#Maize Drying Plant

[serpentface]

GOD AND HYENA AT THE DAWN OF THE SECOND WORLD

[A short Cholemdinae folktale in a body of creation stories, explaining why all hyenas have penises and how they got their short(ish) tails]

God summoned all the animals to the First Lake, the only place left untouched by the fire that had ravaged the first world. It was here that they breathed death into the animals and thus made them mortal, and it was here that they separated them into male and female.

God cut the female skin from each animal's penis, and so they made all the animals male. And God took these cut skins and red clay and shaped these into the forms of each animal. They placed their living spirit into each, and breathed life and death into each body of clay. And so God made a female for each animal. They did this tirelessly until almost every animal in creation was mortal and paired.

Hyena, however, was not one of them. He avoided the assembly altogether. He was quite fond of being immortal, you see, and didn't want God getting anywhere near his penis. He liked himself the way he was, thank you very much.

And he had good reason to like himself. He was spotted and striped and big and strong, and had a lovely long tail that he carried high with pride. He considered himself the handsomest of all animals by a long shot. And he had all the strengths that would one day make him the best of all wild hunters- his teeth were sharp and brutal, his jaws could crack bone, and he could run for days on end without tiring.

But alone in the dawning of the second world and without other hyenas for council, he sorely lacked wisdom. In fact, he was an utter fool. Hyena felt very confident that he could simply outrun God.

Hyena set off in the pitch dark, running east towards the great distant mountains from which God would be reborn. He hoped to cross them and hide on the edge of the world before dawn. He ran with all his might all night long, but the sky began to grow light before he even reached the foot of the mountains.

Cursing his misfortune, he turned tail and ran straight west. God rose behind him and could surely see him, but they were still far away. Hyena figured he had a good chance of reaching the sea before God did. He could hide underwater and would just have to figure out what to do from there.

All day Hyena ran, and to his dismay, God came closer and closer. First they were behind him, then overhead, and finally the day's shadows grew long and Hyena found himself running directly towards God. There was no escape.

And God had seen Hyena, and took the form of a human to touch down upon the earth in front of him. When Hyena saw God approaching, he panicked and began to dig a hole in the scorched, dry earth. Hearing footfalls right in front of him, he thrust himself as deep into the ground as he possibly could. His nose broke through to the underworld and his whole body fit in the hole, but his long tail trailed out from behind.

“I can see you, Hyena.” God said. “Are you going to come out now?”

Hyena poked his tail straight up out of the ground.

“I don’t know any Hyena,” Hyena said. “I’m a stalk of maize.”

“Ah! I almost didn’t recognize you, Maize. I suppose the fire is what has left you so brown and bare of your leaves.” God said.

“Yep,” said Hyena. “The fire did it. Quite a shame.”

“That certainly is a shame. And this ground is quite barren too, you won’t do very well here. I think I'll cut you down and plant you somewhere better, that you may spread your seeds and feed my people.”

“Please don’t.” said Hyena.

God leaned down and breathed death into Hyena, so making him mortal. And when Hyena still did not emerge, God sighed, shrugged their shoulders, and cut Hyena's tail right in half.

Hyena remained in his hole, yowling and whimpering, and so God could not separate him into male and female like they did with all the other animals. Still, God went about fashioning another hyena. They shaped the body out of red clay, and placed the cropped tail on its rear. God placed a piece of their living spirit into the second hyena, and breathed life and death into him.

And so the second hyena came into being, with his body shaped like the first in every way. And God returned to the sky and went on their way.

The first hyena remained in his hole long after God had vanished into the sea, humiliated and unaware of his new company. The second, growing bored and impatient, stuck his neck down the hole and dragged the first out by his rump.

The first hyena growled in indignant fury, thinking his day had just gone from bad to worse, but he softened upon seeing his new counterpart. This was a creature like himself: a little short of tail, spotted and striped and big and strong, and almost as handsome as he was. He was instantly enamored. The pair of hyenas trotted off into the bush under the rising light of the newborn moons and stars.

The two spent most of the night figuring out the complicated logistics of mating. It was an awkward affair given their matching anatomy, and required a good deal of balance and even more patience. But they worked out a system well enough by morning, and the second hyena soon fell pregnant.

He was impregnated through his penis and had to give birth through it too, and so would all his children and all his children's children. The hyena today still has this painful lot in life. But he is proud nonetheless, for he is the best of all wild hunters, and he alone still walks in the body God first made him in (albeit with a shorter tail).

NOTES:

The notion that the tail of a hyena is cropped (in spite of being of fairly decent size and not notably shorter than most carnivorans) comes from the presence of the king hyena in the same region. The latter bears noted resemblance to a hyena and generally assumed to be a related (though this is not actually the case). Their most pronounced anatomical difference (other than size and bulk, and the hyena's androgyny) is the king hyena's very long, catlike tail.

The king hyena is often cited as the 'older brother' of the hyena in animal folktales, and Cholemdinae and South Wardi tales (both deriving from recent shared ancestry) describe the hyena as having lost half of his tail (and often being jealous of his big brother for this and other reasons).

---

The reason why God can't just sculpt a vagina into the second clay hyena is not based upon hard logical practicality, but has meaning. A human body with a penis, foreskin, and scrotum is regarded as its most fundamental form, the way the body was first created and a reflection of God. This body in of itself is traditionally regarded as neither male or female but carrying the potential for both. The foreskin is the element of female potential, and it is removed to make a person truly a man.

It would be naturally understood that God, when first creating female animals, would shape this androgynous body out of clay, and would require the female element to be separated from a preexisting animal to make this female counterpart. Once these two bodies came into existence and began to reproduce, females could occur naturally within the womb from the model of their mother.

---

The 'translation' of God's pronouns as 'they' here reflects a unique pronoun used in the source language. This pronoun refers to God, and to people in this society's 'genderless' space. I use this as opposed to the Wardi 'It', because the latter is exclusively used for God and never used to describe humans.

The animals (in spite of being considered genderless for the bulk of this story) are referred to with 'he', as each of the first animals was made male, and became the interactive element of each kind of animal's collective Spirit after their deaths. When animal spirits are invoked in religious practice or these folktales, they are always described as 'he'.

---

It is not directly mentioned in this story, but Hyena's brief time in the underworld (with his nose sticking through) exposed him to the evil spirits who haunt the dead in their travels. The hyena's cackling 'laugh' is partly explained with his boisterous nature, but is also something he learned from hearing the shrieks of underworld spirits, and uses to strike fear into the hearts of his enemies.

His exposure to the underworld is also cited as why hyenas are involved in Cholemdinae funerary rites (being a fairly close analogue to the guide/guardian dog in contemporary Wardi funerals, though exclusively in effigy form). Hyena spent some time dangling between the underworld and the world of the living, and is the most powerful animal to be familiar with the underworld realm. Hyena's spirit would later be tasked by God with guiding the dead through the underworld to help them reach rebirth.

---

This story would be told to an audience already familiar with the creation narrative, and starts late into the story. The creation narrative is as such:

God is the first being. They are referred to as the First Ancestor, though they are sometimes referred to with the title of Od. The creation story does not linger on the creation of the land (it tends to be implied as already present), rather focuses on God's own emergence and usually skips ahead to the creation of life.

God came into existence at the boundary of sea and sky. God is neither male or female, but carries inside themself the potential for both. They are the sun, and watch over the world during their daily travels. They hold the breaths of life and death within themself and are not truly immortal. Rather, they die in the ocean each night, travel through the underworld, and are reborn at the underworld's entrance in the great mountains (the Blackmane range) far to the east. Their nightly journey through the underworld is harrowing; it is the realm of evil spirits that God keeps at bay with its nightly self-sacrifice. When they decided to create life in their loneliness, they wanted it to be free of this burden.

God is a being that is powerful and wise, but they are not omnipotent, nor are they completely infallible. They are benevolent towards their creations, and desired to create a world without the burden of death, but this turned out to be a mistake.

They first created a world they saw as perfect. They shaped animals out of red clay, gave them a piece of their living spirit, and gave them only the breath of life, rendering them immortal.

This first world was a paradise- the plants grew in great abundance without need for rain, and freely gave their gifts to the animals. There was no death, no need of killing, all the days were pleasantly warm. But it was not truly perfect. It became significantly less of a paradise at night, when the world was cold and pitch-dark in God's absence.

Many of the animals grew restless with this way of things, and decided to steal God's fire so that they could be in the deity's presence and comfort (and continue their revelries) without end.

The theft occurred successfully, with three birds snatching the last sparks of solar fire in bundles of grass as God died in the ocean. Hespaean carried the fire in his beak, and it singed his face and back black and he dropped into the sea (becoming flightless and aquatic). Crow carried the fire in his talons and lasted longer, but his whole body was singed and he dropped his fire into the sea. Dragon, the most powerful of all birds, made it all the way to land, but was totally aflame and in tremendous pain by the time he crashed to the earth. The fire began to spread in the grasses and soon grew out of control. Most of the world was consumed overnight. Almost all the land was aflame, the rivers and lakes dried, and the sea diminished to mere pools.

The animals were immortal and could not die, but could feel pain and fear, so this was a distinctly awful state of affairs. Some fled to the First Lake (the great crater hill range and lake to the northeast, called Sons of Creation in the Wardi sphere), the only place that ended up untouched by the fire. Some fled into the remnants of the sea (and were thus transformed). Some found other ways of evading the flames (often explaining unique aspects of each animal- the human hung from the tallest tree he could find, and his hair was burnt off everywhere but his head).

God was reborn again the next morning, and to their great dismay, all of creation was on fire. They went to great work to stop it. They transformed a serpent to create the rains (creating the sky serpent, a lesser but highly venerated deity-spirit of storms and rainbows) and doused the world in a great storm.

When all was said and done, they realized that their perfect, deathless creation was not to be, and summoned all the animals to the First Lake in order to create a second world.

Some animals contributed directly to the creation of the second world. The many-horned Ox broke off three of his horns, and God used them to create the moons. Several animals volunteered to become the stars (forming constellations). With the moon and stars, the world would now have light during God's nightly absence. Dragon (ringleader of the fire thieves) still had some of the fires smouldering in his long tailfeathers, and became the spirit of lightning (thus fires would still come to the world (and would eventually be harnessed by people) but could not destroy the world altogether thanks to the rains).

God also realized this new world could not sustain itself without death. The existence of death would ultimately prevent such a catastrophe from ever happening again, and a cycle of death and birth (akin to God's own) would restore the world from any devastation. They made each animal mortal by breathing death into them, but gave them the means of perpetuating themselves by separating them into male and female. God cut the foreskins from the animals and thus made them male, and then used the severed foreskins along with red clay (used to shape life to begin with) to create female animals of each kind. Each animal was no longer alone and unique, but could propagate indefinitely and fill the world with their peoples. Individuals would die, but their deaths would ensure that the world could cycle away from its worst extremes, and the collective would live on forever.

The hyena is noted as an exception. Hyenas have virtually no sexual dimorphism and their sex is extremely difficult to distinguish (the only visually identifiable difference is the shape of the tip of the female's pseudopenis), and this is not broadly recognized. Hyenas can reproduce like anything else, but they have to mate (rather awkwardly) via insertion of a penis into another hyena's (pseudo)penis, and give birth through this same structure. This is a notable curiosity among animals, and is explained as the hyena having remained in its primordial genderless form.

---

The Cholemdinae people are notably the only society indigenous to this region that practices circumcision in the present day, seen as the means of initiation into manhood via removing the 'female' physical potential from the androgynous youth. This would not have been wholly unique to them, but was lost in other groups in the process of assimilation into Wardi identity. The Wardinae tribe (ancestral to Most of the South Wardi population, whose division from the Cholemdinae defined the two groups) is definitively recorded as having practiced circumcision as well, and in relatively recent history. You can still find some (mostly elderly) men in isolated South Wardi villages who are circumcised, but the practice has lost its religious elements and is dying out. Circumcision in the Imperial Wardi cultural sphere is broadly regarded as a form of mutilation and sometimes described as an outright 'barbaric' practice.

Circumcision (or lack thereof) plays a role in the Cholemdinae culture's additional gender spaces. One space applies to people assigned male at birth and encompasses most deviation from fundamental aspects of the male gender role, when manifested obviously from early childhood. (This encompasses both what would be considered cis male homosexuality and transfeminity, though not all cis gay men or trans women would actually end up in this gender space in practice. It is not 1:1 with any set of LGBT identities). These individuals are left uncircumcised and considered genderless in a similar capacity to God, though take female social roles. They are referred to with the same pronoun and other gendered articles used for God, which I translate here as 'they'.

The other role applies to people assigned female at birth and is significantly more restrictive to enter- it requires successful completion of initiation into manhood on their first attempt, seen as divine confirmation that they are meant to be men (this is a rite where a gazelle is run to death on foot in a potentially multi-day solo persistence hunt). They are circumcised via the removal of the clitoral hood. They are considered to be a subcategory of the male gender space, and take male gender roles, and are referred to as men. They are differentiated from other men by being priests in society, which is an obligation of taking on this role. They are required to be celibate (meaning no PIV sex rather than no sex at all) and to remain unwed.

