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Post by blueadzuki on Jan 27, 2014 11:57:58 GMT -5
Just to satisfy my mind,raymondo, is this literal or figurative? Given that Thylacines havent' been seen in the wild since 1930 (and if you are talking Mainland Australia, you can add 400-2,000 years onto that) you are either being metaphorical, you are MUCH older than your pic led me to believe, or there are a LOT of cryptozoologists who would LOVE to talk to you.
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Post by steev on Jan 27, 2014 12:19:08 GMT -5
Well, Ray was talking about when he was a kid; when I was a kid, there were tigers prowling the canebrakes along the levee in Stockton; never actually saw one, nor paw-prints, but I could feel them watching me.
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Post by raymondo on Jan 27, 2014 16:03:27 GMT -5
Just to satisfy my mind,raymondo, is this literal or figurative? Given that Thylacines havent' been seen in the wild since 1930 (and if you are talking Mainland Australia, you can add 400-2,000 years onto that) you are either being metaphorical, you are MUCH older than your pic led me to believe, or there are a LOT of cryptozoologists who would LOVE to talk to you. All in the mind of a boy blueadzuki. |
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Post by blueadzuki on Jan 27, 2014 16:17:33 GMT -5
Thanks for clearing that up. I though that was most likely. But you never know; I do know more than one person in Australia who claims to have seen thylacines (heck, I know one who claims to have seen a Thylacaleoand another who said that, as a kid, he saw a mihirung(Genyornis).) I'm not saying I beleive any of them, but I'm willing to keep an open mind
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Post by templeton on Feb 8, 2014 15:32:35 GMT -5
I thought ray was referring to the reptilian tigers, that like to hang out round water. Heard a great doco on the radio last year about an old timer who had seen and heard thylacines in the 1980s. Was quite convincing. And I've been wondering how I can wrangle a week off work later this year to go hunting Geyornis on a camel expedition to the Simpson desert. Well a skeleton at least.
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Post by blueadzuki on Feb 8, 2014 16:37:51 GMT -5
Maybe you'll be REAL lucky and find an intact fossil egg too, you'd be the first. They keep thinking they've found one, and invariably it turns out to be the egg of an elephant bird from Madagascar that wound up on an Australian beach by natural (there's actually a tide that runs from Madagascar to somewhere in New South Wales, and they've proved that an object of elephant bird egg size and hollowness CAN float it. Or artificial (Madagascar was a popular port stop for whalers who were plying the pacific, and elephant bird eggs were popular souveniers even then.)
Not to cast apspersions on Australian gullability, but it sometimes seems to me that practically ALL of the megafauna have at least one person, or native who says they have seen living examples at a recent date. Varanus priscus in the mountains, Diprotodonts in the forests, wonambi in the jungles (and it's there some sort of cryptid that basically sounds like a T. rex? Burrajor, I think's it's called). I've never know how much to believe of it. It seem odd that ALL of them could still be around. On the other hand, there still is a LOT of little to non-explored territory.
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Post by steev on Feb 8, 2014 17:09:44 GMT -5
I won't even speculate on what's living in the back of my fridge.
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Post by templeton on Feb 9, 2014 20:59:26 GMT -5
Blue,
I take heart from the Night Parrot re-discovery, and the Wollemi Pine. But it's hope more than anything else.
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Post by blueadzuki on Feb 9, 2014 21:49:44 GMT -5
I had to look that one up (at first I though you were talking about the New Zealand Night Parrot (i.e. the kakapo) which I wasn't aware was ever lost (critically endangered, but not lost.)
