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JIM RICHARDSON

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  • Drying malted grain at Highland Park Distillery in Kirkwall, Orkney, Scotland.
    SC-0038.jpg
  • Whisky casks in warehouse, Highland Park Distillery, Orkney, Scotland.
    SC-0054.jpg
  • Malted grain spread out ready for drying at Highland Park Distillery, Kirkwall, Orkney
    ScotlandScan-090912-0003.jpg
  • The All-American Canal takes water from the Colorado River though desert dunes in Southern California.
    ColoradoRiverScan-121030-0011 copy.jpg
  • Drying tree nuts (used for shea butter?) in the village of Bagui Traue, Kolokani, Mali. The nuts are dried over a slow fire, then the meat is ground and pulverized. Also used for the oil in cooking.
    MM8154_20131030_22325.jpg
  • Drying tree nuts used for shea butter in the village of Bagui Traue, Kolokani, Mali. The nuts are dried over a slow fire, then the meat is ground and pulverized. Also used for the oil in cooking.
    MM8154_20131030_22325 - Version 2.jpg
  • Drying tree nuts (used for shea butter?) in the village of Bagui Traue, Kolokani, Mali. The nuts are dried over a slow fire, then the meat is ground and pulverized. Also used for the oil in cooking.
    MM8154_20131030_22325.jpg
  • Drying barley that has been malted at Highland Park distillery, Orkney, Scotland.
    Orkney Malt.jpg
  • Smoke drying malted barley at Highland Park Distillery, Kirkwall, Orkney
    SC-0038 Highland Park Smoke.jpg
  • Spreading malted grain for drying in Highland Park Distillery, Orkney, Scotland
    Orkney-20200505-0053-HDR-Edit.jpg
  • Turning out  the malted barley for drying at Laphroaig Distillery, Isle of Islay, Scotland
    ScotlandBurns 20090128 7990.jpg
  • Tending the fire for drying the malt at Balvenie Distillery, Dufftown, Scotland.
    SC-0040 Balvenie Fire.jpg
  • Thousands of fish lie rotting in the dry Republican River at the headwaters of the Harlan County Reservoir at Alma, Nebraska.  Republican always dries up in the summer as irrigation takes all the water, either through reservoirs for irrigation districts or by pumping the aquifer beneath the river.  Fish were killed when a heavy storm sent water down the river attracting the fish upstream.  Then the river dried up agains just as suddenly stranding the fish.  Fish kills are common along the Republican.  Area is under mandatory groundwater management because of declining supplies.  Nathan and Dave Wolf out to take a look.
    Ogalla Aquifer Camera Scans 20220259.jpg
  • Thousands of fish lie rotting in the dry Republican River at the headwaters of the Harlan County Reservoir at Alma, Nebraska.  Republican always dries up in the summer as irrigation takes all the water, either through reservoirs for irrigation districts or by pumping the aquifer beneath the river.  Fish were killed when a heavy storm sent water down the river attracting the fish upstream.  Then the river dried up agains just as suddenly stranding the fish.  Fish kills are common along the Republican.  Area is under mandatory groundwater management because of declining supplies.  Nathan and Dave Wolf out to take a look.
    Ogalla Aquifer Camera Scans 20220247.jpg
  • Thousands of fish lie rotting in the dry Republican River at the headwaters of the Harlan County Reservoir at Alma, Nebraska.  Republican always dries up in the summer as irrigation takes all the water, either through reservoirs for irrigation districts or by pumping the aquifer beneath the river.  Fish were killed when a heavy storm sent water down the river attracting the fish upstream.  Then the river dried up agains just as suddenly stranding the fish.  Fish kills are common along the Republican.  Area is under mandatory groundwater management because of declining supplies.  Nathan and Dave Wolf out to take a look.
