Anna, First of all, It's a very interesting project and hope you post some info on what you planted and what you learned about the cultural uses of the plants. Good luck!
Resources: (I always like to ask people in your community from that country, as well -- and find out information such as town they are from, indigenous group they are linked to, and what qualifies them to report on this topic -- e.g. a practicing herbalist/healer. Great oral history project for bilingual kids, too). For Native American, one source for the Northeast is Barrie Kavasch's writing - she has plants and recipes in her work. A link to a list of her books to get you started: http://www.ipl.org/div/natam/bin/browse.pl/A112 She has been writing about this topic for many years. For various Latin American countries, there is the caveat that of course the whole country does not necessarily use the same plants or use a particular plant the same way. For example, in Mexico, there are numerous indigenous groups in various parts of the (huge) country, and the uses and plants may vary, as does the climate. There have been settlers from Spain, Germany, France, Italy -- and foods and words have come with them. There is a folk remedy method used in at least southern Mexico that involves labeling illnesses and plants as hot or cold, and basing the treatment on the assigned hot/cold characteristic of the plant. I am not sure that it is consistent or having an internal logic. (Some people are very romantic about the ancient ways -- I learned to tread with care -- some stuff works, and some doesn't, and not everything hot in one place is considered hot in another.) One way to find the plant lists is to use google in Spanish plus a translation tool. You can get a rough idea of the plant involved and how it was used and go from there. "plantas medicinales de (name of country)" here is a link for southern Mexico's plants: http://www.mexicodesconocido.com.mx/notas/12477-Descubre-las-plantas-medicinales-m%C3%A1s-importantes-de-M%C3%A9xico-(I):-Zona-sur And here is an online translation tool: http://babelfish.yahoo.com/ I did a research project on this general topic in the state of Chiapas, Mexico and among the herbs I remember used for remedies grown near n the kitchens I visited were yerba buena (spearmint), parsley (kidney remedy), rue (for stomach ache or mal de ojo), linseed, plaintain (as gargle for sore throat or for inflamed urinary tract), malva (whole plant boiled for remedy for inflamed stomach), chamomile (manzanilla), purslane epazote, and fine leaved cilantro. The reasons for using them varied from kidney or liver problems to getting rid of evil eye (mal de ojo), corn silk (used as a remedy - not sure for what). Fair warning: just as people variously use (or even misuse) remedies here, it is possible that the small sampling of cooks and kitchens I visited is not typical. But at least you have a list of plants to explore further. This is for Chiapas, in the varied regions near the Guatamalan border. The elevation can change drastically there within a couple of miles -- these gardens are not coastal, however, +/- 5000 feet. The origins of the folk medicine approaches probably vary, and the exposure to European culture may have also brought the hot/cold system into existence - not sure. Chris Reid -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://list.communitygarden.org/pipermail/community_garden_list.communitygarden.org/attachments/20090505/a2b07436/attachment.html> _______________________________________________ The American Community Gardening Association listserve is only one of ACGA's services to community gardeners. To learn more about the ACGA and to find out how to join, please go to http://www.communitygarden.org To post an e-mail to the list: [email protected] To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your subscription: http://list.communitygarden.org/mailman/listinfo/community_garden_list.communitygarden.org
