upwards, about an inch long.
Cautions: Not to be confused with the Common Blue Violet or Henbit Deadnettle which can look similar when young, as always ID the plant through multiple means and be sure of what you are eating.
Uses: The leaves taste like garlic. Young leaves near the flowers are better tasting than the basal leaves, although both are pretty good. Cooking can add a bitter taste, some lightly sauté them for 5 minutes at most. The seeds have a wonderful spicy flavor and don t need cooked or crushed (cooking actually ruins the flavor, so ad them to your dish near the end). The root is used just like horseradish, and again, should only be cooked lightly if at all.
Notes: Crushed Garlic Mustard is a good topical treatment for bug bite, as well as bug repellent, and as a disinfectant. 

Shepard’s Purse

AKA: Mother’s Heart, Lady’s Purse, Pickpocket, Rattle Purse
How To Spot It: Shepard’s Purse begins with a basal rosette of stalked, lobed-to-deeply toothed, lance shaped leaves up to nine inches long, and broader towards the tip, coming from a slender white taproot. Unlike similar plants, the leaves point outward and the is no white sap when broken. In mid-spring long, wiry stalks branching from the base grow from eight inches to two feet tall. Smaller, alternate lance shaped leaves, sometimes with teeth, meet the stem with two small pointed lobes at their base. Tiny stalked flowers grow inside four oval sepals, with four white petals. The flowers eventually form long-stalked, flattened, heart or triangular shaped seedpods.
Cautions: Because of possible effects on the blood, this plant is not recommended for women who are nursing or pregnant.
Uses: Mid-spring the flowers, buds, and tops of the stems are all edible and similar in taste to broccoli. Leaves can be cooked ten to fifteen minutes and are great additions to salad soups and stews. It provides vitamins a,c,k,b1, b2, b3, choline, inositol, calcium, potassium, and phosphorus. The also contain fumaric acid, which may help inhibit cancer.
Notes: There is little evidence of any beneficial medicinal use, however historically it has been used to ease childbirth, lower blood pressure, and as an astringent.

Lady’s Thumb

AKA: Persicaria, Redleg, Gambetta, Adam’s Plaster
How To Spot It: Growing with slender branching stems, it usually reaches a height of one to two feet tall and can create a dense brush.The pointed, lance shaped leaves grow from one to four inches long. A darkened triangular spot often appears toward the leaf’s center. Tiny white or pink flowers form in dense clusters about two inches long. This plant has both fibrous roots and a tap root. There are no poisonous look-alikes.
Cautions: Don’t confuse this with Smartweed, which can look similar and while non-toxic, has a horrible taste.
Uses: The leaves are the best parts, although the flowers and stems are also edible but can be unpleasant. They taste similar to lettuce, and can be used raw in salads and on sandwiches, as well as added to soups, casseroles, and stews.
Notes: This plant is rarely used in herbal medicine. 

Asiatic Dayflower

AKA: Yazhicao, Duckfoot Herb, Tsuyukusa, Dew Herb
How To Spot It: This hairless plant with distinct blue flowers grows from one to three feet tall. The simple, smooth edged leaves resemble grass grow three to five inches long. Their stalkless bases wrap around the stem to form a sheath. It has two upper blue petals, and a lower, smaller translucent-white petal. Two short sepals fuse to partially enclose two small yellow-green elongated seeds.
Cautions: It could possibly be confused with Virginia Dayflower which is also edible but larger, and grows more towards the south. Also similar is Spiderwort, which has three blue petals, not two, and is much larger. The leaves of Spiderwort are also edible.
Uses: Strip off the leaves, flowers, seeds, and tops of the stems. Add to salads or other vegetable dishes. The taste can be compared to string beans
Notes: It has been used in ancient China as an anti-inflammatory, and also to sooth a sore throat. It can also be used as a pigment or dye.

Definitions

• Basal Leaves - Leaves at the plant’s base
• Basal Rosette - A circular arrangement of leaves, with all the leaves at the base of the plant, near the soil
• Diuretic - A substance that increases the rate or urination
• Expectorant - A substance that helps bring up mucus and other liquid from the lungs, bronchi, and trachea
• Iris - The female fertilization organ of a flower
• Rhizome - A horizontal stem, usually underground, often sending out roots and shoots from its nodes, also called rootstock
• Sepals - Modified leaves that lie under the more conspicuous petals of a flower
• Stamen - The male fertilizing organ of a flower
• Taproot - A straight tapering root growing downward and forming a base from which other roots spring
  

Have a good time in the wilderness and remember to always be safe!

After a few camping trips where I learned the hard way about preparing for local wildlife I started thinking about the bugs in my bug out plan and I'm not talking about technical flaws.  Previously I had focused much of my attention on what kind of gear to pack, how to provide food and water, and various routes to travel.  A trip to the Rockies, part of the AT and a few southeastern US adventures later I realized that people weren't the only hostile forces I might encounter and I didn't have much prepared to deal with the critters I might encounter.
 
Preparing for wildlife became a new priority for me when I reached an epiphany after visiting my sister in the southwest this summer.  While we have all seen the massive fires sweeping across the southwest, most of us have been fortunate enough to avoid their destruction.  Animals, however have had much of their habitat destroyed by the fires and as a result these animals have been forced out of the burning forests and into more populated (and better protected by fire suppression efforts) areas.  When the fires approached her town, so did many of the animals trying to escape the flames.  While my sister at most sees a coyote every now and then, the occasional scorpion and rarely a snake, all of these animals were prevalent throughout her neighborhood.  I admittedly have an irrational fear of snakes, but seeing so many in an area where I never saw one before made me a bit paranoid and hesitant to walk quickly without deliberately looking where I was stepping.  As we hurried to get things ready and get out of town I came to the realization that this may be just what we face in a TEOTWAWKI situation and I would need to be prepared to deal with it  In a disaster situation animals will be just as confused as humans and with widespread destruction animals may be out of their "normal" habitats.  With this soft awakening to the additional challenges I might face in a disaster, I began to take some of my camping experiences (and failures) and applying them to my bug out plan. 
 
My primary method of avoiding unnecessary wildlife is to properly select a campsite.  While this may seem easy for those of us used to hiking in state parks where there are designated camping areas mostly clear of brush with pre-dug fire pits, in the wild this can prove to be significantly more difficult.  If possible, I try to elevate myself off of the bare ground, if only by a few inches.  This not only provides some insulation in the winter from the cold but also helps to keep some of the bugs away.  I also try to clear the ground around where I will be camping.  Most snakes (so I'm told by my friends who actually like snakes) will avoid crossing clear ground if there is brush or concealment through which they can travel.  I will try to find a good branch and rake away the leaves and other cover, pick up the sticks and rocks and have several feet around where I will be camping.  Before clearing the site, I try to find a site that is not in a dry creek bed, is level and doesn't appear to be close to a game trail.  I realize that in a survival situation the campsite selection will be a compromise between concealment and comfort.  In the case of concealment at night, those wondering around will typically look at the ground (think about stumbling around in the dark or walking at night with a flashlight)  you will focus where you are going and rarely look up.  If you can safely get up high in a tree and sleep there, this offers great protection from the ground critters and helps you avoid discovery.  I have laid logs between a forked branch and tied the logs down with paracord to keep everything secure.  This took a while, so when making camp be sure to start early to avoid working at night where your flashlight may give you away.  I further took a spare carabiner and clipped my belt to the lashed log assembly while I slept to avoid rolling off in the middle of the night.  A few tricks I learned to quickly cut the cross member logs to size was to find longer logs of the appropriate thickness, stick the long log between two trees growing close together, or a tree with a fork near the base, and then use the leverage of the fork holding one end and me pushing the other end of the log to break it to size.  This avoids needing to have an axe or saw and works great to manage the size of firewood.  The sound of a branch snapping is also less indicative of human activity when compared to the distinctive sound of chopping or sawing.
 
Another ritual I always follow while camping is to avoid the triangle of death.  While this isn't always necessary, I still do it to ensure my safety and peace of mind.  The triangle of death is something I learned in the Rockies while working to keep bears away from my supplies.  The triangle is formed between where you suspend your food in the trees, the fire pit where you cook and where you store your dishes.  If you make camp inside (or very close to) this triangle, you have the highest chance of encountering any bear, critter or person investigating the smells of this area.  I always take note of what can be smelled and ensure that those items are not on me or near me when I am sleeping.  This includes things like film (has animal-based adhesive), deodorant, snacks I may carry in my pockets, Chapstik, medicines, stove fuel, duct tape, water bottles you drink out of while eating and even your survival knife if you used it to butcher game.  If you have a change of clothes available, I always cook and eat in one set and sleep in another set to fully minimize the smell.  I also don't apply any deodorant, powder, Chapstik or other smelly substance after 3 p.m.  While this is not a hard rule, if you do this, the substance will likely absorb or lose its scent by the time you are sleeping.
 
If it smells I string it in a tree (old feed sacks and paracord work great for this).  If I ate out of it, I always wash it before going to sleep and leave it either in a tree or by the fire pit (this goes for stoves and fuel too).  While I thankfully have only had raccoons invade the triangle, I am hyper vigilant to avoid being woken up by something much more menacing.  Additionally I only eat right by where I cook and I never take food into my tent if I have one.  I try to stay 20 feet or more away from the triangle, and often build a secondary fire for where I sleep for warmth.  While this may separate you from you gear, you can consider camouflaging it with branches, a camo poncho to shroud items you place in the tree and by avoiding unnatural colors such as stark white, orange  and other bright colors.
 
If I am trying to conceal my fire, I will dig a Dakota fire pit.  I learned this configuration in Scouts and it is essentially two pits, one large to hold the fire, and a second smaller one to draw out the smoke.  A small tunnel connects the two to provide airflow.  Dig the pit deep enough to keep the fuel and the flames below the top edge of the larger pit.  This keeps the flames shrouded while allowing you to cook and heat yourself under cover.  If you need to sit a pot over the fire, the recessed flames allow you to easily place logs over the pit to support the pot.  I try to soak the logs so they don't burn through and spill my food into the fire.  If i need to reflect more heat, I will stack logs to make a lean to which will reflect the heat and keep me warm while I sleep.  If you can't dig a pit due to rock or hard soil, I usually try to find a fallen tree or large log and build the fire in the hole where the tree fell or against the large log with more logs stacked up around it to conceal some of the flame.  These areas near the fallen trees may be wet, so i will place bark, branches and other dry (even green) items in the pit as a base on which to build the fire.  While smoke is visible during the day, it is much more difficult to see at night so the primary concealment should be focused on the flames.  If visibility is not a concern, animals, including snakes, don't like fire.  If I am trying to keep them away then I try to gather four times as much wood as I think I need and will usually end up going through most of it.  In my experience you can never have too much firewood.
 
