Plant Profiles

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Black Mint

2015/07/13 Danielle 0

While I consider myself to be Australian, I wasn’t born here – I adopted this country. I moved, with my family, from South Africa when I was 11. An eleven-year-old doesn’t (or at least my eleven year old self didn’t) have any real grasp of politics, long term economic predictions, or crime rates, or the reasons why we emigrated – which were related to all those factors. But my world-view has been forever shaped by the colours and sounds and smells of Africa. Indeed, in my most secret heart of hearts I am a dual citizen of both Australia and […]

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hot chocolate: Theobroma cacao

2015/06/23 Danielle 0

The middle of winter is stormy, wet and grey. More so than it has been for the last few years, which is making me regret the fact that my water tanks aren’t in place yet to catch some of the rain – but at least the swales are catching it. The whole property is green, and the soil is starting to look like something living in a lot of places, dark and crumbly and full of mycelium. We have clover sprouting and fungi springing up all over the place, and a few of the lupins from last year must have […]

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plant profile: moringa, horseradish tree

2015/04/23 Danielle 0

Moringa (Moringa oleifera), also known as drumstick tree or horseradish tree, is a pretty, graceful tree which produces edible seed pods (eat them when they’re green and tender, after cooking like snow peas) and edible leaves and flowers (eat raw or cooked as a green vegetable). There’s a tree growing over the fence of a back yard near my old house in North Perth, and I can confirm that both the flowers and leaves are very good raw, with a slightly nutty, broccoli flavour and a hint of mustard-like spiciness. They’re also very moreish. I’ve tried them in a quiche, […]

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plant profile: amaranth

2013/06/18 Danielle 0

Amaranth (Amaranthus spp.), also known as love-lies-bleeding or pigweed, is reasonably common in flower beds and nurseries around Perth. It’s an impressive looking plant, with tall spires of long lasting pink, purple, or orange flowers and often attractively variegated red and green leaves. Amaranth species prefer a tropical climate, but many species are frost tolerant, and they’re so hardy that they’re considered a weed in many places. I saw a few growing wild in the middle of the city this morning. Almost every part of the plant is edible. The seeds were a staple food of the native people of […]

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international permaculture day

2013/05/06 Danielle 0

I created and gave a talk for International Permaculture Day (Perth Edition) on Sunday, talking about less common food plants and urban foraging. I think everyone liked it – there were questions, both during and after the talk, and the audience all looked interested. People complimented me on the presentation afterwards, which is always nice. Some people even took notes! This is very exciting to me – I haven’t really given any presentations before outside of a work context.   I thought I’d share the content of the talk for those who might be interested, but missed the event. In […]