Most commercial crops also benefit from shade. Even grass. Apparently most plants can do some maximum amount of photosynthesis in a day, and in full sun get it done when the day is not. The rest of the time is spent just enduring the heat.
This matters because it means a commercial farm gets better yields, with less irrigation, in a field shared with solar panels. The panels just need to be mounted high enough to enable access to the plants underneath. This is easiest in pasture, but is wholly feasible for row crops, too.
So, for anybody who was worried that deploying solar panels will remove land from food production: surprise! Deploying solar panels on existing productive land increases yield and cuts water demand.
Is that universally true, or just in areas with a lot of sunshine? Might there be a lot of marginal farmland in colder/darker areas where the crops only just get enough heat/light?
And if it’s such a no-brainer to cover crops to increase yield, why is it done so rarely?
It costs money. But the solar panels generate income to pay for their installation.
It has been easier when you grow in greenhouses; there, it is common to provide partial shade.
And, yes, at higher latitudes there is less excess sun for everybody. Probably Finns will need to continue importing liquid fuel to burn in turbines, transitioning to anhydrous ammonia synthesized in the tropics, instead of deploying their own solar panels. But HVDC transmission line power delivery will be able to undercut turbine prices, normally, albeit unreliably. They will still need to stockpile fuel and maintain turbines for when HVDC fails to deliver.
I'm pretty supportive of agricultural diversity and native plant consumption and cultivation, and also harvest a lot of wild plants for my own use. But fiddleheads are one thing I no longer eat.
As the linked article points out, it's bracken ferns that have been linked to cancer. If the ostrich fern suggested in the OP is also a carcinogen, the Smithsonian article doesn't mention it.
Some anecdotes. In some traditional cultures I am aware of (Korea, high-altitude eastern Himalayas), fern consumption tends to be, but is not always, linked to the start of spring (end of winter) as the ferns are often the first things to emerge from snow, and only the smallest fronds and not the mature fronds are eaten. This may have a bearing on carcinogenic capacity. I've personally eaten a lot of fern in Yunnan. However, stomach cancer is highest in the world in Korea and highest in men and they are not huge fern eaters. One assumes the projected causes would be behavioral (high alcohol liquor) and dietary (meat, kimchi = lowers stomach pH + chilli to irritate stomach lining) in conjunction. Could have easily been the same in the article's sample size of one. In China edible ferns are referred to as 蕨菜 (jue cai). They're quite tasty stir-fried with tomato and garlic. Tell you what though - fern spori are scary looking under a microscope!
I just did some research on raspberries (commercial berries are notorious for pesticide residue) and apparently hydroponically grown berries are roughly equivalent to soil-grown berries in blind student taste tests and, despite soil-grown being technically sweeter if you do the chemistry, this is theorised as being due to water-related stress (so you could perhaps emulate this with a more sporadic hydroponic watering schedule if you want extra-sweet berries). In short: no reason not to grow at home, if you are familiar with the basics.
Yeah I was reading some articles and was going to edit my comment to reflect that. Last I read, ostrich ferns were still suspect but there wasnt so much evidence suggesting they were carcinogenic either.
Part of the confusion over ostrich ferns are periodic incidents of poisonings they can't explain. But in those cases, there usually are undercooked fiddleheads involved.
But yes, ostrich ferns are probably ok, or at least are less of a concern, if cooked.
I've come across variations of this old wives' tales before and never seen any any legitimate justification for it other than hand-waving about acids combining in some "harmful" manner.
(I've been eating persimmons for many years and never experienced any adverse reactions, even though I'm pretty sure I've had milk/yoghurt/dairy products alongside it. And coincidentally, I gave my 11-month-old a lunch couple of hours back that contained yoghurt and followed that up with a persimmon and haven't notuced anything unusual.)
I moved to the tropics and have been learning a whole new fauna. Some stuff that will do well in the understory includes: jaboticaba, caimito, acerola (aka nanking cherry), borojo, biriba, pitanga and, believe it or not, a lot of citrus (we have wild limes on the jungle edges, and are planting more cultured varieties). I have a very early stage fruit blog going at http://fruitytropics.com, in case anybody's interested.
I wish I could find a jaboticaba at a reasonable price in SoCal. They seem to grow okay but the one nursery I went to look at them they were very expensive because they’re rare here. Also they were mature plants kept in too small pots longer than they should have been so I didn’t get one of those ones.
In Jaboticaba look for a plant with several trunks branching near the root. The trunk is the part holding the fruits so: more trunks, more fruit.
Price in fruit trees is relative. They pay for itself. If you really want one just buy it when is big. Is an expensive investment in terms of time, the sooner you start and the bigger plant, the better.
> I have Acerola cherry too—but the only ones that fruit or flower are in full aun.
