Wild food in Ireland

ScumLord

Inspired by one of the other threads, I think it would be useful for us country folk to point out all the naturally occurring food that's available in the Irish countryside before the city folk start eating each other when supervalu closes for the last time.


So one food item per post. Explain where it can be found, when it's available, any dangers associated with it and how long it will maintain freshness. Maybe some tips for preservation if you have them.



I'm going to start with blackberries.

They're available throughout Ireland and most northern temperate zones, handily they like to grow beside roads a lot of the time and while those berries by the road probably aren't edible today with modern traffic running around, after the apocalypse they will make walking between towns in autumn time a feast.

The shrubs grow at ditches, hedgerows and along the verges of farms, there's no shortage of the bushes at the moment and I suppose we can expect them to run pretty wild once no bodies cutting them back.

Blackberries are available in autumn harvest time. They start growing late summer.

The berries won't last to long on their own you'll probably have to eat as you pick but they can be preserved in jams.

I looked up health risks but the only thing I can really find is a Hep A outbreak caused by commercially picked berries transmitting the illnesses of workers on. So in the wild as long as they're ripe you should be good.

I'm not sure what other wild berries are available.

mister gullible

4 million people rampaging through the country stripping the hedgerows of berries and nettles and hoovering up all the rabbits. Can't see that lasting for too long. Better to keep the knowledge to yourself. Or you could tell us where your own food stache is.. we wouldn't tell anyone...

riffmongous

I dont know how much truth there is to it, but as a child we were always warned to stay away from blackberries after a period of wet weather as they supposedly could give you worms, I don't know if there's any truth to that though. The other warning was to stay away from berries close to the ground incase they had rat piss on them, again, just what I remember being told.

My suggestion would be nettles. Not very high in calories but good nutritional value link

Not hard to prepare and widely available, best to pick in spring/early summer, before it flowers. Take the top part off of younger plants and cook in water to remove the sting.

Can also be dried and made into tea.

MartyMcFly84

Game birds, pheasant, pigeon etc.
Rabbit
Deer
Fresh water and sea fishing
Coastal foraging , seaweed, mussels, limpets, razor clams, cockles

ScumLord

riffmongous wrote: »

I dont know how much truth there is to it, but as a child we were always warned to stay away from blackberries after a period of wet weather as they supposedly could give you worms, I don't know if there's any truth to that though. The other warning was to stay away from berries close to the ground incase they had rat piss on them, again, just what I remember being told.

I wouldn't put to much faith in old wives tails, however they are usually based on some fact. I don't see why wet weather would cause worms in blackberries. Human worms need a life cycle, they tend to use cattle as their means of getting into humans because we used to spray human waste on fields to fertilize them which gave the worms a complete cycle from cattle to human and back to cattle again. It rains so often in Ireland that berries wouldn't work if they became dangerous to the animals they need to eat them and spread their seed.

Berries close to the ground are going to be eaten by smaller animals and any diseases they have could get passed on. So it would be a good idea to pick from higher up. It's usually very obvious if the berries have been eaten by something else.

My suggestion would be nettles. Not very high in calories but good nutritional value link

Not hard to prepare and widely available, best to pick in spring/early summer, before it flowers. Take the top part off of younger plants and cook in water to remove the sting.

Can also be dried and made into tea.

My uncle loves nettle soup. I'd forgotten about it. Nettles are absolutely everywhere though so a great food source.

ScumLord

MartyMcFly84 wrote: »

Game birds, pheasant, pigeon etc.
Rabbit
Deer
Fresh water and sea fishing
Coastal foraging , seaweed, mussels, limpets, razor clams, cockles

Don't just list out a load of different things. Pick one and give some details.

RiderOnTheStorm

A real gem (thanks to my nana many years ago) is the Fuchia.


The flowers of this bush contain a natural honey/sugar centre. You can pick the flower and suck the centre and get a sweet hit. They flower in summer, and the bush (originally from Dominican Republic, says Wikipedia) grows in most of Ireland, particularly in the south and in local protected spots.

OK, so its not a real food, as you cant live on it. But its great for pushing up blood sugar, or for sweetening tea / food / etc.


PS A note on rabbits, as learned from QI: If you eat ONLY rabbits, then you will die from some sort of poisoning (overload of iron??). But if you add potatoes / veg then you are ok, its only if 100% of your intake is rabbit meat ..... go figure!

