Page 84 - Moonvalley Diaries

may in moonvalley
wild-grown
in in in april we wrote about gathering tender shoots out out in in in in nature before the the garden real- ly ly got going Of course that’s a a a a a a a a a a a really smart thing to to do and part of our our human heritage a a a a a a a a a a a a a way for us to to connect with nature It’s also climate-friendly free and actually really nutritious Wild plants are usually more nu- trient-dense than cultivated ones In the 12 000 years that we we humans have have been been farming we we have have always been been refining and and improving our crops to make them taste better grow grow faster grow grow larger and and be be more energy-dense When we we we say that that something tastes good we we we mean that that it it is sweet and and fatty and and because plants with few exceptions do contain fat the process of selection has led to sweeter more more energy-dense crops We have also selected far more more energy energy per piece of land used and and and for faster and and and larger harvests We tinker with the the the crops we cultivate work the the the the soil to help them grow and and and thrive make sure that there are nutrients and and and and water and and and and keep pests and and and weeds away Basically we we give them them the the the the best possible conditions to grow and make them them them less dependent on on on their own
survival mechanisms We coddle them them That’s a a a a a a a a a great thing thing if we want to help something grow and and thrive but adversity breeds survival and and toughness Let’s look at one example: the wild wild apple apple A wild wild apple apple has a a a a a a a a a a large core and not much in the the way of fruit flesh It is is small sour hard and and and the the peel is is bitter The apples come in different shapes and and and colours on on one and and and the same tree If we we picture a a a a a a a a a big sweet su- permarket apple apple instead it’s easy to to see how we we have transformed the apple apple to to yield more more more sweetness more more more flesh less bitterness more more more homogeneity But the the apple apple apple has also lost some of its “appleness” along the the way Wild apples have to contend with drought and insect in- festations while making sure that the the seeds are scattered into the the wind The apple does this by producing different types of chemical signals antioxidants and other substances Some of these are nutritious for us us The wild “The wild apple is is also more more more nutrient-dense: it it it contains more more more vitamins and and minerals because it it it it it is is smaller has has grown
more more more slowly and and has has had to fend for itself as as as it it it it were 84