Broad-leaf Cattail or Bulrush - It's What's for Dinner

Any coverage of edibles in Texas should include the pervasive Cattails.  The type most often seen in this area are Typha latifolia, the Broad leaf Cattail or Bulrush.  It's a perennial, herbaceous plant native in all states in the U.S., excluding Hawaii where it is considered a noxious weed and is not native.  It typically grows in water less than 2.6 feet deep.

Photo: www.discoverlife.org

Warning: Cattail roots should not be eaten raw!  

They are remarkable at pulling toxins from water sources.  If the plants are growing in polluted water, don't use cattails for food.  Runoff from roads, lead from auto exhaust and pesticides are all possible sources of contamination.  

They can be harvested in any season.  Researchers at Syracuse University found that they furnish calcium and their starch contains as much protein as corn or rice and more carbohydrate than potatoes.  

Join Rosalee and Xavier de la Foret as they venture into a Cattail swamp to demonstrate how to harvest and prepare Cattails.  This is the first video of 6 very interesting videos in their series of Cattail preparation videos:

A map of where Typha latifolia can be found. 
(sourced at www.discoverlife.org)

The flower spikes resemble corn dogs placed end to end.  The top cluster is of male flowers and the bottom cluster, females.  Remove the papery sheath surrounding the flowers.  Boil the clusters for a few minutes, and you can eat them like corn on the cob, coated with goat butter.  Cattail-on-the-cob's core of the cluster is hard and inedible.  

Kingdom: Plantae         Division: Magnoliophyta 
                Class: Liliopsida 
                        Order: Typhales                                 Family: Typhaceae                                         Genus: Typha L.                                                Species: Typha latifolia                                           ScientificName                                                   Typha latifolia                          
Common Name                                               Broad leaf Cattail     

Resources:                                           

http://eol.org/pages/526590/overview

http://www.discoverlife.org/mp/20m?map=Typha+latifolia
USDA Plants Database: Typha latifolia L.
Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center Native Plant Database
Edible and Useful Plants of Texas and the Southwest, Delena Tull
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Typha_latifolia

How We Got Here - Our Food Forest Dream

Today, we established our DBA (doing business as)  for the food forest retreat we have been working toward obtaining.  Of course, it is not a food forest or a retreat yet; but dream it, research it, live it and it will be.

We hope to use this blog to document our adventure, allow others to learn from our successes and mistakes, and educate our soon-to-be child.  We also hope to use this as a reference for ourselves, our future students and those who share our vision.

How we got here:  We both have an interest in permaculture and food forest gardening.  We've been seeking to find ways to integrate ourselves, our communities and their communities into to a more balanced, healthy co-existence with each other, our planet and it's gifts. 

Samantha became interested in Bill Mollison's work in the years she was in Argentina and Erik did when  travelling in Northern California.  Bill is the one who coined the term permaculture.  We study his work, and the work of Graham Bell, Patrick Whitefield, Dave Jacke, Eric Toensmeier, Geoff Lawton and Robert Hart's 7-layer system. 

We not only appreciate Robert Hart's insights, but his guiding principles of democratically organized, small, self-sustaining communities.   There are few better places to start learning about the seven-layer system than from him.  Here is a rare interview with him that inspired/inspires us:  

My favorite line from this video: "The high art of organic growing is producing really good compost."

Foliar sprays of seaweed, liquid comfrey, and liquid nettles are used to feed the plants. These mixtures don't destroy bugs and germs, but build up disease resistence and pest resistance of the plants.  

Natural forests can be divided into distinct layers. Hart developed an existing small orchard of apples and pears into an edible landscape consisting of seven dimensions:

1. A 'canopy' layer consisting of original mature fruit trees. 
2. A 'low-tree' layer of smaller nut and fruit trees on dwarfing root stocks. 
3. A 'shrub' layer of fruit bushes such as currants and berries. 
4. An 'herbaceous' layer of perennial vegetables and herbs. 
5. A 'ground cover' layer of edible plants that spread horizontally. 
6. A 'rhizosphere' or 'underground' dimension of plants grown for their roots and tubers. 
7. A 'vertical' layer of vines and climbers. 

"No epicure dish served at the most expensive restaurant can compare with fresh fruit, organically grown without chemicals, picked from one's own garden." (Robert Hart, 1913 - 2000)