permaculture

[Skye <skye@tortuga.com>]

Hi All

My cents worth of experiece on the cattail story -

in spring young rhizome shoots are quite eidble - tastes like fresh celery - 
but I'd
check that the water and soil were not contaminated first!!!

in Japan the stems of the flower spikes are traditinally used to make the 
roll-up
blinds common to japan - the spikes are reasonably hard but light and durable

the original people of Australia made some amazingly beautiful baskets from 
the leaves
- but I have never been able to find out how - if they wove the leaves green, 
dried
them first...????

and as mentioned it produces a great deal of mulch - although wading into 2m 
of water
may not be much fun (I have seen it growing in water 2m deep).

Skye
--
Skye -
Rua Horto das Oliveiras,738 Granja Sao Luiz, Campo Grande, Mato Grosso do Sul 
 CEP
79074-070     - Tel 55 67 7850546
http//www.permaculture.freeservers.com
Profesor y diseñador en Permacultura, desarrollo humano, planeación 
participativa y
economía comunitaria.
Director del Instituto de Permacultura de México A.C.
Member of Red de Apoyo a la Permacultura Latinoamericana
2nd  Congreso de Permacultura Latinoamericana ----  Octubre 2001  ---BRASIL