WEBVTT

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I've been exploring food for about a

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decade, since 2011, when I woke up to

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the globalized, industrialized food system

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and realized it was basically causing

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destruction to everything that I loved.

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To people, to the planet, to other

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species. The thing was I realized it was

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not just the globalized, industrialized

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food system, but I was a part of that.

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Everything that I was eating was being

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shipped long distances across the world.

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It was in packages, in plastic that was

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leaving trash behind for future

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generations. It was sprayed with

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pesticides. it was animals raised in

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horrible conditions. I realized I was a

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part of all of that. That was back in

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2011. I decided I was going to change

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my life to eat in a way that didn't

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consume the planet, but actually helped

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the planet. I had a big question from the

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from the very beginning, but it was a far

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off question. "Would it be possible to

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actually step away from this globalized,

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industrialized food system?" "Would it be

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possible to step away from big ag and

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actually produce all of my own food?"

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"Could I grow and forage one-hundred

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percent of my food?" That has been a

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question for about eight years now. About

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two years ago I decided I was actually

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going to find the answer to that question

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not just by looking at the internet,

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which I did and I could not find anyone

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doing it . I decided I was going to find

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the answer by doing it and seeing if it

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was possible. Could I grow and forage

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everything that I eat for an entire year?

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Nothing packaged or processed, nothing

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shipped long distances, no pesticides,

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literally knowing every ingredient that I

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put in my body, including the medicine as

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well (my food being my medicine).That is

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why I ended up in Orlando Florida.That is

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why I'm here today. I'm standing here

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because I finished the year two days ago.

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Today is the second day after growing and

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foraging one-hundred percent of my food.

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(crowd claps and cheers)

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Proof that it is indeed possible!

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I am the one standing here tonight, but I

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am only proof that the community can do

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this. There is no way that I could have

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done this without the people in this

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room. Orlando Permaculture being a big

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big part of it. Hundreds of people! It

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took hundreds of people to feed me, not

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by bringing my food to me, or farming it

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for me, but through the knowledge, the

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education, the spending time with people,

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getting plants from people. The only

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reason I was able to do this is because

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of the community. Why Orlando? Why did I

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choose to live in Orlando? I was passing

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through here for the first time in 2016.

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I was invited to speak connected with

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Orlando Permaculture and Fleet Farming.

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My partner at the time, Cheryl and I just

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felt welcomed here. We had been travelling

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all over. We had not felt more welcome

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than right here. We were telling people

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that we were looking for a spot to

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possibly settle down and I had this

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project in mind. People said "Yeah, come

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here!" We felt very welcomed, but also the

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thing that I liked about Orlando is there

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is a community, but there's a blossoming

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community. I wanted to be in a place where

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I could affect positive change. That did

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not mean, for me, being in Berkeley

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California where there's already a lot

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of change makers. I could make a

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difference, but there is already a lot

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going on, but not rural Alabama where

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people would not really listen to me.

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Central Florida and Orlando is this great

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great middle ground right now where there

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are a lot of people (as you can see in

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this room) that really care about this.

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We all know where we are. We are in

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Orlando, one extremely consumer-istic

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city. That was one of the reasons that I

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chose Orlando.I felt it was the right

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place to make a difference. The other

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part was the year-round growing season.

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I thought that if I have a chance to do

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this Orlando is a really good place to

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give it my first shot. The reason why I

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wanted to do it in one of the easier

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places is because going into this, I had

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next to no actual growing experience.

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When I moved to Orlando, before this I had

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only had a couple of small raised beds

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back in San Diego.I grew a little bit of

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greens, some herbs and some tomatoes. I

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looked back at that and all the mistakes

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I was making were just crazy. There was

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a tomato hornworm and I thought that it

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that it was so cute. I loved it. I let it

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eat my tomatoes, my tomato plant. Tonight

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I was going through my old photos to find

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photos to show you.This is the small,

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little greenhouse that I made when I first

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got here. I look back and I know how

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little I knew then, because there's no

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sunlight hitting this greenhouse. This is

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is under a balcony. There's no way those

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plants would grow. When I moved here I

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did not know how much water to put on

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seeds, I did not know how much sunlight a

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garden needed. I was just figuring out all

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of the most basic things. I was trying to

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do it quickly.My plan was to have six

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months of getting here before I started

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my year of growing and foraging all of my

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of my food. I had another big problem,

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and that was that I did not own any land.

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I arrived here not only not knowing how

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to grow food, but also not owning any

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land, and also not having a lot of

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experience in the state of Florida. I had

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I had been coming here since I was

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sixteen, fishing and things like that,

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but never had paid attention to the

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plants. I certainly had never grown any

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any food here. I was new to growing, I

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was especially new to Florida and I

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I arrived here with just backpack.

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Everything I owned fit into a backpack

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and I had a few connections. I met Sarah

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right here at this church at a Fleet

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Farming dinner when I passed through.

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When I got here she was one of the first

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people that I talked to. I said "Hey

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Sarah, what do you think about me staying

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in your guest bedroom and turning your

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your yard into a garden in exchange?"

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That is what I did, This is Sarah's front

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yard two years ago. As you can see,

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Sarah's yard was grass but she had a

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dream. That dream was to turn it into an

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abundant garden.This picture was taken

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about a month ago.Today I actually had a

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really beautiful experience, I was

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standing right about where you see me

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now. I realized I was way higher up than

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the land around me. You can see where I

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am, and you can see the sidewalk. You can

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see there's quite a bit of height there.

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I dug down to see what was below me.

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What it started with was sand. Most of

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you live around here.You know that we are

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basically a former beach, a former ocean

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under the water.Starting with sand I had

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to turn that into a garden. Two years

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later, I started to dig down, today. It

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was nothing but black loamy soil for

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about six to eight inches. The reason I

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was standing that high is because that is

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all fertility that was created over the

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last two years. I'm going to show you how

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I managed to turn front yards into

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gardens as one of the things today. As

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far as preparation, the idea was that I

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was going to give myself six months to

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prepare before I was going to launch into

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into growing and foraging all of my food.

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The reason I was so quick about it was

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because I've been a travelling person for

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really the last, kind of forever. At

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least since 2011, I have never stayed in

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one place where I could really grow food.

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That was one of the reasons I didn't

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know the answer to that question: "Could

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I grow and forage all my food?" When I

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lived in San Diego I traveled six months

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months of the year. Before that I was

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consistently traveling. I did not think I

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I would want to stay here for too long.

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That is why I gave myself six months to

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prepare, then a year living here. That

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would be eighteen months staying put,

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which would be the longest that I had

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stayed put since I became unable to stay

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put, I suppose. I gave myself six months.

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I started trying to figure things out.

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I connected with local resources. One of

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the first places I came was here to

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Orlando Permaculture. I started to buy

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local seeds. I searched out local seed

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companies. I search out local nurseries.

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I went to classes like "Foraging with

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Green Dean" and Andy Firk. I went to the

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local earth skills gathering and any

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opportunity I had. I found local books.

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I found websites like Eat the Weeds and

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Survival Gardener. I tried to soak in as

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much knowledge as I could. It was

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basically my full-time job to try to

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figure out how to grow and forage all of

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my food. These are some of the beginning

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plants, getting some trays and starting

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to plant seeds. I accumulated everything

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one little bit at a time. Some of the

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seeds were brought from companies in

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other in other parts of the United States

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like Baker's Creek Seed Company, for

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for example. Most of it was local. Some

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of it was Palmer's dumpster, for example,

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down the street from here. That is where

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I got my sweet potato slips to start of

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with The six months turned into a little

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bit longer. It ended up ten months before

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I actually decided to get started. "Grow

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Food Not Lawns," that's probably a saying

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that all of you have heard before, but

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that was really my core to being able to

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do this here. Being in the city of

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Orlando poses challenges compared to

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being on say, a farm, having that small

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space. What I did was I met people in the

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community and just like I did with Sarah,

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I put six plots through out this

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neighborhood, the Audubon Park

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neighborhood where I grew my food. I had

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that spread out in different areas. This

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was the first garden.This is probably a

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month into the project. I can see I was a

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a little fatter before this year started.

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I lost a little bit of weight. The idea of

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"growing food not lawns," I like to keep

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things pretty simple. I am going share a

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little bit about how to turn your yard

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into a garden. For that there are six

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basic ingredients: cardboard, mulch, soil

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or compost, water, sun, and plants, the

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basics to turning a yard into a garden.

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First, you lay down cardboard. You can

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get cardboard for free from dumpsters,

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grocery stores, restaurants, and liquor

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stores If you go to appliance shops that

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sell things like refrigerators your job

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Twill be a lot easier because they have

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huge pieces of cardboard. Take all the

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tape off. Take the staples off and lay

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that down. The idea of that is to kill

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the grass. Every plant needs to

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photosynthesize and if it has no sun, it

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it can't create energy and it will die

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over time. That cardboard would not stay

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not stay put on its own. It is just the

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first ingredient. Over that you lay

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mulch. You lay about one foot of mulch.

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You can see the mulch here. One of the

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big focuses of this is "How can we

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utilize resources that would otherwise

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be completely wasted and do things in a

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very inexpensive way?". Mulch is actually

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the waste product of tree trimming and

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tree cutting down companies. A lot of the

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of the time, they actually take that to

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the landfill. It is something they have

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to deal with. Instead, you can get them

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to dump it into your yard. You can do

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that through websites like getchipdrop.com.

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I will have all of the resources listed

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at the end. If you see one of those

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companies, you can just walk up to them

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in your neighborhood and say, "Hey, do

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you want to dump that right on my front

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yard?" Cardboard, mulch, the reason that

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you have mulch are many. One, it

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suppresses the grass to turn your yard

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into a garden. Mulch holds in moisture.

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Your lawn, if there is nothing there,

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when it rains most of it runs right off

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into the street. You loose that

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opportunity Mulch holds that in. The

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other thing mulch does is it breaks down

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over time into soil. It also creates an

00:13:12.266 --> 00:13:15.097
environment where microorganisms and

00:13:15.097 --> 00:13:17.689
fungi, which are very important to

00:13:17.689 --> 00:13:21.051
plants. It prevents erosion and holds in

00:13:21.051 --> 00:13:23.331
nutrients. It has many, many functions.

00:13:23.331 --> 00:13:27.922
The third ingredient is compost, or soil.

00:13:27.922 --> 00:13:29.046
If you are living in a place like

00:13:29.046 --> 00:13:31.325
Wisconsin, where I am from, there is a

00:13:31.325 --> 00:13:33.487
lot of very rich soil and that might not

00:13:33.487 --> 00:13:35.712
be needed. If you have a sandy yard, you

00:13:35.712 --> 00:13:39.441
need to bring in some nutrients. I got

00:13:39.441 --> 00:13:40.841
mushroom compost, which is a resource

00:13:40.841 --> 00:13:43.340
that we are blessed to have in Central

00:13:43.340 --> 00:13:45.539
Florida. It is a waste product of the

00:13:45.539 --> 00:13:48.639
mushrooms that many of us buy at the

00:13:48.639 --> 00:13:51.504
grocery stores. Mushroom compost was my

00:13:51.504 --> 00:13:55.209
growing medium. Then sun, that is freely

00:13:55.209 --> 00:13:56.937
available to us. There is not much we

00:13:56.937 --> 00:13:59.278
have to do there. Water. Also something

00:13:59.278 --> 00:14:01.073
that can be freely available to us from

00:14:01.073 --> 00:14:03.076
the sky. We live in a place where we get

00:14:03.076 --> 00:14:06.046
get a good amount of water year-round.

00:14:06.046 --> 00:14:07.901
Even our dry time of the year, we still

00:14:07.901 --> 00:14:09.804
get about three inches of rain per year.

00:14:09.804 --> 00:14:11.407
If you are doing rain water harvesting,

00:14:11.407 --> 00:14:14.043
you can capture a whole lot of that. The

00:14:14.043 --> 00:14:16.816
other ingredients would be plants. You

00:14:16.816 --> 00:14:20.961
can start from seeds, cuttings, and

00:14:20.961 --> 00:14:25.093
buying potted plants. There are probably

00:14:25.093 --> 00:14:26.436
some other ways to do it. I am still kind

00:14:26.436 --> 00:14:28.015
of a rookie. I should say that from the

00:14:28.015 --> 00:14:32.333
beginning. That is the basic ingredients

00:14:32.333 --> 00:14:33.491
and that is what I did to turn the front

00:14:33.491 --> 00:14:35.835
yards into gardens. What were the

00:14:35.835 --> 00:14:38.138
guidelines for this project of growing

00:14:38.138 --> 00:14:40.578
and foraging all of my food? What that

00:14:40.578 --> 00:14:43.418
meant is obviously, no grocery stores, no

00:14:43.418 --> 00:14:47.317
restaurants. That included my medicine,

00:14:47.317 --> 00:14:50.892
so, no pharmacy. I had to grow or forage

00:14:50.892 --> 00:14:53.365
my own medicines as well. A lot of people

00:14:53.365 --> 00:14:56.142
know me for having done a lot of dumpster

00:14:56.142 --> 00:14:57.792
diving to raise awareness about food

00:14:57.792 --> 00:14:59.452
waste. Some people call that urban

00:14:59.452 --> 00:15:01.625
foraging, but for this project that did

00:15:01.625 --> 00:15:06.224
not count as foraging. The idea was, I

00:15:06.224 --> 00:15:07.611
had already learned in the past that I

00:15:07.611 --> 00:15:10.061
could live solely off food from grocery

00:15:10.061 --> 00:15:12.848
store dumpsters. I wanted to step

00:15:12.848 --> 00:15:14.897
away from big ag and see if I could live

00:15:14.897 --> 00:15:16.630
independently of that, which would not

00:15:16.630 --> 00:15:19.486
mean eating those foods from dumpsters.

00:15:19.486 --> 00:15:22.240
No dumpster diving. No drinks at a bar.

00:15:22.240 --> 00:15:25.077
no eating food from a friend's pantry.

00:15:25.077 --> 00:15:27.615
No going to my friends' food forests,

00:15:27.615 --> 00:15:29.726
because let's face it, if I ate at the

00:15:29.726 --> 00:15:32.992
food forest life would have been too

00:15:32.992 --> 00:15:35.413
easy. I would not have learned nearly as

00:15:35.413 --> 00:15:37.053
much because this is Orlando Permaculture

00:15:37.053 --> 00:15:39.698
there is dozens of food forests that I

00:15:39.698 --> 00:15:42.958
could visit. No food forests. I literally

00:15:42.958 --> 00:15:45.232
had to grow or forage everything for the

00:15:45.232 --> 00:15:49.992
entire year. This picture is on day one.

00:15:49.992 --> 00:15:53.919
That was November 11, 2018. You would

00:15:53.919 --> 00:15:57.134
think when I finally began that I would

00:15:57.134 --> 00:16:00.143
have maybe, eaten quite a few meals that

00:16:00.143 --> 00:16:04.500
I had completely grow and foraged, but I

00:16:04.500 --> 00:16:06.717
had a lot going on. My first meal was the

00:16:06.717 --> 00:16:09.273
first meal that I had ever eating one-

00:16:09.273 --> 00:16:11.989
hundred percent grown or foraged. When I

00:16:11.989 --> 00:16:13.443
started on day one, I was definitely in

00:16:13.443 --> 00:16:16.127
on the deep end. Jumping into the deep

00:16:16.127 --> 00:16:19.289
end. Where did I live during this time?

00:16:19.289 --> 00:16:22.981
My goal was originally to live off-grid

00:16:22.981 --> 00:16:24.876
in the city and do all of this off the

00:16:24.876 --> 00:16:28.899
grid as well. Over time, I realized that

00:16:28.899 --> 00:16:30.194
off the grid would have been a whole

00:16:30.194 --> 00:16:32.428
other level of the challenge that I was

00:16:32.428 --> 00:16:34.569
not quite able to do. I was not off the

00:16:34.569 --> 00:16:36.696
grid, but what I did is I built a tiny

00:16:36.696 --> 00:16:38.920
house homestead. You can see it in the

00:16:38.920 --> 00:16:42.023
back yard here. This is the drone shot.

00:16:42.023 --> 00:16:44.769
Here is another picture of it from closer

00:16:44.769 --> 00:16:47.867
up. The idea was to try to live in a way

00:16:47.867 --> 00:16:49.795
where I was living as much as possible

00:16:49.795 --> 00:16:52.622
in harmony with the earth, here in the

00:16:52.622 --> 00:16:55.806
city and in a way that caused as little

00:16:55.806 --> 00:16:59.331
harm to the earth. It might not seem like

00:16:59.331 --> 00:17:01.593
it in the city of Orlando, but we are

00:17:01.593 --> 00:17:04.592
indeed in a natural environment, of

00:17:04.592 --> 00:17:05.975
sorts. Even though there is concrete

00:17:05.975 --> 00:17:08.822
around, everywhere is nature. We are

00:17:08.822 --> 00:17:11.820
nature. Even being in the city of Orlando

00:17:11.820 --> 00:17:13.868
my idea was to be as integrated as

00:17:13.868 --> 00:17:17.206
possible with the elements as I could,

00:17:17.206 --> 00:17:21.321
to actually use resources as effectively

00:17:21.321 --> 00:17:23.819
and as wisely as I could, and improve

00:17:23.819 --> 00:17:26.878
the quality of life around me. At this

00:17:26.878 --> 00:17:29.056
tiny house, a couple of the key things

00:17:29.056 --> 00:17:32.025
for sustainable living: there was a basic

00:17:32.025 --> 00:17:35.524
compost bin, which meant anything like

00:17:35.524 --> 00:17:39.461
food waste, yard waste, paper, cardboard,

00:17:39.461 --> 00:17:41.115
all of that stuff could go right into the

00:17:41.115 --> 00:17:43.625
compost to build fertility for my

00:17:43.625 --> 00:17:46.097
gardens. There was rainwater harvesting.

00:17:46.097 --> 00:17:48.221
My shower was a rainwater harvesting

00:17:48.221 --> 00:17:51.531
system. That water that I used to

00:17:51.531 --> 00:17:52.731
shower, after it came off the roof from

00:17:52.731 --> 00:17:56.966
rain, after it cleaned me, it went onto

00:17:56.966 --> 00:18:00.153
bananas and then could grow bananas. The

00:18:00.153 --> 00:18:02.568
water from my kitchen was also from

00:18:02.568 --> 00:18:04.748
rainwater harvesting. After I washed

00:18:04.748 --> 00:18:07.455
dishes and washed my hands, that went

00:18:07.455 --> 00:18:09.845
behind the sink. That is called gray

00:18:09.845 --> 00:18:12.050
water. Back there I planted taro and

00:18:12.050 --> 00:18:16.698
turmeric. All of that [water] was also

00:18:16.698 --> 00:18:21.286
used to grow food. The idea of this is to

00:18:21.286 --> 00:18:23.506
keep the water on the land. It is the

00:18:23.506 --> 00:18:26.001
opposite idea of a lot of today's

00:18:26.001 --> 00:18:29.759
society. [If] you look at how the gutters

00:18:29.759 --> 00:18:31.870
any the downspouts are set up, it is to

00:18:31.870 --> 00:18:34.958
send the water off of your property into

00:18:34.958 --> 00:18:37.436
the street and then into our storm water

00:18:37.436 --> 00:18:39.820
run-off system. My goal was to try to

00:18:39.820 --> 00:18:42.195
keep as much of that water as possible,

00:18:42.195 --> 00:18:45.423
but still let it flow off during

00:18:45.423 --> 00:18:46.551
hurricanes. I am not talking about

00:18:46.551 --> 00:18:50.476
holding every ounce. That was the idea

00:18:50.476 --> 00:18:52.619
there, as well as fertility. Keeping all

00:18:52.619 --> 00:18:54.548
of that fertility on the land. I also

00:18:54.548 --> 00:18:58.189
had compost toilet, so I could use that.