ScumLord

RiderOnTheStorm wrote: »

PS A note on rabbits, as learned from QI: If you eat ONLY rabbits, then you will die from some sort of poisoning (overload of iron??). But if you add potatoes / veg then you are ok, its only if 100% of your intake is rabbit meat ..... go figure!

I don't know if this is an urban legend or not, but apparently a student in Galway died from scurvy because he would only eat whole chickens he got on discount in the local supermarket.

The thing your talking about seems to be rabbit starvation.

I guess we're going to have to ensure we have a varied diet come the apocalypse.

The other fella

Id just let myself become a zombie and then hang around nettles and rabbit burrows and eat people who are there foraging food.Simples.

riffmongous

An interesting one but probably not all that useful due to its limitations is birch sap

Only available for a short time in Spring apparently (I've never tried tried tapping it), but it can be used as a sugary energy drink, with a good vitamin C content. But it doesnt hold for long only a few days.

Saralee4

Just posted this in the wrong thread!

If you llive near the sea, what about sea weed? I'm not sure if you can eat it raw or not or how to cook. I imagine boiling would be sufficient.

You can have dried sea weed and fry it so might be a way of preserving or just storing some in a bucket of sea water?

I heard it's very nutritious and the light green stuff is the best to go for. It's mostly found on rocky beaches. You could probably pick some up when looking for crabs and other shellfish.

riffmongous

Saralee4 wrote: »

Just posted this in the wrong thread!

If you llive near the sea, what about sea weed? I'm not sure if you can eat it raw or not or how to cook. I imagine boiling would be sufficient.

You can have dried sea weed and fry it so might be a way of preserving or just storing some in a bucket of sea water?

I heard it's very nutritious and the light green stuff is the best to go for. It's mostly found on rocky beaches. You could probably pick some up when looking for crabs and other shellfish.

It's mentioned in an old Ray Mears book that I have alright as a winter/early spring food. You just have to stick to the leafy kinds and avoid the desmarestia types as they contain sulphuric acid, and only take seaweed still attached to the rock.

ScumLord

Fried seaweed is actually really nice.

http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2012/nov/21/how-to-forage-for-seaweed

Saralee4

ScumLord wrote: »

Fried seaweed is actually really nice.

http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2012/nov/21/how-to-forage-for-seaweed

"Gutweed is my favourite. Squeezed dry in a tea towel and deep fried for a few seconds, it produces genuine "crispy seaweed". The fine fronds retain their green colour and make a stunning garnish for seafood dishes."

mmmm Gutweed, sounds lovely

RiderOnTheStorm

food advice from Sara Lee ..... :-D ... better take note guys, its bound to be good stuff!

Another food-ish tip is ..... coffee substitute! You can pick goosegrass in late summer / autumn, then dry out the sticky seeds, grind them up and roast them as a coffee substitute. Also dandelion root can ground up as another substitute for coffee. Cant give any personal experience of what they taste like!!

Rosehips
These are the seed pod of roses. In well tended gardens they are usually pruned before they develop. But in the post ZA world I imagine that this will be very low on folks list, so they should be very abundant. They are small berry sized, redish seed balls on the tip of the stems, and best collected after the first frost. They can be processed into a syrup which is high in vitiman C. There used to be a time when we would collect bags of these for school! Not sure how to process them.....

Saralee4

RiderOnTheStorm wrote: »

food advice from Sara Lee ..... :-D ... better take note guys, its bound to be good stuff!


.....

eh what's that supposed to mean?

RiderOnTheStorm

Sara Lee


Just saying that your name reminds me of the giant food corporation in the USA .... so you must have good tips when it comes to food!

Saralee4

Alright rawhide! "Don't try to understand em, just rope and throw and brand em"

Tzar Chasm

Lobsters are handy enough to hunt and catch with a bit of practice, even easier if you can find a few pots.

cockles are tasty, they are abundant in the southeast anyway in tidal estuaries

Limpits are feckin awful, they are handy as bait tho, once you learn the knack of getting them off the rocks

Small green crabs can be crushed to a tasty paste.

periwinkles are harder to find, but oh so worth the effort as a tasty snack.

SCOL

I think you would have to eat to surrive and not for taste after a few weeks food would be in very short supply also people would have to defend themself so first thing is to get a gun for protection and to shoot food.

Saralee4

RopeDrink wrote: »

I wouldn't last very long as I'm a very fussy eater and I'm not sure if even the zombie apocalypse could make me eat sea-weed... Or 'live off the land' in general, for that matter. I'm not much of a vegetable person and I don't think the apocalypse comes with a life-time supply of microwavable grub

I remember i watched a documentary, it was about these men who were stuck on a boat.

