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Yam, cultivate and cook

primitivetechnology.wordpress.com

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Re: Yam, cultivate and cook

#71

Post by anoncoward111 »

loeg wrote: post #37
gcb0 wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

the primitive tech blogger guy is not trying to live off the land. he just have a Survivor/Bigbrother kinda of tv show for survival nerds. he probably live off the proceeds of paracord bracelets and pocket knife banners :)

Again, I was commenting specifically on this claim: > This form of farming is a good way to get around the conventional farming practice of clearing trees to make fields. It's not a good form of farming, because it's both low density and expensive.

You are mostly correct, and should not be downvoted.

However, the Irish of the 1800s lived off potatoes and cows butter SOLELY. Of course, they were extremely skinny because they had to stretch a 3 month harvest across 12 months. But they were not malnourished. There were irishmen living into their 100s at this time.

Of course there was a famous potato blight that killed the crop and starved most everyone to death. But I'm talking about nutrition, not epidemiology

Re: Yam, cultivate and cook

#72

Post by moogly »

IIIIIIIIII wrote: post #16

My favorite thing this guy does is not talk, for some reason.

Agreed. Very refreshing that he's not engaging in that parasocial stuff that most Youtubers do. He let's his videos do the talking. And none of that "don't forget to like, subscribe, and write a question or comment below" mantra that everyone else nags about. Drives me crazy.

Just when we finally got rid of the useless "Press Escape to exit fullscreen" nag...

Re: Yam, cultivate and cook

#73

Post by cirgue »

newnewpdro wrote: post #35
whistlerbrk wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Paprika on a yam? Yeah, yams are unbelievably sweet when exposed to direct fire, like candy sweet. But I'm talking about the Garnet and Japanese varieties, this might just be a less cultivated specie he found locally and just went with it.

Paprika on everything But I was referring to plain potatoes, I've never had a real Yam, my understanding is that sweet potatoes are not the same thing.

No, they aren’t. Sweet potatoes are extremely flavorful when roasted by themselves, yams not so much.

Re: Yam, cultivate and cook

#74

Post by lake99 »

beat wrote: post #4

There's a lot of sophistication in "primitive" agriculture. Humans have always been as intelligent and ambitious as they are today; they just didn't always have today's tools. Yams always make me think of Gone with the Wind . The climax of Act III (not labeled as such, but stories are stories) is Scarlett O'Hara at her family's plantation. Yankee soldiers have come through and taken every scrap of food, but they didn…

I haven't read the book, but reading this excerpt now, and given my Indian context of vegetables, this initially comes across as masochism. What we call "yam" in India has the full name "elephant foot yam", and is full of calcium oxalate crystals that will seriously hurt the mouth. We boil the vegetable quite aggressively to destroy the crystals.

Re: Yam, cultivate and cook

#75

Post by [deleted] »

int_19h wrote: post #45
hjorthjort wrote: post #17

I clicked this fully expecting "yam", "cultivate" and "cook" to be archaic Unix tools. Instead I got this. Such a happy surprise.

My guesses from the title were, in order: 1) A new JavaScript framework; 2) something to do with code quality; and 3) a new build system. Probably all related. I was pleasantly surprised, as well.

[deleted]

Re: Yam, cultivate and cook

#76

Post by cfadvan »

lake99 wrote: post #74
beat wrote: post #4

There's a lot of sophistication in "primitive" agriculture. Humans have always been as intelligent and ambitious as they are today; they just didn't always have today's tools. Yams always make me think of Gone with the Wind . The climax of Act III (not labeled as such, but stories are stories) is Scarlett O'Hara at her family's plantation. Yankee soldiers have come through and taken every scrap of food, but they didn…

I haven't read the book, but reading this excerpt now, and given my Indian context of vegetables, this initially comes across as masochism. What we call "yam" in India has the full name "elephant foot yam", and is full of calcium oxalate crystals that will seriously hurt the mouth. We boil the vegetable quite aggressively to destroy the crystals.

In the US a yam is just what people call certain larger varieties of sweet potatoes, and are unrelated to true yams. Having had both, I can feel where you’re coming from!

Re: Yam, cultivate and cook

#77

Post by Mumberthrax »

beat wrote: post #4

There's a lot of sophistication in "primitive" agriculture. Humans have always been as intelligent and ambitious as they are today; they just didn't always have today's tools. Yams always make me think of Gone with the Wind . The climax of Act III (not labeled as such, but stories are stories) is Scarlett O'Hara at her family's plantation. Yankee soldiers have come through and taken every scrap of food, but they didn…

Is that yam/africa thing actually true?

A friend of mine linked me your comment, expressing disapproval. He said it "reads like some fever dream", and that hacker news is "supposed to be all software engineery". I don't see what the fuss is, but my experience with sites like this is mostly confined to reddit where 97% of comments are twaddle.

edit: apparently sweet potatoes are from the new world: https://piedmontmastergardeners.org/article/sweet-potatoes/

I'm guessing maybe the issue is that yam can refer to sweet potatoes as well as tubers from unrelated species. Did she have a sweet potato or some other tuber in Gone With the Wind?

Re: Yam, cultivate and cook

#78

Post by equalarrow »

Oh yay, someone posted this! I’ve been a subscriber to the primitive technology channel for quite some time. The things this guy makes are truly awesome. I put his videos sometime for my kids because they’re actual worthwhile to talk to them about what he’s doing.

I often think of perception of time when I watch him work. Tens of thousands of years ago, when humans worked like this, their concept of time was completely different than ours. I’ve read comments by the guy that says some of these projects have taken many weeks. With our instant gratification culture, it’s good to reflect on his achievements and timescales.

I’ve also practiced making fire with hand drill and it’s hard. But when it works, it’s awesome. A primal connection to the past.

I recommend watching the video on how he makes lime. Really good stuff.

Re: Yam, cultivate and cook

#79

Post by carapace »

Cthulhu_ wrote: post #49
albertfrostt wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Interestingly, aluminum is a really really new material for us. Wasn't really available until ~1950, and used to be more rare and valuable than gold.

How's that? Hard to refine? I did hear elsewhere that aluminium is one of the most common metals on the world, possibly even moreso than iron.

> Roman historian Pliny the Elder recorded a story about a metal that was bright as silver but much lighter, which was presented to the Emperor Tiberius (reigned 14–37 CE), who had the discoverer killed in order to ensure the metal would not diminish the value of his gold and silver assets. Some sources suggest a possibility that this metal was aluminium; this claim has been disputed.

~ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_aluminium#Early_his...

Re: Yam, cultivate and cook

#80

Post by iamnothere »

DougWebb wrote: post #54
ekimekim wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Depends on your criteria. If you only aim to feed a small group, it is significantly less cost to make a handful of enclosures than to clear a large amount of space for a field, even if the field is more efficient at scale.

The point is that "a handful of enclosures" would only provide a few meals for a small group but would take six months to produce them. The group needs to eat for the entire six months. Let's say each enclosure produces three-days worth of yams in six months. To feed one person for a year you need 100 enclosures, and you need to stagger their planting so you can harvest them continously. Each enclosure takes up about…

You would eat more than yams. The enclosure would be a "build-and-forget" thing to ensure you have some food down the road when times are lean.

Other videos show the guy fishing, among other things.

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