00:18:58.189 --> 00:19:03.806
Over this year I grew and foraged three-

00:19:03.806 --> 00:19:06.918
hundred different foods. I grew one-

00:19:06.918 --> 00:19:09.446
hundred different foods in my garden and

00:19:09.446 --> 00:19:12.709
two-hundred different foods that I

00:19:12.709 --> 00:19:15.109
foraged. There are three-hundred sixty-

00:19:15.109 --> 00:19:17.213
five days in a year. What that means is

00:19:17.213 --> 00:19:19.313
that I foraged a new food for almost

00:19:19.313 --> 00:19:22.543
every single day of the entire year. That

00:19:22.543 --> 00:19:26.034
is quite a bit of diversity. A lot of

00:19:26.034 --> 00:19:30.960
people imaging that I would be missing

00:19:30.960 --> 00:19:33.312
all of the different tastes and favors,

00:19:33.312 --> 00:19:35.131
but the reality was that between the

00:19:35.131 --> 00:19:37.114
three-hundred different foods that I

00:19:37.114 --> 00:19:40.270
foraged, there was quite the diversity.

00:19:40.270 --> 00:19:42.498
I am going to walk you through that.

00:19:42.498 --> 00:19:46.168
A large part of tonight's focus is how

00:19:46.168 --> 00:19:49.392
you can do this. Not necessarily one-

00:19:49.392 --> 00:19:51.987
hundred percent, that is obviously really

00:19:51.987 --> 00:19:54.368
extreme and very challenging. How you can

00:19:54.368 --> 00:19:57.306
grow and forage, or how you can produce

00:19:57.306 --> 00:19:59.946
as much of your food as you would like

00:19:59.946 --> 00:20:01.850
to. I am going to go into detail with a

00:20:01.850 --> 00:20:05.430
lot of the actual points. One of the

00:20:05.430 --> 00:20:08.146
really important ones: so many people

00:20:08.146 --> 00:20:11.444
dream of self-sufficiency. It is the

00:20:11.444 --> 00:20:14.853
dream of millions of people to grow one-

00:20:14.853 --> 00:20:16.639
hundred percent of their food, to live

00:20:16.639 --> 00:20:18.094
off the land, to never have to take a trip

00:20:18.094 --> 00:20:21.254
to the grocery store. For most of us,

00:20:21.254 --> 00:20:23.534
that is really just a dream because the

00:20:23.534 --> 00:20:27.039
globalized food system is far too easy,

00:20:27.039 --> 00:20:30.565
far too far-reaching, far too convenient

00:20:30.565 --> 00:20:33.225
and alluring. Even the people that are

00:20:33.225 --> 00:20:35.548
largely living off the land, one of the

00:20:35.548 --> 00:20:38.045
biggest challenges is calories, actually

00:20:38.045 --> 00:20:40.511
growing all of your calories. Here in

00:20:40.511 --> 00:20:44.538
Florida. we are not in a grain state.

00:20:44.538 --> 00:20:46.328
You do not see big fields of wheat and

00:20:46.328 --> 00:20:48.479
corn and things like that out here.

00:20:48.479 --> 00:20:51.120
Grains were not going to be the way that

00:20:51.120 --> 00:20:53.252
I was going feed myself, like billions

00:20:53.252 --> 00:20:56.377
of people around the world do. Tubers

00:20:56.377 --> 00:20:58.303
are actually what we have going for

00:20:58.303 --> 00:21:00.944
ourselves in Central Florida. My first

00:21:00.944 --> 00:21:03.045
calorie crop is sweet potato. That is

00:21:03.045 --> 00:21:05.640
what I am holding in my had there. Some

00:21:05.640 --> 00:21:07.393
of the sweet potatoes were like what you

00:21:07.393 --> 00:21:10.016
would see at the store, small ones, but

00:21:10.016 --> 00:21:11.633
the biggest sweet potato was over five

00:21:11.633 --> 00:21:14.159
pounds. Image if you but a five pound

00:21:14.159 --> 00:21:17.730
bag of potatoes, one sweet potato can be

00:21:17.730 --> 00:21:22.338
that big or even larger. In a small area,

00:21:22.338 --> 00:21:27.198
definitely smaller than this stage, I

00:21:27.198 --> 00:21:29.227
grew about five-hundred pounds of sweet

00:21:29.227 --> 00:21:31.944
potato. It is truly one of the most

00:21:31.944 --> 00:21:35.252
powerful crops we have here in Central

00:21:35.252 --> 00:21:38.646
Florida. Not only can you eat the tubers,

00:21:38.646 --> 00:21:40.471
the potatoes themselves, but the greens

00:21:40.471 --> 00:21:43.627
are also edible. What I was told is that

00:21:43.627 --> 00:21:48.687
sweet potatoes are the most useful, as

00:21:48.687 --> 00:21:50.475
far as any crop goes, you can get more

00:21:50.475 --> 00:21:53.652
out of that per acre that any other crop

00:21:53.652 --> 00:21:55.973
that is grown because of the calories

00:21:55.973 --> 00:21:57.667
from the potato and then the nutrients

00:21:57.667 --> 00:21:59.850
from the greens. It is really important

00:21:59.850 --> 00:22:01.732
to look at all of the elements in the

00:22:01.732 --> 00:22:04.160
plant because most people who bought

00:22:04.160 --> 00:22:05.869
sweet potatoes at the store have never

00:22:05.869 --> 00:22:08.339
eaten a sweet potato green, but it is a

00:22:08.339 --> 00:22:12.329
really, really useful resource. Sweet

00:22:12.329 --> 00:22:14.540
potatoes were one of my main crops. Then,

00:22:14.540 --> 00:22:16.922
yuca is another one, also called

00:22:16.922 --> 00:22:19.815
cassava. Now, what you will see tonight

00:22:19.815 --> 00:22:21.146
with a lot of the plants that I am going

00:22:21.146 --> 00:22:24.484
to show you is that these are plants that

00:22:24.484 --> 00:22:27.430
most people in Caribbean cuisines and a

00:22:27.430 --> 00:22:28.987
lot of Central and South American

00:22:28.987 --> 00:22:31.537
cuisines, these are staple crops to

00:22:31.537 --> 00:22:34.316
them. If you go away from the South into

00:22:34.316 --> 00:22:35.763
much of the United States, these are

00:22:35.763 --> 00:22:38.583
foods that most people have never heard

00:22:38.583 --> 00:22:41.828
of. Many of these you will see as

00:22:41.828 --> 00:22:45.363
staples in much of the Caribbean, Central

00:22:45.363 --> 00:22:47.410
and South America. Yuca being one of

00:22:47.410 --> 00:22:50.378
those, or cassava. I am just going to

00:22:50.378 --> 00:22:52.889
say, it is not 'YUCK-ah.' That is

00:22:52.889 --> 00:22:58.360
y-u-c-c-a. YO"-ka is y-u-c-a. Yucca is a

00:22:58.360 --> 00:23:00.910
desert plant that does not produce big

00:23:00.910 --> 00:23:05.400
tubers. Yuca is a plant grows in the semi-

00:23:05.400 --> 00:23:08.012
tropics and tropics that produces big

00:23:08.012 --> 00:23:12.254
tubers. The nice thing about yuca is you

00:23:12.254 --> 00:23:15.226
can plant it along your fence line. All

00:23:15.226 --> 00:23:17.441
you have to do for yuca is get a cutting,

00:23:17.441 --> 00:23:20.853
which is a stick like what I am holing

00:23:20.853 --> 00:23:22.090
in my hand there, just a part of the

00:23:22.090 --> 00:23:24.408
stick. All around there are just the

00:23:24.408 --> 00:23:26.365
parts that I broke off that grows above

00:23:26.365 --> 00:23:28.859
the ground. Any one of those sticks, you

00:23:28.859 --> 00:23:30.357
just take that stick and you put it in

00:23:30.357 --> 00:23:32.471
the ground. That is going to turn into

00:23:32.471 --> 00:23:34.750
five pounds of yuca, or sometimes even

00:23:34.750 --> 00:23:37.980
fifteen pounds of yuca. This is what is

00:23:37.980 --> 00:23:40.270
called a 'survival crop.' One billion

00:23:40.270 --> 00:23:42.998
people around the world depend on yuca.

00:23:42.998 --> 00:23:45.953
The reason they depend on it is because

00:23:45.953 --> 00:23:48.975
it grows ridiculously easily, takes very

00:23:48.975 --> 00:23:52.294
few nutrients, and does not need much

00:23:52.294 --> 00:23:55.231
water at all. That makes it very much a

00:23:55.231 --> 00:23:57.228
survival crop. The other great thing

00:23:57.228 --> 00:23:58.673
about it is that you can leave it as your

00:23:58.673 --> 00:24:01.941
basic calorie bank in the ground. It can

00:24:01.941 --> 00:24:04.810
sit there for years. At Peanut Butter

00:24:04.810 --> 00:24:06.924
Palace, there is one that was there long

00:24:06.924 --> 00:24:08.886
before I got there and it is still there

00:24:08.886 --> 00:24:11.045
today and they can go down and dig that

00:24:11.045 --> 00:24:14.104
food out. It's a survival crop. It is not

00:24:14.104 --> 00:24:16.228
the most nutritious. It does not have a

00:24:16.228 --> 00:24:18.344
lot of nutrients, but it has calories. It

00:24:18.344 --> 00:24:20.224
is twice as calorie dense as sweet

00:24:20.224 --> 00:24:23.629
potato. Very important crop. I got my

00:24:23.629 --> 00:24:26.602
nutrients elsewhere. We will go into

00:24:26.602 --> 00:24:28.938
that, but calories came from tubers.

00:24:28.938 --> 00:24:34.842
Another tuber is wild yam, or dioscorea

00:24:34.842 --> 00:24:36.774
alata. I am not sure if I pronounced that

00:24:36.774 --> 00:24:39.500
correctly, but it is an idea. I mostly

00:24:39.500 --> 00:24:41.909
use common names rather than the genus

00:24:41.909 --> 00:24:46.291
and species. Wild yam. Winged yam. This

00:24:46.291 --> 00:24:49.322
is actually formerly a domesticated yam

00:24:49.322 --> 00:24:51.782
that got into the wild. The largest one

00:24:51.782 --> 00:24:54.351
that I dug up this year was with James

00:24:54.351 --> 00:24:56.699
and it was one-hundred fifty-seven

00:24:56.699 --> 00:24:58.875
pounds. I weigh one-hundred fifty-three

00:24:58.875 --> 00:25:03.752
pounds. A yam as heavy as me, and that is

00:25:03.752 --> 00:25:05.434
just one yam. Imagine how much food you

00:25:05.434 --> 00:25:07.189
can get out of that. That is thirty

00:25:07.189 --> 00:25:10.405
five-pound bags of potatoes for one yam.

00:25:10.405 --> 00:25:16.363
We found this wild yam in a reserve about

00:25:16.363 --> 00:25:19.009
ten miles west of here. Before I started,

00:25:19.009 --> 00:25:20.661
as I was preparing, I actually found a

00:25:20.661 --> 00:25:23.405
amount of it. There might be as much as

00:25:23.405 --> 00:25:25.595
one-thousand calories on the Cady Way

00:25:25.595 --> 00:25:28.337
Trail right over by the golf course,

00:25:28.337 --> 00:25:31.120
growing right along the golf course. That

00:25:31.120 --> 00:25:33.265
was actually on day one. I think one of

00:25:33.265 --> 00:25:35.679
my first meals was the wilds yams right

00:25:35.679 --> 00:25:38.239
there from the golf course. An amazing

00:25:38.239 --> 00:25:40.596
plant. You can also grow it. There are

00:25:40.596 --> 00:25:42.728
a lot of people who grow it in Central

00:25:42.728 --> 00:25:45.429
Florida. It is great for foraging for

00:25:45.429 --> 00:25:48.492
calories, or growing your own calories.

00:25:48.492 --> 00:25:51.585
Another really important crop for me this

00:25:51.585 --> 00:25:54.296
year has been papaya. It is absolutely,

00:25:54.296 --> 00:25:55.699
for Central Florida, one of the plants

00:25:55.699 --> 00:25:57.466
that I would recommend the most. You can

00:25:57.466 --> 00:25:59.604
eat papaya green. If you have ever had

00:25:59.604 --> 00:26:02.438
Thai papaya salad, for example, that is

00:26:02.438 --> 00:26:04.680
green papaya. There are so many ways you

00:26:04.680 --> 00:26:06.478
can prepare it. You can cut it up like

00:26:06.478 --> 00:26:09.000
potatoes and saute it. You can turn it

00:26:09.000 --> 00:26:11.639
into papaya kraut. Ferment it, which I

00:26:11.639 --> 00:26:13.126
am going to talk a little bit about

00:26:13.126 --> 00:26:15.989
later. It is not as dense in calories as

00:26:15.989 --> 00:26:18.796
the tubers, but still has quite a few

00:26:18.796 --> 00:26:20.275
calories. As you can see from this one

00:26:20.275 --> 00:26:25.695
tree, I had probably five papaya trees

00:26:25.695 --> 00:26:27.900
and i never ate five percent of the

00:26:27.900 --> 00:26:31.116
papayas that it put out. Papaya trees are

00:26:31.116 --> 00:26:33.681
a really, really worthwhile thing to

00:26:33.681 --> 00:26:36.669
grow. Another thing is Seminole pumpkin.

00:26:36.669 --> 00:26:38.576
All of those pumpkins that you see right

00:26:38.576 --> 00:26:41.644
there came from the seeds of two

00:26:41.644 --> 00:26:44.299
pumpkins that I had for dinner. Before

00:26:44.299 --> 00:26:45.486
this project started, I was down at

00:26:45.486 --> 00:26:48.655
Sustainable Kashi in Sebastian. We had

00:26:48.655 --> 00:26:51.884
Seminole pumpkin and I said "Can I take

00:26:51.884 --> 00:26:54.447
these seeds home?". I was just as excited

00:26:54.447 --> 00:26:57.161
as could be. I had planted very few

00:26:57.161 --> 00:26:59.331
things in my life at that time. That was

00:26:59.331 --> 00:27:01.355
before I got started. I took these seeds

00:27:02.075 --> 00:27:05.146
home and was just so excited to plant

00:27:05.146 --> 00:27:10.283
them. Those seeds, from two pumpkins,

00:27:10.283 --> 00:27:12.004
turned into one-hundred sixty-nine

00:27:12.004 --> 00:27:14.831
pumpkins that I grew in two of the front

00:27:14.831 --> 00:27:18.014
yards. A beautiful thing about Seminole

00:27:18.014 --> 00:27:21.690
pumpkins is they also store. I lived

00:27:21.690 --> 00:27:24.688
basically outside. No air conditioning in

00:27:24.688 --> 00:27:26.876
my tiny house. If it was ninety degrees

00:27:26.876 --> 00:27:29.127
outside, it was ninety degrees inside.

00:27:29.127 --> 00:27:31.208
They lasted through an entire summer on

00:27:31.208 --> 00:27:33.808
my shelves. They are a truly amazing

00:27:33.808 --> 00:27:35.673
crop. Most of you do not have to worry

00:27:35.673 --> 00:27:37.112
about that because you have air

00:27:37.112 --> 00:27:38.279
conditioning. I have heard of them

00:27:38.279 --> 00:27:40.311
lasting even two years inside. Another

00:27:40.311 --> 00:27:43.785
amazing crop. Similar to butternut squash

00:27:43.785 --> 00:27:44.854
in a way. It is bright, fleshy, bright

00:27:44.854 --> 00:27:49.050
orange on the inside. That, for me, was a

00:27:49.050 --> 00:27:50.844
big lesson in the power of the seed.

00:27:50.844 --> 00:27:56.110
Just think about it. If there are one-

00:27:56.110 --> 00:27:58.381
hundred fifty people in this room; there

00:27:58.381 --> 00:28:00.492
are about one-hundred fifty seeds in a

00:28:00.492 --> 00:28:02.449
pumpkin. If we just had two pumpkins

00:28:02.449 --> 00:28:04.302
between [the people in] this room, each

00:28:04.302 --> 00:28:07.146
one of us could take home one seed, turn

00:28:07.146 --> 00:28:09.295
that into say, ten pumpkins and that

00:28:09.295 --> 00:28:12.179
would already be in the tens of thousands

00:28:12.179 --> 00:28:14.849
of seeds. you could create food

00:28:14.849 --> 00:28:19.349
sovereignty so quickly just with growing

00:28:19.349 --> 00:28:22.087
our own seeds. It is truly amazing. If

00:28:22.087 --> 00:28:25.533
you order a one-pound bag of kale seeds,

00:28:25.533 --> 00:28:27.806
I looked at how many seeds are in there.

00:28:27.806 --> 00:28:30.544
It is about one-point-five million. One

00:28:30.544 --> 00:28:34.644
bag of kale seeds has enough seeds in it

00:28:34.644 --> 00:28:38.068
for the entire metro Orlando area to have

00:28:38.068 --> 00:28:40.583
their own kale. The seed is an extremely,

00:28:40.583 --> 00:28:43.711
extremely powerful thing! Ron Finley, he

00:28:43.711 --> 00:28:47.927
calls himself a gangster gardener out in

00:28:47.927 --> 00:28:49.584
L.A. He is a friend of mine. One of the

00:28:49.584 --> 00:28:51.738
things that he has said the most that I

00:28:51.738 --> 00:28:53.881
absolutely love is "Growing your own food

00:28:53.881 --> 00:28:57.732
is like printing your own money." It

00:28:57.732 --> 00:29:00.268
truly is. You can literally create

00:29:00.268 --> 00:29:02.422
abundance out of almost nothing. It is

00:29:02.422 --> 00:29:05.364
truly special. Another really important

00:29:05.364 --> 00:29:08.194
crop for this area is bananas. When I

00:29:08.194 --> 00:29:10.178
first got here, for some reason I did not

00:29:10.178 --> 00:29:12.525
believe that bananas would really produce.

00:29:12.525 --> 00:29:14.216
I looked around at all of my friends'

00:29:14.216 --> 00:29:17.056
banana plants and I never saw bananas.