They were dehydrating. They had supplies to get fish though. Apparently they started to crave the fish eyes. It was thought that their body was telling them to eat the eyes which would usually gross them out because this part of the fish contained water.

So I'd say you would be surprised at the natural survival instincts that kick in.

I always think there is a certain part of survival that you cannot control, like it's part of your make up. Obviously there would be certain people who are more trained for those type of events but to some I think there is a natural ability.

ScumLord

That's all very true Saralee, all you have to go back to is the likes of that flight that got stuck in the andes turned into the movie alive. They eat their friends when they had to. Hunger will drive you to try eating just about anything, even things you know that could potentially kill you, because you will die if you don't eat and it's a very painful way to die.

The other thing to take into account is the fact that wild food is infinitely tastier than what we get in our supermarkets. A wild berry is twice the berry you'll get in the supermarket. Some things are so much better it's like the shops are stocking another fruit/vegetable that just looks something like the real thing.

The ways left open to you for cooking food might actually help to. Boiled vegetables are handy for us now, but unless you're carrying around a pot with you you may be essentially roasting or BBqing everything. Roasted vegetables are way nicer than boiled vegetables.

Saralee4

Not too many calories it seems but Worms and other little critters:

"There are hundreds of different species of earthworm throughout the world. All are considered safe for human consumption, but they should be purged of the dirt that fills them before you dine. An easy way to clean them out is to place them in a container of damp grass. After a few hours, the critters will be void of the dirt and sand they normally hold. Like all animal foods, worms should be cooked before you eat them. I recommend frying. The good news is that fried worms taste a little like jerky. The bad news: Average sized worms contain only about 1 calorie per gram (not counting any fat used for frying). "

Tzar Chasm

Food preparation is something that will get a lot of people in trouble, i know about purging shellfish in clean water, but hadnt considered that method for worms, i would probably have ended up drowning them

Saralee4

Tzar Chasm wrote: »

Food preparation is something that will get a lot of people in trouble, i know about purging shellfish in clean water, but hadnt considered that method for worms, i would probably have ended up drowning them

We'l all be ok though Tzar Chasm, we are getting our training and educating ourselves on the matter from boards! We'l be prepped for anything haha

Seanachai

ScumLord wrote: »

That's all very true Saralee, all you have to go back to is the likes of that flight that got stuck in the andes turned into the movie alive. They eat their friends when they had to. Hunger will drive you to try eating just about anything, even things you know that could potentially kill you, because you will die if you don't eat and it's a very painful way to die.

The other thing to take into account is the fact that wild food is infinitely tastier than what we get in our supermarkets. A wild berry is twice the berry you'll get in the supermarket. Some things are so much better it's like the shops are stocking another fruit/vegetable that just looks something like the real thing.

The ways left open to you for cooking food might actually help to. Boiled vegetables are handy for us now, but unless you're carrying around a pot with you you may be essentially roasting or BBqing everything. Roasted vegetables are way nicer than boiled vegetables.

Wild food is a good way to go zombie apocalypse or not, wild fowl eggs will have a higher vitamin and mineral content in comparison to chicken eggs. Even if you buy free range they can be fed on GM feed which isn't labelled, when you think about it the soil in the ditches could actually have higher nutrients than the crop fields which haven't been allowed time in a fallow state to replenish.

ScumLord

Cattle..

These beasts will be able to free roam the Irish countryside once the farmers protecting them fail to feed and contain them. We might think of cows as docile creatures and they tend to be right now. We keep them well fed and happy in Ireland.

But the reality is they're the biggest mammal on the island, they regularly kill farmers completely by accident due to their massive bulk. I've been in fields with cows and they know the difference between the human that feeds them and everyone else. These days cows tend to avoid humans they don't know, but enter a field with calves or hungry cows and they will case you down and given half a chance they'll probably kill you.

We might think the cows we breed are so domesticated that they wouldn't be aggressive or able to survive on their own but there are examples of European cattle breeds going wild in the likes of Hawaii. Article here.

Even using a high power rifle you're unlikely to take down your average cow with one shot.

Once our native cattle go wild they'll probably have little or no tolerance for people, they'll likely be harassed by people and zombies. They'll quite likely attack anyone they see and shooting them will just make them angrier and will probably make them charge at you harder.

Cattle are going to be a major issue for any survivors. Free roaming cattle will be one of the most dangerous things you can come across walking down a country lane, there's very little that will be able to stop a rampaging cow.


