Make A Local Food Map

Hello all.

For the last few years i've made a local wild food map of my area. I think this is a great resource for anyone out there. Not just in a sit x scenario, but just a general happy feeling from finding wild crops and harvesting them.

On my map are various berries including blackberries, rasberries, even a wild cherry!. I have wild garlic, horseradish, bullaces etc. I harvest every year and make all sorts of things with what i collect. It saves me money and the taste is amazing from wild products.

When harvesting however you should always remember not to take it all. Every time i harvest i spread seeds around, leave some berries on teh bush etc. This way i guarentee my supply.

In the last few years i've started to mark down medicinal plants. By medicinal i mean plants that have been scientifically tested to show their benefits. My local map is massive now and of course i won't be sharing it with anyone because if i do then it will be overused every year.

So i'm trying to encourage everyone on ATS to make a local food map. Whilst it's easy enough to find food when in the wild, having a map makes life far easier. It's also safer.

Of course it doens't have to be a local map, it can be a map of your favorite bug out spot.

Great post IR. Can you show an example of somewhere else, perhaps with names rubbed out, given you would want to preserve the location of your own area? Do you use a topo or just sketch your own hand maps?

Excellent suggestion. While I know of a few blackberry picking spots around my area, I hadn't even thought about being this organized about it.
Even just as a fun project, it is a great way to get back in touch with your local area and it promotes environmental consciousness as well.
Besides...why let all this natural bounty go to waste?

reply to post by Shar_Chi


Would rather not show my own map if that's alright? But basically i use an overlay. I use a normal, everyday local road map and built an overlay on acytate. I'm going to laminate the relevant road map pages so it's all waterproof. When i do that i'll copy the acytate over to the road map.

What i do is use colours. I have black for blackberries, green for horshradish etc. Then after i run out of colours i mix them.So i mark things with a circle, half red,half green etc. Then i just have a key to refer to, not that i need it but someone else might.

Maybe that's to complex for some people but it works for me.

EDIT

I actually had to use a seperate map for the medicinal plants as i was running out of colours and the map was getting overcrowded.

[edit on 28-10-2008 by ImaginaryReality1984]

Originally posted by 4N6310
Besides...why let all this natural bounty go to waste?

That's my view, it has nothing to do with sit x tbh it's just i save a lot of money and wild food tastes so lovely.

This is a very good idea, never thought to do it. How many times do you sit back and think, now where was that berry patch I hit last year? Was it by x lake or maybe y lake? Especially if you are in "back-country" areas a map to quickly referance or jot notes onto.

Ill certainly be picking up topo maps dedicated to this purpose, suppose I could program places into my GPS, but Im a little too lazy to bring that thing out with me everytime.

reply to post by ImaginaryReality1984

Yeah cool, thanks for the tips

reply to post by salchanra


Well i prefer paper for this task. It's taken me a few years to really build up the map and add to it. England is very random in it's wild foods because we have little country lanes and roads going everywhere, cutting everything up.

The map has done a few things for me. Firstly it's drastically cut down on my collecting time, because i can plan a nice efficient route through everything. Secondly it's meant my yearly harvest is a lot larger because i have tons of plants already mapped out.

Just a tip on collecting plants to eat.

When you collect, don't get anything from near a road, and if your local area has lots of people walking dogs, don't collect anything below waist height. Finally if you're collecting anything from used walkways, farmland or anywhere else, check the plants around and make sure there are no signs of weedkiller usage.

If there are a few plants going yellow, looking droopy or anything like that, assume they've been sprayed and move on, don't just assume they have a disease or are drying out. Safety first.

Agreed, safety first. Dont take anything you arent 100% certain of, especially mushrooms.

Fortunately the area I am in, there really arent alot of roads. Good and bad I guess. Most of what I harvest from the wild comes well off the beaten track, 4 wheelers and long hikes.

The other reason I like the map idea over GPS is the ability to add notes, and should power suddenly go away, you are okay. Really, how many times would I want to type into a GPS "Blueberries Here" A good topo map, will give a person the ability to personalize it. Maybe even a map with markings and a small pocket notebook for detail?

Anyways, a good idea is a good idea. Happy hunting.

