Unusually, I've had a lot of requests in DMs asking me to talk about one of the most widespread suburban ecosystems in the western world, so here it is: the ecology of the British lawn This habitat has several notable perks for wildlife, first and foremost the low height of the grass which gives them a perfect FOV in all directions, allowing them to assess threats and feel safe

BOOK THREAD : the Burgundians, a lost empire. Just spent a few weeks with this book, by a Flemish author with a Burgundian wife. It did a great job in explaining the emergence of the “low countries” as a coherent political entity in the 15th century Our story begins long before that, with the vast barbarian migrations of the late Roman empire. The major theory is that the inhabitants of the island of Bornholm (Burgundaholmr) are believed to be the Germanic tribe that settled in the Rhone region and became Latinized

As one of my favourite breakfast ingredients, I’ve been thinking about writing a thread on oats for over two years now, but never got around to it. Here’s everything you need to know about one of the most unusual cultivated cereals in Eurasia! Cultivated oats are the species Avena sativa, members of the grass family Poaceae along with wheat, sorghum, rice or corn. They’re the seventh most cultivated cereal in the world, with a high degree of available proteins in the grain, comparable to soy

Nosferatu and Warhammer, aka Vampire: the slavening 🦇
In view of the recent reimagining of Nosferatu for the silver screen, I can't help noticing that two of the few institutions currently keeping vampires alive (pun intended) as relevant cultural characters have converged We all remember what Nosferatu looks like. Great design, mixing grotesque with pitiable. One thing we notice though, is that it's not really a design "grounded" in any time or place. The cool coat is old-school, but he could be Carpathian as well as German, Danish or French

Millets of the world, part: the last. As a final homage to the breathtaking diversity of millets, this thread will be a grab bag of short segments dedicated to the most notable (subjectively) species remaining on the list. Expect the unexpected for this one





Previous thread on finger millet here:

https://twitter.com/General_JWJ/status/1686767409338658817

Back to the culture, part X: last time I promised I had a few more millet threads in me, and unfortunately that is the case. Let’s keep our finger on the pulse with a new thread on one of the last major millet crops: finger millet! My previous millet thread was on the topic of t'ef, the strange tiny-grained crop exclusive to the horn of Africa:

https://twitter.com/General_JWJ/status/1671130436259438592

One cannot reasonably claim to have written about the agriculture and flora of the island of Reunion without addressing one of its most popular exports: rum! Get cozy and break out the ice cubes, lime wedges and cane sugar, we’re gonna make the mother of all cocktails

My previous thread on Reunion talked about the spectacular, Martian landscape of its volcanic highlands

https://twitter.com/General_JWJ/status/1668898720539197442

The millet poasting will continue, until the very stars are extinguished. Today I will tell you about teff, or t’ef, a plant described as “the smallest-grained cereal in the world”. It’s not widespread, but plays a crucial role in the areas that cultivate it My previous millet thread about Job’s tears, a cereal which on the contrary has very large grains, can be perused here:

https://twitter.com/General_JWJ/status/1664568185419431938

Like Sisyphus with his rock, I return to write a new thread about one of the myriad varieties of millet cereals found in the world. I’m running out of economically major ones, so these are going to start to get weird. Without further ado, Job’s tears

While Job’s tears (Coix lacryoma-jobi) is indeed a cereal (grass family Poaceae) and is part of the Panicoidae subfamily which contains most millets, it’s part of the “sorghum tribe” Andropogonodae, which makes it somewhat distant from the “true millet” tribe Paniceae

