I grow seal kale. Its a favorite of mine. Beautiful plant and quite a tasty vegetable too. Man is it tough. Dont coddle it. Flea beatles and the like don’t bother it in the least.
If you’re growing for blanched shoots, as was traditionally done, grow them in rich soil and give them a shot of fertility as early as you can. I use doubled up 6 gallon buckets- theyre taller than regular buckets. Youre not in the states, so take that for what its worth. You really need to exclude as much light as possible to get the long tender petioles sans leaves. Another overlooked vegetable is the “broccolis” before the flowers open. Theyre tender and sweet and can even be eaten raw (dont try that with the petioles). When the flowers open, they exude the most wonderful honey smell in the whole garden for days. Its a great nectary plant too!
Its easy to propagate- almost too easy. Any portion of lateral root will grow a whole plant. It also self sows, though the seeds, which resemble chard seeds somewhat, are a bit tough to germinate.
This seems more like a traditional crop for food security to me, unless the seeds readily replant themselves easily and you can store them where they are planted over winter, like Turnips.
it would be if not for its red headed stepchild “also ran” status. few stateside seem to realize its so tasty, easy to grow, nutritious and productive.
White Acorns contain less tannins. But even red acorns can be leached in water to remove them. Various tribes did so in cold water creeks especially.
Chunk them in and get them out in 3 weeks or so. Ideally you would add bags for regular use . I just use a covered 5 gallon bucket and change the water every 3 days.
It’s nice to see grain amaranth mentioned. It’s one of the ones that was in the process of being domesticated by early Native Americans before they switched over to the already fully-domesticated crops radiating from Mesoamerica. Pretty much everything we associated with Native American agriculture, corn, squash, beans, turkey, were actually domesticated in Mesoamerica first. Native Americans had a bunch of other crops they were growing, but having started later, theirs weren’t as well-domesticated yet, so they quickly abandoned those crops as soon as the stuff from Mesoamerica arrived.
There are some early agricultural sites near me that were excavated and documented. One in particular Im familiar was a sort of pit house or granary that contained seeds of several species. It was apparently before the introduction of maize, and the most abundant crop found was some type of bedstraw. Presumably it was grown as a grain of sorts
Would that have happened to be little barley, Hordeum pusillum? I know that’s one of the ones in the Eastern Agriculture Complex that predated the introduction of Mesoamerican crops.
I dont think so. The site in question, Skitchewaug, is just north of me. I think the excavation was mid woodland period or so. I think the eastern agricultural complex was not as established here as it was south of here a bit. Maize did eventually arrive here and was grown by the Abenaki. Its hard to find details on the spot, but Im fairly certain it was a Galium, ie bedstraw. This is describing another site in the Champlain valley:
To be clear, that doesn’t say they found any evidence of those being grown, just gathered and stored. That being said, that’s step one on the road to domesticated crops.
yeah, I believe thats the case. The dig Im familiar with happened in the 90’s on a floodplain field near the banks of the Connecticut River in Skitchewaug, a long time Indian site in present day Springfield, VT. The meandering of the river’s path through fluvial erosion exposed a pit house that was dated to something like 1000 AD, before the introduction of maize to the region. I don’t believe the role of cultivation vs foraging is very clearly delineated for that time period. If anything, the dig probably added substantially to the relatively small amount of information from which such interpretations might be drawn. I just found it interesting that a Galium appeared to be a staple. The two Im familiar with are Galium mollugo, a forb known for it’s pernicious bully habits in hayfields and pastures and Galium odoratum, a fairly delicate woodland wildflower. Its hard to imagine subsisting on something of the sort. Comparatively, maize is obviously a powerhouse
of course, the floodplain site would strongly suggest agricultural activities, and presumably the western Abenaki transitioned to growing corn relatively seamlessly following its introduction. Other groups who foraged and hunted more exclusively never managed to adopt maize and other mesoamerica. crops. Given that there is a documented Indian presence in the area going back to circa 11,000 BP, its pretty likely that a lot of those developments happened well before the introduction of maize.
yeah, the name comes from French : dent de lion, ie lion’s tooth. I think it was one of the first wave of post-Columbian invaders. I believe it was broad leaved plantain, another early arriver, that was famously given the appellation “white man’s foot” in the early colonial period.
You can… With a major caveat that I would be absolutely sure they are safe to eat. As I understand it, M. alba is actually like 7 very close species, and then you have rubra, nigra, and others, and all of them might have different chemicals (good or bad) in the leaves.
"In parts of Asia, mulberry leaves have been used for tea, wine, bean curd, and noodles.
In traditional Chinese medicine, mulberry leaves are used to treat diabetes (“Xiao-ke”) as well as cough, sore throats, fever, and bronchitis.
Preparations from white mulberry leaves are sold as dietary supplements for controlling weight and blood glucose.
While beyond the scope of this fact sheet, preliminary research suggests that morusin, a compound in the bark of white mulberry, may have antioxidant, antitumor, anti-inflammatory, anti-allergic, and neuroprotective activity. However, further study is needed to determine its efficacy. "
Based on what I’ve read, it seems like milkweed, mulberry, fig, and others are very much palatable as either a meal or tea if cooked in some way.
The Forest Garden podcast discusses mulberry leaf edibility in a few episodes. I’m still in the research phase for all the seedlings in my yard but may include some in a soup to trial this year.
