Western Australian forage

[Dspec]

Hello all, I have been browsing through BCUK for a little while now, what a fantastic resource this place is! I am a keen outdoor enthusiast from Albany in the Great Southern region of Western Australia. I have been recently researching local bush tucker specific to the area. here is some of the bits and pieces i found taking the dog for a walk today.

A beautiful Banksia grandis flower, used to make a sweet tea that the local Nyoongar people call "Mangite" also there are small grubs that live in the woody stem that are edible

Australian bluebell, no flowers at the moment. The berries on this one are not quite ripe.

Kangaroo Paw tubers, it was about lunch time so time for a brew and a bit of lunch

the tuber is only about 10cm under the surface and are easy to find and gather in large quantities.

Chloe the bushcraft dog seems mightily unimpressed with lunch.

A closer look at the tubers, they are very high in starch and quite moist.

Fires off and roaring time for a brew while waiting for it to burn to coals.

Nice little patch of hot coals and the tubers are roasting nicely.

Lunch is ready, I cut them in thin strips and they were quite palatable, very starchy and surprisingly filling. Next time i will pound them into a paste with some blood root if i can find it. The blood root is like a spicy onion flavor and it would make a nice mash!

About an hour later i stumbled across a nice clump of Clematis Linearifolia or Old Mans Beard, this has another edible tuber that is supposed to be quite tasty! logged it on the GPS and will give it a go next time.

Hope you enjoyed the photos it was a lovely wander through some truly spectacular country.

 

[Wayland]

Great stuff, welcome to the forum Dspec, nice to see some stuff from that side of the ball.

 

[pheasant plucker]

Hi Dspec, some great pics there And welcome to the forum and I look forward to seeing some more pics ;-)

PP

 

[Tor helge]

Welcome to the forums. Nice pics, but we need more pics and stuff from down under .

Tor

 

[stevesteve]

Hi and welcome Dspec,

What an amazing part of the world to live in. Great pics too.

It's the other side of the planet but the home to my favorite plant Cephelotus follicuaris - the Albany Pitcher Plant.

Cheers,
Steve

 

[Toddy]

Wow, totally different and really interesting

Thanks for posting

cheers,
Toddy

p.s. Welcome to the forum

 

[mjk123]

I know it's a cliche, but as you're about to move into autumn, what sort of temperatures do you get there? Albany's right at the bottom left corner, right? I noticed another guy from Oz was talking about insulating his hammock with down. I was a bit surprised, but that's coz I've no idea really what kind of climate you have int he winter.

 

[bandel4]

Wished I have known you when I was posted to Perth two years back. You would be a good teacher. Great stuff!
http://www.my-rainforest-adventures.com/

 

[Dspec]

thankyou for all the comments,

I will have to try and get out for some more photos weather permitting. Mjk in relation to the temp at the moment we are having a run of 20 to 23 degree Celsius days with cooler nights to about 9 degrees.

The wind chill is the real killer as we are right on the Southern Ocean where the next stop is Antarctica. It also gets a lot cooler at night in the bush. In the Stirling Ranges it is not uncommon for snow a couple of times a year on Bluff Knoll.

Steve I have never seen a pitcher plant in the wild, I might go and talk with the state botanist who lives just over in Denmark and see if he knows a spot where they grow wild.

 

[Ozhaggishead]

Welcome to forum Depec!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I never knew that Kangaroo Paw tubers were edible.Great post,hope to see more cool posts like this one soon mate.

 

[Mikey P]

Hello all, I have been browsing through BCUK for a little while now, what a fantastic resource this place is! I am a keen outdoor enthusiast from Albany in the Great Southern region of Western Australia. I have been recently researching local bush tucker specific to the area. here is some of the bits and pieces i found taking the dog for a walk today.

Quality! More!

 

[Singeblister]

welcome to the forum thanks for sharing very interesting stuff

 

[stevesteve]

Hi Dspec,

My brother and his wife drove from Perth to Albany to look for some pitcher plants in the coastal wetlands just to take some photos for me. They did eventully find them but he did mention that the mosquitos were like biplanes though!

One day when I win the lottery...
Cheers,
Steve

 

[Dspec]

Spent a lovely few hours on the banks of the Nannarup inlet. The sun was out and the dog and I took a stroll up the bank to a shady spot beneath some paperbarks.