After you have a good camp set up and a good night's rest, you will likely need to move on the next morning.  If you took your boots off (I usually do to make sure my feet dry out) be sure to shake them out.  A trick I learned is to stretch your sock over the top of your boot and this will keep critters out while still allowing everything to dry.  I've found everything from millipedes to frogs in my boots so be sure not to ruin your escape by being in a hurry.  When going on foot, your feet are your wheels and you won't get very far with a flat.  To allow my boots to further dry I typically try to have a pair of "camp shoes" with me.  While this does add some weight, I have found my Teva type sandals or croc type shoes to work best depending on terrain.  The crocs are a bit more difficult to walk in but weigh very little while the sandals allow me to hike in them if my boots should be destroyed.  I generally prefer the sandals but have had success with both.  As a general rule though, I never go barefoot or sock footed anywhere (even in creeks) and I try to keep my feet as dry as possible.  I generally safety pin my extra pair of socks on my bag and let them air out and dry in the sun while I continue to hike.  If my feet become too sweaty, I take off my boots, change socks, and let them air out a few minutes.  Wet feet are unhappy feet and if you don't dry them out they literally rot away. 
 
Apart from that bit of foot maintenance be sure to watch out for the smaller bugs when getting up every day.  I had the unfortunate experience of waking up one morning covered in ticks.  I picked 58 off of me and itched like crazy for a week.  Hiking in the south I also encountered every southerner's favorite itch to scratch, chiggers.  Without any anti itch medicine I had to do a bit of improvisation to stop the itching.  I have found that petroleum jelly will work, as will fingernail polish if you have it (I didn't).  In a pinch, if you can find some clay soil and make a paste out of it, smearing the clay over the chiggers will smother them almost as well as the nail polish but you will have to reapply the paste as it dries out and cracks off.  Nothing beats a good pair of tweezers to get those tiny seed ticks off, just be sure to get them off as soon as possible to avoid the spread of any disease.  As a critter first aid kit, I carry a venom extractor (great for wasps and snakes) a pair of tweezers, a small container of petroleum jelly, some antihistamine, and alcohol wipes.  The petroleum jelly doubles as a great fire starter, blister bandage and lubricant.
 
Wherever you go, take some time to study the local wildlife before you go out.  This goes for preparation with your BOB as well.  A small guide can come in handy and help you understand which creepie crawlies are edible and which ones are better left alone.  Further, if you study, you can avoid certain areas in your routes known to house certain animals (mountain lions come to mind) and you can determine how to appropriately hike.  By this I mean whether you should be concerned with proceeding too quietly and surprising a bear or whether you should be using your hiking stick to probe in front of you for snakes or other painful surprises.  Knowing the wildlife in your area will come down to more than looking at territorial range maps found in the field guide.  While those various shades of red flowing down in a sweeping arc can give you a general idea of what you might find in your travels, you will have to be more specific if you want to really understand the animals in your area.  This will not only help avoid wasting your time hunting for an animal which isn't there but also help you stay out of trouble should you encounter an animal on your hunt much larger than what you were anticipating.  You will have to make critical decisions while out hiking involving the local wildlife.  While that fat and juicy timber rattler would make a great meal, if you don't have any experience with snakes trying to kill it might not be the best idea while you are bugging out.  If you aren't sure if a particular frog is safe to eat, it may be better to look for another source of food.  An Apache foot snare can hold an animal very well if properly constructed but once the animal is held, you will still have to dispatch it.  If you can't do it safely from a distance, it would be unwise to get close to an angry and injured deer trying to stick it with your knife or bash it with a log.  You should know what you are hunting for and how that animal can potentially hurt you.  After you successfully kill an animal, be mindful of where you kill it and clean it.  Be sure to clean it far away from camp and bury the waste if possible to minimize attracting animals.  If you accidentally spill something in camp when you are cooking or preparing the animal, urine will help to mask the smell of the animal (or any other spilled food) and avoid attracting additional predators. 
 
Be sure to keep the bugs out of your bug out bag by shaking out all of your equipment and being aware of what is around you and which bugs can ruin your day, especially if you have any allergies.  I realized the hard way that preparation involves being prepared for the animals, insects and other wildlife you may encounter on your journey.  As the Scouts say, be prepared.  Victory loves preparation.

Jim,
While I understand consuming insects may keep you from starving to death, there is a real concern if eating without adequate cooking.

Many insects carry round and tape worms, nematodes and other parasites.  I once softly stepped on a cricket and watched several worms exit the body.  Every time I see people advocating eating insects, I think of that cricket and the nasty worms. 

While the insects my stave off starvation, the worms, parasites, and so forth might well be worse in the long run. - Alan T.

"Entomophagy is the consumption of insects as food. Insects are eaten by many animals, but the term is generally used to refer to human consumption of insects; animals that eat insects are known as insectivores." -Wikipedia

This subject is fairly arcane, so I'll be relying on several authoritative sources, in fair use. I have attributed all quotes and have provided links to their sources. Please take the time to explore these web sites, for further detail on this subject.

Like it or not, you've probably eaten some in your life.  From Wikipedia:
"According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's The Food Defect Action Levels booklet. Contamination on the average of 150 or more insect fragments per 100 grams of wheat flour, or below poses no health hazard. Other example of the maximum permissible levels of insect contamination in food products for humans, contamination below which level, poses no health hazard, are:
- Canned sweet corn- 2 or more 3 mm or longer larvae, cast skins, larval or cast skin fragments, the aggregate length of insects or insect parts exceeds 12 mm in 24 pounds
- Canned citrus fruit juices - 5 or more Drosophila and other fly eggs per 250 ml or 1 or more maggots per 250 ml
- Wheat flour- Average of 150 or more insect fragments per 100 grams
- Frozen broccoli- Average of 60 or more aphids and/or thrips and/or mites per 100 grams
- Hops- Average of more than 2,500 aphids per 10 grams
- Ground thyme- Average of 925 or more insect fragments per 10 grams
- Ground nutmeg- Average of 100 or more insect fragments per 10 grams"
 
As gross as it may initially seem, it is actually estimated that about 80% of the global population consume insects on a regular basis. "In Algeria, many people consume desert locusts. To add extra flavour to the bugs they are soaked in salt water and roasted in the sun. Australian Aborigines eat Bogong moths they find in caves and in crevices of rocks. In order to remove the wings, legs, and heads of the moths, the Aborigines cook them in hot ashes and sand and sift them through a net. In Africa, some cultures eat fried termites and caterpillars for nutrition. In Mexico, insects are served in restaurants for a high price. Also Thailand and Columbia feature insects on the menu." - From Ask The Exterminator
 
Although the U.N. advocates eating bugs as a way to feed the hungry and end "costly" farming, many of us would use this information as a last resort to starving to death. You've probably seen Les Stroud, or Bear Grylls eating bugs on their respective survival shows. I can tell you that it will be a long time before I can scrub from my mind the image of grub guts being splattered through clenched teeth. It really doesn't have to be that graphic or repulsive. Insects can be prepared in ways much like our normal everyday foods which can help cut down on the 'revolting' factor.
 
First, a list of edible insects, courtesy of Girl Meets Bug:
"Agave worm, Carpenter ants, Lemon ants, Leafcutter ants, Honeypot ants, Bamboo worms, Bees, Cicada, Cockroach (not house ones), Cricket, Dragonfly, Dung beetle, Earthworms, Fly pupa, Flying ant, Grasshopper, Hornworm, Jumiles, June bugs, Locust, Louse, Mopane worm, Meal worm, Midge fly, Nsenene, Pill bug, Rhino beetle and grubs, Sago bug, Silk worm, Scorpion, Tarantula, Termites, Wasp, Walking stick, Water bug, Waxworm, Wichetty Grubs." 
 
Bugs to Avoid -Courtesy of Chris Needham of Infolific.com
"Unfortunately, many of the bugs you come across shouldn't be eaten even in a survival situation. Here are some guidelines for what to avoid.
       * Bugs that are generally associated with carrying diseases should not be eaten. This includes flies, mosquitoes, and ticks.
       * Some bugs use poison for capturing prey and for defense making them inedible so avoid centipedes, scorpions, and spiders.
       * As a general rule, bugs with fine hairs, bright colors, or eight or more legs are off limits.

You can actually sustain yourself quite well with bugs so give them serious consideration when you're otherwise without food and trying to survive in the wilderness. They have the additional benefits over animals and fish of being plentiful, not requiring traps, and needing little preparation before they can be consumed."
 
*"Warning: Although many insects are edible, entomophagy poses some risks. If you are allergic to shrimp, shellfish, dust, or chocolate, never eat an insect. Even the non-allergic, unless in a survival situation, should never eat a raw insect. Certain insects store compounds that make some people sick; some are poisonous; others may be carcinogenic. Be as cautious with insects as you would be if you were gathering mushrooms. Know your insects!" From NOVA.
 
Nutritional Value:
"Insects often contain more protein, fat, and carbohydrates than equal amounts of beef or fish, and a higher energy value than soybeans, maize, beef, fish, lentils, or other beans. According to a 2004 United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) report, caterpillars of many species are rich in potassium, calcium, magnesium, zinc, and iron, as well as B-vitamins. In some African regions, children fight malnutrition by eating flour made out of dried caterpillars. Pregnant and nursing women as well as anemic people also eat caterpillar species high in protein, calcium, and iron." Alison Fromme.
The following chart is reproduced from Iowa State University's web site. It shows how some insects as food compare to lean ground beef and broiled cod.

