Harvesting the City: Top 20 Urban Forageables That Ensure You NEVER Starve in Town

[Talyn]

Why? Because your city, suburb, or town is a bountiful survival garden if you look at it with a new point of view, and learn to harvest its hidden riches.

The art of urban foraging is more than a skill—it's a strategic operation that equips you to tackle an often unpredictable world.

Harvesting the City: Top 20 Urban Forageables That Ensure You NEVER Starve in Town

Your city, suburb, or town is a bountiful survival garden if you look in the right places. Learn how to turn your town into a flourishing foraging spot.

www.campingsurvival.com

 

[KillerFord1977]

Big thing in the inner city is a food desert.
High crime, etc forces grocers and stores to not stick around. Folks end up with connivence store food if they dont have transportation.
Its a big issue in south dallas.
Folks were robbing the stores en masse, so the grocers all left. Staff didnt feel safe or want to work.

 

[Cedric]

If you need help in identifying the species mentioned, or any species for that matter, there are several apps for your phone to do this. I use Seek by iNaturalist. You make sure your location is correct, take a photo and the common name and taxonomic classification should come up.

 

[HayesGreener]

When I was in S. Korea I was surprised and impressed by how they use every scrap of land to grow food. Vegetable Gardens in highway medians is a highly visible example

 

[somorris]

Thanks for the link, Talyn. I have read many times about lost hikers, etc., starving to death in the middle of an abundance of wild growing foods. I understand why, but it is kind of a shame that we have become so separated from and ignorant of our natural environment.

 

[Shibadog]

I suspect a huge % of folks today would starve if you took away their phone and dropped them in the woods 5 miles from any road -even if you gave them a .22 rifle, 100 rounds, a knife, matches, line and fishhooks. No “survival skills” is normal today, even among small town folks, not to mention the typical urban dweller.

 

[HayesGreener]

I suspect a huge % of folks today would starve if you took away their phone and dropped them in the woods 5 miles from any road -even if you gave them a .22 rifle, 100 rounds, a knife, matches, line and fishhooks. No “survival skills” is normal today, even among small town folks, not to mention the typical urban dweller.

The unfortunate truth is that many would use that rifle, knife, or machete as weapons to take from others. Although I would advise against that approach in my neck of the woods.

My parents were married during the Great Depression. Everyboy in those days grew all their food and only bought things like salt, sugar, coffee, and cloth. They farmed with a team of Morgan Horses and when the crops were in my Dad worked on other farms picking corn by hand for cash money. His first purchase from that job was a pump .22 rifle and a brick of ammo. The farmers had no idea how bad the Depression would get and there was concern that starving people from the cities would come take what the farmers had. My Dad's thinking was that he could always have fresh meat with the rifle, and defend the farmstead if he had to. My uncles thought similarly. These were the people who raised me. I have tried to pass those skills down to my boys and grandkids and much of it stuck. I regularly tell my kids to be sure their kids know how tonuse firearms.

 

[Talyn]

If you need help in identifying the species mentioned, or any species for that matter, there are several apps for your phone to do this. I use Seek by iNaturalist. You make sure your location is correct, take a photo and the common name and taxonomic classification should come up.

And get a Plant ID manual and any local classes as a back-up to the tech approach.

 

[Talyn]

Thanks for the link, Talyn. I have read many times about lost hikers, etc., starving to death in the middle of an abundance of wild growing foods. I understand why, but it is kind of a shame that we have become so separated from and ignorant of our natural environment.

I've encountered folks hiking in flip-flops, carrying no water or anything in case an injury would occur, or if something led them to spend the night in the woods.