What Is A Survival Plant
So, the zombie plague just broke and you’re headin’ outta dodge. But you don’t have any gear to get you to your bugout location, where you’ve cached all your equipment. You’re a little panicked until you see, just ahead, the survival plant. Your brain starts running through all the uses you’ve read for it. Suddenly you know you’re going to be okay.
What is this hope inspiring plant? I’m glad you asked!
A Plant That Offers Shelter?
You’ve been walking for hours. You know there’s no way to make it to the bugout location tonight. You estimate that you’ve got just enough time to throw a simple shelter together. Luckily, you’ve found enough straight branches to put together a simple lean-to, but you have nothing to lash it together with. Oh, but you do! You remember that the leaves of the survival plant can be scraped, and the fibers that are left can be twisted into strong cordage. You get to work building a shelter that will keep you dry and reflect a little of the heat from your fire.....
Fire! You Don’t Have a Lighter!
And you call yourself a survivalist. Survival plant to the rescue! The dead stalks from the plant are super straight and are excellent for a bow drill set up. And the dead, dry leaves have a low kindling point, so your fire is just a couple blistered palms away.
Shelter and fire from a plant? Yep. And chances are, there’s some growing in your neighborhood.
Rrrrrrriiiip!
Dang it! While you were doing your shelter/fire celebration dance, you ripped your pants! Well, you’ve got a little while before bed time, so you decide to mend them. You pull one leaf from your survival plant and very carefully separate the fibers starting at the end that was attached to the plant, being sure not to separate them all the way to the tip. You break off the very thin, pointed tip of the leaf, making sure to leave a few fibers attached. You can now sew up your pants with your make-shift needle and thread.
The Most Important Meal of the Day
After a good night’s sleep, you wake-up a little hungry. Again you turn to your botanical bestie and pluck off the white petals from it’s blossom. You add them to the pile of wild greens you’ve found around camp and have yourself a tasty morning salad.
You’re kidding me. Can a plant so useful be real?
What’s That Smell?
Ohmuhgosh, it’s you. When you get to the bugout location, there’s almost certainly going to be someone who beat you there. You don’t want to show up smelling like that. Besides, the walk will be much more pleasant if you don’t have to smell yourself. There’s a creek real close. Plain water would be better than nothing, but you can do better than that! You break off a few pieces of the root and crush them. When you mix them with water, they make a fantastic soap/shampoo! It smells a little like a potato, but it’s better than that pizza-corn chip thang you had goin’!
This Has Got To Be A Joke!!
Nope, it’s true. There is a plant, a common plant, that can provide all these things for you.
- Cordage
- Bow Drill and Kindling
- Needle and Thread
- Food
- Soap
Yucca!
Yucca plant grows naturally in a vast area of the Americas. They tend to be more abundant in hot, dry areas, but can be found growing in many suburban yards and gardens. Interestingly, they are commonly found growing in rural graveyards, and when in bloom, are sometimes mistaken for apparitions.
To learn more about how to use yucca, take a look at these posts from other Steemians!
@apollomission has a detailed yucca cordage howto from start to finish.
@haphazard-hstead has an excellent post called Comfort Foods with Yucca Flowers.
This post is a result of an #dolphinschool assignment, day two. To follow along with #dolphinschool, a ten day Steemit course, offered free, by @markrmorrisjr start with Day #1.