Now if you are still with me, I'm going to share some recipes I found using insects. From Girl Meets Bug:
 
Cabbage, Peas 'n' Crickets
-Handful of crickets
-1 cup chopped snap peas
-1 cup chopped red cabbage
-1 tbs olive oil
-1 crushed clove of garlic
-Pinch of salt
Chop snap peas and cabbage. Heat olive oil in pan or wok. Begin stir-frying veggies and crickets. After 1 minute or so, add crushed garlic. Once cooked to desired level (I prefer mine firm and crunchy) add salt. Bug appetit!
 
Bee-LT Sandwich
Ingredients:
-Bee larvae
-1 egg white
-1 tsp butter
-1/4 tsp honey
-1 tomato
-1 leaf lettuce
-2 slices of bread
-1 tbsp mayonnaise
-1 pinch salt
Sautee the bee larvae in the butter, with a tiny bit of salt and a few drops of honey. Once larvae become golden brown and crispy-looking, remove, and mix into enough egg white to cover and bind them into a mass. Then return them to the sautee butter, pressing them together into a patty.
Toast bread, and slice tomato. Spread mayonnaise on toasted bread when ready. When bee patty becomes firm, place it atop the lettuce and tomato on the sandwich. Enjoy!
 
Waxworm Tacos
-1 cup waxworms
-1 cup chopped onions
-1 cup chopped tomato
-1/2 cup chopped cilantro
-1/2 avocado
-tortillas
-2 tbsp olive oil
-pinch salt
-hot sauce
Freeze live  Waxworms overnight.
Saute onions in olive oil until golden, then turn heat to medium-high. Add waxworms, stirring quickly to keep them moving, while adding a pinch of salt (to taste). Waxworms will start to straighten out as they hit the heat; this means they are partially done and are becoming firm, just like shrimp or fish. When you start to see a little bit of transparency around their edges, they are ready.
Simply use sauteed waxworms as you would any other taco meat, adding whichever complementary ingredients you fancy.
 
From Iowa State University's Entomological Department:
 
Mealworm Fried Rice
1  egg, beaten
1 tsp. oil
3/4 c. water
1/4 c. chopped onions
4 tsp. soy sauce
1/8 tsp. garlic powder
1 c. minute rice
1 c. cooked mealworms
Scramble egg in a saucepan, stirring to break egg into pieces.
Add water, soy sauce, garlic and onions. Bring to a boil. Stir in rice. Cover; remove from heat and let stand five minutes
 
Banana Worm Bread
1/2 cup shortening
3/4 cup sugar
2 bananas, mashed
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon soda
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup chopped nuts
2 eggs
1/4 cup dry-roasted army worms
Mix together all ingredients. Bake in greased loaf pan at 350 degrees F for about 1 hour.

Conclusion:

I will conclude with a quote that provides some more important provisos:

"If you have the desire to eat insects to become closer to nature, make sure you wash and cook them first. This will reduce the chance that you may chomp into a poisonous substance the bug may have consumed. However, if you live near agriculture that uses pesticide on a regular basis, do not eat bugs that live nearby. The pesticide cannot be washed off the insects, and it can be toxic to humans. Your safest bet is to order creepy crawlies from areas that do not use pesticides. Finally, do not eat insects that are dead when you find them. It is better to find live insects and cook them." - Ask The Exterminator

Sources and Further Reading:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entomophagy
http://www.asktheexterminator.com/Do_It_Yourself_Pest_Control/Edible_Insects.shtml
https://edibug.wordpress.com/list-of-edible-insects/
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/ants/bugs-nf.html
http://nationalzoo.si.edu/Publications/ZooGoer/2005/4/edibleinsects.cfm
http://infolific.com/leisure/wilderness-survival/eating-bugs-for-survival/
http://www.ent.iastate.edu/misc/insectnutrition.html

JWR Adds: Bon appetit, and Hakuna matata! (Scroll forward to 2:08.)

Nature is amazing, I love plants. Not only does just looking at them produce a calming effect, they are beneficial to us in every way. From food, to medicine, glue and rope, plants give us everything we need. These are my top five favorite plants because they are amazing, easy to grow or find and have many uses which are especially valid in TEOTWAWKI. Here are my favorite plants found in the wild, and in the garden, and the reasons why.

1. Garlic
 Garlic is great for two reasons, it is a food and a medicine. All parts are edible except for the skin and woody stalk among the cloves. It is the easiest thing to grow and cheap to do so as one clove produces one head. In the garden, it also is said to repel rabbits and moles.
The health benefits are numerous to using garlic as it is reputed to have antibacterial, antimicrobial, diuretic, antifungal, and antiviral properties. Not only is it flavorful, but beneficial in the prevention and treatment of many common ailments.

“There are many miracles in the world to be celebrated and, for me, garlic is the most deserving.”  - Leo Buscaglia

Here are some uses for garlic:
 -insect repellent when ingested in larger amounts or when rubbed on topically, treatment for bee and wasp stings
-high blood pressure treatment/ management
-remedy sore throats, cold hands and feet, earache, tight headaches
-treat fungal skin infections like thrush
-treat and prevent bacterial and viral infections, urinary tract infections, bronchial and lung infections
-treatment for pinworms, roundworms, tapeworms, hookworms, warts
-reduce nasal congestion, coughs, respiratory problems
-boost resistance to candida infections
-flu, cold, stye, prevention
-effective against a wide range of pathogenic bacteria, influenza, meningitis
-boost immunity, circulation
-poultice for aches, pains, sprains
-help with poor digestion, help regulate blood sugar
-prevent scurvy, prevent gangrene
-boost testosterone with a high protein diet (suggested in a study with rats)
-enhance thiamine absorption
-garlic juice used as an adhesive when mending glass, porcelain
-natural antibiotic, 1 milligram of allicin is the estimated equivalent of 15 standard units of penicillin
-inhibit clotting

2. Cayenne Pepper
We love our food spicy. Cayenne is the easiest 'go to' to spice it up a little, or a lot. Again I'm a fan of multi purpose and cayenne is not only a staple in the kitchen but a great thing to have in a medical kit, and as personal protection. Cayenne contains capsaicin, vitamin A, B6, C, E, riboflavin, potassium, and manganese.
"If you master only one herb in your life, master cayenne pepper. It is more powerful than any other." - Dr. Schulze
"In 35 years of practice, and working with the people and teaching, I have never on house calls lost one heart attack patient and the reason is, whenever I go in--if they are still breathing--I pour down them a cup of cayenne tea (a teaspoon of cayenne in a cup of hot water, and within minutes they are up and around)." - Dr. Christopher
Uses:
-aphrodisiac in males
-ant repellent
-topical anti-inflammatory for joint pain, back pain, arthritis, and nerve pain (Do not use on broken skin)
-remedy cold hands and feet
-soothe chilblains with ointment containing cayenne
-prevent gas when used in meals
-stop a heart attack with cayenne tea, 1 tsp cayenne dissolved in 1 cup hot water
-ease dyspepsia symptoms
-rebuild tissue in the stomach and peristalic action in the intestines
-aids elimination and assimilation
-aids the body in creating hydrochloric acid
-boost circulation, increase heart action, arrest shock symptoms
-lower blood pressure
-overcome fatigue, restore stamina, vigor
-stop hemmoraging
-improve itching of psoriasis
-fight pancreatic cancer
-headache relief
-pepper spray main ingredient...cayenne

3. Dandelion
I used to hate seeing all those yellow flowers infiltrating my green lawn, now it almost pains me to mow them down. Dandelions are higher in beta carotene than carrots and higher in iron and calcium than spinach. They contain the vitamins B1, B2, B5, B6, B12, C, E, P, and D, biotin, bitter glycosides, inositol, terpenoids, potassium, phosphorus, magnesium and zinc.
"Suppose your doctor tells you, on your next visit, that he has just discovered a miracle drug which, when eaten as a part of your daily diet or taken as a beverage, could, depending on the peculiarities of your body chemistry: prevent or cure liver diseases, such as hepatitis or jaundice; act as a tonic and gentle diuretic to purify your blood, cleanse your system, dissolve kidney stones, and otherwise improve gastro-intestinal health; assist in weight reduction; cleanse your skin and eliminate acne; improve your bowel function, working equally well to relieve both constipation and diarrhea; prevent or lower high blood pressure; prevent or cure anemia; lower your serum cholesterol by as much as half; eliminate or drastically reduce acid indigestion and gas buildup by cutting the heaviness of fatty foods; prevent or cure various forms of cancer; prevent or control diabetes mellitus; and, at the same time, have no negative side effects and selectively act on only what ails you. If he gave you a prescription for this miracle medicine, would you use it religiously at first to solve whatever the problem is and then consistently for preventative body maintenance?"-Peter Gail
Uses:
-plentiful emergency food
-used to make dandelion wine
-coffee substitute, gotta love that
-strengthen the entire body, especially the liver and gallbladder
-promote the flow of bile, reduces inflammation in the bile duct, helps eliminate gallstones
-reduces liver swelling, and jaundice
-help indigestion caused by insufficient bile
-gentle diuretic
-good for pancreas, bladder, spleen, stomach and intestines
-helps with mature onset diabetes, hypoglycemia
-encourages production of hydrochloric acid and digestive enzymes
-milky sap removes warts, pimples, moles, callouses, sores
-sap soothes bee stings
-help with hypertension
-aids in night vision
-detoxification agent
-therapeutic benefits in the treatment of persistent constipation, acne, eczema, psoriasis
-aids in the treatment of gout, arthritic conditions and osteoarthritis
-recommended for weight loss
-prevent or cure anemia
-appetite stimulant
-use the white juice in the flower stems as glue.