Interesting, I've always read in permaculture books that nanking is a good understory fruiter, and my local permie nurseryman said the same. Maybe it's a myth. How shaded are your non producing ones?
Oh and I have a nicely producing lime tree (at least 20+ years old) that at best gets 1 hour of dappled sun a day - it's on the edge but with very thick canopy above it. Here they call the variety "limon" - my understanding is that it's an ancestor to modern lime/lemon varieties.
The Sweet Cecily, as a member of the carrot family, resembles poison hemlock. Anything with that flower and leaf pattern immediately sets off alarm bells in my head when I see it.
As do most members of the carrot family to be fair. These are some of the most delicious and edible plants! It's not actually that hard to learn to tell them apart to be honest. Any gardener who's watched their plants grow would probably be able to tell the difference
I was told this about Queen Anne's Lace, which I let have the run of my property for about 18 months because my ground was compacted and the insect community absolutely loved it. I just don't see the resemblance the way some people claim.
I haven't tried to eat any of it though. The roots smell amazing but I have been trying to grow parsnip and carrots already and that's enough carrot family for one kitchen. I am however starting to replace the QAL with the native carrot family, since I want to maintain the pollinators but I'm quickly crowding out reasonable places to let it grow. I guess we'll see how good my eye is at telling them apart when young.
I fried up some of the teeny, tiny roots, and they tasted nice, but were so tiny that harvesting enough for more than a garnish would be impractical.
The cough syrup made from the leaves is my favorite - soothing, but no other medicinal effects, and I find the taste to be a bit comforting. “Spitzwegerich Hustensaft” is the general thing to look for in German.
Found my mistake, too late to edit my previous comment: the plant I know as “Spitzwegerich” is not what you and other English speakers call Queen Anne’s Lace at all! I have no idea where I got that as the English name for Spitzwegerich.
Oh yeah, plantain spread everywhere with the settlers. It's quite a different plant. I think I've seen it used more as a poultice than something you consume.
Poison hemlock stems have a purplish tinge. It’s suggested that you don’t even touch it.
Another warning: they tend to grow near water/river banks and often found near mugwort. A few years ago, we’d have visitors who came to forage mugwort and elderberries ..and one of the kids spotted hemlock and thought it was Queen Anne’s Lace. I had to deny entry after that..they bought kids and the liability wasn’t worth it. Those who forage must absolutely know how ti is which toxic/poison plants.
Yeah, poison hemlock is not to be messed with at all.
I have acute intermittent porphyria (a serious metabolic disorder) and was on a wild edible plant walk about 25 years ago on the Mendocino coast, the host pointed to something that looked like dill to my untrained eye but I didn't hear what they said about it.
So I picked some and sniffed the broken stem, then I blacked out and immediately collapsed and it took me about 20 minutes before I could talk, stand and walk again (very shakily).
It's quite a potent Poison to be sure, and now I Never pick and smell plants I don't recognize anymore (DOH!).
And I agree with jelliclesfarm that it shouldn't even be touched, as the "juice" if rubbed into the eyes unconsciously would be bad news for anyone.
I was thinking about this as well. It also looks like Queen Anne's lace lol. If anybody is going to go forage for this, please learn to ID the poisonous relatives first!
Yes, just to emphasize this: in this case "wild carrots" actually means just that. Carrots from the grocery store and Queen Anne's lace are two subvarieties of the same species.
About 75% of QAL flowers also have a single black umbel in the center of the flower. Not the best eating then from what I gather, but in addition to the texture of the stalks that's a good indicator.
But no, it doesn't look like Queen Anne's Lace. Queen Anne's lace grows in a very flat circle of small white flowers, not this dome shape made of tiny domes. Queen Anne's lace has a dark spot in the center of the disk of flowers. Queen Anne's lace does not have reddish or purplish stems. Queen Anne's lace has an incredibly distinctive smell. Do people not engage their eyeballs and brains at all?
If you don't have a background in plants and just learned about something from reading about it somewhere and decide to give it a try (might not even know there are poisonous plants that look somewhat alike), those sorts of details can be hard to notice and distinguish at first. Even as someone who has a pretty good background with plants at this point, I have occasionally been surprised at initially misidentifying something because the individual plant had an unusual presentation or was in a different growth stage than I was used to and I wasn't being super careful. I did spend some time learning about the poisonous plants in my area though and am extra careful with things that have other poisonous plants that look similar.
I've been going deep into a mycology rabbit hole the last few weeks. I had an "aha!" moment when I realized that there are many edible mushrooms that don't require much sunlight. It's obvious in hindsight but I was still thinking of fungus from a plant-centric worldview: they're kinda plantlike and therefore kinda need sun. But they don't. Many (all?) of them get their sustenance by breaking down whatever complex chemicals they find in their physical proximity. Sunlight doesn't need to factor into the equation much at all. So long as they have a rich substrate full of nutrients some will happily grow in a closet. Again pardon if this is painfully obvious but it was an "oh wow" moment for me. I'm personally going to start with oyster mushrooms because they seem to be somewhat superheroic at their ability to break down stuff (even incredibly toxic stuff).
