Chapter 624 Glacier
"What are we going to eat?"
"Although I'm prepared, I still hope to eat some normal food."
Bao Weiss was feeling nervous and expectant at the moment. Besides some unspoken purposes that everyone knew, he also had some ideas of his own for participating in the program.
I also have a general understanding of Bifang's program, and I even made a summary table of what to eat, ranging from normal food to curious food.
Raw earthworms, roasted grubs, roasted venison, boiled chicken , it seems that anything edible is on Bifang's menu.
[You can always trust Fang Shen's hunting ability]
[You can also trust his seasoning]
[But don't trust his taste buds (dog head)]
"Yes." Bifang smiled and pointed to the field in front of him. There were a few large trees scattered on it, but more of them were bushes and herbs under the bushes. "In fact, I can see many edible herbs at a glance."
"Ferns?" Baowais looked at the weeds that Bifang pointed to and obviously recognized what it was.
Bifang nodded: "The most common wild plants in the suburbs of Central Country are ferns. They are everywhere, from London to the north to the northernmost tip of Scotland. They are all this kind of plants."
"Ferns are ancient plants that live in dark forests and riverbanks. They have been on Earth for more than 300 million years. Long before the dinosaurs appeared, they shared the sultry primeval swamp forests with stone pines and horsetail plants."
"Wow." Bowes exclaimed.
"The women of Yang country used to be crazy about ferns. I don't know if this is the reason why ferns are so rampant in Yang country. It can be said that the wild weeds in Yang country are basically ferns." Bifang squatted down and turned over the herbs in front of him.
"But some ferns are now very rare, and others are very restricted in their distribution because of the limited habitats where they can grow. This may be due to the Victorian era, when it was very popular to pick ferns and grow them indoors."
"Gatherers searched the countryside for ferns and carried them to the streets of towns, where they were sold door to door. Of course, the rarer the fern was, the more it cost. Before long, certain species became extremely rare due to continued harvesting."
"This is the broom fern in front of us. Its young stems and leaves are edible. It is a semi-wild vegetable that is high in carotene, potassium and copper. The old plant can be used as a broom, hence the name."
Bifang rummaged through the leaves and found some tender leaves. He pinched them off with his fingernails, handed some to Baowais, and then put them into his own mouth to chew.
After taking it, Bowes hesitated for a moment and then stuffed it in.
"What does it feel like?"
"It's a bit dry." Bowes chewed a few times. "The fiber texture is very abrupt. Is it old?"
Bifang nodded. It was a little old, but edible.
"Not all ferns are edible. Some young fern leaves contain tannins, which generally need to be soaked in cold water overnight before they can be eaten. They are usually heat-processed. Blanching and rinsing can significantly reduce the protopterosides contained in them, reducing the risk of cancer."
"Can this be eaten raw?" Bowes pointed at the broom fern.
Bifang shook his head: "No, according to our Chinese medicine, broom fern is cold in nature and will have adverse effects on the human stomach and intestines. Eating it raw can easily cause diarrhea."
Bao Weisi: "..."
He looked at the remaining half of the fern in his hand and the dry plant taste in his mouth, and for a moment he didn't know what to do.
Bifang smiled and said, "It's okay. It's just some tender leaves. It won't be a big deal."
"All right."
Since it’s edible, don’t miss it.
Bifang searched around and picked all the edible leaves. It was summer now, so there were fewer young leaves, but there were still some.
It took more than ten minutes to pick half a plate of food, but it was still far from enough for two people, and the plants could hardly provide enough energy.
It’s better to eat meat.
So the two of them continued walking forward and came to the small river where they had fetched water before, looking for a river bend with a slower current where there might be fish.
"This place is quite far from the coast, and the wind is much weaker. You can see that the trees here are obviously more lush, and it is a swamp forest."
Bifang pointed to the dense woods upstream of the river. Although it was still sparse, it could already be called a forest.
"There is a significant change in vertical zones from wilderness to forest, so there will be a significant increase in biodiversity, higher animal densities, and a greater chance of encountering prey, especially in swamp forests."
"What happened to the swamp woods?"
“The swamp forest is very rich in fish resources.”
"One typical example is mangroves, which are also swamp forests that grow in the intertidal zone of the coast. They are one of the most productive marine ecosystems in the terrestrial and marine ecotone. Nearly 80% of the world's fish catch comes directly or indirectly from mangroves."
"However, mangroves only exist in subtropical and tropical regions. There are no mangroves in the Central China. There are only ordinary swamp forests, but they are enough. The roots of the trees in the swamps will be entangled, providing habitats for many animals."
Walking into the swamp forest, Bowes clearly felt that it was becoming more difficult for him to walk.
The wet mud clung to the soles of the shoes, and many took more effort to pull out.
Bifang perked up and reminded: "Follow me, don't get stuck in the mud, otherwise it will be troublesome."
[I feel like there will be snakes]
[Indeed, there are alligators and pythons in the swamp, are they really okay? ]
Bifang shook his head: "Yangguo doesn't have these two things, and it can even be said that there are no reptiles."
As far as survival in the wilderness is concerned, the island country of Central China can truly be called a Feng Shui treasure land.
In the Middle Ages, wild beasts such as brown bears and wolves were almost extinct in England, and are completely extinct in modern times. They can only be seen in zoos. The only remaining red deer and wild boars are considered the first-class prey, followed by hares, pheasants, geese and ducks.
If the big ones are gone, there must be some small poisonous ones, right?
What about venomous snakes?
We cannot say that there are none at all, as that would be too absolute, because in modern times there are all kinds of species invasions and the phenomenon of releasing pets at will, so we can only say that the number is pitifully small.
But not because of St. Patrick.
"There is a festival in China called St. Patrick's Day, which is to commemorate St. Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland."
“One of the legends about St. Patrick is that he drove all the snakes out of Ireland, which is one of the most famous stories in Irish mythology.”
This can be seen from this.
"But in the end it's just a legend. The scientific explanation is that during the Ice Age, the temperature in Ireland and Central Kingdom was too low to survive for cold-blooded animals like snakes. Snakes need to absorb heat from the surrounding environment to maintain normal body functions."
"It was not until 10,000 years ago that the glaciers changed and connected the Central Kingdom, Ireland and the European continent, forming a land bridge, and species migration occurred. Only after that did some migrate to the Central Kingdom."
"But the time was short and there was not much time left. When the glacier melted, there was a sea in between."