4. Cattail
 Cattails are beautiful, and one of the most useful plants I have have ever encountered. It contains beta carotene, niacin, riboflavin, thiamin, potassium, phosphorous, vitamin C, protein, unsaturated fats and calories. From food, to rafts to insect repellent, this plant seems to do it all.
" Although now relatively unused in the United States, where four species thrive, cattails are deliciously edible both raw and cooked from their starchy roots to their cornlike spikes, making them prime emergency foods." from 'Survival Wisdom and Know-How Everything You Need to Know to Subsist in the Wilderness'.
Uses:
-soothes wounds, sores, boils, inflammations, burns and carbuncles
-excellent food source
-weaving material for mats, backs of chairs,
-great stuffing for pillows, great insulation
-used internally to quell diarrhea, kill and expel worms, also used for gonorrhea
-fluff used as tinder
-stalks are great for use as an emergency raft  
-pounded, soaked leaves make good improvised cordage
-used in construction of thatch roofing
-burn as insect repellent
-use brown head of stalk dipped in animal fat as a torch
-pollen is hemostatic and astringent, used to control bleeding
-sticky substance at the base of the green leaf is antiseptic

5. Nettles
Nettles have a bad name due to their special stinging defenses, I find that handy in terms of defense. No one in their right mind would tramp through a nettle patch just to see what's on the other side. Nettles contain very high levels of minerals, especially calcium, magnesium, iron, potassium, phosphorous, manganese, silica, iodine, silicon, sodium, and sulphur. They also contain chlorophyll, tannen, vitamin C, beta carotene, B complex vitamins, and are high in protein. Yes, they can sting, but the sting is easily remedied with jewelweed, plantain, or dock.
"Sitting here writing this book, I frequently sip on warm nettle tea. It's one of my favorites. It does not taste like a normal tea- not bitter, spicy, minty, or lemony. It's more like a strong stock of a rich, deep, green plant essence, and it's one of the most nourishing drinks of all."- Steve Brill with Evelyn Dean in 'Identifying and Harvesting Edible and Medicinal Plants in Wild (and Not So Wild) Places'.
Uses:
-food and tea (always cook nettles)
-ward off iron deficiency anemia
-effective in treating allergies and hay fever
-expectorant, recommended for asthma, mucus of the lungs, and chronic coughs
-tincture used for flu, colds, bronchitis, and pneumonia
-infusion is a safe diuretic
-recommended for weight loss
-tea compress good for wounds, cuts, stings, and burns
-used internally to stop excessive menstruation, bleeding from hemmorages, bloody coughs, nosebleeds, and bloody urine
-helps blood clot
-helps treat gout, glandular diseases, poor circulation, diarrhea, dysentery, worms and hemorrhoids
-makes your hair brighter, thicker, shinier
-makes your skin clearer and healthier
-good for eczema and other skin conditions
-cleansing and antiseptic properties
-stems used for weaving, cordage, cloth and paper making

NOTICE: Please be cautious when attempting to prevent, treat or cure any health issues. Be sure to talk to your Doctor before considering any type of health related changes. Also it is important to note that although these suggested uses are easily found in books and on the internet, some may not work for you. Each body is different and some react in adverse ways. Always be sure you know what you are doing before trying any of these ideas. Some of these plants may have 'look a likes' that at best, won't do what you expect, at worst, will kill you.

Sources:
The Doctors Book Of Home Remedies II
Reader's Digest Curing Everyday Ailments the Natural Way
Identifying and Harvesting Edible and Medicinal Plants in Wild (and Not So Wild) Places
Survival Wisdom and Know-How
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garlic
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cayenne_pepper
http://www.shirleys-wellness-cafe.com/cayenne.htm
http://www.herbs2000.com/herbs/herbs_dandelion.htm
http://www.leaflady.org/health_benefits_of_dandelions.htm
http://www.the-ultralight-site.com/dandelion.html
http://ghostprepper.blogspot.ca/2011/11/onahwe-ta-preppers-pal.html
http://www.gwenshealinggarden.ca/Quotes.Garlic.htm

Protection from mosquitoes can be difficult but mosquitoes in hot weather are a particularly difficult problem. Years ago I used to know an old leather-skinned Florida Cattleman that never noticed several mosquitoes biting his bare arms; they didn’t even raise a bump. Most of us aren’t that lucky. I was a little allergic back then, a mosquito bite would often make a sore; this is more often true for children. These sores can easily get infected due to the inching and scratching over a long time period. Mosquitoes can also carry serious diseases like Malaria and Encephalitis which might not be easily cured in the future. Another concern, if you are trying to be still while hunting or being hunted it is difficult to remain undetected while swatting at bugs. Besides it is just plain miserable to be out with mosquitoes if you don’t have proper protection. Of course Insect Repellent should be in every Bug Out Bag but it takes more than that in extreme Mosquito territory! Even if you don’t expect to be out in the heat with the bugs, who knows where you will be or how well you will be equipped when the flag goes up.
 
As an avid outdoorsman for many years in Florida I have always been amazed, at how little time and attention is devoted to protection from mosquitoes on various survival shows and discussions. I once saw an entire show dedicated to unprepared wilderness survival in the Okefenokee Swamp (in southern Georgia ) in which the only mention of this most important outdoor problem was the suggestion to smear mud on your face and stay in the smoke! Sorry but that is not very useful advice. Much of my outdoor time has been bare bow archery hunting with a stick bow in southern swamps. This put me in the woods during a very hot time of year and required that I get very close to the game.  The need to be close kept me from covering myself with insect repellent; deer will detect and usually avoid the odor of repellent. My experience could be useful, especially if repellent is not available. Here is what I have learned through years of fighting our southern mosquitoes; they are smaller than northern ones but much quicker and much more aggressive so it is hard to defend against them.
 
If it is cold there is not much of a problem, thick warm clothes can protect all but the face. It is very different when it’s hot. Heat stroke is a serious and real danger, and besides, thick sweat soaked clothes are not comfortable, healthy, or practical. Even so, the right clothes can give good low tech protection. What is needed are clothes made of the thinnest cotton cloth that has an extremely tight weave. The type of material needed is the kind that a very thin dress shirt is made of.  DO NOT use T-shirts or any stretchy knit material. You need to wear two layers of long sleeve shirts and long pants made of this thin tight weave material. A very loose fit or even oversized is best. The reason for not wearing stretchy material and wearing two layers is the same. Mosquitoes don’t bite through the cloth fiber; they stick their snouts between the threads of the material as you might stick your finger through the strings that comprise a Volleyball net.  So a tight weave cloth means the gaps between the cloth threads are smaller and expand less at stress points like elbows, knees, and crotch. The gaps expand a lot on T-shirt material when stretched; that is why it doesn’t work. The reason for two layers is that with the right material, the gaps between the threads do not line up so almost all of the time when the mosquito sticks her snout through a gap in the outer layer she will hit a fiber thread on the under layer and be unable to penetrate to the skin. The reason for using thin cotton is to help stay cool. Less body heat is held under the cloth and more sweat evaporates through it. Synthetic/Cotton blends are more durable and will work but they just don’t cool as well. I’ve found that the best thing to use is loose fitting long sleeve thin cotton dress shirts and loose fitting long leg cotton pajama or lounging pants. About the Pajamas, and the shirts also, if you look around you can find some colors or patterns that blend in well and don’t look so goofy; I’ve even seen both in camouflage!
 
Okay, you don’t want to be seen running around the woods in your pajamas? I understand. There are alternatives.  You can use one set of the above as the under layer and use some other pants made of tight weave cotton as the outer layer, but the thicker it is the hotter you’ll be! Also you could use something like a “Bug Tamer” as the outer layer. Bug Tamer is a brand name for shirt and pants made of a fine camouflage mesh lined with a string net material. The idea is that the thicker string net will hold the light mesh material off the skin and keep the mosquitoes snout from reaching the skin. Alone it works reasonably well but gives little protection at the elbows and knees when sitting. When sitting the tightly stretched material can lay against the skin. That is why I suggest the additional under layer. While the Bug Tamer outer layer looks sportier I think it is inferior for three reasons.  First it is hotter; it traps more body heat. Second, it is much more likely to snag and tear. Third it is much more expensive than a couple pairs of K-Mart or Wall Mart draw string pajama pants.
 
Next you need the right head gear. The right hat is one that has a short brim all the way around and it should be covered by a head net. I prefer a military style Boonie hat made of cotton.  Cotton is cooler and is absorbent; sometimes the top of your hat is the only thing dry enough and handy to wipe sweat from your eyes.  The mosquito head net drapes loosely over the hat and brim keeping the net, and therefore the mosquitoes off the face, ears and back of the neck.  A billed baseball type cap will allow the net to lay on the ears and neck and not protect. The best head net has a black mesh area over the eyes; it is much easier to see clearly through black than green or camouflage. I think a head net should be in every Bug Out Bag! By the way, if you are without a net and have repellent it is a real bad idea to put it on your forehead or above the eyes. Sweat will cause it to run into the eyes and incapacitate you! Instead of putting it on your forehead put repellent on the under side of your hat brim. If you haven’t got a hat then a strip of bath towel folded double and tied around the head Indian style is helpful. It can protect the forehead with or without repellant, is a good sweat band, and can be used as a bandage if you need one. It is another good item for a Bug Out Bag.
 
Next it helps to have a pair of cotton gloves. The type sold for gardening and light yard work. Most Sporting Goods departments sell them in Camouflage. If you find some made of a synthetic material with a fuzzy exterior this will help protect from mosquitoes. The fuzz slows them down. If you are using repellent the gloves will help hold it on your hands so that it is not wiped, rubbed, or sweated off.
 
There is a more hi tech protection that works very well if you are stationary as when sitting or sleeping. It is a Thermo Cell. There might be other brands of this device but I have not seen them. A Thermo Cell is a device that looks a little like a large hand radio (Walkie Talkie). It contains a tiny heating coil fueled by a small butane cartridge. A repellent impregnated cloth pad fits over a metal plate heated by the coil. The heat releases repellent fumes. Each pad last about four hours and the cartridge about six or eight hours. It requires no batteries. These things protect very well and game does not seem to detect or are not bothered by the repellant. I think one of these should also be in every Bug Out Bag.
 
There are some plants that are said to be natural mosquito repellents but they are not helpful if they are not around when you need them. I have tried one, a Myrtle bush that is common in wetlands of the Southeastern Gulf States .  Crushing the fresh leaves and rubbing them on the skin worked surprisingly well. I only needed to reapply about once an hour; it did turn my skin green for a while though. Oh, mud doesn’t work because when it dries it cracks and/or falls off. Mosquitoes will bite through the cracks. Smoke only works while you are sitting or standing in it. It burns your eyes and makes you stink! If you are going to hunt the smell of smoke on you can alert game and keep them from coming close.
 