---

Cholemdinae religion is a living tradition and should not be regarded as a static fossil of older beliefs (or devoid of syncretic elements). It is, however, one of the most intact representatives of the monotheist + animistic traditions of the proto-Wardi groups that settled the central-southern grassland and scrub that were heavily changed (and in many instances fully lost) under Burri occupation, assimilation into Wardi identity, and the development of the Faith of the Seven Faced God. Cholemdinae practices survived with significantly less change due to most of their land never being directly occupied (this is scrub and dry grassland best suited to nomadic pastoralism and hunting+gathering and not colonial extraction of grain) and the group at large never assimilating into Wardi identity (this is not universal on an individual or community level; a small but significant minority of the South Wardi population in the Imperial Wardi sphere has more recent Cholemdinae ancestry than Wardinae).

Some shared factors are a result of syncretism due to cultural exchange (and there are folk sects of the Faith that are heavily syncretic with Cholemdinae practices). The most obvious is the adoption of the word Od for the sun + God. Most of the contemporary Cholemdinae people use the terms 'First Ancestor' and 'Od' for the deity, sometimes using the latter to refer to the sun with more specificity. It is generally acknowledged that the Wardi Od and the First Ancestor ultimately refer to the same being, but many consider the Wardi Od to be a misinterpretation of the same fundamental truth.

Some shared factors are not a result of syncretism and rather are cousins to older proto-Wardi beliefs that are still in the Faith. Most significant here are the concept of a primordial female sea and male sky that predated any beings, an androgynous God (though in this case being Neither male or female, while the Wardi Od is dual-sexed), an ox giving his horns to make the moons, death being brought into the world to kick off its present state, the centrality of the cycle of death and rebirth, and God having sacrificed themself in some capacity to preserve the order of the world.

[hamletteprinceofdenmark]

Jonathan's Food Blog

I've decided to write down all the foods mentioned in Dracula. I think it could be fun. Below are all the foods, as well as how they are described in the book and (if I can) a link to a recipe and/or further information 😊 May 3rd - Jonathan Harker's Journal

Paprika Hendl - Perhaps the most famous dish of all. "I had for dinner, or rather supper, a chicken done up some way with red pepper, which was very good but thirsty. (Mem., get recipe for Mina.) I asked the waiter, and he said it was called “paprika hendl,” and that, as it was a national dish, I should be able to get it anywhere along the Carpathians. " Recipe for Paprika Hendl (Paprikás Csirke)

Mamaliga and Impletata - "I had for breakfast more paprika, and a sort of porridge of maize flour which they said was “mamaliga,” and egg-plant stuffed with forcemeat, a very excellent dish, which they call “impletata.”"

Recipe for Mamaliga

Recipe for Impletata

May 5th - Jonathan Harker's Journal

"Robber Steak" and Golden Mediasch - "lest who reads them may fancy that I dined too well before I left Bistritz, let me put down my dinner exactly. I dined on what they called “robber steak”—bits of bacon, onion, and beef, seasoned with red pepper, and strung on sticks and roasted over the fire, in the simple style of the London cat’s meat! The wine was Golden Mediasch, which produces a queer sting on the tongue, which is, however, not disagreeable. I had only a couple of glasses of this, and nothing else." Slivovitz - "There is a flask of slivovitz (the plum brandy of the country) underneath the seat, if you should require it." Recipe for Robber Steak

Golden Mediasch - Bram Stoker likely read about Mediasch wine in the detailed travel book by British author Charles Boner, TRANSYLVANIA. ITS PRODUCTS AND ITS PEOPLE. In this book, there is an extensive chapter all about wines in Transylvania. There are even records of Stoker's library loaning of this book to him, likely studying it while doing his research for the novel.

Although Golden Mediasch is no longer produced, pairing your robber steak with a sweet, dry white wine, like a German Riesling, will probably do the trick. Slivovitz - Slivovitz is a plum brandy popular throughout eastern Europe and not entirely unlike Italian grappa.

Roast Chicken and Tokay - "The Count himself came forward and took off the cover of a dish, and I fell to at once on an excellent roast chicken. This, with some cheese and a salad and a bottle of old Tokay, of which I had two glasses, was my supper."  Recipe for Roast Chicken Tokay - Tokaji or Tokay is the name of the wines from the Tokaj wine region (also Tokaj-Hegyalja wine region or Tokaj-Hegyalja) in Hungary or the adjoining Tokaj wine region in Slovakia. This region is noted for its sweet wines made from grapes affected by noble rot, a style of wine which has a long history in this region.

May 7th - Jonathan Harker's Journal

Cold Breakfast with Coffee - "When I had dressed myself I went into the room where we had supped, and found a cold breakfast laid out, with coffee kept hot by the pot being placed on the hearth ... I set to and enjoyed a hearty meal."

Cold Breakfast - In the late 19th century, a “cold breakfast” in the regions of Hungary and Romania would have comprised a selection of preserved and readily available foods.

A traditional cold breakfast during this period likely included:

• Cold Cuts: Varieties of cured meats such as salami, pastrami, and smoked sausages were common. These meats were often homemade and preserved through smoking or curing, making them suitable for cold service .

• Cheeses: Cheeses like telemea, a brined cheese similar to feta, made from cow or sheep milk, were staples. These cheeses were often produced locally and served sliced or crumbled .

• Bread and Pastries: Freshly baked bread was a daily essential, often accompanied by homemade jams or honey. In some regions, pastries such as kürtőskalács (chimney cake) were enjoyed, though these were more commonly associated with festive occasions .

• Fresh Vegetables and Fruits: Seasonal produce like tomatoes, cucumbers, and capsicum (where we also get our beloved paprika!) were sliced and served alongside the main items. Fruits such as apples, plums, and cherries were also common, either fresh or preserved .

• Dairy Products: Yogurt and sour cream were frequently included.

Coffee - Coffee held a significant place in Hungarian and Romanian culture, influenced heavily by Ottoman traditions. Introduced to Hungary in the 16th century during Ottoman occupation, coffee became deeply ingrained in the social fabric.

In the 19th century, the prevalent method of coffee preparation was similar to Turkish coffee: Finely ground coffee beans were combined with water (and sometimes sugar) in a small pot, then brought to a boil. This method produced a strong, unfiltered coffee, often served in small cups.

[metamorphesque]

Not the anon who asked about the typical lunch but it's very interesting! I live in an area in America that has the largest population of Armenians outside of Armenia so now I'm A) hungry and B) looking forward to trying some things!

Well, my friend, in that case, let me recommend a couple of gems:

I’m sure you’ve already heard of Armenian barbecue (khorovats) and kebab. However, I’m still going to mention them because, vegetarian or not, I’m Armenian hehe.

Dolma – Meat, spices and other ingredients rolled into cabbage or grape leaves. Do yourself a favor and dip this in matsun (sour yogurt) with garlic. Not to toot my own horn, but I’ve been told I make some good dolma.

Pasuc dolma – The vegetable-filled version of traditional meat-filled rolls. Since its recipe is entirely plant-based, it’s a very convenient dish to serve during the fasting period. It is made of 7 different boiled grains, such as beans, lentils, chickpeas, cracked wheat, rice and maize peas (though the recipe can vary). All of the grains mentioned above are then wrapped in pickled cabbage or grape leaves. Pasuc tolma can be served hot or cold. My grandma used to make the best pasuc dolma.

Harissa – A “porridge” made from ground wheat and pulled meat (it can be chicken, lamb, etc.), usually served with butter. It’s especially good in cold weather and pairs well with vodka.

Khash – Now, khash is not your ordinary soup – it’s a whole tradition and a half. Even the toasts are well-defined and announced in a specific order. It even has its own season. Khash season in Armenia begins in late autumn, during the first cold days, and continues until the beginning of spring. The process of preparing khash is quite long and tiring, but the result is worth it. It’s made by boiling bovine shanks for hours until the tendons fall off the bones and the broth becomes thick. Sometimes, cooked stomach pieces are added. No salt is used during cooking, but it is seasoned with salt and crushed garlic once served. Cold vodka, mineral water, radish, pickles, peppers and dry lavash are all served alongside khash. Crushed garlic, greens, cheese, and, of course, salt must also be on the table.

Khashlama – Usually made with lamb and vegetables, the meat is so tender it falls off the bone.

Ghapama – A dish so mouthwatering that there’s a song dedicated to it. Ghapama is prepared by removing the insides of a pumpkin. The top of the pumpkin is cut off, and the ingredients (boiled rice, nuts, and dried fruits) are added inside. The pumpkin is closed on top with the cut lid, wrapped in foil and placed in the oven. Cooking times vary, usually taking from 40 minutes to 1.5 hours. The pumpkin is baked until soft, then served. Before serving, the pumpkin is cut from top to bottom into slices.

Jengyalov hats (Armenian bread with jengyal – greens) - a flatbread filled with about 25 types of greens. The recipe and the variety of greens used differ depending on the region.

բարի ախորժակ!

[dailydemonspotlight]

Tlaloc - Day 143

Race: Genma Alignment: Light-Neutral December 11th, 2024

A personal favorite subgenre of demons to me has to be the Soul Hackers/SMT IV designs for Mesoamerican deities. They each have such a unique design that makes them stand out, while still being faithful to the original mythology and also making them stand out as being uniquely Mesoamerican. There's a reason many of these carry over, even into SMT V- they all work incredibly well and establish such a unique vibe. A sleeper pick for a favorite of this bunch, though, has to be Tlaloc- today's Demon of the Day. As with many cultures, the Aztecs, too, had a god of the winds and storms, and, similarly, this one was also incredibly important to the Aztec style of life, so let's dig in to this interesting weather-spinner.

Tlaloc was, while being a god of weather as a whole, more specifically seen as the god of the rain. Predictably, as the Aztecs were situated in Mexico, they revered rain quite a bit- while not very arid and actually rather mild at all times, the importance of growing crops and, specifically, maize- a crop that was incredibly vulnerable to the cold- led to a great importance being ascribed to the rain used to help grow it. This, naturally, also led to the being that brought rain in Aztec cultures being a highly important deity. Tlaloc was seen as an important, if fickle, god, being one of the major gods who stars in the Five Suns myth, and his temple was placed right next to Huitzilopochtli's temple, as they were essentially reflections of the other: while Huitzlipochtli represented the dry season, Tlaloc represented pouring rains.

On that 'fickle' note, however, Tlaloc wasn't just a god of small drizzles- he encompassed everything rain-related, including terrible storms, and he was also important in another light- he was the lord of one of the afterlifes of Aztec mythology as well. Specifically, his afterlife was the place where those who died of illness or the torrential downpours he could bring would go, called Tlalocan. It was a place of bustling plant life and, of course, plenty of maize, and it seemed to be a slight respite after death for those who died in horrifying ways. Also being a god of fertility on top of all of that, Tlaloc was, in some respects, the chief deity of the Aztec pantheon, as his role was that important- crops were vital to many ancient societies for rather obvious reasons, and the Aztecs were no exception. There's a reason that Neolithic societies sprouted around water sources- the ability to grow and harvest food was what essentially led us to our modern day society. Even after the ransacking of the Aztecs by the Conquistadors, belief in Tlaloc was held onto in many areas in Mexico and he can still be seen being venerated to this day.

Curiously, like many Aztec gods, Tlaloc wasn't a single figure- rather, he was split into many, with these other Tlaloc's, named Tlaloque, being spirits supervised over by him and his wife. He and his wife, Chalchiuhtlicue, lived together and supervised these Tlaloque spirits, each of which controlled different aspects of the weather. According to @aztecamemoria's post on Tlaloc's vessels, a set of vessels would be used to simulate rain from Tlaloc, as his face was inscribed onto them. These were also, likely, used to venerate Tlaloc as well, as the way that rain would be brought to people also seemed to be tied to pots: The Tlaloque would literally pour rain down from a jug that likely bared Tlaloc's likeness and would cause thunder by clashing their jugs of water together.

Overall, Tlaloc was a very popular and powerful deity to the Aztec way of life, and is ascribed as chief deity for good reason; his importance cannot go understated due to how his power was what kept the Aztec civilization alive for so long. While fickle, and while he could bring rainstorms to break apart the Aztec society, Tlaloc was ultimately the bringer of gifts that kept the society going. In SMT, Tlaloc's design takes a lot of cues from the Tlaloc pots mentioned earlier- his head literally is one of those pots, while his body is made up of flowing water and he's surrounded by clouds. I honestly love it, especially the pot part of the design, as it ties in so well with his mythology and his role in being the lord of the weather, and I wish I could've seen it in 3D. Still, it's a rock solid design for a god that turns rocks into dust. Does that erosion joke work? Whatever.

[thoughtfulfoxllama]

How much is a Senine?