    Ogalla Aquifer Camera Scans 20220260.jpg
  • Seed from the Kew Millennium Seed Bank collection at Wakehurst, outside London in the UK.  <br />
<br />
Alnus glutinosa (Betulaceae) - black alder, common alder, European alder; native to Europe (and SW Asia);<br />
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alnus_glutinosa: Alnus glutinosa is important as coppice-wood on marshy ground. The wood is soft, white when first cut and turning to pale red; the knots are beautifully mottled. Under water the wood is very durable, and it is therefore used for piles. The supports of the Rialto at Venice, and many buildings at Amsterdam, are of Alder wood. It is also the traditional wood burnt to produce smoked fish and other smoked foods, though in some areas other woods are more often used now. Furniture is sometimes made from the wood, as were clogs, and it supplies excellent charcoal for gunpowder. The bark is astringent; it is used for tanning and dyeing. Alnus glutinosa is also cultivated and locally naturalised in eastern North America.<br />
<br />
http://www.pfaf.org/user/Plant.aspx?LatinName=Alnus+glutinosa: medicinal and other uses:<br />
The bark is alterative, astringent, cathartic, febrifuge and tonic[4, 7, 14, 46, 269]. The fresh bark will cause vomiting, so use dried bark for all but emetic purposes[21]. A decoction of the dried bark is used to bathe swellings and inflammations, especially of the mouth and throat[4, 9, 21, 254]. The powdered bark and the leaves have been used as an internal astringent and tonic, whilst the bark has also been used as an internal and external haemostatic against haemorrhage[21]. The dried bark of young twigs are used, or the inner bark of branches 2 - 3 years old[9]. It is harvested in the spring and dried for later use[9]. Boiling the inner bark in vinegar produces a useful wash to treat lice and a range of skin problems such as scabies and scabs[21]. The liquid can also be used as a toothwash[21]. The leaves are astringent, galactogogue and vermifuge[7]. They are used to help reduce breast engorgement in nursing mothers[254].
    MM7753_2010-07-23_11929.jpg
  • Seed from the Kew Millennium Seed Bank collection at Wakehurst, outside London in the UK.  <br />
<br />
Alnus glutinosa (Betulaceae) - black alder, common alder, European alder; native to Europe (and SW Asia);<br />
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alnus_glutinosa: Alnus glutinosa is important as coppice-wood on marshy ground. The wood is soft, white when first cut and turning to pale red; the knots are beautifully mottled. Under water the wood is very durable, and it is therefore used for piles. The supports of the Rialto at Venice, and many buildings at Amsterdam, are of Alder wood. It is also the traditional wood burnt to produce smoked fish and other smoked foods, though in some areas other woods are more often used now. Furniture is sometimes made from the wood, as were clogs, and it supplies excellent charcoal for gunpowder. The bark is astringent; it is used for tanning and dyeing. Alnus glutinosa is also cultivated and locally naturalised in eastern North America.<br />
<br />
http://www.pfaf.org/user/Plant.aspx?LatinName=Alnus+glutinosa: medicinal and other uses:<br />
The bark is alterative, astringent, cathartic, febrifuge and tonic[4, 7, 14, 46, 269]. The fresh bark will cause vomiting, so use dried bark for all but emetic purposes[21]. A decoction of the dried bark is used to bathe swellings and inflammations, especially of the mouth and throat[4, 9, 21, 254]. The powdered bark and the leaves have been used as an internal astringent and tonic, whilst the bark has also been used as an internal and external haemostatic against haemorrhage[21]. The dried bark of young twigs are used, or the inner bark of branches 2 - 3 years old[9]. It is harvested in the spring and dried for later use[9]. Boiling the inner bark in vinegar produces a useful wash to treat lice and a range of skin problems such as scabies and scabs[21].
    MM7753_2010-07-23_11929.jpg
  • Malted barley being prepared to dry at Highland Park distillery in Scotland. The grain has been soaked in water and allowed to sit until the seeds are just ready to sprout, then transferred to this tower where heat will be used to dry it out.
    SC-0039 Highland Park Grai.jpg
  • Stacking oats on the farm of Eshete Girma in the central Shewa region of Ethiopia north of Addis Ababa. The oats are being brought in from the fields on donkeys, then stacked with the grain to the inside of the stack so that it will dry and be protected from rain, before it is threshed. <br />
<br />
Building the stacks is actually a quick affair, taking on half an hour or so.  Seen on top of the stack is Eshete's son and farmer Girma Regassa, directing the operations and building he final cap on the stack. <br />
<br />
The oat variety is an old locally adapted variety called Avena Vaviloviana, named after the famed Russion seed saver N.I. Vavilov who traveled this region in the 1920's doing research and collecting seeds. <br />
<br />
Contact: Genene Gezu<br />
Program Coordinator<br />
Ethio-Organic Seed Action (EOSA)<br />
Tel: +251 11 550 22 88<br />
Mobile: +251 91 1 79 56 22<br />
genenegezu@yahoo.com<br />
shigenene@gmail.com<br />
PO Box 5512<br />
Addis Aababa, Ethiopia
    MM7753_20101031_43156.jpg
  • Harvesting and stack oats on the farm of Melaku Yifku in the Seriti Village of the Chacha district north of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.<br />
<br />
Workers are cutting the oats by hand with sickles, and pile them behind them as they move up the field, singing as they go. Then the bundles are hauled to the stacks where a man on top arranges them so that the grain heads are to the inside of the stack so they will dry and be protected from rain before being threshed. The man on the top of the stack is Nigussu Kissaye.<br />
<br />
Horses are grazing on the new cropped oat ground, foraging for leftover grain and straw.<br />
<br />
In the distant valley are other villages in their typical hilltop positions.
