Subject: Re: permaculture / native plants

From: [email-masked]
Date: Sun, 21 Mar 1999 10:43:11 EST

Equating permaculture with gardening is like equating a human with his/her
stomach.  Permaculture integrates gardening with much more.  The range of
gardening styles and approaches that fit within permaculture is almost the
complete range of gardening styles and approaches.

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. [email-masked]  

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

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From: [email-masked]
Date: Mon, 22 Mar 1999 09:58:32 EST

In a message dated 3/21/99 11:33:09 PM, [email-masked] wrote:

<<thanks, miekal .... do you have an address where i can send away for that
catalog? because i'd like to educate myself in that regard ... i wonder if
native plants are used more whether a fully edible system is viable ... here
in california the bunchgrasses were used to make pinole, which is more
nutritious than annual grains ...

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.