harvesting native plants

What role has harvesting plants played in the development of our California landscape? This may be simple I know,  but I know how much I eat and how much food it takes for me to live. We have enough information to know that people before me harvested a lot of local plant material to sustain a family for a year.

This does have a connection to stewardship now. Land management has changed. Previous burning helped maintain productivity, cleared bugs, and fertilized the soil. It is very difficult to pull off a fire at the Reserve these days with so many permanent houses next door. It's dangerous. We're not into endangering life and property. Yet I am compelled to integrate the harvest into my management strategy. It's just a concept at this point and I'm not sure how it will all play out.

In our rich Central Coast history, we have moved from relying on local plants and animals to importing from far away. We're moving to a more "buy local" economy in some circles, but we aren't eating local. What if we started to eat REALLY local. We may not have enough to go around, but what if we farmed red maid seeds? Miner's lettuce?

Let's not limit it to natives. I just sent out the word to local herbalists that if they want to come help reduce the seed source of one of our least-wanted invasives (milk thistle), they can come gather seeds and cut down the plants.

Let's get out of the box. It's a new world.