Tag: utah

Posted on

Wild Edibles in Utah Training

Utah is abundant with wild edible plants, often referred to as weeds in our yard or garden and also more nutritional than what we have in the grocery store. Many of the wild edibles available to us are not native but were brought here by pioneers from Europe and the mediterranean. Of course many of the wild edibles are native to the area as well. The Sego Lily was used by natives for centuries as a staple food and helped save the lives of the pioneers when they came to this state starving in 1848 and 1849. The bulbs they harvested were plentiful and generally larger than we see today. This is likely because the native peoples harvested the plants often and that action helped the plants continue to produce just are caring for our gardens helps our vegetables grow. Now that we leave the native plants alone and don’t know how to use them they often show very little fruit.

Proper foraging is something that we must understand in order to continue to use these plants wisely and for us and the plants to benefit. Learning about these wild edibles and how and when to harvest them will make us better stewards of the land around us and will also prepare us for tough times or simply allow us to live more healthy now. You would be surprised how many things are readily available to us in the wilderness of Utah, even in the desert. Some of the great spring edibles include, Mariposa lily, Yellow bells, Wild onion, Storksbill, Dune Evening primrose, Indian potato, Curly dock, Blue mustard and Wild spinach often known as Lamb’s quarter.

Come learn with Mike Wood from WildUtahEdibles.com and supplement your diet. Learn how to use the plants that grow easily around you and learn what weeds you can throw in your salad. You will be amazed and thrilled by the many edible and indeed delicious plants there are around you.

Our next wild edibles tour is April 26th at 12:00 noon. Exact location and details will be made available through our facebook page closer to the actual date but this tour will be in the Utah desert either in Saratoga Springs or in Eagle Mountain. Bring your friends and bring the family. This is an event you don’t want to miss.

Mike Wood
www.WildUtahEdibles.com
https://www.facebook.com/wildutahedibles

Posted on

The End of the Deseret Chemical Weapons Storage

For a long time, the most dangerous thing that could happen after an earthquake in Utah was the release of chemicals stored at the Deseret Chemical Weapons Depot. Located just South of Tooele this location was the main storage location for several types of the US Army’s chemical warfare arsenal. While stored as securely as possible, the possibility of some form of leakage existed, especially if a disaster such as a large earthquake were to occur.

According to one report, over its lifetime the Deseret Chemical Depot has destroyed 1.3 million munitions and 13,617 tons of chemical agent. Today (the 18th of January, 2012) the final piece of ordinance (mustard gas shells) will be fed into the incinerator. On Saturday, the final storage tanks (contents already destroyed) of Lewisite will be destroyed as well.

Living just downwind from this location, I can say I’m very happy that this is gone.

Posted on

How Prepared is the Average Latter-day Saint Ward?

It has become cliché for people to suggest that their preparedness efforts consist of a gun and ammo, so that in the event of an emergency they can forcefully demand that their Mormon neighbors give up some of their food storage. But do Mormons store as much food as people think they do? Do we all have a year supply of wheat, beans, rice, and freeze dried snacks?

A few weeks ago, I was called by my Bishop (pastor) to be the new emergency preparedness coordinator for our ward (congregation). In order to better serve those in the ward and help them prepare, I thought it important to begin my efforts with a survey to gauge where our ward stood. I had a fairly good idea due to previous surveys conducted over the past couple of years in our community (see here and here), but wanted a bit more detail, and with the high turnover in our ward, needed updated information.

Continue reading “How Prepared is the Average Latter-day Saint Ward?”

Posted on

Feeling the Shakes? Here’s a Brief Earthquake Review

In the past few days, there have been a few earthquakes just west of Lehi. As this page shows, we’ve had three small earthquakes (2.5-2.8) in the past three days. Events such as these provide us a great reminder of the need to be prepared. If the earthquake were much larger, would you know what to do? What immediate action should you take?

The following is some information which may prove useful for your review, in preparing for a future earthquake that affects us at a substantial level.

First, as a summary of the situation here in Utah living along the Wasatch Fault, this 10 minute video by the Utah Geological Survey is a great starting point.

One question you might have is whether this succession of small earthquakes is indicative of a larger one in the near future. Here’s one answer on that:

Continue reading “Feeling the Shakes? Here’s a Brief Earthquake Review”