Dining on the Wilds

John showing a friend how to eat Dudleya

Occupation:

Computer consultant

Education:

BS Computer Science

height 5' 11"

Married

Left handed

Other interests include:

4 X 4, Pathfinders (a church scouting type group), crafts, camping, hiking, cross country skiing, inventing things, ham radio KE6VUB, whistling

When I was 6 my Mother fixing Lambs Quarters to eat and about had to use force to get me to eat "those weeds". We also ate Giant puff ball mushrooms, Black walnuts, butter nuts, hickory nuts, and mulberries etc. from our farm in Michigan.

When I was 9 we moved to Africa as missionaries. I remember her telling the grounds people to mow a lawn. They replied "Oh no, madam, that is food!" We ended up eating that food, "African spinach" (amaranth), and other foods that grew "wild".

When I was 12 we toured Europe. I remember eating stinging nettles and wild berries in Finland and Sweden. The stinging nettle was another contest of the wills because I had been reintroduced to them by the touch method.

In high school I joined the Outdoor Life book club and got every book they had on wilderness survival. I had no mentor to help me learn the plants, so I didn't get very far in learning them then. I also learned from biology class that biologist didn't know what they were talking about. In some areas I knew more than the teacher just by keeping my eyes open and looking around.

In college I took a course called Wilderness Camping and Survival, became friends with Harry Hails, who taught the edible plant portion and went all around the Southern California with him looking for edible plants. One time we went on a camp out that Miriam Darnall was leading.

I have studied and/or taught* wild edible plants for 31 years in several states, California*, Michigan*, Ohio*, Arizona*, Nevada, Colorado*, Utah, Idaho*, Kentucky, Wisconsin, Oregon*, Washington, New Mexico*, Colorado*, Arkansas*, Ontario*, New York, Massachusetts*, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Missouri, Illinois ( Indiana, Minnesota, West Virginia, Nebraska to a lessor extent).
I have taught at

outdoor schools
summer camps
church outings
U. S. Forest Service interpretive Specialist volunteer 5 years
Rabbitstick and Winter count rendezvous of Society for Primitive Technology a group dedicated to keeping the knowledge of primitive skills alive.

I have taught it at Loma Linda University with Miriam Darnall-Kraimer from 1991-2004.

On April 4, 2004 I went scouting for a Pathfinder outing and picked up a tick that had Lyme disease. Being that it was in an area that IDSA boldly declare does NOT have Lyme the tests were declared false positives. The IDSA protocol of treatment was not successful so have been using the ILADS protocol with much more success.