Mission Endure 72: Book Review of The Forager’s Guide to Wild Foods

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I ordered a wonderful book a month ago. It is The Forager's Guide to Wild Foods: Edible Plants, Lichens, Mushrooms, and Seaweeds by Dr. Nicole Apelian. I ordered the book as a reference to help me sharpen my food gathering skills if we ever get to a SHTF scenario. It never hurts to have more tools in your toolbox when things don’t go according to plan

To give you a little context, I first came across Nicole Apelian when she was a contestant on the History Channel’s Alone Series, Season 2. I didn't know anything about Nicole, other than I thought she was very brave to go on the Alone series and live out in the wild of Vancouver Island for an extended period of time with nothing but the 10 items the contestants pick to take with them. That sounded like a crazy enough challenge, but Nicole had Multiple Sclerosis (MS) and thought she could still perform on the reality series. My Mom had MS for the last 13 years of her life and I know how difficult it can be to manage the disease. So, I thought Nicole would probably last a week or two and then drop out of the competition because of complications from MS. I was wrong, she thrived during Alone. She made it to day 57! I don't remember the circumstances of the 2nd season of Alone, but I think she made it to within a few days of the end of the season. I believe there was only 2 contestants left of the original 10 when she left. And she didn’t leave due to medical reasons, but because she missed her family. So, she forever earned my respect for her courage and endurance. What got her that far on Alone? Of course it was her determination, but it was also her skill for food gathering and harvesting. I didn't know she was trained in Herbology and Biology and was a PhD in Anthropology and Ethno-Botany, I just knew that she was an awesome competitor. So when I saw The Forager's Guide to Wild Foods: Edible Plants, Lichens, Mushrooms, and Seaweeds advertized on a prepping website I read frequently I had to buy the book.

The Forager's Guide to Wild Foods: Edible Plants, Lichens, Mushrooms, and Seaweeds is 318 pages crammed packed full of photos and detailed articles on how to identify and prepare edible foods you may find in the wild. I have spent a good amount of time outdoors, but I normally don't forage for a lot of wild, edible plants. I normally bring my food with me. But, in a SHTF scenario we may not have that option. I wanted this book for my library as a resource to use if we ever find ourselves in a SHTF scenario. I don't know which mushrooms are edible and which aren't. I don't know a cranberry from a sumac berry. But, this book comes with overview maps to let me know what edible plants may be available in my area, can help me identify which plants I can eat, how to use them to provide the most energy for my body, and if only parts of the plant are edible it will tell me which parts. It will be a significant resource for my family when it comes to foraging and gathering food if things get difficult and the supply chain continues to fall apart. I am all about preparing for the worst, and this book can help make a bad situation into a livable situation. It is a skill I don't have, and I need help with, so it holds a place of honor in my library. As I alluded earlier, it is one of the many tools we will need to thrive during difficult times. 

I highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in learning how to forage and gather edible food, and learning more about the abundance of food God has provided for us, sometimes right outside our doorstep. You can purchase the book at Amazon or off of the AskAPrepper.com website.