Primitive Technology: Planting Cassava and Yams
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Published 2017-02-24
I had 5 huts, but the wattle and daub hut (from the first video uploaded on this channel nearly 2 years ago) became dilapidated. I abandoned it in favour of the other huts I built and neglected the roof. This let water in destroying a wall. Also, the sweet potato patch behind it had a tree fall across it destroying the fence. So I demolished them both to make one large garden.
After removing the fence I set a fire under the fallen tree to burn it in half rather than spend the effort of cutting it with stone tools. After burning almost all the way through, it rained. So I came back later and cut through the rest of the log with stone tools. I eventually broke the tree in half. Using smaller logs as levers I moved the tree out of the garden clearing the space for the garden.
I then collected wood and built a simple fence that was woven loosely together with vine. The fence needs only to discourage large animals from entering to prevent them causing damage. Most times pigs and wallabies don’t know that food is growing in the garden and won’t try and enter if they see no reason to. Or at least that worked for the sweet potatoes so we’ll see if it works this time.
For the yam and cassava planting material I travelled far down stream to the site of my old stone hut that I built over 10 years ago. It had a corbelled dome roof that was damaged when a tree fell on it during a cyclone and it came down a few months later. The thick walls however have stayed standing for about a decade though.
Yams and cassava grew wild at this site which is one of the reasons I built the stone hut there. These plants are not native to Australia but grow wild here after having escaped from people’s gardens (similar to how wild pigs live here now after escaping from farms). The planting material for the yams are the bulbs that grow on the vines. The planting material for cassava are simply 25 cm long pieces of stem.
On returning to the garden, a scrub turkey was seen digging in the mounds. Protected by law, this bird has lost its fear of humans and in this case I’ve semi-domesticated it. Originally it was attracted to soil I dug up for the worms it exposed. I started leaving a pot out with small sweet potatoes in it for it to eat and now it investigates any pottery I leave for food. Now it visits my projects and will only leave if bored or chased away. I suppose this is similar to how chickens were domesticated, in fact bush turkeys and chickens are related and will produce hybrid offspring.
Unfortunately, it has learned that the garden contains food. Originally, I was only going to plant yams but I saw the turkey digging them up and eating them. So, I planted cassava in the mounds so that the turkey would be discouraged by finding only wooden stems to peck at. I secretly planted the yams along the fence of the garden because the turkey only thinks the mounds contain yams. They can’t smell very well and only find food by sight and learned behavior.
I planted the cassava in mounds 1 meter apart by pushing them flat into the soil. I planted the yams at intervals along the fence so they could use it as a trellis. 32 cassava stems and 12 yams were planted. Then a storm began and watered the garden. In less than a week the cassava had sprouted shoots and began to grow. The yams will take longer as I planted them deeper.
Cassava produces the most calories per time and space of any plant apart from sugar cane and sugar beet. But it requires much less fertiliser and effort. A hectare of cassava produces enough calories in 2 days to sustain a person for 1 year. It takes a year to come to harvest but will stay in the ground for a year without becoming woody. The tubers are high in starch and are what tapioca is made from.
This variety is called sweet cassava (actually not bitter cassava, it doesn’t taste sweet but starchy instead) and it needs to be boiled for 20 minutes to get rid of some cyanide it contains. The bitter variety contains such high levels that it kills if eaten raw and requires more extensive treatment to eat. There isn’t much nutrition in cassava other than the large amount calories it contains so other food would be required to provide protein and nutrients.
After I harvest the cassava I planted I’ll try fermenting it (which adds nutrition), drying it and pounding it into flour to make flat bread. Cassava flour has the same energy content as wheat flour, stores well and tastes somewhat similar. Or I could just cook it and eat it straight from the garden. I’ll use the yams like potatoes when they’re ready.
All Comments (21)
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Has 3.8 million subs yet does not speak, sell a product, beg for support or make money from his videos. He is my hero.
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Can you imagine how this guy grew up? A stone house from 10 years ago. Damn, his childhood must be a dream land.
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If society collapses, and we're sent back into the dark ages, I want this man to be our leader.
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Wow. To think that it only took 2 years of neglect for the wattle and daub hut to fall into such a state. And after the remaining walls were casually knocked over, you could barely tell anything was there. This gives me a newfound respect for the archaeologists who still manage to find ancient settlements of similar sorts of huts.
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RIP wattle and daub hut - you will be missed.
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I'm not sure what your name is sir, but I am an art teacher of elementary students. I have used several of your videos for education purposes in the classroom. The videos on weaving, clay, and pottery making. I absolutely love this channel and so do my students. They think you are 'very cool' and want to make houses, and pottery like you do one day. Awesome work!
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Not only is dude crazy talented when it comes to primitive technology, he is also extremely adept at telling a story with a minimalist approach when it comes to the camera. I'd say this dude needs his own show, but then you'd just have producers and suits getting in the way and messing everything up
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no talking , simple and straight to the point, this guy is a real man
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it's so refreshing that there's no talking in these videos, most YouTubers can't stop talking
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100 years from now, this channel will be teaching us how to establish a government for the city he built.
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Never a single word said in any video and yet has over 10million subs... This goes to show that quality will always come out on top.
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He’s even quiet while telling a turkey to piss off
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One thing I've noticed about Primitive Technology's editing is that he keeps a good rhythm going. He never stays focused on showing one scene for too long, giving usually a few seconds of focus on each subject or action he is demonstrating before moving on to the next. This is probably one of the main reason why its so easy to watch his video where absolutely no text or dialogue is given without losing interest or focus. This is also why I love this channel as he puts so much effort on and off the screen to ensure his content is always top notch.
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Step one: Get notification of new Primitive Technology video Step two: read description so video will make more sense Step three: like the video in advance Step four: watch video and ponder Step five: scratch head at dislikes Step six: peruse comments and lose count of how many dumb questions are asked that are already answered in video's description Step seven: wait for the next video like a crack head
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Man has always bent and shaped nature to his needs and will. This is the abridged history of mankind, showing (sort of) His transition from a hunter gatherer to an agricultural beast. Excellent work, as always.
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The first hit ever built. We will miss you. salutes
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This dude is just moving a fucking tree.... by man power. Like WTF.
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There's something satisfying with watching someone with skill go about their craft in silence. It's like a peek into someone else's world. There's no commercials, No fake drama, no conversation with the audience, nothing to break away from the reality of the projects you set out to do. We see the challenges that present themselves along the way and the innovations you overcome them with. Its funny how our POV makes us even more invested in your success. On other shows there is definitely a bigger boundary between the host & audience. But on here we get to feel like we're along for the ride with you. Thanks for all the hard work putting up these videos, man. You're a machine.
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Respect
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My man’s done more with a pair of shorts than I have with a college education
