Gardening Unplugged - Agaves and Humans: Mayahuel, Sisal and Pulque with Dr. Patrick McMillan

Agave is one of the oldest cultivated plants with records dating back over ten thousand years. It was so important in Mesoamerican cultures that they had a goddess of Agave Mayahuel, that symbolized fertility. Agave fibers were used to produce rope, thread, and textiles and the starchy centers were cooked for food. In this fascinating lecture and demonstration our Director of Horticulture and Gardens Dr. Patrick McMillan explores the historical and modern day uses (including terraforming) of the amazing Agave plant.

0:00 Introduction - Dr. Patrick McMillan
01:30 History of agave cultivation in Mesoamerica
05:30 Inspecting an agave core
06:40 Tequila and Mescal production, distillation, fermentation
08:56 Pulque (agave wine) production
09:20 Processing the leaves of agave
10:50 Inspecting the fibers of Agave funkiana
11:22 Fibers from Agave ferox
12:24 Making rope from agave fibers
14:50 Using a needle and thread made from an agave
16:24 Pulque/Aguamiel production - cutting through to the core of an agave
18:42 Close inspection of the agave core
24:38 Final thoughts, thank you


Plant Delights Nursery is an award winning nursery in Raleigh, NC near Garner. We specialize in rare, and unusual perennials and we strive to carry a wide selection of exotic plants, cold hardy tropical plants, and native plants. Many of our best perennials are available nowhere else in the US as they represent rare plants collected by Plant Delights founder Tony Avent during his more than 60 plant hunting expeditions to places like China, Crete, Taiwan, South Africa and Argentina or distributed by some of the many specialty plant organizations of which Plant Delights is a member.
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Juniper Level Botanic Garden was founded in 1986 by Tony Avent to promote and preserve botanic diversity by bridging the gap between botany and horticulture through plant study, identification, educational outreach, global plant exploration. JLBG is home to over 28,000 taxa spread over 28 acres of beautiful grounds.
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