Reunion part ?? While rum may be the most famous export of the island of Reunion, the spice called vanilla is surely a close contender as well! While today it’s synonymous with “default” or “boring”, its cultivation is anything but! My previous thread in this series on perfume geranium, the crown jewel of Reunion’s perfume industry:

https://twitter.com/General_JWJ/status/1639215814195781634

Continuing our detour into Africa’s ancient millet crops, we can now look at the second large family of Sahelian millets: sorghums. Sorghum is in fact a genus of 25 species (only a handful of which are cultivated either for human consumption, or for livestock fodder) The previous thread, which recapitulates the domestication and early spread of pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum) also contains information on sorghum, which followed a similar trajectory:

https://twitter.com/General_JWJ/status/1636758438285017088

Always hot on the heels of last week’s trends, I’ve been told twitter has developed an interest in culinary spices, so I’ll write a short thread about that once in a while. #1: coriander, delicious to some, soapy to others (apparently??) Coriander (Coriandrum sativum) is an annual belonging to the Apiaceae, a large family of edible and aromatic plants containing carrot, angelica, parsley, parsnips … It’s not always taught in foraging & wild cooking classes because it also contains hemlock, a danger for beginners

As a continuation of my millet cultivation series, here’s pearl millet: we’ll move away from the temperate or alpine settlements of China and go into an unlikely place for a major crop to develop: the bone dry region of the African Sahel For my previous thread on the exportation of proso millet outside of China and how it was used in those countries’ cuisines, see here:

https://twitter.com/General_JWJ/status/1628347717385592832

Following yesterday’s poll, we move from the world of Chinese and generally Asian-originating cereals for the world of… Chinese and generally Asian-originating pseud-cereals. Good job everyone. Everything there is to learn about buckwheat! Buckwheat includes two species of the genus Fagopyrum: F. esculentum (common buckwheat) and F. tataricum (Tartary buckwheat). They’re known for their nutritional value and their role as a staple crop in high-altitude regions of Eurasia

In the last two threads in the millet series we saw how foxtail & broomcorn (or proso) millet were domesticated, probably in North-Eastern China and remained staple crops in the area from the neolithic until modern times. Now let’s look at proso’s uses outside China Here you can find the previous millet threads

https://twitter.com/General_JWJ/status/1622927246418739201

I don’t tend to cover current events, but I’ve seen some questionable information circulating on the recent train derailment & chemical spill in Ohio and I’m in a position to give some more measured info about the gravity of the situation in some regards Disclaimer: This is of course an analysis based on extremely fragmentary information and not that much research put into it (as it’s not the main focus of what I like to do on twitter but some easy-to-find information may limit some of the excesses I’ve seen)

In part 1 of our millet thread series we just skimmed the surface of where the two most ancient millet crops, foxtail millet (Setaria italica) and broomcorn or proso millet (Panicum miliaceum) originated from, now I want to do a proso millet deep dive Here is part 1:

https://twitter.com/General_JWJ/status/1617920162505838592

The Siberian white crane (Leucogeranus leucogeranus) is a large critically endangered Russian bird, with only 3-4000 individuals remaining in the wild. Its area of distribution is limited to two distinct populations each occupying a narrow strip of land, one Western, one Eastern The Western population was thought to be completely eliminated until a single male bird, Omid ("Hope" in Persian) was found wintering regularly in Iran since 2006. This poor solitary bird would spend years without ever seeing a familiar face

The time has come for me to make a choice. Keep posting low-engagement threads on tropical holiday spots or tackle a topic requiring actual work. Fortunately for you I’ve been threatened with corvée labour, so welcome to this new ongoing series on the crop plants millet The term “millet” is extremely deceptive, as this monolithic name hides a diversity of superficially similar crop plants spread across 2 subfamilies, 3 tribes, 12 genuses and 22 species. Their geographic origin and domestication time vary wildly

I finally got through the excellent Parasite Rex, a book all about how parasites live and evolve, affecting ecosystems (and us!) at the same time. Strap in for a few highlights, and remember: it’s a parasite’s world, you’re just living in it… PS: spoilered pictures will be graphic pics of parasite infections and not for the faint of heart

Reunion, part 4 : requiem for a lost ecosystem. We return to the Western half of the lovely island of Reunion to pay our respects to a biome that was wiped out by human occupation and activity, the dry lowland tropical forest You can find my previous Reunion thread on its heavenly white sand beaches and coral reefs here:

https://twitter.com/General_JWJ/status/1609909831158079491