700,000 years ago

Okay, let's imagine that unfortunately a doomsday catastrophe, the blowing up of the super volcano (caldera) in Yellowstone National Park, which blew approx. 700,000 years ago, has happened again and all easy access food from the local supermarket comes screeching to a sudden unimaginable halt! What would you do?

Would you give up? Would you say to yourself, "I don't know what to do?" Fortunately, we have many natural resources available to us.(unless, they're under a foot of ash)

In the last post, I told you about the cattail, which can be found throughout the United States, usually in ditches, marshes, swamps, shallow water, lakes and ponds.



Do you realize that the cattail can be eaten? The Indians knew this and historians have told us they usually would set up camp around a waterway which was abundant with the cattail. The cattails are 46 percent starch and 11 percent sugar. This is why the Native Americans ate parts of the plant every day. The roots of the plant are the most nutritious part.

The root...



...is covered by a sponge like layer that needs to be peeled off; this is easy to do with the fingers. The roots can then be eaten raw or boiled. After boiling for 30 minutes,



they taste much like potatoes, as I am told. The roots can also be sliced thin and dried for future cooking or ground into a white flour. The pollen of the sausage like head of the cattail is full of protein and may be eaten raw in a survival situation!

Let's hope this information is never needed!

(By the way, every 700,000 years the supercaldera has blown and it's about due...the clock is ticking.)



I'll give the person who can name where this clock stands a present..be the first individual to name it!