R Ranson wrote:Most cowpeas, at least from my readings and trials, are daylight sensitive... Which basically means that my summer days are too long for them to flower/pollinate/set seed. By the time our days are short enough for the plants, we are too near our frost.
There is a cow pea that grows well in Oregon and Washington state that I hope to try one day. Carol Deppe sells a Fast Lady Northern Southern Pea that is a cowpea that I think will grow well in BC. I haven't tried it yet. But if these yard long peas (which are also daylight sensitive from my attempts to grow them) are related to cow peas... it might make for a potential breeding project.
Best luck: satisfaction
Greatest curse, greed
Tyler Ludens wrote:Nothing I've grown called "drought resistant" has survived the summer for me even with irrigation except in my buried wood garden. I couldn't irrigate enough in the summer even to keep so-called "drought resistant" crops alive. The most drought resistant plants I grow are those which can go dormant in the summer. Ones I can think of right now are Canada onion (our large native onion), perennial leek (aka elephant garlic), asparagus (not a staple), artichoke (not a staple), cardoon (also not a staple). I'm probably forgetting some...
Idle dreamer
Tyler Ludens wrote:Our native Prickly Pear cactus will sometimes die in drought. The non-Opuntia cacti which survive do so by shrinking down below the surface of the ground. Our native "melon" Cucurbita foetidissima bears fruits which contain very little water (and are pretty darn tiny)...
I'm not sure exactly how to implement the cactus-and-melon strategy in trying to grow food...Or are you saying the cactus and melons themselves are the food? (Sorry, just having trouble understanding the exact idea here)
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Staple_food wrote:A staple food, sometimes simply referred to as a staple, is a food that is eaten routinely, and in such quantities that it constitutes a dominant portion of a standard diet in a given people, supplying a large fraction of the needs for energy-rich materials and generally a significant proportion of the intake of other nutrients as well. The staple food of a specific society may be eaten as often as every day, or every meal, and most people live on a diet based on just a small number of staples.
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Tristan Vitali wrote:
Perhaps the issue of staple crops is an area where we need another paradigm shift, even within the community?
Idle dreamer
Nicole Alderman wrote:
I'm with you on the potatoes. We harvested less potatoes out of the ground than we planted, which is just plain sad. We probably did a bunch of things wrong, though, and it didn't help that the deer and the ducks loved eating the stalks.
Mick Fisch wrote:
Seriously though, if someone wants to be 'food independant', they really need to figure out how they are going to get their oils. Back home in Alaska we used to harvest hooligan (candle fish) and I know they were an incredible fat source for local native/homesteader populations.
I have a feeling that this is one of those areas where we might be being a little unrealistic. I buy my vegetable oil at the store, so someone somehow is making it in bulk and cheap. How hard is to transfer to a small scale? I looked up one of the sites listed on this string and it was talking about a liter or so of oil for an hours worth of grinding from sunflower seeds. Not sure that's efficient enough for me. My current leaning, in zone 4,5 or 6 is to look at lard production, but I am more than willing to be convinced that there is a better way.
Has anyone out there actually personally harvested a significant amount of oil from something other than olive or animal/fish?
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Dana Jones wrote:Chufa must be a curse word meaning "I am despicable".
Tristan Vitali wrote:Maybe a good candidate for planting in above ground, well maintained tubs where they can't escape.
Idle dreamer
Know thyself; Nothing in excess; Make a pledge and mischief is nigh.
Idle dreamer
Tyler Ludens wrote:I got some of those nutsedge mini-tubers and planted them in a couple different situations. We'll see how they do. I hope they actually taste like almonds.
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Tyler Ludens wrote:What staple crops are you growing these days? ...
I'm currently growing several kinds of roots and tubers; Radish, Turnip, Carrot, Sweet Potato, Jerusalem Artichoke. The other staple crop that did well for me this year is Winter Squash; I seem to have two varieties; Tatume and something I don't know the name of that makes large oblong fruits. These fruits are too large for just the two of us to consume in a short period, so I'll have to figure out how to preserve them, probably by freezing the pulp.
Mel Green wrote:
Nicole - Eating weeds sounds like a very clever method of gaining some easy to grow staples. I never liked the taste of the ones I've tried with my weed forager book, but maybe I should focus on finding ones with tubers to roast. All of the leaves I've tried have been sooo bitter! i will see if I can roast some nuts instead.
Mel Green wrote:
Tristan - The idea of some hot weather areas having staples similar to a paleo diet is quite accurate. We live in Western Australia - where hot desert meets the beach (its mediterranean climate means hot, dry summers and mild, wet winters). The diet of indigenous people here is based on roots / tubers / meats in winter, and berries / fish in summer. Very paleo.
Michi Harper wrote:
My husband is from San Antonio, where a large Latino population has made Mexican candies very popular. He Candies winter squashes (especially pie pumpkins) like one would candy ginger to crystalize it. Chunks of peeled, deseeded squash flesh are boiled in a sugar syrup, then dried. In Mexican candied pumpkin, I have never seen any spices added, but Lee uses pumpkin pie spices. The result is a candied squash that tastes and has a texture like one would imagine a pumpkin pie gumdrop! here are basic instructions: http://www.wikihow.com/Make-Candied-Pumpkin YUM!
Michi in Denton, TX
Tristan Vitali wrote:
Michi Harper wrote:
My husband is from San Antonio, where a large Latino population has made Mexican candies very popular. He Candies winter squashes (especially pie pumpkins) like one would candy ginger to crystalize it. Chunks of peeled, deseeded squash flesh are boiled in a sugar syrup, then dried. In Mexican candied pumpkin, I have never seen any spices added, but Lee uses pumpkin pie spices. The result is a candied squash that tastes and has a texture like one would imagine a pumpkin pie gumdrop! here are basic instructions: http://www.wikihow.com/Make-Candied-Pumpkin YUM!
Michi in Denton, TX
That sounds friggin awesome![]()
Idle dreamer
Joseph Lofthouse wrote:A couple days ago, I finally chopped up the rest of the moschata pumpkins to make worm food. They were harvested 8 months ago in September. It's squash planting time, and I needed to plant the seeds.
I ate two maximas this week as well. Most of them didn't keep as well as the moschatas.
Honorah Mellarick
People, Knowledge and then Stuff
While some things can be and are known, most things are unknown.
Warm humid summer, mild winter
No land at the moment. Disabled partner
Idle dreamer
Or we might never have existed at all. Freaky. So we should cherish everything. Even this tiny ad:
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