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FREE book on edible tree leaves, coppicing, cultivation, nutrition, by Eric Toensmeier!!!

 
pollinator
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https://perennialagriculture.institute/2023/01/10/trees-with-edible-leaves-pais-latest-publication/

This is crazy awesome, all climates included, step right up and get your free book free thanks to a funder making it available.

There's also an interview with Toensmeier here:
https://news.mongabay.com/2023/02/trees-with-edible-leaves-can-boost-human-nutrition-new-book-free-download/

 
steward
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Thank you for posting this, Joshua! It was easy to download, and I admit I skipped forward to look at the suggestions that might grow in my ecosystem.

I find it very interesting that so much development of tree crops as food is happening outside of North America, and would love to see more happening here. Many of the plants in the book need to be specific species, so it will be interesting to see if I can track any of them down!

I find that "Hardiness zone" is sometimes a little too simple compared to real life. For example, I've got mulberry which I've been told is Morus alba, and it seems to me to be just barely happy growing here. I think our wet winters are hard on it, and we don't get the heat in the summer either. However, this document has encouraged me to try eating some this spring.
 
Joshua Myrvaagnes
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Jay Angler wrote:Thank you for posting this, Joshua! It was easy to download, and I admit I skipped forward to look at the suggestions that might grow in my ecosystem.

I find it very interesting that so much development of tree crops as food is happening outside of North America, and would love to see more happening here. Many of the plants in the book need to be specific species, so it will be interesting to see if I can track any of them down!

I find that "Hardiness zone" is sometimes a little too simple compared to real life. For example, I've got mulberry which I've been told is Morus alba, and it seems to me to be just barely happy growing here. I think our wet winters are hard on it, and we don't get the heat in the summer either. However, this document has encouraged me to try eating some this spring.

Awesome, let us know how it goes.   There are different cultivars of mulberry, maybe onegreenworld has some?
 
pollinator
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Nice. You don't even have to give them your email for the "free" download. This one is actually free.
 
Rusticator
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Thank you, Joshua!!
 
Joshua Myrvaagnes
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And they say money doesn't grow on trees.  Sorry, had to.

Jan White wrote:Nice. You don't even have to give them your email for the "free" download. This one is actually free.

 
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Thank you so much! This is an important, excellent reference and I now want to learn all about what edible trees may be native to my area in Virginia Beach. The book suggests that the species currently cultivated are probably a small number of the species that are edible though not currently cultivated for that purpose. The world could use a whole new breed of "Johnny Appleseeds" planting edible trees and sharing that knowledge with others.

I attended a native plants workshop at a local farm and was introduced to southern prickly ash with bark that will numb your whole mouth if chewed. Quite an exciting experience.
https://www.riskva.com/fff/toothache_082317.html
Unfortunately, these trees are rare and the farm said they were hard to grow, often being taken out by woodpeckers.
 
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Hello, Morus Alba issue
You might like to have a look at the Balkan Ecology Project , Paul Alfrey who contributes here occasionally.
Their piece on Mulberries is comprehehensive. Don’t have the link to hand, sorry but enjoy anyway.
Thank you for the download
Blessings, to us all
Marie-Helene
 
Posts: 196
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Thank you for flagging this, Jay: I would not have considered looking at it because I don't think of coastal PNW as suitable climate for trees with edible leaves. And thank you for the book, Joshua, I look forward to reading it.
 
gardener
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Great resource! I've been eating the leaves of linden, hawthorn, birch and mulberry for a while now, but this opens up a giant basket of science nerd fun! Thank you!

John S
PDX OR
 
pollinator
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Wow! Thank you!

Thanks for the tip on the Balkan project Mulberries too.

I'm tinkering away with Mulberries here in Florida and there are some interesting differences in them.

Tastiest so far, dwarf black mulberries.
Strongest growth, world's best, sometimes called Thai.