Wearing two loose layers of thin tightly woven cotton shirts and pants, a Boonie hat with a head net, and a pair of cotton gloves I have been able to spend hours of hunting and photographing wildlife in hot mosquito invested swamps using no insect repellant. Add a Thermo Cell and it’s a Cake Walk!

Captain Rawles,
In addition to the points you made in reference to stealth and scarce ammunition supplies post collapse, in your commentary on the named article, I would make a second point:

While the squad level tactics described have proven to be rather effective for active duty military in offense;  the average Joe and his family unit will most likely not have those kinds of numbers.  The average familial size seems to be right around four, these days.  So unless one is lucky enough to have found/joined/founded a group for this purpose, when it gets to be Schumer time the average Joe will find themselves with a fire team at best, in most cases.  Do not mistake me, here, if you got a thirteen man squad, or more, great.  But most won't, so other tactics are perhaps more appropriate.

I would frankly be more inclined, speaking as a veteran myself, to highly recommend the average family/small group employ an adaptation of ST:A (Scout Team: Advanced), fire team recon, or LRRP doctrines.  Which is to say concentrate on detection over engagement, stealth over owning ground, and strict employment of the sound/light/motion/trace "disciplines".  For those who aren't familiar, trace discipline can also be called trash discipline or "policing your line of advance".  It simply means don't leave any trace that you were there; burn, bury, or carry with you any trash or spent brass.  In short, get in-do your business-get out, preferably without having to engage, especially if the other side is physically entrenched.  If you must engage at assault ranges, then somebody goofed and goofed badly, in my experience. Of course, if one must engage, do so authoritatively, and with prejudice; in other words don't just hit your target, drop them, so they don't get back up. Then break off the engagement as quickly as is possible.  Obviously, further adaptation will be needed for such things as movement connected with resource gathering, and so forth.  Cutting firewood in quantity leaves a lot of trace and will have a huge sound signature, for example.

I would also very highly advise these small groups to train all their members as designated marksmen, on top of whatever other skills are possessed, in order to foster the habit of observation at distance.  This allows for long range engagement from behind cover, followed by a break contact movement while starting from that same cover. (Assuming there's cover to be had.)   This is in keeping with what I've written previously concerning keeping a low profile.  Simply put, the average family unit will just not possess, most likely, the numerical assets to engage at squad level or higher, with much degree of success.  Huge families and so forth are more an exception these days than they were when I was a child.

When it comes to family, there's no such animal as "acceptable losses."

Just my two cents, here.  And Easter blessings to all. - J.H.

Long before the days of supermarkets and organized agriculture, people lived.  We are the evidence.  They lived in small groups and even alone as hunter gatherers.  And remember, this was in the days before language!  How did we do it?  Trial and error?  Instinct?  If so, the instinct has been lost, but with some simple rules, it may be regained.

The good news is we don't have to watch Uncle Ogg keel over in agony after grazing on a patch of poison hemlock to know that it's something to stay away from. Solutions to common problems such as what to eat from your immediate environment can now be had through books, pictures, video and the spoken word.

I am here to tell you that your body can be sustained for long periods of time by taking advantage of the wild edible food that grows from the ground everywhere.  I know because I did it, and I practiced what I preach exclusively for many years.

I lived in the Adirondack Mountains of upstate New York in a homesteading situation for many years without electricity and indoor plumbing and the modern conveniences that come with those things.  Town was miles away and visits to civilization were few.  The hardships were many, but so were the lessons learned.  By degrees, I came to know that abundance is given by design.  Believe it or not, we already live in the Garden of Eden, but being "civilized" keeps us from knowing it, and the high pitched whine of man-gone-crazy keeps us from knowing its peace and its gifts.

Some of these foods are known to us already, perhaps instinctively. What child hasn't blown the little parachute seeds from a dandelion's puff-ball while laying in the clover?  Girls pull the petals from a daisy saying "Loves me, loves me not..." and collect tiny bouquets of violets while boys brave sharp barbs to collect raspberries and blackberries.  The helicopters from Maple trees, the burrs from burdock, the fluff from a dried milkweed pod on the wind or the bark of the birch tree have all been child's playthings at one time or another.  Perhaps these warm associations come from a lost knowledge that these are all sources of food?

The average lawn contains many, many food sources. I once published a book called The Lawn Food Cookbook, Groceries in the Backyard due to the sheer amount of material there.  This is without taking a walk around the block or going to local fields and waste areas.  Needless to say, if you're trekking from hither to yon, you'll be passing through many of nature's supermarkets. Will you know how to use their assets?

All it takes to get started is the will to do so. Take a trip to the library or the Internet for tons of free information.  I have found, however, that while many resources are strong on the identification and uses, they can be short on practicalities such as harvesting tips, preparation and especially storage for the long winter months. I have sought out the methods of the early Native Americans to cope with many of these issues, and I've used them to great benefit.  While many of these foods freeze beautifully, I found that much can be done with drying foods and making flour from the dried material for a concentrated nutritional benefit.  This has immediate appeal to people who are on foot.

What if you could make yourself "starvation proof"?  What if you knew you could be dropped off anywhere, even on a desert, and not only survive but have all the nourishment a body could need?  Well, I'm here to tell you that not only is it possible, but it's relatively easy for a person of average intelligence to attain.  It certainly might be hard on your system to begin to eat wild food after steady diet of sugar filled fast foods and processed grains, but those problems largely come from the sheer amount of nutrition you would be confronted with.

It's no secret that modern agriculture techniques have depleted nutrients from the soil when they've been grown in the same place for a long time ago, but this is not true for wild food and the places where it grows.  The very weeds that are giving Big Agriculture problems by becoming resistant to the herbicides that are used to "cultivate" today's GMO crops tend to be the very same foods that we could utterly live on for centuries to come.  Ironic, isn't it?  The "troublesome" amaranth, horseweed, waterhemp and lambsquarters all have edible uses.  It's almost as if Mother Nature is trying to tell us something!

While I am not a “prepper", I have found over the years that these folks are my best audience.  The similarities between my chosen situation in the Adirondacks and the scenario where there is some sort of disaster disrupting the food supply as we know it are too striking to dismiss.  The intent might be different, but the techniques remain the same.  The truly prudent know that this knowledge is not won overnight.  Foraging is a skill that needs to be learned and practiced in one's everyday life before one could depend on it in an emergency.  If you feel that disaster is imminent, my advice to you is "start now."  There is a learning curve, but that curve could begin in troubled times if it had to, assuming you had the information in hand.  You could be up to speed in time to stretch your food supplies and be expert by the time they run out.

One note here-- if you have a family during troubling times, foraging together has the excellent benefit of reducing fear.  As you learn and look around and see that a high percentage of the vegetation around you is edible, you will find that this automatically lessens the worry you may be experiencing while ensuring your family's survival.

To start with wild food, concentrate on finding one plant that grows in your area.  The one's I teach grow almost everywhere.  Identify it and test it using the rules of foraging to be sure that it will not produce a reaction for you or anyone that will be eating it.  This means that they, too, should learn and apply the rules of foraging, as stated below.  This is important, especially if you are reaching outside the bounds of the plants that are known to you.

Then, having passed the tests, harvest some, process it and try some.

To recap, select one plant and bring it from the field to the kitchen.  Learn that one thoroughly.  Work it into your menu, but take a gradient approach to learning and using wild food.  You would first use a pinch to bolster the nutrition of a stew, for instance.  What you'll be doing is adapting your body to the pure nutrition that is wild food.  Realize that it's 5-7 times the nutrition of any vegetable we have, so going too fast could have a strong effect, such as the runs.

First a few pinches mixed in, later, perhaps, a whole meal of nothing but wild food.

As you forage around, you'll become aware of other plants that you can work into your diet in a similar fashion.  You'll will become adept and marvel at the ease of harvesting large amounts quickly, taking it and drying it for storage and future use.  Remember not to pick an area clean of something, because you could wipe it out for the next time.  Leaving some will actually give the plant a chance to resurge and grow like a weed — which of course, they are.

Go slow and have fun while you learn the skill that kept all of humanity alive in the eons before recorded history.

The Rules of Foraging

These rules are for your own protection when investigating plants that are new to you. If followed closely, they will protect you in the field.

1. DO NOT collect plants closer than 200 feet from a car path or contaminated area.
2. NEVER collect from areas sprayed with herbicides, pesticides, or other chemicals.
3. DO NOT collect plants with RED STEMS, or red striations or stripes.
4. ALWAYS BE FAMILIAR with all dangerous plants in YOUR area of collection.
5. POSITIVELY IDENTIFY all plants you intend to use for food.
6. Take a piece off the plant and roll between your fingers.  SNIFF CAREFULLY.  Does it smell like something you would eat?  If it doesn’t, DISCARD IMMEDIATELY.  If it does, go to rule 7.
7. Take another piece off the plant and roll until juicy.  RUB the tiny piece on your gum above your teeth.
8. WAIT 20 minutes.
9. DOES YOUR GUM ITCH, BURN, TINGLE, SWELL OR STING?  If no reaction occurs, go on to rule 10.
10. Take another piece of the plant and put in a teacup.  Add boiling water and steep for 5 minutes.  SIP SLOWLY for 20 more minutes.  WATCH FOR NAUSEA, BURNING, DISCOMFORT.  If no reaction occurs, you may ingest a small amount.
11. WAIT ANOTHER 20 MINUTES and watch for any reaction.
12. Keep all samples AWAY from children or pets.
13. Store all seeds and bulbs AWAY from children and pets.
14. Teach children to keep all plants AWAY from their mouths and DO NOT ALLOW children chew or suck nectar from any unknown plants.
15. AVOID smoke from burning plants. Smoke may irritate the eyes or cause allergic reactions QUICKLY.
16. BE AWARE of your neighbor’s habits with chemicals, pesticides and herbicides.
17. BEWARE: heating or boiling doesn’t always destroy toxicity.

After emerging from the woods, I dedicated myself to teaching the lessons that I had learned.  In the early 1980s I set up a wild food walk, sort of a museum of plants so people could learn them without having to seek them out first.  My first Xeroxed flyer for the walk was eventually to become my first book, A Survival Acre.  My materials have evolved over the years to what you can see on my webs ite, OfTheField.com.  Nothing makes me madder than hearing about people starving to death when they're sitting in Nature's Supermarket!  People are always blown away with the knowledge and awareness that comes from discovering the abundance right under their feet.  It is my sincerest hope that you will learn these skills.

