Euell Gibbons was a member of my family by marriage, so I thought I would see what has been compiled on this survivalist and naturalist on the web. Imagine my surprise when I found misinformation and a total lack of information of over half his life, even on Wikipedia! People over 30 usually know him only for his Post Grape Nuts Commercial line, “Ever eat a pine tree? Many parts are edible.” But beyond that, not a lot is known about him. You can view the video HERE.
I have compiled a list of places I visited in my search at the end of my article.
In 1968 my husband and two young boys and I spent a glorious week with Euell at my cousin’s house about one mile outside of Silver City, NM. Both of my boys were completely enamored with 6’7″ Euell. He was a jouster, loved children, and knew all sorts of “nature tricks” which he taught my boys. They learned how to get water out of dry, cracked desert land with a small piece of plastic and a penny, and how to survive on the water they learned to get out of any cactus. They thought Euell was a magician! They learned to eat dandelions with vinaigrette dressing, though this was not one of their favorite “tricks”.
Most of all, they loved Euell for the practical jokes he pulled on them and three of his four grandchildren: Colleen, Kelly, and Mike during that visit. Euell was a kid at heart, and a very passionate man about every phase of life.
Euell came from a family who lived in great poverty. Luckily, his mom knew about surviving with non-conventional plants found in the wild. By the age of 11, Euell’s days were spent with a knapsack on his back, foraging for “wild foods”, hunting, trapping and bringing his bounty back to his mom who had some great recipes. Of course, this meant Euell was not able to attend school like the other kids. But what he lacked in formal education (until he eventually earned a degree at the University of Hawaii), he more than compensated for with practical knowledge as he traveled all over the country. Euell was an extremely intelligent man!
Euell held a number of arbitrary occupations in the course of his life. He was at different times a hobo, a cowboy, a beachcomber, a surveyor, a boat builder, a newspaperman, a ghost writer for Organic Gardening and Catholic Digest, the first man to write two articles for National Geographic, a schoolteacher, a farmer, an educator, an author, and a spokesperson for Post Grape Nuts cereal. But he is best known for being the man who taught America to forage for food in the wild.
During the thirties, Euell was passionately involved with causes, the greatest being the field workers who were being victimized by the land owners. His friend, John Steinbeck, was constantly asking Euell questions about the labor unions he was working to start, the Communist movement Euell had joined because he thought they were fighting for the poor man, and eventually (1939) Steinbeck’s book “The Grapes of Wrath” was published. Euell’s life and experiences were a major part of this Pulitzer Prize winning novel.
Once Euell did his research on Russian Communism, he left the party. But the fact that he ever joined caused questioning for his sons when they tried to enlist in the armed services.
Next – Part II, the most exciting part of Euell’s life
(c) 2010 April Lorier
Reference:
- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euell_Gibbons /Stalking-Wild-Asparagus-Euell-Gibbons/dp/0911469036 Nature-Community/1972-05-01
- hubpages.com/hub/At-Euell-And-Fredas-Wild-Party / www.motherearthnews.com/
- www.wildfoodadventures.com / euellgibbons.html www.amazon.com /The-Plowboy-Interview-Euell-Gibbons.aspx
