Cattails the "Supermarket of the Swamp"

In my first apartment in Carrboro, NC, my mother helped me decorate and furnish it.  I was into cinder block shelves with painted glossy black boards that housed my stereo and speakers. Mom had a very large old antique wine bottle the size of a plastic 5 gallon water container, that she brought me to stand in a lonely corner, with cattails in it. I can't remember if she picked them or I did but I do remember I thought it was soooo coool!

Now I read in The Lost Ways by Claude Davis that in pioneer days 1700s that cattails are one of the most versatile plants, you can eat them, use them for medicinal purposes, fuel for the fire, pickles and pancakes, make baskets, vests, and the tufts of silky hairs were used for bedding pillows and lining baby papoose.  The best part these plants can be found in all four seasons throughout most of the Western Hemisphere worldwide wherever there is a source of water.

Yes pioneer people but did you know these make an excellent yet cool decoration for this hip single girl living out in the world in her first apartment in the 1970s?

Will I try the cattail casserole, rice, or pickles? Maybe...

I believe I will ask Sweetheart to walk the farm with me  this spring and show me edible plants around here, You never know if a famine is coming and it is good to be able to survive off the land.

Thankful to know cattails are edible.