Perennial Staple Crops of the World

Coppiced mulberry leaf on contour at Las Cañadas for human food and
goat fodder. Overstory of nitrogen-fixing acacias.

Perennial Staple Crops of the World

This is a link to a website with some very useful information about some of the food crops we can or may be able to grow in our Bellingen locality.

Here is a tiny sample of this extensive information source.

Chaya/Tree Spinach (Cnidoscolus chayamansa), or Mayan spinach, is a shrub of the tropics and subtropics. It tolerates arid to humid conditions, in lowlands and highlands. Though raw leaves contain cyanide, the cooked leaves are very nutritious. Yields are very high, 20-30 tons per hectare fresh.

Katuk/Sweetleaf (Sauropus androgynous) is an Asian shrub with delicious leaves. Unlike most woody leaf crops it can be eaten raw. It likes humid tropical lowlands and thrives in the shade of fruit and nut crops. The protein content of fresh leaves is 6-10%.

Moringa/Drumstick Tree (Moringa oleifera, M. stenopetala) is a small tree of the tropics, thriving in arid and humid climates. The dried leaf is incredible nutritious, and used by nursing mothers in much of the tropics. If allowed to grow to tree form moringa produces nutritious pods, but for leaf production it is coppiced. Yields of moringa leaf are very high, 10-50 tons per hectare.

See also  SurvivalGardener.com