00:29:17.056 --> 00:29:20.225
I thought, I see these people growing

00:29:20.225 --> 00:29:22.010
banana plants, but I never actually see

00:29:22.010 --> 00:29:25.635
any bananas. Now, sure enough the banana

00:29:25.635 --> 00:29:27.855
stand over at Sarah's has three racks on

00:29:27.855 --> 00:29:30.706
it. I just harvested one of the racks. It

00:29:30.706 --> 00:29:33.177
already has two others, and we already

00:29:33.177 --> 00:29:34.868
harvested one, and I am eating fresh

00:29:34.868 --> 00:29:36.380
bananas from over at Lisa's house and

00:29:36.380 --> 00:29:39.610
fresh bananas from Jen's house. Bananas

00:29:39.610 --> 00:29:42.588
really do grow extremely well here. You

00:29:42.588 --> 00:29:46.962
can also forage them. Dickson Azalea Park

00:29:46.962 --> 00:29:49.312
has been one of my sources for wild

00:29:49.312 --> 00:29:51.058
foraged bananas. I have harvested bananas

00:29:51.058 --> 00:29:53.206
there multiple times. Apparently, nobody

00:29:53.206 --> 00:29:54.775
knows the stand is there, because when I

00:29:54.775 --> 00:29:58.391
went aware for the summer there were five

00:29:58.391 --> 00:30:00.661
racks of bananas and I thought, "Surely

00:30:00.661 --> 00:30:02.303
someone is going to harvest these while

00:30:02.303 --> 00:30:04.843
I am gone." I came back. All five of them

00:30:04.843 --> 00:30:06.596
I could tell had rotted and not been

00:30:06.596 --> 00:30:08.870
harvested. If you want wild bananas,

00:30:08.870 --> 00:30:11.884
Dickson Azalea Park is a great place to

00:30:11.884 --> 00:30:13.112
search it out. I am not going to tell you

00:30:13.112 --> 00:30:14.370
exactly where it is. You will just have

00:30:14.370 --> 00:30:16.641
to scout it out. I found wild bananas

00:30:16.641 --> 00:30:18.499
growing within five miles of here in at

00:30:18.499 --> 00:30:20.834
least three difference locations, public

00:30:20.834 --> 00:30:24.812
parks that you can go seek out. Bananas

00:30:24.812 --> 00:30:26.990
are a great crop for growing and foraging.

00:30:26.990 --> 00:30:29.839
You can wait until they are yellow and eat

00:30:29.839 --> 00:30:33.024
them as a delicious fruit. When they are

00:30:33.024 --> 00:30:35.015
green you can fry them and have fried

00:30:35.015 --> 00:30:38.496
green bananas. You can dry and blend the

00:30:38.496 --> 00:30:42.966
entire thing: the peel and the banana

00:30:42.966 --> 00:30:47.675
inside to make green banana flour. It is

00:30:47.675 --> 00:30:51.323
a really great crop for here. Coconuts

00:30:51.323 --> 00:30:53.707
were one of the most important foods for

00:30:53.707 --> 00:30:56.253
this year. I shared some of my main ways

00:30:56.253 --> 00:31:01.174
of getting calories, which are the energy

00:31:01.174 --> 00:31:03.015
of life. Without having enough calories

00:31:03.015 --> 00:31:05.835
we slowly would dwindle away. It is one

00:31:05.835 --> 00:31:08.268
of the most important foundations. We can

00:31:08.268 --> 00:31:10.929
be nutrient deficient for quite a while,

00:31:10.929 --> 00:31:12.928
but if we do not have enough calories

00:31:12.928 --> 00:31:15.228
then we are in more trouble. Calories

00:31:15.228 --> 00:31:17.686
were my big focus because I knew I could

00:31:17.686 --> 00:31:20.992
make it through the year not getting

00:31:20.992 --> 00:31:22.641
enough nutrients, but if I did not have

00:31:22.641 --> 00:31:24.613
enough calories I knew I would not be

00:31:24.613 --> 00:31:25.997
able to make it. That is why I started

00:31:25.997 --> 00:31:30.908
with calories. Coconuts are an interesting

00:31:30.908 --> 00:31:33.871
crop because they are very high in

00:31:33.871 --> 00:31:36.266
calories. They are also high in fat and

00:31:36.266 --> 00:31:40.340
they also have protein. The water inside

00:31:40.340 --> 00:31:42.992
of it is high in electrolytes. It is often

00:31:42.992 --> 00:31:45.142
called "Nature's Gatorade." The meat

00:31:45.142 --> 00:31:48.160
itself is high in oil and fat. You can

00:31:48.160 --> 00:31:51.967
either dry it and shred it and use it as

00:31:51.967 --> 00:31:53.838
coconut shreds. You can dry it and just

00:31:53.838 --> 00:31:56.255
make chunks and have that as a snack. You

00:31:56.255 --> 00:31:57.976
can dry it and blend it and make your own

00:31:57.976 --> 00:32:01.288
coconut butter, or you can dry it and

00:32:01.288 --> 00:32:04.376
press it and make your own coconut oil.

00:32:04.376 --> 00:32:05.816
You can also make your own coconut milk

00:32:05.816 --> 00:32:08.850
just by blending it up straining it. Then

00:32:08.850 --> 00:32:11.245
you have delicious high-fat coconut milk.

00:32:11.245 --> 00:32:13.748
I have probably eaten two-hundred coconuts

00:32:13.748 --> 00:32:15.065
over the last year. If I did not have the

00:32:15.065 --> 00:32:16.957
coconuts, I do not know if I would have

00:32:16.957 --> 00:32:18.974
made it through this year. You cannot

00:32:18.974 --> 00:32:22.137
grow coconuts in Orlando, They are more

00:32:22.137 --> 00:32:24.987
tropical. You can forage coconuts all

00:32:24.987 --> 00:32:27.227
over South Florida. All of these coconuts

00:32:27.227 --> 00:32:29.448
that are brown are mostly from picking

00:32:29.448 --> 00:32:32.251
up on the ground around coconut trees.

00:32:32.251 --> 00:32:33.690
They were growing in public parks. They

00:32:33.690 --> 00:32:35.875
are also growing in places like

00:32:35.875 --> 00:32:38.529
nurseries, people's backyards, all over

00:32:38.529 --> 00:32:40.303
the place. Coconuts were one of my

00:32:40.303 --> 00:32:42.346
absolute most important crops of the

00:32:42.346 --> 00:32:47.329
year. For protein, that was one of the

00:32:47.329 --> 00:32:50.384
biggest challenges of the project. Where

00:32:50.384 --> 00:32:51.835
would I get my protein? Probably one of

00:32:51.835 --> 00:32:54.422
the most commonly asked questions online.

00:32:54.422 --> 00:32:58.174
I grew some of my own protein. These I am

00:32:58.174 --> 00:33:00.388
standing with are called pigeon peas or

00:33:00.388 --> 00:33:04.305
gandules. They were one of the most

00:33:04.305 --> 00:33:06.437
important crops of this year. Also very

00:33:06.437 --> 00:33:08.474
much a survival crop. It needs minimal

00:33:08.474 --> 00:33:11.921
nutrients, minimal water and it is a very

00:33:11.921 --> 00:33:14.751
nutrient dense, calorie dense, protein

00:33:14.751 --> 00:33:18.153
dense plant. Behind me is the pigeon pea

00:33:18.153 --> 00:33:20.360
tree. You can the flowers there and then

00:33:20.360 --> 00:33:23.615
those are dried pigeon peas that you

00:33:23.615 --> 00:33:25.410
would use just like you would use

00:33:25.410 --> 00:33:27.182
lentils, or black-eyed peas, or any dried

00:33:27.182 --> 00:33:31.719
bean. I grew some of my own protein, I

00:33:31.719 --> 00:33:35.477
tried growing sunflower seeds for protein

00:33:35.477 --> 00:33:37.276
and did not have much success with that

00:33:37.276 --> 00:33:38.636
because of the squirrels. I grew some

00:33:38.636 --> 00:33:42.379
peanuts, but also did not have a lot of

00:33:42.379 --> 00:33:44.626
success with that. The other crop that I

00:33:44.626 --> 00:33:47.654
grew was southern peas. That was another

00:33:47.654 --> 00:33:50.417
crop. It is a ground cover that is really

00:33:50.417 --> 00:33:52.368
helpful in the garden and also a nitrogen

00:33:52.368 --> 00:33:56.379
fixer and an important protein source.

00:33:56.379 --> 00:33:58.733
Other protein sources: fish was always my

00:33:58.733 --> 00:34:02.282
main plan. If there was one thing I was

00:34:02.282 --> 00:34:04.553
experienced in before this project, it

00:34:04.553 --> 00:34:07.545
was fishing. I started fishing when I was

00:34:07.545 --> 00:34:09.753
about eight and it has actually been one

00:34:09.753 --> 00:34:11.947
of my biggest passions of my life. It is

00:34:11.947 --> 00:34:16.051
one of my most important ways of

00:34:16.051 --> 00:34:18.197
connecting with the land. I got away from

00:34:18.197 --> 00:34:20.394
it for a while because I was vegan for a

00:34:20.394 --> 00:34:23.189
while and it just did not sit right with

00:34:23.189 --> 00:34:25.707
me for a period of time. For most of my

00:34:25.707 --> 00:34:27.670
life, I have been fishing. I started

00:34:27.670 --> 00:34:30.139
fishing again about three or four years

00:34:30.139 --> 00:34:37.135
ago. My main plan for fish was mullet.

00:34:37.135 --> 00:34:39.224
Probably most of the people in this room

00:34:39.224 --> 00:34:40.945
have not eaten mullet. It is not

00:34:40.945 --> 00:34:43.935
generally a really highly regarded fish.

00:34:43.935 --> 00:34:46.877
I would say one of the most important

00:34:46.877 --> 00:34:48.693
lessons as far as a food lesson that you

00:34:48.693 --> 00:34:50.299
could walk away with is that most

00:34:50.299 --> 00:34:52.672
everything that is not highly regarded by

00:34:52.672 --> 00:34:56.007
American culture is an amazing food.

00:34:56.007 --> 00:35:01.103
For other cultures it is the food of life

00:35:01.103 --> 00:35:04.321
if Americans don't like it, generally.

00:35:04.321 --> 00:35:08.599
Mullet is an amazing fish. It is very

00:35:08.599 --> 00:35:11.281
high in fat, the beneficial fats. It is

00:35:11.281 --> 00:35:13.728
very abundant, still in Florida. The

00:35:13.728 --> 00:35:16.469
reason I wanted to focus on mullet is

00:35:16.469 --> 00:35:19.020
because it is very low on the food chain.

00:35:19.020 --> 00:35:21.059
It only eats plants, so it does not

00:35:21.059 --> 00:35:26.583
bioaccumulate. Bioaccumulation - you have

00:35:26.583 --> 00:35:28.336
probably all heard about how eagles were

00:35:28.336 --> 00:35:30.591
affected by DDT in the past and then

00:35:30.591 --> 00:35:32.473
their egg shells crumbled and that made

00:35:32.473 --> 00:35:35.287
eagles almost extinct in the United

00:35:35.287 --> 00:35:39.589
States. That was because there was DDT

00:35:39.589 --> 00:35:43.447
that built up in the fish and the eagles

00:35:43.447 --> 00:35:45.557
eat so many fish that it builds up in the

00:35:45.557 --> 00:35:49.966
cycle. Once it gets up to the predator so

00:35:49.966 --> 00:35:52.582
much of it is in them that it can affect

00:35:52.582 --> 00:35:54.579
them greatly. Now, there are a lot of

00:35:54.579 --> 00:35:57.975
bioaccumulants. If you are eating game

00:35:57.975 --> 00:36:01.479
fish like tuna, for example there is a

00:36:01.479 --> 00:36:04.616
lot of accumulation of mercury in that.

00:36:04.616 --> 00:36:07.619
The reason I wanted to mostly eat mullet

00:36:07.619 --> 00:36:09.365
is because it only eats plants, so it

00:36:09.365 --> 00:36:12.188
does not accumulate by eating fish that

00:36:12.188 --> 00:36:14.820
eat bigger fish, and bigger fish, and

00:36:14.820 --> 00:36:17.809
bigger fish and so on. Mullet was one of

00:36:17.809 --> 00:36:20.308
my plans. This is a red fish here. I did

00:36:20.308 --> 00:36:23.142
not actually catch enough mullet to have

00:36:23.142 --> 00:36:25.869
a really good picture, or never got

00:36:25.869 --> 00:36:27.719
around to taking a good one. Mullet were

00:36:27.719 --> 00:36:30.237
harder [to catch] than I expected.

00:36:30.237 --> 00:36:32.561
interestingly enough, fishing was weirdly

00:36:32.561 --> 00:36:35.348
the most challenging thing. I could just

00:36:35.348 --> 00:36:40.592
never catch enough fish. I ate squirrel,

00:36:40.592 --> 00:36:42.041
but not because I could not have enough

00:36:42.041 --> 00:36:43.849
fish, but because squirrels were eating

00:36:43.849 --> 00:36:47.801
my sunflowers. A lot of you are new to

00:36:47.801 --> 00:36:50.163
permaculture in this room tonight, but

00:36:50.163 --> 00:36:52.645
there is one common saying in permaculture

00:36:52.645 --> 00:36:55.823
and that is "the problem is the solution."

00:36:55.823 --> 00:36:57.586
How can you turn the problem into the

00:36:57.586 --> 00:36:59.694
solution? Well, here I was trying to grow

00:36:59.694 --> 00:37:02.284
a plant-based protein. They were eating

00:37:02.284 --> 00:37:04.720
my plant-based protein, so I ate them

00:37:04.720 --> 00:37:08.023
instead. It definitely caused a little

00:37:08.023 --> 00:37:10.330
controversy. Some people like it, I guess.

00:37:10.330 --> 00:37:12.949
I may as well answer the question "How

00:37:12.949 --> 00:37:16.592
does it taste?". It just tastes like meat.

00:37:16.592 --> 00:37:18.665
It tastes similar to chicken, not too

00:37:18.665 --> 00:37:22.675
different. I only ate about nine

00:37:22.675 --> 00:37:31.389
squirrels, so it was by no means a main

00:37:31.389 --> 00:37:36.987
source of food. The other thing I thought

00:37:36.987 --> 00:37:39.459
about hunting was wild boar. They are

00:37:39.459 --> 00:37:40.886
invasive. this is not something that I

00:37:40.886 --> 00:37:42.744
did, so I cannot speak from experience,

00:37:42.744 --> 00:37:44.963
there are, I think, a couple of million

00:37:44.963 --> 00:37:46.914
wild boar in Florida. It is one of the

00:37:46.914 --> 00:37:49.615
most sustainable ways to get protein, to

00:37:49.615 --> 00:37:52.218
get meat in Florida and other parts of

00:37:52.218 --> 00:37:54.162
the Southern United States. They are

00:37:54.162 --> 00:37:56.116
highly invasive and they destroy a lot of

00:37:56.116 --> 00:37:58.958
the land. They are an amazing resource

00:37:58.958 --> 00:38:01.071
that we can utilize. I did not end up

00:38:01.071 --> 00:38:03.128
doing that. The reason I did not is

00:38:03.128 --> 00:38:04.637
because most people who hunt it, who

00:38:04.637 --> 00:38:07.420
offered to take me out they bait it. My

00:38:07.420 --> 00:38:10.829
rule was I could only use food that I

00:38:10.829 --> 00:38:14.654
grew to catch other food. I did not have

00:38:14.654 --> 00:38:16.023
bait for the pigs and that is why I never

00:38:16.023 --> 00:38:20.082
got around to actually doing that. The

00:38:20.082 --> 00:38:21.137
reason I did not raise animals - I'm not

00:38:21.137 --> 00:38:24.589
going to get into raising animals today

00:38:24.589 --> 00:38:26.573
because I did not do that, but chickens,

00:38:26.573 --> 00:38:30.283
quails, rabbits - you can also do

00:38:30.283 --> 00:38:32.543
aquaponics for fish, tilapia is a common

00:38:32.543 --> 00:38:34.710
one. There are a lot of ways to raise

00:38:34.710 --> 00:38:38.027
animals. The reason I did not do that is

00:38:38.027 --> 00:38:40.148
because, again, I would have to raise all

00:38:40.148 --> 00:38:43.952
of the food for them. On a small plot, I

00:38:43.952 --> 00:38:48.088
did not have the ability to grow all of

00:38:48.088 --> 00:38:50.905
the food for the chickens, or to have any

00:38:50.905 --> 00:38:53.729
grass-fed animals or anything like that.

00:38:53.729 --> 00:38:56.418
That is why raising animals was out.

00:38:56.418 --> 00:38:59.832
The other solution is number three, and

00:38:59.832 --> 00:39:02.542
that is car-killed animals. I have not

00:39:02.542 --> 00:39:06.077
really hunted much, so my solution was to

00:39:06.077 --> 00:39:09.822
find animals that had already died. David

00:39:09.822 --> 00:39:14.351
and I, David Warfel - there he is - he

00:39:14.351 --> 00:39:16.034
and I went up to Gainesville around New

00:39:16.034 --> 00:39:20.816
Year's searching for dome deer. Joe

00:39:20.816 --> 00:39:23.404
Pierce was going to help us out. We went

00:39:23.404 --> 00:39:27.450
up to his place near Gainesville. We found

00:39:27.450 --> 00:39:33.656
two [deer], but they were too old. We

00:39:33.656 --> 00:39:35.769
were not able to harvest those. Then, it

00:39:35.769 --> 00:39:37.686
got a little hot. As you can imagine,

00:39:37.686 --> 00:39:40.468
when it is ninety degrees by nine in the

00:39:40.468 --> 00:39:42.226
morning in Florida, that is not the best

00:39:42.226 --> 00:39:46.229
time to try to harvest deer. I did not

00:39:46.229 --> 00:39:48.864
actually harvest and deer in Florida, but

00:39:48.864 --> 00:39:51.184
this summer I took a trip to Wisconsin.

00:39:51.184 --> 00:39:54.940
I wanted to connect with my homeland.

00:39:54.940 --> 00:39:57.787
I felt a strong desire to learn the

00:39:57.787 --> 00:40:00.535
plants where I was from. I decided to

00:40:00.535 --> 00:40:04.695
take a trip up there. I will talk a

00:40:04.695 --> 00:40:07.046
little bit more about that at the end.

00:40:07.046 --> 00:40:08.711
One of my goals while I was there was to

00:40:08.711 --> 00:40:13.217
get a deer. When I got to Wisconsin, I

00:40:13.217 --> 00:40:16.816
was really deficient in fat and protein.

00:40:16.816 --> 00:40:20.187
This was something I was really trying

00:40:20.187 --> 00:40:23.439
for and it took me a whole month before I

00:40:23.439 --> 00:40:27.459
was able to get one. Towards the end I

00:40:27.459 --> 00:40:30.822
harvested five deer in Wisconsin. That

00:40:30.822 --> 00:40:32.319
ended up being one of my main sources of

00:40:32.319 --> 00:40:35.492
food the entire year. It probably made up

00:40:35.492 --> 00:40:38.431
ten percent plus of my food for the

00:40:38.431 --> 00:40:42.779
entire year. One of my other main sources

00:40:42.779 --> 00:40:47.047
of food was honey. Sugar is really

00:40:47.047 --> 00:40:51.690
important. One of the big challenges this

00:40:51.690 --> 00:40:53.250
year, I thought was going to be

00:40:53.250 --> 00:40:54.625
chocolate. That is actually one of my

00:40:54.625 --> 00:40:57.683
favorite foods in the whole world, dark

00:40:57.683 --> 00:41:00.087
chocolate. My former partner Cheryl used

00:41:00.087 --> 00:41:01.917
to call me a chocolate vampire because if

00:41:01.917 --> 00:41:05.195
it was around me I did bad things. I

00:41:05.195 --> 00:41:07.349
would just eat everyone's share of

00:41:07.349 --> 00:41:09.538
chocolate and not be able to resist. I

00:41:09.538 --> 00:41:10.806
loved it! So, that was one of the big

00:41:10.806 --> 00:41:12.798
things. Could I get by without chocolate?

