Tourism

August 26, 2011August 28, 2011

Machu Picchu and maize up in lights

The pretty stunning light show put on in the main square in Cuzco for the 100th anniversary of the re-discovery of Machu Picchu includes something to do with maize at around 5 minutes in. I’ve taken a screen grab (right), but it’s really worth seeing the whole thing. Maybe some expert can tell us what the maize bit represents. Thanks, Charlotte.

Machu Picchu 100 Años from PROJEKTIL on Vimeo.

August 26, 2011August 26, 2011

Nibbles: Drought, Babylonian gardens, Armenian flora, Urban veggies

NASA says there has not been a drought-driven decline in plant productivity after all. Yeah but where’s my jet-pack, guys?
Hanging Gardens of Babylon had date palms and tamarisk. At least.
Edible wild Armenian plants.
AVRDC on how to grow vegetables in all sorts of different containers.

July 28, 2011August 31, 2011

Nibbles: Frogs, Sacred forests, Heirloom onions, Lobster, Przewalski’s horses, Marco Polo sheep

Eating frog legs is bad. France surrenders.
Oxford boffins to map world’s sacred forests.
Lafort onion: from the Wellesbourne genebank to Irish Seed Savers to urban kitchen garden.
Lobster 101.
A wild relative in trouble any way you slice it.
And one that gets around. Didn’t we blog about this before? Yep.

July 18, 2011July 18, 2011

Nibbles: Goats, Nordic food, Roman beer, Mopani worms, South Sudan

So apparently there’s a British Goat Society.
More on that Nordic Food Lab. Note connection to NordGen.
Beer Chicks do Rome artisanals. So much one could say about this.
Mopani worms in London. Best place for them.
South Sudan’s seed system.

July 15, 2011July 15, 2011

Nibbles: Breeding, Frankincense and myrrh, Roman pills, Chinese botanic garden, NPGS, Green red bush tea, Old banyan, Terroir, Botanic gardens and invaders, AnGR

National Organic Coalition suggests USDA’s National Institute for Food and Agriculture separate conventional and participatory breeding from anything involving DNA in considering projects for support.
Second-guessing the Three Wise Men.
Yet more on attempts to deconstruct ancient Roman medicines using DNA from tablets found in a shipwreck. Real Indiana Jones stuff.
Botanic garden and genebank for drought-resistant plants to be established “in Asia’s largest wild fruit forest.” That would be in China. I really don’t know what to make of this. Really need to find out more. But why am I talking to myself?
Brown (rice) is beautiful.
Feedback from a genebank user. Kinda.
Rooibos gets itself certified.
The oldest cultivated tree on record.
The taste of Massachusetts.
“…strongly conservation-minded botanic gardens appear to be in the minority.” Easy, tiger. Will that new one in China (see above) feature in this minority?
ILRI on an Aussie TV program on conserving local livestock breeds in Africa.