Bonnie, and Eatin Cattails

Good morning to all and welcome back to Riding Out the Recession! We’re glad you came by again so why don’t you grab a chair and…take a load off!

Right off the bat this morning, let me just say that in regards to Deb’s article about my eye glasses and them on the missing in action roster for 3 years…she was exaggerating! I couldn’t have misplaced them for over 30-32 months, tops!

I do have to say though, that when I went to get my shower on the night she was describing, I DID think I had a busted blood vessel in my chest, and man, I was glad to see that it wiped right off!! I still cain’t believe she told that on me though, and….payback’s you know what!!

So look out Deb, you don’t ever know when the urge may strike me…for a little payback!

I am so glad to see my “ole Deb” back in the saddle today, and telling you guys a story, even if it was “stretchin’ the truth a mite!”

Let me ask you guys something this morning? Have any of you read the book, “A Land Remembered?” It was written by Patrick D. Smith, and is just an excellent read! He’s written several more, “Forever Island, Allapatta, The River is Home, and Angel City,” and we have them all.

It’s a story about Florida’s a family’s trials and tribulations from about 1858 through 1968. It is literally almost impossible to put down once you begin reading it, and I have spoken with several others on this subject and all agree! If you get the chance please pick up a copy, I can’t think of anyone who hasn’t liked it!

What brought this up today, was Bonnie from North Carolina, ole “master canner” herself. She sent us some comments on cattails, and we’ll get into that just a little later.

Then we have Sandra, our own “Mississippi Queen,” who devotes much of her time in her knowledge of life, and tips on, well, just about anything! By the way Sandra, Patrick Smith is from Mississippi. She has a tip on a Folk Medicine from Vermont today. We’ll get to that as well.

Then there’s Jane who used to eat swamp cabbage slaw in the Glades while in South Fla., and who is now spending her life in “urban Ga.” We have something for you, too today, Jane! Also…I can send you a Gator mailbox if you’d like a little sumthin’ to keep them ole Ga. bulldogs outta’ your yard! LOL!!

Jane, if you’d look into today’s recipe section, I think it may bring back some pleasant memories for you. Thanks for writing in and asking…and keep on reading, we enjoy having you!

On top of these three, we have EVERYBODY else who contributes and shares with us most all the time too! We love each and every one of you, and thank you all for your participation…we love it!

Well, once again “ole Bonnie” has chunked me a curveball! Eatin cattails…who ever heard of such??

This is the very same Bonnie, who asked me about her Daddy chunkin’ great big wads a fertilizer on water hyacinths, and who evidently thought, I’d misspelled hyacinth, because she stated numerous times in a comment she couldn’t believe she’d misspelled it. I didn’t point this out to her, but she musta’ seen I had spelled it differently than she, so this tells ME right off…she went to checkin’ it out! Luv ya Bonnie!

Hey Bonnie, don’t sweat it, remember I spell muscadines…muskydines! That’s how I say it too!

Not only will she toss ya’ a curveball, but she’s bad about chunking you a fastball, knuckleball, slider, change-up, and even the ole outlawed “spitball!” She can throw ‘em all at you!

An example…this is what she wanted to know about her Daddy, the fertilizer, and the water hyacinths.

“Dub…my Daddy came to our house on the lake one day, as we had a water hyacinth problem. Well, he loaded a big ole PTO-driven fertilize spreader hooked to a tractor on a barge one afternoon, and floated it out into our lake.

Well, once Daddy got the rig in place, he fired that ole tractor off, engaged the PTO and that spreader went to slinging fertilize everywhere! It was coming out so heavy on them dern hyacinths, they was sinking from the sheer weight of that fertilize on em…sinking them mind you!
A couple hours later they started popping back up from where the fertilizer had dissolved in the water and wasn’t weighing them down any longer. But boy, was they purty and green! Anyway, a couple days later they all died out.”

I then asked Bonnie, if she’d like me to find out why the fertilizer killed the hyacinths?

She then said, “Nope, that’s too easy! What I’d like to know from you Dub, is this. After the fertilizer was put into the lake, and the hyacinths died, I’d like you to answer a question about this.”

“Let’s just say Dub, that if we were to drill into the lake bottom, after what Daddy had done, maybe two three hundred feet down, and we were to strike an ole prehistoric otter carcass…what would the temperature and the PH content of the soil be at that point?” Then she just looked at me, smiled and said, “What is it…cat gotcha’ tongue?”

How do you answer something like that? All my years at Dream Lake Elementary, in Apopka, never prepared me for such as this, and shoot, I’d spent over 15 years there alone! On top of this, I spent another 6 years in junior high even furthering my education!

