[HN Gopher] The Power of Weeds to End Hunger in an Uncertain Cli...
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The Power of Weeds to End Hunger in an Uncertain Climate
Author : dnetesn
Score : 56 points
Date : 2023-07-30 15:53 UTC (7 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (worldsensorium.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (worldsensorium.com)
| barathr wrote:
| I'd encourage folks to think beyond just annuals and diversify
| into perennials (especially tree crops -- fruits and nuts). In
| almost every place in the world, except the arctic or highlands,
| one can grow dozens or even hundreds of species of tree crops.
|
| Check out a few resources:
|
| https://crfg.org/homepage/library/fruitfacts/
|
| https://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/morton/index.html
|
| https://oikostreecrops.com/
| imchillyb wrote:
| Weed = Undesirable plant, or a desirable plant in an undesirable
| location.
|
| There is no definitive definition for weed due to the term being
| location specific.
| gumby wrote:
| Climate change is going to cause people in wealthy countries to
| rediscover all sorts of foods they would previously have spurned.
|
| I find it interesting that the "famine culture" (eat "everything
| but the squeak") has survived in chinese cuisine despite the rise
| in wealth -- perhaps due to the rapidity of the rise.
|
| In any case, the available choices will be different, and
| probably fewer.
| fragmede wrote:
| It's all about framing. Lobster was previously a poor person's
| dish, suitable only for prisoners, slaves, and servants.
| Servants even made moves to limit the amount of lobster they
| could be fed. And then it became a luxury food. Kale also
| became popular thanks to marketing.
| jmclnx wrote:
| I would love to replace my lawn with all dandelions, but everyone
| says no.
|
| I read somewhere, dandelions where popular for lawns a century or
| to ago. Forgot where I saw that.
| anon84873628 wrote:
| To dovetail off the current sibling comment -- what you are
| describing is still a monoculture.
|
| You could create a beautiful multi species meadow that would
| cycle through different plants with the seasons. Or you could
| build vegetable garden beds surrounded by wood mulch. Or use a
| low lying no-mow ground over.
|
| I'm not sympathetic to the neighbors who might not like it,
| though. If their yard's ecosystems isn't resilient then that's
| their problem.
| jws wrote:
| If you live some place with a winter, you will have a barren
| patch of dirt then. If you live somewhere with a long, cold,
| wet fall or early spring, then you hill have a tiny field of
| mud for the local animals to wallow in.
|
| If you live within throwing distance of a neighbor who does not
| wish to have a lawn of dandelions, you will be a target of ill
| feelings for your invasive weed colony.
|
| Lawn grasses have been selected to keep the ground covered and
| tolerate being walked on and played on. If you don't want to
| walk on or play on your yard, then there is a wide choice of
| ground cover that keeps the ground covered all year long and
| isn't a wildly airborne spreading invasive weed.
| InvaderFizz wrote:
| Probably as a result of where I grew up (rural southeastern US,
| 20 miles from the closest population center over 1k people).
| But I have never considered dandelions to be weeds. Just
| another interesting plant in the multitude of grasses that made
| up our 3 acre front yard.
|
| Clover, dandelions, crabgrass, dallisgrass, etc were just part
| of our yard. We also used it often as grazing for the horses as
| an alternative to spending hours mowing every few weeks. So any
| attempt as species control would have been undone by the horse
| manure anyways.
| devb wrote:
| Dandelions are considered weeds in a botanical sense because
| they are non-native invasive plants in the United States.
| Same with clovers, crabgrasses, dallisgrass, and many other
| common lawn plants.
| anon84873628 wrote:
| That's only true for certain species in the Taraxacum
| genus. There are many Taraxacum and other chicories native
| to North America which most people would still call
| "dandelion".
| CBarkleyU wrote:
| I mean, isn't lawn grass non-native as well?
| amalcon wrote:
| Most popular lawn grasses were created using selective
| breeding. People will argue about whether they are
| properly considered native to anywhere, or whether they
| belong in some third category of man-made organisms.
| DyslexicAtheist wrote:
| James[1] C Scott's needs to to do another take on his classics _"
| The Art of Not Being Governed"_[2], and _" Against the Grain"_[3]
| but for those of us who wanna face the Anthropocene with a full
| belly.
|
| [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_C._Scott
|
| [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Art_of_Not_Being_Governed
|
| [3]
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Against_the_Grain:_A_Deep_Hist...
| maxbond wrote:
| The thesis of [2] is covered in this episode of Crash Course
| World History, for those who are interested. (14m)
|
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wyzi9GNZFMU
| [deleted]
| Max-q wrote:
| My friend told me I had weeds in my flower bed and started
| pulling them up. He was probably right but I had let them stay
| because they were nicer than the flowers supposed to be there.
| fsckboy wrote:
| maybe the presence of the weeds was stilting the fragile
| flowers?
| happytiger wrote:
| It's fascinating to consider how much of food isn't part of our
| diet simply because it doesn't lend itself to large scale
| monoculture or has a higher production cost than alternatives.
|
| After all, weeds are only unwanted plants, and ultimately, crops
| are simply wanted weeds, as they discuss.
|
| The larger point is to bring an agricultural system that is
| sustainable in the long term (very long term), through the
| inevitable climate shifts that we know occur reliably and
| whatever the impact of human "enhancements" turn out to be -- and
| which is looking pretty dramatic these days.
|
| Coming back into balance with nature is critical, and learning to
| view ourselves not as separate from the earth but part of the big
| life support system ultimately leads towards a positively
| focused, sustainable future.