Originally posted by salchanra
The other reason I like the map idea over GPS is the ability to add notes, and should power suddenly go away, you are okay. Really, how many times would I want to type into a GPS "Blueberries Here" A good topo map, will give a person the ability to personalize it. Maybe even a map with markings and a small pocket notebook for detail?

Actually my map does have some extra notes on the back, for example.

"Wild garlic patch low this year, leave it alone next year and use the other one".

I know that seems silly but the one patch of garlic has been eaten by something or other and so it's nearly non existant. There are bulbs in the ground but as it was like that in summer they probably won't have m,uch time to recuperate the loss of stores in the bulb before the years out.

So this year and next year i leave it alone, use the other patch and hope it grows back. Being able to make notes like that really is useful. The added advantage is that if there ever were some kind of sit x scenario, then charging up a GPS just takes time and might even be impossible.

Sometimes paper is better

reply to post by ImaginaryReality1984


Sounds like a great idea to me, would be invaluable in SitX. Instead of running around and searching for particular food stuffs, think how easy it would be to simply check your local food map and know there was a plentiful supply at location A?

Would save alot of time & effort in SitX, great idea!

reply to post by Death_Kron


Well i would hope people don't just use it for SitX. There is tons of food out there and it just goes to waste each year. I mean yeah some animals eat it, but the rest will just tend to rot away when it could be used by us. I have about 10 jars of jam this year and have eaten a good deal of free meals, along with the herbs i have dried and stored in glass tubs. I made ice cream with some of the berries, and muffins.

Salads were easy to come by in the summer, tons of fresh greens very locally. Basically it's great in sitx, but great without the sitx.

Hi all,

Just saw this thread and thought I'd upload one of my old food maps of my region. The map key is the second image. I used this when I first got into local foods, and have updated it heaps now with all the locations of places I go to get consumables.

Rather then go on and on here, I've included the link to a thread I made about my experience with the local food movement.

If anyone wants the latest version of my map, I'm converting it over to Google Earth tonight, so I can zoom in and see every one of my contacts. Will post up when finished.

Food Map:



Map Key:



It's a very rough map, but should give you some idea about the resources available in my area.

Thanks
Shane

Whoops!

This is the link to the thread I put up:

My Experence with the Local Food Movement

Thanks
Shane

This is why I like this site.
I'm fairly adept at survival and can honestly say I've never heard of a food map.
It's a great idea.
Thanks IR



[edit on 29-5-2009 by badgerprints]

Good point! S&F for you.

I have always kept myself aware of my surroundings, but it has brought up a good reminder (at least for me).. if and when the SHTF, my mind will be overloaded with everything that I've learned. I always keep maps of where I live, but I realize now what a great idea that I have overlooked.

Thanks/

True, without food you can't do anything. After water it's has top priority over everything else. Food, water, shelter.

Everything else can be developed if you have the basics.

Going to add local freshwater sources tonight to my map. Totally forgot about them!

Originally posted by shamus78
Going to add local freshwater sources tonight to my map. Totally forgot about them!

You know i've had these maps for ages now, adding to them each year. I made them simply for finding food to reduce my living costs and the fact that wild stuff tastes so much better. I've even made money selling bits and pieces.

I never thought to add water sources because it wasn't about survival but now i'm going to. A great idea.


Oh and shamus i like your map but i'd advise making it slightly more accurate instead of large areas just coloured in. I used little dots on mine, colour coded as you have done. That way i can get within a few hundred meters of everything at the most and find it quickly. You don't want to waste energy walking around for ages.

[edit on 29-5-2009 by ImaginaryReality1984]

Oh and shamus i like your map but i'd advise making it slightly more accurate instead of large areas just coloured in. I used little dots on mine, colour coded as you have done. That way i can get within a few hundred meters of everything at the most and find it quickly. You don't want to waste energy walking around for ages.

Yup, my non-digital map has everything color coded with little dots for locations, what grows there and when. The one here was only to give a basic overview of the area. I also have hunting areas for 'roo and other common animals.

Cheers
Shane

Originally posted by shamus78

Yup, my non-digital map has everything color coded with little dots for locations, what grows there and when. The one here was only to give a basic overview of the area. I also have hunting areas for 'roo and other common animals.

Cheers
Shane

Ahh fair enough. I will be adding water to my map when i can, can't believe i overlooked that one! Although living in England we have plenty falling from the sky