This is the question I wanted to figure out. I am putting the Finishing Touches on my Micronation, and the Economic System is inspired by the Nephite Currency System in Alma 11

So, I was curious

A Measure of Wheat

This was essential. It says a Senine (Gold) or a Senum (Silver) is worth a Measure of Grains (it specifies Barley, but it says it was for a Measure of All Other Grains as well, and I'll discuss what Barley actually is in the Next Section). So, we need to figure out what the Measure of Grains is, and I believe the answer is in the Brass Plates

We don't have the Brass Plates (unless you believe in that one guy who's publishing his translation), but we have the Old Testament, which is an abridged version of the Brass Plates.

In the Book of Leviticus we read about the Omer Offering, where an Omer of the First Barley of the Field is brought to the Temple. The Omer is defined as enough grains to require bundling into sheafs, but it is also a Measure of roughly 3.64 Dry Liters. It is also the Minimum Amount of Dough that requires a Dough Offering. In addition, the Omer is said to be the amount of Manna one received every day

There can be an argument for the Measure being an Ephah (which is 10 Omer, or 36.4 Dry Liters), such as it being translated as Measure, or Ruth bringing home an Ephah of Barley. I'll do the math for both

What Grains?

Now, Barley is an Old World Crop, and wasn't introduced until long after the Nephites had died off. So, we need to access what plants they had access to

We need to first establish where the Book of Mormon took place. My wife (then girlfriend) did some measurements during Covid, and determined the Narrow Neck of Land was Panama. This means the Land Southward (where the Majority of the Book of Mormon takes place) is most likely Lower Panema & Columbia. We know the Gaddiantons hid in the Mountains, and the Internal Map shows Mountains around the Land Southwards. These mountains, I maintain, are the Andes

So, what Crops were prevalent in Columbia & the Andes in the Pre-Columbian Era? The most convincing case (in my opinion) is Maize being the Grain. The Fact that they used Barley indicates that whatever Grain it was had many uses, primarily to make Flour, but can be used for other purposes. Corn was often dried to prevent mold, and to make it easier to grind, so we will go with Dried Corn

Bringing it All Together

So, we have the Amount of Grain, and the Type of Grain

According to Senila Wamucii (a Nigerian Company that connects local African Farmers to Global Supply Chains), the Price of Maize is between 29¢ & 95¢ per Kilogram today. We will go with the Average, which is 62

Dried Corn is 100g per Cup. There are 4.22 Cups in a Liter, which translates as 1.53608 Kilograms (Omer) or 15.3608 Kilograms (Ephah)

This translates to a Senine equaling $0.95 (if the Measure is an Omer), or $9.53 (if it is an Ephah)

Simple Math can tell us the rest

(For Currencies with 2 Names, the Silver Measure comes first. The Shiblon, Shiblum, and Leah are Silver, while the Antion is Gold)

Leah (1/8)- $0.12 (O), $1.19 (E)

Shiblum (1/4)- $0.24 (O), $2.38 (E)

Shiblon (1/2) $0.48 (O), $4.77 (E)

Senum/Senine- $0.95 (O), $9.53 (E)

Antion (1.5)- $1.43 (O), $13.30 (E)

Amnor/Seon (2)- $1.90 (O), $19.06 (E)

Ezrom/Shum (4)- $3.80 (O), $38.12 (E)

Onti/Limnah (either 7 or 8, depending on how you interpret "as great as them all")- $6.65/$7.60 (O), $66.71/$76.24 (E)

[ratsoh-writes]

Even more crops and livestock!

Plants:

Jearbies: a prickly pink fruit growing on a magic cacti variety from Underwest! Jearbies are practically little pockets of sugar. They’re incredibly sweet and delicious having a sort of candy like taste to them. When eaten, they do make the very top layer of your skin peel off. So not too many can be eaten in one day. But they’re great for those with dry flaky skin!

Clown noses: a magical tomato found in the flavor factory and fallout AUs. The tomato’s are about fist sized and honk when you squeeze them lmao. Other than that they operate as normal tomatoes. They’re seedless however and can only be grown through clippings from another clown nose plant.

Clocksworth: this handsome dark umber pine tree boasts beige pine needles that have the tiniest tips of sage green. The tree has a strange wood pattern when chopped with geometric appearing rings inside the wood. Sort of like a clocks cogs. The wood is dense and sturdy making wonderful furniture, and the tree grows rapidly. Many loggers will replant this tree to replace the ones they chop down.

Straw-cherries: a magical cheer tree variety. The tree produces a straw yellow fruit that’s rather bland with a sort of oatmeal like taste. However it’s extremely nutritious and considered a wonderful super food for those fighting off infections as it naturally boosts the immune system, especially in humans. Straw cherries in ebott are mainly exported outside the country for a nice profit to human pharmaceuticals.

Waterfall emeralds: a magical vegetable similar to Brussels sprouts in appearance, but the plant is completely unrelated. The green sprouts are metallic looking and glow faintly when ripe. They are delicious grilled and pair well with savory dishes providing a wonderful crunchy texture. They are also a good source of iron and magnesium

Ice spice: a lichen found deep in the colder parts of the underground, and grows all over snowdin. This lichen is Snow White and difficult to differentiate from actual snow as it’s chilly and crunchy to the touch. It has a taste similar to habanero peppers and will make the skin steam slightly when eaten. It’s often used in itch relieving creams and salves but can be eaten in dishes as well.

Candle wicks: a type of reddish grass native to lamiatale. This plant when seeding will burst into harmless little orange flames. The fire is part of the process needed to melt the wax lining off of the seeds the Omar produces. It never seems to spread to the surrounding vegetation. The grasses themselves aren’t rated but are woven into waterproof baskets. The seeds can be ground into a sort of meal that is soaked and eaten like porridge.

Paisley maize: a tall crop native to all farm aus and similar looking to corn with a bumpy cob. The colors of the cob comes mostly in mismatched shades of red, but purple and wine colored varieties exist as well. The vegetable seems pretty normal until one takes a bite. Your vision becomes filled with the color of the cobs causing temporary blindness until the body fights off the weak chemical in the plant. Then your eye color matches the cob until its completely digested. Yes, the whites of the eyes as well. Kids have historically used paisley maize to try and fake pink eye to get out of chores and school lmao. Other than the color thing, it can be cooked and used in the same way as normal corn.

Roadkill plum: a large tree with sickly green grey wood and speckled pale green leaves, the roadkill plum tree is native to the sea aus and was one of the few dry land plants left on the old au. They were found speckled all over the few islands left and the treetops would be peeking out in the shallow parts of the ocean. The trees attract sick animals with a comforting scent, then feed off the inevitable corpses that pile up near its roots. The wood is very dense and water resistant making it perfect for boats or homes near the ocean. When well fed, the tree produces small yellow plums that provide a great source of iron. Monsters can eat the plums at any stage, but ripened ones are incredibly toxic to humans, like eating decayed meat.

Vinoliynes: a tan vine native to theatretale with soft orange and green leaves. it grows in bended curling shapes and when dried is quite stretchy and bendy. It's traditionally used to make string instruments and provides them with a unique tinkling trait to their sound. The vines are edible as well and when ingested make the eaters voice raise an octive for the day lol. They're commonly used in prank potions for this reason.

Candypop: a round podded bean plant growing on twisting vines, the candypop was cultivated in flavortale only before the crash. When ripe, the bean pods turn from a cute spring green to a bright bubblegum pink. The beans inside can be any color as long as its a pastel shade. They have a delicious vanilla like and fruity flavor but need sugar to sweeten them. They're a popular ingredient in sweets of course and are featured the most in in jelly/gummy candies.

Yggdrasil: a massive magical variety of the ash tree, the Yggdrasil was only found in the drake aus. These beautiful trees were symbols of many popular human religions and were seen as plants cultivated by lady magic herself to her devoted monster followers. The trees are absolutely ginormous with the largest one in ebott throwing away the world record for tallest tree by the California redwood. The trees in ebott are all connected through deep set roots undergound that search for then intwine with their "brothers". The wood of the trees is beautiful and sturdy but highly protected. The seeds of the tree can be eaten and are bitter and herby tasting. They are commonly used as sacrifices during holidays for lady magic and are dried and put on strings to be used as decor or jewelry.

Swamp-crawlers: large gnarled wooded bushes from grimmtale. The swamp crawlers will get up and walk around on their roots when their patch of ground isn't to their liking. They scavenge as well and often plant themselves near rotting wood or animal corpses. In the late summer, the swamp crawler grows tight clusters of lime green berries that taste a bit like pickled vegetables and have a rather high natural salt content for a plant. Covens that grow the plants often have a few members who full time job is chasing and lassoing escape artist swamp crawlers.

Rodwish: a magical turnip root plant only found in templetale. The rodwish has a tall brown stalk growing up to seven feet. On the tip is a cluster of earthy green leaves, all edible with a spinach taste. The root is the real prize though. The large bulbous turnip is a bright salmon pink and oozes an orange liquid when cut open. Its juicy, flavorful and unlike any other crop flavor. It tastes a bit strange to first timers, but most report that the aftertaste is very pleasant. Eating the turnip induces good dreams and is a key ingredient in mood stabilizers and sleep aid potions as well as a cooking ingredient thats steadily growing in popularity.

Holy Moly: a root found in all aus. Its beige in color and has an oval smooth shape. The leaves on top are lighter green and resemble grass. The holy moly dramatically increases the DF and AT stats right after consumption. Effects only last a minute or so. Its use is banned in any official dueling match, being caught with them can easily ruin someone's career. They have a carroty taste but don't do well with heat so are only eaten raw.

Milkfeed: a magical white grain from the farm aus. This plant is a cross between a magical reed and a standard wheat plant. Milkfeed needs lots of water to grow and is often planted alongside streams or ponds. Farms with lines of white milkfeed always means there's a stream or river on the property. Milkfeed when eaten replicates the milk of the eaters species when digested. Human mothers who cant breastfeed will blend the grain with formula to give their babies a boost, and the grain is also used in animal feed for baby animals.

Livestock:

Jelly bears: it’s actually not a bear but a rather large squishy looking grub. The pale grey grubs grow to be the size of goats when properly fed. They must be fed a diet of fruits and straw. They’re raised primarily for meat and are known to have a soft and sweet flesh. They’re a common ingredient in sausages, patties, ground meats, anything really that involves shaping.

Bug-a-Rolls: a two headed millipede from grimmtale and templetale! the bug is only 8 inches long and has a deadly venomous bite. They're a huge nuisance and will prey on smaller livestock, mice, rabbits, squirrels and even infants. Size doesn't scare them. Monsters will kill them when spotted. The bugs breed in the fall and lay their eggs in the millions in underground burrows protected by the hibernating parents. In spring, the babies feed on their parents then set out to sow evil lol. If a nest is found, the eggs sell for a high price to resturants. They're deliciously savory. The millipedes can also be cooked if you remove the venom sac first. They taste like pork when fried.

Mimics: a shapeshifting magical beetle, the mimic is a shy animal. They grow rapidly but tend to reach their limit when they get to the size of a coffee table. In order to feel secure, a mimic will find an object closest to its own size, then shapeshift into it, mimicking the texture color and shape. However carefully hidden in its disguise is a mouth full of teeth and a dozen small black eyes somewhere on the body. Mimics come from all aus and historically were kept and trained as prized pets, working animals and decor lol. They can be trained to copy an object the owner chooses. Farmers have used mimics to replicate tools, or designers to replicate a piece in a color or pattern of their choosing. They are skittish, so only recommended for experienced owners in low energy homes.

Sandlich: a magical variety of lobster with a grey shell. One piece of its natural armor over its head resembles a hood. The lobster is blind and gets around by feeling the currents of the ocean against its shell. When it feels threatened, it makes a horrid howling noise that is somehow even worse on land. It sounds like a tortured soul according to those who work with the animals. Anyways they taste absolutely delicious!

Zanders Mountain Cattle: a cow breed coined by the zander coven of farmgold. The cows have droopy ears and curled forward facing horns. They're huge, the size of rhinos and have thick armor like hides as well. The cows move slowly but are rather athletic able to climb up steep hills and rocks with ease. They are prized for meat milk and leather. While not the best in any category, they're certainly high quality in all three! While the cows aren't magical, they have a taste for magic and tend to unearth and eat any magic plants on the property if left to their own devices. Rancher has one of these cows in his mixed herd. Her name is bemouth.

Pineapple Crabs: found in all sea aus, there are wild and domesticated versions of this massive crab. The wild ones are insane, the size of boulders with ginormous claws that can crush fish, sharks stone and monsters with ease. The domesticated varieties are much more manageable. They only grow as big as pineapples and their shells are a cheery yellow hue hence how they got their name. These crabs are farmed for their roe. The females lay eggs year round in clusters reaching thousands in number. The males have to have their claws clipped off when young as they will try to pull off the ladies legs during the act. The crabs can also be eaten like a normal crab.

[mixotrophics]

food crops basics: cereals

cereals : cereals are the seeds of grasses (Poaceae). There are many many cereals of note: wheat, rice, and maize(corn) spring to mind ... chances are, you are a member of one (or more) cultures that have an ancient, deep relationship with one or more of those three cereals. There are also others like barley, millet, sorghum, and oats that are mega important in their own right, but those three are standouts for sure. There are also many plants which are farmed and used in a way similar to cereals, such as quinoa, but these are not grasses and so are "pseudo"cereals (just a different kind of plant than true cereals).

