Posted on 09/28/2012 3:11:57 PM PDT by Kartographer
When I was younger & poor (instead of older & poor) we used to camp out on a water-thin budget: An old blanket, can of beans and military surplus rucksack.
When cattails were rampant we would harvest them, leaving some stem on them - some long, some short. Then we dried them in the sun.
We looked for skinny cattails, maybe as thick as a finger or thumb.
They were used to keep nmosquitos away. Once they are dried you can light them and they will slowly burn down like a stick of incense, smoking away the whole time - sort of like commercial mosquito coils.
We would light them and stick them in the ground all around where we were sitting or sleeping.
Also -
We would flake off dried cattail fluff to use as a tobacco substitute. We would get thick plain paper drinking straws, pack them full of dried cattail fluff, cut them to the length of a cigarette and smoke them down.
For canning jars see my post #78.
How cool is that about cattails! ...and what wonderful memories! Thanks for telling us!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.