11 Desert Plants For Survival, Bushcraft & Primitive Skills- (Desert Bushcraft)
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 2 มิ.ย. 2024
- On this adventure, I discuss 11 desert plants that have many bushcraft and survival uses, from food like cactus fruit and mesquite cakes, to primitive shelters, medicine and more.
including prickly pear cactus, ocotillo, buffalo gourd, yucca, creosote, agave, wolf berry, cattails, mesquite, tasajillo cactus and Texas madrone berries
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#desertsurvival #wildfood #cactus #survivalfood
Survival, Self-Reliance, Bushcraft, Camping, Making Fire, James Harris. Original music by Cuervo Negro. Junkyard Fox
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Great video!!
appreciate the videos man love me some wild edibles
@@dinkvjr😮i😮
😮u😮😮i😮😮ii😮😮
U😮😮i😮😮😮😮u😮😮😮😮😮i😮😮😮😮😮😮iiuiiiiiiiuiu uiuiiiiii
I'm new to new Mexico , I'm really glad I never cleared off my land and decided to keep 100% of the plants on it.
Reading book "Sapiens" makes the case that hunter/gathers were on the whole much healthier than those of the Agriculture Revolution. I am O Type blood type; the first blood type, hunter/gather and I have digestive issues with all the cultured food. Blood types evolved with the change of foods, O to A to B to newest AB. I have a friend who is AB and was a chef in his past, Onions for him is like kryptonite, cut open an onion while he is standing next to you, you'll find him on the floor, needing a shot.
Why not concentrate it and add it to the Yucca roots? So that way, it becomes longer lasting because soap if you don't wash it away correctly actually sticks to your skin
Does spineless dragon fruit as ground cover, without a trellis, tarped for shade with shade cloth, sound like a thing?
It's just criminal how they devastate the environment by clearing the land to put in non native plants and killing entire ecosystems. It makes me cry every time I see it.
My son in Italy makes delicious dishes from the nopales growing on his land in Umbria, including pancakes and quiches!
Thank you for showing this video. My great-uncle used the pear cactus to feed his cattle. My great uncle and my grandpa's brother were taught by their old traditional indigenous Mexican dad how to survive in the deserts of Mexico. I remembered him burning cactus and feeding his cattle with the edible cactus. I remember and since my dad retired in Mexico the weather is not raining in the middle parts of the farmland in the desert of Mexico.I told my dad and grandfather that they. Could feed the cattle using the cactus you showed by burning off the spines. And I saved my grandpa's cattle by telling my dad to use cactus to feed the cattle. Good thing my indigenous family passed down the traditional knowledge to me.
I LOVE THE DESERT... ESPECIALLY THE SMELLS & THE SUNRISE!!!!!!❤❤❤❤❤❤
And sunsets...best I've ever seen.
And the hunting!
everything about it... the air quality is the best
James this was back to form. What an excellent and informative video like the ones you always used to do years back when I became a huge fan. Please keep these coming and also the overnight survival ones as well.
I agree
Having lived in the AZ territory most of my Military career being stateside, it's videos and survival videos like these that are ABSOLUTELY worth their gold in what you are sharing! The information is HIGHLY useful and extremely appreciative for basic survivability and as a prior Military individual, I appreciate you sharing this from a tactical standpoint. It's what the early peoples of this territory learned over thousands of years ago and you present it in a positive and educational form. Job well done!! Became a Subscriber and will be reviewing your other videos too. Thank you!
Earth provides everything we humans need. Protect the lands and live with it.
Catails can be used for bug repellant. Mature dry ones can be lit like giant incense sticks. They will smoulder and the smoke helps repel bugs.
You can eat the root and early stocks.
Great video! We have a definite dearth of folks teaching desert survival in the Southwest. With Bob Hansler having dropped off the radar, there are hardly anybody doing these kinds of survival videos left. Sure, the guys (and gals) making survival videos in the Eastern Woodlands are prolific, but let's face it - they are on easy mode back there compared to the desert Southwest and up into the Rocky Mountains.
