I've spent a little time looking into native edible plants of the Cariboo. If we are to grow our own produce, I think having fruit of local origins gives us the greatest chance for success. Obviously, we'll still need to work around some of the staples, like tomatoes and peppers, but I feel that we should take advantage of anything that grows strongly with little help.
Digging around led me to this paper: "A Regional Profile of Non-Timber Forest Products Being Harvested from the Cariboo-Chilcotin, British Columbia Area". The paper is worth reading if you're into this kind of thing. It also has a nice summary of the industry and population of the region. (Disclosure: I am related to two of the people listed in the acknowledgements, Cherie-Lynn Bailey and Sam Zirnhelt, though I had no idea they were involved till I read it!)
I was able to identify some potential candidates, however, for our garden:
- many berries: blueberries/huckleberries, saskatoon (we have several bushes behind our house here in Westbank), raspberry, strawberry, choke cherry (my grandma had a choke cherry tree and used the fruit for jellies), and high bush cranberry
- root vegetables: cow parsnip, mountain potato, nodding onion
- herbs: yarrow, wild rose, lilies, wild sarsaparilla (I do dream of making home-made root beer)
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