Generally, cereals are farmed for their grains which are smallish, hard, dry fruits, which are easy to store compared to other starchy plants like plantain, especially before refrigeration. Kept out the way of mice and wet, they'd last ... probably why humans liked hanging out with semiferal cats, which eventually became the domestic cats we have to this day.

Cereals are some of the crops we farm the most of, and also some of the crops we have been farming for as long as farming has been a thing that we do. Our relationship with cereals is truly ancient and is sometimes pointed to as a point in which hierarchical, ownership-based systems began(1) ... not 100% on that one tbh. Why not? Well it makes sense that farming cereals would require a different social organization than hunter-gathering, because of the work needed to cultivate, harvest, and process cereals, and also that the benefits of long-term storage can become an issue if you are having to carry that grain around with you as opposed to keeping it in a granary/silo building. However, these things do not require hierarchy, ownership, so on. Processing grains can be hard work, but made easy or even enjoyable as a community activity, sitting around with your friends and family grinding grain and gossiping, something people do with all sorts of activities including milling grain. We also see examples of cultures that cultivated cereals as staples that have other systems, such as domestic & kin-based systems where extended families work community to cultivate cereals(2). Look to maize in the Americas for many examples.

Maize itself is worth bringing up because there is, so much, here.

Maize is a domesticated descendant of wild teosinte, and really interesting stuff is done to unpick the patterns of maize domestication taking place 5000 to 9000 years ago. This includes looking at lakebeds to see pollen and phytolith presence (both vary by shape, and phytoliths are microscopic structures that persist after a plant decays), fossil records, and checking pottery and human remains for maize components(3). Regardless of how these understandings shift and change, the fact remains that these people over centuries cultivated teosinte into maize, carefully selecting the best cereals to propagate ...

look at this. This is a profound link to many folks' ancestors, and a way of extending hope forward, selective breeding for crops that are better and forming culture around this practice.

& much like the very people who formed this relationship with maize, the plant itself bears the wounds of colonization. It lays bare how much of a lie the "benefits" of Western civilization are ... none of this makes life better for humanity, it exists to make a select few people at the top of the pile very, very wealthy & powerful. & there is no limit to their greed. maize has become a menace in the hands of industrial agriculture and capitalist firms.

You may have seen the news about corn sweat, aka transpiration, where plants (like humans) excrete water which evaporates & carries heat away from the body. in sufficiently "sweaty" circumstances, it boosts humidity, in turn making sweat a less effective cooling strategy. The sheer scale of industrial corn agriculture, grown in monocultures without shade of trees, results in massive corn-sweating increasing the humidity and making it harder to cool down. & other than that. Generally, when monetary value is the metric through which things are measured & prioritized, things that sell well get prioritized over things that are good. Crops that look nice & taste sweet & are addictive & can be used for animal feed, biofuel, and ultraprocessed food become the crops to grow, pushing out others. Things like "having essential nutrients" fall by the wayside, leading to circumstances where people have sufficient caloric intake but insufficient nutrition(4). Maize is no exception here. In many cases, its cultivation is for use as corn syrup to cut costs in the production of sweet things (cheaper than sugar), or corn to bulk out flour, or corn to feed animals in CAFOs rather than allowing animals to graze naturally on plant matter we can't digest. An amazing plant with an ancient history beaten down into the fuel for a whole lot of problems and very few people getting very rich. We see the same with other cereals for certain, but maize is certainly a notable case.

not all more-recent cereal farming is fucked up & evil, though. Many many people continue traditional practices, and many experiment with mixing a range of knowledge to try and cultivate these important plants in a more sustainable way. For example, Alternate Wet and Dry Irrigation (AWDI) for rice farming is an iteration of rice-paddy farming where the paddies are allowed to intermittently dry out rather than be continuously flooded, reducing water demands and risk of contamination from polluted water(5). The staple status of these plants means that successful breeding for better nutrition can have a big impact, kind of like how contemporary furikake made a huge difference by adding nutritional bonuses to otherwise just plain rice. and while it makes "conventional" harvesting machinery less useable, cereals can of course be farmed in polycultures with other plants.

rice itself is similarly ancient and entangled in human history, with wild rice species and evidence of rice domestication spanning multiple continents. Wild rice is harvested by indigenous folks while domesticated rice is raised by many indigenous groups as well. The wild-domestic rice boundary is fuzzy, with wild rice being cultivated (it's "wild" rice in that it hasn't been through the incredibly long process of domestication), with wild rice being crossbred with domestic rice, with ancestral early-domestication rice being carried down multiple parallel domestication processes in different places, by different people(6). Rice has been used to make so, so much, and is the basis for an immense diversity of cultures.

fascinating stuff with a lot of history and a lot of hope.

So mentioned before that the dry nature of the grain made it viable for storage w/o technologies/processing moreso than other starches. but there are potentially other reasons that grains became So Important, since these plants can take a lot of effort to turn into food (ever seen how many steps it takes to turn wheat into bread?) after all.

here is a brief aside to the "drunken monkey" hypothesis of human evolution. Human evolution is of course a very. Hmm. subject at times. For example the similar-sounding "stoned ape" hypothesis which notes the overlap between ancestral human lineages and psilocybin mushrooms, and says that perhaps the reason we have such weird brains is we took a lot of shrooms and those brain-changes gave rise to Human Intellect (literally going "what drugs were you on when you came up with this lol" to the Entire Human Species). Despite name similarities, drunken monkey is different.

so you know how sometimes animals will eat fruit that's a bit rotten and they get drunk? Fruit-eating animals are somewhat known for this.

so humans are apes and we are thought to have descended from an arboreal ape living in the forests of Africa. many of our close sibling-species still live there, still living in the trees (chimps and bonobos). They are omnivores and frugivores, and humans are also omnivores with a lot of frugivore-vibes (teeth setup, loving sweets, being able to get scurvy with insufficient fruit+vegetable intake). being a frugivore makes sense when you live in the trees in a habitat that's close to the equator, where there isn't a wintertime with cold weather & short daylight hours that restrict plant growth and damage large, soft fruits. Sometimes, there isn't enough fruit, and so other foods are eaten instead (leaves, bugs, meat, so on).

of course, this fruit-based diet is a bit more troublesome moving away from the equator and living on the ground. The drunken monkey hypothesis points to our love of alcohol and our relatively-high ability to digest it as a suggestion that maybe, we could live on the ground in areas with poorer fruit conditions by eating fallen fruit on the ground, rotting, becoming alcoholic(7). Alcohol is a poison, but we can take a pretty big amount of it. It has a pungent smell as well and a lot of people find that smell nice. for a frugivore ape living on the ground, it would be really beneficial if we could eat rotten fruit off the ground, and also beneficial if we were attracted to the smell of rotting fruit and therefore able to find it more easily.

why am I talking about alcohol here? gestures vaguely at beer, sake, chicha morada, other grain alcohols ...

we've been brewing alcohol from grains for a really long time, with some thinking we figured out how to make beer before bread. Before we knew how to treat water, weak beer was a safer option than water, which I wouldn't be surprised affected us much like starting to cook meat -- wasting less energy on being sick and full of parasites, we have more energy for reproduction, invention, thinking (& brain size), art, music, so on ... as disastrous as alcohol can be, it's another ancient human Thing We Do and another way our lives & the lives of cereals are woven together.

humans & cereal grasses, the grains of Poaceae, we go way back and have shaped one another. These are ancient species-transcendent interrelationships fostered over centuries and centuries. these relationships and rituals are subjugated, much like so many humans, under an exploitative hierarchy meant to distill the variety of life and experience into a single unit measure, Monetary Value. Take a moment to say thanks to cereals, have some bread, flatbread, pasta, tortilla, rice, rice noodle, oats ... we are old friends and have been since before , gestures vaguely again, all of this bullshit.

… and I only talked about three cereals here. This only absolutely scrapes the surface of those three cereals as well. Again this is food crops basics and there is so much more, I absolutely encourage looking around and seeing what you can find yourself!

...

1 ) Nowak, M. Do We Finally Know What the Neolithic Is? Open Archaeology 2022, 8(1). 2 ) Storey, R., & Widmer, R. J. The Pre-Columbian Economy. Latin American Studies Association, 2001. 3 ) Bonzani, R. M., & Oyuela-Caycedo, A. The Gift of the Variation and Dispersion of Maize. In Histories of Maize, Academic Press, 2006. 4 ) Scharff, L. B., Saltenis, V. L. R., Jensen, P. E., Baekelandt, A., Burgess, A. J., Burow, M., Ceriotti, A., Cohan, J.-P., Geu-Flores, F., Halkier, B. A., Haslam, R. P., Inzé, D., Klein Lankhorst, R., Murchie, E. H., Napier, J. A., Nacry, P., Parry, M. A. J., Santino, A., Scarano, A., Sparvoli, F., Wilhelm, R., & Pribil, M. Prospects to improve the nutritional quality of crops. Food and Energy Security 2022, 11(1):e327. 5 ) Chapagain, T., & Riseman, A. Achieving More with Less Water: Alternate Wet and Dry Irrigation (AWDI) as an Alternative to the Conventional Water Management Practices in Rice Farming. Journal of Agricultural Science 2011, 3(3):3-13. 6 ) Sweeney, M., & McCouch, S. The Complex History of the Domestication of Rice. Annals of Botany 2007, 100(5):951–957. 7 ) Dudley, R., & Maro, A. Human Evolution and Dietary Ethanol. Nutrients 2021, 13(7):2419.

...

images: image of grains, Miquel Pujol on Wikimedia teosinte vs. maize, by T. Ryan Gregory, via Vassar's Real Archaeology Blog waxwing image taken from an Anchorage Daily News article

[apilgrimpassingby]

Designing A Traditionalist Commune

Inspired by chatting with @tradgirllife and @unprofessionalcat about this kind of thing and wanting to share my plans; this is going to be one long post.

Village Layout

Throughout, I will be presupposing a commune of c.100 families adding up to c.500 people. Also, because UK and US English sometimes use the same name for different plants and vice versa, all plants will also come with scientific names. Additionally, this is calibrated to the climate and ecology of Britain; adjust for where you live.

At the centre of the village is the church, which will also double as the meeting place for the village (this will be important later). It sits at the centre of 1000 acres of communally-held sheep pasture planted with clover, (trifolium pratense) dandelions (taraxacum officinale), yarrow (achillea millefolium) and maize (zea mays; this one is useful if the potato crop fails), with this same space including various other facilities - a printing shop, a blacksmith's, a stream for water and a glassworks. The dead are also buried here, with small, subtle gravestones.

Ringing that are houses (design will be discussed soon), each with an acre of land containing potatoes (peel helps feed chickens and a very dense, low-effort-to-prepare carbohydrate source), sweetcorn, beans and squash (the sweetcorn forms a trellis for the beans, the beans fix nitrogen for the sweetcorn and the squash helps both retain moisture) and carrots and onions (carrots ward off onion flies and onions ward off carrot flies), and a fruit grove with chickens (the trees provide the chickens with interesting insects to eat and that in turn keeps the trees pest-free). As for area, 4000 square feet (doubled to 8000 for paths and storage) will feed a single person on a vegetarian diet for a year. There are 43,650 square feet in an acre. 8000X5 = 40,000 for vegetables, with the remaining 3650 square feet being used for chickens and fruit.

Ringing that, in turn, is a forest of Himalayan birch (betula utilis) for firewood and writing material, Sitka spruce (picea sitchensis) for timber and resin/glue and white willow (salix alba) for baskets, painkiller and tannin (for leather-making) production with ponds containing tench (tinca tinca) and mallards (anas platyrhynchos) for meat and eggs (in addition, ground fish bones can be added to chicken feed). Ground shrubs will be similar to those in the sheep field.

House Design

Houses will be built out of straw bales, with a foundation of stones (to prevent damp seeping in), a coating of limewash (to add resistance to fire and water) and wooden cladding (to stop rain; Britain is very wet. Feel free to leave this out in a dry area). Straw bale building is cheap and (if you tie the bales tightly) very warm and surprisingly fire-resistant. However, I envision repairs and new houses leading to a gradual replacement with timber buildings. Rooves consist of a timber frame upon which is placed soil in which to grow herbs for consumption (for the UK I'm thinking oregano, yarrow, parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme). This will necessitate strong rooves with gentle slopes, but will be doable, and will increase cultivation space and take advantage of the UK's fairly high rainfall.

Inside, the centre of the house is a wood-burning stove over which the cooking is done. Surrounding that are chairs which people sit on to consume meals, with wooden bookcases (books are printed on birch bark, with charcoal-based ink, wool string and spruce resin for binding and a leather cover) and assorted ornaments. I'm a man, ornamenting houses isn't my thing - women and girls reading this, provide your ideas. Windows are fairly small due to local production limitations, and so there are quite a few of them. In winter, the house is lit with candles made from beeswax or tallow (so we'll want a few beekeepers) and reeds (from around the ponds), made by one of these processes.