    Harvest Pan II.jpg
  • Harvesting and stack oats on the farm of Melaku Yifku in the Seriti Village of the Chacha district north of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.<br />
<br />
Workers are cutting the oats by hand with sickles, and pile them behind them as they move up the field, singing as they go. Then the bundles are hauled to the stacks where a man on top arranges them so that the grain heads are to the inside of the stack so they will dry and be protected from rain before being threshed. The man on the top of the stack is Nigussu Kissaye.<br />
<br />
Horses are grazing on the new cropped oat ground, foraging for leftover grain and straw.<br />
<br />
In the distant valley are other villages in their typical hilltop positions. <br />
<br />
Contact: Genene Gezu<br />
Program Coordinator<br />
Ethio-Organic Seed Action (EOSA)<br />
Tel: +251 11 550 22 88<br />
Mobile: +251 91 1 79 56 22<br />
genenegezu@yahoo.com<br />
shigenene@gmail.com<br />
PO Box 5512<br />
Addis Aababa, Ethiopia
    Harvest Pan II.jpg
  • Stacking oats on the farm of Eshete Girma in the central Shewa region of Ethiopia north of Addis Ababa. The oats are being brought in from the fields on donkeys, then stacked with the grain to the inside of the stack so that it will dry and be protected from rain, before it is threshed. <br />
<br />
Building the stacks is actually a quick affair, taking on half an hour or so.  Seen on top of the stack is Eshete's son and farmer Girma Regassa, directing the operations and building he final cap on the stack. <br />
<br />
The oat variety is an old locally adapted variety called Avena Vaviloviana, named after the famed Russion seed saver N.I. Vavilov who traveled this region in the 1920's doing research and collecting seeds.
    MM7753_20101031_43156.jpg
  • Harvesting and stack oats on the farm of Melaku Yifku in the Seriti Village of the Chacha district north of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.<br />
<br />
Workers are cutting the oats by hand with sickles, and pile them behind them as they move up the field, singing as they go. Then the bundles are hauled to the stacks where a man on top arranges them so that the grain heads are to the inside of the stack so they will dry and be protected from rain before being threshed. The man on the top of the stack is Nigussu Kissaye.<br />
<br />
Horses are grazing on the new cropped oat ground, foraging for leftover grain and straw.<br />
<br />
In the distant valley are other villages in their typical hilltop positions.
    Harvest Pan II.jpg
  • Harvesting groundnuts (peanuts) in Siby Mali on the farm of Rassama Camara.<br />
<br />
The women are hauling the bundles of dried out plants to big piles where they sit in the shade and pluck the nuts out.  It is a big social occasion as well as being long, hard, dusty work. <br />
<br />
Women in pictures include:<br />
Téréyan Keita (Old woman)<br />
Mariama Keita with her baby, Awa Keita<br />
Fatoumata Sangaré
    MM8154_20131031_22675.jpg
  • Rice threshing in the fields of the village of Jogahat, Chunamonhathi, Jessore, Bangladesh.  The men are using a foot powered thresher to beat the rice off the still-wet rice plants. Rice harvested in the field will be carried back to the village where it will be cleaned and dried. <br />
<br />
The woman sweeping rice up is Shukhjan Begum.<br />
<br />
The two guys with rice sacks on their heads are:<br />
Muhammed Dobibar Rahman (Red printed shirt)<br />
Jinnat (white shirt)<br />
<br />
The others at the machine are: Robiul Islam, Joshim, Tobiban Rahman and Anisur Rahman.<br />
Cell: +8801711375573
    MM8154_20131024_20383.jpg
  • Harvesting groundnuts (peanuts) in Siby Mali on the farm of Rassama Camara.<br />
<br />
The women are hauling the bundles of dried out plants to big piles where they sit in the shade and pluck the nuts out.  It is a big social occasion as well as being long, hard, dusty work.
    MM8154_20131031_22675 - Version 2.jpg
  • Rice threshing in the fields of the village of Jogahat, Chunamonhathi, Jessore, Bangladesh.  The men are using a foot powered thresher to beat the rice off the still-wet rice plants. Rice harvested in the field will be carried back to the village where it will be cleaned and dried.
