Healthy soil and sustainable growing

[anna Lorrai <cactusandquail@yahoo.com>]

I learned a year ago that palo verde seed from the trees is edible.  While 
green they taste like green peas.  When they are dried I put them in the 
coffee grinder and make flour.  They make a very tasty pancake that is much 
like buckwheat.  The seeds are said to be high in protein.  I love the tree, 
it's strong green trunks, it's beautiful yellow flowers and the leaves are 
like pine needles creating a nice mulch.  Anna

--- On Mon, 5/31/10, Tradingpost <tradingpost@lobo.net> wrote:

> From: Tradingpost <tradingpost@lobo.net>
> Subject: Re: [Livingontheland] Gardening with Native foods and perenials/ 
> Re: Resilient gardening
> To: livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org
> Date: Monday, May 31, 2010, 9:12 PM
> 
> Impressive work. That germplasm repository is unfamiliar to
> me. But that list is amazing, and those food sources could
> become major contributors to local food security. And
> obviously, local food security can't depend on big ag
> monoculture, the short list of common field crops. Thing is,
> what's available from the list and what's practical to grow
> will vary enormously from place to place, and there are so
> many listed that some should be available in every area.
> 
> I'm not knowledgeable about most and don't have time to get
> into this big time, with market growing season on top of me.
> But it's an angle on local food security that needs a lot of
> work.  We have some Serviceberry we call Juneberry that
> refuses to die from neglect, and we've tried gooseberry
> before and should again. I've heard mesquite pod flour
> sustained the first spanish invaders but who's using it
> today?
> 
> We could use a lot more info on unusual food plants of all
> types from some of you.
> 
> paul tradingpost@lobo.net
> 
> 
> *********** REPLY SEPARATOR  ***********
> 
> On 5/31/2010 at 6:12 PM Pego Rice wrote:
> 
> >Do you know your local Native American and/or Foraging
> community?
> > 
> >Really, In the US, we have a dearth of native fruit and
> veg info just
> >because of this.  Can't kill off or diss the natives
> and still expect to
> >have their broad base of indigenous plant knowledge
> available.
> > 
> >Quite aside from our familiar line-up of berries and
> the obvious veggies,
> >there are a number of American plants that are
> excellent food and herbal
> >plants.  I've a list of plants (to get or that I
> have) that are more
> >suited to home gardens and the assortment that we live
> with between
> >Bog gardens and Xeriscapes, forests to deserts.
> (sometimes in the same
> >yard) that commercial growers seldom concern
> themselves with.   My list
> >is somewhat limited and southern/coastal in  it's
> inclination. 
> > 
> >I've picked up a copy of "North American Ethnobotany"
> by Moerman, which is
> >a pretty good source of making your own list.  There
> are also various
> >lists for "Under-exploited" plants of north (and south)
> America that can
> >be looked over.  I rather think the Moerman book and
> many regional
> >foraging books are actually more useful, but several
> plants like Apios
> >Americana have been picked up by colleges for
> "Improvement" to become
> >field crops.  Many of these turned out to not be
> suited to open field
> >production (needing shade or wet feet or the like) or
> didn't get enough of
> >a "sell" to take off as a crop and now only reside in
> the various
> >germplasm fields like that in Corvallis, which
> fortunately is willing to
> >share; http://www.ars.usda.gov/main/site_main.htm?modecode=53-58-15-00 or
> >in rare nurseries.
> > 
> >http://spore.cta.int/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=548
> >http://www.underutilized-species.org/species/species.asp
> > 
> >　
> >Achiote (Bixa orellana)
> >Agave.
> >Allspice (Pimenta dioica)
> >Amaranth
> >American Oil Palm (Elaeis oleifera)
> >American spikenard/Indian Root (Aralia racemosa)
> >Anona (Annona spp.)
> >Birch
> >Black sapote (Diospyros digyna)
> >Chalahuite (Inga jinicuil)
> >Chayote (Sechium edu)
> >Chokeberries (Aronia)
> >Dragon fruit
> >Elderberry (Sambucus canadensis)
> >Epazote
> >Garlic Vine (Mansoa alliacea)
> >Gooseberry (Ribes aureum or Ribes echinellum)
> >Guava (Psidium guajava)
> >Guayule, Afinador (Parthenium argentatum)
> >Indian Potato/Hopniss (Apios americana)
> >Indian Potato/Wapato (Sagittaria Latifolia)
> >Lambsquarters/Southern Huauzontle, (Chenopodium
> berlandieri)
> >Lomatum (Bisquit root)
> >Mamey sapote (Pouteria sapota)
> >Maracuya (Passiflora spp)
> >Mayhaw (Crataegus opaca or Crataegus aestivalis)
> >Mesquite, Honey (Prosopis glandulosa) Actuyally all,
> but this one's the
> >best
> >Mexican/Cuban oregano
> >Oak/Acorn
> >Oxalis
> >Pawpaw, Smallflower/Dwarf (Asimina parviflora)
> >Peach Palm (Bactris gasipaes)
> >Persimmon
> >Quelite (Amaranthus palmeri)
> >Root Beer Plant/Hoja santa (Piper auritum)
> >Rubris (Blaberry boysenberry Raspberry ect.)
> >Rumex
> >salal (Gaultheria shallon)
> >salmonberries (Rubus spectabilis)
> >Sand cherry (Prunus pumila)
> >Serviceberry (Amelanchier arborea)
> >Smilax (greenbriar, it grows in deep shade and is
> scratchy snf takes up
> >too but the spring sprouts are the Best thing, even
> better than asparagus)
> >Stellaria
> >Squaw-berry/Twinberry (Mitchella repens)
> >Sugar-apple/Sweetsop(Annona squamosa)
> >Tamarind (Tamarindus indica)
> >Tilia (all varieties, Southern Basswood, linden ect.)
> >Trandesca
> >Typha latifolia, Cattail
> >Varegated Canna (orange flowers, yellow Stripes
> >Vanilla (Vanilla sp.)
> >Yucca Baccata
> >Yacon (Smallanthus sonchifolius)
> >Wild Cherry (Prunus serotina)
> >Winecup
> >White Cinnamon, (Canella alba)
> >Zapote (Pouteria sapota)
> >　
> >Yours, Pego
> 
> 
> 
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