To the side are bedrooms. These are fairly unadorned, consisting of a wooden bed, a mattress made from wool and/or feathers, a blanket and pillow of the same and some personal possessions. Also there should be a spinning wheel for the woman of the house to use.

To the back and just outside is the compost toilet. It consists of a wooden shack over a chamber for excreta and another chamber for composting. A bit of guttering funnels urine outside into a barrel of straw (also for composting). Washing is done in a metal tub, with soap made of animal fat or vegetable oil and wood ash.

Clothing

Clothes are made of wool, dyed with nettles (urtica dioica) for grey-green, dandelions for pale yellow, and whatever else is locally available. In addition, natural sheep colours give a range of white, grey, brown and black. Shoes will be made of sheepskin, and some people taking up shoemaking will thus be much appreciated.

In terms of clothing, I'm not particular about styles. I imagine that men will dress something like this and women something like this, but I am very much not particular. I'm a man.

Diet

As composed from the ingredients above, mostly potatoes accompanying vegetable stews of a considerable range. Some treats, such as pancakes, cider and meat, but mostly fairly plain.

Political System

The village is governed by two bodies - the magistrates and the assembly.

The magistrates consist of three randomly-selected adult citizens, with the proviso that they cannot have committed a crime in the last three years and they cannot serve consecutive terms. They meet weekly to judge crimes and set the agenda for the assembly.

The assembly consists of all adults of the community, meeting monthly to vote on proposed laws and actions and vote on applicants for citizenship. The citizenship can vote to modify proposed laws.

Due to the lack of state apparatus, crimes are punished by fines (for minor crimes, especially property crimes), exile (for major crimes - those who are exiled have their crimes, date of exile and sentence length tattooed on their non-dominant hands) or execution (for serious crimes, although this needs to be put up to the assembly and only violent or sexual crimes can be capital).

Note to say if you like this and/or would like to live here, reblog with any comments, questions or criticisms you have.

[casitafallz]

LTRL AU | Packed Issues

As it turned out, breaking and entering was very easy.

Isabela had started first by having Fran check out the house to make sure it was empty and that the area around was quiet. A few houses had windows facing towards them but…Isabela used her gift to grow the nearby bushed just a little bit to mask the direct line of sight then a series of bush-trunk-like steps that gave her a direct access to his bedroom window.

Fran had given her a set of old clothes which were burgundy and green and a scarf which she kept around her head when she built the steps up, not that it was overly high given it didn’t have a second floor. No one robbed a home in familiar clothes.

“All he wants is three changes of clothes, sandals and the big book under his bed with the decorative box next to it.” Fran reminded as she began her ascent up.

“Okay.” Isabela didn’t wait for anything less than a warning before she lowered herself carefully down and got to work; straight to his wardrobe where inside was his clothes and a bag. She grabbed that before she realised one thing; it was full.

She frowned carefully, opening it up to see it already packed, his clothes by the stale scent. Did he prepack and forgot? She could see a few empty hangers and more empty spaces on the shelves…at least it looked emptier than it should. She just took that instead and dropped it out the window.

“Oh you’re faster than I ex—ow!” Fran swore softly.

Isabela dropped softly to peer under the bed where she wrinkled her nose at the mess underneath before she began to move some of the lost laundry before the box was the first thing she uncovered.

It was… about the size of a show box and handcrafted with beautiful carvings etched into floral patterns on all of its sides. As tempted as she was, Isabela didn’t open it and just tucked it off onto the side before she found the huge freaking tome of a book.

She shoved the mess back into place, struggling to the window with both but withdrew all her plants away as Fran shut the shutters again and they quickly hurried back towards Fran’s.

Only for Fran to lead her to the backyard where she saw a wagon set up behind a wall; out of immediate sight.

“So soon?”

“It’s my Abuelo’s wagon he had to carry stuff when they fled. They kept it in good condition so we use it. Just load up here for now. All I’ll need is to get the donkey and we’ll be good to leave.” Fran shrugged, setting the bag into the top then took the offered box and book and opened up a small compartment and tucked to book inside for safekeeping.

“You gonna steal one?” Isabela guessed with a smile.

“Yep, why stop at robbing Mateo’s house?” Fran winked before pulling a tarp back over the few bags in, “Why don’t you start getting stuff to pack? Or some supplies made in advance?”

“Ugh….yeah.” She knew that was what she should go and do but…that risked going back home. Abuelita would no down try and talk her down but… she didn’t want to deal with that right now. “Have you got any sacks and baskets I could use?”

Fran paused for a moment, “Not…many. We use our baskets every day. We tend to only have Maize and potato sacks at our disposal.”

“Can you get them?” Isabela asked hopefully. “I can’t produce the dried-out kernels but I produce it all on the cobs whole.” They didn’t have time to dry them out and make it easier to transport with most of them… she had to grow the whole plant first to do so. She hadn’t learned how to just make the maize kernels by itself, or wheat either. So it was a lot of manual work that neither of them had time for.

She was sure once they had found a place, to get a garden they could use it as backstock and for show. But coming in, they had to prepare and…sure fabric would be long-term. If she could get raw fruits and veg made, then they had an immediate start-up for quick cash.

“Okay. Go home and pack. I’ll bring the wagon around at eight tonight.” Fran patted her arm, though waved her off in her typical manner to get going.

-

Mirabel sat quietly in her room, the gift she had been planning to give just…sat on her knee but her insides continued to roll with her anxiety it wasn’t just about learning Isabela was just going to up and leave them all but…this was the first…real argument she had had with her sister.

The last time almost ended with her death.

This time, it hadn’t. But her heart still raced about it.

She still felt…angry at her Hermana. She was…going to leave them all. Her statement felt like it had value because…Isa was part of the family. Sure, it was a little broken but…they were still a family. Not only leave them but…also meant the baby wouldn’t be born into their family here either; he wouldn’t get to see how loved he would be growing up with them…Antonio—god she was already dreading when Antonio would find out. His little heart was fixed on befriending that baby as his own best friend.

Leaving meant making their broken family more broken. No way to repair the damage and… for what? Mirabel couldn’t understand it still. Things were hard but Isabela had coped well; she had what she needed here… Abuelita was the best and… they had time.

A soft knock pulled her mind to see Luisa pottering in carefully with Tio Bruno. In her hands, she had a tray with a reflective green shine off it that told her what it was.

Mirabel’s eyes lingered on it. “Take a seat. Is it fixed?” she offered the chairs

“Not fully but Tio’s an expert at puzzles,” Luisa spoke, setting it down.

Mirabel’s breath paused as she finally set eyes upon the image but her heart ached to see such a small, and beautiful baby boy, looking otherwise oblivious in his crib and looking to be seconds away from sucking his hand and—oh, he was wearing her knot hat. The effect was slightly ruined by the cracks that ran through down through his left ear.

“We’re glueing it down onto the tray base than just to the edges,” Tio spoke, pulling out a bottle of glue from his under his ruana. “I’m…really not up for making a new one just yet but I’m happy to fix this one.”

He went to sit on the floor but Casita shifted the boards to fling a chair under him, almost falling off in the process before he righted himself and carefully took the tray and moved back some of the loose pieces that had slid.

Luisa looked a little lost,  fiddling with a single piece of the vision’s edge between her fingers but her mind looked to be a world away.

“Tio,” Mirabel started, “did you know Isabela was leaving?”

Bruno’s fingers paused a little, his eyes flickering up to her face nervously. “I did.” His tone was careful.

Mirabel raised her eyebrow at him. “Seriously?!”

Bruno set the glue down, eyeing the door for a moment. “You’re mad about that?”

“She’ll break this family apart if she leaves, Tio.” Mirabel whined, “Why didn’t you tell us? Ma or Abuela?”

“I told your Abuelita.” Bruno wiped his hands down the front of his ruana. “I trust her with discretion more than my mother.”

“Abuelita’s supporting her leaving.” Mirabel gave him a look, “You told her and she’s giving her permission to just…go.”

Bruno shrugged, far too casually. “I know. But having anyone go off on her would speed up her leaving or worse, believe never coming back is the best option.” He gave her a look, which made her shrink back “Señora Rojas is a smart woman and do you think she would be supporting Isabela’s choices blindly?”

Mirabel opened her mouth to answer but Luisa spoke first.

“No?”

Bruno nodded approvingly to Luisa. “Señora Rojas knows more than you two. Do you understand why Isabela is leaving?”

“She wants to get away from us?” Luisa offered, “We thought…she got sick of her punishments.”

“She’s dealt with the punishments for almost eleven months now, Luisa.” Bruno reminded, surprisingly with an edge that reminded her of Abuela when she was slightly inconvenienced. “It’s not about the punishments. The family may be a factor but it’s not the cause.”

Mirabel made a discontent noise, folding her arms back around herself. “Didn’t sound like it.”

“Everyone says things that they don’t mean when they’re emotional,” Bruno stated. “I know why she’ll be leaving and…I think it’s the best course of action—"

“Tio!”

“—With that, I know.” He finished, not raising his voice like she would expect an adult would with an interruption. “I know you don’t want her to leave but this…this is important. I know you want her to stay and I know you want the baby to be born here and that you can all love him and…I want that as well. If she stays…there’s a worse future which means you still don’t get that.”

Mirabel’s head rose back to face him. Her mind stalled a little on that last bit. A worse future? What could possibly happen to make it worse? Her mind jumped to the possibility of…the baby being stillborn. That’d hurt everyone. Yeah…that…would be a bad future.

“You don’t have to agree or believe me but…Isabela leaving is her best course of action. For her sake and for the baby’s sake.” He reached for the bottle of glue, “At least then she’ll come back…or have the option to.” Bruno held his hand out for the piece Luisa had in her hands and stuck that down. “I’ll leave you two to finish now the important ones are done. Your Abuelita will be here after dinner to talk to your parents.”

-

Isabela was glad to finally push down and bind the cotton down with her vines to compress it further, binding and compressing down the last bit of the cotton before she shoved the sack over the top and bound that down to allow the internal vines to decay and release without causing the decompression that would split the bag. The vines strained but she was glad to see it hold, having done for a multitude of vines that were swirled together to increase strength integrity in the bind than having them snap as that rope did.

Cotton was now done. Flax for linin was tightly wrapped as well, many seeds were in little bags and stored in a small box for ease of transport. That was set ready to go with the rest of her clothes that she had packed along with the baby stuff she already had. She left a few old presents from selected family members on her desk in a pile because…she didn’t want to open herself up for anything.

Tio Felix had since passed along his gift for the baby so, that she did have packed as well with the baby things which…was only tucked away at the bottom of her bag since there wasn’t as much stuff to carry with him just yet. She packed a few changes of clothes; leaving her pretty dresses behind for good, her makeup but she opted for more practical packing; her tools and equipment. Her looms were covered and bagged. Her spinning wheel was set to be moved. Her bedcovers and pillows, she opted to take as well because that felt like some oversight when they should have some comforts on their travel.

“Isabela.” The voice interrupted her mulling.

Isabela didn’t turn to face her Abuelita but simply belted up her bag. “If you’re here to convince me to stay, you won’t work.” She stated.

“Two more days, Isa. Please.” Abuelita appeared at her side, her withered hand coming to touch her arm.

“No.” Isabela shook her head. “Now that Mirabel knows, I can’t just wait for the rest of the family to suddenly try and stop me…or worse try and throw shit into my face to guilt me into staying.” Not like Mirabel. She didn’t want that. Not again.

“I have yet to talk to the family…. I made sure to ask your siblings to say nothing on the matter until I could talk to them.”

“That…that doesn’t change anything,” Isabela gave her Abuelita a long look. “No matter how long it takes me to leave, their reactions will be the same and…I don’t want to deal with that. Not to mention, when Tia founds out, she’ll flood the place and make it impossible for me to leave in time.” That was another challenge she didn’t want to face. Not after Tia’s blatant interest in seeing Camilo get off his punishments or talking up Sara’s ass. She didn’t need her to pretend to care or get emotional about her going. She had much of a hand in this as the rest.

“I’m sorry, but I’ve made up my mind.” Isabela set her jaw, “I’ll prepare a few letters for the family but I won’t meet with any of them.”

“Isa… they deserve more than just letters. You’re cutting them off by leaving without talking to them.” Abuelita looked just as concerned, “if you come back, nothing between you and the family will be healed.”

Isabela shrugged. “Right now, I don’t want to talk to them. They had their chances to do so for the last year and when it’s not convenient for them… I’m the one in the wrong?” Isabela pressed, “Abuelita, please. It took you pulling me out of Casita every other week for things to improve but that wasn’t enough. Not to mention, Antonio has access to birds who can do what he wants so really, not all the lines are dead after we’re gone.”

Abuelita’s lips pursed. “Do not leave without talking to me first.” There was a touch to her arm before she walked out, the front door distantly shutting.

