#FoodSecurity #ClimateChange #ClimateDiary #gardening #ClimateChangeGardening 
TL;DR
*Climate change will significantly impact food systems.
*Plants have optimal growing temperatures and many follow seasonal cycles.
*My feed will highlight plants with higher OGT, don’t depend on seasonal cycles or flower in late season.
*Farmers focus on what will sell, leaving new options unexplored.
*Creating demand for these plants would stabilize our food supply.
Temperate fruit and nut trees need a specific number of "chill hours" to bloom; warm winters can lead to crop failures.
Unseasonably warm late winters can also cause early blooming, which frost can then destroy. Some plants, like pawpaws, can re-flower after frost but most cannot.
Some plants, such as blueberries, may re-flower in autumn due to prolonged warm temperatures, resulting in reduced yields the following year.
I am not doing this to be some kind of influencer. I’m doing this because the situation is dire and I care.
If we spread the word, work together, create demand and make changes, we can stabilize our food systems before it is too late.
Fruit and nut trees can take 4-6 years to yield a commercial crop. Farmers are reluctant to grow new varieties because of the time it takes to produce a crop and the fact that people may not purchase unfamiliar food. This delay means that by the time climate change causes major crop failures, it will take years to establish viable crops in hotter climates.
I will highlight late spring and summer-blooming plants, as well as those that are not seasonally dependent at all, requiring only warm temperatures and sunlight to set flowers and fruit.
I will focus on naturally pest-resistant plants that are easy to grow and provide instructions for growing them.
I will also explore underutilized edible #nativeplants in the southeastern US and how to cook and preserve them.
Heat-loving legumes can take many hours to cook even after soaking overnight. This page will cover strategies and recipes to save time in the kitchen and reduce workload such as grinding the beans first and using the thermos method.
I am not a professional chef. I will document kitchen failures so you don’t repeat my mistakes.
Just taking a moment here to note that web searches for optimal plant growth temperatures are now unreliable, with incorrect AI results dominating search results.
Trust only scientific journal entries on plant cultivation or check the year-round climate where these plants originate and when they are planted.
Meanwhile some plants thrive at higher temperatures. For example:
Quinoa stops seed production above 90°F (32°C), while its relative huazontle can still produce. Amaranth species from the American Southwest also produce at high temperatures.
Chickpeas and soybeans suffer from heat stress above 90°F, while urad dal has an optimal growing temperature of 77-95°F (25-35°C). And tepary beans can still flower and set bean pods at 105°F (40°C).
Plants have optimal growing temperatures that vary by growth stage.
Prolonged heat can stunt growth and reduce yields while also weakening their immune systems against pests. Corn and wheat are particularly susceptible.
Researchers are developing GMOs to raise the heat tolerance threshold in staple crops, but GMOs are patented seeds. This means higher produce costs besides agricultural monopolies and potential artificial inflation.
@jblue this is the trouble local farmers of apples and other fruit in our area of mountainous Japan have experienced in recent years resulting in poor harvests.
@jblue We have had exactly this two years a row in our little line of home fruit trees - early blossoming, hard late frost, not a single fruit set.
@jblue i shudder when i think of how this might displace some practitioners of permaculture.. they'll, adjust i'm sure, but with the hack saw the current administration is taking to USDA i've little hope the plant hardiness maps will stay accurate for long.
Hidden Killers Food, Water, Air, An Exhaustive Compendium on Global Warming Driven Climate Change
https://tinyurl.com/2ptesj2a
☆ Lisa ☆@jblue
Redbuds are edible?! I just loved all the pollinators in the spring!
@ldlundstrom the flowers are edible. They taste like cucumber and sometimes have a little sweet nectar inside. The bean pods when they are very young and not full-size are also edible but need to be cooked.
@jblue Thanks for the insight! My paw paw trees are very small, but I'm looking forward to having fruit someday 
@ldlundstrom @jblue nice. I'm hoping my redbud will bloom for the first time next spring. Will give them a taste
Do you think that the planting instructions on seed packages bought at garden centres may be incorrect because of changing climate?
@Anne_Delong it’s possible that many typical veg will not grow well in backyards anymore due to heat stress or they have to be planted at a different time of the year/transplanted outside or grown in winter under greenhouses. In my experience, I’ve had a very difficult time with plants such as radishes and carrots. Even when I sow in winter, they will still bolt in late March early April and not produce tubers. I have switched to growing rat’s tail, radish, beets and turnips.
I must be further north than you (Ontario), but I still have trouble with bolting radishes spinach, lettuce and arugula. I plant them on the north side of a fence, so they get morning and evening sun but not afternoon; that seems to help. My soil is too heavy for carrots, but that's not a climate issue - they just come out very short and fat...
@jblue As a lover of legumes I find this interesting. Unfortunately when I tried to grow tepary beans the turkeys ate all the seedlings and left the common beans alone.
@DriftlessRoots I have mine fenced off with okra bc the bunnies will eat them. 
@jblue let us hope that La Niña can help to bring better crops in the years ahead.