Editing Pinyon pine (section)

== Traditional method of harvesting ==
In 1878, naturalist [[John Muir]] described the Indian method of harvesting pinyon seeds in Nevada. In September and October, the harvesters knocked the cones off the pinyon trees with poles, stacked the cones into a pile, put brushwood on top, lit it, and lightly scorched the pinyon cones with fire. The scorching burned off the sticky resin coating the cones and loosened the seeds. The cones were then dried in the sun until the seeds could be easily extracted. Muir said the Indians closely watched the pinyon trees year-round and could predict the scarcity or abundance of the crop months before harvest time.<ref>{{cite journal |author=Rhode, David |year=1988 |title=Two Nineteenth-Century Reports of Great Basin Subsistence Practices |url=http://escholarship.org/uc/item/96d8n2f7 |journal=Journal of California and Great Basin Anthropology |volume=10 |number=2 |pages=156–157 |jstor=27825342}}</ref> In 1891, naturalist B. H. Dutcher observed the harvesting of pinyon seeds by the Panamint Indians ([[Timbisha]] people) in the [[Panamint Range]] overlooking [[Death Valley]], California. The harvesting method was similar to that observed by Muir in Nevada, except that the pinyon seeds were extracted immediately after the cones had been scorched in the brushwood fire.<ref>{{cite journal |author=Dutcher, B.H. |date=October 1893 |title=Piñon Gathering among the Panamint Indians |journal=American Anthropologist |volume=6 |number=4 |pages=377–380 |jstor=658889 |doi=10.1525/aa.1893.6.4.02a00040}}</ref>

Both the above accounts described a method of extracting the seeds from the green cones. Another method is to leave the cones on the trees until they are dry and brown, then beat the cones with a stick, knocking the cones loose or the seeds loose from the cones which then fall to the ground where they can be collected.<ref>"Singleleaf Pinyon", USDA/NRCS, http://plants.usda.gov/plantguide/pdf/cs_pimo.pdf, accessed 30 Jul 2015</ref> The nomadic hunter-gathering people of the Great Basin usually consumed their pinyon seeds during the winter following harvest; the agricultural [[Pueblo people]] of the [[Rio Grande]] valley of [[New Mexico]] could store them for two or three years in pits.<ref>"Indian Use of Pinyon-Juniper Woodlands" http://mojavedesert.net/plant-use/pinyon-juniper.html, accessed 30 Jul 2015</ref>

Each pinyon cone produces 10 to 30 seeds and a productive stand of pinyon trees in a good year can produce {{convert|250|lbs|kg}} on {{convert|1|acre|ha}} of land. An average worker can collect about {{convert|22|lb|kg}} of unshelled pinyon seed in a day's work. Production per worker of 22 pounds of unshelled pinyon seeds—more than one-half that in shelled seeds—amounts to nearly 30,000 calories of nutrition. That is a high yield for the effort expended by hunter-gatherers. Moreover, the pinyon seeds are high in fat, often in short supply for hunter-gatherers.<ref>Jeffers, pp. 195–196; "Piñon nuts, roasted (Navajo)", http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/ethnic-foods/10473/2, accessed 30 July 2015</ref>