00:41:12.798 --> 00:41:17.880
The solution was honey. This year I think

00:41:17.880 --> 00:41:21.246
I harvested five gallons of honey from my

00:41:21.246 --> 00:41:25.836
bees. That is a lot of honey. That is

00:41:25.836 --> 00:41:34.720
about, let's see... Anyway, five gallons!

00:41:34.720 --> 00:41:35.866
It is a huge amount of honey. It is one

00:41:35.866 --> 00:41:38.423
of those big blue jugs. Honey was a

00:41:38.423 --> 00:41:41.971
really important source of calories, of

00:41:41.971 --> 00:41:44.459
enjoyment. It added a lot of value to

00:41:44.459 --> 00:41:46.341
different meals. I fermented with it.

00:41:46.341 --> 00:41:51.116
Sugar cane is another source of sugar

00:41:51.116 --> 00:41:53.217
that you can do here. That is something

00:41:53.217 --> 00:41:56.030
that is actually pretty easy, but it

00:41:56.030 --> 00:41:57.900
takes time. It is just not one of the

00:41:57.900 --> 00:42:00.630
things that I ever did. I actually got

00:42:00.630 --> 00:42:03.290
a whole bunch of sugarcane cuttings, but

00:42:03.290 --> 00:42:04.958
they all rotted and I never got around to

00:42:04.958 --> 00:42:06.873
it. It is an important lesson when you

00:42:06.873 --> 00:42:08.664
are trying to grow and forage one-hundred

00:42:08.664 --> 00:42:10.994
percent of your food. It is not that

00:42:10.994 --> 00:42:13.272
necessarily any one thing is challenging,

00:42:13.272 --> 00:42:15.539
it is that trying to do everything is

00:42:15.539 --> 00:42:18.328
challenging. People would often say

00:42:18.328 --> 00:42:19.811
"Well, why don't you just do that!?".

00:42:19.811 --> 00:42:20.965
Well, because I am already working

00:42:20.965 --> 00:42:22.997
seventy hours a week on my food, so I

00:42:22.997 --> 00:42:25.579
just did not have time to do that. That

00:42:25.579 --> 00:42:26.999
is one of the big differences between

00:42:26.999 --> 00:42:28.967
shooting for one-hundred percent and say,

00:42:28.967 --> 00:42:30.912
eighty percent. It is actually that last

00:42:30.912 --> 00:42:33.151
ten to twenty percent, making your own

00:42:33.151 --> 00:42:35.997
oils and the calories and all of that

00:42:35.997 --> 00:42:38.270
that is one of the most difficult parts.

00:42:38.270 --> 00:42:44.106
Salt. Before I started this project I was

00:42:44.106 --> 00:42:46.719
actually on a train in Germany and I was

00:42:46.719 --> 00:42:48.512
just thinking "How the heck am I going to

00:42:48.512 --> 00:42:50.291
get salt?". I never had seen anyone

00:42:50.291 --> 00:42:55.620
eating salt that they harvested. I had

00:42:55.620 --> 00:42:56.937
very little experience with it

00:42:56.937 --> 00:42:59.657
whatsoever. There were a couple of

00:42:59.657 --> 00:43:01.895
stories I had in mind, one was Gandhi's

00:43:01.895 --> 00:43:04.190
salt match where he walked to the ocean.

00:43:04.190 --> 00:43:06.293
He picked up salt from the ocean and that

00:43:06.293 --> 00:43:08.675
was his protest against the British.

00:43:08.675 --> 00:43:10.410
I knew that they literally just picked up

00:43:10.410 --> 00:43:12.846
salt. I thought, "Okay, I know it can be

00:43:12.846 --> 00:43:15.187
done". I knew there were the salt flats

00:43:15.187 --> 00:43:19.337
in Bolivia, the salt flats of Uyuni.

00:43:19.337 --> 00:43:23.337
I knew there were places, but I did not

00:43:23.337 --> 00:43:25.296
think that was in Florida. I was pretty

00:43:25.296 --> 00:43:26.761
sure of that. I did not know how the heck

00:43:26.761 --> 00:43:30.724
I was going to do salt. I was very lost.

00:43:30.724 --> 00:43:35.378
I did the research and basically, all you

00:43:35.378 --> 00:43:37.795
have to do it go to the ocean, scoop up

00:43:37.795 --> 00:43:41.529
some salt water, put it in a pot, turn on

00:43:41.529 --> 00:43:44.390
your stove. All the water will boil off

00:43:44.390 --> 00:43:45.559
and then you are left with salt. It is

00:43:45.559 --> 00:43:48.736
just as simple as that. Salt water is

00:43:48.736 --> 00:43:51.318
about three and a half percent salt by

00:43:51.318 --> 00:43:54.191
volume. A gallon of salt water gives you

00:43:54.191 --> 00:43:58.036
about a half-cup of salt. That is a fair

00:43:58.036 --> 00:44:00.598
bit of salt. If you go and get five

00:44:00.598 --> 00:44:02.112
gallons [of sea water], that could be all

00:44:02.112 --> 00:44:04.095
of the salt you need for an entire year.

00:44:04.095 --> 00:44:05.724
We can be producing all of our own salt

00:44:05.724 --> 00:44:09.588
really quite easily. The most sustainable

00:44:09.588 --> 00:44:11.196
way to do it is not to put it on your

00:44:11.196 --> 00:44:12.679
stove. You can just let that water

00:44:12.679 --> 00:44:15.748
evaporate. Use the sun. Let it evaporate

00:44:15.748 --> 00:44:19.708
over time. I would prefer to do that, but

00:44:19.708 --> 00:44:21.785
I always just boiled it. Usually I boiled

00:44:21.785 --> 00:44:25.917
it on wood, waste wood from the

00:44:25.917 --> 00:44:27.909
neighborhood, like heat-treated pallets

00:44:27.909 --> 00:44:29.522
that did not have chemicals in them, or

00:44:29.522 --> 00:44:32.067
wood from the trees in my neighborhood.

00:44:32.067 --> 00:44:35.080
Mushrooms were another really important

00:44:35.080 --> 00:44:37.535
source of food for me. This is Pete

00:44:37.535 --> 00:44:40.046
Kanaris and I. This is two different

00:44:40.046 --> 00:44:42.282
species, or three different species of

00:44:42.282 --> 00:44:44.398
chanterelle mushrooms. When I started

00:44:44.398 --> 00:44:49.613
this, I had maybe foraged mushrooms one

00:44:49.613 --> 00:44:51.867
or two times. I would say probably, when

00:44:51.867 --> 00:44:53.736
people think about foraging that is one

00:44:53.736 --> 00:44:56.901
of the things that scares them the most

00:44:56.901 --> 00:44:59.937
is mushrooms. There is one way to never

00:44:59.937 --> 00:45:04.051
die or never get sick foraging and that

00:45:04.051 --> 00:45:06.088
is, only eat something of you are one-

00:45:06.088 --> 00:45:09.104
hundred percent sure what it is. You will

00:45:09.104 --> 00:45:12.241
never have problems foraging if you only

00:45:12.241 --> 00:45:13.518
eat things that you are one-hundred

00:45:13.518 --> 00:45:15.711
percent sure what they are. That is the

00:45:15.711 --> 00:45:18.597
number one rule of foraging. One way to

00:45:18.597 --> 00:45:21.543
do that is triple confirmation. You don't

00:45:21.543 --> 00:45:23.849
take one person's word. You don't take

00:45:23.849 --> 00:45:26.015
from me tonight that chanterelles are

00:45:26.015 --> 00:45:28.753
edible. You first have three different,

00:45:28.753 --> 00:45:31.740
good sources. you can decide whether I am

00:45:31.740 --> 00:45:33.100
a good source or not and decide whether

00:45:33.100 --> 00:45:36.085
that is your first source. Three

00:45:36.085 --> 00:45:39.323
different, good resources before you eat

00:45:39.323 --> 00:45:41.419
something from the wild. Triple

00:45:41.419 --> 00:45:44.540
confirmation. I probably foraged about

00:45:44.540 --> 00:45:48.042
twenty species of mushrooms between here

00:45:48.042 --> 00:45:51.917
and my trip to Wisconsin. In Florida,

00:45:51.917 --> 00:45:54.625
chanterelles are probably one of the more

00:45:54.625 --> 00:45:57.264
abundant and easier. It is one of the

00:45:57.264 --> 00:45:59.631
most beginner, easy mushrooms to start

00:45:59.631 --> 00:46:04.533
with. I said I was growing and foraging

00:46:04.533 --> 00:46:06.160
one-hundred percent of my own food and

00:46:06.160 --> 00:46:08.329
that included my own medicine. For the

00:46:08.329 --> 00:46:11.075
last year nature was my garden; it was

00:46:11.075 --> 00:46:14.546
my pantry, and it was my pharmacy. If I

00:46:14.546 --> 00:46:18.623
got sick this year, I could not take any

00:46:18.623 --> 00:46:22.560
medicine to get better. that meant first

00:46:22.560 --> 00:46:24.060
and foremost, I had to take care of my

00:46:24.060 --> 00:46:27.448
health, preventative health care. Today,

00:46:27.448 --> 00:46:29.980
with our modern health insurance it is

00:46:29.980 --> 00:46:31.736
something like seventy-five percent of

00:46:31.736 --> 00:46:34.367
all of our doctors' visits come down to

00:46:34.367 --> 00:46:37.726
what we eat, exercise, basic movement,

00:46:37.726 --> 00:46:41.450
and our level of stress and anxiety.

00:46:41.450 --> 00:46:43.437
Seventy-five percent of our doctors'

00:46:43.437 --> 00:46:45.538
visits can be taken care of through

00:46:45.538 --> 00:46:49.180
preventative health care. Just basic eating

00:46:49.180 --> 00:46:54.068
healthy, moving and living a life that is

00:46:54.068 --> 00:46:57.443
not so stressful and anxious. For me,

00:46:57.443 --> 00:46:59.742
food was my medicine and medicine was my

00:46:59.742 --> 00:47:01.619
food. There is really is no clear

00:47:01.619 --> 00:47:05.971
difference between the two. They are all

00:47:05.971 --> 00:47:07.868
working together. Every green that I

00:47:07.868 --> 00:47:12.113
ate, every vegetable, every fruit, the

00:47:12.113 --> 00:47:14.702
meat that I ate, the fish, it all was my

00:47:14.702 --> 00:47:16.719
medicine. It is just like we need to take

00:47:16.719 --> 00:47:18.474
care of our plants to have healthy

00:47:18.474 --> 00:47:20.688
plants. It is the exact same with us. If

00:47:20.688 --> 00:47:22.296
we are healthy, we are less likely to get

00:47:22.296 --> 00:47:25.091
sick. A couple of my most important

00:47:25.091 --> 00:47:27.214
medicines were elderberry syrup. That

00:47:27.214 --> 00:47:29.736
came from foraging elderberries, which

00:47:29.736 --> 00:47:31.743
are an amazingly abundant resource in

00:47:31.743 --> 00:47:34.452
Central Florida, combining that with

00:47:34.452 --> 00:47:37.396
honey from my bees to make elderberry

00:47:37.396 --> 00:47:39.262
syrup. I would often put turmeric and

00:47:39.262 --> 00:47:41.528
ginger and sometimes fermented garlic in

00:47:41.528 --> 00:47:45.247
there. I took a tablespoon of elderberry

00:47:45.247 --> 00:47:47.772
syrup most every day of this entire year.

00:47:47.772 --> 00:47:50.403
I prevents cold and flu, or if you get

00:47:50.403 --> 00:47:53.042
cold or flu you can use it to reduce it

00:47:53.042 --> 00:47:55.967
or take care of it. Fire cider was

00:47:55.967 --> 00:47:57.496
another one of my important medicines.

00:47:57.496 --> 00:48:01.601
I made vinegar from fruit, apple cider

00:48:01.601 --> 00:48:02.989
vinegar but you can make it from almost

00:48:02.989 --> 00:48:09.952
any fruit. Then onion, garlic horseradish

00:48:09.952 --> 00:48:14.122
and red peppers, serrano peppers and

00:48:14.122 --> 00:48:18.457
maybe another ingredient or two. Ferment

00:48:18.457 --> 00:48:21.463
it over a period of a couple of months,

00:48:21.463 --> 00:48:22.771
probably. That was something that I took

00:48:22.771 --> 00:48:25.815
most days as well. Fire cider, turmeric.

00:48:25.815 --> 00:48:27.306
I grew my own turmeric. That is one of

00:48:27.306 --> 00:48:29.142
the easiest crops that you can grow in

00:48:29.142 --> 00:48:32.503
central Florida. It is like ten to twenty-

00:48:32.503 --> 00:48:34.755
five dollars a pound for organic stuff at

00:48:34.755 --> 00:48:36.915
the grocery store. It grows amazingly

00:48:36.915 --> 00:48:38.849
easily as well. Just go to the grocery

00:48:38.849 --> 00:48:41.480
store, buy some organic turmeric, put it

00:48:41.480 --> 00:48:42.993
in the ground and then you never have to

00:48:42.993 --> 00:48:45.557
buy it again. Simple as that. Ideally

00:48:45.557 --> 00:48:47.982
you can source it locally, but if not

00:48:47.982 --> 00:48:49.191
you can literally just get organic stuff

00:48:49.191 --> 00:48:50.989
from the grocery store and start growing

00:48:50.989 --> 00:48:53.914
your own. Garlic, I consider that a

00:48:53.914 --> 00:48:56.128
medicine as well. Reishi mushrooms are

00:48:56.128 --> 00:48:58.374
something that I foraged, another

00:48:58.374 --> 00:49:01.067
medicine. Herbal teas, plantago, or

00:49:01.067 --> 00:49:03.935
broadleaf plantain, that to me is a

00:49:03.935 --> 00:49:06.198
medicine that very much calls to me. If I

00:49:06.198 --> 00:49:08.896
get stung by my bees, not my bees, I do

00:49:08.896 --> 00:49:10.141
not own them, but the bees that I

00:49:10.141 --> 00:49:14.038
steward. If they sting me and I do not

00:49:14.038 --> 00:49:15.979
do anything, I swell up big. I should

00:49:15.979 --> 00:49:17.079
have put a picture on there, but a lot of

00:49:17.079 --> 00:49:18.884
you have probably seen my face after

00:49:18.884 --> 00:49:22.328
getting stung. I swell up, but if I take

00:49:22.328 --> 00:49:25.041
some honey and dome dried plantago and

00:49:25.041 --> 00:49:26.384
I put it on there within about two

00:49:26.384 --> 00:49:29.944
minutes, I generally don't swell at all.

00:49:29.944 --> 00:49:32.479
It is a pretty amazing medicine. It grows

00:49:32.479 --> 00:49:34.535
probably in most states of the United

00:49:34.535 --> 00:49:38.235
States. You can forage it or you can grow

00:49:38.235 --> 00:49:41.679
it in the garden here in Florida. Food

00:49:41.679 --> 00:49:45.568
was my medicine and medicine was my food.

00:49:45.568 --> 00:49:48.430
Here I am with Jeff. That was early on

00:49:48.430 --> 00:49:49.919
collecting elderberries. This is out by

00:49:49.919 --> 00:49:51.899
Blanchard Park over towards Peanut Butter

00:49:51.899 --> 00:49:55.664
Palace. Again, just an amazing resource.

00:49:55.664 --> 00:49:57.471
It grows all over and you can grow it in

00:49:57.471 --> 00:50:00.227
your garden. Another one of those kind of

00:50:00.227 --> 00:50:02.622
borderline foods or medicine is

00:50:02.622 --> 00:50:04.843
fermentation. [It was] one of the most

00:50:04.843 --> 00:50:07.817
important ways for me to stay healthy, to

00:50:07.817 --> 00:50:11.304
increase the nutrients in my diet, and to

00:50:11.304 --> 00:50:15.258
have a well-functioning digestive system.

00:50:15.258 --> 00:50:18.898
I did a lot of wild fermentation. What is

00:50:18.898 --> 00:50:21.214
wild fermentation? That is taking the

00:50:21.214 --> 00:50:24.481
yeast and the bacteria from the air and

00:50:24.481 --> 00:50:26.676
using that for fermentation. What would

00:50:26.676 --> 00:50:29.497
not be wild fermentation would be a

00:50:29.497 --> 00:50:31.762
controlled, sterile environment where you

00:50:31.762 --> 00:50:34.728
buy a specific yeast, like baker's yeast,

00:50:34.728 --> 00:50:37.580
and you use that to make things bubble or

00:50:37.580 --> 00:50:42.047
rise. It that even fermentation? Is that

00:50:42.047 --> 00:50:44.466
fermentation? Yeah? So that's

00:50:44.466 --> 00:50:46.534
fermentation, but not wild fermentation.

00:50:46.534 --> 00:50:47.976
That is the way that most of the beers

00:50:47.976 --> 00:50:50.658
that you buy, for example, are done. Wild

00:50:50.658 --> 00:50:52.798
fermentation is literally just the yeast

00:50:52.798 --> 00:50:55.281
and the bacteria that are in every breath

00:50:55.281 --> 00:50:57.924
we take, using that to ferment your food.

00:50:57.924 --> 00:51:01.070
All you have to do to attract them is put

00:51:01.070 --> 00:51:03.867
food that they want there that they will

00:51:03.867 --> 00:51:07.230
eat. Bacteria and yeast love sugar. It is

00:51:07.230 --> 00:51:12.547
on every tiny part of our skin. It is in

00:51:12.547 --> 00:51:13.897
every breath we take. Every breath we

00:51:13.897 --> 00:51:17.459
take, we consume yeast and bacteria. Wild

00:51:17.459 --> 00:51:19.298
fermentation. Some of the things that I

00:51:19.298 --> 00:51:23.467
have here, for example, this is papaya

00:51:23.467 --> 00:51:25.318
kraut. You know sauerkraut, but you can

00:51:25.318 --> 00:51:27.545
use the green papaya to make a delicious

00:51:27.545 --> 00:51:31.566
ferment. This is jun. Jun is not gin. It

00:51:31.566 --> 00:51:34.381
is like kombucha, except it uses honey

00:51:34.381 --> 00:51:37.251
and green tea. You can grow green tea

00:51:37.251 --> 00:51:40.279
here as well, or yaupon holly. I will

00:51:40.279 --> 00:51:43.421
tell you about that in a bit. Fruit scrap

00:51:43.421 --> 00:51:45.842
vinegar. Most fruits, especially fruits

00:51:45.842 --> 00:51:47.406
that are high in sugar, you can make

00:51:47.406 --> 00:51:50.344
vinegar from. The rinds of pineapples

00:51:50.344 --> 00:51:52.638
have enough juices left on them still

00:51:52.638 --> 00:51:54.154
that you can make vinegar just from the

00:51:54.154 --> 00:51:57.587
left-over pineapple scraps. Honey wine

00:51:57.587 --> 00:52:00.929
and another one is ginger beer or

00:52:00.929 --> 00:52:03.311
turmeric beer. That is not alcohol, even

00:52:03.311 --> 00:52:04.951
though it is called beer, but it is

00:52:04.951 --> 00:52:08.883
another one that I made. These are some

00:52:08.883 --> 00:52:16.204
of my sauerkrauts, here. I did not have a

00:52:16.204 --> 00:52:17.611
fridge and I did not have air

00:52:17.611 --> 00:52:20.000
conditioning, so I needed to keep them

00:52:20.000 --> 00:52:22.614
cold. What I did was build this little

00:52:22.614 --> 00:52:24.784
underground storage. It was an

00:52:24.784 --> 00:52:26.847
experiment. I did not know if it would

00:52:26.847 --> 00:52:28.164
work. I knew it would at least be a

00:52:28.164 --> 00:52:31.032
little bit better, probably. The idea was

00:52:31.032 --> 00:52:33.553
to keep the things cooler because

00:52:33.553 --> 00:52:35.556
fermenting is done best in somewhere like

00:52:35.556 --> 00:52:38.510
the mid-seventies, not ninety degrees.

