Everyone used to raise hogs (2016)(lithub.com)
lithub.com
Everyone used to raise hogs (2016)
https://lithub.com/everyone-used-to-raise-hogs/
27 comments
Interestingly, P. virginica is in the Araceae family which also contains taro (as well as the arum lily, breadfruit, elephant foot yam, and many more)
Can I ask more about your curiosity about native foods? It's been a big interest of mine as well ever since I found out about NUS[0] and the general realization that edible plants exist everywhere if you have enough knowledge about your environment
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neglected_and_underutilized_cr...
Can I ask more about your curiosity about native foods? It's been a big interest of mine as well ever since I found out about NUS[0] and the general realization that edible plants exist everywhere if you have enough knowledge about your environment
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neglected_and_underutilized_cr...
Thanks for that article, that's an entry point I hadn't seen before! It reminds me of this database of famine foods from Purdue University: https://www.purdue.edu/hla/sites/famine-foods/
I got into it by wandering around the SF Bay Area and looking up plants with fruits on them to see if they were edible. That was how I ended up cracking open hollyleaf cherry pits and leaching the cyanide out of them, and roasting and grinding bay nuts to add them to chocolate cake.
There are indeed a lot of interesting native and introduced edible plants. It causes me to pay a lot more attention to the nature around me and to learn a lot of new things. I've thankfully avoided a visit to the hospital so far :)
I got into it by wandering around the SF Bay Area and looking up plants with fruits on them to see if they were edible. That was how I ended up cracking open hollyleaf cherry pits and leaching the cyanide out of them, and roasting and grinding bay nuts to add them to chocolate cake.
There are indeed a lot of interesting native and introduced edible plants. It causes me to pay a lot more attention to the nature around me and to learn a lot of new things. I've thankfully avoided a visit to the hospital so far :)
This database looks really promising, thanks for sharing! I'll definitely try to get ahold of it
Our stories are not actually all that different haha. I started the same way, mostly from getting into iNaturalist. I'm in SoCal right now and the landscapers seem obsessed with planting Natal Plums everywhere. I get some weird looks by people seeing me pick these big bright red juicy fruit next to their parking lots but they've become one of my favorite fruits, haha
If you're interested in this type of data, I've also been collecting resources like this. One of my favorites is the FAO's EcoPort[0] which has some of the most bizarre web design I've come across, but has really rich data. There's also the NAEB DB[1] which is the most complete collection of documented edible, medicinal, and other plant uses by Native American groups that I've come across. And since you linked PracticalPlants I'm guessing you're already aware of PFAF and related projects haha
[0] http://ecoport.org/ep?SearchType=displayMenu&menu=Basic_Sear... [1] http://naeb.brit.org/
Our stories are not actually all that different haha. I started the same way, mostly from getting into iNaturalist. I'm in SoCal right now and the landscapers seem obsessed with planting Natal Plums everywhere. I get some weird looks by people seeing me pick these big bright red juicy fruit next to their parking lots but they've become one of my favorite fruits, haha
If you're interested in this type of data, I've also been collecting resources like this. One of my favorites is the FAO's EcoPort[0] which has some of the most bizarre web design I've come across, but has really rich data. There's also the NAEB DB[1] which is the most complete collection of documented edible, medicinal, and other plant uses by Native American groups that I've come across. And since you linked PracticalPlants I'm guessing you're already aware of PFAF and related projects haha
[0] http://ecoport.org/ep?SearchType=displayMenu&menu=Basic_Sear... [1] http://naeb.brit.org/
Thanks! Here are a few more links that may be of interest to those on this thread:
Account of how native people used various plants: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/65605/65605-0.txt
Simple guide to indigenous foods of California: https://www.kcet.org/shows/tending-the-wild/a-guide-to-some-...
Food Plants of the North American Indians (sorry for the terrible Google PDF link, it's hard to get the real link on mobile): https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https:/...
Aside: the first random fruit I tried was Arbutus Unedo (strawberry tree), which is not native around here but is planted very commonly as a landscaping tree. Tastes kinda like a bland peach.
Account of how native people used various plants: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/65605/65605-0.txt
Simple guide to indigenous foods of California: https://www.kcet.org/shows/tending-the-wild/a-guide-to-some-...