Obviously the benefits of hunting cattle would be huge, they're mostly meat. In fact probably way too much meat for one person. There would be big benefits to trying to keep cattle but without proper management you probably won't be guaranteed milk out of them. Having cattle around your base of operation would give you an added layer of security as they'll probably get agitated by anyone or anything coming near them.

Cattle will be a high risk, high reward food item. It's probably pointless taking one on if your group is small as you will put your group in a lot of danger and probably won't be able to deal with all the food effectively. Best left for larger communities.

Tzar Chasm

Again i must remind you of our species proficiency with all things pointed and stabby.

If you have enough people to eat a whole cow, you have enough people to hunt and kill it.

if you are lone wolfing it, sheep are a reasonable target

ScumLord

Tzar Chasm wrote: »

Again i must remind you of our species proficiency with all things pointed and stabby.

If you have enough people to eat a whole cow, you have enough people to hunt and kill it.

if you are lone wolfing it, sheep are a reasonable target

I'm not going anywhere near a cow with just a pointy stick.

The problem will also be that you're not going to be dealing with a cow in isolation. If the cows don't let you separate them out to find one that a your group could maybe take down you're completely screwed. If you look at lions chasing bison on the African plains the hunt can sometimes go wrong with the Bison realising the lions got one of them and the herd turning to attack the lions.

Spring time will make them very dangerous, once calves are in the mix the cattle will probably attack any human they come across (as bison do to lions and lion cubs) once they start to see us as the predatory animal that we are instead of their protectors.

Sheep could do with their own post, they're not exactly easy targets either. Sheep can be pretty vicious, I've been attacked by rams on a number of occasions, they're afraid of nothing. The ones I was attacked by are the rugged connemara sheep that are half wild.

Saralee4

apparently "22 people are killed in the U.S. every year". Jesus there are cows down the road from my house, Im not going near them or letting my daughter anywhere near them again, they are just waiting for their chance for payback on humans

you know what I don't get about cows though on a farm, this is really stupid but which cows are the male? the bull as far as I know right?

so all the other cows are female and the bull is usually kept separate so if that was the case then there are not many males left to breed in the event of apocalypse and a lot of the farms would die out especially if they are locked up?

In normal circumstances what happens all the male cows that are born as surely there are about an equal number of males as females born? are they killed for meat when they are young and the one bull is just kept? Im clueless on this obviously!

degrassinoel

ah c'mon, Americans getting killed by Cows can only mean one thing


RODEO!



Yeeeha!

Tzar Chasm

More than once i have seen programmes on discovery etc wher a lone african tribesman hunts a cow/gnu/widebeast.... alone, on foot, and armed only with a spear and a bottle of water.

6-8 organised well coordinated people with decent weapons should have no problem hunting and killing a cow

ScumLord

Saralee4 wrote: »

In normal circumstances what happens all the male cows that are born as surely there are about an equal number of males as females born? are they killed for meat when they are young and the one bull is just kept? Im clueless on this obviously!

Girls make milk and boys make beef.

Seanachai

Saralee4 wrote: »

apparently "22 people are killed in the U.S. every year". Jesus there are cows down the road from my house, Im not going near them or letting my daughter anywhere near them again, they are just waiting for their chance for payback on humans

you know what I don't get about cows though on a farm, this is really stupid but which cows are the male? the bull as far as I know right?

so all the other cows are female and the bull is usually kept separate so if that was the case then there are not many males left to breed in the event of apocalypse and a lot of the farms would die out especially if they are locked up?

In normal circumstances what happens all the male cows that are born as surely there are about an equal number of males as females born? are they killed for meat when they are young and the one bull is just kept? Im clueless on this obviously!

The Bull is male obviously and then you have the female cows but you also have 'bullocks' which are castrated males. If you're not used to them I can understand how it would freak you out when they start running down a hill towards you . They're generally not hostile in my experience though, you just assert yourself and wave your hands and tell them to 'hoosh' or something similar.

The bulls are another story altogether and it's always wise to make sure there isn't one hidden amongst the cows before you decide to take a shortcut. I had the chase of my life when I was about twelve from a bullock, I used to feed him handfuls of grass and pet him as he was always very friendly, one day he turned on me and charged at me, I was 'low running' as Richard Pryor used to say, I don't even know if I could run that fast now to be honest.

I think if the worse came to worse and we needed to hunt a more aggressive version of them we'd have to use booby traps or divert them into crushes where you could slaughter them then.