00:52:38.510 --> 00:52:40.233
There is some fermenting that can be done

00:52:40.233 --> 00:52:41.825
at that [temperature], but sauerkraut and

00:52:41.825 --> 00:52:43.555
thing like that are around seventy

00:52:43.555 --> 00:52:46.027
degrees. Hard to do it the summer, unless

00:52:46.027 --> 00:52:47.143
you are in air conditioning. Then it

00:52:47.143 --> 00:52:49.218
does not matter. I had to figure out a

00:52:49.218 --> 00:52:50.877
way to keep things a little bit cooler.

00:52:50.877 --> 00:52:53.515
My friend Harley built this little

00:52:53.515 --> 00:52:58.423
underground storage container. The idea

00:52:58.423 --> 00:52:59.940
was at least maybe I would get an extra

00:52:59.940 --> 00:53:04.047
month of life out of the sauerkraut. It

00:53:04.047 --> 00:53:05.427
not like I could go to the store and buy

00:53:05.427 --> 00:53:07.152
cabbage and I could not grow cabbage in

00:53:07.152 --> 00:53:09.083
the summer. I had to figure out a way to

00:53:09.083 --> 00:53:10.835
make it last. That is how you make it

00:53:10.835 --> 00:53:14.682
last, through sauerkraut. I went away,

00:53:14.682 --> 00:53:15.905
like I said, to Wisconsin for three

00:53:15.905 --> 00:53:18.972
months. When I came back, I opened that

00:53:18.972 --> 00:53:20.524
thing up and I still had about three or

00:53:20.524 --> 00:53:22.975
four jars of sauerkraut in there. I made

00:53:22.975 --> 00:53:25.258
them three months before I left. This was

00:53:25.258 --> 00:53:27.511
six month old sauerkraut, sitting in the

00:53:27.511 --> 00:53:30.326
ground in Florida, about ninety degrees

00:53:30.326 --> 00:53:32.911
every day for those six months. When I

00:53:32.911 --> 00:53:35.237
opened that thing I did not know "is this

00:53:35.237 --> 00:53:37.133
stuff still going to be good?". I opened

00:53:37.133 --> 00:53:40.064
it up. It looked good. I took the cap

00:53:40.064 --> 00:53:42.006
off. It smelled good. I just pulled the

00:53:42.006 --> 00:53:44.261
little top layer off. That is called the

00:53:44.261 --> 00:53:47.352
sacrificial leaf that you put on top.

00:53:47.352 --> 00:53:48.382
I bit it and it was some of the most

00:53:48.382 --> 00:53:50.021
delicious sauerkraut that I have ever

00:53:50.021 --> 00:53:52.805
made. I was a really awesome little

00:53:52.805 --> 00:53:54.996
experience, a little experiment to see

00:53:54.996 --> 00:53:57.158
that you can do that here even in the

00:53:57.158 --> 00:53:59.615
heat of Florida. If you want to get into

00:53:59.615 --> 00:54:03.361
wild fermentation, my favorite is "Wild

00:54:03.361 --> 00:54:06.002
Fermentation" Sandor Katz, also called

00:54:06.002 --> 00:54:09.066
Sandor Kraut. He is also named the Johnny

00:54:09.066 --> 00:54:11.357
Appleseed of fermentation by Michael

00:54:11.357 --> 00:54:14.152
Pollan. Amazing book. Highly recommend

00:54:14.152 --> 00:54:16.677
it. You will learn what you need to know

00:54:16.677 --> 00:54:19.109
about wild fermentation. A little bit

00:54:19.109 --> 00:54:22.620
about fruit foraging - I did not have the

00:54:22.620 --> 00:54:26.949
time to establish fruit trees, Most fruit

00:54:26.949 --> 00:54:30.439
trees take a bit of time to produce, a

00:54:30.439 --> 00:54:32.255
couple of years. Avocados, for example,

00:54:32.255 --> 00:54:35.392
can take five-plus years. I was not able

00:54:35.392 --> 00:54:38.090
to grow most of my fruit. Foraging was my

00:54:38.090 --> 00:54:41.332
key for most of my fruit. I mentioned

00:54:41.332 --> 00:54:43.133
that I grew papayas and bananas, but

00:54:43.133 --> 00:54:44.781
for the most part my fruit came from

00:54:44.781 --> 00:54:49.197
foraging. Some of the easiest to forage

00:54:49.197 --> 00:54:53.187
and easiest to grow fruits are loquat,

00:54:53.187 --> 00:54:56.622
mulberry, Suriname cherry, banana,

00:54:56.622 --> 00:54:57.991
avocado, citrus, which would be

00:54:57.991 --> 00:55:01.929
grapefruit, lemon, oranges, passion

00:55:01.929 --> 00:55:03.726
fruit, which is not a tree. It is a vine.

00:55:03.726 --> 00:55:06.278
I think I missed starfruit. The ones that

00:55:06.278 --> 00:55:12.111
I foraged a lot are loquat, mulberry,

00:55:12.111 --> 00:55:14.384
starfruit, Suriname cherry, banana, some

00:55:14.384 --> 00:55:17.028
avocado, citrus, banana, not passion

00:55:17.028 --> 00:55:19.940
fruit. I grew that. Those are all also

00:55:19.940 --> 00:55:23.313
fairly easy to grow. Except citrus

00:55:23.313 --> 00:55:24.640
because of citrus greening, but there is

00:55:24.640 --> 00:55:27.199
still a ton of citrus in existence. There

00:55:27.199 --> 00:55:28.351
is a lot of it out there, even with that

00:55:28.351 --> 00:55:31.488
disease. Some more abundant foraging that

00:55:31.488 --> 00:55:34.179
I experienced were mango, prickly pear

00:55:34.179 --> 00:55:37.345
cactus and white sapote were other great

00:55:37.345 --> 00:55:40.897
foraging that I had. A few mentions, as

00:55:40.897 --> 00:55:43.688
far as fruit trees: persimmon, cocoa

00:55:43.688 --> 00:55:46.125
plum, Java plum, pond apple, sea grapes

00:55:46.125 --> 00:55:49.203
are all fruits that I had pretty good

00:55:49.203 --> 00:55:52.221
success with. There are hundreds of

00:55:52.221 --> 00:55:56.318
fruits that grow in Florida. There are

00:55:56.318 --> 00:55:57.572
different fruits that grow in Northern

00:55:57.572 --> 00:55:59.430
Florida, Central Florida and South

00:55:59.430 --> 00:56:00.926
Florida. We actually have a pretty

00:56:00.926 --> 00:56:04.076
diverse state. Those are just some of the

00:56:04.076 --> 00:56:06.561
fruits that I experienced. I went to

00:56:06.561 --> 00:56:09.514
South Florida for my mangoes. This is

00:56:09.514 --> 00:56:12.487
about a day of foraging down there for

00:56:12.487 --> 00:56:13.694
mangoes. There are so many mangoes that

00:56:13.694 --> 00:56:16.939
it is a problem. What I would do for

00:56:16.939 --> 00:56:20.059
foraging for fruit is just ride my bike

00:56:20.059 --> 00:56:21.838
around, or be in car depending on the

00:56:21.838 --> 00:56:25.487
situation. If I saw a huge mango tree and

00:56:25.487 --> 00:56:28.465
there was fruit falling to the ground and

00:56:28.465 --> 00:56:30.931
the road, I would just knock on the door

00:56:30.931 --> 00:56:32.680
and ask if I could harvest that fruit.

00:56:32.680 --> 00:56:35.403
Generally, the answer was yes. Sometimes

00:56:35.403 --> 00:56:37.720
it was "Absolutely! Please!" This stuff is

00:56:37.720 --> 00:56:39.684
rotting on the ground and causing me

00:56:39.684 --> 00:56:42.261
trouble, or falling on my car. A lot of

00:56:42.261 --> 00:56:44.116
the time, people wanted it to be taken.

00:56:44.116 --> 00:56:48.620
Generally, that was the response. That

00:56:48.620 --> 00:56:50.953
was a form of urban foraging. That was

00:56:50.953 --> 00:56:53.819
one of the gray areas. A lot of it was

00:56:53.819 --> 00:56:56.771
abandoned lots. There are fruit trees

00:56:56.771 --> 00:56:58.931
growing in abandoned lots, in the

00:56:58.931 --> 00:57:01.807
forests, in public parks, which is all

00:57:01.807 --> 00:57:03.651
clear foraging. The stuff that was

00:57:03.651 --> 00:57:07.420
growing over the street, on someone's

00:57:07.420 --> 00:57:11.526
lawn, that was one of my gray areas as to

00:57:11.526 --> 00:57:13.093
whether I completely considered that

00:57:13.093 --> 00:57:18.523
foraging. Basically, it is what I

00:57:18.523 --> 00:57:20.743
considered foraging. I tried to stick to

00:57:20.743 --> 00:57:24.147
all fruit trees that had pretty much

00:57:24.147 --> 00:57:25.806
naturalized, where nobody was taking care

00:57:25.806 --> 00:57:27.755
of them. They were just largely in

00:57:27.755 --> 00:57:30.433
existence, that kind of gray area of

00:57:30.433 --> 00:57:32.943
humanity. Ultimately, that was one of the

00:57:32.943 --> 00:57:38.497
big things for me. This project was about

00:57:38.497 --> 00:57:41.969
stepping away from big ag, but it was not

00:57:41.969 --> 00:57:44.607
about stepping away from humanity. It was

00:57:44.607 --> 00:57:46.080
not about stepping away from other

00:57:46.080 --> 00:57:49.002
people. I realized that almost everything

00:57:49.002 --> 00:57:52.410
that I ate was affected by humans in one

00:57:52.410 --> 00:57:54.613
way or another. Most of the weeds that I

00:57:54.613 --> 00:57:55.825
was eating, a lot of them came from

00:57:55.825 --> 00:57:57.476
Europe four-hundred years ago from

00:57:57.476 --> 00:57:59.338
humans. That was one of the interesting

00:57:59.338 --> 00:58:03.474
lessons. "Wild" and "domesticated," is a

00:58:03.474 --> 00:58:08.183
gray area. An important tool for fruit

00:58:08.183 --> 00:58:10.494
foraging is a fruit picker. I bought this

00:58:10.494 --> 00:58:13.362
for forty dollars at a hardware store.

00:58:13.362 --> 00:58:16.028
That allows you to reach way more fruit,

00:58:16.028 --> 00:58:17.791
fruit that often would go to waste

00:58:17.791 --> 00:58:19.342
because most people do not have a fruit

00:58:19.342 --> 00:58:21.160
picker. They just pick the lower stuff.

00:58:21.160 --> 00:58:25.462
I would often pick the higher up stuff

00:58:25.462 --> 00:58:27.908
that other people definitely would not

00:58:27.908 --> 00:58:33.436
have gotten. My meals were definitely not

00:58:33.436 --> 00:58:35.526
bland, occasionally bland, but for the

00:58:35.526 --> 00:58:37.577
most part not bland. I grew lots of herbs

00:58:37.577 --> 00:58:39.985
and spices. The ones that I am going to

00:58:39.985 --> 00:58:42.522
list here are the ones that I recommend

00:58:42.522 --> 00:58:44.910
for Central Florida that do grow well:

00:58:44.910 --> 00:58:48.239
African blue basil, Cuban oregano, holy

00:58:48.239 --> 00:58:52.010
basil, garlic chives, green onion, mint,

00:58:52.010 --> 00:58:55.449
rosemary, lemon grass, Italian basil,

00:58:55.449 --> 00:58:58.953
Thai basil, papalo, which popped up in my

00:58:58.953 --> 00:59:01.320
garden. I had no clue what it was. It was

00:59:01.320 --> 00:59:04.207
this mystery, but it was a great herb.

00:59:04.207 --> 00:59:05.689
Some people consider it close to

00:59:05.689 --> 00:59:10.227
cilantro. Cilantro, dill, fennel, thyme,

00:59:10.227 --> 00:59:13.794
oregano, curry leaf tree, garlic, sage,

00:59:13.794 --> 00:59:16.624
dill seeds, coriander. the dill seeds are

00:59:16.624 --> 00:59:19.386
you let dill go to seed and you get dill

00:59:19.386 --> 00:59:21.991
seeds. Coriander is cilantro that goes to

00:59:21.991 --> 00:59:26.733
seed. Those are just some of the herbs

00:59:26.733 --> 00:59:29.998
and spices that I grew this year. I am

00:59:29.998 --> 00:59:32.841
just featuring those as the highlights.

00:59:32.841 --> 00:59:36.502
I grew a lot of annual greens. Collards

00:59:36.502 --> 00:59:38.952
are my top recommendation as far as

00:59:38.952 --> 00:59:41.324
annual greens. Some of the ones I grew:

00:59:41.324 --> 00:59:43.603
collards, kale arugula, swiss chard,

00:59:43.603 --> 00:59:45.226
mustard greens, chicory, lettuce,

00:59:45.226 --> 00:59:47.706
cabbage, brassicas (That's the whole

00:59:47.706 --> 00:59:51.793
family of broccoli and kale and collards

00:59:51.793 --> 00:59:54.387
and such.), Asian greens bok choy and

00:59:54.387 --> 00:59:57.174
tatsoi do really well in this area,

00:59:57.174 --> 01:00:00.280
nasturtium and amaranth would be a

01:00:00.280 --> 01:00:02.544
bunch of the annual greens that I grew.

01:00:02.544 --> 01:00:04.725
I really prefer perennial greens though.

01:00:04.725 --> 01:00:07.708
For those of you who do not know what

01:00:07.708 --> 01:00:09.983
an annual is, that is a plant that

01:00:09.983 --> 01:00:12.374
generally produces about once and then

01:00:12.374 --> 01:00:15.273
dies. A good example of that is a carrot.

01:00:15.273 --> 01:00:16.867
you cannot leave a carrot in the ground

01:00:16.867 --> 01:00:19.740
for more carrots to come. You have to

01:00:19.740 --> 01:00:21.487
pull that carrot up after about ninety

01:00:21.487 --> 01:00:23.085
days and eat that carrot. Otherwise, you

01:00:23.085 --> 01:00:27.306
get no food. Perennials, some of them

01:00:27.306 --> 01:00:29.688
can be [producing for] three, four, five

01:00:29.688 --> 01:00:32.115
years. Rhubarb, in the North generally

01:00:32.115 --> 01:00:35.316
lasts for twenty-five years. Oak trees

01:00:35.316 --> 01:00:38.040
can be hundreds of years old. Those put

01:00:38.040 --> 01:00:43.095
out acorns, which are edible. Perennials

01:00:43.095 --> 01:00:45.622
can produce for years, decades, or even

01:00:45.622 --> 01:00:48.604
over one century. They are much more

01:00:48.604 --> 01:00:51.360
resource efficient. They are more time

01:00:51.360 --> 01:00:55.076
efficient. They consume far fewer

01:00:55.076 --> 01:00:57.533
resources. Generally, they add nutrition

01:00:57.533 --> 01:00:59.945
back to the soil. When you take out a

01:00:59.945 --> 01:01:02.826
plant from the soil, you are taking out

01:01:02.826 --> 01:01:06.789
nutrients. Perennials, by staying there's

01:01:06.789 --> 01:01:10.204
less disruption of the soil. That would

01:01:10.204 --> 01:01:11.246
be something that goes hand in hand with

01:01:11.246 --> 01:01:14.472
no-till gardening, for example. The

01:01:14.472 --> 01:01:16.234
number one plant that I recommend in

01:01:16.234 --> 01:01:17.738
Central Florida, if everybody in this

01:01:17.738 --> 01:01:20.039
room just had one plant, it would be

01:01:20.039 --> 01:01:22.552
moringa. It is also called the vitamin

01:01:22.552 --> 01:01:25.146
tree, or the tree of life. It is one of

01:01:25.146 --> 01:01:27.115
the most nutrient-dense plants on earth.

01:01:27.115 --> 01:01:29.702
Another survival plant, it needs almost

01:01:29.702 --> 01:01:31.456
no water or irrigation. It needs almost

01:01:31.456 --> 01:01:33.738
no nutrients. It is native to India, from

01:01:33.738 --> 01:01:37.278
dry part of India. It is one of the most

01:01:37.278 --> 01:01:39.593
nutrient-dense plants on Earth. It is

01:01:39.593 --> 01:01:42.660
truly a miracle food. If everyone had one

01:01:42.660 --> 01:01:43.823
of those plants, it could change the

01:01:43.823 --> 01:01:47.239
entire state of Florida. Very easy to

01:01:47.239 --> 01:01:48.625
grow, you can get it from a cutting,

01:01:48.625 --> 01:01:50.359
stick that cutting in the ground or from

01:01:50.359 --> 01:01:54.051
seeds. Moringa is my number one

01:01:54.051 --> 01:01:56.360
recommendation. Other ones are katook.

