According to Moss, the following plants are only a partial list of those that can be found and eaten locally: Persimmon, Solomon seal, bear grass, poke, watercress, wild onion, wild lettuce, dock, lamb’s quarter, cochoon (or co channie), wild apricots, wild plums, wild cherries, black haw, maypop (passion flower), huckleberry, elderberry, possum grape, fox grape, mulberry, dandelion greens, sheep sorrell (oxalis), blackberry, dewberry, wild strawberry, wild potato, pig potato, water lilly root, hickory nut, chinkapin, honey locust pods, prickly pears, wild Jerusalem artichoke, burdock, bean vine, wishee (maitake mushrooms), hickory chicken, morel mushrooms, owl heads, anitlog, deer antler (mushrooms), puff ball, beefsteak, elm chicken/oyster, white oak acorns, wild asparagus, redbud flower, sumac new growth, hackberry and paw paw.

While there isn’t sufficient space to really go into detail about each one of these plants, as Moss did, it should be noted that a number of these plants were not only good food sources, but some medicinal properties as well.

But eating plants is not the only option out there said Moss.

“If you’re talking about plants to use for teas, there are at least as many as in this list [above],” said Moss. “And when you start talking about animals, fish and insects, that’s a whole other list altogether.”

Moss explained that he acquired much of his knowledge during his childhood.

“I basically learned it by growing up poor,” said Moss. “Some of it I learned from Cherokee traditions, some from the old cowboys out on the rodeo circuit, and some from the black community where I grew up. When I was young, Mom and I would walk along the railroad tracks looking for good things to eat. There would be these older black women out there as well, and they would show us things to use.”

As Moss pointed out, it is likely that if one looks in the right place, there is nearly always a food find waiting.

“I think if someone did the research and made a calendar of what is in season and when, they’d find that there would be something to eat every day of the year,” said Moss. “I fell that if people knew this kind of stuff they’d be a lot closer to their local environment and to the earth in general.”

Contact Garron Marsh at gmarsh@tahlequahdailypress.com.