So agreed! I hope Bob Hansler is well, but great to see the Junkyard Fox again. Perhaps he should be the Desert Fox, but not to confuse with Rommel.
Creosote is also known as chaparral. It has amazing medicinal properties. It is antibacterial, antimicrobial, antitumorigenic. It is just about anti everything.
Dip twigs in hot water for 5 to 10 seconds for a med. tea. Very strong for some liver ailments. Too much can be toxic.
During WW2, researchers in CA even produced a fuel oil from it
to be precise creosote is one type of plant in a chaparral plant community along with sage, creosote, manzanita, yucca, monkey and grease woods......et al.
First time viewer here.
Thank you for sharing your time and knowledge.
I've lived in the Sonoran Desert for over 50 years and have truly come to love this area.
Years ago I was in the military and trained in survival. Noted was that when considering protein per acre the Sonoran Desert is number 1.
I also really enjoy watching the desert blanketed in flowers every 5-6 years or when awhile back when all the Century plants bloomed.
I also love how boiling cactus pads down then using the slime as a water proofing when added to clay for a mortar and applied to the exterior like in the Spanish missions.
Anyway I could go on and on.
Again thank you.
I can picture you 80 years old still roaming the deserts teaching the next generation.
The world desperately needs men like you.
I wish you would go on and on! What a wealth of knowledge you have, waterproofing with cactus juice. I would love to hear more.❤
I became addicted to nopales after getting some tacos in Mission Beach. My local grocery store carries both pads and fruits when in season. Pads are year round and buy them almost weekly for tacos and feeding my bearded dragon. I've even grown them from seed sources from the fruits up here in Seattle. I normally don't like most vegetables, but I eat nopales regularly.
Can you talk about the pinyon pine tree? Particularly the resin and its uses. I have made soap with it, I have made mustache wax, a fire torch and a balm. It smells absolutely amazing.
Piñon is awesome!
While the resin can be used for all the standard things, we used to chew it like gum when fresh.
Of course, the vest part is the roasted (pine) nuts. Nothing compares.
Great video! Your video on the mesquite beans from a couple of years ago has introduced me and my family to mesquite tea. I have to hide my quart jars of processed seeds from my kids. We all love the mesquite tea. I process it in a food processor and sift out the four. The seeds and hulls are saved for tea. The flour gets mixed with water and boiled and reduced. I filter out the large bits and the sugar water gets boiled down to candy. It was your video that got me started on it. I look forward every June and July for the mesquite harvest.
AMEN to that! Do you taste the beans as you collect? Some bushes are better than others.
I have also harvested and ground yucca seeds. Not as good as mesquite, but in some years more plentiful.
Great video; it's not easy to find bushcraft videos of the desert regions-northwoods, Pacific Northwest, northern European, etc. no problem.
Thanks.
Yes!
My grandmother used to call the fruit that grows on cactus plants Prickly Pears and they are by far my favorite fruit. Make sure they’re ripe, use gloves when you’re peeling them and then freeze the fruit. Absolutely yummy
Thanks! I'll try freezing the tunas next year. BTW, I take tongs and a metal bucket to the field during harvest time. In a pinch, I have taken a sock off and covered my hand to harvest.
@@Huntnlady7 . Great idea! I cannot tell you how many minutes I’ve spent picking thorns out of my fingers. 🤣🤣 So worth the trouble though and i hope people give Tuna’s a try. May this next year bring you and yours health, happiness and prosperity 🙋🏻♀️🙋🏻♀️
@@dead_or_alive2649🎉❤😮😅
Drop them briefly in boiling water and the spines will fall off.
@@cheryellemley-mcroy6758 .👍🏽👍🏽👍🏽Thank you!
Yucca can be used to make primitive bowstrings as well. Probably one of the best natural fibers for it too as it'll withstand high draw weights
The yucca plant fibers were used by Maria Martinez and her husband Papovi Da to make very fine brushes for decorating their pottery works..
.natures treasure!!
