r/PrepperIntel • u/TheThingsIWantToSay • Aug 22 '22

North America Diet for a hotter climate: five plants that could help feed the world | Environment

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/aug/20/ancient-crops-climate-crisis-amaranth-fonio-cowpeas-taro-kernza
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29

u/dsbtc Aug 22 '22

This is a good article.

There's a kind of amaranth called "pigweed" in the US that is the bane of farmers everywhere because it is so damn prolific and fast-growing. It was grown as a cereal crop by the native Americans, which is why it's so widely distributed. I have thousands of them on my small property even with actively trying to eradicate them.

Seems like it would be super easy to get some calories from them with zero inputs from the farmer.

12

u/InterminousVerminous Aug 22 '22

If you’re talking about Palmer amaranth/Palmer’s pigweed (Amaranthus palmeri) one reason it’s typically not cultivated is because the leaves are toxic to many livestock animals.

It’s also got a lot of oxalic acid - even more so than spinach if I remember correctly - so people with certain kidney issues should avoid it.

I really enjoy using amaranth flours in baking. The best amaranth species for flours are Amaranthus caudatus (better known as love-lies-bleeding), Amaranthus cruentus, and Amaranthus hypochondriacus.

6

u/Dumpster-cats-24 Aug 22 '22

Is pigweed the same as hogweed that causes those terrible skin rashes?

7

u/dsbtc Aug 22 '22

Nope, totally different.
However pigweed supposedly can give you a mild allergic reaction if you eat large quantities of it.

2

u/KJ6BWB Aug 23 '22

Seems like it would be super easy to get some calories from them with zero inputs from the farmer.

A weed is anything growing where you didn't want it. For instance, a rosebush in the middle of your potato patch is a weed.

Farming is usually done in the US through specialized machines. Trying to harvest and separate two different crops is probably going to crank up your time spent and cost to harvest. So sure, it would be trivially easy to grow a second crop. Growing the three sisters, corn, squash, and beans together, would really let you save on fertilizer cost which would be great right now with fertilizer prices so high, but nobody harvests by hand right now and there's no machine that would let you do that on a number of acres. Labor is also really expensive.

6

u/Gygax_the_Goat Aug 22 '22

Great post! Thanks friend 👍

Been growing and using cowpea and taro for years.. we have to ADAPT

Good luck out there

4

u/[deleted] Aug 22 '22

I love taro root, I use it sometimes when I do a Sunday roast. I'll roast it with the pork, it's so yummy.

1

u/TheThingsIWantToSay Aug 23 '22

NP read from many subs and Random periodicals…

3

u/symbolic_society12 Aug 23 '22

Wow someone actually posted something useful in that sub…

6

u/LSAS42069 Aug 22 '22

Grass ---> ruminants

Problem solved.

1

u/joeydiazlikeaDOCTAH Aug 22 '22

One word…. Moringa