The possible uses for bananas–the fruit, the foliage, and the trunks–seem almost endless. In this article I share lots of images and ideas for using banana patches as mulch producers and for an erosion control project.
The best way to get more effective at growing your own food is to make it super easy to eat something directly from your garden on a daily basis. Here are 5 categories of low-maintenance food plants (or plant parts) you might have been overlooking, and strategies for using them to build more food sovereignty into your life.
Ginger has thrived at our place since I learned to think about what it gives and what it needs in terms of its connections to the other plants around it, to me as the ginger-grower, and to me and my family as the ginger-users.
Pesto can be made with any herb or combination of herbs and even leafy vegetables. When all you see in your garden is edible leafy greens, pesto is a great way to serve up all that nutrition in a form that’s easy and appealing to eat.
Here are two ideas for preserving leafy greens. The first is a bit of an experiment. The second is a tried and true favorite in my kitchen.
Assuming you’re eating the healthiest plant foods, grown in the healthiest soil, that you can find or afford, what else can you do to increase your mineral intake without using pills?
Okinawa spinach (Gynura crepioides) is an edible, nutritious, prolific, and low maintenance ground covering plant. It looks good enough to landscape with. And the more you eat it, the better it looks.
Stinging nettle (Urtica dioica) has a long history of use for food, medicine, cordage, and dye. Here are some ideas for making use of the free food and fertilizer that this under-appreciated weed has to offer.
About how the ginger growing in our garden has inspired successful homemade sauerkraut in our kitchen, which in turn has inspired better maintenance of the ginger plants in the garden. Sauerkraut recipe included.
Queensland arrowroot (Cana edulis) provides food for us, food for chickens, pigs, cattle and goats, mulch and/or compost material, and shelter for other plants. It’s super easy to grow and to harvest and it self-propagates to a certain extent but is not weedy or invasive. And I think it looks beautiful. What more could a polyculture food grower ask?