Also like I said I'm new to all this so anything and everything I've said can be wrong. This is just the general gist I've gotten so far.
If you have not run across it yet, there is a fairly good video set "Let's Grow Mushrooms!" by Marc R Keith [1]. Don't be put off by the intro that suggests you can grow magical varieties. This video series is focused on basic techniques needed for growing mushrooms as well as some practical techniques for growing oysters.
I had a cool moment along these lines when observing my parents' garden. They were growing squash in garden soil, next to table mushrooms on wood chips with the idea being the table mushrooms would convert the wood chips into additional garden soil over time. The mycelium colonized all the wood chips, but the fruiting bodies came up predominantly where the substrate was shaded by squash leaves because that was the most humid part of the mushroom patch. A cool example of accidental companion planting!
From a food production standpoint, they are still fundamentally sun-powered.
Mushrooms are delicious, but their most interesting opportunity in the food supply might be vitamin D. Shine some UV on them, and they produce high levels just like people.
This fact became viscerally true to me when I tried chanterelle for the first time a few days ago. Texture and flavor was so close to chicken that my partner and I (both vegans) had the weird uncomfortable sensation of accidentally eating meat!
When was the last time you had chicken? Personally I’d never confuse the two, although I do love chanterelles.
That said, I had some porcini inside of a ravioli where I thought I was eating part of a meatball that went with it (eg meat-like, compared to a meatball, versus actual unadulterated meat).
Admittedly it's been a few years but I have eaten quite a lot of chicken in my lifetime so I don't think it's a matter of me forgetting the experience of the real thing
Wow, I don't think chanterelles taste anything like chicken. I've only had them a couple of times, but to be they have a really strong and complex flavor that is hard to describe. The texture is firm but not chewy, like many other kinds of mushrooms.
I guess it might depend on how you prepare it. To me, chanterelles are one of the mushrooms that should always be prepared without anything that might cover the taste exactly because it's so distinct it's be a massive waste. But if you cook it like some people cook chicken I can well imagine it'd wnd up tasting like chicken...
Then I really don't understand how you'd find it similar to chicken. But given I eat chicken regularly I guess we pick up on different things.
Black pepper is the only other thing I'd usually use with chanterelles. Possibly cream. To not waste so much of it, sometimes I'll boil them a bit first, and let enough water boil off to pour the rest into a light cream sauce to add chantarelle taste to the sauce as well.
I just read [1] that scientists in 2007 [2] found a melanin-rich fungus in Chernobyl that thrives on ionizing radiation. The suggestion being that the species would grow excellent in space.
[1] Mycelium Running by Paul Stamets, end of chapter 7
[2] Ionizing radiation changes the electronic properties of melanin and enhances the growth of melanized fungi by Dadachova
James Prigioni (one of the videos in the article) inspired me to start an orchard a few years ago. Hoping to get my first apples and plums this year, as well as a very nice amount of berries. Regarding shade-tolerant plants, I planted two kiwiberries last year (male and female) in the same spot where I had some honey berries (not mentioned on list but need 6-8 hours for best production).
Outside the wire, there’s a lot of black raspberry, I think allegheny blackberry and wineberry. I prune many of the black raspberry and wineberry and harvest those as well. The wineberry seems to do particularly well in the shade. Also probably one of my favorite berries.
In ohio we have pawpaw festivals! Even most of the people where they grow have never heard of them, because they don’t transport well enough to be sold, but those who have can’t wait for the season. I didn’t know they could grow in full shade though.
Annonacin is found in the seeds but the fhe fruit is fine, IIRC. Also IIRC, regular consumption of paw paw with lime is linked to excellent improvements in liver function for extremely late-stage Hepatitis patients. Consider also Annonacin promotes selective cancer cell death via NKA-dependent and SERCA-dependent pathways: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6037677/
Pawpaws are a North American Papaya, and are totally safe to eat. Just don't eat the incredibly hard huge seed (just the same as apples, duh), and you will avoid all possibility of harm.
> I didn’t know they could grow in full shade though.
A hike through the woods in southeastern Ohio will make this fact obvious. I miss the area and love coming across a stand of pawpaw in the understory. The leaves are so big. It feels like walking in the jungle. I miss the pawpaw festival in Albany, OH.
There seems to be a growing interest in pawpaws. Stories about them were featured on a lot of food podcasts this fall and seems like it’s the “it” uncommon food at the moment, or staged to be.
It will be interesting if anyone is able to bring them to market at scale, it seems like agriculture departments at several universities have programs to work on different varietals with better shelf-life and shipping characteristics.