The last bit about Antonio and his animal friends, Isabela had surprised herself on saying but…it wasn’t like she hadn’t thought about it before given how it would be impossible for normal mail service to and from Encanto to where they could wind up. Animals, or trained animals at the least were the next best option; Antonio was the only one who could achieve that if she wanted…any shred of contact with her family.

Certainly for Abuelita and Abuelito… Antonio himself if he wanted to see his best friend grow up….assuming the kid would tolerate not actually meeting the baby just yet. The others? She didn’t know. Tio Felix would no doubt oversee anything she sent to Antonio but...Tia Pepa?

Nope.

How things had truly fallen between her and Tia. How close they used to be, Isabela remembered their dancing lessons mostly; how fun it was and how happy it made Tia. Moments of freedom between two trapped souls. Now…

Isabela turned around, coming to the side where the family photo she had was resting face-down before she picked it up, taking a final look to see most people accounted for in the picture—thank the lord she didn’t get a copy of Antonio’s birthday photo. This had…every one of her maternal side. She tossed that into her personal bag before she went in search of another few photos to take with her.

There were a few of her Tia Sofia’s family, but she opted not to take that; she wasn’t overly close with them after all. Word of mouth would be good enough for her son to learn about his other cousins. Her grandparents though were far harder to find. Their wedding photo was beautiful but certainly not one she was going to take. With no photos in frames of appeal, Isabela went to Abuelito’s study for his photo albums.

There, she found the perfect one; both of them in a single frame some years ago when they had their wedding anniversary; married for forty years. Looking very happy and still arm-in-arm. She felt a little envious but…maybe one day she could have that sort of love as well.

She had better chances now than before.

Isabela tucked that photo in between one of her books and added that in and continued to sort through her room.

-

“Vera, it’s okay.” Ruben’s voice was soft as she paced around the backrooms of their shop.

“No, it’s not. Isabela won’t even try with her family to actually talk and… I can’t convince her to wait. If I talk to the family now, they’ll get on their high horses and try and stop her…or worse, guilt her. I can’t…I don’t know how to tell them.” Vera admitted, “Everything else, I can handle but… this?”

Ruben set aside the set of pants he was adjusting and reached for her. “It’s hard because we know she has to leave and why, mi Vida.”

Vera hummed in agreement; they had to let her go but…how it looked to others meant it looked a tad hypocritical. She was always a ‘stand your ground and fix it’ than ‘run from your problems’ attitude. Telling the family she dies if she stayed felt like emotional blackmail she wasn’t willing to put on the family but there was no good reason aside from the shallow, superficial reasons they’d assume.

At least, none that would work prior to her leaving. After she was gone… it could be easier with fewer risks of running off to talk her out.

“It looks like I’m helping her pack and getting her lunch together for the trip!” Vera huffed, running her hand down the front of her dress though allowed herself to be tugged into his warm embrace. “I don’t…I don’t want her or anyone to leave with open wounds here.”

“You can’t help them all the time. Some things can’t just be resolved by us. This is something Isabela needs to do with her family.” Ruben rubbed her back, “Some things aren’t for us.”

“But—“

“We’ve done as much as we can.” Ruben pulled back. “As long as Isabela is safe…that the baby is safe then all we can hope for is that they come back at some point. Things are too rough between Isa and the family and… her injuries aren’t without reason.”

Vera huffed out. “I know.” She hated to admit that.

“Let her leave. I will close early and we can both talk to her before she goes, after which, we can talk to the family. They will be blindsided and hurt but… maybe that will motivate the family to get into action with the mess they still have. “

Vera’s shoulder’s slumped a little in dismay but… she knew Ruben was right. The worse lessons come at the biggest costs. Isabela had to go…. And as Isa had said, they weren’t without communication options.

[brianchapmanportadown]

Water Management Strategies for Drought-Prone Areas

Drought-prone regions face significant challenges in maintaining agricultural productivity due to limited and unpredictable water availability. Effective water management strategies are critical to sustaining crop yields, preserving soil health, and ensuring long-term farm viability. This article explores practical and innovative approaches to water management tailored for farmers in drought-prone areas. - Brian Chapman Portadown

Understanding the Challenge of Drought

Droughts, characterized by prolonged periods of low rainfall, reduce surface and groundwater availability, impacting irrigation and crop growth. In regions like Sub-Saharan Africa, parts of Australia, and the western United States, droughts are becoming more frequent and severe due to climate variability. Farmers in these areas must adopt proactive water management practices to mitigate risks and maintain productivity.

Key Water Management Strategies

1. Rainwater Harvesting

Capturing and storing rainwater is a cost-effective way to secure water during dry periods. Farmers can implement:

Rooftop collection systems: Channel rainwater from farm buildings into storage tanks.

Contour bunds and check dams: Slow runoff on sloped land to increase soil infiltration and store water in small reservoirs.

Farm ponds: Excavate ponds to collect runoff, providing a reliable water source for irrigation during dry spells.

For example, in arid regions of India, farmers use "johads" (small earthen check dams) to capture monsoon rains, recharging groundwater and supporting crops year-round.

2. Efficient Irrigation Techniques

Switching to water-efficient irrigation systems reduces waste and maximizes water use. Key methods include:

Drip irrigation: Delivers water directly to plant roots, minimizing evaporation. Studies show drip irrigation can reduce water use by up to 50% compared to traditional flood irrigation.

Sprinkler systems with scheduling: Use timers and weather-based sensors to apply water only when needed.

Subsurface irrigation: Places water below the soil surface, reducing evaporation and runoff.

Farmers in California’s Central Valley have widely adopted drip irrigation for crops like almonds and tomatoes, significantly improving water efficiency.

3. Soil Moisture Conservation

Preserving soil moisture is critical in drought-prone areas. Practices include:

Mulching: Apply organic (straw, crop residues) or inorganic (plastic sheets) mulch to reduce evaporation and retain soil moisture.

Cover cropping: Plant cover crops like clover or rye to protect soil from erosion and improve water retention.

Reduced tillage: Minimize soil disturbance to maintain soil structure and organic matter, which enhances water-holding capacity.

In Australia, no-till farming combined with mulching has helped wheat farmers maintain yields during dry seasons by conserving soil moisture.

4. Crop Selection and Diversification

Choosing drought-tolerant crops and diversifying plantings can reduce water demand. Strategies include:

Drought-resistant varieties: Select crops like millet, sorghum, or certain maize hybrids bred for low water needs.

Crop diversification: Grow a mix of crops with varying water requirements to spread risk.

Short-season crops: Plant varieties that mature quickly, requiring less water over their growth cycle.

In West Africa, farmers have shifted to growing pearl millet, which thrives in low-rainfall conditions, ensuring food security during droughts.

5. Water Recycling and Reuse

Reusing water from farm activities can stretch limited supplies. Options include:

Treating and reusing wastewater: Treat runoff or livestock water for irrigation.

Tailwater recovery: Collect runoff from irrigated fields in ponds for reuse.

Greywater systems: Use water from farm households for irrigating non-food crops.

In Israel, a leader in water recycling, over 90% of agricultural wastewater is treated and reused, significantly reducing freshwater demand.

6. Technology and Data-Driven Management

Modern technology can optimize water use through real-time monitoring and data analysis:

Soil moisture sensors: Measure soil water content to guide irrigation timing and volume.

Weather forecasting tools: Use apps or local weather stations to predict rainfall and adjust irrigation schedules.

Remote sensing: Employ satellite or drone imagery to monitor crop health and water stress, enabling targeted interventions.

For instance, farmers in Kenya use mobile apps like iCow to access weather data and irrigation advice, improving water management decisions.

Policy and Community Support

Effective water management often requires collaboration beyond the farm. Governments and communities can support farmers through:

Watershed management programs: Protect and restore local water sources like rivers and aquifers.

Subsidies for efficient irrigation: Provide financial incentives for adopting drip or sprinkler systems.

Farmer cooperatives: Share resources like water storage infrastructure or bulk-purchased equipment.

In Ethiopia, community-managed watershed programs have restored degraded lands, improving water availability for local farmers.

Challenges and Considerations

Implementing these strategies can face hurdles, including:

High initial costs: Technologies like drip irrigation or rainwater harvesting systems require upfront investment.

Knowledge gaps: Farmers may need training to adopt new practices or technologies.

Local conditions: Strategies must be tailored to specific climates, soils, and water sources.

To overcome these, farmers can seek grants, extension services, or partnerships with NGOs to access funding and expertise.

The Path Forward

Water management in drought-prone areas is not a one-size-fits-all solution. Combining traditional practices like rainwater harvesting with modern tools like drip irrigation and data-driven insights can create resilient farming systems. By adopting these strategies, farmers can mitigate the impacts of drought, sustain yields, and contribute to long-term food security.

Farmers should start with small, affordable changes—like mulching or planting drought-tolerant crops—while exploring local resources for funding or technical support. As climate challenges intensify, proactive water management will be the cornerstone of sustainable agriculture in drought-prone regions.

[huntinorganics]

Quick Solutions for Leaf Roller Problems in the Field

You’re out checking your crops like always, and you notice some leaves rolled up like little green cigars. You unroll one and—bam! There’s a tiny green caterpillar inside munching away.

Yep. That’s a Leaf Roller.

They might look small, but they’re no joke. They roll up inside the leaves, hide out, and chew your crops from the inside. If you don’t catch them fast, they’ll spread — and before you know it, your plants are weak, your fruits drop early, and your yield takes a hit.

But don’t worry — there are easy ways to stop them. Let’s go over what works in real fields, not just on paper.

What Is a Leaf Roller?

A Leaf Roller is the baby stage of a moth — basically a caterpillar that rolls itself up inside a leaf and feeds in there, all cozy and hidden. They tie the leaf shut with fine silk, making it harder to spot them or spray them.

You’ll mostly find them in rice, guava, citrus, maize, and even vegetables like beans or okra.

What They Do to Your Plants

Once Leaf Rollers get started, here’s what you’ll see:

Leaves rolled up tight with webbing

Bite marks or dry patches inside the leaf

Slowed growth

Flowers not forming properly

Fruit dropping early or not forming at all

In short — your crop just doesn’t do well.

Spot Them Early, Act Fast

The earlier you find them, the easier they are to deal with. Check your plants early in the morning or before sunset when the light is softer — you’ll spot more damage that way.

Look for:

Rolled or folded leaves

Tiny caterpillars (green or brownish) inside

Sticky webbing holding leaves together

Parts of the field looking weaker than others

If you see even a few leaves like this, don’t wait. Act right away.

Easy Leaf Roller Control That Actually Works

You don’t need fancy sprays or big machines. Just smart steps, a little time, and regular checks.

1. Handpick and Destroy Rolled Leaves

This might seem old-school, but it’s still one of the best ways — especially when the problem’s just starting.

If you see leaves rolled or tied with silk, pluck them off. Crush the caterpillar inside or burn the leaves far from your crops. If the crop is small or new, this method works great.

2. Neem Oil or Bt Spray

Both of these are safe, natural, and work well on Leaf Rollers.

Neem oil messes with the pest’s growth and feeding.

Bt spray (Bacillus thuringiensis) is a natural bacteria that kills caterpillars but won’t harm your plants or good bugs.

Spray in the evening — when it's cooler — so the leaves stay wet longer and the spray soaks in better.

3. Pheromone Traps

These are cheap and super useful. They attract the male moths, stopping them from mating. That means fewer eggs and fewer new Leaf Rollers in the next round.

Set a few around your fields. You’ll know when pest activity starts — and can act before it spreads.

4. Let the Good Bugs Work

Don’t be too quick to spray strong chemicals. There are good insects out there that eat Leaf Rollers — ladybugs, tiny wasps, spiders, and even some birds.

If you keep your field healthy and don’t over-spray, nature will help with Leaf Roller control too.

5. Keep It Clean

After harvest or pruning, don’t leave plant waste lying around. That’s where Leaf Rollers hide and lay eggs.

Burn old leaves or bury them deep in the soil. Also, make sure your plants aren’t too close together. Good airflow keeps the pests away.

6. Go Chemical Only If You Must

If things get really bad and none of the above is enough, then yeah — go ahead and spray. But do it wisely:

Pick a pesticide that says it works for Leaf Roller control

Don’t overdo it — follow the label exactly

Change your spray every few rounds so pests don’t get used to it

Spray early morning or evening when the sun isn’t too strong

Only use chemicals when the natural way just isn’t enough.

Tips for Different Crops

Rice & Maize: Watch closely during early stages. A mix of handpicking and neem works well.

Fruit Trees: Trim trees regularly. Remove curled leaves early. Neem oil is very effective.

Veggies (like beans, okra, tomato): Handpick often. Use neem or Bt if the problem spreads.

Wrapping It Up

Leaf Rollers may be sneaky, but once you know their game, you can beat them. You don’t need to spend big or stress out — just walk your fields often, look for rolled leaves, and take action right away.

It’s all about spotting early, acting fast, and keeping things clean. Simple as that.

A little care now means a healthy crop later — and fewer pests stealing your hard work.