|
| The authors point about this is really worth considering:
|
| > Consequently, most breeders are only evaluating a small
| percentage of the available germplasm for things like disease
| resistance or cooking characteristics--not for environmental
| resilience.
|
| I wonder whether LLMs will assist in this work? It won't be a
| commercial opportunity for some time, but it's critical that we
| start getting good at cataloging what we have and could create to
| make the balance work in a pragmatic way.
| madaxe_again wrote:
| While the article is about weeds as a genetic library, there's
| something to be said for just looking at weeds as potential
| crops in general.
|
| I've lived in the woods three years now, and while I always
| knew that a lot of wild plants were edible, I had never really
| appreciated just how many, and how many flavours there are out
| there that we generally never try. I will often walk from a to
| b nibbling on various bits and pieces as I go - and yes, I know
| how to ID, and how to check toxicity so I don't poison myself.
|
| I've also dabbled with bug-eating. Earwigs are a particular
| favourite - they're sour and spicy, and dried and ground make
| an incredible curry paste.
|
| Anyway. Turns out we can eat a lot of stuff just fine.
| [deleted]
| anon84873628 wrote:
| Hundreds of species here and it probably just scratches the
| surface!
|
| https://leafforlife.org/gen/reported-edible.html
| fsckboy wrote:
| > _Earwigs are a particular favourite - they're sour and
| spicy, and dried and ground_
|
| with just a pincer of salt!
| fbdab103 wrote:
| Outside of any concerns about the dangers of relying upon a
| monocrop, what is the most efficient available mechanism capable
| of feeding humanity using ~today's technology? Soylent green and
| other options on the table. Science fiction would lead me to
| believe we could all be fed from vats of yeast.
|
| Potatoes feel really efficient (and according to the Martian,
| nutritionally complete), but would be happy to hear others. As
| per the article, the answer is probably in weeds, something like
| kudzu. Some kind of insect recycling system for protein variety
| from edible waste also seems appropriate.
| watwut wrote:
| Insects and worms
| anon84873628 wrote:
| Perennial polyculture food forests built from as many species
| native to the local environment as possible. Processed and
| preserved nearby using renewable off grid energy sources
| including cellulosic ethanol produced from organic waste
| products.
|
| Edit: You can't separate the "concerns about monoculture" from
| "efficiency" (whether that means outside energy inputs or
| calorie production or whatever). Every plant/animal species has
| its own specific advantages, nutrient needs, seasonal cycles,
| etc. If you use a monoculture then you are necessarily missing
| out on capturing some advantages (e.g. sunligh) and creating a
| dependence on outside inputs. Polycultures create a holistic
| ecosystem that can optimally partition the available sunlight,
| soil, and water; create mutually beneficial feedback loops, and
| foster the diverse microbial & pollinator populations necessary
| to sustain plant life.
| bodhi_mind wrote:
| Potatoes are far from nutritionally complete. They're missing
| complete proteins, essential fatty acids, and other
| vitamins/micro nutrients.
|
| Great to have in a short term famine, but definitely not for
| surviving long term.
| myshpa wrote:
| https://www.popsci.com/nutrition-single-food-survival/
|
| For all of 2016, Andrew Taylor ate only potatoes. There were
| a few caveats to his potato diet: He ate both white potatoes
| and sweet ones, and sometimes mixed in soymilk, tomato sauce,
| salt and herbs. He also took B12 supplements. But, overall,
| he ate potatoes for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. He took
| four blood tests over the year which he claims all came back
| normal. He even lost weight and felt more energized.
| samstave wrote:
| "weeds" is such a misnomer in many instances, such as milkweed
| and dandelions and clover being very important.
|
| Whatever that weed is with the little spikey-ball-nodes that get
| into your pets hair, or in your laces and socks - that weed sucks
| - but nature has a balance between insects and "weeds" that we
| shouldnt be decimating with glyphosate...
|
| Monsanto is more a threat than climate change. Because killing
| the shade, plants, ecosystem etc will make it compoundedly harder
| for the general ecosystem (which means food pollination) will be
| more heavily affected by greater average temps.
| Gordonjcp wrote:
| > Whatever that weed is with the little spikey-ball-nodes that
| get into your pets hair, or in your laces and socks
|
| In Scotland it's called "Sticky Willie" which is nowhere near
| as rude as it sounds.
|
| Its primary function in the ecosystem is providing long thin
| sticky plants for children or childlike adults to stick to each
| other's clothing without the victim noticing, and seeing how
| long it takes them to figure it out.
| VBprogrammer wrote:
| I think those and the little burrs are different species.
| Galium aparine Vs Arctium minus.
| Gordonjcp wrote:
| [dead]
| hutzlibu wrote:
| I found your comment amusing, which is why I vouched for it.
| Otherwise all your other recent comments seem to be dead for
| whatever reason, meaning only people like me who have
| showdead=1 can see them. Just to let you know.
| euroderf wrote:
| > little spikey-ball-nodes
|
| Those are burrs. (also: burweed, burrweed ?)
| hahamrfunnyguy wrote:
| There are lots of amateur and professional breeders working on
| improving traditional and non-traditional crops. Some of the
| what's being improved are considered weeds. My interest is in
| perennial crops, and there's lots of interesting work happening
| in this area!
|
| The Experimental Farm Network is a great place to find out about
| projects and order seeds:
| https://www.experimentalfarmnetwork.org/. The Kaleidoscope Kale
| grex is a great one to start with. They look nice in beds with
| flowers and other ornamental plants too.
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(page generated 2023-07-30 23:01 UTC)