In Indiana they seem to be making a comeback. I have seen them on specialty menus a few times, but I find them to be awful. I am not a picky eater, and have sampled some other things in this list like ramps, but I don't think I will eat a paw paw again. Maybe I haven't had them prepared properly, but they seem like a Depression food. My grandpa talks about eating them when he was little, and I have only seen them resurrected in niche settings.
I think you might have had some bad ones. It's quite possible- they bruise and start to go off if you so much as look at them funny.
Ideally, they have a mild, sweet flavor, and the name 'custard apple' is quite appropriate. They aren't durian- there shouldn't be any strong flavors or smells present that might be off-putting.
They most often taste like some combo of berry/banana/papaya when ripe. Different trees give slightly different flavor profiles. They must be eaten when the skin is starting to turn black, as that is when they are ripe. Eating them green would be quite unpleasant, and they don't stay at the right stage for long, which is why you don't just see them in supermarkets. Source: grew up eating wild pawpaws.
We put a black elder (black lace, IIRC) in a shady spot in our front yard in the UK, and it absolutely thrived. Had to treat it for aphids annually, as they would absolutely smother the new growth in Spring otherwise, but apart from that it was low maintenance and very vigorous.
The sprays of flowers were lovely and could be harvested for elderflower syrups and even wines. The berries were less reliable, I did harvest some and turn them to syrup one year, but the flavour was not that great (I added the syrup to a homebrew saison in the end, but wasn't a huge fan of the result).
In the shade of California redwoods, Redwood Sorrel is a a pretty tasty treat. I'd describe the taste as akin to green apple skins. They are a bit too sour to eat large quantities of in one sitting (as a kid in my Boy Scout troop learned the hard way).
At a Danish conference (during the raw food craze) a well-meaning chef served Elderberry smoothies for breakfast, within an hour it had a devastating effect on 60 of the attendees digestive systems, not to mention the venue toilets.
This, though cooking neutralises the toxin (cyanogenic glycosides) in the seeds. Am lucky enough to have a few (European) elder trees already established in my garden, homemade elderflower cordial diluted with sparkling water is the best summer drink.
Now that you say that, I remember it was jelly, not jam. It was almost transparent, and not very strongly flavored--probably to take away the sharpness.
Thanks for the soup recipes! I had never heard of that.
Yup, this article actually inspired me to plant elderberry to my garden come spring. I once bought a bottle of the cordial from a store and it is the best juice I have ever tasted. Only downside being it's quite expensive.
The downside is you can't make much in the way of red (wine|jam) if you use most of the flowers for cordial in the summer. If you have space, plant more! They seed readily, grow fast, and handle heavy pruning or coppicing.
Wow, I never knew hostas were edible. Now I wonder why we don’t see these at the farmers market. I wonder what effects repeated yearly harvest does to the health of the plant. With asparagus there’s a clear window of opportunity then you let the plant recover for the remainder of the year. Really cool to see this… will research more in the spring!
I suggest to be extra careful with this info. Convallaria is very toxic and children could mistake it by a Hosta or an Allium ursinum with terrible results. Is not a joke. Polygonatum is also dangerous. Lots of shadow plants are poisonous and this includes practically all that sprout like Hostas in the shadow and in temperate areas. Some of those can be eaten in -small- amounts after being processed. Trillium and Paris are very poisonous, Asphodelus can provoke a heart attack easily. Even if is edible after some particular processing, It just don't worth the risk.
Ferns store cyanide and must be cooked. They can provoke canker if eaten regularly.
And there are also other things to consider. Hosta leaves grow once in the year. Eat the leaves and you will have an ugly plant for a whole year (or a dead plant). They are famous to keep the cuts in the leaf for the entire season. There is not much point into spending money in expensive garden plants with a long life if you want to eat them later.
Really love mobile sites that full-frame their YouTube embeds. It makes scrolling impossible without auto playing each video and interrupting whatever audio
I have playing currently.
Wild garlic is really good, and in season sold in normal supermarkets. As are kiwiberries. The raspberry is nice as well, though hard to collect in large quantities. Those and pawpaws are not in the store because their shelf-life is non-existent. I also like sweet cecily, though understand that some people don't like the licorice/anis aroma. Elderberry depends a little on the recipe, but for example elderberry soup I try to have every year.
I wouldn't vouch for the others (that I have not tried), knowing very well that many plants on such lists tend to taste unpleasant.
This matters because it means a commercial farm gets better yields, with less irrigation, in a field shared with solar panels. The panels just need to be mounted high enough to enable access to the plants underneath. This is easiest in pasture, but is wholly feasible for row crops, too.
So, for anybody who was worried that deploying solar panels will remove land from food production: surprise! Deploying solar panels on existing productive land increases yield and cuts water demand.