Month: November 2019

And that is? That the grains Val and I are going to collaborate on in our joint work, are to be taken only from those heritage ones seen in the UK.

That said, it’s fascinating to see which crops were the ‘original’ ones. The ones that started off being planted in England (and the rest of Europe), 10,000 years ago, eventually becoming the basis for our farming. Known as founder crops (or ‘primary domesticates’) these are the plant species that were domesticated by the early Holocene (Pre-Pottery Neolithic A and Pre-Pottery Neolithic B) farming communities in the Fertile Crescent region of southwest Asia and which went on to form the basis of systematic agriculture in the Middle East, North Africa, India, Persia and (later) Europe. Along with flax and four pulses, they stand as the first known domesticated plants in the world.

Cereals and pseudo-cereals

Barley (Hordeum vulgare/sativum, descended from the wild H. spontaneum)
Einkorn (Triticum monococcum, descended from the wild T. boeoticum)
Emmer (Triticum dicoccum, descended from the wild T. dicoccoides)
Flax (Linum usitatissimum)
Oats
Sesame
Wheat
Rye

Pulses

Bitter vetch (Vicia ervilia)
Chickpea (Cicer arietinum)
Lentil (Lens culinaris)
Pea (Pisum sativum)

The bad news is that maize (corn) isn’t included in this first tranche of plantings in Europe. And I kind of like corn. A lot. The good news is that it’s likely that the precursor of today’s varieties was domesticated contemporaneously with ‘our’ grains but on the other side of the Atlantic in the Balsas River Valley of south-central Mexico. Nor is rice; and that’s kind of important to more than a few people on the planet.

[NOTE: the BP on this map, indicates Before Present (where present is 1st January 1950). This latter date was chosen as the baseline to use when carbon-dating items as, after that time, we humans started setting off atomic bombs that fucked with the natural level of carbon isotopes in the atmosphere making carbon dating for people in the future a lot more fucking difficult. So much so that BP is often also called Before Physics. The other dating convention — one that removes any need to refer to the dumb, dangerous Xian religion — is to CE or BCE (Common or Before Common Era). I use that here and elsewhere. So this year is 2019 CE, rather than 2019 AD.]

There’s been long debate here in Grafham (fuelled by the odd glass or two) about whether I should include rice and corn — and other grains — and we agreed that they would and should still play an important role on this site. But, just as we did for Salute The Pig, we will ensure that the geographical ‘centre’ — where all the grains are rooted — of this site, will be England.

So, without further ado, and accompanied by a suitable (but quick) drum roll from off-stage, comes…… THE LIST. And henceforth, to glorify in the acronym PROBEEMS

Einkorn

Emmer

Millet

Rye

Peas

Bere (barley)

Oats

Spelt

So, come along and enjoy the ride.

The sub-title of this blog is an old saying — originating from Mexico — that reads “Sin Maíz, No Hay Paíz”, translating as “without corn, there is no country“. That goes to the heart of the vital importance that corn has always held for the people & cultures of South & Central Americas.

But I think there’s an even more important phrase that we should be using: “Sin tierra, no hay vida” or “without soil, there is no life.”

No human life that is. Some parts of nature would carry on working OK, I’d hazard a guess, but we as a species would be long gone. And in view of the cluster-fuck disaster that we’ve inflicted on this planet over the past few hundred years (since we discovered fossil fuels & then plastics) that might not actually be a bad long-term outcome. For the Earth. Less so for us.

There are some studies that claim we only have approx. 60 years of top-soil left. Some give even less time before the soil becomes sterile, useless dust. If that frankly doesn’t scare the shit out of you, then you may want to check your pulse. That we have The Orange Stain in the US talking about digging up & drilling almost down through the entire state of Alaska is just the epitome of the late-stage capitalism that has brought us and the planet to the brink. We (the ‘grown-ups’) shouldn’t have to depend on the (stunning, awesome, smart, courageous) children such as Greta Thunberg to stop this death spiral.

We need to completely change how this planet operates; starting with an acceptance that capitalism and its close cousin, neo-liberalism, is the root cause of the many problems we now face. Eat the rich?