Food Plants of the North American Indians (sorry for the terrible Google PDF link, it's hard to get the real link on mobile): https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https:/...
Aside: the first random fruit I tried was Arbutus Unedo (strawberry tree), which is not native around here but is planted very commonly as a landscaping tree. Tastes kinda like a bland peach.
Neat. A friend of mine heard that skunk cabbage, in the same family and also bearing calcium oxalate, was an indigenous staple and foolishly tried a mature leaf and ended up in the hospital. It's great that people are into learning about edible plants, but it's just as important to learn how they were prepared...
Yeah exactly. Cycads for example are a very poisonous plant. Yet there's an entire island in Japan where people use cycads for everything from flour to alcoholic beverages
Maize is another good example of this. When white people took corn with them and forced parts of Africa to grow it from them, they didn't take along with them the knowledge of the complex process of nixtamalization. That's the way native peoples prepared corn to make it edible. It removes aflotoxins and makes nutrients in the maize more accessible.
In areas in Africa where maize replaced what they'd been growing, famines skyrocketed because they didn't know how to eat/process the corn
Maize is another good example of this. When white people took corn with them and forced parts of Africa to grow it from them, they didn't take along with them the knowledge of the complex process of nixtamalization. That's the way native peoples prepared corn to make it edible. It removes aflotoxins and makes nutrients in the maize more accessible.
In areas in Africa where maize replaced what they'd been growing, famines skyrocketed because they didn't know how to eat/process the corn
To be clear, corn is not toxic when untreated, unless it's infected with some fungus. Regular yellow cornmeal isn't nixtamalized and is safe to eat. It just leaves you with vitamin deficiency if you don't have another appropriate source of vitamin B3.
Isn't calcium oxalate the thing that gives kidney stones?
There's a reason we all don't all raise hogs now.
A lot of my family in the Philippines have pigs in their back yard. It's not a set-and-forget affair. You like cleaning up kitty litter? Times the cleanup job by about a million, with a hose, and gumboots.
A lot of my family in the Philippines have pigs in their back yard. It's not a set-and-forget affair. You like cleaning up kitty litter? Times the cleanup job by about a million, with a hose, and gumboots.
When I grew up we raised a few pigs each year until I was 14. I don’t recall the cleaning being too demanding at all, and it was done by my siblings and I after school.
What I remember as a distinct challenge is the horrible experience of killing them and then butchering them. That was the worst “clean up”. Pigs are really wonderful animals when given the right treatment and environment. They’re very sweet, excitable, intelligent beings. They’re also maybe the hardest thing to catch when they inevitably escape their pens.
What I remember as a distinct challenge is the horrible experience of killing them and then butchering them. That was the worst “clean up”. Pigs are really wonderful animals when given the right treatment and environment. They’re very sweet, excitable, intelligent beings. They’re also maybe the hardest thing to catch when they inevitably escape their pens.
When I was a kid we had one that loved to roll on its back and get a tummy scratch. That one had a distinct personality. We were all very sad when it was time to butcher it. Then there are all the anecdotes every year when the pig would run away and my father or uncle would chase it with the hammer or axe to knock it out. Around here all the slaughters traditionally happened in a few days in November so the whole village would be echoing with squeals. The smells were intensive, images of intestines, scalding and scraping... It was really overwhelming for me as a child.
(more context on wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pig_slaughter#Former_Yugoslavi...)
Wow... It's so weird to read "we were all very sad when it was time to butcher it." I've raised three pigs. One of them passed, due to a fatal illness that was likely a genetic defect. All of them have personalities and their interpersonal engagements are fascinating. I had to put down an aggressive rooster and it had me in tears. I can't imagine how disturbing it would be to put down a pig (I still feel sad about the one who passed. she was incredible). Do you still eat pork?
I don't eat meat except for fish, but my family still does very much so. It's just not economically sound to keep the animal if you don't intend to kill it for meat. Especially for older generations here who grew up in poverty and experienced real hunger.
It depends on how intensive the setup is.
My grandparents had about 3 pigs, 2 cows and one horse in a common animal yard, covered in large, raised river stone, and a yard within the yard just for the pigs. The pigs also had a separate stable room for sleeping (really dirty indeed) and the cows and horse would sleep together in the same stable room (even though they had available individual rooms, I guess the horse didn't like to sleep alone).
