At home most especially in northern climes and their corresponding latitudes in the southern hemisphere, breads made from rye are highly iconic in local and international identities, witness the Rye Route that runs through Estonia, where the National Agricultural Museum in Ülenurme, south of Tartu, held AIMA’s 2017 congress (1). Rye bread in many forms… Continue reading An Eye on Rye
Plants
Rise and decline of the Mechelen greenhouse, today an honored object of cultural heritage in Flanders
Fig. 1. Oldest conservatory of the Mechelen type in neighbouring Sint-Katelijne-Waver. The emergence of the Mechelen (English: Mechlin, French Malines) greenhouse type coincided with the rise of vegetable cultivation in this area of Flanders in Belgium, developing in the late nineteenth century, so that it became a typical feature of the open-ground horticulture on vegetable… Continue reading Rise and decline of the Mechelen greenhouse, today an honored object of cultural heritage in Flanders
Glass and Hotbeds
The Early Modern period in Europe was itself a “hotbed” of innovation involving glass, often attested in renowned publications such as Diderot’s and D’Alembert’s Encyclopédie, among other remarkable sources. Come and explore hotbeds, bellglasses, “lights”, pane-production techniques and the debate on what might be “natural” … or not.
Which came first, bees or crops? Why does it matter?
Abstracts: Flying insects, particularly bees, transfer pollen to flowers to facilitate plant reproduction. The Western or European honeybee (Apis mellifera) may get the most attention because of the honey they produce, but other bees pollinate vegetables, berries, and other fruits on which we all depend. Adding the natural history of bees to the agricultural history of… Continue reading Which came first, bees or crops? Why does it matter?
Why all the buzz about bees? AIMA bloggers encourage us to Bee Aware!
Bees – one short name accounts for 16,000 to 20,000 species of hairy flying insects classified into seven families. All live within social communities that depend on strict work routines. They all seek the same food sources – pollen and nectar – and each processes their harvest and preserves it in hives built in the… Continue reading Why all the buzz about bees? AIMA bloggers encourage us to Bee Aware!
How often do you step out of your “field”?
The relevance – and challenges – of non-field crops for agricultural museums “Bruising” furze, Courtesy of Ulster Folk & Transport Museum Collections* Abstracts: Farmers around the world do much more than farming, often taking on stewardship for much of the environment we associate with the countryside and important activities that do not usually “fit” into… Continue reading How often do you step out of your “field”?