I don’t want to sound vain by any means, and this statement has nothing to do with our discussion today, but I do feel so good inside just sharing with you how proud my Momma a Daddy were in regards to my “toughing it out,” and staying in school, and learning all that I have! I love you Momma and Daddy…I couldn’t have done it without your support!

21 years in elementary, and junior high school! Man, looking back on that accomplishment today…I swear, I don’t know how I did it!

Quickly, to you parents out there. If you guys would like to have any of your own children contact me in regards to this, I just want to say…ya’ll feel free to do so! There’s nothing more important to me than seeing a child get an education, and a good one at that!

I’d be happy to share with them all the values, and benefits of staying in school, persevering through the tough times, and simply being all you can be! They can do it, but some need a little guidance…that’s all! I know…I was one, and maybe now it’s time I give back some too!
If you guys have never listed to Jerry Clower…you need to!

Now we’re fixing to be eating cattails!

Then it dawned on me, Patrick Smith talked about this very thing in Land Remembered,” so, off the shelf it came!

This from Bonnie;

I have eaten my share of cattail sprouts, which a “survival food” guide told me were extremely nutritious. I did not like the “flat bread” he made from pounding the dried brown parts of them, but I LOVED the sprouts. Now, these you have to get by feeling under the water to the roots of the plant. It’s the “bulges” on the roots that you harvest. These eventually poke their heads about water, grow the green blades of the plant, and then the bloom grows. Anyway, you have to get them before they complete their growing process above water. The first ones I ate were just boiled in a little pot, drained, and eaten with a dab of salt. Good stuff. Anyway, it is apparently a nutritious food supply in emergency situations. I later gathered some, sliced them and put them in a skillet with some green beans for a type of stir-fry dish. Maybe it was just the bacon drippings that I insist on using, but again, they were great! Thankfully, I didn’t have to fight a water moccasin for them!

Now, I’ve been picking at Bonnie this morning about these dern cattails as you’ve seen, but I have to tell you…she is 100% correct in her statements.

Many times during Florida’s early history, cattail flour staved off hunger, and probably starvation for many an old pioneer family. As Bonnie says, it is a beneficial emergency food supply.

In the book, “Land Remembered,” Tobias MacIvey talked about eating a ton of cattail flour. But Keith Tiger, a Seminole Indian Tobias had befriended, told of other types of foods, and how they made them. One of which was “sofkee.”

Sofkee, from what I’ve found out was ground corn, and was used the same as grits.

In the book, Keith Tiger explained to Tobias that it was made by soaking crushed corn, in wood ash lye. It was then boiled until it was cooked to their liking.

Now I know many people’s tastes are different, but as Bonnie stated, “I did not like the “flat bread” he made from pounding the dried brown parts of them (this is the flour Tobias spoke off), but I LOVED the sprouts,” as according to the book, the Seminoles liked other types of flour better, one of which was “Koonti.”

But again, in a tough situation, something to fill your belly sure beats going hungry, and a lot of times cattail flour fit the bill!

Now, the sprouts seem to be an entirely different story, and Bonnie seems to REALLY like these. We have a creek, maybe a half mile from the house here, and it runs about 14 miles from Lake Marion, and empties into Lake Hatchineha, which is part of the Kissimmee Chain of Lakes.

You can leave Kissimmee via boat, and travel through West Lake Tohopekaliga, through Lake Cypress, into Lake Hatchineha, into Lake Kissimmee, all the way to Lake Okeechobee. From there, you can travel by boat to either the east or west coast of Florida.

This for your information, and I was just throwing it out there for you, but I find that fact pretty neat in itself!

My point about Lake Marion Creek is that Dale, who works with us, “almost lives” on the creek during his free time. He just loves it, and loves taking his small grandson on his little treks on the creek.

Dale is very knowledgeable in regards to most things involving the creeks and lakes in the area, so I’m going to get him to harvest some of the cattails and try them as Bonnie suggests. We’ll let you know how these turn out…thanks Bonnie!

We just got Dale involved in canning and he’s taken in to it like a champ! He sees the shape of the economy and has started putting extra food up because he too sees the price of food continuing to become more expensive with nearly each trip to the grocery store.

Once more, I’m just dropping a little hint out there to you guys…start picking up a little extra, again, they say gas is going to $5 per gallon. At least consider picking up a few items at least…

Getting back on track here, “Koonti flour,” was made from the roots of the Koonti plant, and if you guys don’t mind, I’m going to continue on with these same two subjects tomorrow, not for long, but I’m really beginning to find some of this very interesting.

So let’s drop off for today in regards to cattails and Koonti flour.