    MM8154_20131024_20535 - Version 3.jpg
  • Harvesting groundnuts (peanuts) in Siby Mali on the farm of Rassama Camara.<br />
<br />
The women are hauling the bundles of dried out plants to big piles where they sit in the shade and pluck the nuts out.  It is a big social occasion as well as being long, hard, dusty work. <br />
<br />
Mariama Keita with her baby
    MM8154_20131031_22675.jpg
  • Rice threshing in the fields of the village of Jogahat, Chunamonhathi, Jessore, Bangladesh.  The men are using a foot powered thresher to beat the rice off the still-wet rice plants. Rice harvested in the field will be carried back to the village where it will be cleaned and dried.
    MM8154_20131024_20535.jpg
  • Harvesting and stack oats on the farm of Melaku Yifku in the Seriti Village of the Chacha district north of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.<br />
<br />
Workers are cutting the oats by hand with sickles, and pile them behind them as they move up the field, singing as they go. Then the bundles are hauled to the stacks where a man on top arranges them so that the grain heads are to the inside of the stack so they will dry and be protected from rain before being threshed. The man on the top of the stack is Nigussu Kissaye.<br />
<br />
Horses are grazing on the new cropped oat ground, foraging for leftover grain and straw.<br />
<br />
In the distant valley are other villages in their typical hilltop positions. <br />
<br />
Contact: Genene Gezu<br />
Program Coordinator<br />
Ethio-Organic Seed Action (EOSA)<br />
Tel: +251 11 550 22 88<br />
Mobile: +251 91 1 79 56 22<br />
genenegezu@yahoo.com<br />
shigenene@gmail.com<br />
PO Box 5512<br />
Addis Aababa, Ethiopia
    MM7753_20101103_47348.jpg
  • Farmer Chala Chaka harvesting teff, the typically Ethiopian grain, near Bato Chrecha in Southern Ethiopia. (Also got Bacho Vioreda as a location.)<br />
<br />
He is using a sickle to harvest the grain by hand, cutting the stalks and then piling it behind him in bundles, which will then be gathered into piles in the fields so that the grain can dry properly. <br />
<br />
The sickle is called a machd. He thinks he will harvest abotu 500 Kg from is half hectare field. <br />
<br />
His wife is bringing him the typical local beer made from grain. <br />
<br />
<br />
Contact: Woudyalew Mulatu<br />
ILRI Ethiopia<br />
w.mulatu@cgiar.org<br />
Mobile: +251 911 40 91 89<br />
PO Box 5689<br />
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
    MM7753_20101028_39917.jpg
  • Farmer Chala Chaka harvesting teff, the typically Ethiopian grain, near Bato Chrecha in Southern Ethiopia. (Also got Bacho Vioreda as a location.)<br />
<br />
He is using a sickle to harvest the grain by hand, cutting the stalks and then piling it behind him in bundles, which will then be gathered into piles in the fields so that the grain can dry properly. <br />
<br />
The sickle is called a machd. He thinks he will harvest abotu 500 Kg from is half hectare field. <br />
<br />
His wife is bringing him the typical local beer made from grain.
    MM7753_20101028_39917.jpg
  • Harvesting groundnuts (peanuts) in Siby Mali on the farm of Rassama Camara.<br />
<br />
The women are hauling the bundles of dried out plants to big piles where they sit in the shade and pluck the nuts out.  It is a big social occasion as well as being long, hard, dusty work.
    MM8154_20131031_22527.jpg
  • Li Kaixin family harvesting rice near Sheng Cun Village in Yuanyang County, Yunan province, China.  The grain is threshed in the field before bagging to carry out.  The stalks are laid out to dry in the terraces.
    MM6977_071020_21402.jpg
  • Li Kaixin family harvesting rice near Sheng Cun Village in Yuanyang County, Yunan province, China.  The grain is threshed in the field before bagging to carry out.  The stalks are laid out to dry in the terraces.