Saralee4

are the bullox in the field with the female cows? they cant mate anyway because they are castrated. Awh that really is cruel. We are evil aren't we. The poor bullox cows don't even get to mate in their life because we castrate them!

I just wonder if most farms would die out fairly quick in the event of apocalypse because there is no bull to mate with the female cows if the farmer is dead and all the cows are locked up.

ScumLord

Saralee4 wrote: »

are the bullox in the field with the female cows? they cant mate anyway because they are castrated. Awh that really is cruel. We are evil aren't we. The poor bullox cows don't even get to mate in their life because we castrate them!

Bulls go through a mating season I think. So their not like human males that are always looking, they only get the urge to mate at particular times of the year. I would guess castrated bulls don't get the urges at all if they've lost their balls.

I just wonder if most farms would die out fairly quick in the event of apocalypse because there is no bull to mate with the female cows if the farmer is dead and all the cows are locked up.

I think if cows start getting hungry and there's no sign of the farmer they'll just smash through the gates, walls or whatever else is standing in their way. If the apocalypse comes in winter they could be stuck in sheds and die.

Most cattle will probably just die out, we have to keep them feed during winter months so without that food many might die in the first year. Once the excess is gone they should establish a fairly healthy and stable population. Time will probably see forests growing back which would reduce cattle numbers slightly.

Saralee4

ScumLord wrote: »

Bulls go through a mating season I think. So their not like human males that are always looking, they only get the urge to mate at particular times of the year. I would guess castrated bulls don't get the urges at all if they've lost their balls.

tly.

Yea it's kind of a sad life they have. On the other hand, would cows still exist if they weren't farmed today or do you reckon they would be extinct now? Probably only a few maybe they would live like wild deer?

ScumLord

Saralee4 wrote: »

Yea it's kind of a sad life they have. On the other hand, would cows still exist if they weren't farmed today or do you reckon they would be extinct now? Probably only a few maybe they would live like wild deer?

Something like wild dear, although wild cattle probably have a greater range. They can live on plains or wooded areas, they would basically go where ever they want and wouldn't be quite as flighty as deer. Especially with a big bull around, he'd probably be looking for something to fight with to impress he's harem.

The Hawaiian example I posted above shows their more than capable of surviving on their own, it's just that in Europe they don't have anywhere they can roam without being under the management of humans. If society broke down cattle would go wild and more than likely get on quite well, they don't have much competition from other herbivores.


Cattle in Ireland have a fairly good life, they get to roam free and do what they love doing. Eating. They'd find it hard going the first year being on their own.

Micky Dolenz

It's all coming out now, zombie apocalypse, no bother but we've learned what Scumlord is really afraid of, cows

ScumLord

Micky Dolenz wrote: »

It's all coming out now, zombie apocalypse, no bother but we've learned what Scumlord is really afraid of, cows

I live in the countryside and have to pass them on a daily basis. They're clearly plotting something. :pac:

But these are the kind of realities that most zombie stories ignore. People won't be able to just wander out into the countryside and only have to worry about zombies and bandits. You'll try to hide from bandits roaming the road network only to find you've hopped into a field with a 2 tone bull in musth. Out of the frying pan into the fire.

Tzar Chasm

Right so, this weekend we'll do a bit of Cattle rustling practice

Lets all meet up at saras house

1) practice pointy stick manufacture
2) hunting practice
3) butchering
4) making fire
5) barbecue
6) getting drunk


as a bonus we can cure scumlords phobia

Saralee4

Tzar Chasm wrote: »

Right so, this weekend we'll do a bit of Cattle rustling practice

Lets all meet up at saras house

1) practice pointy stick manufacture
2) hunting practice
3) butchering
4) making fire
5) barbecue
6) getting drunk


as a bonus we can cure scumlords phobia

Ha ye and I know plenty of evil cows out my way scumlord so youl have no problem finding a way to face your phobia! You can start with that neighbour that keeps parking in front of my drive, shes a real cow haha

Micky Dolenz

There is a really good documentary about Chernobyl where it tracks native animals of the region and shows how they are flourishing. It's o YouTube, well worth a look.

So with that in mind, how long before the cow herds of the country go back to a more natural state, IE not being milked twice a day etc. how long before mastitise isn't an issue. I'd assume one breeding season would sort it.

Saralee4

yea ive seen that documentary I think, is it the one with the wild cat living in the abandoned house? and they talk about radioactive wolves too I think?