DISCLAIMER:
This is information about wild food.  The editors of SurvivalBlog nor the author make no claims as to the correctness, safety or usability of the data.

The information contained herein is intended to be an educational tool for gathering and cooking wild plants.  The information presented is for use as a supplement to a healthy, well-rounded lifestyle.  The nutritional requirements of individuals may vary greatly, therefore the author and publisher take no responsibility for an individual using and ingesting wild plants.

All data is to be used at your own risk.  Using the Rules of Foraging, above, greatly helps to reduce that risk, but they are not fool-proof.

JWR Adds: SurvivalBlog readers will likely recognize the author's name. She is the author of the excellent Linda Runyon's Master Class On Wild Food Survival.Her books, DVDs, and flash cards all have a well-deserved positive reputation.

The solar still is the most written about yet least used survival technique there is. I would like to help change that, with some actual testing and practical knowledge, back to something you can really use for survival.

If you ask almost anyone that has read a book on survival, or taken a summer wilderness class, how they would acquire water in a desert environment, without hesitation they would say: “I would just build a solar still.” There is nothing wrong with that; it is one way to attain at least some water. The solar still is the stock answer, and not a bad one either. The desert is a harsh environment short on water and the ground is the only real place to find it hiding. Desert vegetation is extremely hard to squeeze palatable water from. Contrary to what you have heard. cactus, even the infamous Barrel cactus, do not contain enough refreshment without d’stilling their contents to sustain anyone. And if you have not had the opportunity to try sucking moisture out of a Barrel cactus, do not bother, Bleeeech. In fact, it will make you even thirstier, and some people even sick.

There is a problem, however. The next thing that same person will tell you almost in the same breath is: “But, they don’t work very well, and you wouldn’t have enough water to live on. Not to mention it wastes more sweat to build than you could replace with it.”

Those are all completely true criticisms.

Solar stills are inherently inadequate for evaporating the moisture from the ground, and any vegetation that you might add to it, into drinking water. There has only been one design in the history of its conception. Well, at least since they have been recorded in books, as far as I can tell. It’s like viewing the same photo, penned by the same hand, knocked out time and again from the mid-fifties in every book. Every one of them has it-- cut and paste, almost. As well as the same way too short paragraph description only slightly modified to avoid plagiarism.
The picture is a very plain line drawing of an inverted cone-shaped hole in the ground, out in the middle of a flat and barren land with nothing else around, and a sheet of plastic stretched over the hole to match the conical hole. There's a cup centered at the bottom, and then they always say--”a small stone or pebble” in the center to hold the point of the plastic to that cup. If you have a decent manual, it will explain that this old technique is used for a “if nothing else is possible” situation, and not advisable to try unless you're going to die anyway. Solar stills work, just not very well. That just bugs me.

So why put it in the book in the first place? Why waste that valuable space in the book? It would be just as easy to teach, “If you're going to freeze to death anyway, try and find a hibernating bear to snuggle with." It does not make much sense; if it can be better, than why not do it?

What if I told you that there is a better way. One that works. One that is worth it. One that could and will save your life and maybe loved ones with you. I know you need to know. Like me, you are a survivor. You will learn and will do what it takes to continue to live. That’s why you're reading this now. Knowledge is power, and more.....it's life.
So let's get started. First, a short history of the solar still. The first recorded sun-powered still ideas were made by the Arabs a millennium ago. They developed some of the modern things that we take for granted today, such as mathematics, and celestial navigation, etc. The first practical designs are credited to a Frenchman, Adam Lonicier in the year 1561. And then yet another Frenchmen, Agustin Mouchotin, in 1861, was the next in line to copy or alter this idea to his own ends while he was working on a way to refine the brandy business. It didn’t work out the way he expected, though. The man that first took the concept to its fullest modern day design was an American named Charles Wilson, in 1872. On a mining expedition in Chile, he developed a system of ocean-fed canals in large proportions and was able to purify enough water for a small city. That very same solar still worked without problems for more than forty years. Now, all of these designs were large, non-portable devices to gather moisture to supply their homes or cities.

In the US, we might have known and used solar stills since its founding, but it was first used as a “portable survival plan” in the First World War; at least, the original commercial printings date back to that time. Those plans became standard operating procedure, though just as a very last resort, from the Second World War on. Solar still kits with plastic sheets have been standard issue in Air force birds since 1960. And the only way they have changed is in the rotation of that kit for freshness. The conceptual design has remained exactly the same for these past 70 years.
There have been some improvements here and there to "solar stills. In fact, others came up with the concept of small portable blow up (for a boat or plane traveling over water anyway) solar stills that can be used while adrift in the water, and are now standard military on every boat/plane that would carry more than three people. These are based on the exact configuration of the in-ground models and really have but one extra benefit..... the unlimited supply of water.

The other improvements have all been made to the non-portable home units now being built with new space-age materials. They have changed the materials such as the covering glass and used reflecting mirrors, and added +/- 5 % here or there, varied the depth of the water or the insulation under it, as well as colors and gained a few more percentage points, and so on. The one thing that made a huge difference however, was if you could hold the inside of the still in a vacuum. This will improve the workings up to 100%. I know of no way to achieve that with a hole in the desert floor and pocket materials, unfortunately.

These changes also have nothing to do with a “wilderness survival solar still”. Not unless you can carry an entire hardware store in your pocket. In that case it would be easier to just carry the extra water. The wilderness solar still design has not changed at all. It’s still just a hole in the ground, with little science involved other than trying to evaporate water.
Until now.

My wilderness solar still, described here, has an increased output of over 400% . So, how does one improve on a hundred year old hole in the ground? Like most people, I have heard and read about Solar stills for my whole life. I have implanted the illustration to memory, cataloged and filed. But when was the last time you ever built one? You do go out and build
at least one of these every year, right? Testing with the various substrates, soil conditions, and atmospheric anomalies that will give better results, right?
Wait, you don’t? Me neither. I never did, until a little more than 15 years ago. Oh, I played around a bit with them when I was a kid, but never seriously. Why would I? If it’s been written in the books for 70 years of course I can trust it. Right? Well just like anything else, I want to “know” what I can and cannot count on. I need to know how much liquid can one get out of, say, a four foot diameter model in the Arizona desert in mid-summer, with the materials I carry.

This was not answered in any book. In fact not too much is ever mentioned in any survival books about solar stills except the simplistic version on how they are made, and that they do not work very well. If it was a firearm, would you trust that it fires accurately because a book publisher that printed off millions of copies said that it did, and that once purchased there would be no need to test fire it? Well, I guess a lot of sheep--I mean people have done that a few times.

Everything that one will rely on for survival should be run through its paces to find its weaknesses and its breaking points and faults. Find out if you can depend on it, or if it is worth the weight in your pack. Or, you can pack it and wait to find out later when there are no other options. I know several people right now that have all the fixins for a dandy of a solar still in their B.O.B.s. At best they have only imagined ever making one. Again, relying only on those books with the same short descriptions and same simple picture, they trust that in a dire time of need it will work just fine. It does on television! I bet that half of them will not even know how to dig the hole in hard soil without a shovel in their bag.

I fear that is the way with a lot of gear, though. Like carrying condoms in a small survival kit. Someone spread that around long ago and it stuck. I’m sure it came out of Viet Nam. Latex was just starting its heyday and they were being handed out like gum. Sorry about the pun. Today rookies are still adding them to their kits, and some do not even have a clue why.
Not that long ago, I had someone on a preppers board post the list of contents of his “kit'” and I gave a few suggestions with a list of my own. He thought it was great that I added a few plastic Ziploc bags--”I could use one to carry water in if I had to”, as well as fifty other uses for them. He said he should have something like that as well. But he had listed two condoms (no spermicide or lubes). I asked what he used those for--chance encounters? He did not have a clue. He had no idea why they were taking up space in his kit. Not to mention that they do not make very practical water carriers.

There are better ways.
I am the sort of man that has to go test things. To find those better ways. In fact, every year, for three to four days I go out somewhere with only my small survival kit, and some hopefully unused emergency-only safety gear. I see what the kit is made of--or really--how I made it. Added to that are the numerous backpacking trips, hunting/fishing excursions, and the like. All are great times to test out gear. If it can be improved, it gets revised. It will never be perfect, but there is never a perfect emergency situation either. They just happen, and the kit is there to help fill in some of the gaps. The main revisions are in the knowledge and thought base and can change with the area you're in, and adapt what you have or find without having to carry any extra gear. I even revised a common motto: Practice what you think you know, and know what you have practiced.

The solar still is no different. I want to know what to expect, even if I lived in, say, Minnesota, or somewhere else water is not such a commodity; I would still want to know if and how they work. You never know when you might end up in a completely different environment than what you’re accustomed to.

Like most others, I took the solar still for granted for too many years. Until one day someone asked me how they worked and why. I started quoting the text books. Gave the same answers in the beginning of this article. Somewhere in the middle I caught myself and started rethinking the idea of actually testing them out and seeing with my own eyes how they went so wrong, and what they can do in a real-life situation. I wanted to see if I could improve them so I would not have to give those same horrible answers.

I reside north of Phoenix, Arizona these days, the perfect Area of Operations to test such a thing. It’s great here in the off-summer times but H*ll the rest of the year. There is not much water in the cool months and none in the hot. On the whole, it’s dry. One has to plan his outings around water. Either hike to it or carry enough of it--there is never enough.

At a minimum, once a week the local news has a story of at least one adult going missing on a mountain hiking trail that is right in the city. Worse, at least two or more times a year there are persons missing in the Superstition Mountains east of the major cityscape. They are usually found in one to two days, thanks to well-trained Search and Rescue people, though it sometimes takes a lot more time. Most of these people are not from here or another desert area. They never have very much water with them, if any. They all started out as a simple three hour hike to the top of some peak that you can see from almost any place in town. A little bit of not paying attention and oops, they’re in another canyon that looks like the last seven they were in. Like most lost people they think, “If I just can get up around the next bend I will see where I messed up”. They are almost always wrong. These people should have the proper knowledge and carry the simple tools to provide for themselves just in case. In these situations I would suggest at least a full Camelbak and a charged cell phone. For those that venture out further, a lot more will be needed to survive this deadly place till you are found, or you find your own way out.

