posted 5 years ago
The part of NW California I am in, between the Klamath and Smith Rivers, might have been one of the easiest places on Earth to subsist pre-colonization. Like much of the coastal Pacific NW, the diverse native cultures here like the Yurok and Dee-Ni (aka Tolowa), have been described as living in "subsistence opulence." Now, sorry to be a bummer, but...
In the last 200yrs, the greatest forests on earth were felled here. These were also in some ways the greatest food forests on earth as well if considering how the bottom of a Pacific NW old growth forest is a healthy salmon stream. With that came the collapse of the fisheries, which were not helped by over-fishing and damming of every river larger than the Smith. Add sudden-oak death and other tree diseases brought by globalization, and there went the acorns. Oh, and the elk population was nearly wiped out, and the crab fishing has been devastated by warming oceans and correlated red tides. These hits to every major protein source have collectively made the traditional native cultures nearly impossible to continue, though a number of admirable members of local tribes are doing their best to keep their languages and skills alive. Maybe if we all could agree to live by the traditional Yurok or Dee-ni rules and use their traditional technology, we could get back towards that subsistence opulence. The population here is significantly lower than it was pre-colonization, and the climate is still very conducive to life. I see permaculture as a bridge between those traditional ways and the abundance stewarded by them, and a better future for native and immigrant occupants of this beautiful area.
I am by nature a bit of a lone wolf, but people have always had to plan and work together to thrive even in this area of unparalleled abundance (we still have the highest biomass place on earth in the old-growth redwoods, which also hosts the highest soil biodiversity (Noss, 1998)). So wandering the woods looking for mushrooms and herbs is not really viable, and never was a great way to survive. It is, however, a fun day that can help provide a supplement to our diet and mental well being. We also have dozens of native edibles (in addition to edible weeds), in season almost year round, so vitamins and minerals can be had pretty easily. As mentioned above however, the challenge is in finding calories, and I would add protein, to sustain the highly active lifestyle needed to acquire one's food in nature. I hiked the pct in 2012, and while my background as an environmental educator and backcountry ranger gave me knowledge of a large number of delicious edible plants and ways I could make tasty, medicinal and mineral rich teas, I could not have covered 20mi a day while also finding all my own food. It took months of planning, cooking, dehydrating (along with my brother who hiked it with me) to make about 1/3 of the food I ate on the trip. The rest was store bought, and all of it had to be mailed to post offices up and down the west (thanks Mom and Dad!). Even with modern technology and transportation, having a family to work together made everything much easier. So I do encourage you learn about foraging, it will make your life better and you will be healthier for it (be safe!). However, "Into the Wild" is a true story about someone who did not appreciate that indigenous people living off the land had millennia of culturally accrued knowledge of their place, specialized technology and social structures built around that ecology, and worked year-round together to thrive. That is what I aspire to help re-create, and a first step is individuals reconnecting with our local ecology by learning how to eat from it, but that is just a first step.
This is all just my opinion based on a flawed memory