Ever wondered why it is that you can grow up in a country like Australia and learn absolutely nothing about what we can eat to survive in the millions of acres of nature and bush land that surrounds our population centres?
Ever wondered why we are never taken on trips into the bush as children and taught which plants we can eat in times of emergency?
How is it that we are never actively encouraged to learn this knowledge?
Wouldnt it be logical to conclude that this knowledge would be very important to children and adults alike and installed as a universal component of the school curriculum in this country?
A recent front page article in the Northern NSW regional paper the Northern Star is a classic example. Two guys get bogged overnight in their car in the BUSH!!!!! AHHHHH! It somehow becomes front page news ! You have to be joking ! What was the drama here Did they starve Was the car too cold to sleep in overnight Wouldnt the stereo work properly Maybe they had run out of Mars Bars I have never seen a more pathetic non-story in my life, mind you for most of the population this is a fear they can relate to so the story would have resonated with many suburban city dwellers. It simply demonstrates the hopeless lack of knowledge most people have in relation to the environment that surrounds them just a 5 minute drive out of Lismore. Is this a good thing or a cause of concern ?. I have just had the good fortune to make a documentary with a man named KOA he is an American and he has been living in the bush and living off native plants and weeds for over 25 years. He is in his late 50s and is one of the fittest, wisest people I have ever met in my life. He can leave his open sided tin roofed shelter and walk in any direction for a thousand miles and never visit a shop for food and never miss a meal .
Out of a population of millions in this country how many can lay claim to that skill? Not many, if you think this knowledge is not important think again. We are all living in uncertain times the world is on the brink of world war and economic collapse despite the efforts of the mainstream media to tell you otherwise everything is not going along fine and who will be the next Australian Idol or who Nicole Kidman is sleeping with is meaningless garbage not worth the electrons used to distribute it. How many of you could find yourself something to eat if the trucks stopped running tomorrow? Or if there is an economic collapse due to America over extending herself due to unbridled war? Time to read some history if you dont think it can happen to you Try researching the world economy and the untold suffering between the late 1920s and the mid 1930s all over the western world. I say the western world because the economic collapse didnt effect the indigenous cultures one little bit as they were living off what mother nature provided from the environment anyway and had the skills and knowledge to provide for themselves without the need to crowd into slums and ghettos to wait for handouts like domesticated farm animals.
Koas levels of freedom are undreamed of for the average suburbanite. While we struggle to pay the endless line of bills that arrive in our postbox every day he is weaving a basket with birdsong all around not bothering to notice how long it will take because he doesnt have to worry about time as he is no mans slave. Living in the countryside and having made this film and being exposed to the knowledge of common weeds and native plants I can eat, has given me a new sense of wonder at the world around me, I now eat weeds everyday as a part of my food supply, instead of trying to grow plants that the wild animals want to eat anyway I have learned to just surrender and win, instead of being at war with the wildlife I have now joined them and eat side by side with them, why not ? theres plenty for everyone.
The documentary runs for over an hour and highlights over a dozen common weeds and plants you can eat in your environment, plants like Wandering Jew and Scotch Thistle. KOA also tells the story of his personal journey which is very enlightening and unique. Anyone who watches this film with an open mind and heart cannot help but be affected in a profound way.