Fields Recordings From The Sea

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TomBo T
TomBo Apr 20, 2004 15:16:56
Replying to fitzcoraldo

"A weeks worth of roots, berries and firewood can be gathered in an hour or two if you know where to look."

I gotta disagree on this one. Speaking as someone who does gather firewood from the local woods, I can assure you that no matter how thick on the ground the wood is, there's no way you could gather a week's worth in an hour or two, never mind with roots and berries into the bargain. It takes a lot of wood to keep a fire burning even for one night - wood burns much quicker than coal, at any rate

I know they didn't have coal :) - or did they?

http://www.themodernantiquarian.com/post/21664

I've never foraged for food, but I know someone who's done quite a bit of it. There <i>is</i> plentiful food to be had in some areas, but again, you couldn't possibly gather a week's worth in an hour or two. It comes in such small quantities that I think it more likely that there was a fairly constant search for food going on, in much the same way as birds or rabbits are constantly on the look out for something to eat. Of course, there was much more forest back then, and this would have made finding food easier.

F FourWinds
FourWinds Apr 20, 2004 15:56:26
Replying to TomBo

"Of course, there was much more forest back then, and this would have made finding food easier."

And more dangerous! A proportion of the hunting group would have had to be on the lookout for big cats, bears and wolves fans.

How long does it take you to pick a couple of tubs of blackberries? A couple of hours? That's great if you can preserve them, but you can't gather a week's worth of berries and keep them fresh.

Wood collecting is very time consuming. You need big logs to keep a fire burning for a long time. Dead wood will burn too fast so you have to fell trees, chop them up and drag them back to camp. As Tombo says a big camp fire will burn a lot of wood in one evening. I think the figures are more likely to be 12 hours per day ...