You also must factor in what other creatures utilise a plant for food or shelter. Plant communities are never static. A meadow of California poppies blooming one spring can vanish with a few key changes to the area the next.

I've spent a lot of my life in country where 40 acres would not support 1 cow.

Food IS a renewable resource. It has to be. But many people think of "non-domesticated" food when they think of food in the wild.

One of the best survival tactics for home (or home-away-from-home) is learning to grow your own. And doing it from open-pollinated types that you can let go to seed so you have a truly renewable resource. Hybrids need not apply.

Sue

Im not sure if I have shared this before but I find this a decent web-based resource for plant identification. I usually use it when I read something online about a particular plant that I don't have first-hand knowledge of so I can see what it looks like and where it grows. http://plants.usda.gov/

Is it just me, or did this post seem to have a really odd tone to it?

<img src="/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" />

(eg: "I hope to share some of this knowledge - but not all of it. It has been a real effort here and if times get tight, I know that I will not survive if there is too much competition for the plants out there.")

Great link, Brian. Trouble is, there ain't many plants where you & I like to stomp. Other than pears, I dan't take any cactus fruit any more because they are become so rare.

Randall

Yep, out there it's Mequite, Cedar, Prickly Pear and Yucca ... that pretty much sums it up ... at least on the ranch I frequent down there. However, over on the eastern side of the state there's much more variety. <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> Texas is the only state I can think of with Desert, Woodland, Coastal and Subtropical flora all under one state flag (California may also qualify).

What I really love about Southwest Texas that it is one of the few places left where ranches over 4000 acres are commonplace too. <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> I can climb up on top of a West Texas mesa on private property where there are no roads and even horse wouldn't be able to climb it, and I can be pretty well assured that I am the only person walking that land for 100 years (or more). That's a pretty awsome feeling and one that we probably take for granted seeing as how most people will never experience that.

No shortage of Prickly Pear in Crocket or Val Verde counties (at least not where I have walked). I can assure you of that. <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Wildlander: It's a little difficult for me to assess the quality of your information. What exactly are your qualifications, and where are they from? (For example, I once read a book by a guy who had a "Ph.D." only to discover that the Ph.D. was from a non-accredited private college that he himself had established.)

Stating that all other authors are simply a bunch of book worms who regurgitate stuff they looked up in the public library is an unfair blanket statement. I own books that are full of bogus and silly information, but I also own books by people who have spent their lives researching and testing the techniques for themselves.

As for the "physician" who made the astonishing discoveries about Lomatium Dissectum, what was his name? Where was his research published? How did you find out about it? Is this real scientific research, or simply an urban legend?

Your post is interesting, but too short on specifics for me to take it seriously without additional information.