Howdy

[kirkpatc]

I was looking for an acorn flour recipe and found this site. Love the "Good Neighbors," references and hope to learn more urban self sufficiency from you all. I suspect that most of the knowledge of edible wild plants in this area (East Texas) has been lost, but I find that if I cultivate the friendship of the elderly locals, they always suprise me with new, fascinating self-sufficient foodstuffs and tricks.
I lived on the Texas/Mexico border for a time, and had great fun gathering and cooking cactus; transplanting wild pepper plants from the bush to my garden; trying to domesticate the Chachalaka (a chicken-like bird). Now, I live on the Texas/Louisiana border, so the amount of rainfall is greater, thus the number of edible plants is greater. I hope to pass on my more interesting discoveries to you in the future. Mudbug season is here!

Chuck

[red]

welcome

[Annpan]

wow... that's some interesting stuff you are up to

Welcome to 'ish

(in Blighty we call it 'the Good Life'... have you seen it?)

[Smallholder1]

Welcome to the site!

[old tree man]

Hi

[oldfella]

Hi and welcome, but wot is a MUDBUG

[marshlander]

Hello Kirkpatc

[kirkpatc]

The mudbug is also known as the crawfish (freshwater crustaceans resembling small lobsters). Easily caught in any roadside ditch with a bit of string and piece of bacon.
I grew up in the sixties and seventies and was religious viewer of "Good Neighbors." Did not know that it was called "Good Life." Makes sense.


Thank you all for your warm welcome.

Chuck

[MrFalafel]

In the United States "The Good Life" was retitled "Good Neighbors", to avoid confusion with a short-lived American sitcom of the same name.

Confused the heck out of me after I grew up watching it in the US in one name and then moved to the UK where its a different name!

[Dori]

Hi Chuck
Love the sound of your Chachalaka.. please tell us more
Katie x

[kirkpatc]

The Chachalaka. Isn't that a great name for a bird. My company relocated me to Mission TX and I immediately thought it looked like inhospitable desert. But soon found that not only was the area teeming with exotic plants and insects, but migration routes for both birds and butterflies from South to North America and back, passed right overhead.
So strange that such an arid land would be so bounteous in other ways.
I moved into a little house waaaay out in the country and found flocks of this large bird roosting in the trees. To tell the truth, all I had to do was live a quiet life, and the chachalaka would leave me large eggs in rough nests on the ground, in my butterfly gardens. So, if you can stand 110 degree (43 c)summer winds and no rainfall to speak of, you can still count on foraging nature's bounty.
PS: I am more of a birder than I am a hunter, and living in South Texas really boosted my life list. Any birders on this forum?

Chuck

[Thurston Garden]

Ahoy Chuck!

[Mainer in Exile]

Hello and welcome

[gigglybug]

Hello and welcome Kirkpatc

Amanda