[excelnutrition]

Corn Distiller Grain by Enpro Feeds – A Game-Changer in Livestock Nutrition

In today’s competitive and sustainability-focused agricultural world, farmers are constantly on the lookout for high-quality, cost-effective feed solutions that boost livestock productivity and profitability. Among the many innovative options available, Corn Distiller Grain (CDG) stands out as a superior feed component—rich in nutrients and a by-product of ethanol production. Enpro Feeds, a leading name in the Indian animal nutrition sector, is at the forefront of supplying premium quality corn distiller grain to livestock producers across the country.

What is Corn Distiller Grain?

Corn Distiller Grain is a nutrient-dense by-product generated during the ethanol production process. After fermenting corn starch into ethanol, the remaining components—fiber, protein, oil, and minerals—are collected and processed into livestock feed. These grains are packed with digestible fiber and energy, making them ideal for cattle, poultry, pigs, and even fish.

The increasing popularity of ethanol in biofuel has led to a surge in the availability of CDG, and companies like Enpro Feeds are capitalizing on this to deliver nutritional value to livestock farmers.

Enpro Feeds – Redefining Quality in Animal Nutrition

With years of expertise in the animal feed industry, Enpro Feeds has earned a solid reputation for delivering consistent quality, innovation, and customer satisfaction. Their commitment to sourcing and processing only the finest corn distiller grain ensures farmers receive feed that promotes better growth, health, and milk production in animals.

Unlike generic CDG suppliers, Enpro Feeds focuses on maintaining high nutritional integrity, safety, and digestibility in every batch of corn distiller grain it produces.

Types of Corn Distiller Grain Offered by Enpro Feeds

Enpro Feeds offers two major types of corn distiller grains:

1. Dried Distillers Grains with Solubles (DDGS):

Moisture content: Around 10-12%

Long shelf life

Easy to store and transport

Rich in protein (25-30%) and fat (10%)

2. Wet Distillers Grains (WDG):

Moisture content: 65-70%

Suitable for farms located close to the manufacturing plant

More economical than DDGS but has limited shelf life

Both variants are derived from non-GMO corn and undergo stringent quality control checks at Enpro’s advanced facilities.

Nutritional Profile of Enpro Feeds’ Corn Distiller Grain

One of the biggest advantages of Enpro Feeds’ corn distiller grain is its exceptional nutritional value, which makes it an excellent substitute for traditional feed ingredients like soybean meal and maize.

Key Nutritional Components:

Crude Protein: 25-30%

Crude Fat: 8-12%

Digestible Fiber: High

Metabolizable Energy: Rich source of energy

Phosphorus & Minerals: Balanced mineral profile

Amino Acids: Includes lysine, methionine, and threonine

This nutrient-dense profile supports higher feed efficiency and improves the overall health of livestock.

Benefits of Using Enpro Feeds’ Corn Distiller Grain

1. Cost-Effective Feed Alternative

Enpro Feeds’ CDG is a more affordable alternative to traditional protein and energy sources like soybean meal and corn, helping farmers reduce feed costs without compromising on quality.

2. High Digestibility and Palatability

The superior digestibility of CDG improves nutrient absorption, while its natural palatability ensures consistent feed intake by livestock, especially in cattle and poultry.

3. Supports Higher Milk Yield and Growth Rate

Dairy farmers using Enpro Feeds’ corn distiller grain have reported noticeable improvements in milk production, animal weight gain, and overall body condition.

4. Environmentally Sustainable

By using a by-product of ethanol production, Enpro Feeds supports sustainable farming practices and reduces reliance on limited agricultural resources.

5. Long Shelf Life and Easy Handling

Especially in the case of DDGS, Enpro Feeds ensures proper drying and packaging to extend shelf life and simplify transportation and storage.

Applications of Corn Distiller Grain in Livestock Feed

1. Dairy Cattle:

CDG is particularly beneficial for lactating cows as it provides the energy and protein necessary for higher milk production. Enpro’s high-fat DDGS contributes to increased butterfat content in milk.

2. Beef Cattle:

In beef finishing diets, CDG enhances weight gain and feed conversion ratios, ultimately improving carcass quality and profitability.

3. Poultry:

Corn distiller grain can be used in layer and broiler diets, replacing a portion of soybean meal. It supports egg production and muscle development in broilers.

4. Swine:

In pig diets, DDGS serves as an energy-dense ingredient that improves gut health and reduces feed cost per kilogram of weight gain.

5. Fish and Aquaculture:

Enpro Feeds’ finely ground CDG is used in aquafeed to supplement protein requirements in fish like carp and tilapia.

Why Choose Enpro Feeds for Corn Distiller Grain?

1. Trusted Sourcing

Enpro sources corn from reliable suppliers and ensures that the fermentation and distillation processes are clean and standardized.

2. Advanced Processing Facilities

Their state-of-the-art equipment allows for precise drying, granulation, and packaging of CDG, maintaining nutrient stability throughout the supply chain.

3. Rigorous Quality Testing

Every batch of corn distiller grain undergoes testing for moisture, mycotoxins, nutrient content, and microbial safety to ensure it meets regulatory standards.

4. Farmer-Focused Support

Enpro Feeds doesn’t just sell feed—they offer technical support, guidance on feed formulations, and delivery logistics to help farmers optimize their operations.

5. National Reach with Timely Delivery

Whether you're a dairy farmer in Punjab, a poultry grower in Andhra Pradesh, or a fish farmer in West Bengal, Enpro’s extensive distribution network ensures that premium quality feed reaches your doorstep on time.

Storage and Feeding Guidelines

To get the best results from Enpro Feeds’ corn distiller grain, here are some recommended practices:

Storage: Store in a cool, dry place if using DDGS. Wet DG should be fed within 3-5 days or preserved via ensiling.

Feeding Rate:

Dairy Cattle: Up to 25% of the total ration

Poultry: Up to 10% in broiler diets and 15% in layer diets

Swine: Up to 20% of the diet

Fish: Up to 15% depending on species and growth stage

Blend with other ingredients to create a balanced diet tailored to your livestock’s needs.

Conclusion: Power Your Livestock with Enpro Feeds’ Corn Distiller Grain

As the demand for affordable, nutrient-rich livestock feed continues to rise, Corn Distiller Grain by Enpro Feeds has emerged as a reliable, sustainable, and profitable solution. Whether you're looking to cut feed costs, boost animal performance, or adopt eco-friendly practices, Enpro’s premium CDG is the smart choice.

With its unwavering commitment to quality, innovation, and farmer satisfaction, Enpro Feeds is helping livestock producers across India achieve better productivity—one feed at a time.

[falconimplements]

5 Tractor Implements Every Maize Farmer in South Africa Needs

Introduction

Maize farming is one of South Africa’s most important agricultural industries, playing a vital role in both local consumption and exports. As a staple food for millions and a crucial ingredient in livestock feed, the demand for maize continues to rise year after year. To keep up with this growing demand, farmers need reliable, efficient, and innovative farming equipment that can optimize productivity, reduce manual labor, and handle the country’s unique farming challenges.

At Falcon Implements, we understand the heartbeat of South African agriculture. With our commitment to unmatched quality, cutting-edge technology, and farmer-centric solutions, we’ve become a trusted partner for maize farmers across the region. Our robust, reliable, and advanced tractor implements are crafted to make farming not just easier, but smarter.

In this blog, we’ll explore the 5 essential tractor implements every maize farmer in South Africa needs to boost productivity, improve soil health, and ensure successful harvests — all powered by Falcon Implements’ promise of excellence.

1. Plough — Laying the Foundation for Healthy Maize Growth

A productive maize farm starts with well-prepared soil, and no implement plays a bigger role here than the plough. This vital tool is designed to break up and turn over the soil, burying previous crop residues, weeds, and organic matter while aerating the earth for better water retention and root penetration.

Why Falcon Implements’ Plough is Essential:

Heavy-duty design suitable for tough, dry South African soils.

Efficiently cuts, lifts, and turns soil layers.

Improves soil aeration and drainage.

Ensures an even, fertile base for maize seedbeds.

Benefits for Maize Farmers:

Breaks hardpan layers, improving root development.

Increases soil microbial activity by incorporating organic matter.

Reduces weed presence, promoting healthier crops.

Falcon Implements offers a range of durable, reliable ploughs designed to handle varied soil types and field conditions across South Africa, empowering farmers to maximize every hectare.

2. Harrows — Perfecting the Seedbed

After ploughing, the next crucial step is breaking down large clods and smoothing out the soil surface — and this is where harrows come into play. Harrows create a fine, leveled seedbed, ensuring that maize seeds are sown at the right depth and with consistent soil coverage.

Why Choose Falcon Implements’ Harrows:

Built tough for African farming conditions.

Available in disc and tine variants for versatility.

Ensures proper soil tilth by breaking clumps and mixing topsoil.

Helps in weed control and moisture conservation.

Benefits for Maize Farmers:

Provides a uniform, fine-textured seedbed.

Reduces seed wastage and ensures even germination.

Conserves soil moisture, vital for early maize growth stages.

At Falcon Implements, our harrows combine durability with precision, helping farmers prepare the ideal foundation for sowing while saving time and labor.

3. Seeders & Seed Drills — Precision in Planting

Planting is the most critical stage in maize farming, where accuracy directly affects crop yield. Seeders and seed drills ensure that maize seeds are evenly distributed at the correct depth and spacing, resulting in uniform plant populations and optimized land use.

Why Falcon Implements’ Seeders & Seed Drills Matter:

Precise seed placement for uniform germination.

Adjustable depth and spacing controls.

Efficiently handles varied maize seed sizes.

High-speed, fuel-efficient performance.

Benefits for Maize Farmers:

Maximizes land use with even plant populations.

Enhances yield potential through uniform growth.

Reduces seed wastage and saves labor costs.

Our Seeders & Seed Drills are engineered for South African maize fields, combining cutting-edge innovation with farmer-friendly functionality.

4. Sprayers — Safeguarding the Crop

In South Africa, maize farmers must protect their crops from pests, weeds, and diseases that can devastate yields. Sprayers are essential for applying fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides, and foliar nutrients accurately and efficiently.

Why Falcon Implements’ Sprayers Lead the Way:

Uniform, efficient chemical distribution.

Adjustable nozzles and spray rates for customized applications.

Sturdy, corrosion-resistant tanks and booms.

Available in mounted, trailed, and self-propelled options.

Benefits for Maize Farmers:

Prevents crop loss due to pests and diseases.

Enhances plant nutrition and growth.

Saves time and resources with efficient coverage.

At Falcon Implements, our range of sprayers is built to handle South Africa’s unique agricultural conditions, empowering maize farmers to protect their crops and improve overall yields.

5. Combine Harvesters & Maize Headers — Mastering the Harvest

Harvesting is the final and most rewarding phase of maize farming. Combine harvesters paired with maize headers ensure that crops are harvested efficiently, reducing grain losses and labor costs while preserving the quality of the produce.

Why Falcon Implements’ Combine Harvesters & Maize Headers Are Game-Changers:

High-capacity, fuel-efficient harvesters built for large fields.

Specialized maize headers that gently handle maize cobs.

Quick, clean, and efficient harvesting.

Minimizes grain losses and crop damage.

Benefits for Maize Farmers:

Drastically reduces harvest time and costs.

Maximizes crop yield by reducing post-harvest losses.

Delivers high-quality, clean grain ready for market or storage.

Falcon Implements’ Combine Harvesters and Maize Headers are trusted by farmers across South Africa for their unmatched reliability and productivity, ensuring every harvest season ends on a high note.

Conclusion

Modern maize farming in South Africa demands smart, durable, and efficient equipment that can meet the challenges of today’s agricultural landscape. With rising demand, unpredictable weather patterns, and the need to improve productivity, investing in the right implements is more important than ever.

Falcon Implements stands at the forefront of agricultural innovation, offering a comprehensive range of tractor implements engineered for South African farms. From ploughing and seedbed preparation to precise planting, crop protection, and efficient harvesting, our implements deliver the power, durability, and precision farmers need to thrive.

Recap of the 5 Must-Have Implements:

Plough – Prepares fertile, well-aerated soil.

Harrows – Perfects the seedbed for optimal planting.

Seeders & Seed Drills – Ensures accurate, uniform planting.

Sprayers – Protects crops with efficient chemical application.

Combine Harvesters & Maize Headers – Maximizes harvest yields.

By integrating these implements into your maize farming operation, you can enhance productivity, reduce operational costs, and achieve higher, more consistent yields — season after season.

Why Choose Falcon Implements?

Unmatched Quality: Built tough to withstand South Africa’s demanding farming conditions.

Innovative Designs: Advanced, practical solutions tailored to modern agriculture.

Value for Money: Premium quality at competitive prices, offering excellent returns.

Local Trust, Global Reach: A brand trusted by farmers in South Africa and beyond.

Customer-First Approach: Dedicated service, after-sales support, and customization options.

At Falcon Implements, we’re not just selling machinery — we’re building partnerships that empower farmers, improve lives, and drive agricultural growth across South Africa.

[grunerrenewable01]

Why is Napier Grass Considered an Ideal Feedstock for Bio-CNG Production?