A Better Way
You will not find this in any of the survival books or in any print that I have not laid down. I came up with this on my own accord and have tried to inform people about this and other things that I have come up with to increase their chances of survival. I appreciate the opportunity Mr. Rawles has given me here to reach an audience of intelligent and like-minded preppers. I hope others will glean something from this and take it yet another step further.

You know what they say: If you can save just one life—well, it’s very true. Accidents happen all the time, and I could not even imagine something like watching my kids thirst for water that I could not provide for them.

“So, what heavy, fancy new gear do I have to add to my kit this time”, you're asking? Nothing. One more time: Not a thing! If you carry a hunk of plastic and a cup now for a solar still/E-shelter, that will continue to be the only thing you need. Think, for example, if the first car tires were square they would not work very well, and with just a small alteration in shape and no extra material we could get them spinning down the highway. Everything that I will try to detail out to you now I have taken to the field and tested personally. I started with baselines, building exact replicas of the solar stills in the survival books. I tested these in various places at various times during the year to get a good average base to draw from, and testing things my way in the same places and times of the year. These test that I have carried out were completed in the deserts around Phoenix, Arizona right around 1,600-foot elevation. I also have several other test sites in Northern California that I use at various times of the year.

Now unfortunately you are still going to have to dig a hole. It will be similar to the one that you should already be used to seeing in the books. This should be a hole at least five feet across; six feet would be even better. I have made plenty of them that were only in the four-foot diameter range and they worked well. The bigger, in this case, the better, materials permitting. The smaller ones that I have constructed had limitations of landscape rather than my just being lazy. The plastic I normally carry is about 6x8 feet and can be used for a quick shelter or what ever is needed most at the time.
The first difference you will notice is, instead of having a round hole with the deep point ending in the center, I want you to dig it in the shape of a common looking seashell. The shell that you should have in your minds eye is the iconic “Shell oil” sign design. When laying this shell shape out on the ground in the size that you would need, you will have to make sure that the top rounded side of the shell points away from the sun's tracking through the sky. In North America that would be to the north. To explain from a different angle, you want the sun to track east to west across the bottom third of the shell from right to left. The importance of this will be evident before we are through.

The top rounded section, or north side, would function much the same as the conventional still with sloping sides with approximately 25-45 degree angles, to as deep as you need the hole. The slopes would end not in the center, but on the bottom side of the shell shape about three quarters of the way down from the top, on the south side. The sides might have to be a bit steeper to end at the same point; that’s just fine. The bottom of the hole does not have to be a point, either. If the ground turns excessively hard, half flat is okay. The only need for depth is trying to get down deep enough to find damp soil. If you find damp sand a foot deep, you can stop there, but make sure that you will have enough vertical room to make the plastic work with your catch container.
This is tough without a simple picture. I have posted links to Photobucket. They are not masterpieces, just a simple computer “Draw” diagram.

Illustrations:

• The ‘Shell’ Concept
  
  
• The Cross Section

The bottom of the shell area with the squared off “tail” is not sloped very much unless you have to, and you might have to because of sandy or very loose soil. If this is the case, slope only as needed. If you have a few rocks laying around they can be used to bolster the sides to keep the shape of the hole. In fact, keep rocks in mind while gathering supplies
because later in this article I will explain how adding rocks to the inside of your still will be beneficial.

One other thing to remember is that the solar still might have to be used for a few days and in loose soil the common man-made erosion will quickly fill up or change the shape of the solar still. Adding rocks may also stop this from happening. To minimize all this digging, use the spoils from the hole to raise the sides, increasing the depth with half the work.
The bottom of the hole is not one level. At the bottom, the “tail” end of the shell is a raised shelf. This shelf will hold the catch pot. I know this sounds a little complex but with the cross-section illustration it should be very simple. I will post a cross-section that is very easy to understand, coming up soon.

There are only three other things that you have to do before you can cover your still. The first is very optional. If your soil already has some moisture to it and is somewhat dark in color you may skip this step. If not I would recommend that you look around for any vegetation that you can collect and add to the hole. If you have any of that cactus that you thought that you could eat and had to spit out, chop it up and add it to the hole. Anything with leaves that’s not poisonous or will cause you great harm in harvesting will be fine. Grass is very good and holds a lot of moisture. It can all be broken up into parts just long enough to line the bottom and sides of the hole. Make sure that once the plastic is pulled over and angled that the vegetation will not make contact with the plastic. If it does it may siphon off those valuable water droplets before they get a chance to run to the cup.

The added vegetation makes two things happen. First, it will add more moisture to the distillation process, and second, it will help the bottom of the hole to be a darker color, if you have a light soil. Dark colors absorb more heat. This is also the time to add any other items of moisture. If you are by the sea, add sea water. If you are close to a cow-trampled mud wallow, add some cow patty mud to the still. If you have to urinate for god sake do not waste it in the bushes, pee in the still. Do not worry about it being gross or about what is in the water. The lower heat that is generated by the sun instead of fire will only vaporize the water molecules and leave the other things in the bottom of the still. You can even use radiator fluid as a source of moisture to add to your still. Do not under any circumstances try and drink radiator fluid without processing them through a distiller. (Ed. Note: Bad idea! Many auto coolants contain Methanol, which evaporates at a lower temperature than water. Methanol is poisonous, and will kill you by destroying your liver.)

The second thing that you should add is small rocks. Not too small, about fist or palm size or bigger, and flat if possible, any shape is okay if not. The ideal rocks would be very dark river rocks about 4-6 inches around and 1-3 inches thick. But when picking up rocks in the desert make sure you do it carefully. Some critters use them for houses. A bite or sting is the last thing you need in a survival situation. The rocks should be placed along the inner sides and bottom of the still. They serve two purposes. The first is that they collect heat, being a darker and a denser material. And second, they hold that heat past the time when the sun drops below a level that hits your solar still. This will change the name of your solar still to the “stored heat radiation still”.

The still works on simple properties of moisture evaporation. This is accomplished with heat. The longer you apply heat the more water you can make. In fact, the time of day your still makes the most water, believe it or not, is after the sun goes down. If you have done everything correctly, the heat should continue radiating out of the rocks while the air above the still should be getting cooler. This will condense more water faster than in full sun, at least for a while. It will also extend the time past the “sun hours” that you are still making water. We are trying to create a wide difference in temperature, inside the still and out. As the temperature on different sides react to each other, they are still making you water.

The third thing to add before sealing your solar still is the container to hold the water that we hope will fill it several times. Just make sure that it is stable on the shelf that was constructed just for this vessel. If it falls over or you knock it over trying to remove it, you could turn a bad situation worse, if not fatal. This container can be almost anything that holds water--a pan, jug, plastic car part with dirt under it to make it stable, plastic bag with dirt to hold it in a cup shape, or a soda can or bottle with its top cut off--basically anything you have that’s clean and will hold water. I prefer to use larger pan-type catch basins. This makes it easier to position the point that water will drip from.

Not everyone will be carrying a length of tubing long enough to reach comfortably from the top to the bottom of the still and also be secured. Not having to open the still after its closed, however, will help with maintaining continuous heat trapped in the solar still. Any loss of heat will take a period of time to regenerate. Really the only time you would carry a tube long enough is if you were carrying it just for solar still construction. There are other reasons to carry tubing in the desert, though not that long. One of them is to gain access to trapped water in cracks and such that you would not be able to get to any other way. So adding a few extra feet might make things easier if you plan on using a solar still. What is the right length to carry? Go try it out yourself. This will depend on many variables--the depth of the hole is the main length but other factors will come to bear in the installation. If your kit now contains six feet, that will be more than sufficient.
So, we have our hole in the right shape--I will explain why in a bit--and we have it lined with rocks and/or vegetation. We have also tried to add as much moisture that we could find, as well as making sure that the catch container and the tubing, if used, will not be accidentally tipped or moved. It’s time to cover the solar still.

The plastic used can be any that you have. Clear or black, blue if that’s what you’ve got. I prefer the clear to opaque. Why? I want the heat, especially the infra red light, to pass easily through the plastic and do its heating “inside” of the hole. And I want the plastic as cool as possible. If it was black or a darker color, the plastic itself would be heated and it would change the temperature ratios and alter my expectations. Now if all you have at the time is black plastic, then use it. It works too. Some people even say that it’s the black that works better. I will not. You can make your own choice. For these results pack the clearer shades. Next the plastic is carefully stretched out over the hole, then using the spoil piles removed from the digging placed over the plastic all the way around the edges. On the south or the “tail” side of the still, I run the plastic up halfway into the spoils pile. This will give me a steeper angle on that side. When this is covered with the condenser material it will also help increase the reconverting of vapors in concert with the condenser.

There are two things that you have to be careful of here. The first is, that you leave enough slack in the plastic to have it dip in the middle, very similar to the original concept. You should first drape the plastic over the entire still and secure it in several places first, so you can make adjustments as needed before you bury the whole edge. The second is that once you start to seal the edges you should make sure to keep them as sealed as possible. You do not have to bury them with tons of dirt, but they should be as held down securely
and without many bigger rocks under or above it. You are trying to make the inside as airtight as you can under such primitive circumstances. I have seen many solar stills, constructed by untrained persons that have learned from these incomplete books, that have only one rock on each corner to hold the plastic down. This is not enough. Outside air entering the inside will not only cool but dry out the air inside of the still.