    MM6977_071020_20874.jpg
  • Seed from the Kew Millennium Seed Bank collection at Wakehurst, outside London in the UK.  <br />
<br />
Bixa orellana (Bixaceae) - annato, lipstick tree; native to South America. The genus Bixa is monotypic and a member of the family Bixaceae (16 species in 3 genera). The species is especially cultivated for its red colouring obtained from the testa of the seeds, the original Amerindian body paint which is also effective as an insect repellent. The red colour is due to several apocarotenoids located in the seed epidermis, of which bixin (9'Z-6,6'-diapocarotene-6,6'-dioate) is the most important. Several more carotenoids and apocarotenoids have been identified; their total amount varies strongly, but may reach up to 7% of the dry seeds' mass. Bixin was formerly an important dyestuff but is now replaced by Congo red for fabric but still used in food esp. cheese, butter, margarine and chocolate as it is almost tasteless. It is also used in soaps and other skin products (there sometimes also called the lipstick tree). Bixa orellana, also called annato, possesses extrafloral nectaries to attract ants that ward off predators (seed production doubles in the presence of ants) (from Mabberley 1997 and Gernod Katzer’s Spice Pages). Common names for Bixa orellana include: Orleansbaum, achuete, annatto, urucum, urucu, rocucou, anato, achiote, kuswé.<br />
The scientific species name orellana reminds to Francisco de Orellana, a Spanish explorer of the 16th century. Together with Francisco Pizarro, Orellana had been involved in the destruction of the Inca empire; in 1540, he participated in another expedition led by Gonzalo Pizarro. Following rumours about gold and cinnamon trees, about 2000 Spaniards entered to Peruvian and Brazilian jungles, where most of them perished. Orellana abandoned the party and made his way eastward, where he (more or less by chance) discovered the Amazonas river and earned scientific fame quite undeservedly. By confusion of the Spanish name with the French town Orle
    MM7753_2010-07-23_11854.jpg
  • Seed from the Kew Millennium Seed Bank collection at Wakehurst, outside London in the UK.  <br />
<br />
Harpagophytum zeyheri (Pedaliaceae) – devils’ claw, grapple plant; native to southern Africa (widespread in southern Africa, from Namibia and Zambia south to Botswana and Zimbabwe) – fruit with large woody grapples adapted to cling to the feet and fur of animals. The tough feet of ostriches are well protected against the sharp spines of this fruit but animals with cleft hoofs or relatively soft soles can suffer terrible wounds. The Khoisan peoples of the Kalahari Desert have used the tuberous root of the devil’s claw for thousands of years to treat pain during pregnancy and to prepare ointments to heal sores, boils and other skin problems. Extracts from dried roots are presently sold as a natural remedy against pain and inflammation caused by arthritis and other painful ailments; length of fruit: 9cm.  --- THE FRUIT YOU PHOTOGRAPHED BELONGS TO HARPAGOPHYTUM ZEYHERI, WHICH IS VERY SIMILAR TO HARPAGOPHYTUM PROCUMBENS; THE TWO SPECIES MAINLY DIFFER IN GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION AND THE STRUCTURE OF THEIR FRUITS; The fruits of H. procumbens have very long, curved arms, while those of H. zeyheri are much less extravagant (pretty cool as mousetraps but the plants have significant medicinal properties! See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harpagophytum). Both species are probably used in the same way by the Khoisan bush people as well as the pharmaceutical industry. <br />
 <br />
The most infamous member of the sesame family is Harpagophytum procumbens, aptly called grappling hook, grapple plant or, like its New World relatives, devil’s claw. Used as mouse traps in Madagascar, the almost preposterously horrid looking woody pods can inflict gruesome wounds to animals with cleft hoofs or relatively soft soles.
    MM7753_2010-07-23_11844.jpg
  • Li Kaixin family harvesting rice near Sheng Cun Village in Yuanyang County, Yunan province, China.  The grain is threshed in the field before bagging to carry out.  The stalks are laid out to dry in the terraces.
    MM6977_071020_21594.jpg
  • Harvesting and stack oats on the farm of Melaku Yifku in the Seriti Village of the Chacha district north of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.<br />
<br />
Workers are cutting the oats by hand with sickles, and pile them behind them as they move up the field, singing as they go. Then the bundles are hauled to the stacks where a man on top arranges them so that the grain heads are to the inside of the stack so they will dry and be protected from rain before being threshed. The man on the top of the stack is Nigussu Kissaye.
    MM7753_20101103_47348.jpg
  • Seed from the Kew Millennium Seed Bank collection at Wakehurst, outside London in the UK.  <br />
<br />
Trapa bicornis (Lythraceae) - devil's pod, also known as bat nut, goat head, null nut, and buffalo nut - this species is sometimes even combined with Trapa natans (i.e. the two are treated as a single variable species) and much of the description above also applies to T. bicornis. --- Wikipedia [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_caltrop]: The water caltrop, water chestnut or Singhara or Paniphal is either of two species of the genus Trapa: Trapa natans and Trapa bicornis. Both species are floating annual aquatic plants, growing in slow-moving water up to 5 meters deep, native to warm temperate parts of Eurasia and Africa. They bear ornately shaped fruits, which in the case of T. bicornis resemble the head of a bull, each fruit containing a single very large starchy seed. It has been cultivated in China and India for at least 3,000 years for these seeds, which are boiled and sold as an occasional street side snack in the south of that country<br />
<br />
[http://www.pfaf.org/user/Plant.aspx?LatinName=Trapa+bicornis]: Seed edible after cooking. A crunchy texture with a bland flavour. Rich in starch, the raw seed contains a deleterious principle that is destroyed by cooking. The cooked seed can be dried and ground into a powder. The flowers are astringent in fluxes. The fruit is used in the treatment of fever and sunstroke. The plant is anticancer, antipyretic and tonic.
