I knew a bit about indigo — but not that in addition to the Old World’s Indigofera tinctoria there’s a separate species in the same genus that was used in ancient America for making dye. I found out because of some interesting detective work on the Maya pigment. I figured that the indigo plant mentioned in the research was something completely different, but it turns out to be I. suffruticosa. Although there do seem to be other genera that produce the colour.
Seed savers take matters into their own hands
In this global world it can be valuable to stop and think for a moment that we share the same problems and solutions. Traditional knowledge and informal seed systems are not the preserve of “resource-poor farmers in marginal areas in developing countries”. They can be just as vital to fatcat hobby gardeners in the richest countries on earth. Seed swaps, where people exchange their seeds and their knowledge, are now common features of garden life around the developed world, and increasing in frequency and importance as gardeners come to value biodiversity.
All of which is prompted by this fine account of a recent Seedy Saturday from Ottawa Hortiphilia. Check it out, and if anyone else has a report on a seed swap, from Mali, Montreal or Morecombe, let us know.
Nibbles: Anti-diversification, chickens, bananas, registers, tropical fruits
- US subsidy system prevents diversification. Via.
- Chicken domestication; possibly more than you could ever want to know.
- Red bananas; Raul unavailable for comment.
- Filipino community registers agrobiodiversity.
- Tropical fruit diversity conserved, studied and consumed in the US. That includes the citron. 1
Nibbles: Decoration, insects
- (Agro)biodiversity used as personal decoration in the Omo Valley.
- Eating bugs is good for you. No, really. FAO says so!
Nibbles: Genebanks, organic, fair, chocolate
- American farming family gets tour of organic research farm and genebank in India, is impressed.
- The International Agricultural Show is on, just outside Paris. Pres. Sarkozy available for comment.
- A rapid run-through the history of chocolate, courtesy of Smithsonian.