Exploring the many gifts offered by Shagbark Hickory in the context of Food Forest Design. This is Installment #17 of the Stacking Functions in the Garden, Food Forest and Medicine Cabinet series.
It would be great if we could incorporate some of this into real "Earth Science" classes taught in school. Young people would grow up with a better appreciation of our natural environment and not want to destroy it with (unrecyclable, heavily cemented anchored) windmills for example. They would also lean toward natural cures as opposed to Big Pharma. Maybe it's wishful thinking, but I'm sowng seeds here. Perhaps homeschooling course.
Well I consider your suggestion to include this material in an education curriculum to be a flattering compliment, so thanks for that, but ya, I agree. I wish that I would have learned this stuff in school rather than have to go do field research and dig in obscure archeology science journals and books to figure it out for myself.
I suppose if I put myself in the shoes of someone that knows these truths, and yet is also invested in perpetuating the status quo, to educate children about the ancient food forests of Turtle Island would tug on a very central thread that holds together the lie of the story that portrays the superiority of the European culture and tells of how they brought "order" and "civilization" to a continent that was "just wasted wilderness".
If they were to educate children about the regenerative agroforestry practices that once fed the people in these lands with so much less effort and with so much more diverse and nutrient dense food than today, this would mean re-writing all the social studies books as well, and the farming books, and the history books, and it would mean undermining the story that supports massive industry's profits (which pay for many universities curriculum, manipulating texts to support their narrative, like Big Ag, Big Pharma etc).
If they were to just teach this one thing about food forest and their history here, it would essentially awaken those kids to the fact that they have been sold a lie on many fronts, and that "explorers" did not enrich this land or culture here, nor did they bring advanced agriculture, nor advanced social ideals but rather (in many if not most cases) they degenerated, stole and then re-packaged all those things which were already extant here, in diverse forms, into a rather primitive monoculture statist sad imitation. Re=packaged as "the shining beacon of freedom that is modern western democracy" and the "green revolution" what the governments in the west advertise themselves to be is really a knock off of a much more ancient and equitable system of governance, and our industrial monoculture farming systems are wasteful and pathetic when it comes to the elegance, efficiency and longevity of a food forest.
I would love to meet the rebel teacher that would share this info anyways though! :)
and I dig your homeschool idea, thanks for the comment.
I lived for 8 years or so in the company of shagbarks in KY and would have loved to no so much if their natural history then! But better late than never, I’m in California now though. I am making my way through the Kat Anderson book now!
We have shag bark hickory on the Missouri River bluffs here in southeast Nebraska! Bur Oak, Shagbark Hickory, Bitternut Hickory, Paw Paw, and Iron wood!
It would be great if we could incorporate some of this into real "Earth Science" classes taught in school. Young people would grow up with a better appreciation of our natural environment and not want to destroy it with (unrecyclable, heavily cemented anchored) windmills for example. They would also lean toward natural cures as opposed to Big Pharma. Maybe it's wishful thinking, but I'm sowng seeds here. Perhaps homeschooling course.
Well I consider your suggestion to include this material in an education curriculum to be a flattering compliment, so thanks for that, but ya, I agree. I wish that I would have learned this stuff in school rather than have to go do field research and dig in obscure archeology science journals and books to figure it out for myself.
I suppose if I put myself in the shoes of someone that knows these truths, and yet is also invested in perpetuating the status quo, to educate children about the ancient food forests of Turtle Island would tug on a very central thread that holds together the lie of the story that portrays the superiority of the European culture and tells of how they brought "order" and "civilization" to a continent that was "just wasted wilderness".
If they were to educate children about the regenerative agroforestry practices that once fed the people in these lands with so much less effort and with so much more diverse and nutrient dense food than today, this would mean re-writing all the social studies books as well, and the farming books, and the history books, and it would mean undermining the story that supports massive industry's profits (which pay for many universities curriculum, manipulating texts to support their narrative, like Big Ag, Big Pharma etc).
If they were to just teach this one thing about food forest and their history here, it would essentially awaken those kids to the fact that they have been sold a lie on many fronts, and that "explorers" did not enrich this land or culture here, nor did they bring advanced agriculture, nor advanced social ideals but rather (in many if not most cases) they degenerated, stole and then re-packaged all those things which were already extant here, in diverse forms, into a rather primitive monoculture statist sad imitation. Re=packaged as "the shining beacon of freedom that is modern western democracy" and the "green revolution" what the governments in the west advertise themselves to be is really a knock off of a much more ancient and equitable system of governance, and our industrial monoculture farming systems are wasteful and pathetic when it comes to the elegance, efficiency and longevity of a food forest.
I would love to meet the rebel teacher that would share this info anyways though! :)
and I dig your homeschool idea, thanks for the comment.
This was amazing, thank you.
I lived for 8 years or so in the company of shagbarks in KY and would have loved to no so much if their natural history then! But better late than never, I’m in California now though. I am making my way through the Kat Anderson book now!
Glad you resonated with the content, thanks for the comment.
We have shag bark hickory on the Missouri River bluffs here in southeast Nebraska! Bur Oak, Shagbark Hickory, Bitternut Hickory, Paw Paw, and Iron wood!
That is awesome man!, have you ever tried eating a Hickory Nut?
No! Should give it a shot?
ya man, they are even better than pecans, but bring a hammer those nuts are tough to crack! :)