01:01:56.360 --> 01:01:58.269
That is what you see right here, that I

01:01:58.269 --> 01:02:01.490
am cutting. Chia, that is also considered

01:02:01.490 --> 01:02:03.198
a superfood. I has been grown for

01:02:03.198 --> 01:02:05.215
thousands of years. It dates back to, I

01:02:05.215 --> 01:02:08.609
think, the Aztecs, the Mayans, in Central

01:02:08.609 --> 01:02:11.480
and South America. Sweet potato greens,

01:02:11.480 --> 01:02:14.324
as I mentioned before, yuca greens or

01:02:14.324 --> 01:02:16.256
cassava, not only does it create a tuber,

01:02:16.256 --> 01:02:18.769
but you can also eat the greens. Just

01:02:18.769 --> 01:02:21.050
like chia, they are high in cyanide so

01:02:21.050 --> 01:02:24.040
they have to be cooked. Do not be scared

01:02:24.040 --> 01:02:25.841
by the fact that they have a poison in

01:02:25.841 --> 01:02:28.125
them. A lot of our foods are poisonous

01:02:28.125 --> 01:02:30.786
if not prepared correctly, or toxic might

01:02:30.786 --> 01:02:32.866
be a better word. They just have to be

01:02:32.866 --> 01:02:35.376
boiled for, depending on who you talk to,

01:02:35.376 --> 01:02:37.835
three to twenty minutes. You can go

01:02:37.835 --> 01:02:41.149
twenty minutes, whatever you want. Yuca

01:02:41.149 --> 01:02:43.207
greens. Other ones, cranberry hibiscus,

01:02:43.207 --> 01:02:47.094
purslane is one of my favorite foods on

01:02:47.094 --> 01:02:51.041
Earth. It is very nutrient-dense. It is

01:02:51.041 --> 01:02:52.069
actually one of the few plants that are

01:02:52.069 --> 01:02:55.308
high in omegas. Garden sorrel, again

01:02:55.308 --> 01:03:00.053
plantago, and perennial spinaches. We can

01:03:00.053 --> 01:03:01.208
grow a lot of different perennial

01:03:01.208 --> 01:03:03.073
spinaches here. To name a few of them:

01:03:03.073 --> 01:03:06.068
Okinawa, longevity, Suriname, Malabar,

01:03:06.068 --> 01:03:09.076
Brazilian. Those are just five of the

01:03:09.076 --> 01:03:10.805
perennial spinaches that we can grow

01:03:10.805 --> 01:03:14.202
here. Foraging greens, this is right here

01:03:14.202 --> 01:03:16.464
on Bumby. This is a plant that most

01:03:16.464 --> 01:03:19.870
people know, Bidens alba, or Spanish

01:03:19.870 --> 01:03:22.397
needle. It is despised by many front lawn

01:03:22.397 --> 01:03:25.889
growers and gardeners as a weed, but it

01:03:25.889 --> 01:03:28.377
is actually nutritious and medicinal. It

01:03:28.377 --> 01:03:30.160
is one of the most highly regarded

01:03:30.160 --> 01:03:33.029
medicinal plants by a lot of the local

01:03:33.029 --> 01:03:37.230
holistic health practitioners. If you go

01:03:37.230 --> 01:03:38.814
to the Florida School of Holistic Living,

01:03:38.814 --> 01:03:41.500
they are always talking about Bidens

01:03:41.500 --> 01:03:44.433
alba. It is an important medicinal, but

01:03:44.433 --> 01:03:46.723
it is also just a great edible and very

01:03:46.723 --> 01:03:50.189
nutritious. This is it right here. It has

01:03:50.189 --> 01:03:53.067
these flowers with the yellow in the

01:03:53.067 --> 01:03:55.449
center and the white around it. You can

01:03:55.449 --> 01:03:56.928
eat the flowers. They make a nice salad

01:03:56.928 --> 01:03:59.747
garnish, or you can eat the greens. It is

01:03:59.747 --> 01:04:02.215
beautiful food and everywhere you go in

01:04:02.215 --> 01:04:06.082
the United States, most every you go in

01:04:06.082 --> 01:04:07.997
the United States, there are going to be

01:04:07.997 --> 01:04:11.822
"weeds" that are edible, nutritious, and

01:04:11.822 --> 01:04:14.259
often medicinal greens. To name some

01:04:14.259 --> 01:04:16.378
other great ones in the area: dollar

01:04:16.378 --> 01:04:19.563
weed is in most of your yards, probably,

01:04:19.563 --> 01:04:22.747
gotu kola, it is considered a brain food,

01:04:22.747 --> 01:04:26.900
a very important one, bacopa, oxalis,

01:04:26.900 --> 01:04:29.818
purslane. Then there are sea greens like

01:04:29.818 --> 01:04:32.602
sea purslane and sea blight. Then

01:04:32.602 --> 01:04:34.793
plantago, which might be the third time I

01:04:34.793 --> 01:04:36.622
have brought that plant up. I obviously

01:04:36.622 --> 01:04:39.585
like it quite a bit. One of the foods

01:04:39.585 --> 01:04:42.582
that I made was green juice. That was a

01:04:42.582 --> 01:04:45.740
good staple this year. As far as water,

01:04:45.740 --> 01:04:48.238
when I went into this year my hope was to

01:04:48.238 --> 01:04:51.959
actually get all of my water foraged as

01:04:51.959 --> 01:04:53.551
well, which meant harvesting rain water.

01:04:53.551 --> 01:04:56.412
That was something I quickly realized I

01:04:56.412 --> 01:04:57.585
was not going to do because I did not

01:04:57.585 --> 01:04:59.892
want to have to carry around gallons of

01:04:59.892 --> 01:05:02.716
water everywhere I went. At my tiny house

01:05:02.716 --> 01:05:04.717
I harvested rain water, [and] put it through a

01:05:04.717 --> 01:05:07.556
filter. This is called a Berkey filter,

01:05:07.556 --> 01:05:09.959
That purified it and that was my

01:05:09.959 --> 01:05:12.377
drinking water. A majority of my water

01:05:12.377 --> 01:05:15.556
this year was foraged water. It was

01:05:15.556 --> 01:05:17.400
drinking water. Wherever I went, if I had

01:05:17.400 --> 01:05:20.177
to I drank tap water as well. Some

01:05:20.177 --> 01:05:22.239
mentions of other plants, and this is

01:05:22.239 --> 01:05:23.675
getting close to the end of the plant

01:05:23.675 --> 01:05:26.541
section. Other things: carrots, I grew

01:05:26.541 --> 01:05:28.205
over sixty pounds of carrots this year.

01:05:28.205 --> 01:05:30.310
That was an important food source. Beets,

01:05:30.310 --> 01:05:33.431
tindora cucumber, which is perennial

01:05:33.431 --> 01:05:35.420
cucumber that can grow year-round.

01:05:35.420 --> 01:05:38.405
Peppers grow really well in Central

01:05:38.405 --> 01:05:39.592
Florida. That is probably one of the

01:05:39.592 --> 01:05:41.443
easiest foods to start with. I grew

01:05:41.443 --> 01:05:43.203
serrano peppers and ghost peppers.

01:05:43.203 --> 01:05:46.328
Everglades tomatoes, it is hard to grow

01:05:46.328 --> 01:05:48.697
big tomatoes in Central Florida, but

01:05:48.697 --> 01:05:50.545
Everglades tomatoes grow really well.

01:05:50.545 --> 01:05:53.668
Daikon radish is an amazing one. You can

01:05:53.668 --> 01:05:57.974
make ferments from that. Green tea is a

01:05:57.974 --> 01:05:59.617
really great one that you can grow here,

01:05:59.617 --> 01:06:01.977
but there is something that I prefer that

01:06:01.977 --> 01:06:05.035
I will get to in a minute. Roselle, or

01:06:05.035 --> 01:06:08.438
Jamaican sorrel, amaranth grains as far

01:06:08.438 --> 01:06:09.878
as grains, that was the one that I

01:06:09.878 --> 01:06:12.065
experimented with. I did get two pounds

01:06:12.065 --> 01:06:14.731
of grains, full of rocks, so it never was

01:06:14.731 --> 01:06:18.750
tasty. It was probably worse eating it

01:06:18.750 --> 01:06:22.498
than not eating it. Amaranth grains is a

01:06:22.498 --> 01:06:26.673
good potential [crop]. Green beans, yard-

01:06:26.673 --> 01:06:31.482
long beans are a really great food to

01:06:31.482 --> 01:06:33.992
grow here. Cucumbers, I did well with

01:06:33.992 --> 01:06:35.675
annual cucumbers, but that one is not

01:06:35.675 --> 01:06:39.463
always easy. Kohlrabi, celery, eggplant

01:06:39.463 --> 01:06:42.980
and also just standard, small potatoes

01:06:42.980 --> 01:06:45.986
can do well as well. Some other important

01:06:45.986 --> 01:06:48.415
mentions for foraging, there are acorns.

01:06:48.415 --> 01:06:53.386
For much of humanity many people that

01:06:53.386 --> 01:06:55.676
existed, fifty percent of their calories

01:06:55.676 --> 01:06:58.712
came from acorns. We only exist today as

01:06:58.712 --> 01:07:02.004
humanity, possibly because of the acorn.

01:07:02.004 --> 01:07:04.304
We might not exist without the acorn. It

01:07:04.304 --> 01:07:05.856
is one of the most important food sources

01:07:05.856 --> 01:07:09.273
on Earth. Oak is present, I thing, on

01:07:09.273 --> 01:07:12.519
every continent except Antarctica. An

01:07:12.519 --> 01:07:14.924
extremely important food source and can

01:07:14.924 --> 01:07:17.506
still be used today. Here in Central

01:07:17.506 --> 01:07:19.747
Florida, you could get most of your

01:07:19.747 --> 01:07:21.664
calories from acorns if you wanted to

01:07:21.664 --> 01:07:23.890
take the time and energy to do that.

01:07:23.890 --> 01:07:27.642
Hickory nuts are a great nut. You can

01:07:27.642 --> 01:07:30.855
make nut milk. Sam Thayer is one of the

01:07:30.855 --> 01:07:36.036
great foragers. He has got three books

01:07:36.036 --> 01:07:37.947
that I recommend: "Nature's Garden" is

01:07:37.947 --> 01:07:39.669
one of them, I cannot think of the name

01:07:39.669 --> 01:07:40.911
of the other one that I read at the

01:07:40.911 --> 01:07:44.799
moment. What he taught me to do is to

01:07:44.799 --> 01:07:47.304
smash the hickory nuts in the shell

01:07:47.304 --> 01:07:49.417
because they are like walnuts, but there

01:07:49.417 --> 01:07:51.951
is way more shell and not a lot of nut so

01:07:51.951 --> 01:07:54.257
it is very tedious to pull out. If you

01:07:54.257 --> 01:07:55.648
are trying to grow and forage one-hundred

01:07:55.648 --> 01:07:56.992
percent of your food, you have to learn

01:07:56.992 --> 01:07:59.676
to use your time effectively. How you use

01:07:59.676 --> 01:08:01.241
your time effectively with hickory nuts

01:08:01.241 --> 01:08:03.935
is you smash them up, you throw them in a

01:08:03.935 --> 01:08:06.736
pot, you boil them and that makes hickory

01:08:06.736 --> 01:08:09.737
nut milk. Then you just strain it out. It

01:08:09.737 --> 01:08:12.004
takes just minutes to make you own nut

01:08:12.004 --> 01:08:16.015
milk that is great, high in fats and

01:08:16.015 --> 01:08:18.711
delicious. I put honey in it to make it a

01:08:18.711 --> 01:08:22.916
really nice drink. Beauty berry is a

01:08:22.916 --> 01:08:25.794
native plant to Florida that grows all

01:08:25.794 --> 01:08:29.355
over, great little snack. Smilax, also

01:08:29.355 --> 01:08:32.723
called Nature's asparagus or wild

01:08:32.723 --> 01:08:35.291
asparagus, I think. It is delicious. It

01:08:35.291 --> 01:08:38.000
just grows all over the place. Cattail,

01:08:38.000 --> 01:08:40.824
we could talk about cattail for hours.

01:08:40.824 --> 01:08:43.101
You can do cattail pollen. You can the

01:08:43.101 --> 01:08:46.595
roots, the rhizomes, the shoots. When

01:08:46.595 --> 01:08:48.591
the tops are young, you can eat that like

01:08:48.591 --> 01:08:50.706
corn on the cob. You can eat most parts

01:08:50.706 --> 01:08:51.945
of that plant at different times of the

01:08:51.945 --> 01:08:55.936
year. Amazing plant. Bitter melon, those

01:08:55.936 --> 01:08:58.267
are those weeds you see, those little

01:08:58.267 --> 01:09:00.332
orange melons that grow as weeds in the

01:09:00.332 --> 01:09:03.412
area. According to Green Dean, four of

01:09:03.412 --> 01:09:05.716
those little melons a day will give you

01:09:05.716 --> 01:09:07.850
all of the lycopene you need. I do not

01:09:07.850 --> 01:09:09.417
know everything about lycopene, but

01:09:09.417 --> 01:09:11.499
apparently it is an important thing. You

01:09:11.499 --> 01:09:12.876
do not eat the seed. You just suck the

01:09:12.876 --> 01:09:14.192
fruit off of it because the seed is

01:09:14.192 --> 01:09:17.854
toxic. You just suck the fruit right off

01:09:17.854 --> 01:09:20.485
of it. That is an amazing "weed" that is

01:09:20.485 --> 01:09:22.637
great. [It] grows right around us.

01:09:22.637 --> 01:09:25.673
Brazilian pepper is an invasive, but it

01:09:25.673 --> 01:09:28.279
makes a red pepper corn that you can use

01:09:28.279 --> 01:09:30.458
as a pepper substitute. I do not like it.

01:09:30.458 --> 01:09:33.319
I used it occasionally, but a lot of

01:09:33.319 --> 01:09:36.083
people like it. American nightshade is a

01:09:36.083 --> 01:09:40.327
really great forageable. One of the big

01:09:40.327 --> 01:09:42.064
foraging ones for me this year that

01:09:42.064 --> 01:09:43.846
really deserves a whole section, but I

01:09:43.846 --> 01:09:45.546
put it in the honorable mentions - that

01:09:45.546 --> 01:09:47.532
is yaupon holly. It is North America's

01:09:47.532 --> 01:09:51.753
only native caffeinated plant. It is a

01:09:51.753 --> 01:09:54.531
plant with amazing potential. It has the

01:09:54.531 --> 01:09:56.434
same abilities basically, as green tea

01:09:56.434 --> 01:09:59.656
(the antioxidants in it). It grows

01:09:59.656 --> 01:10:01.928
natively to Florida. It needs no water

01:10:01.928 --> 01:10:04.868
and can be harvested wild or grown on

01:10:04.868 --> 01:10:07.728
your property. It is often used as a nice

01:10:07.728 --> 01:10:09.761
landscaping plant. You can forage it all

01:10:09.761 --> 01:10:13.210
over the city. It has the same amount of

01:10:13.210 --> 01:10:15.133
caffeine as coffee, and it is related to

01:10:15.133 --> 01:10:17.247
yerba matte. It is basically the yerba

01:10:17.247 --> 01:10:21.043
matte of North America. Then, a couple of

01:10:21.043 --> 01:10:23.458
failures that I tried: I mentioned

01:10:23.458 --> 01:10:26.042
sunflowers, which turned into squirrels

01:10:26.042 --> 01:10:31.026
magically. Peanuts, and my big goal was

01:10:31.026 --> 01:10:33.839
to grow my own peanut butter, make my own

01:10:33.839 --> 01:10:38.206
coconut oil and my honey and spread that

01:10:38.206 --> 01:10:42.366
all over a banana. That was my dream of

01:10:42.366 --> 01:10:46.728
this year that never came true. I did

01:10:46.728 --> 01:10:49.648
grow enough peanuts, but I harvested them

01:10:49.648 --> 01:10:51.252
within the last couple of weeks. I was

01:10:51.252 --> 01:10:55.081
just too busy coasting into the finish

01:10:55.081 --> 01:10:58.172
line to try to make the peanut butter. I

01:10:58.172 --> 01:11:00.574
did not get around to it. Peanuts were a

01:11:00.574 --> 01:11:04.761
minor failure. Sugar cane for sugar is a

01:11:04.761 --> 01:11:07.396
great resource that I have not succeeded

01:11:07.396 --> 01:11:10.881
at. One of my big failures of the year

01:11:10.881 --> 01:11:15.520
was coconut oil. I thought that about six

01:11:15.520 --> 01:11:17.676
coconuts made a pint of coconut oil. I

01:11:17.676 --> 01:11:18.859
thought at the beginning that I was going

01:11:18.859 --> 01:11:20.791
to make a gallon of coconut oil and just

01:11:20.791 --> 01:11:22.297
be coasting through the year with coconut

01:11:22.297 --> 01:11:27.055
oil, all I wanted. I got four ounces of

01:11:27.055 --> 01:11:29.296
coconut oil. I did not have oil this

01:11:29.296 --> 01:11:31.398
whole year, which is definitely one of

01:11:31.398 --> 01:11:35.683
the big challenges. You do not realize

01:11:35.683 --> 01:11:37.518
until you are trying to grow and forage

01:11:37.518 --> 01:11:40.189
everything all the things that you eat

01:11:40.189 --> 01:11:41.573
that you do not realize how many

01:11:41.573 --> 01:11:44.756
resources it takes and such. Coconut oil

01:11:44.756 --> 01:11:47.465
was my holy grail that I ultimately

01:11:47.465 --> 01:11:49.283
failed at. What I learned is that it is

01:11:49.283 --> 01:11:52.249
more like fifteen coconuts to a pint [of

01:11:52.249 --> 01:11:54.064
oil], is what I am told. Instead, I just

01:11:54.064 --> 01:11:56.243
made my coconut milk, my coconut butter,

01:11:56.243 --> 01:11:58.852
my coconut curries. I used a lot of

01:11:58.852 --> 01:12:00.446
coconuts just did not succeed with the

01:12:00.446 --> 01:12:03.605
coconut oil. [I will] show you some of my

01:12:03.605 --> 01:12:05.481
meals. This is my little outdoor kitchen

01:12:05.481 --> 01:12:08.547
where I cooked. These are a few meals

01:12:08.547 --> 01:12:12.307
here. I did eat very well, very delicious

01:12:12.307 --> 01:12:15.847
foods. Up hear is Seminole pumpkin soup

01:12:15.847 --> 01:12:21.048
with a beet and cabbage sauerkraut as a

01:12:21.048 --> 01:12:23.938
garnish. This is pigeon peas with

01:12:23.938 --> 01:12:26.483
nasturtium leaves as a garnish and

01:12:26.483 --> 01:12:29.527
greens. This is Seminole pumpkin roasted

01:12:29.527 --> 01:12:33.681
inside of a collard wrap. Those were some

01:12:33.681 --> 01:12:35.838
of my really nice meals. The little bit

01:12:35.838 --> 01:12:38.200
of coconut oil I did have went on to

01:12:38.200 --> 01:12:39.460
these collard wraps with the Seminole

01:12:39.460 --> 01:12:40.960
pumpkin and that was like, one of the

01:12:40.960 --> 01:12:45.175
best foods of the whole year. So good!

01:12:45.175 --> 01:12:47.609
This was a very common meal. I probably

01:12:47.609 --> 01:12:50.688
ate six, seven-hundred pounds of sweet

01:12:50.688 --> 01:12:52.697
potatoes this year, quite a bit of sweet

01:12:52.697 --> 01:12:56.707
potato. I did different things with them,

01:12:56.707 --> 01:12:57.997
but the most common thing was just to

01:12:57.997 --> 01:12:59.172
mash them up and make mashed sweet

01:12:59.172 --> 01:13:00.703
potatoes. This is a bowl of mashed sweet

01:13:00.703 --> 01:13:02.974
potatoes with greens and pigeon peas.

01:13:02.974 --> 01:13:08.171
You can see behind me Seminole pumpkins

01:13:08.171 --> 01:13:10.324
on the shelf. That is how I stored them,

01:13:10.324 --> 01:13:12.425
just sitting there right on that shelf.