Introduction With the global shift towards renewable energy, Bio-CNG (Compressed Biogas) has emerged as a sustainable alternative to fossil fuels. Bio-CNG is derived from organic waste and biomass, and one of the most promising feedstocks for its production is the Napier grass plant. Known for its high biomass yield, fast growth, and adaptability, Napier grass is widely used for biogas and bio-CNG production. Compared to other feedstocks like food waste, sugarcane press mud, and rice straw, Napier grass offers higher methane potential, making it an efficient and eco-friendly choice. This article explores why the Napier grass plant is considered an ideal feedstock for Bio-CNG, covering its characteristics, benefits, and role in India's sustainable energy future.

What is Napier Grass? Botanical Overview The Napier grass plant (Pennisetum purpureum), also known as elephant grass, is a perennial tropical grass native to Africa but widely cultivated across India, Southeast Asia, and Latin America. Key Features of Napier Grass

🌱 Fast Growth Rate – Can grow 3–4 meters in height within 60–90 days.

🌱 High Biomass Yield – Produces 40-80 tons per hectare per year, significantly higher than other energy crops.

🌱 Drought Tolerance – Can survive low-water conditions, making it ideal for semi-arid regions.

🌱 Carbon Sequestration – Absorbs large amounts of CO₂, contributing to climate change mitigation. Due to these characteristics, the Napier grass plant is an efficient, low-maintenance, and high-energy biomass feedstock for Bio-CNG production.

Why is Napier Grass an Ideal Feedstock for Bio-CNG?

High Methane Production for Bio-CNG The effectiveness of any biogas feedstock depends on its methane yield. Napier grass is highly biodegradable and rich in cellulose and hemicellulose, which are essential for anaerobic digestion.

🔹 Methane yield: Napier grass can produce 200-250 m³ of biogas per ton of dry matter, with 50-55% methane content.

🔹 Higher energy output: Its high volatile solids content results in greater biogas production compared to other crops. This makes the Napier grass plant a superior alternative to food waste or crop residues in Bio-CNG plants.

Year-Round Availability Unlike seasonal crops such as rice straw or sugarcane bagasse, Napier grass can be harvested multiple times a year, ensuring a continuous supply of biomass.

🌿 Multiple harvests – Grows back after cutting, allowing 4–6 harvests annually.

🌿 No dependency on seasonal crops – Unlike sugarcane press mud, which depends on sugar production cycles.

Sustainable Alternative to Crop Residues In India, farmers often burn crop residues like rice straw, leading to air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. Using Napier grass as a dedicated energy crop eliminates the need for stubble burning, improving air quality. By replacing crop residue-based biogas feedstocks with Napier grass, Bio-CNG production becomes more consistent and environmentally friendly.

Requires Minimal Inputs Grows well on marginal lands without competing with food crops. Needs less water than sugarcane or maize. No chemical fertilizers required, reducing soil degradation. This makes Napier grass plant cultivation both economical and sustainable.

Enhancing Carbon Sequestration & Soil Health The Napier grass plant plays a significant role in climate change mitigation through:

✅ Carbon sequestration – Absorbs CO₂ from the atmosphere.

✅ Improved soil quality – Prevents erosion and enriches soil organic matter.

✅ Biodiversity conservation – Supports agroforestry and sustainable farming. By using Napier grass in Bio-CNG production, energy companies can contribute to carbon neutrality while producing clean fuel.

The Process of Bio-CNG Production from Napier Grass Step 1: Harvesting and Pre-Treatment Napier grass is harvested every 60–90 days. It undergoes pre-treatment (mechanical shredding or ensiling) to enhance digestibility. Step 2: Anaerobic Digestion The chopped Napier grass is fed into a biogas digester, where microorganisms break down the organic matter in an oxygen-free environment. This process produces biogas, primarily composed of methane (CH₄) and carbon dioxide (CO₂). Step 3: Biogas Purification and Upgrading The raw biogas is purified to remove CO₂, hydrogen sulfide (H₂S), and moisture. Bio-CNG (compressed biogas) is stored under high pressure and used as a fuel for vehicles, industries, and power generation. Step 4: Utilization of Byproducts The digestate (organic residue) is used as a natural fertilizer, enriching soil nutrients and promoting sustainable agriculture. This closed-loop process makes Napier grass Bio-CNG production 100% sustainable.

Economic and Environmental Benefits of Napier Grass Bio-CNG

🌍 Environmental Benefits

✅ Reduces fossil fuel dependence – Bio-CNG is a clean alternative to diesel and LPG.

✅ Minimizes air pollution – No burning of agricultural residues.

✅ Low carbon footprint – Napier grass absorbs CO₂ during growth. 💰 Economic Benefits

✅ Alternative income source for farmers – They can cultivate and sell Napier grass to Bio-CNG plants.

✅ Job creation – Supports employment in the renewable energy sector.

✅ Government subsidies – Bio-CNG projects receive financial support under schemes like SATAT. By using Napier grass for Bio-CNG production, India can boost rural economies while ensuring energy security.

Challenges in Scaling Up Napier Grass-Based Bio-CNG Plants

🚧 High Initial Investment – Setting up biogas plants requires capital investment in digesters and purification systems.

🚧 Efficient Logistics – Storage and transportation of Napier grass need an efficient supply chain.

🚧 Farmer Awareness – Farmers need training on Napier grass cultivation and supply chain management. However, with government incentives and private sector investments, these challenges can be overcome.

The Future of Napier Grass-Based Bio-CNG in India With India's goal to reduce carbon emissions and increase renewable energy adoption, the use of Napier grass plant for Bio-CNG is expected to grow rapidly. Upcoming Developments

🚀 More Bio-CNG fueling stations for transportation.

🚀 Integration of Bio-CNG into the national gas grid.

🚀 Large-scale Napier grass plantations for commercial energy production. With energy leaders like Gruner Renewable Energy investing in Napier grass-based Bio-CNG plants, India is on track to achieving sustainable energy independence.

Conclusion The Napier grass plant is an ideal feedstock for Bio-CNG production due to its high biomass yield, year-round availability, and low environmental impact. Compared to other feedstocks, it provides:

✔ Higher methane yield for efficient energy production.

✔ A sustainable alternative to stubble burning.

✔ Carbon sequestration and soil health benefits.

✔ Economic advantages for farmers and renewable energy companies. As India advances towards clean energy and sustainable agriculture, the Napier grass plant will play a pivotal role in transforming waste into wealth through Bio-CNG production.

[anandsagarnatta]

🌱 𝐑𝐞𝐯𝐨𝐥𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐢𝐳𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐀𝐠𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞: 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐏𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐂𝐡𝐞𝐦𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐒𝐞𝐞𝐝 𝐓𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 🌾

🌱 𝐑𝐞𝐯𝐨𝐥𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐢𝐳𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐀𝐠𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞: 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐏𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐂𝐡𝐞𝐦𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐒𝐞𝐞𝐝 𝐓𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 🌾 | IndustryARC™

The Chemical Seed Treatment Market size is estimated to reach $5.9 Billion by 2030, growing at a CAGR of 4.7% during the forecast period 2024–2030.

👉𝐃𝐨𝐰𝐧𝐥𝐨𝐚𝐝 𝐒𝐚𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐏𝐃𝐅 

The chemical seed treatment market is a rapidly growing segment in modern agriculture, playing a crucial role in enhancing seed performance, improving crop yields, and ensuring early-stage plant protection. Seed treatments involve applying chemical solutions to seeds before planting, offering protection against pests, diseases, and environmental stressors.

💡 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐭 𝐆𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐭𝐡 & 𝐊𝐞𝐲 𝐃𝐫𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬

✅ Rising Demand for High-Yield Crops — With increasing population and food security concerns, farmers need solutions that enhance crop resilience and productivity.

✅ Advancements in Agrochemical Technology — Innovations in formulations, nano-coatings, and biological seed treatments are improving efficiency and reducing environmental risks.

✅ Cost-Effectiveness Compared to Traditional Crop Protection — Seed treatments reduce the need for excessive foliar pesticide applications, leading to lower costs for farmers.

✅ Regulatory Push for Sustainable Solutions — Governments and regulatory bodies are encouraging precision agriculture and targeted chemical applications, favoring the seed treatment approach.

📊 𝐆𝐞𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐅𝐮𝐥𝐥 𝐑𝐞𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭 

🔹 𝐓𝐲𝐩𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐂𝐡𝐞𝐦𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐬 𝐔𝐬𝐞𝐝:

🌱Fungicides (protection against seed-borne and soil-borne pathogens)

🌱Insecticides (control of early-stage pests)

🌱Nematicides (protection against harmful nematodes)

🌱Other additives (growth enhancers, safeners, colorants)

🔹 𝐀𝐩𝐩𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐓𝐞𝐜𝐡𝐧𝐢𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐬:

🌿Seed Coating: Thin chemical layer applied for uniform coverage

🌿Seed Dressing: Dry or liquid treatment applied before planting

🌿Seed Pelleting: Additional coatings to modify seed shape for precision planting

Get this Report on discount of $1000 on purchase of Credit Card

🔹 𝐂𝐫𝐨𝐩 𝐓𝐲𝐩𝐞:

🌾Cereals & Grains (wheat, maize, rice)

🌾Oilseeds (soybean, canola)

🌾Fruits & Vegetables

✅ 𝗞𝗲𝘆 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗻𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗳𝗶𝗹𝗲𝘀 𝗚𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗻 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗠𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗲𝘁 𝗥𝗲𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁: Syngenta | Syngenta Group | Bayer | Monsanto Company | BASF | BASF Agricultural Solutions | Crop Science | Bayer | Crop Science | CROP LIFE SCIENCE LIMITED | GSP Crop Science Ltd | Chemtura Co/Cie | DuPont | Nufarm | Bayer CropScience Srbija | Bayer CropScience Vegetable Seeds | Corteva Agriscience | FMC Corporation | Eastman | ADAMA Ltd. |

[blueadamsmith]

Boerewors: A Flavorful Sausage That Defines South African Cuisine

Boerewors is more than just a type of sausage; it is a dish that holds cultural and culinary significance in South Africa. Known for its rich flavor and aromatic spices, it is a staple at any braai (barbecue) and a go-to comfort food for many. While it is often associated with social gatherings, boerewors is versatile enough to be enjoyed in various meals, from hearty breakfasts to flavorful stews.

The Unique Composition of Boerewors

Its unique recipe and preparation method sets Boerewors apart from other sausages. Typically made from a combination of beef and pork, or occasionally lamb, the meat is coarsely ground to give the sausage its characteristic texture. The mixture is then seasoned with a carefully balanced blend of spices, such as coriander, nutmeg, black pepper, and cloves, creating a bold and distinctive taste.

Vinegar is often added during preparation, not only for its preservative qualities but also for its tangy undertone. Unlike finely processed sausages, boerewors retains its natural, hearty texture, making it a satisfying choice for meat lovers.

Cooking Techniques

Boerewors is traditionally cooked on a grill or open flame, which brings out its smoky and robust flavors. However, it can also be prepared in a pan or baked in the oven, making it adaptable to different settings. Its coiled shape is not just for aesthetics; it helps distribute heat evenly during cooking, ensuring the sausage is cooked without drying out.

When grilling boerewor, turning it frequently and cooking over medium heat prevents the casing from splitting and keeps the meat juicy. Whether served as the centerpiece of a barbecue or paired with sides like pap (a maize meal porridge) and relish, boerewors never fails to impress.

Pairing Boerewors with Sides and Condiments

The bold flavors of boerewors make it an excellent companion for various side dishes and condiments. One of the most traditional pairings is with pap and tomato-and-onion relish. The creamy, slightly bland pap balances the spiciness of the sausage, while the tangy relish adds depth and moisture to the meal.

Other options include serving it with fresh salads, roasted vegetables, or crusty bread rolls. For a more modern twist, boerewors can be sliced and added to pasta, stews, or even pizzas. Its versatility makes it a popular choice in kitchens around the world.

Modern Variations

While traditional boerewors recipes remain popular, modern variations cater to diverse tastes and dietary needs. Spicy versions with chili flakes, garlic-infused blends, and chicken or game meat options have entered the market. Vegetarian and vegan alternatives are also emerging, offering plant-based versions of the iconic dish.

These adaptations reflect the evolving culinary landscape while maintaining the essence of what makes Boerewors unique. Each variation still carries the spirit of the original, offering a flavor-packed experience in every bite.

Cultural Significance

Boerewors is more than just food; it is a part of South African identity. Its presence at gatherings and celebrations signifies togetherness and hospitality. It is a dish that transcends social and cultural boundaries, uniting people through its unmistakable aroma and taste.

From family braais in suburban backyards to significant community events, boerewors brings people together. Its aroma sizzling on a grill often signals a moment of joy, laughter, and shared experiences.

Conclusion

Boerewors is a dish that celebrates flavor, tradition, and community. Its distinctive taste and versatility make it a beloved food in South African cuisine and beyond. Whether enjoyed on its own, paired with sides, or incorporated into creative recipes, boerewors symbolize hearty, flavorful cooking.