From Permacltur@aol.com Tue Mar 23 23:12:59 1999 Date: Mon, 22 Mar 1999 09:58:32 EST From: Permacltur@aol.com To: Unleesh@aol.com, owner-permaculture@envirolink.org, dtv@mwt.net, permaculture@envirolink.org Subject: Re: permaculture / native plants In a message dated 3/21/99 11:33:09 PM, Unleesh@aol.com wrote: <> You will have a very interesting diet! Even the three sisters are not from the USA part of North America. You might find a few wild bean types and some powerful bird chiles in the CA hot deserts, though to my knowledge these occur further east. When you subtract all the crops and semi-domesticated plants that the Native Americans introduced (and of course after them the Spanish), you will have no trouble maitaing a slim profile! Remember the ecosystems that supplemented the exotics grown by the natives do not exist as such any more and that a lot of the basic food, such as fish, is now badly contaminated. It is a worthy idea and one worth pursuing, to try to reconstruct and indigenous diet, but you need to be realistic about the fact that the Native Peoples grew exotics just like everybody else when these were tastier, more productive and/or more reliable. The interesting part of their food system, or one interesting part anyway, is that they also knew everything good to eat in the environment. But their knowledge was incomplete, too. For example, closer to where I live, Cherokees age poke weed, knowing at what stage it was non toxic if properly prepared. What they didn't know is that it is phenomenally carcinogenic, as the reaction there is so delayed as to obscure cause and effect. In point of fact, I know a herbal toxicologist who studied the carcenogenic effects of poke who now will not uproot it without wearing gloves! Moreover, almost all plants are toxic to some extent. Wild plants are, tpically, more toxic than domestic counterparts that have been bred to be edible. Your liver will detoxify some substances easily and others in small quantities with little OBSERVABLE effect. Others it cannot handle. It turns out that except for one or two very uncommon tropical species, the liver of a rabbit cannot detoxify anything that your liver cannot detoxify (discounting variability among individuals which can be large for several reasons.) So, if in doubt, feed it to a rabbit first. If the rabbit eats the stuff repeatedly, it is not toxic. Most animals, having any negative reaction to a food, willthereafter avoid it. Since domestic rabbits are as exotic to California as humans, from the evolutionary viewpoint, they have had no opportunity to develop resistance to the specific plants there, except where there are very similar species (chemically) growing in North Africa (which may be where domestic rabbits come from). Also, note that it is one thing to survive long enough to reproduce and maintain a culture, despite a toxin load, and another to have a low toxin diet. Now these cautions are from someone who eats a lot of wild stuff, plant and animal, and enjoys it. Just do the experiment knowing the risks and precautions that can minimize the risks. For Mother Earth, Dan Hemenway, Yankee Permaculture Publications (since 1982), Elfin Permaculture workshops, lectures, Permaculture Design Courses, consulting and permaculture designs (since 1981), and annual correspondence courses via email. Copyright, 1998, Dan & Cynthia Hemenway, P.O. Box 52, Sparr FL 32192 USA Internships. YankeePerm@aol.com We don't have time to rush. A list by topic of all Yankee Permaculture titles may be found at http://csf.colorado.edu/perma/ypc_catalog.html Elfin Permaculture programs are listed at the Eastern Permaculture Teachers assn home page: http://home.ptd.net/~artrod/epta/eptahmp.html