Killerwhale KillerPix Contest Entry #2: Camas Flowers

One of the staple foods most heavily relied upon by the tribes who lived in this area was camas. There are two plants that look VERY much alike, the purplish-blue camas and the white death camas. Yes, kills you dead and looks like the plant that is your bread and butter. Tell me God does not love irony... To further complicate the issue, you want to harvest camas in the fall, when the blooms are LONG gone leaving you nothing but the leaves of the two plants for identification. Of course they grow together, mixed in the same fields. The tribes would go out in the spring and mark every camas plant so they knew what was what at harvest time. While this sounds very tedious, remember they did not have to rototill, plant, weed, water... they just gathered so spending a little time marking what you wanted to gather was probably a pleasant task. They would be out there this time of year, on these lovely spring days walking through a sea of these blossoms. Not really such a terrible chore.

Camas

All photos taken this week with Fuji FinePix S8300 near Council, Idaho

These flowers will cover entire valleys in some areas, and they tend to follow creek beds and such often making it look almost like there is a pond or little stream in the distance. There are places all over the northwest called "Camas Prairie" that are more impressive than this, but you can get an idea of what a stunning show the camas puts on.

Not A Creek, Not A Mirage - Camas!

If you think you want to try foraging some of this, this is what the leaves look like. If you google "death camas leaves" you will find they look just the same so... this is NOT one to play around with. However, if you are serious about prepping and you live in northwestern United States, it is a plant worth learning about before you need it.

The Leaves Are Not Distinctive

Let me close this post by solving an ages old philosophical riddle, posed by William Shakespeare. You know the one, "...that is the question: Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,"

Obviously, Two Bee.

This last photo is being entered in the new derangedphotography contest so if you like photography, do check that link out!

That top photo is my second entry into the Killerpix contest hosted by @Killerwhale. Had to nearly lay down to get that angle, but I wanted the flower against the sky and am pretty pleased with the result. I hope you liked it too!

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