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Living off the Land
by Aaron Derr
Iowa Scouts find that most of what they need to survive is already there in the environment around them.
There are all kinds of things we humans think we need, but when it really comes down to it, there are only three things we can't live without: food/water, shelter and clothing.
With clothing, you pretty much just have to be prepared to buy your own. (While some particularly clever folks might be able to produce a nice sweater from the pelt of a wild animal, that's a skill that goes well beyond the knowledge of the average Boy Scout.)
But the others—food and shelter—are easy enough to find in the natural world around you, with a little help from a trusted adult trained for such scenarios.
Troop 500 from Cedar Falls, Iowa, spent one weekend last year living off the land—foraging for food and constructing shelters with only the most basic materials available to them.
Taking Shelter
The Scouts of Troop 500 hiked to a plot of private land in northeast Iowa with only a few critical supplies on hand. Since this wasn't a true wilderness-survival situation, they wanted to be prepared for any real-life emergency that might arise.
First priority: shelter. Even though they had brought some tents, the guys tested themselves by constructing emergency shelters with only tarp and rope.
"We managed to build a shelter between a couple of trees, and it worked out great," says Eagle Scout Brendan Alexander. "It stayed up the entire weekend."
The boys learned that finding shelter has to be a priority in a survival situation.
"Shelter is really important," says Eagle Scout Conner Calhoun. "You might have to be creative."
Fast Food
With a place to protect them from the elements, the Scouts' next priority was finding something to eat. The area was ripe with edible plants, and the boys caught—and ate—plenty of fish from a nearby pond.
"We followed a little path out into the woods, and there were just bushes and bushes of blackberries," Brendan says.
With a little bit of ingenuity and a whole lot of hard work, the Scouts were able to survive and thrive during their weekend living off the land.
Though they brought little food with them, they found plenty to eat. And the shelters worked out fine, though swarms of mosquitoes made some areas nearly uninhabitable.
"You have to be willing to take some time to get your food and set up your shelter," Conner says. "You have to be patient. And you just have to make it work." Just remember to buy your clothes in advance.
What's Edible?
Eating wild plants is a very serious—and potentially dangerous—undertaking. We absolutely do not recommend that you go out and start eating random plants without an adult on hand who's an expert on vegetation in the area in which you're exploring.
Troop 500 did have such an expert nearby when it went camping in Iowa last year. Here are some of the edible plants the guys found and eventually ate. (Make sure that any plants you do eat have not been treated with herbicide.)
Asparagus: The young plants are edible and quite tasty; as it grows it gets much tougher. At restaurants, asparagus is usually served cooked, but it's safe to eat it raw as well.
Purple Clover: It's quite possible that your yard has some clover growing in it right now. (Your parents probably call it a weed.) Though not the tastiest plant, the leaves and flowers are edible. (BTW, you can eat dandelion leaves, too. But don't try it without an expert on hand!)
Daylily: Be careful—not all lilies are edible. But the flowers and stalks of the common daylily certainly are, and they don't taste half bad.
Blackberry: One of the most common berries in this country, blackberries taste better wild than they do from the grocery store. Again, be careful: Not all berries are edible.
Gooseberry: They grow on bushes and look more like grapes than berries, but they taste great.
Miner's Lettuce: It doesn't look much like the lettuce you get in salads these days, but it's called miner's lettuce because it was popular among miners during the California Gold Rush in the 1800s. Tastes like spinach. (We'll let you decide if that's a good thing.)
Black Raspberry: You'd have to be really lucky to come across these at random in the wild—they're ripe for only a few weeks, usually in July. But if you do come across some fresh black raspberries, you're in for a treat. They taste great, and they're really healthy, too.
From "Living off the Land" by Aaron Derr, from Boys' Life Magazine. Copyright 2013 by Boy Scouts of America. Reprinted by permission of Boy Scouts of America.