I am kind of surprised you didn't mention the Fourwing Saltbush! Fairly abundant around the El Paso area, the yellowish seeds on this silvery green plant are plentiful and usually on year-round and edible, and tastes faintly salty. The ash from this had culinary use, and increased the nutritional content of things like corn (as the natives used it for). We also have others, such as the pepper piquin, a type of persimmon tree, Kunth's onion, and the Mexican olive. Some other plants that kind of grow everywhere but are useful and pop up here are the purple amaranth (pigweed) that pop up after rain, which is used for dye, seeds, and leaves which are edible, and the ditch sunflower, which are tiny sunflower seeds. You also have red willow (i think that's what it's called) which grow near the river, and you can use the branches for weaving (like fish traps). An honorable but uncertain mention may be silverleaf nightshade, which ive heard you can cook rigorously and eat the berries, but... **IT IS NIGHTSHADE**. I havent tried eating this for obvious reasons...
Thanks.
Tomatoes and eggplant are in the nightshade family too!
@americafirst9144 As well as potatoes. If one has arthritis; they should not eat any of the purple potatoes or tomatoes, like the Cherokee tomato, as these has more of the alkali that makes deadly nightshade so deadly.
Yes; the Mexican Olive! Thank you. I will investigate the Fourwing Saltbrush; I believe I've seen it while duck hunting but didn't key it out.
@@Huntnlady7Thanks for the info. Never heard that before.
@@wuznotbornyesterdaI also have arthritis. I try to eat as little tomatoes and potatoes as possible. But what is especially harmful for people with arthritis is vinegar, red wine and beer.
I grew up in El Paso. Spent countless hours in the desert as a kid. Your videos bring back great memories.
Fort Stockton/Alpine native here. Thanks for the information, ill keep this stuff in mind when I'm out in the boonies. Such a rich and beautiful place.
Been a desert rat for many, many years. Outstanding content.
I love these desert plant videos more than anything else. Been going back on your old ones for a few years now and they’re so cool 🌵
Same
Phenomenally informative content! Irreplaceable knowledge. All El Paso Tx natives should know this!
Something you may not know about the Yucca sandal is when they made them each pear add their own design on the bottom and they did this to help track down someone. Kinda like a finger print if that makes sense. Thanks for the great video
Wow! Great new info about the sandals! One of these days, I will make sandles for myself especially for grounding! 👍🏽😊
In Southern California there are still many pits up in the hills used for roasting many Agave hearts that the native folks used. The dried stalks of some larger Agave and Century plants were hollowed out and stopped up and could be used as a container, especially a simple quiver.
On the Facebooks you will find foraging groups and in particular here in AZ, we have a number of foraging experts you can go learn from from their talks, classes, or outings out into the desert. We harvested a number of tunas in late summer/early fall and made prickly pear jam and lemonade. One of my favorite things in the winter when I'm hunting is to grab some juniper berries to chew on to freshen my breath. Depending on where you are relative to water, you can even find things like wild strawberries, wild blackberries, and I even know some folks who found wild watermelon growing by a shaded stream.
I love Juniper berries too.
I'm in AZ looking for a good foraging group and event
That's not watermelon!
@@Huntnlady7 you could be right. I wasn't there, this is just what I was told.
Love your videos. You explain things in a clear, concise manner that’s easy to understand. Thanks for sharing your desert knowledge. Keep your video/ tutorials reeling in!
I grew up in Nueces County in Coastal South Texas. We picked the prickly pear tunas and made wine from them but we added some citric acid and sugar. We also picked and ate the fruit of the desert hackberry, which we called chaparral berries.
I'm not indian but all ancestral natives that's passed down from generation to generation survival techniques. Indians were and are Brilliant people! I'm from Oklahoma and they taught us a better way to conserve water by terrasing!
