M Ljin

I notice that if I go to the store most tools I see for sale, are covered in some kind of plasticky coating that flakes off (the handle and/or the tool itself!)...lovely...or the handle is made of some kind of artificial, icky material--and usually has a cancer warning that makes no attempts to hedge or mollify the stated risk. Now, there are some tools that are just a stick from the forest and a piece of metal on the end. That is lovely. But I don't see these for sale around these days. Is there anywhere you look for gick free tools for gardening, woodworking and so on?

Mac Johnson wrote:I'd agree with epigenetics playing a large part.  I also don't think limiting myself to the foods my ancestors ate will have the greatest effect.  Variety and novel chemical structures can be important aspects of your diet and how the body works.  Any natural environment is going to have similar nutrient cycles with different organisms taking advantage causing the variety we see today.  Who's to say the nettles and potatoes aren't largely similar in makeup to the greens and tubers your ancestors ate.  My homestead features a lot of plants that are native to the environment and not to Scandinavia or Ireland.  Maybe this is just a complicated rephrasing of "Eat Whole Foods", or "Eat the Rainbow".  I'm hoping it can find more grounding in science, since that is how I developed it in the first place.  At the very least, the "Carnivore Diet" that has been popular lately is likely to help a very small amount of people.  You'll get tons of protein, but like me, you may also end up with gout.

That makes sense--so it's more "my ancestors ate like this" rather than these specific plants?

Anyway my ancient ancestors almost certainly ate plenty of mushrooms!

That's very interesting. Oddly, while I don't know of any Native American ancestors for me, but all my best food plants that go best with my digestion are New World plants: potatoes, sunflower seeds, nettles, Phaseolus beans, acorns, etc. Some exceptions are present, especially, chickory, also parsnip, watercress... what I find most nourishing though are those new world native plants however, and especially when they come from the forests (I grew up eating lots of wild mushrooms and vegetables from the deep woods, and to this day still do!) I also have a preference for dairy which might have something to do with my (likely cattle raising) ancestors. I love cow pastures too, so maybe my ancestors were essentially nomadic cowherds? I can't eat grains for the most part (it's not the carbs) for reasons I haven't figured out. But small amounts seem okay, especially corn.

Anyway I think that epigenetics probably had a major role in why I eat what I eat--maybe there are epigenetic switches that might allow us to adapt to certain food plants that we wouldn't have been able to do well with otherwise, and not others.

Oh! That is it precisely--like pea pods. So perhaps I need not worry so much about it.

I have read something about a burning or biting taste indicating toxicity, and all but one times when I've tried poke I have tasted that despite all the preparation--it made me unwilling to try more unfortunately! Do you taste that too? Is there a possibility it's different by region?

Judith Browning wrote:One of the qualities that you can develop, particularly in your older years, is a sense of great compassion for yourself.
When you visit the wounds within the temple of memory, you should not blame yourself for making bad mistakes that you greatly regret.
Sometimes you have grown unexpectedly through these mistakes.
Frequently, in a journey of the soul, the most precious moments are the mistakes.
They have brought you to a place that you would otherwise have always avoided.
You should bring a compassionate mindfulness to your mistakes and wounds.

John O'Donohue

That's true--but maybe it's even better to start on self compassion as soon as possible?

M Ljin wrote:...when you gather an armful of twigs on every walk to strip and dry their bark for medicine, and take the twigs to dry and use later for basketry.

and then, just as you are wondering why you collect so much honeysuckle bark, you start feeling nasty and decide to make yourself a strong cup of tea, and find that it took a sixth of the big jar you had collected. Time to gather more(?)

Speaking of edibility tests and plants that end in "-sandra", do you know much about pachysandra or have written about it, either the Appalachian or Japanese sort?

They are a plant I have done an edibility test on too. They taste horrible if you chow down on them like I do--they might make a good culinary herb in smaller amounts! A bitter aromatic sort of taste... but I have so far found them entirely benign and they helped me with some health issues I have had. Scientifically speaking there is evidence for their use in cancer treatments too. But for the most part I have seen very little written on their uses.

I don't like the idea of making stock, unless it comes from food that is too tough to otherwise eat (onion peels, bones, etc.) or something such as bean water or whey (though the latter I haven't tried but should!) that is used for cooking.

When I make soup, I start with water and vegetables, add salt and spices, and eat it with legumes or seeds, and that is enough to make it delicious. If it's a lighter soup of green vegetables, I use miso, in which the whole, semi-liquefied legume is eaten.

Hmm... is fermented, pureed chicken something people do?...