It was a beautiful day, plenty of birds about no wind and there were fish jumping up in the slightly deeper parts of the inlet.

I threw in a line and had a wonderful few hours, unfortunately like a dolt i forgot the camera. However I am planning on doing a post with some photos of the spectacular scenery and flora in my area for those who would be interested.

After an hour or so of peaceful fishing I was rewarded with a magnificent bream that gave great sport on my light line, the inlet is very shallow near the shore and with the afternoon sun I was able to watch the bream fighting hard heading for the snags and deeper holes over the last few meters.

It was a wonderful afternoon, and with a bit of olive oil fresh rosemary from the garden and some lemon the bream made a very tasty dinner.

 

[mjk123]

>>However I am planning on doing a post with some photos of the spectacular scenery and flora in my area for those who would be interested.

Actually, I would. It's anyway nice to see photos of what everyone else is up to. Mistwalkers are a favourite, even though I'm unlikely to take the choo-choo to chatanooga. But in your case, it's even more interesting since my wife is always talking abou temigrating to Oz, and she has Perth/WA in mind.

 

[jimford]

It's the other side of the planet but the home to my favorite plant Cephelotus follicuaris - the Albany Pitcher Plant.

Yeah, they're great! I've kept them for a few years, but always lost them with mildew. The leaves would grow a reddish colour and the mildew kill the plant. Do you still have them? I've got lots of Sarracenias I'm going to get rid of soon.

Jim

 

[stevesteve]

Hi Jim,

I have a couple of Cephs in the greenhouse at any one time. I keep taking cuttings which seems to keep them going. I have quite a few Sarras in the greenhouse. Drop me a PM before you get shot of them!

Cheers,
Steve

 

[Cogola]

G'day Dspec
Glad to see a fellow sandgroper interested in bush food. I'd just like to point out that the first Banksia picture is definately not B grandis. It looks more likely to be B littoralis, the swamp Banksia. A useful resource for identifying WA native plants is the WA Herbarium's online database - Florabase (http://florabase.calm.wa.gov.au). This site has pictures of most WA plants along with a brief description. Albany also has a good regional herbarium which might be worth a visit to check the id's of your plants before eating - some can be very toxic. It's also worth noting that you require a license to take any part of native plants from crown land. A scientific license which would probably cover your interest used to only cost about $10. Some hefty fines can apply so it'd be best to do the right thing.

Cogola

 

[Dspec]

Cogola, thank you very much for your info, Florabase is fantastic! the only gripe is sometimes the pictures are not detailed enough and as is the case with things like the banksia you need someone who knows exactly what they are doing to point out the small differences.

I havent been able to find the herbarium here, I have tried to get into contact with the DEC to volunteer on some of the native planting strategies but to no avail. The only person I have managed to speak with is the state botanist, who has recommended some good books.

The only plants that I have eaten are the ones I have been shown by a local Nyoongar friend of mine.

It is very difficult to try and find courses or people willing to share this kind of knowledge, the other thing i have found is that the food plants are very different and specific from region to region.

I think this kind of knowledge is being slowly lost, It is a real thrill to be able to walk through an area and not just only know the names of the plants but also some of their uses, their history and contribution to society. It is our land and our country and we have a duty to embrace and understand it.

 

[Templar]

Hmmm Interesting post, I for one will have to second Cogola's mention of fines and permits, its good to know this stuff but at home in oz its whole different world when it comes to collecting, Im from QLD and there we just cant collect any native plants without a specific permit for a limited time, usually ony 30 days, and limited to scientific samples only... that being said I find the best way to sample some of the bush tucker out ther is grow it your self or get in touch with the elders of any local Aboriginal communities, they are the best source of info about bush tucker...

Most of the Bush tucker out the can also be found in some markets too, and if you have a good friend on some hectres, then all well and good.

Ok... sorry if I sound like a pain in the butt do gooder, Im not, I just like ppl to understand the reality of Bushcraft in oz... its no where near as easy as some othe parts of the world, in Australia the collection of wild foods is limited to native peoples and dire emergencies only, not the weekend camp out...

Just my two cents...

Karl