I grew up in El Paso, did a lot of camping in the desert there and further west. It's nice to re-live some of those memories watching your videos. 🙏 Thanks and God bless bro 👑
I purely love me some prickly pear fruit. Prickly pear also grows in Puerto Rico. When I was stationed there it took a hike up to a low mountain top and found a bit of prickly pear with ripe fruit 😊
When I use Flash tinder I like to mix it with dry dead grass. Makes it burn longer but ignites very easily
Great Stuff! The Rainbow hedgehog catctus (purple to violet in color) as well as the green hedge hog is very edible in the summer months and can also be a good water source that can keep you going. skin it while its still on the ground cut and eat. After a frost you should bake them or roast them over a fire because it is said to produce a glycol like anti-freeze substance that is toxic to keep it alive from freezing. Roasting over coals can nutrilize the glycol. Many times youll find them growing very near and even under Creostote bush. I know you have seen them. I have ate them befor and they are great. I even think they would help for cellular hydration. Just my expericence out here working in the Chijuajuan Desert for 23 years. Along the desert mountains The base of the sotol (like a vollyball size) and Shin Dagger bases (sweet potatoe sized) can be baked or cooked in the ground for serious food carbs and sugars. A Sotol needs about 72 hrs cooked in the ground and the shin dagger AKA Lechugiulla needs only about 24 hours of a cook. Perhaps with modern methods this could be faster. I cooked a sotol and a shin dagger once very hot inside a propane grill like you would cook a turkey. The shin dagger bulb was great tasting no sapponnins after a few hours. I cooked the sotol too long and it completely dried out. but was still edible and very tasty in my humble opinion.
Madrone can be found in the Chisos and Davis Mountains, as well as lower lying canyons that retain more moisture. There are remnant populations in the Texas Hill country as well.
The view from the lighthouse excited even the most seasoned traveler.
This is great. We live in Riverside County here in Southern California and we have many of these plants here at our ranch and all around this area, you just need to look! Also creosote is what was used to preserve wood. It is the dark brown stinky liquid that was used to preserve railroad ties and telephone poles. Works great to paint on fences that get chewed on by livestock. When you get a lots of rain creosote has beautiful very sweet smelling flowers. I have found very few books on our native plants but I do have a few that tell me what native Americans used for food and medicine. It’s good to know that I have plants here that we could eat or use for medicine if we needed too.
That was probably the best wild edibles video I've ever seen? No nonsense, packed with information, and communicated well.
I will definitely be watching more.
The Cholla cactus is usually abundant throughout the southwestern states and you can eat the plant itself once you burn off the thorns and it has little fruits similar to the Nopal tunas/prickly pear fruit, but much smaller and they are also edible.
Awesome video James! I've been waiting for this one. I love learning about wild edibles from all over the planet. I think there is a scarcity of knowledge about your part of the country, compared to the Mid-Atlantic, where I live. Thanks for sharing your knowledge and making a great video.
This was extremely interesting and informative. Living in the Southwest makes it possible that we could end up in the desert in situations we may not want to be in. BTW, horses love the Mesquite bean pods, they're a treat for them. Thanks very much.
Your hilarious when you smelled the Creosote explaining the fresh rain 😂
We have some property south of Pyote Texas, there is an abundance of saltbrush, which is salty, I researched and found that before it flowers(green florets) can be dried and ground into flour it also is good to chew when one is getting dehydrated.
Good job! DON'T TAKE MORE THAN WHAT YOU NEED! WILDLIFE ARE MORE IMPORTANT THAN YOUR GREED !
Very good overview, lots of good information. One way to eat the tunas is to sharpen a stick and poke it into the top, break off the fruit and then with a sharp knife slice the skin off to get rid of the thorns. To me they taste like a mixture of kiwi fruit and strawberry. Makes a good jam too.
I take a metal bucket and tongs when I am collecting. I haven't tried a pointed stick; that sounds difficult. I have sacrificed a sock to pick them once when I was without my tongs.
@@Huntnlady7 Not too difficult, but then if you are collecting many, tongs would of course be better.
Thanks so much, James. Very informative video. I fell in love with the Chihuahuan desert many years ago. This really takes me back.
Thank you for all your first-hand knowledge on how the desert shares its bounty with people as well as its natural inhabitants. That, along with your fascinating facts, you also demonstrated in specific details the preparations involved. Vital information that would determine and ensure survival until someone lost could find rescue. You are very kind to make this video. Again, thank you for it.
Great video! I was stationed at MCB 29 Palms,CA and recognize most of the plants you spoke about.