I think they cleaned the pig yard every couple of weeks; they had to clean the stables every few days and the common animal yard once per season.
It was common in older days that pigs were raised in communal mountain herds, they were semi-wild, foraging in the woods, mostly on beech nuts, but they would return in the evening at a common stable/den.
Anyway, cleaning wasn't the hardest part, imho, but bringing water and hay/food for the larger animals was, especially in bad weather.
I find it astonishing how little "foreign" food the pigs required. It was scraps from us and special nutritious weeds from vegetable gardens. In later years people started intensively feeding the pigs and they do get higher yields/less work.
My grandparents had about 3 pigs, 2 cows and one horse in a common animal yard, covered in large, raised river stone, and a yard within the yard just for the pigs. The pigs also had a separate stable room for sleeping (really dirty indeed) and the cows and horse would sleep together in the same stable room (even though they had available individual rooms, I guess the horse didn't like to sleep alone).
I think they cleaned the pig yard every couple of weeks; they had to clean the stables every few days and the common animal yard once per season.
It was common in older days that pigs were raised in communal mountain herds, they were semi-wild, foraging in the woods, mostly on beech nuts, but they would return in the evening at a common stable/den.
Anyway, cleaning wasn't the hardest part, imho, but bringing water and hay/food for the larger animals was, especially in bad weather.
I find it astonishing how little "foreign" food the pigs required. It was scraps from us and special nutritious weeds from vegetable gardens. In later years people started intensively feeding the pigs and they do get higher yields/less work.
My pigs do a decent job of mowing parts of the back acreage. They prefer to hang near the house for shade (still need to finish building the stalls in th barn). We give them pig feed and fresh fruits/vegetables but they're purpose built eaters, so they just graze and graze. Keeping them warm in the TX freeze last year took aot of work but that was a freak incident (for now). Access to fresh water (dog pools) and lots of grassy acreage means they can pretty well take care of themselves.
Ahh yes, carrying food out for pigs was always a work out. Their pen was only 50 meters or so from our house, but the buckets of scraps and feed felt like they were 200 pounds as a kid. And there were several of them. Haha, all good memories. Pigs get so excited when the food shows up.
Our next door neighbour (in a semi-rural area in Kent in the UK) is raising two pigs right now. They have an enclosure 10m x 10m, and they only poop in one corner. They have done a great job of turning the earth over though.
We're also lucky in that our village butchers also has an abattoir round the back so they only need to be taken two miles away to be killed.
We're also lucky in that our village butchers also has an abattoir round the back so they only need to be taken two miles away to be killed.
Yeah, this is a really high-maintenance animal. Besides the fact that you’d have to kill it at some point of its life for meat.
I think that a goat might be a better idea. I love goat milk products, so no killing is necessary to make keeping them worthwhile. They are also cute!
I think that a goat might be a better idea. I love goat milk products, so no killing is necessary to make keeping them worthwhile. They are also cute!
You don't have to kill them. They're great pets. With a decent sized yard, the mess is minimal. We periodically scoop where the kids play but that's it. My ground is more fertile for it.
You also have to remove the male testicles if you want to eat their meat/if you have multiple males.
My grandfather used to do it for the whole village and his only reward was the testicles themselves, which I remember were quite tasty when properly grilled :)
My grandfather used to do it for the whole village and his only reward was the testicles themselves, which I remember were quite tasty when properly grilled :)
Ughh...
I exited after 15s of watching the embedded, auto-loading video at the top of the article. Around then, I realized this video was irrelevant.
I exited after 15s of watching the embedded, auto-loading video at the top of the article. Around then, I realized this video was irrelevant.
What an awful website. Auto-play videos, numerous pop-ups. Ick.
Everyone used to be at risk of trichinosis as well, from feeding their hogs shit and garbage.
I'm always curious about native foods so I looked this up. The plant is probably Peltandra virginica, which was supposedly eaten by indigenous people.
> The plant is rich in calcium oxylate, this is toxic and if consumed makes the mouth and digestive tract feel as though hundreds of tiny needles are being stuck into it. However, calcium oxylate is easily destroyed by thoroughly cooking or drying the plant https://practicalplants.org/wiki/Peltandra_virginica
I assume they mean calcium oxalate, which is also present in many food crops that must be cooked (e.g. taro root and the fruit of the peach palm).