    MM7753_2010-07-23_11912.jpg
  • Seed from the Kew Millennium Seed Bank collection at Wakehurst, outside London in the UK.  <br />
<br />
Pterocarpus angolensis (Fabaceae) - kiaat tree; native to southern Africa<br />
Pterocarpus has remarkable fruits: anemochory, dispersal by means of barbed fruits and "Bodenroller" (winged fruits rolling along the ground), a triple strategy. The fruits are enclosed by a flat, dry involucre with a large surface and a relatively high weight. The spiny centre helps the fruit to stick to an animal (epizoochoric dispersal), the arrangement of the wings allows a dispersal by wind currents at the ground. Pterocarpus occurs in the savannah in the south of Africa (from Peter von Sengbusch, botany-online).<br />
The genus has been given a name which describes the unusual seed pods, pter meaning "wing" in Greek and carpus which means "fruit" in Greek. The central, hardened seed case is surrounded by a broad, membranous wing and is therefore called "wing fruit" or Pterocarpus. There are roughly 30 species in the genus and these may be found in the more tropical regions of the world. Four species occur in southern Africa. The specific name, angolensis means "of Angola". The brilliant dramatically red sap found in Pterocarpus gives it the common name of "bloodwood". The wood apparently bears some resemblance to the unrelated true teak from tropical east Asia (Tectona grandis) hence the common name "wild teak".
    MM7753_2010-07-23_11880.jpg
  • Seed from the Kew Millennium Seed Bank collection at Wakehurst, outside London in the UK.  <br />
<br />
Harpagophytum zeyheri (Pedaliaceae) – devils’ claw, grapple plant; native to southern Africa (widespread in southern Africa, from Namibia and Zambia south to Botswana and Zimbabwe) – fruit with large woody grapples adapted to cling to the feet and fur of animals. The tough feet of ostriches are well protected against the sharp spines of this fruit but animals with cleft hoofs or relatively soft soles can suffer terrible wounds. The Khoisan peoples of the Kalahari Desert have used the tuberous root of the devil’s claw for thousands of years to treat pain during pregnancy and to prepare ointments to heal sores, boils and other skin problems. Extracts from dried roots are presently sold as a natural remedy against pain and inflammation caused by arthritis and other painful ailments; length of fruit: 9cm.  --- THE FRUIT YOU PHOTOGRAPHED BELONGS TO HARPAGOPHYTUM ZEYHERI, WHICH IS VERY SIMILAR TO HARPAGOPHYTUM PROCUMBENS; THE TWO SPECIES MAINLY DIFFER IN GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION AND THE STRUCTURE OF THEIR FRUITS; The fruits of H. procumbens have very long, curved arms, while those of H. zeyheri are much less extravagant (pretty cool as mousetraps but the plants have significant medicinal properties! See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harpagophytum). Both species are probably used in the same way by the Khoisan bush people as well as the pharmaceutical industry. <br />
 <br />
The most infamous member of the sesame family is Harpagophytum procumbens, aptly called grappling hook, grapple plant or, like its New World relatives, devil’s claw. Used as mouse traps in Madagascar, the almost preposterously horrid looking woody pods can inflict gruesome wounds to animals with cleft hoofs or relatively soft soles.
