Edible Plant Project

04/21/2025

09/02/2020

“The 107 acre former blueberry farm is being cut down this morning. Because the property appraiser allowed the owner to retain an agricultural exemption, even though the farm hasn’t been active in 15 years. Hec was able to apply for a permit for commercial tree removal without an environmental assessment or neighborhood meeting.

The rest of us can’t get ag exempt when we’re doing the right thing, he can hold on long after the farming stopped. Where is the justice here?

If you want to call the property appraisal office the number is 352-374-5230 but there is no one to answer phones. Email co and city commissioners at [email protected] to ask them how this happened? Why didn’t his ag exemption expire if he wasn’t farming?” J. E.

08/30/2020

08/30/2020

Rain or shine.
We have a greenhouse

08/20/2020

No matter how tiny the cuttings they will create new plants! At least basil family plants.

08/13/2020

Do you know…. The American Beautyberry (Callicarpa Americana) is being researched at this time for the following:
🧼 Anti-Bacterial
🦠 Antiviral
🍄 Antifungal
🧬 Direct/Indirect Antioxidant Activity
🦟 Repel Ticks better than DEET
🦟 Natural mosquito repellant
🐜 Natural ant repellant
🔬 Cancer Research
🧠 Memory research

Read the studies and informative articles
http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/fp090

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2760847/

https://www.superfoodly.com/beautyberry

Thank you UF IFAS Marion County Master Gardeners

08/10/2020

Pinecone Ginger (Zingiber zerumbet)

Pinecone Ginger (Zingiber zerumbet)
“The elongated green flower cones grow from the soil in late Summer, then turn a bright pink before the plant collapses in [winter]. The cones contain a milky mucus which makes a great shampoo and it is known as the shampoo ginger in Hawaii. The root is ground to a pulp and used to treat bruising and sprains and drunk with water to ease indigestion, so it has many practical uses too.”

“Pinecone Ginger (Zingiber zerumbet) is an easy-to-grow pass-along plant that will make a large clump from a single rhizome in a couple of years. It grows easily, provided sufficient moisture and fertile, organic soil. It makes an excellent fast-growing landscape plant for tropical effect, and the cone shaped flowers are long lasting and useful for cut flower arrangements. This plant is most widely known around the world as the "Shampoo Ginger" for the milky substance in the cones, and it is in fact used as a shampoo in Asia and Hawaii, and as an ingredient in several commercial shampoos. If you place your hand around the cone and gentley squeeze you will be surprised at its sponginess and the liquid that is released.
Edible, medicinal and pretty, too.” UF IFAS Volusia County Extension Urban Horticulture Program

EDIS file
https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/fp622

Gingers
http://www.subtropical.co.nz/writingGinger.html

07/04/2020

Cassava

Heat Tolerant Edibles + Cassava
https://tinyurl.com/Heat-Tolerant-Edibles
Cassava (Manihot esculenta) is a shrubby perennial with smooth,erect stems and reaches heights of 6 to 8 feet tall. Also called yuca, manioc, manihot, mandioca, tapioca plant and sweet potato tree, this plant produces edible starchy, tuberous roots.

While the roots are the most valuable parts of these plants, it does also have ornamental value as well. The large, palmate leaves are dark green with reddish veins.

Roots develop in clusters of 4 to 8 at the base of the stem. They're 1 to 4 inches in diameter and are generally 8 to 15 inches long. The pure white interiors are firmer than potatoes and have a very high starch content. The roots are also covered in a thin, reddish brown, fibrous bark. This bark contains the toxin hydrocyanic (prussic) acid, which must be removed by washing, scraping, and heating. It's easier to peel the bark off with a knife than a traditional vegetable peeler.

There is a bitter and a sweet type of cassava. The roots of the sweet-type contain only a small amount of prussic acid and are prepared boiled as a vegetable. Leaves can also be boiled and eaten; they should not be eaten raw because they also contain the toxic prussic acid.

Cassava roots are also used as animal feed, and are processed for glue, laundry starch, and tapioca pudding.

These plants need 8 to 11 frost-free months in order to produce edible roots. Soil preparations and fertilizer use for cassava is the same as for sweet potatoes. Plant short 10-inch sections of the stem 2 to 4 inches deep in the soil. Plants should be spaced 4 feet apart in rows that are spaced at intervals of 4 feet. To harvest, roots are dug or pulled and used soon after harvesting since they deteriorate rapidly.

TinyUrl short-cut takes you to
https://gardeningsolutions.ifas.ufl.edu/plants/edibles/vegetables/heat-tolerant-vegetables.html

07/02/2020

“The foundations of permaculture rest on two concepts: an understanding and acceptance of the diversity of whole systems, as opposed to the soil-degrading effects of industrial monoculture; and on the relational, slow-yet-dynamic practice of observing the land, and its many complex ecosystems.”

https://www.kcet.org/shows/tending-nature/the-indigenous-science-of-permaculture
What does the term permaculture implies and means, and its true origins?

“In particular, this examination compels us to look at how permaculture, like much other wisdom deriving from pre-industrial, non-hierarchical, collaboration with land and nature, is at risk of being appropriated...

The resulting reductionist approach seeks to create homogenizing formulas to work in harmony with the environment, a hallmark of mainstream western scientific materialism.

This is anathema to what was originally — and still is — an indigenous science of working in partnership and reciprocity with the land and cycles of nature.