Enough to Feed Ourselves!—Food Plants in Bulgarian Rural Home Gardens

The home garden is a unique human-nature interspace that accommodates a diverse spectrum of plant species and provides multiple services to households. One of the most important roles of home gardens is to shelter the agricultural plant diversity that provides for diverse and healthy nutrition, espe...

Descripción completa

Guardado en:

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales:	Teodora Ivanova, Yulia Bosseva, Mihail Chervenkov, Dessislava Dimitrova
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	MDPI AG 2021
Materias:	ethnobotany subsistence home gardens self-provision traditional food Botany QK1-989
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/adedef2788384ab1b6cf19b49edda97c
Etiquetas:	Agregar Etiqueta Sin Etiquetas, Sea el primero en etiquetar este registro!

id	oai:doaj.org-article:adedef2788384ab1b6cf19b49edda97c
record_format	dspace
spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:adedef2788384ab1b6cf19b49edda97c2021-11-25T18:47:19ZEnough to Feed Ourselves!—Food Plants in Bulgarian Rural Home Gardens10.3390/plants101125202223-7747https://doaj.org/article/adedef2788384ab1b6cf19b49edda97c2021-11-01T00:00:00Zhttps://www.mdpi.com/2223-7747/10/11/2520https://doaj.org/toc/2223-7747The home garden is a unique human-nature interspace that accommodates a diverse spectrum of plant species and provides multiple services to households. One of the most important roles of home gardens is to shelter the agricultural plant diversity that provides for diverse and healthy nutrition, especially in rural communities. While tropical home gardens have received wide recognition due to their provisional function for the local communities, temperate and especially European home gardens have been discussed less frequently as a source of subsistence. The main objectives of the current study were to document plant species grown in Bulgarian rural home gardens and to explore related local knowledge and cultural practices that influence food plant diversity, its selection and preservation. Field work was focused on settlements situated in eight provinces in South and North-West Bulgaria. Participants representing 65 home gardens were approached through semi-structured interviews. Home gardens were found to harbor 145 cultivated and semi-cultivated plant taxa, used as food, medicinal and aromatic plants and as animal fodder. Members of the Rosaceae family were most numerous. The largest part of the garden area was occupied by vegetable crops of Solanaceae and Cucurbitaceae. In 63.1% of the studied households, the food growing area comprised more than 2/3 of the total size of the garden. Most preferred crops reflected the social and cultural importance of food self-provisioning, especially in the rural areas. The provisional role of the home gardens in regard to preparation of traditional foods and the driving forces for seed saving are discussed.Teodora IvanovaYulia BossevaMihail ChervenkovDessislava DimitrovaMDPI AGarticleethnobotanysubsistencehome gardensself-provisiontraditional foodBotanyQK1-989ENPlants, Vol 10, Iss 2520, p 2520 (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	ethnobotany subsistence home gardens self-provision traditional food Botany QK1-989
spellingShingle	ethnobotany subsistence home gardens self-provision traditional food Botany QK1-989 Teodora Ivanova Yulia Bosseva Mihail Chervenkov Dessislava Dimitrova Enough to Feed Ourselves!—Food Plants in Bulgarian Rural Home Gardens
description	The home garden is a unique human-nature interspace that accommodates a diverse spectrum of plant species and provides multiple services to households. One of the most important roles of home gardens is to shelter the agricultural plant diversity that provides for diverse and healthy nutrition, especially in rural communities. While tropical home gardens have received wide recognition due to their provisional function for the local communities, temperate and especially European home gardens have been discussed less frequently as a source of subsistence. The main objectives of the current study were to document plant species grown in Bulgarian rural home gardens and to explore related local knowledge and cultural practices that influence food plant diversity, its selection and preservation. Field work was focused on settlements situated in eight provinces in South and North-West Bulgaria. Participants representing 65 home gardens were approached through semi-structured interviews. Home gardens were found to harbor 145 cultivated and semi-cultivated plant taxa, used as food, medicinal and aromatic plants and as animal fodder. Members of the Rosaceae family were most numerous. The largest part of the garden area was occupied by vegetable crops of Solanaceae and Cucurbitaceae. In 63.1% of the studied households, the food growing area comprised more than 2/3 of the total size of the garden. Most preferred crops reflected the social and cultural importance of food self-provisioning, especially in the rural areas. The provisional role of the home gardens in regard to preparation of traditional foods and the driving forces for seed saving are discussed.
format	article
author	Teodora Ivanova Yulia Bosseva Mihail Chervenkov Dessislava Dimitrova
author_facet	Teodora Ivanova Yulia Bosseva Mihail Chervenkov Dessislava Dimitrova
author_sort	Teodora Ivanova
title	Enough to Feed Ourselves!—Food Plants in Bulgarian Rural Home Gardens
title_short	Enough to Feed Ourselves!—Food Plants in Bulgarian Rural Home Gardens
title_full	Enough to Feed Ourselves!—Food Plants in Bulgarian Rural Home Gardens
title_fullStr	Enough to Feed Ourselves!—Food Plants in Bulgarian Rural Home Gardens
title_full_unstemmed	Enough to Feed Ourselves!—Food Plants in Bulgarian Rural Home Gardens
title_sort	enough to feed ourselves!—food plants in bulgarian rural home gardens
publisher	MDPI AG
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/adedef2788384ab1b6cf19b49edda97c
work_keys_str_mv	AT teodoraivanova enoughtofeedourselvesfoodplantsinbulgarianruralhomegardens AT yuliabosseva enoughtofeedourselvesfoodplantsinbulgarianruralhomegardens AT mihailchervenkov enoughtofeedourselvesfoodplantsinbulgarianruralhomegardens AT dessislavadimitrova enoughtofeedourselvesfoodplantsinbulgarianruralhomegardens
_version_	1718410733975240704

Enough to Feed Ourselves!—Food Plants in Bulgarian Rural Home Gardens

Ejemplares similares