Micky Dolenz

It was the one where they looked at the massive fish in the lakes that was used to cool the reactors. They also showed how a pony population who used to be native to the region have made a comeback.

they did a study on a mole type mammal over years and Surprisely they didn't show overly high levels of radiation and mutations were in line with populations in non affected areas. Overall they were surprised with how quickly nature is reclaiming the environment.

Tzar Chasm

Is anyone watching
The Island- with Bear Gryllis

very interesting and somewhat relevant to this thread, granted they are on a tropical island, but they face a lot of the sa e challenges we would, fire, shelter water food...

ScumLord

Distrubing new development on the cow problem posted in After hours.

Cow eats sheep.

Now there's the possibility of flesh eating cows during a zombie apocalypse. It could all depend on how tasty our grass is.

Wabbit Ears

In an apocalyptic scenario food would be plentiful in Ireland. Why wild food? We are an country with huge agriculture and horticulture crops and very few live people to eat and harvest them. If food is not harvested it goes to seed and grows again. Pretty much everything that grows In a field will continue to do so for years to come. There will be acres and arcres of abandoned glasshouses and polytunnels to grow less hardy crops although, while watering may pose initial problems, rainwater gathering isn't rocket science.

RiderOnTheStorm

To delve into cow-gate a bit more ..... I think (no science or experience here) that the cows are currently so large because they are docile, regularly fed, and protected (against disease, predators, etc), so wouldnt they be smaller & thinner if returned to the wild? OK, they wont be sheep-size, but notably leaner and less populous. Also, they dont have natural predators (at the moment), but wild dog packs after the ZA would surely take down the young & small.

ScumLord

Wabbit Ears wrote: »

In an apocalyptic scenario food would be plentiful in Ireland. Why wild food? We are an country with huge agriculture and horticulture crops and very few live people to eat and harvest them. If food is not harvested it goes to seed and grows again. Pretty much everything that grows In a field will continue to do so for years to come. There will be acres and arcres of abandoned glasshouses and polytunnels to grow less hardy crops although, while watering may pose initial problems, rainwater gathering isn't rocket science.

Our agriculture would need to be managed, while it's true that they'd go to seed they'd be in competition with all the native wild plants. Remember that all our grains are not native, they have followed the human race all the way from the middle east. I think it would be unlikely that they could out compete weeds and once forests start to take over again they'll be fighting over smaller and smaller plots of land.

I think even after one or two years we could find that many of the typical farmed crops are hard to find or eradicated by hardier native plants.

RiderOnTheStorm wrote: »

To delve into cow-gate a bit more ..... I think (no science or experience here) that the cows are currently so large because they are docile, regularly fed, and protected (against disease, predators, etc), so wouldnt they be smaller & thinner if returned to the wild? OK, they wont be sheep-size, but notably leaner and less populous. Also, they dont have natural predators (at the moment), but wild dog packs after the ZA would surely take down the young & small.

Wild dogs would probably go for sheep first. They did in the past before there was the big campaign to keep your dogs locked up at night. Our dog population will probably wittle itself into one or two breeds of wild dog which could be capable of taking out sick cattle.

The numbers of cattle will more than likely drop, most cattle are segregated by sex, so many cows may not find a bull to impregnate them. With no humans to feed them in winter many may die off and may strip the countryside in the process eating whatever's available. But once the excess is wiped out they should be able to establish themselves and thrive. I don't know that they'll get any smaller.

Forests regrowing will limit the spread of many animals, cows won't have big pastures to roam, dogs won't have large areas to try and run down their prey.

Tzar Chasm

Wabbit Ears wrote: »

In an apocalyptic scenario food would be plentiful in Ireland. Why wild food? We are an country with huge agriculture and horticulture crops and very few live people to eat and harvest them. If food is not harvested it goes to seed and grows again. Pretty much everything that grows In a field will continue to do so for years to come. There will be acres and arcres of abandoned glasshouses and polytunnels to grow less hardy crops although, while watering may pose initial problems, rainwater gathering isn't rocket science.

Without humans these crops will dissappear within 2-3 seasons. The reason is nitrogen. Crops consume nitrogen from the soil, farmers replace that nitrogen, either by modern methods such as industrial fertilizer, or more traditional methods such as crop rotation, clover and natural fertilizers from livestock.

without human management the first years seed would grow too densley choking itself out before maturation, the subsequent years would yield sparser and sparser crops until nature reclaimed the land.

also we select seed to artificially promote characteristics we desire, the vegetables remaining after a natural cycle may be of little use to us.

Spuds for example if left to revert to their natural state would become toxic to us