- Sheep grazing on natural grassland taste better and are better for the envioronment.
- Student goes around world looking for seeds. How’s it going, Adam?
Go, dormouse
I do hope the English dormouse population takes off. Because then the Brits could start eating the cute little things again.
Nebamun redux
One — or at least part of one — of the great agrobiodiversity-themed art works of the ancient world is back. Apart from “Fowling in the marshes,” reproduced below, Nebamun’s painted tomb includes representations of a garden pool, wine-making, and food offerings.
Photograph: The British Museum
Nibbles: Bees, Bourbon, Cattle, Ug99, Horses, Neanderthal, Bear, Organic, Flowers
- Bees? We don’t need no stinkin’ bees.
- “…a distinct product of America…”
- Friesians? We don’t need no stinkin’ Friesians.
- Kenya tests for Ug99 resistance.
- Iceland’s horses walk funny.
- Neanderthals ate snails.
- Bear meat? We don’t need no stinkin’ bear meat.
- Organic agriculture in China gets NPR treatment, survives.
- Rice? We don’t need no stinkin’ rice.
Livestock bring books, ice cream
Donkeys are being used to cart books around the Ethiopian countryside as part of a literacy campaign.
The donkeys are not just a gimmick – in rural Ethiopia and provincial towns like Awassa, horse-drawn buggies and donkey carts are a normal form of transport.
But the project also tries to teach the children about respect for animals.
Donkeys here are generally despised and often ill-treated, but these two working donkeys wear the colourful embroidered trappings usually reserved for riding horses.
Northern Kenya, in contrast, has camel libraries. Speaking of camels, we’ve just missed the Pushkar Camel Fair. But I wonder if we’re too late for the camel ice cream.