Little Changes Today: Fact File 009

The seasons are defiantly starting to change from summer to autumn here in the Northern hemisphere now, well in the UK at least as it was 0^oC this morning when I got up. This means that the harvest of many edible plants and berries are coming to an end whilst others are coming into their season. There is always food to be found in the wild if you know where to look for it, so today's fact file we’ll be focusing on this.

Apples are available almost everywhere around the world with hundreds of different varieties grown for the consumer market. Some of the main species being: Pink Lady, Braeburn, and Gala, what you might not know about them however is each of the trees which grow a specific species is genetically identical to all the others. This is because they are all clones of the original tree. As when a tasty tree was found it would be cloned through grafting clippings onto other trees so as to produce more fruit. These cuttings would fuse with the host tree and make use of their root system to provide nutrients necessary for survival. You may also be interested to know that a lot of the trees which line road systems are apple trees and this is due to cores being thrown out of car windows.

Mushrooms are another source of food which can be found throughout the world, but one which is steeped in caution in some cases for good reason. However in the UK there are several thousand species of fungi, with only a very limited few having disastrous results if consumed. The edible species produce their fruiting bodies different stages of the year so if you are willing to do the research there can always be some available to you.

Although it is now seen as a bit of a hobby in most of western culture hunting gathering societies were the only way of being successful before the domestication of crops and animals. In a lot of these societies there is a visible split of labour with men focusing on large game whilst women gather more plants. The women in these groups overall provide a larger net income of food in these groups while men provided smaller amount of critical protein so each sex is as valuable as each other. It has also been passed down through aboriginal tales that older members of the group used to be the first to try a new food source so as to assess whether it is edible or not. So in these societies every member had a important role to play.