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A Nibble big enough to choke on

Yeah, yeah, it’s been quiet here for the best part of a month. Work, you know. When you notice lack of action here, though, that doesn’t mean that I’m being completely idle. Not always, anyway. Check on Twitter and Facebook, if you dare, and you’ll see new stuff on a fairly regular basis, because that’s easier to do than a fully-fledged blog post. Anyway, what I’ll do here is a mega-Nibble hoovering up snippets from the past few weeks that I posted on social media but not here.

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Pawnee corn latest

Attentive readers who remember our series of posts on the resurrection of Pawnee corn from almost 10 years ago may be interested in this recent Twitter thread from Prof. C.S Prakash.

For those who would prefer to stay away from Twitter, and I know there are some, I’ll take the liberty to reproduce Prof. Prakash’s text below, embedding the links for clarity, but minus the photos, alas.

  • Amazing story of the revival of Pawnee Eagle Corn. Grown by native Americans, thought to be extinct. One family had saved last 50 kernels taken with them when they were exiled from Nebraska to Oklahoma in the 1870s. “It tastes like almonds with cream”.
  • A farmer who grew the Pawnee Eagle and other heirloom corn 🌽. Much beauty in the biodiversity, once extinct it is lost forever. Gene banks and such farmers heroes! Vavilov is smiling!
  • Deb Echo-Hawk, Pawnee tribe’s official ‘Keeper of the seeds’. When tribes were forced from state to state by the US govt — Trail of Tears — seed keepers brought their own strains of corn seeds with them, so when they settled again, they could grow food on their new land.
  • Eagle corn revived from near-extinction by an unlikely friendship and determination of Native American seed saver from Oklahoma Deb-Echo Hawk along with Ronnie O’Brien, a culinary art instructor at a community college in Nebraska.
  • Pawnee tribe lived along tributaries of the Missouri River in Nebraska. In 1870, ~ 12,000 people were removed from their land, forcibly exiled to Oklahoma, only about 600 survived. Eagle corn is a tragic testimony to the brutal racism Pawnee endured.
  • Roger Echo-Hawk mentioned to me that as Native Americans could not get into US universities in the 19th century, black universities such as Hampton Institute educated them. Booker T. Washington who founded @TuskegeeUniv where I work, also studied there!
  • Those who wish to reach Deb Echo-Hawk to learn more about the Pawnee Eagle Corn heirloom seed and check with her when the seeds would be public available may contact her through Facebook page.
  • Learn more about this amazing Pawnee Eagle Corn — Workshop on ‘NATIVE CORN’ Honoring Nebraska’s First Farmers — The First Meeting on Indigenous Crops in Nebraska, April 28, 2018 at the Central Community College-Hastings, Hastings.
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Nibbles: MGIS, DOIs, Lost apples found, Row 7 Seeds, EBN, “Influential” seed people.

  • Banana people release new banana germplasm database, featuring DOIs.
  • Video explaining what DOIs are and why they’re cool.
  • Five apple varieties to get DOIs before it’s too late? Probably not.
  • “A seed company built by chefs and breeders striving to make ingredients taste better before they ever hit a plate.” Whatever next.
  • Occupy the food system.
  • Extension works. In a big way. With agronomy anyway. Think what it could do with seeds…
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Nibbles: Gros Michel, Poultry photos, Pigeonpea prebreeding, Murnong, Wheat breeding, Hass, Indian forest foods, Popcorn domestication, Mustard history, Historical botanists, Barges & Bread, Samoan distilling, Kenyan brewing

  • The quest for Big Mike. No, not Stormy Daniels’ latest. It’s a banana.
  • Ok, I’m going to resist the temptation of making the obvious follow-up joke in connection with this gallery of beautiful chickens.
  • Who needs chickens when you have pigeons. Ah, no, these are pigeonpeas.
  • Australia’s answer to the potato. Unclear what the question was.
  • Australia’s answer to frost-sensitive wheat: look in genebanks for resistant stuff.
  • The mother of all avocados. Kind of a Hass-been, though.
  • Avocado shmavocado, says India.
  • Are you not entertained? Have some popcorn!
  • And mustard for that hotdog. You know, like Mesolithic people did.
  • History of plant collecting double feature: Bradby Blake & Frank N. Meyer.
  • Listen to Jeremy on how grain made its way up the Thames.
  • A lot of grain also makes its way to Ft Collins. See what I did there?
  • Taro whiskey: I’ll drink to that.
  • Kenyan coffee to finish things off? Maybe not for long.