Now we are getting to the important parts. The rest was important but similar to a conventional still. From here out it changes dramatically.
Again, a little history before we go further. A solar still is a simple still. One has to look and think of it just like any other type of still, however. If you have any schooling and remember chemistry class you will remember how to distill water on a stove or lab tabletop. Very simply, heating water over a flame turns it into vapor and rises. At the top of a tapered flask it turns drastically, which helps it make contact with the walls of the tubing. Once out of the flask it is directed into a condenser. The condenser in this case would be a larger tube around the smaller tube that the steam is flowing through, with cool water flowing in between the two. The instant the steam contacts the sides of the cooled tubing it turns again into liquid, and flows out of the end of the condenser into a catch container. Even if you are distilling alcohol, you would do the same thing. Heat a liquid, turn it to steam and let it rise. Once it is removed from the heating vessel it changes direction and is cooled by a condenser of one design or another, usually cooler water Water is very good at pulling the heat out of things, especially clumsy humans. The key points are to heat, turn the water to vapor which rises to contact the plastic sheet, and most importantly, condensing back to liquid and falling into your catch basin.

In our solar still we use the hole and the plastic to trap the sun’s rays to create heat. With this heat we will turn the moisture in the still to vapor. We will allow it to rise and contact the condenser. The only thing that there is for a condenser is the hot sheet of plastic that is stretched over the hole. It does not seem to efficient. And you know what? It’s not. Not yet.
As we know, the basic solar still does work, but poorly. The thing we need is the same thing that we would have if you were making whiskey. A large difference in temperature between the cooker and the cooler. The plastic that is trapping the sun's heat is being heated itself. This does not make things better.

Most of the reasons this solar still is different from all the rest is that I add a real condenser. This makes the water condense and collect into the cup instead of recirculating around and around, cooling the inside of the still, or worse, sticking to anything that’s in the still, like the sticks or rocks that were added or even the parched upper walls of the still, which are hungry for moisture.

Rule One: The quicker you can gather the heat, make vapor, and re-condense the vapor, the more water you get back. It all comes down to that. This speed is contingent on the condenser design and temperature.

There are a number of ways you can accomplish this and it all comes down to what you have on hand. Use what you have and keep the above principles in mind. You can look at this next diagram to understand what I will try to explain to you next. Listed as “The cross section”.

To make a condenser that will cool the moisture in your solar still I recommend a two- stage process. The first is to change that simple pebble we are told to toss in the center of
our plastic to a much more capable form. Again, using what you have. If dirt is what you have then so be it, use dirt. Not a simple handful, but a pan full. The pebble will still be needed though. It will be used to hold the point where the water will be dripping from, underneath. Make sure that it is directly over your off center catch container. After that, you will continue to add soil over the pebble until a large enough patch covers an area about the size of a plate or larger. This only has to be as thick as needed to build up to that size an area, but a little more is okay and will keep the condenser cool longer. Just make sure that the plastic sheeting you're using will take the weight and not tear or stretch too far out of proportion. Remember, later in the day the now heated plastic might have changed its properties, so check on it now and then for stretching.

Keeping this upper soil cool will make a huge difference in your solar still. If you happen to have moist soil, you are golden. Keep some out from the digging of your still if you can; if not, try to find a way to moisten the soil. This time get a friend to pee on it if you have to.

Other methods that I have tested used things that I had in my pack. A small aluminum backpack frying pan with no sharp edges to puncture it was placed on the plastic. I was able to place it in just such a way as to have almost the whole bottom of the pan in contact with the plastic and still have it point to the catch container. The aluminum worked fairly well, actually, when I filled it with soil for weight and cooling. Aluminum does not hold a lot of heat but transfers it quickly, and so it makes a good material to use.
I do not recommend rocks or steel. These materials trap and hold ambient heat and would work in reverse of the way you needed. You are trying to create a place under the plastic that is cooler than the rest of the plastic, in an area about a foot plus in diameter, and evenly built up the south side to where the plastic is held down. Referring to the pictures I have provided should help to clarify any of my miscommunication, I hope.

The next part is just as important as the last one and rounds out your solar still to a lean mean water making machine. It is also one of the reasons that you had to dig the hole in the shell shape and orient it to the sun the way I have explained. It's half of the real key to the entire still: Shade.
Wait! That’s supposed to be a bad word in solar still construction, right? All the books say to stay away from all shade. No image will have a tree, let alone a small bush, in them that one might take to mean shade. So why shade?

Shading one side of the solar still will do more for making water than everything else you have done so far. In essence, you will be making your condenser cooler and making a greater difference in the temperature between the two sides. By shading the southern 1/3 of the plastic (remember the shell shape), you are creating a much cooler area that the water vapor will adhere to and which will quickly run down to the point and pour off in streams into the catch container. After you have constructed your still, make sure after the first hour that you monitor the catch, because if the vessel is small, or you are making a lot of water, it will overflow and waste your valuable moisture.

The first part of making this shade is with the spoils pile that you should have from digging the hole. You had to use some to hold down the plastic but there should be a lot left over. When in the planning stages and you are lining the hole up with the sun's tracking line, make a note to put the spoils on the southern rim of the hole. It will save you from
having to move it twice. This pile might just be enough in the wintertime. The sun tracks low in the southern sky, creating long shadows. In the summer it will just be a good thick base to help insulate that side of the hole. You will have to add to the top and maybe even the sides of it, as needed; you will have to adjust it through out the day from time to time as the sun tracks through the sky. You want the shade line to fall right across the bottom 1/3 of the shell shape at all times or as much as possible. It should fall right at the end of your shelf inside the still and the tip of the soil you have added as the condenser to the top.

What should I use for the shade? Look around. It could be anything--leafy branches of a tree, clothing items that you can spare (not ones needed for body protection--you will lose more water than you can replace when direct sun contacts more than 20% of your body), an extra tarp not needed to keep you out of the sun, maybe even something like a fire reflector design (built with small logs). Even plane or car parts. Again, take into consideration that it might have to be adjusted throughout the day to optimize the placement of shade.

While I’m at it I want to go over a few other things. Any solar still will have to be moved from time to time. There is only so much moisture in the small area of the ground under your still location and in the vegetable matter you might have placed inside. When the amounts drop off a lot, start planning the next one.
Also, you do not have to only make one, for many reasons. You might have a group of survivors that would require a lot more water, or just plain redundancy. Your solar still is a delicate structure and can be destroyed by an unforeseeable accident that could take away a needed chance at surviving.

Also, the hole does not have to be a shell shape; it can be anything that you want it to be. It is just an easy way I came up with to teach the three-dimensional aspects needed for construction with an easy-to-remember shape that just works, and includes the shelf and offset plastic not known in any other still.
Oh, and very importantly, try to keep the “pebble replacement” condenser damp, and shaded as much as possible. The evaporation of the moisture from this area will super-cool the plastic underneath, and condense vapor more quickly. This means a lot more water for you. But that evaporation will dry out this soil and allow it to warm up, decreasing production.
That’s it.

So, you want to know what all this amounts to? I know what they've done for me and for others that I have so instructed. I can tell you those facts and what to expect.
In comparison with a classically-built solar still I have, at a minimum, quadrupled the output. Let me say that again: Four times the output in the worst case environments every time. I have been able to pull water out of ground that was so bone dry a conventional solar still did nothing--not a drop. You can do better in areas that have more moisture in the soil, obviously. But then the Extreme Still will work far better, too—as much as 8-10 times better.

This may still not sound like a lot to you. Think of it this way. The reports vary, but they say you need at least 1.5 to 2 quarts of water per person, per day, to survive while resting in high temperatures. It's really more like a gallon a day, in the real world. Good luck getting that amount from a classic solar still. You might, if you're incredibly lucky, be able to get half a quart if you left it all day without a drink. Again, if you were lucky. With the Extreme Still in the same conditions, two people can drink two to four quarts per sunlit day from one still, if not more. And it will keep working long after the sun goes down, for even more water.

All these figures are relative due to different conditions but the 4:1 ratio will always stand as a minimum baseline between the two stills. It’s only a baseline as well; in some testing areas I had more than six times the results or higher as an average baseline.

The last time I was able to write something up on my new still design it had more pictures than words, I think. Maybe some here read it a few years ago. It started in an area that was powder dry. Clouds of dust arose as I dug a small four-foot wide hole with an E-tool. I think the entire thing was less than two feet deep, as well. I only had opaque plastic, and I was trying the test with almost no vegetation added for demonstration purposes, just a few Mesquite sprigs that were close. I did have lots of very dark rocks of the right size, although square and pointy. The outside temperature was more than 113 degrees, and my “shade” for the D’still was a very weird pair of plaid pants that I found twenty feet from where I dug the hole. I used two poles and some brush stuck in the spoil pile to hold the pants out and across the still for shade.

All this was completed after I had already constructed a classic still, with prime materials and a lot more care (It was a little earlier and was not so hot yet). The classic one that was set up forty feet away--text book, as they say--and was five and one half feet across. It had the benefit of “working” the entire time as I constructed the other D’still, as well as the time I let both run together.
Once constructed,, you will see within seconds after sealing the Extreme still, water droplets forming in the shaded area, clinging to the underside of the plastic. A perfectly demarcated line of refreshing water droplets filling in the shady side. Almost clear on the sunny, or hot, side.

Within fifteen minutes the temperature inside the Extreme still was up over 170 degrees. Within three hours, I was very hot and had my work calling –I had to wrap it up. When I pulled the two covers to look at my effort for such a blistering day: I received nothing from the classic still. Zero. I pulled two and a half cups out of the dust with the D’still, in three hours!
Which one do you think I will use when my life or those that I care about depend on it?

James: In regards to M.D.M.'s article, I'd like to add something to his Question #4, There is no reason to smother a baby or toddler to keep them quite as in that M*A*S*H episode mentioned. I learned an old Indian trick years ago, when my kids were young and restless. All a mother needs to do is blow lightly in the child's face when they start fussing and about to cry. This blowing lightly momentarily takes their breath away, and they stop fussing, and concentrate on breathing, It doesn't take much blowing lightly in their face, and they soon drift off to sleep. This works good on infants and kids up to about two years old!
 
Nothing is more distracting than being in church and have some mother not knowing what to do to keep her baby from crying, and disturbing everybody around her for several rows, until the only thing she can do is take the baby out of the room. I read about this in some old book on Indian plains tribes, the mothers used to run out into the woods or high brush with their child and hide, when the village came under attack, and this blowing lightly in the child's face to keep them from fussing or crying saved many lives. So after reading this, I tried it in church when my youngest son was a baby, and started fussing and crying, and it worked wonderfully! Something good to know if you have a baby and don't want to disturb people in church! - J.M. in Utah