In theory, the Tasmanian Emu isn't actually extinct either. Since it dissapeared by outbreeding (as opposed to actual extinction. So theoretically, selective backbreeding of the emus on Tasmania now could re-create the subspecies (there are presevered skins from which a DNA template could be extracted, to give some idea of what they were looking for gentically/)
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Post by CajunSunshine on Jul 14, 2014 0:24:18 GMT -5
Sweet potatoes...not many people know that the entire plant is edible. I regularly cook with the leaves, a la Caribbean style (Google is rich with recipes and more info). Because it is tasty and very high in vitamins and minerals I use it often as a potherb: chopped and added to stews, soups, gumbos, casseroles, omelets, etc. Sweet potato leaves are mild enough to go well with a wide variety of dishes. Some people prefer to blanch them in boiling hot water for a minute or two then plunging into cold water, before using in a recipe to eliminate the "slippery" feel of the leaves. Sweet potato leaves freezes well especially if you blanch them first, as described here. Sweet potatoes are usually considered a southern-grown plant if grown for their roots. If grown for the leaves, it can be grown indoors as a lush, pretty vine near a window, or outdoors as long as temps don't go below 40 or 50 degrees. Planting them is easy! Google "how to grow sweet potato slips" for more info. Callaloo (a kind of amaranth) A Jamaican delight that grows like a weed just about anywhere... in poor soil, drought or not, sun or shade. As a cooked green, it is highly nutritious in vitamins, minerals and protein. Some varieties of Amaranth look pretty enough to look like an ornamental but are quite edible. Baker's Creek at www.rareseeds.com has the kind known as Green Callaloo. They also have a bunch of other amaranths: www.rareseeds.com/store/vegetables/amaranth/ Johnny's Seeds has the kind known as Red Callaloo in the Caribbean. www.johnnyseeds.com/p-6111-red-leaf-vegetable-amaranth.aspx#Red Leaf Vegetable Amaranth Product ID: 516 Medium green, oval to heart-shaped leaves are overlaid with burgundy red. Comparable to spinach in flavor. Often used in soups. More info: edibleplantproject.org/callaloo/www.examiner.com/article/callaloo-a-wonderful-vegetable-to-grow-during-the-hot-florida-summer en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amaranthus_tricolor en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amaranthus_viridisHere are some ideas what to do with it: chowhound.chow.com/topics/545459 and chowhound.chow.com/topics/279153
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Post by CajunSunshine on Jul 14, 2014 0:56:15 GMT -5
Consider cowpeas. They're not exotic. But they are drought and heat resistant, trouble free and produce a decent crop. Years ago, when I received seed for Penny Rile, the donor told me that his family depended heavily on this cowpea to get through the Great Depression. They planted them, pulled the plants with dried pods, and hung them in the bard to shell out during the winter. I've heard that cowpeas were a great help to the South, during the United States Civil War. They could grow and compete with brush, climbing over top. Northern troops, under orders to destroy all food sources, often overlooked the cowpeas. This left the South an important food source. George Surprise! Cowpea leaves are an edible staple in parts of the world. www.leafforlife.org/PAGES/VIGNAUNG.HTM The leaves are more protein-rich than its bean: smarterfitter.com/2007/10/28/100-most-protein-rich-vegetarian-foods/ |
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Post by CajunSunshine on Jul 14, 2014 1:10:49 GMT -5
The best way to make acorns edible is to feed them to deer or pigs; that takes care of the whole tannins issue. For years, I've seen people gathering acorns here in urban Oakland. They've told me they boil them a couple times to wash out the tannin. Acorns from most White Oak trees are somewhat mild tasting and do not need to be pretreated to remove any tannic acid bitterness associated with other oaks. Every fall, I harvest acorns from my favorite White Oaks (some trees produce sweeter acorns then others). I remove the shells and then freeze them for using in soups, stews, gumbos, etc. etc. Sometimes I pre-roast them by heating the chopped nutmeats in a black iron skillet, for a special flavor... yum-yum! |
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Post by treefrog on May 11, 2015 9:16:07 GMT -5
there are avocado trees that have survived frosts in texas. "fantastic" cultivar has survived ten degrees farenheit (briefly). in planting avocados at fringes of their range, plant it in a hole a foot below surrounding grade level. the hole will gradually fill in, and the graft union will be below ground. this is so that, in years that the tree does freeze back to ground level, it will resprout from varietal wood rather than from rootstock. some years with cold winters, your tree will get beat up, and you won't get a crop. some years you will. some is better than nothing. protect the young tree (cover it on freeze nights) until it is well established (two inch diameter trunk). also check out cultivars: brazos belle, joey, poncho, mexicola
pecans. macmillan and amling cultivars are pest and disease resistant almost totally care free. you won't get the great big nuts like the more delicate cultivars, but you'll get a crop.
chestnuts. the american chestnut is gone. long live the chinese chestnut. and other blight resistant varieties.
what's the best time to plant a fruit or nut tree? ten years ago. what's the second best time? today.
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Post by prairiegarden on Jan 17, 2016 19:59:13 GMT -5
A lot of people think those multicoloured rosette cabbagea sold as an ornamentals are inedble. I imagine a lot of the vivid and differently shaped leaf lettuces would also be assumed to be ornamentals by people used to seeing the usual iceberg butterhead and romaine sorts. I've seen some plantings that it would be a shame to cut anything and disrupt the pattern in the bed, very attractive. Oops sorry they are not perennials although some sorts of lettuce self seed happilly, no idea about the cabbage.
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Post by shoshannah on Jul 25, 2016 20:06:49 GMT -5
I'd plant a lot of potatoes here and there. In Montana the deer ate everything in my garden, except the squash leaves.
The eventually ate down the potato leaves but the tubers were still big and plentiful.
Lot of kale is fancy looking. Tree type kales/collards might not look like food.
Try crossing with some fancy looking kales with a tree kale version, that would make it look even more ornamental.
Lot of veggies with their seed stalks or elongation don't look like food in the store.
veggies that are picked over a long season, even if picked may have food later as it puts out more.
More winter veggies may not get taken because hidden in snow or too cold to forage.
Mix up the edibles and ornamentals and don't look too tidy and organized.
Maybe some trap crops. They just might load up on gourds or something bitter and run.
Susan
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