Another great Mulberry resource:

https://www.growingmulberry.org

If you live near a city or large town, sometimes someone has gone to the trouble of recording where all the fruit trees are that have public access. what a great way to get free cuttings, seeds etc. and know it's a cultivar that will make it where you are.  Here's one for the city nearest to me, Gainesville FL:

https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?ie=UTF8&oe=UTF8&msa=0&mid=1L3PoGk6BrNWju86DrP8eLH8lCP0&ll=29.653511277390933%2C-82.33233785807724&z=16
 
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Thank you so much. This is a subject I am super interested in. Most foraging books don't cover tree leaves
 
pollinator
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Thank you soooooo much! What an awesome surprise gift!

As an ebook on my phone this book will be available when I’m b actual trees and trying to remember what the book said! Yay!
 
Posts: 21
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[size=12] [/size][quote=m-h kay]Hello, Morus Alba issue
You might like to have a look at the Balkan Ecology Project , Paul Alfrey who contributes here occasionally.
Their piece on Mulberries is comprehehensive. Don’t have the link to hand, sorry but enjoy anyway.
Thank you for the download
Blessings, to us all
Marie-Helene[/quote]

Here is the site:  https://www.balkep.org
 
Posts: 27
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I have read from several sources that American Maple Tree leaves are edible.  On the Wisconsin/Illinois State line most Maples are Silver Maples, a favorite low cost shade tree planted in newer neighborhoods of the late 1950s and beyond.  Unfortunately, I cannot reach any leaves on my fat-tall Maple trees.  Every year I eat fallen silver Maple "Whirley Bird" seeds raw, shortly after falling as well as within weeks of falling, and I dry them and eat them.  They taste good to me when fresh.  I sweep and fill paper bags of them to feed birds, squirrels and rabbits during winter, and let the same eat the seeds that fall into the grass that I don't bother with.   I also set out a song-bird feeder in winter (cardinals, juncos, small  song sparrows, chicadees), the bird feeder becomes essentially a lure for squirrel and rabbits; many that have birthed new babies in my yard that started my interest in keeping rabbits as alternate food source.  
 
pollinator
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Wow! Really free, and they even ask you to share it with others! So I did. I downloaded it for myself and shared the link with my friends.
 
Monica Strazz
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thank you for providing this amazing free valuable resource.  
 
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Thank you. What an amazing resource!
 
Posts: 27
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Thanks for this free book. I'm excited to read through it.

Question: my I share this link on a local permaculture group here in Israel? (ie. outside the permies forum)
Thanks
 
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Awesome!  Can't wait to read it!  I'm ordering trees for my new house and garden in the next couple of weeks.  I'm so excited to have this resource!  Thank you.
 
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here's a related book on a similar topic:  http://www.healingtreesbook.com  The Healing Trees: The Edible and Herbal Qualities of Northeastern Woodland Trees    Thanks for making your book available so easily.
 
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Barbara Kochan wrote:Thank you for flagging this, Jay: I would not have considered looking at it because I don't think of coastal PNW as suitable climate for trees with edible leaves. And thank you for the book, Joshua, I look forward to reading it.



As a life-long, PNW native, I can't say I can think of a single tree I'd like to go and munch a branch of. Haha! Great point!
 
Inge Leonora-den Ouden
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So I downloaded the book. It's great!
While reading it (first my 'colder' climate, then the other climates too) I remembered something. On the Caribbean island Curaçao (where my husband was born and raised; one of the 'Netherland's Antilles', former Dutch colony) there was a cactus, growing in the wild, they used to make a kind of soup. I can understand it isn't in the book, because not 'leaves', but parts of the stems are used.

Maybe there's a thread on 'edible cacti', I don't know. When I have more time I'll go searching for it.
For now I will provide only a little information. The Latin name of the cactus is Cereus repandus (L). The Curaçaoan name is Kadushi (can be spelled Cadushi too). Here's a blog in Dutch about it with a photo: kadushi

 
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Thank you to the funder.  Eric does great work.
 
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Thank you, just what I needed. 💕❤️🙏🏻
 
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Wow, this is great! Thanks so much! With the climate change making conditions a little different all the time and the crazy instability of worldwide food supplies this book could be a huge deal to a lot of people. If anyone knows where I could get some seeds for the bark cloth fig I sure would appreciate it!
 
I agree. Here's the link: https://woodheat.net
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