01:13:12.425 --> 01:13:16.456
This is another common meal, yuca. I just

01:13:16.456 --> 01:13:18.734
boiled the yuca. That was basically how I

01:13:18.734 --> 01:13:20.240
did it. I did not actually have an oven

01:13:20.240 --> 01:13:23.732
to bake. That limited me. When I went

01:13:23.732 --> 01:13:25.130
over to friends' houses I would often use

01:13:25.130 --> 01:13:28.251
their oven. It was really nice. This is

01:13:28.251 --> 01:13:31.457
yuca with fish on there. That is mullet,

01:13:31.457 --> 01:13:33.513
the white on top. Those are the little

01:13:33.513 --> 01:13:36.597
Everglades tomatoes. Then that is a

01:13:36.597 --> 01:13:40.118
sauerkraut garnish on top. That is just

01:13:40.118 --> 01:13:43.063
an example of a few meals. I probably

01:13:43.063 --> 01:13:46.296
really subsisted on a couple of dozen

01:13:46.296 --> 01:13:50.134
different meals, but my food did vary

01:13:50.134 --> 01:13:52.938
drastically throughout the year. As I

01:13:52.938 --> 01:13:54.211
mentioned, I did take a trip to

01:13:54.211 --> 01:13:56.884
Wisconsin. I did not make any videos

01:13:56.884 --> 01:13:58.880
while I was gone and people commented on

01:13:58.880 --> 01:14:01.126
YouTube like, "Oh, he went to Wisconsin

01:14:01.126 --> 01:14:04.258
and ate pizza for the summer!". It was

01:14:04.258 --> 01:14:06.690
harder to be travelling. Imagine, I had

01:14:06.690 --> 01:14:09.242
no garden. I went away for eighty-two

01:14:09.242 --> 01:14:11.558
days, is what it ended up being. I had no

01:14:11.558 --> 01:14:13.944
garden up there. This was a whole new

01:14:13.944 --> 01:14:18.089
challenge, taking it to the road. Before

01:14:18.089 --> 01:14:20.137
I left I worked long hours, often until

01:14:20.137 --> 01:14:23.917
two in the morning preparing foods. I

01:14:23.917 --> 01:14:28.236
was making flours from yuca and yam that

01:14:28.236 --> 01:14:30.474
Marabou Thomas taught me to make. I was

01:14:30.474 --> 01:14:32.004
drying coconuts and making coconut

01:14:32.004 --> 01:14:35.151
shreds. I was making tons of moringa

01:14:35.151 --> 01:14:38.354
powder. I was dehydrating herbs. I was

01:14:38.354 --> 01:14:40.117
foraging. I dehydrated bananas and

01:14:40.117 --> 01:14:43.199
mangoes. I left with one-hundred thousand

01:14:43.199 --> 01:14:46.408
calories, at least. At two-thousand

01:14:46.408 --> 01:14:48.474
calories a day, that is fifty days. I was

01:14:48.474 --> 01:14:50.655
carrying a lot of food. I was carrying a

01:14:50.655 --> 01:14:54.880
couple hundred pounds of food with me.

01:14:54.880 --> 01:14:57.546
I had a lot of food, but I really was

01:14:57.546 --> 01:14:59.400
dependent on foraging. I did a lot of

01:14:59.400 --> 01:15:00.916
fishing while I was up there. I mentioned

01:15:00.916 --> 01:15:03.088
the deer. While I was in Wisconsin I

01:15:03.088 --> 01:15:08.142
learned and foraged new plants. A lot of

01:15:08.142 --> 01:15:10.252
people up North say "You can only do this

01:15:10.252 --> 01:15:12.376
because you are in Central Florida." You

01:15:12.376 --> 01:15:14.316
are the beneficiaries of that comment. We

01:15:14.316 --> 01:15:16.105
are in a great place. Central Florida is

01:15:16.105 --> 01:15:18.486
one of the best growing climates in the

01:15:18.486 --> 01:15:21.703
United States, I would say. We have this

01:15:21.703 --> 01:15:23.081
beautiful thing where we can grow many

01:15:23.081 --> 01:15:25.269
plants of the North, but we can [also]

01:15:25.269 --> 01:15:27.019
grow many plants of the tropics. We are

01:15:27.019 --> 01:15:29.228
in a sub-tropical area. We are on this

01:15:29.228 --> 01:15:32.346
border. We are in zone what, ten-A?

01:15:32.346 --> 01:15:35.589
Nine-B? Nine? See, I am still kind of a

01:15:35.589 --> 01:15:41.427
rooky. So it is nine? Nine-B. Nine-B is

01:15:41.427 --> 01:15:43.646
basically on this edge where we can many

01:15:43.646 --> 01:15:45.080
things of the North and we can grow many

01:15:45.080 --> 01:15:47.270
things of the South. It is this beautiful

01:15:47.270 --> 01:15:49.115
area where there is an incredible amount

01:15:49.115 --> 01:15:51.263
of diversity and abundance. With that

01:15:51.263 --> 01:15:54.039
being said, I never felt abundance like I

01:15:54.039 --> 01:15:57.373
felt it up in Wisconsin. It was the most

01:15:57.373 --> 01:16:00.300
abundant place I have ever been on Earth.

01:16:00.300 --> 01:16:01.662
I almost did not come back. Actually, a

01:16:01.662 --> 01:16:02.844
lot of people thought I was never coming

01:16:02.844 --> 01:16:04.912
back, but I had things to take care of.

01:16:04.912 --> 01:16:08.533
My trip to Wisconsin was great. I foraged

01:16:08.533 --> 01:16:09.933
one-hundred different foods while I was

01:16:09.933 --> 01:16:11.821
up there. Apples were one of the most

01:16:11.821 --> 01:16:15.403
important. I made applesauce. I made so

01:16:15.403 --> 01:16:17.986
much applesauce. In my hometown, off the

01:16:17.986 --> 01:16:19.396
top of my head might now I could name

01:16:19.396 --> 01:16:23.640
fifty public apple trees just in that

01:16:23.640 --> 01:16:25.497
area. If you are ever go to Ashland,

01:16:25.497 --> 01:16:27.400
Wisconsin (That is my hometown.), go and

01:16:27.400 --> 01:16:31.145
gorge on apples. I have got to mention

01:16:31.145 --> 01:16:32.752
the toilet paper. I grew my own toilet

01:16:32.752 --> 01:16:34.401
paper. I have not bought toilet paper for

01:16:34.401 --> 01:16:40.554
over five years. This plant is call

01:16:40.554 --> 01:16:43.906
Plectranthus barbatus. That is the genus

01:16:43.906 --> 01:16:45.090
and species, also called blue spur

01:16:45.090 --> 01:16:47.609
flower. It grows in zones eight to ten,

01:16:47.609 --> 01:16:50.624
so right where we are. This will not grow

01:16:50.624 --> 01:16:52.400
in the colder climates. Maybe it will as

01:16:52.400 --> 01:16:54.902
as annual. This will grow year-round. I

01:16:54.902 --> 01:16:57.486
put two sticks in the ground and I have

01:16:57.486 --> 01:16:59.212
never used more than one percent of my

01:16:59.212 --> 01:17:02.190
toilet paper stock. Just two little

01:17:02.190 --> 01:17:06.151
sticks turned into infinite toilet paper

01:17:06.151 --> 01:17:08.526
for life. It is the perennial toilet

01:17:08.526 --> 01:17:11.783
paper plant. I am rubbing it on my face

01:17:11.783 --> 01:17:13.757
because it is actually softer than

01:17:13.757 --> 01:17:15.626
anything you would buy at the store. It

01:17:15.626 --> 01:17:17.420
is in the mint family, so some people

01:17:17.420 --> 01:17:19.585
call me Captain Mint Bottom on YouTube

01:17:19.585 --> 01:17:22.272
now because of that. [Audience laughs]

01:17:22.272 --> 01:17:24.188
It does not leave a minty smell. Well,

01:17:24.188 --> 01:17:25.960
I would not know, I guess. [Audience

01:17:25.960 --> 01:17:27.516
laughs] I cannot speak to that, but I do

01:17:27.516 --> 01:17:29.086
not think it does. It produces beautiful

01:17:29.086 --> 01:17:31.214
flowers. Sometimes hummingbirds were

01:17:31.214 --> 01:17:32.777
hanging out with my toilet paper, and

01:17:32.777 --> 01:17:36.273
bees. It actually makes a tea! You can

01:17:36.273 --> 01:17:38.730
eat this toilet paper as well. In Brazil,

01:17:38.730 --> 01:17:41.637
I know that it is used for upset stomach

01:17:41.637 --> 01:17:43.503
and maybe some other things. I have made

01:17:43.503 --> 01:17:45.955
tea with it, very bitter. Bitter is

01:17:45.955 --> 01:17:49.229
medicine. We have, in this society, bred

01:17:49.229 --> 01:17:52.264
bitterness out of the plants. What we do

01:17:52.264 --> 01:17:54.974
when we breed bitterness out, we breed

01:17:54.974 --> 01:17:57.134
the nutrients out. Lettuce is one of the

01:17:57.134 --> 01:17:59.005
least nutrient-rich plants that you can

01:17:59.005 --> 01:18:01.192
possibly eat because it has almost no

01:18:01.192 --> 01:18:03.917
flavor. No flavor means very few

01:18:03.917 --> 01:18:06.678
nutrients. Keep that in mind. Highly

01:18:06.678 --> 01:18:11.311
bitter means generally medicinal. Here is

01:18:11.311 --> 01:18:12.637
the toilet paper next to the compost

01:18:12.637 --> 01:18:15.521
toilet. This plant is truly miraculous.

01:18:15.521 --> 01:18:18.044
This toilet paper you can actually

01:18:18.044 --> 01:18:20.319
harvest from the plant and it stays soft

01:18:20.319 --> 01:18:22.702
for up to a week. Sitting next to the

01:18:22.702 --> 01:18:26.696
toilet for a week, it is still soft. It

01:18:26.696 --> 01:18:29.718
is very strong, does not break. On a dewy

01:18:29.718 --> 01:18:31.968
morning, it actually holds the moisture

01:18:31.968 --> 01:18:35.243
and turns into a wet wipe. [Audience

01:18:35.243 --> 01:18:38.235
laughs] It is truly a miraculous plant.

01:18:38.235 --> 01:18:41.803
For people that live up North, the good

01:18:41.803 --> 01:18:43.489
news is toilet paper grows everywhere.

01:18:43.489 --> 01:18:45.551
There is lamb's ear up there. Imagine

01:18:45.551 --> 01:18:47.349
wiping your butt with a lamb's ear. I

01:18:47.349 --> 01:18:48.313
do not know if any of you guys have done

01:18:48.313 --> 01:18:49.851
that, but it probably would feel good.

01:18:49.851 --> 01:18:52.619
They are nice and soft. [Audience laughs]

01:18:52.619 --> 01:18:53.647
They make wool, which could be

01:18:53.647 --> 01:18:56.175
scratchier. Anyway... Everywhere you go,

01:18:56.175 --> 01:18:58.396
there is a perennial toilet paper

01:18:58.396 --> 01:19:00.400
growing, but this is the best that I have

01:19:00.400 --> 01:19:03.631
seen on Earth. One of the most common

01:19:03.631 --> 01:19:06.524
question is [about] pests. What about

01:19:06.524 --> 01:19:11.165
pests? I am very, very proud to say that

01:19:11.165 --> 01:19:13.822
in the two years here I never applied a

01:19:13.822 --> 01:19:16.051
single pesticide, not even an organic one

01:19:16.051 --> 01:19:22.423
like BT or neem. How did I deal with

01:19:22.423 --> 01:19:25.860
pests? It is not that I never had pests.

01:19:25.860 --> 01:19:28.152
This is my Seminole pumpkin. I know

01:19:28.152 --> 01:19:29.227
there are probably some beginner

01:19:29.227 --> 01:19:30.185
gardeners in the room, but you all

01:19:30.185 --> 01:19:32.454
probably know that is not what plants

01:19:32.454 --> 01:19:34.679
are supposed to look like. Towards the

01:19:34.679 --> 01:19:36.746
back you can see leaves. All of this was

01:19:36.746 --> 01:19:40.342
leaves, but all of that was eaten by

01:19:40.342 --> 01:19:43.366
cucumber worms. There are different names

01:19:43.366 --> 01:19:46.782
for them, but they eat squashed,

01:19:46.782 --> 01:19:51.103
cucumbers and plants like that. They came

01:19:51.103 --> 01:19:54.144
in and just decimated this. I was not

01:19:54.144 --> 01:19:55.657
paying attention and they got so bad that

01:19:55.657 --> 01:19:57.691
they actually started to eat many of my

01:19:57.691 --> 01:19:59.349
pumpkins, to actually infest the

01:19:59.349 --> 01:20:02.271
pumpkins. I definitely dealt with pests

01:20:02.271 --> 01:20:05.083
this year. A lot of people say "You can

01:20:05.083 --> 01:20:09.055
not grow food in Central Florida.". There

01:20:09.055 --> 01:20:10.721
is this idea that a lot of people have

01:20:10.721 --> 01:20:12.978
that this is a horrible, horrible place

01:20:12.978 --> 01:20:15.600
to grow food. That is just not remotely

01:20:15.600 --> 01:20:17.769
the truth at all. What they are doing is

01:20:17.769 --> 01:20:19.916
they are trying to grow the wrong food in

01:20:19.916 --> 01:20:24.642
the wrong way. When I got here, what I

01:20:24.642 --> 01:20:27.088
did not do was go to the grocery store

01:20:27.088 --> 01:20:28.746
and walk down the aisles and say "What do

01:20:28.746 --> 01:20:30.724
I want to eat?". I did not say "I like

01:20:30.724 --> 01:20:31.958
strawberries. I am going to grow

01:20:31.958 --> 01:20:34.452
strawberries.". Instead, I talked to all

01:20:34.452 --> 01:20:36.294
of the locals. I said "What grows so

01:20:36.294 --> 01:20:40.338
ridiculously well and has so few pests

01:20:40.338 --> 01:20:43.981
that a fool could not possibly kill it?".

01:20:43.981 --> 01:20:46.707
I said, I am going to grow what grows the

01:20:46.707 --> 01:20:50.007
easiest, has the fewest pests and is also

01:20:50.007 --> 01:20:53.337
very nutrient-dense, or has a lot of

01:20:53.337 --> 01:20:56.567
calories. That is what is was about. What

01:20:56.567 --> 01:20:59.573
has been proven time and time again by

01:20:59.573 --> 01:21:01.504
the locals? I did not come here and

01:21:01.504 --> 01:21:03.756
reinvent anything. The only reason that I

01:21:03.756 --> 01:21:04.904
am standing here today, after having

01:21:04.904 --> 01:21:06.559
grown and foraged one-hundred percent

01:21:06.559 --> 01:21:08.473
of my food, is because this is all of the

01:21:08.473 --> 01:21:10.942
knowledge that is in this room already,

01:21:10.942 --> 01:21:12.806
and in other people in this community.

01:21:12.806 --> 01:21:14.351
All I did was take all that knowledge,

01:21:14.351 --> 01:21:16.694
put it all together into one little

01:21:16.694 --> 01:21:18.543
package to have me standing here at the

01:21:18.543 --> 01:21:21.269
end of this year. As far as pests go, a

01:21:21.269 --> 01:21:23.614
few things, there was one garden that I

01:21:23.614 --> 01:21:27.384
worked with and there was the person in

01:21:27.384 --> 01:21:30.367
the garden. I have fifty, sixty, seventy

01:21:30.367 --> 01:21:32.374
different species growing in this garden.

01:21:32.374 --> 01:21:36.529
She would always tell me about the one or

01:21:36.529 --> 01:21:39.014
two plants that had pests on them. It

01:21:39.014 --> 01:21:41.052
was a constant, "The pests are getting

01:21:41.052 --> 01:21:43.947
these plants!". What I said was "Oh, we

01:21:43.947 --> 01:21:46.528
have sixty-eight other plants that do not

01:21:46.528 --> 01:21:48.764
have pests. Let's eat just eat those."

01:21:48.764 --> 01:21:50.384
That is one of the most important

01:21:50.384 --> 01:21:51.855
elements of [dealing with] pests,

01:21:51.855 --> 01:21:54.155
diversity. If you have one-hundred

01:21:54.155 --> 01:21:56.130
species and the pests are getting ten,

01:21:56.130 --> 01:21:58.287
you still have ninety species to eat.

01:21:58.287 --> 01:22:01.917
Diversity is key. Monoculture is going to

01:22:01.917 --> 01:22:04.808
bring in pests. Polycultures are going to

01:22:04.808 --> 01:22:07.486
reduce pests. Imagine if you have a line

01:22:07.486 --> 01:22:10.277
of tomatoes. If you get worms here, they

01:22:10.277 --> 01:22:11.992
just walk from tomato plant to tomato

01:22:11.992 --> 01:22:13.703
plant to tomato plant. They just eat

01:22:13.703 --> 01:22:15.566
themselves away. If you have a tomato

01:22:15.566 --> 01:22:17.441
plant here and on the other side of the

01:22:17.441 --> 01:22:19.392
garden and in between that you have got

01:22:19.392 --> 01:22:21.517
basil and onions and such the pests,

01:22:21.517 --> 01:22:24.432
amazingly, do not get to all of them.

01:22:24.432 --> 01:22:27.704
Diversity. Spreading things out.

01:22:27.704 --> 01:22:30.929
Intercropping, or polyculture. One

01:22:30.929 --> 01:22:32.821
really important thing is that plants

01:22:32.821 --> 01:22:34.999
basically have immune systems. Healthy

01:22:34.999 --> 01:22:38.182
plants can defend themselves from pests.

01:22:38.182 --> 01:22:40.462
You need healthy soil. You need the right

01:22:40.462 --> 01:22:42.703
amount of sun. If a plant does not have

01:22:42.703 --> 01:22:44.722
enough sun, if it is in too much shade,

01:22:44.722 --> 01:22:46.997
that often is what will bring in the

01:22:46.997 --> 01:22:49.565
pests. Aphids, for example, if you see

01:22:49.565 --> 01:22:51.765
aphids it is not "How do I get rid of

01:22:51.765 --> 01:22:53.426
these aphids?". It is "What do I have to

01:22:53.426 --> 01:22:56.240
change foundationally to make healthy

01:22:56.240 --> 01:22:58.432
plants so that the aphids are not there.

