- India’s Traditional Knowledge Digital Library a bulwark against piracy. Ahoy me mateys!
- Oh give me a home, where the buffalo-cow hybrid roamed.
- “We’ve found one of the most important disease resistance genes in wheat.”
- Cassava on its way to being a complete meal. Oh joy.
- Usual suspects debate GM.
- The history of the American wilderness movement deconstructed.
- Australia’s Northern Territory needs more collectors.
- “USDA People’s Garden announced today will eliminate 1,250 square feet of unnecessary paved surface at the USDA headquarters and return the landscape to grass.” Michelle likes it.
- Pig domestication, for Vavilov and now.
Socializing with plants at Kew
Kew is hosting a festival of ethnobotany, highlighting research into plant-people relationships. Featured topics will likely include medicinal plants in Britain, Spain, China and southern Africa; wild foods in Britain and Africa; natural fibres and basketmaking, home gardens in Britain, spice plants in India, and many more. The emphasis is on hands-on, table-top displays with plenty of opportunity to talk to the exhibitors.
It’s on 7 March, and it sounds like fun. If you go, let us know about it. And send us photos.
Nibbles: Paan, Homegardens, Yams, Apiculture, Sorghum, Asparagus, Vicuna
- Paan unwrapped — betel leaf, areca nut.
- “We were suffering; we had no food to eat so we tried to make a garden.”
- IITA comes up with technique to propagate yams through vine cuttings using carbonized rice husks as growth medium. Worlds beats path to Ibadan.
- The Virgin Fresh Apicultural Project is cool, but needs a new name.
- Sorghum makes big move from wallboards to gas and booze.
- Great Witley sweeter than Peruvian. No, not weed, dude.
- The vicuna: use it or lose it. They did, so they didn’t.
Nibbles: Hell, Honours, Pollution, Darwin, Genomes, Small companies, Tigernuts, Urine soft drink, Medicinal plants
- A way out of hell: workshop on Database Challenges in Biodiversity Informatics
- Potato man honoured.
- Farm diversity reduces nitrogen runoff.
- Darwin on the Farm, from our friends at the Global Crop Diversity Trust.
- Yeast and wheat genome sequencing going gangbusters.
- Coffee!
- Fermented tigernuts more nutritious? No, they’re not from an endangered species. Via.
- Cow water!
- Lots of medicinal plants conservation projects going on in India.
Nibbles: Bananas, Sorghum, Agave, Big vs small, Cauliflower, Wine, Chestnut, Farmers’ rights, India, Aquaculture, Medicinals, Tarpan
- How they grow bananas in Fadan Karshi, Nigeria.
- How they grow sorghum in Karamoja, Uganda.
- How tequila is ruining small farms in Mexico. Or is it?
- How small farms cannot feed Africa. Or can they? Join the debate! Via.
- How the Brits plan to rebrand cauliflower. This I gotta see.
- How the ancient Chinese made wine out of rice, honey, and fruit. Pass the bottle.
- How Georgia is mapping where its chestnuts used to be.
- How farmers’ rights are being implemented.
- How Indian agriculture should move beyond wheat and rice. Ok, but what would everybody eat?
- How microsatellites can be used to help catfish breeding.
- How Ni Wayan Lilir is helping people learn about the traditional healing herbs of Bali.
- How the Brits brought back the Konik.