Those of us who enjoy the great outdoors tend to run onto all sorts of edibles while out making money.?ÿ In this specific case I have chosen to show some morsels that I found while checking on cattle, so ignore the feed sack in the one photo, but could have just as easily been found while surveying.
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First, the dessert choices.
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Three delicious persimmons and the one pear left after eating two others.?ÿ I think I ate around eight other persimmons as they were very tasty.?ÿ Each persimmon averaged four seeds.?ÿ I have found every number between one and eight for the number of huge seeds in a single persimmon.?ÿ Weather watchers need to pay heed to the fact that every persimmon seed opened so far is a spoon.
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For the main course for the royal meal one should consider this alternative.?ÿ Found at Latitude 37.667 on October 22.?ÿ It is a rarity for location, climate and time of day found.
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Yes.?ÿ This is, indeed, the rare Crobsterssum making its way towards shelter as my noisy ATV disturbed its search for some daylight options for its own meal.?ÿ Ignore the portion of feed sack in the lower third of the photo.?ÿ Operating a right-hand throttle and a right-hand button push on my phone while traveling parallel to the Crobsterssum was a huge challenge, but successful.
I qt ground deer. 1 tbs salt 1 tbs sugar tsp pepper tsp cayenne pepper. Mix well, and form into patties. Place in smoker, not too hot, 3 hrs... Call me.?ÿ
Excuse me........................................................that's a Crobsterssum.?ÿ That rare cross between a crab, a lobster and a possum.?ÿ Some refer to it as possum on the half shell, but I prefer the more regal-sounding term.
Wild strawberries, the size of your fingernail, eaten on site because it would take all day to collect enough to make a pie.?ÿ A true outdoor treat.
Boysen, thimble. huckle, black, & elderberries, (many) gallons collected during siege forays, eaten fresh on cereal, etc, cooked into pies, jams, etc., and frozen for winter.
'Shrooms.?ÿ Morels and King Bolete, basketsful collected when you find a hot spot (go back there next year and don't tell your friends where????).?ÿ Great cooked in soups, lasagna, omelettes, saut??d in butter as a side.?ÿ Dehydrate the rest and store in Mason jars for year round enjoyment.?ÿ Also properly identified Fairy Ring mushrooms found in local grass covered parks, delicate and perfect for making a meat garnishment with the grease drippings or in omelettes.?ÿ I've found Fairy Rings that were over 100' in diameter, where it seemed you were collecting them in a straight line until you got back to the starting point.
Crawdads.?ÿ When in season we'd collect gallons of them from small creeks using only Frisbees with a dab of canned tuna in the middle, flip 'em up onshore and collect them.?ÿ Be aware natural clear creeks are best, not agricultural channels fetid with chemicals.?ÿ An (almost) annual event amongst friends was the Autumn crawdad feast, potatoes, corn on the cob and crawdads cooked in a metal garbage can over a fire with lots of beer, salt & butter sticks, loud music and dancing.
Shellfish. Kinda hard clamming in populated areas but once you get out into the boonies by boat (British Columbia) you can scoop up clams/scallops with your fingers and collect oysters with a screwdriver at low tide.?ÿ Yum.?ÿ Leave clams in a bucket of seawater overnight with a dollop of corn starch and they'll cleanse themselves and be ready for a day's engorgement during breakfast lunch and dinner.?ÿ Keep oysters in a cage immersed in seawater (24hrs max), shuck the small ones after icing them and enjoy raw oysters. Cut up the big ones for a great oyster stew.?ÿ I'm saddened my Jewish friends can't enjoy them.
Of course salmon, trout, saltwater fishing etc., upland birds & ducks/geese and big game fills the bill but that involves major investments in cost, equipment, skill & time and it usually doesn't pencil out.?ÿ So I've kept my observation limited to motionless food ripe for the picking in the right season/locale.
@holy-cow When I first saw them at Ft. Stewart, GA we called them armored possums.?ÿ Their armor is no match for a 5-ton truck though.?ÿ We'd see more than you could count on any trip along the 20 miles of 2-lane road between I-95 and main post.
