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Rhubarb originally valued for medicinal purposes
Although rhubarb is a perennial vegetable, it is often put to the same culinary uses as fruits.The stalks are the only edible part of the rhubarb plant. They have a rich, tart flavor when cooked. The leaves of the rhubarb plant are toxic, they contain an irritant called oxalic acid, so be sure not to eat them.
The Chinese call rhubarb "the great yellow" and have used rhubarb root for medicinal purposes for thousands of years. During Islamic times, it was imported along the Silk Road reaching Europe in the 14th century. The cost of transportation across Asia made rhubarb expensive in medieval Europe. It was several times the price of other valuable herbs and spices such as cinnamon, opium and saffron.
The high price, as well as the increasing demand from apothecaries, stimulated efforts to cultivate different species of rhubarb on European soil. Certain species came to be grown in England. The local availability of the plants grown for medicinal purposes, together with the increasing abundance and decreasing price of sugar in the 18th century, galvanised its culinary adoption. Rhubarb came to North America with European settlers. Learn more at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhubarb
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Photo of EPCOR solar power plant construction
Garry writes “Another good weekly newsletter. Just a quick comment about the caption describing it as reindustrialization. A solar farm possesses none of the problems we commonly associate with industrial sites. Once operating solar farms produce no audible noise, traffic, odours, dust, nor stray light. Hardly the characteristics of an industrial site.”
Melanie says “I’m so gutted to see the solar panels going up. Will you share an update on what the heck happened with the court injunction or whatever legalese was trying to hold this up that absolutely failed? Want to make noise about this around elections and such.”
Harry states, “I appreciate your informative newsletter. I see that EPCOR is aggressively moving forward with it’s industrial-scale solar farm in the river valley. I think there will be a lot of very disappointed users of the river valley in this area, when they see the finished result. There will be a significant loss of aesthetics, not to mention ecological impacts.”
Apology re Mountain Bike Concerns headline
Feedback has been received from many Edmonton Mountain Bike Alliance members concerned this headline unfairly blamed their sport for unsanctioned trails in the river valley. We accept this criticism and apologize for the headline. Illegal trails can be made by runners, hikers, dog walkers, homeless encampments, etc. A better headline would have been Unsanctioned Trails Concerns.
Readers should note that unless we explicitly state it, articles and reader feedback in this newsletter do not necessarily reflect the position of NSRVCS.
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Photo by Louisa Bruinsma of a bald eagle at Rundle Park.
Comment or contribution
If you have a comment, concern, or question, contact us at nsrivervalley@gmail.com Please also email us river valley photos or event information. Your friends, neighbours and colleagues can sign up for this newsletter on our web site.
Sincerely yours,
Harvey Voogd
North Saskatchewan River Valley Conservation Society
780.691.1712
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