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  • From: tanya <tanyagarden@gmail.com>
  • To: permaculture <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [permaculture] root-based agriculture
  • Date: Wed, 12 Sep 2012 20:58:33 -0700

Other places to look for them in northern Calif. are local plant sales. I
know Merritt College (Oakland) has been selling several of these, and in
the winter I gave most of my yacon tubers to Ernie from Cabrillo College,
who wanted to feature more perennial food crops at the annual Mother's Day
plant sale there (near Santa Cruz).



On Wed, Sep 12, 2012 at 8:30 PM, loren luyendyk <loren@sborganics.com>wrote:

>
> I am growing oca (Oxalis tuberosa), mashua (Trapeolum tuberosum), yacon
> (Polymnia sonchifolia), and achira (Canna edulis). In our climate (Santa
> Barbara, Ca.), yacon, mashua, and achira thrive, with irrigation. Oca not
> so much- it grows but doesn't make consistent large tubers. Oca does
> really well in NZ though, where they call it NZ Yam. I think it needs more
> rain and richer soils.
>
> Of those, yacon is my favorite by far. Eaten raw it tastes like a cross
> between an asian pear and cucumber, or a really sweet juicy jicama. Mashua
> is my next favorite of the bunch, cooked it is kind of like a sweet soft
> radish. Oca is pretty bland but palatable. Achira is not the tastiest,
> the starchiest root in the world I hear. They all have medicinal and/or
> ethnobotanical uses.
>
> As far as I know these all handle a little frost, and grow well in
> summer-rain temperate areas. I planted some Canna achira in the high
> desert (18-110 deg F swings yearly) and it is handling the heat and the
> cold quite well.
>
> I am willing to sell a few yacon and achira tubers if shipped within Ca.
> They go dormant around December-January. Contact me off-list if you are
> interested. Occidental Arts and Ecology Center in Sebastopol Ca sells
> mashua.
>
>




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