Dear friend I just enjoyed watching this this is traffic I am an Armenian from Iran and I admired the way you explain all these different things that can be really useful. Thank you
Love the video! Thank you for putting it together!! I think a good one to cover would be the barrel cactus, specifically the fruit but maybe a little dispelling the "get water from this cactus" survival tip.
possibly
Embora no Brasil não tenhamos desertos oficialmente falando temos região semi árida com muitas plantas semelhantes. Muito apreciável conhecê-las para a sobrevivência humana nestes locais. Falo de uma pequena chácara no município de Pedralva, sul do estado de Minas Gerais, Brasil. Parabéns e muito agradecido pelas tão úteis informações.
I missed this one a week ago, was in Lubbock at some doctor appointments and visiting my twin sons and their families. Caught up now though, very useful info James, thanks. I've lived here in the desert southwest all my life and learned lots about the flora and fauna, I never stop learning. I know for sure that if the plant has spikes, I'm gonna get stuck...😂
Im officially ready for the dessert. Thanks for this
Many Thxs for your time spent in planning, supplies used, expertise in filming, knowledge of native desert plants and so much more! Loved the how to identify/safety tips, cooking, weaving, building😊, traps, fire fuel starter, personal hygiene, keeping warm, tool crafting, insect repellent and so much more that you shared with us for “Free!” I live in California where I can grow in my front yard several of the plants you talked to us about, agave, occatilia, and several kinds of opuntias. It was great to learn more about these plants! If you have time would love to know more about the crafting aspects of these plants like sandle/shoe and, pottery making, general overall desert crafts. Hope you are writing a book(s) about what you are sharing with us? 🤔😊 Keep on Keeping on! Blessings 🌹🙏🏽🌹
Thank you team Junkyard Fox
I love the smell of desert rain when the sand start. Getting subsided and you get that fresh cream crisp air.
It's nice
A natureza nos oferece muita riqueza, que bom se todos a preservassem intacta, soubessem maneja-la adequadamente.
Outstanding video! Too often content creators can produce content, which is not thoroughly researched. As a scientist, I love how you implement science into the videos. Lastly, having growing up in New Mexico, a lot of these plants are very familiar to me, I love botany, and this video adds so much information to the things that were common around me growing up, which I never knew about so thank you!!
Thank you so much! We appreciate the donation and the kind words!
Excellent video. I'd love to be able to take a desert edible and medicinal plant walk with you guys someday, complete with cactus juice (it's the quenchiest).
As far as food sources that he mentioned .
Nothing will beat the Prickly pear cactus. As it can out produce most other stuff.
The tender petals will grow basically year round with irrigation and the fruits will be very abundant.
The mesquite tree is probably a close second because of the many issues for its pods.
Buffalo gourd is the wild ancestors of squash and pumpkins, and can interbreed with modern varietals. Couple 1000 years of domestication & breeding to turn that thing to pumpkin pie :)
That happened to me when I had a garden in W Texas. It hybridized w my squash. I never tasted anything so bitter
This was riveting!! Thank you for taking the time to teach us these amazing outdoor skills and history!
Glad you enjoyed it
I was in Tucson Arizona a few weeks ago. I’m fro Los Angeles and this information is so useful since I love ❤️ the outdoors. Thanks James and family for this useful information 🫡🫡🫡
Wow! Excellent video, and I appreciate that you shared the multiple uses of various plants and what to expect/how to use. Thank you so much!
You're very welcome!
Love your presentation & style. Fresh, clean and oh so informative. Education at it's best!
A tuna margarita, OMG, yummy and beautiful magenta.
Ty for this. I hope everyone is learning this stuff. Acceleration Theory is a real thing and survivng this next decade will be an achievement
Thank you for the education, you're a great narrator!
Thank you, very informative.❤
You are a refreshing sorce of knowledge that is lost these days. Keep it up, you are appreciated.
I am grateful for the knowledge that you share. I moved to Arizona back in 2020 and you and your crew has been very helpful. I've learned plenty and share whenever I can.