    MM7753_2010-07-23_11844.jpg
  • Seed from the Kew Millennium Seed Bank collection at Wakehurst, outside London in the UK.  <br />
<br />
Bixa orellana (Bixaceae) - annato, lipstick tree; native to South America. The genus Bixa is monotypic and a member of the family Bixaceae (16 species in 3 genera). The species is especially cultivated for its red colouring obtained from the testa of the seeds, the original Amerindian body paint which is also effective as an insect repellent. The red colour is due to several apocarotenoids located in the seed epidermis, of which bixin (9'Z-6,6'-diapocarotene-6,6'-dioate) is the most important. Several more carotenoids and apocarotenoids have been identified; their total amount varies strongly, but may reach up to 7% of the dry seeds' mass. Bixin was formerly an important dyestuff but is now replaced by Congo red for fabric but still used in food esp. cheese, butter, margarine and chocolate as it is almost tasteless. It is also used in soaps and other skin products (there sometimes also called the lipstick tree). Bixa orellana, also called annato, possesses extrafloral nectaries to attract ants that ward off predators (seed production doubles in the presence of ants) (from Mabberley 1997 and Gernod Katzer’s Spice Pages). Common names for Bixa orellana include: Orleansbaum, achuete, annatto, urucum, urucu, rocucou, anato, achiote, kuswé.<br />
The scientific species name orellana reminds to Francisco de Orellana, a Spanish explorer of the 16th century. Together with Francisco Pizarro, Orellana had been involved in the destruction of the Inca empire; in 1540, he participated in another expedition led by Gonzalo Pizarro. Following rumours about gold and cinnamon trees, about 2000 Spaniards entered to Peruvian and Brazilian jungles, where most of them perished. Orellana abandoned the party and made his way eastward, where he (more or less by chance) discovered the Amazonas river and earned scientific fame quite undeservedly. By confusion of the Spanish name with the French town Orle
    MM7753_2010-07-23_11854.jpg
  • Seed from the Kew Millennium Seed Bank collection at Wakehurst, outside London in the UK.  <br />
<br />
Trapa bicornis (Lythraceae) - devil's pod, also known as bat nut, goat head, null nut, and buffalo nut - this species is sometimes even combined with Trapa natans (i.e. the two are treated as a single variable species) and much of the description above also applies to T. bicornis. --- Wikipedia [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_caltrop]: The water caltrop, water chestnut or Singhara or Paniphal is either of two species of the genus Trapa: Trapa natans and Trapa bicornis. Both species are floating annual aquatic plants, growing in slow-moving water up to 5 meters deep, native to warm temperate parts of Eurasia and Africa. They bear ornately shaped fruits, which in the case of T. bicornis resemble the head of a bull, each fruit containing a single very large starchy seed. It has been cultivated in China and India for at least 3,000 years for these seeds, which are boiled and sold as an occasional street side snack in the south of that country<br />
<br />
[http://www.pfaf.org/user/Plant.aspx?LatinName=Trapa+bicornis]: Seed edible after cooking. A crunchy texture with a bland flavour. Rich in starch, the raw seed contains a deleterious principle that is destroyed by cooking. The cooked seed can be dried and ground into a powder. The flowers are astringent in fluxes. The fruit is used in the treatment of fever and sunstroke. The plant is anticancer, antipyretic and tonic.
    MM7753_2010-07-23_11912.jpg
  • Harvesting and stack oats on the farm of Melaku Yifku in the Seriti Village of the Chacha district north of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.<br />
<br />
Workers are cutting the oats by hand with sickles, and pile them behind them as they move up the field, singing as they go. Then the bundles are hauled to the stacks where a man on top arranges them so that the grain heads are to the inside of the stack so they will dry and be protected from rain before being threshed. The man on the top of the stack is Nigussu Kissaye.<br />
<br />
Horses are grazing on the new cropped oat ground, foraging for leftover grain and straw.<br />
<br />
In the distant valley are other villages in their typical hilltop positions. <br />
<br />
Contact: Genene Gezu<br />
Program Coordinator<br />
Ethio-Organic Seed Action (EOSA)<br />
Tel: +251 11 550 22 88<br />
Mobile: +251 91 1 79 56 22<br />
genenegezu@yahoo.com<br />
shigenene@gmail.com<br />
PO Box 5512<br />
Addis Aababa, Ethiopia
    MM7753_20101103_47348.jpg
  • Harvesting and stack oats on the farm of Melaku Yifku in the Seriti Village of the Chacha district north of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.<br />
<br />
Workers are cutting the oats by hand with sickles, and pile them behind them as they move up the field, singing as they go. Then the bundles are hauled to the stacks where a man on top arranges them so that the grain heads are to the inside of the stack so they will dry and be protected from rain before being threshed. The man on the top of the stack is Nigussu Kissaye.<br />
<br />
Horses are grazing on the new cropped oat ground, foraging for leftover grain and straw.<br />
<br />
In the distant valley are other villages in their typical hilltop positions. <br />
<br />
Contact: Genene Gezu<br />
Program Coordinator<br />
Ethio-Organic Seed Action (EOSA)<br />
Tel: +251 11 550 22 88<br />
Mobile: +251 91 1 79 56 22<br />
genenegezu@yahoo.com<br />
shigenene@gmail.com<br />
PO Box 5512<br />
Addis Aababa, Ethiopia
    Harvest Pan II.jpg
  • Duncan MacDonald out at his peat cuttings near Gisla, Uig, on the Isle of Lewis.  Even though he has oil heating in his home now Duncan likes having the peat to burn on a winter evening.  He's been cutting peat since he was a "wee boy."  The spade he carries is a special peat cutting tool that cuts the blocks that have been laid out to dry.  Peat cutting is a two man job, with one cutting and the other throwing.