01:22:58.432 --> 01:23:00.978
That means planting the right things,

01:23:00.978 --> 01:23:04.380
planting at the right time of year,

01:23:04.380 --> 01:23:08.220
planting in the right places, using local

01:23:08.220 --> 01:23:09.941
knowledge, doing what has been done for

01:23:09.941 --> 01:23:13.466
decades. There are many ways to get

01:23:13.466 --> 01:23:14.919
local knowledge, which is something I am

01:23:14.919 --> 01:23:18.263
going to get into. A little bit about my

01:23:18.263 --> 01:23:22.754
health, this is me about eight month in

01:23:22.754 --> 01:23:26.334
[to the project]. At that point I was not

01:23:26.334 --> 01:23:28.357
catching enough fish. I was feeling

01:23:28.357 --> 01:23:29.968
deficient [in nutrients]. I did not have

01:23:29.968 --> 01:23:31.050
enough fat and I did not have enough

01:23:31.050 --> 01:23:33.134
protein [in my diet]. I am pulling my

01:23:33.134 --> 01:23:35.703
cheeks there because I started to feel my

01:23:35.703 --> 01:23:38.361
body and I was like, "Man! I feel like my

01:23:38.361 --> 01:23:41.310
skin is really loose!". I feel like my f

01:23:41.310 --> 01:23:44.103
fat is gone. My brain was not functioning

01:23:44.103 --> 01:23:46.757
as well. I was worried that I was not

01:23:46.757 --> 01:23:50.274
getting enough fats. There was a rough

01:23:50.274 --> 01:23:52.902
patch this summer. There were a good

01:23:52.902 --> 01:23:54.344
number of times when I definitely thought

01:23:54.344 --> 01:23:57.050
about giving up. I definitely want to

01:23:57.050 --> 01:23:59.279
say, this was extremely difficult. It is

01:23:59.279 --> 01:24:01.446
a dream because it is very, very

01:24:01.446 --> 01:24:03.182
difficult, not something that is easy to

01:24:03.182 --> 01:24:04.765
attain.. There were definitely many times

01:24:04.765 --> 01:24:06.774
when I wanted to give up. This was one of

01:24:06.774 --> 01:24:09.604
those times. I was feeling very gaunt and

01:24:09.604 --> 01:24:12.642
like I was not getting what I needed. I

01:24:12.642 --> 01:24:14.535
was pretty confident that it was fat and

01:24:14.535 --> 01:24:17.379
it was protein. How I got to Wisconsin,

01:24:17.379 --> 01:24:20.120
was I caught a ride with Jenn, one of the

01:24:20.120 --> 01:24:23.278
Gardens for Single Moms recipients. She

01:24:23.278 --> 01:24:25.168
happened to be going to Chicago two days

01:24:25.168 --> 01:24:27.271
before I was trying to go to Chicago, so

01:24:27.271 --> 01:24:29.704
I drove up there with her. I stayed at my

01:24:29.704 --> 01:24:32.820
aunt's twenty-third story apartment in

01:24:32.820 --> 01:24:36.931
Chicago. Then it only got worse because I

01:24:36.931 --> 01:24:38.605
was sitting in a car, sitting in an

01:24:38.605 --> 01:24:41.273
apartment and mostly eating carbs and did

01:24:41.273 --> 01:24:45.107
not have the fat. That was a really hard

01:24:45.107 --> 01:24:47.729
time I had my ups and downs, but that is

01:24:47.729 --> 01:24:49.509
when I caught fish. I had one of my

01:24:49.509 --> 01:24:51.734
lowest days, I caught a twenty-pound lake

01:24:51.734 --> 01:24:55.139
trout. That would have fed me for three

01:24:55.139 --> 01:24:59.068
weeks, at a pound per day. It is one of

01:24:59.068 --> 01:25:00.944
the fattiest fish there is. Basically, it

01:25:00.944 --> 01:25:03.912
was exactly what I needed and I put it

01:25:03.912 --> 01:25:05.530
back in the water because it was too

01:25:05.530 --> 01:25:08.882
big. At that point, lake trout are all

01:25:08.882 --> 01:25:14.814
female. They are the producers for that

01:25:14.814 --> 01:25:17.771
population. They produce so much. Here I

01:25:17.771 --> 01:25:20.126
had exactly what I needed, what I was

01:25:20.126 --> 01:25:22.390
craving, but I could not eat it. I put it

01:25:22.390 --> 01:25:27.140
back in the water. That hurt me for days!

01:25:27.140 --> 01:25:29.333
I did rebound. I caught enough fish. I

01:25:29.333 --> 01:25:33.176
got the venison. At the end of my time in

01:25:33.176 --> 01:25:35.593
Wisconsin, I actually spoke at UW

01:25:35.593 --> 01:25:37.677
Lacrosse where I went to college. They

01:25:37.677 --> 01:25:40.371
happened to have a dunk tank where I

01:25:40.371 --> 01:25:41.852
could get my body fat composition

01:25:41.852 --> 01:25:43.853
[measured]. I got it and it was fifteen

01:25:43.853 --> 01:25:47.073
percent. I had built my fat back up and

01:25:47.073 --> 01:25:50.373
I gained it back. Fifteen percent is

01:25:50.373 --> 01:25:53.398
healthy fat, more than I would expect on

01:25:53.398 --> 01:25:56.928
myself and I maintained my weight. I

01:25:56.928 --> 01:25:59.155
started at one-hundred-fifty-three-point

01:25:59.155 --> 01:26:03.942
four pounds and the night before I

01:26:03.942 --> 01:26:06.224
finished, on day one-hundred-sixty-five I

01:26:06.224 --> 01:26:07.815
weighed one-hundred-fifty-five pounds. On

01:26:07.815 --> 01:26:10.734
the morning of my first day finishing I

01:26:10.734 --> 01:26:12.034
weighed one-hundred-fifty-two-point-

01:26:12.034 --> 01:26:15.070
eight, so point-eight pounds less. It is

01:26:15.070 --> 01:26:16.881
amazing, I have weighed myself a lot.

01:26:16.881 --> 01:26:18.379
You start to realize how much your weight

01:26:18.379 --> 01:26:20.002
can fluctuate. It fluctuates by about

01:26:20.002 --> 01:26:23.312
seven pounds a day. You can pee out a

01:26:23.312 --> 01:26:25.592
gallon of water per day and that this

01:26:25.592 --> 01:26:26.856
eight-point-eight pounds, so you are

01:26:26.856 --> 01:26:29.020
shedding a lot of weight in one day just

01:26:29.020 --> 01:26:33.387
through fluids and food. Basically, my

01:26:33.387 --> 01:26:37.134
weight stayed about as steady as I could

01:26:37.134 --> 01:26:39.754
possibly imagine and I did not get sick

01:26:39.754 --> 01:26:43.711
once. I think it is safe to say that I

01:26:43.711 --> 01:26:50.726
did it! [Audience laughs and cheers,

01:26:50.726 --> 01:27:02.985
applauds] I have been doing it for a

01:27:02.985 --> 01:27:05.821
while now. so I am a little nonchalant

01:27:05.821 --> 01:27:07.644
about it because it kind of just feels

01:27:07.644 --> 01:27:09.499
like, "Yeah, I did it." but it was

01:27:09.499 --> 01:27:14.486
something that I had set out to do

01:27:14.486 --> 01:27:19.409
forever. I want to end by sharing a whole

01:27:19.409 --> 01:27:21.728
bunch of resources and then we will have

01:27:21.728 --> 01:27:24.594
time for questions. I am going to go

01:27:24.594 --> 01:27:26.554
through a bunch of resources. Now, I have

01:27:26.554 --> 01:27:29.557
all of this information online at

01:27:29.557 --> 01:27:34.180
robgreenfield.tv/grow. Many of the things

01:27:34.180 --> 01:27:36.294
that I talked about tonight, but

01:27:36.294 --> 01:27:38.450
certainly all of these resources are

01:27:38.450 --> 99:59:59.999
listed on that page. You do not have to

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
cram it all down and this talk is being

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
recorded. Have these cameras been going

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
this whole time? Alright, so this talk is

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
being recorded and will be on my YouTube

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
channel, which is just

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
youtube.com/robgreenfield. You can watch

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
this and I will have all of the links in

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
the description there. I designed it so

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
that you don't have to suck all of this

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
in in one night. I am going to go through

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
these resources. First, events, classes,

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
groups. The most important thing is

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
community. As I said, the only reason I

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
am standing here today, period, is

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
because of community. I could not have

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
done this alone, not even remotely. It is

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
all through community. The idea of this

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
is not that any of us have to grow and

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
forage [one-hundred percent] of our own

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
food. we have an amazing community right

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
here where we can share. We can trade.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
We can ask each other what we need. That

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
does not have to stop with just food. If

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
you look at this room, we have doctors.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
We have lawyers. We have teachers. We

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
have permaculturists and growers. We have

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
most things in here and we can exchange

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
those things and improve our communities

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
without having to ship our money to these

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
corporations in far-off places. Starting

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
with community, that is where I am going

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
to start. Orlando Permaculture, where we

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
are standing right now. Definitely my

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
favorite community in Central Florida.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
That is why I came to Orlando, because of

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
Orlando Permaculture. Foraging. Green

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
Dean, one of the greatest foragers in the

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
United States. He has got the most-

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
watched foraging YouTube channel. He

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
does classes in Orlando at least once a

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
month and all over the state of Florida.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
We have an amazing resource in Green

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
Dean. Andy Firk, another amazing forager.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
Definitely, I have to say, my favorite

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
human being that I have met in the state

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
of Florida. If you get a chance to hang

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
out with Andy Firk and do one of his

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
classes, it is social activism and plants

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
all in one. It is amazing. John Martin is

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
now an expert mushroom guy, "Fungi John".

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
Where is John? I know he is here. There

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
is John over there. [Faint applause]

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
Yeah, we will give him a round of

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
applause! [Audience applauds] When I got

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
here, John was not teaching classes yet.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
This is something he started doing within

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
the last year. He is one of the mushroom

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
experts of the area. He teaches classes.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
Fungi John. UF IFA IFAs Extension, that

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
is an amazing resource. I got so much

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
through them. They have a master

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
gardening program, which is a great

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
resource. Central Florida Fruit Society,

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
that is where I learned so much of what I

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
needed to know about what fruit trees to

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
plant for my community fruit trees

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
program. They have monthly meet-ups. Some

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
bigger events, there are the Permaculture

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
Convergences. There are local ones and

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
then there are the state-wide ones. Those

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
are an amazing place to meet local

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
permaculturists. Earth skills gatherings

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
are truly amazing. I went to that both

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
years I was here, highly recommend it.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
The Florida School of Holistic Living is

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
all about holistic medicine and holistic

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
health, highly recommend getting involved

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
with that. They have the Florida Herbal

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
Conference once per year. Sustainable

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
Kashi is a place where I have done a lot

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
of my learning. They have free

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
permaculture classes on Wednesdays. There

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
are lots of events. John just hosted a

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
mushroom foraging class there a couple

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
of weeks back, for example. Lots of

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
opportunities there. I have not named all

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
of them, but those are some of the

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
amazing resources we have locally. Some

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
online resources, one of my favorites is

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
Pete Kanaris. I was lucky enough to get

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
to spend a lot of my time [with Pete]. He

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
is one of the reasons I am still standing.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
He took me out fishing. He is an amazing

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
friend and an amazing resource. His

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
YouTube channel is Green Dreams Florida.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
So much knowledge on there. Again, UF

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
IFIS Extension is a great resource. Green

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
Dean, eattheweeds.com, David The Good:

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
The Survival Gardener, so much education

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
came from him. Andy Firk, I mentioned

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
him. Again, my website is

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
robgreenfield.tv/growflorida, or just

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
/grow. That is just an accumulation of

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
all of this put into one place for you.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
Another one is Terry Meer. His [website]

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
is terrymeer.com/resources. That is a

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
really great resource guide that puts

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
a lot of the events and the groups and

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
such. Some nurseries, my favorite

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
probably is HEART, Josh Jamison. He is

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
one of the amazing, solid foundations of

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
this community. Definitely go take a tour

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
there. Their plants are some of the most

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
affordable because their mission is not

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
to make money. Their mission is to spread

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
plants and plant knowledge. HEART Village

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
Nursery. ECHO Global Farm, that is down

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
in South Florida. I actually never made

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
it there, but it is an amazing resource.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
A Natural Farm and Education Center, that

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
is an amazing resource for fruit trees.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
That is where I got the majority of my

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
fruit trees for this year. South Seminole

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
Farms and Nursery, Green's Nursery, Green

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
Dreams, Pete Kanaris also has a nursery

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
over by Tampa. You do not have to buy

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
plants. The amazing thing about plants is

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
that they reproduce on their own. Are

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
there plants back there right now? Are

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
those flowers? We do have a plant raffle

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
tonight. Every month there is a plant

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
raffle, right? Every month that you come

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
here you can take plants with you. There

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
are plant swaps. There are plant raffles.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
It is about connecting. I have this. you

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
have that. You do not have to buy plants.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
I have enough yuca cuttings for everyone

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
in this room. Unfortunately, I do not

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
have them with me, but that all came from

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
a few cuttings in the first place. Simple

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
Living Institute, they do plants. Orlando

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
Permaculture. Leu Gardens has a plant

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
sale. Just meeting permaculturists, talk

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
to people. Ask if you can go over to

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
their garden and share knowledge. They

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
key to a permaculturist's heart is

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
helping them. doing work. that is the key

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
to any gardener's heart, doing some work

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
and helping them. Whatever that is:

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
weeding, shoveling, putting down compost.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
It is usually the labor that is needed

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
because gardening takes work. Earn some

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
plants by putting in time at a garden, or

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
at a permaculture food forest. Another

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
nursery that I visited is Sow Exotic. That

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
was a really great nursery about an hour

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
south of here. Local seeds, when I got

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
here I asked around, even Orlando

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
Permaculture. I said "Where can I get

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
local seeds?" and they all said, "There

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
is no local seed company.". I said "No

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
way! There has got to be a local seed

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
company.". I search it out and I found

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
three local seed companies. There is

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
Crispy Farms in Apopka. They only have

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
about thirty varieties of seeds, but they

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
are all great varieties that grow really

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
well here. Crispy Farms is an incredible

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
little place to get seeds. Whitwam

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
Organics is over in Tampa. Southern

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
Heritage Seed Collective, Melissa DeSa is

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
the seed genius of Central Florida, I

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
would say. They are a non-profit. They

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
are spreading seeds. They probably have

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
fifty, one-hundred different varieties

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
and they grow all of them in Gainesville

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
for the most part. Not local seeds:

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
Southern Exposure Seed Exchange, Johnny's

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
Selected Seeds, Seeds Savers Exchange,

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds, High Mowing

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
Seeds and Seeds of Change are all some

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
great places that you can buy online. A

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
couple of local books, my favorites

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
listed here, Robert Boden's "Florida

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
Fruit and Vegetable Gardening." That is

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
more annual-based, but reading that

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
really gives you the basic knowledge you

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
need of understanding Central Florida.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
That was my holy grail of a book starting

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
[out]. If it is not really perennials. It

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
is more annuals. Perennials, David The

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
Good is a great resource as were his

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
books. [They are] very small books that

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
have the information you need like,

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
"Create your own Florida Food Forest" and

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
"Totally Crazy Easy Florida Gardening"

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
the plants that grow ridiculously well

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
that you cannot kill. Peggy Lantz,

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
Florida's Edible Wild Plants" is a

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
foraging book that I really recommend.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
Marabou Thomas has a cookbook. A home

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
garden cuisine toolkit for the sub-

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
tropics. Really highly recommend that

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
book. It is a beautiful one. James

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
Steven's "Vegetable Gardening in Florida."

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
This is Marabou right here! He is not

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
here tonight because he is a genius who

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
is at home always toiling away. I was

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
lucky to get to go over to his house a

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
couple of times and he came over to

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
mine. He taught me about yam flour and

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
yuca flour. He is a genius. If you can

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
tap into that knowledge, one way to do

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
that is through his book. This is him

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
making tortillas without oil from flour

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
that we made from my garden. That is

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
something that he has been perfecting.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
I do not know a whole lot of people who

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
do [that]. That is an amazing book. His

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
Instagram page is a really nice resource

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
too. Some not local books, there are so

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
many books, but I am just naming a few:

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
"Perennial Vegetables" and "Paradise Lot"

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
by Eric Toensmeier, "Gaia's Garden: A

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
Guide to Home Scale Permaculture" are two

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
great permaculture books, just to name a

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
couple. I love Michael Pollan. His books

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
are some of the foundations to me

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
questioning the globalized food system.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
If you want to understand even big

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
organic, Michael Pollan's books are

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
fantastic. Sandor Katz, "Wild

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
Fermentation," that is not just a

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
revolution of our food. It is really a

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
revolution of our mind. He is an

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
incredible author and person. Some garden

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
resources: I mentioned mulch, you got your

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
local tree companies, and then

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
getchipdrop.com. This is where you get

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
the mulch. Compost, you get that from

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
Monterey Mushrooms, or you can get it

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
from the city. Our yard waste gets turn

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
into compost. Oh, and we got the new

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
compost program started by Charlie! You

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
can do that was well. Cardboard, again,

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
grocery, liquor, appliance stores. If you

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
want to do rainwater harvesting, just

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
type "rainwater harvesting" into Craig's

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
List and you will be able to find barrels

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
and totes and materials for that. Drip

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
irrigation you can just get at hardware

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
stores and online. Those are kind of my

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
main ingredients besides the plants that

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
I mentioned. As far as this project,

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
other resources: my YouTube channel is

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
where I produced a lot of videos about

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
this year. If you want to learn more, or

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
you want to take tours of my gardens,

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
spend time virtually in the garden with

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
me, because you will not be able to in

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
real life because I am leaving in a few

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
days. YouTube.com/robgreenfield has these

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
videos. I am putting out a video soon

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
that is "How to turn your lawn into a

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
garden." A lot of the resources for this

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
project, if you go to

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
robgreenfield.tv/foodfreedomfoods, it

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
lists the three-hundred foods that I

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
foraged this year and grown with links to

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
a lot of them. Slash food freedom meals,

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
that lists every meal for the last three-

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
hundred-sixty-five days and every snack.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
Slash food freedom photos is photos of

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
many of my meals and my foods where you

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
can learn more. Slash food freedom rules

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
is all the guidelines behind this year.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
Slash food freedom why is why I did this

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
and more about that. Lastly, the book!

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
I do have a book, not out yet. It will

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
some out December of 2020 with New

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
Society Publishers. One-hundred percent

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
of the proceeds of that book [sales] are

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
donated to non-profits that are working

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
on the food solutions, working to create

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
a more sustainable and just food system.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
I am not out to make money from food at

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
all, really. I think food is a basic

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
human right. I want to empower others to

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
grow their own food. This book, I think

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
it will be maybe the most powerful thing

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
that I have ever put out. I highly

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
recommend it. I will be on a book tour

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
here when that book comes out, end of

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
2020 / beginning of 2021. I will be doing

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
a talk with that book as well. As far as

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
the media behind this, I want to thank

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
Sierra Ford Photography. My friend Sierra

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
Ford, she took a lot of these photos as

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
well as Danielle Werner at Live Wonderful

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
Photography. As far as my videos that you

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
have seen over the year, John VonMutius

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
Brandon Carey and Paul O'Neill, so I want

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
to thank them for that. Most importantly,

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
I want to thank the Orlando Permaculture

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
community. I have said it one-hundred

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
times, but all of this is a matter of

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
community. It has been incredible to be

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
here for the last two years. You made

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
Orlando a more than tolerable place, a

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
beautiful place to spend the last two

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
years. I could not have done any of this

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
without you, so thank you to Orlando

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
Permaculture. Thank you to Sarah Robinson

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
for always hosting me in her house, in

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
her church, wherever! I want to say thank

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
you to Lisa Ray who hosted me in her

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
backyard and all of the fun stuff we went

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
through, especially the team at Orlando

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
Permaculture: Jeff and David and Kaitlin

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
and thank you all for that and the whole

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
Orlando Permaculture. To Daniel for all

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
of the good times we had together and for

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
the great kombucha. The list could

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
absolutely go on. Thank you everyone so

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
much for being a part of this journey.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
[Audience applauds] So how long was that?

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
How long was I talking? [Conversation off

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
stage] Almost two hours! [Audience laughs]

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
Oh my gosh! There was a lot of information

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
to go through! What time is it?

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
[Conversation off stage] Nine o'clock?

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
That is the longest talk of all time at

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
Orlando Permaculture. I guess we do not

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
really have time for questions then,

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
right? Ok well, I will be around and

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
hugs. I love hugs so come give me a hug.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
I love you all very much. Next up, Jeff

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
Trepani! [Audience applauds] Two hours!

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
Jeff: I want to thank you so much. You

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
have been such a great inspiration,

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
motivation for us and helping us to get

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
more publicity as well and get more people

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
here learning about things. So, I want to

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
thank you a lot. I am going to miss you,

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definitely. I am going to be thinking

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
about you when I drive by the house and

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
the property and everything. It is a great

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
thing having you here.