Great video. I live up North in New Hampshire and I appreciate you not assuming I already know the basics of these plants. Some of them I recognize, and Cattails obviously are everywhere, but thank you for all the great details and insights.
Great vid,thanks. I live in Alaska, but once I visited the desert, and an old sage told me, "the heaviest item in your pack should be...WATER". I think he's right. Subbed 👍
very true, water is gold out here
I live in high desert, but go down "low" often where my kids live. This is exactly what I was looking for in the way of desert survival. Some of the plants I knew but not all their uses. Thank you so much for this information & will look for more of your videos.
great video. I live in the desert and had no idea so many of these plants around me had so many uses. I can't wait for my next camping trip, I'm going to try out a bunch of these.
Not Boring, your good.
Cool thanks!!!
Love it when you guys share this info! Almost as much as the camping trips! Very nice gentlemen! Thanks for sharing 🤠
Love the nature
Greetings from palestine
Thank you for this video. It is so hard to find anyone doing bushcraft/survival videos in West Texas plains/desert country. All these guys doing fire making videos wouldn’t know what to do if all they had were mesquite trees and cactus plants! Lol.
For Yucca you dont actually need to destroy the plant and go for the root mass for soap. Take a few leaves off and pound them repeatedly with a stone until the fiber strands begin to split apart. Keepngoing until you have the whole leaf split down into small fiber bundles. Soak these fiber bundles in watet and rub them together. This produces a ton of soapy sudds and you can take those fiber bundles and keep soaking them for a few weeks. This will wash off the plant pulp and leave behind just the fibers. Then the fibers can be rolled/twisted into little bundles and then they can rolled/twisted again to make some primitive twine. You can even go a bit further and roll/twist the twine like cordage into even thicker rope. Its a ton of work but its far better than green cordage and will last a very long time. It can be used to weave mats, clothing, burden baskets, fishing gear, and even a hammock.. again all without killing the entire plant to get to the root, just a few leaves here and there is sufficient even for the longterm. Theres really no reason to kill a plant unless the only edible part is the root such as wild onion and carrots. Something like yucca should be left to grow and never dug up unless its absolutely necessary, but then again it grows so many leaves that will be more than sufficient for your soapy needs.
I've heard you can batter the flowers and fry them.
EXCELLENT INFO! Thank you; I will try this. I have yucca in my yard and it is tough to get it to propagate. It is also "illegal" to dig it on BLM.
@@americafirst9144 The flowers are great raw or parboiled. Fried in batter with salt sounds like an excellent suggestion; I'll try it!
Love the content. New subscriber. I live in Texas and camp all throughout West Texas, New Mexico and Arizona. Knowing the edible plants is extremely important if going into that area.
Excellent video James. Thank you and Cuervo so much for all that you guys do. I can't wait to try the desert Ocotillo tea someday. Also thanks for sending out my shirt. I absolutely love it. I got the From the Desert with Love Cuervo shirt in the Sage color. Thank you Cuervo.
Saving this video to have it in the event I get stuck in West Texas. This is great content with a bunch of knowledge nuggets for surviving in the desert. Can you provide more insight into what a good spot to set up camp in the desert would look like? What to look for that exhibits a good place to establish either a short or long-term camp location.
Awesome! Thanks!
Very fascinating content , thank you.
Very enjoyable Mr. Junkyard. Very informative and I like seeing how the Native Americans used everything available to them to live very well. Keep up the good work, I subscribed to your channel.
*Excellent."!!".👌."!!". videos*
Excellent instruction James! Thank you
Wow, I’m impressed by abundance of such barren looking area!
Thanks for the info man, much appreciated.
Great video, thanks for sharing
Thanks for watching!
So rad, thank you!
Super informative James. Thank you for the knowledge transfer!
Love this one, thanks
Great info. Thanks for sharing!
All those plants also grow in the Sanoran Desert where I currently live. I was born in Phx. Az. and I appreciate you showing others how the desert provides plentiful.
God bless bro.
Love this more of these for sure!👍
Great info. Thank you.
Good video. Love exploring the desert.
Great video, James and Cuervo!!
Thank you for this. Much appreciated.