- Why fisheries management is so often a failure.
- Climate change threatens beer. Luigi appalled. Via.
- IIED to answer questions raised by IAASTD. Chef comments, “Your alphabet soup is ready now.”
- Not enough Sangiovese in Brunello di Montalcino. Jeremy appalled.
- People in the burbs really into growing vegetables all of a sudden.
Not hip, righteous
The blah about whether the young people who are giving up city life for something more rural and productive are “hip”, “cool” or what is fun to watch, but not all that illuminating. It has, however, flushed out an interesting article from April’s Atlantic magazine, which I might never have seen. A Papaya Grows in Holyoke explains how “A crime-plagued mill town in Massachusetts has discovered the roots of urban renewal,” and those roots, you will not be surprised to learn, go deep into the ground. Of course the story may not tell the whole truth, we’ve always known that, but it is a heart-warming read.
Via cheflovesbeer, who says: “It is easier for the kids if some of the hip kids do it”.
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: Japan, BBC TV, sauce, basmati, banana
- Indoor farms in Tokyo, growing a diversity of non-pot crops, to train yoof. Via.
- BBC News web site picks up on BBC World TV documentary on neglected species.
- The geography of sauce in South Carolina.
- India and Pakistan find something to agree on: basmati rice.
- Have we already mentioned this new book on bananas?
South Africa turning its back on local greens?
Timbuktu Chronicles pointed me to an interesting allAfrica feature on the organic vegetable revolution sweeping around the edges of Cape Town under the leadership of some formidable grandmothers. Great that such a community-based movement is taking off and making a difference, of course. But it was a bit disappointing for me not to see much evidence in the text and photos that indigenous African vegetables are included in the mix. I know there are dedicated people promoting this neglected agrobiodiversity in South Africa. I’ve worked with some of them. Local leafy greens have become mainstream in countries like Kenya in the past few years: you can buy them nicely packaged in supermarkets now, which was certainly not the case when I lived there in the mid-90s. Is that not happening in South Africa? If not, why not? I hope someone out there can tell us.