Sustaining and foraging.
Growing up, I spent four years living in Central Florida in a yard landscaped with exotic plants; supposedly, the previous owners landscaped for Disneyworld. Looking back, we could have eaten much more from our yard - our internet connection was fairly slow in 1990...we couldn't just Google "edible plants". We ate the young bamboo shoots. We ate the ripe loquats from the tree in the backyard. At one point we even tore apart a fruit from one of our palm trees (Queen Palm perhaps) to get to the seed just to smash it open and eat the edible nut inside.
Now, in my own yard, I eat the hibiscus blooms and leaves. We have a small herb garden on the back porch with rosemary, basil, mint and cilantro. Strawberries come back every year. We grow gardens in the summer. And every other year, our two pecan trees provide a harvest, if you can compete with the critters. Next spring I hope to use our copious amounts of wild onion in place of chives (one less thing to grow). And I look forward to dandelion greens next year - must continue research on dandelion's detoxifying effects on the liver.
My father has a spectacular garden every year. He's been growing these amazing, long "Chinese Beans" since I was in elementary school. Squash, tomatoes, cucumbers (he's been pickling!). His jalapeno peppers are an amazing gift each summer. He can be so generous! I remember, just a few years ago, watching him snack on pine nuts from his yard. I'm glad those tall, scary pine trees have something to offer. There is yucca and wild passion fruit in their yard, which they are less exited about than I am. I'll try anything.
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