    MM7189 20050524 27507.jpg
  • Duncan MacDonald out at his peat cuttings near Gisla, Uig, on the Isle of Lewis.  Even though he has oil heating in his home now Duncan likes having the peat to burn on a winter evening.  He's been cutting peat since he was a "wee boy."  The spade he carries is a special peat cutting tool that cuts the blocks that have been laid out to dry.  Peat cutting is a two man job, with one cutting and the other throwing.
    MM7189 20050524 27507.jpg
  • Rassama Camara in his sorghum field in the village of Siby, Mali. Sorghum in is a major crop in this dry land area, and ICRISAT works with farmers to introduce new varieties with various traits that will improve production. Besides eating the grain, the plant material is used of cattle fodder and even to make fences.
    MM8154_20131031_22898.jpg
  • Harvesting and stack oats on the farm of Melaku Yifku in the Seriti Village of the Chacha district north of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.<br />
<br />
Workers are cutting the oats by hand with sickles, and pile them behind them as they move up the field, singing as they go. Then the bundles are hauled to the stacks where a man on top arranges them so that the grain heads are to the inside of the stack so they will dry and be protected from rain before being threshed. The man on the top of the stack is Nigussu Kissaye.<br />
<br />
Horses are grazing on the new cropped oat ground, foraging for leftover grain and straw.<br />
<br />
In the distant valley are other villages in their typical hilltop positions.
    MM7753_20101103_47348.jpg
  • Li Kaixin family harvesting rice near Sheng Cun Village in Yuanyang County, Yunan province, China.  The grain is threshed in the field before bagging to carry out.  The stalks are laid out to dry in the terraces.
    MM6977_071020_20938.jpg
  • Seed from the Kew Millennium Seed Bank collection at Wakehurst, outside London in the UK.  <br />
<br />
Pterocarpus angolensis (Fabaceae) - kiaat tree; native to southern Africa<br />
Pterocarpus has remarkable fruits: anemochory, dispersal by means of barbed fruits and "Bodenroller" (winged fruits rolling along the ground), a triple strategy. The fruits are enclosed by a flat, dry involucre with a large surface and a relatively high weight. The spiny centre helps the fruit to stick to an animal (epizoochoric dispersal), the arrangement of the wings allows a dispersal by wind currents at the ground. Pterocarpus occurs in the savannah in the south of Africa (from Peter von Sengbusch, botany-online).<br />
The genus has been given a name which describes the unusual seed pods, pter meaning "wing" in Greek and carpus which means "fruit" in Greek. The central, hardened seed case is surrounded by a broad, membranous wing and is therefore called "wing fruit" or Pterocarpus. There are roughly 30 species in the genus and these may be found in the more tropical regions of the world. Four species occur in southern Africa. The specific name, angolensis means "of Angola". The brilliant dramatically red sap found in Pterocarpus gives it the common name of "bloodwood". The wood apparently bears some resemblance to the unrelated true teak from tropical east Asia (Tectona grandis) hence the common name "wild teak".
    MM7753_2010-07-23_11880.jpg
  • Rassama Camara in his sorghum field in the village of Siby, Mali. Sorghum in is a major crop in this dry land area, and ICRISAT works with farmers to introduce new varieties with various traits that will improve production. Besides eating the grain, the plant material is used of cattle fodder and even to make fences.
    MM8154_20131031_22898 - Version 2.jpg
  • Li Kaixin family harvesting rice near Sheng Cun Village in Yuanyang County, Yunan province, China.  The grain is threshed in the field before bagging to carry out.  The stalks are laid out to dry in the terraces.
    MM6977_071020_20938.jpg
  • Duncan MacDonald out at his peat cuttings near Gisla, Uig, on the Isle of Lewis.  Even though he has oil heating in his home now Duncan likes having the peat to burn on a winter evening.  He's been cutting peat since he was a "wee boy."  The spade he carries is a special peat cutting tool that cuts the blocks that have been laid out to dry.  Peat cutting is a two man job, with one cutting and the other throwing.
    MM7189 20050524 27507.jpg