Chapter 143 - 143. Wild Food

"Yes, let's go find something to eat!" Laura snapped out of her awkwardness which she was lucky enough only Jackson had noticed.

"I could use some food too. I feel like my legs will be jelly tomorrow if I don't eat some protein." Sammy knew the benefits of protein and proper diet to repair the muscles she worked. "We also need fruits for electrolytes, I didn't take nutrition class for nothing!"

"You're in nutrition class? You can help me then!" Laura was caught by this since she was constantly thinking about her nutrition.

"I don't really know that much…" Sammy tried to avoid it since she wasn't a fan of schoolwork on this kind of trip, but she wasn't going to win against Laura.

"Then we should find snacks! Actually, Jackson, do you want to hunt for some edible plants around here? We can look for them while we head towards the camp store." Asher had the brilliant idea to keep up some new learning while on their move for food. He also couldn't get campfire cookies out of his mind.

"You really want to know? There are plenty of wild raspberries and even a blueberry bush over there!" Jackson was ecstatic. He hadn't expected them to actually want to know about the edible wild plants.

"Did you say blueberries? I love blueberries!" Sammy jumped forward and became much more vigilant. "I didn't know they grew on bushes. I thought they were a tree."

"Yeah, they are a bush. They get fairly large but not quite the size of a tree. They can bear a lot of fruit in a season, a very worthwhile bush to grow in your yard if you can take care of it." Jackson was glad to share the knowledge.

"Do you think it will grow well back home? Our yard is really dry, but not sunny." Sammy was looking very hopeful.

"What do you mean dry? We have a small stream that cuts through our backyards. And the yard is shady." Louis chimes in to correct Sammy who was too excited to give accurate information.

"That sounds ideal. Strong sun is bad and they will need the water. So they could grow like a weed." Jackson went with what Louis had said knowing that someone excited could get a little off.

"The real question is how do I know that this bush here with blue berries and this bush here with blue berries are the same or if they are different?" Art had found two similar bushes with similar sized berries. The problem he had found was that the two bushes were nearly the same.

"Well, that's easy. On the top of an edible blueberry, there is a star shape. On these bird berries there isn't. Instead they have a small seed inside. Just check by looking or cutting it in half. Just remember, the bird berries will wreck your stomach." They all stepped farther back from the bush just in case.

Jackson was different though, he started to pick the blueberries and even pulled out a little bag from his back pocket. "Next we should dig for some wild root vegetables. They are great for soups. No mushrooms though, the ones that grow here are poisonous."

The group again stepped back, none of them had grasped the fact that there were so many dangers in wild foods. "Maybe we should avoid picking things without having Jackson check them first." Jane chimed in with a safety tip that they all readily agreed to.

They noticed that Laura had been pretty quiet lately and turned to look for her but found nothing. "Well, Laura is gone again-"

"Nope, just went to get some snacks. I eat free remember? If I don't eat I'm going in to shock and then no more Laura." Laura had shown up right behind Asher faster than he could finish his sentence. She had been so quiet while they started to walk that no one had noticed her slip away. Her sudden return was enough to shock them a little.

"Are those chocolate covered pretzels? They have them around here?" The first one to lock on to what she was snacking on was Louis. These were his favorite.

"Yeah, they are in the camp store. But they cost like seven points, that's crazy. But fruit cups cost half a point, so I guess they want campers to eat healthy. But I need the calories to burn. Here, catch." She pulled a second bag from under her arm and tossed them to him. Louis nearly jumped with happiness. The rest of the group just looked around for theirs but didn't see any other bags of chocolate covered pretzels. "What? You said you guys were looking for wild stuff."

With laura's answer, they all felt a little let down, especially seeing Louis moving his bandages to start eating the pretzels. "These are really good." Louis unintentionally rubbed it in while eating. Laura walked right next to him snacking as well. The entire group felt their energy leave them since they were no longer satisfied by the wild blueberries.

"I guess we should just head to the camp store directly then?" Jackson saw this but couldn't blame the others for feeling this way.

"Yeah sure, The three of us didn't check it out, well, the two of us didn't." Asher and Jackson led the way to the cabin store.

When it came in to view there was a much larger change than they had expected. The entire camp store had come to life. There were items along the outer rails displayed along with multiple staff members rushing about. Many campers were trying to bargain from their stuff back or for items they thought they needed.

"It's a lot more fun now right?" Laura stood next to them and took in the sight even though she had already seen it.

The entire group proceeded forward trying to figure out what they were going to do. There were just too many options for them to chose from. They couldn't possibly use their points on everything. "Have you guys seen how much it costs for a sleeping bag?"