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UC Gardening Blogs
Back by Popular Demand: Second COVID-19 Virtual Seminar on May 14
Mark your calendars. The second UC Davis-based COVID-19...
As a public service project, UC Davis distinguished professor Walter Leal is hosting a second UC Davis-based COVID-19 virtual seminar from 1:30 to 4:30 p.m. on Thursday, May 14.
Spring Swarms
While we are staying home during the pandemic, insects are most definitely not! In fact, you...
Upcoming Question and Answer
https://ucanr.zoom.us/j/99314893743?pwd=cEFWcEdIUTlvMzE4RGxsbUcwWDVJUT09
Ask a Master Gardener or Master Food Preserver
The Hornet Wars: 'A Bloody Dumpster Fire'
The news stories and social media comments about the Asian giant hornet detected last year in...
Entomologist Doug Yanega of UC Riverside shows two Asian giant hornets, one of which is from the colony detected and killed on Vancouver Island, British Columbia. He was sought out to identify the species.
This image of an Asian giant hornet, Vespa mandarina, is courtesy of the Washington State Department of Agriculture. The beekeeping industry is concerned about sightings, confirmed and unconfirmed, of this insect in British Columbia and Washington state.
Nothing is Wasted
I was pleasantly surprised to find Myanmar rich in village culture. Since I was there during the same trip I was in Cambodia, where Angkor Wat dominated, I wasn't sure what to expect. But we had a lot of opportunities to walk around in villages and not only were the people very friendly, but I could see that their relationship to their environment was very intimate. The country seemed on the cusp of modernizing, but the traditional culture still seemed quite prominent and of great practical use.
For instance, bamboo was very abundant and since it was actively growing, it came in many sizes and forms. Some bamboo was cut in large strips and woven for siding and roofs for living structures. Smaller slices were woven together for containers of various sizes and shapes. Very small strips were the core of a craft of lacquering containers and after several processes, the bamboo ended up covered with painting and designs and the containers were very beautiful and waterproof. The whole production took several weeks, and the outcome was nothing short of remarkable.
There was also a Thanaka tree (Limonia acidissma) that was quite attractive in its own right. There are other names for this tree though in many ways the tree is quite ordinary but uses abound. The leaves can be cooked up and used for a laxative. Pieces of the trunk are rubbed on a hard surface and emit a creamy substance that is used as a facial sunscreen and even an anti-acne cure, and there are lots of people walking around looking very strange. The roots, being of lower quality to the in-crowd, get pulverized and made into incense. There may have been other uses for the plant, but these are all I could gather from one quick interview. (The tree is fascinating and worth looking up on the internet. Also, I believe that the photo is of a thanaka. I am not absolutely sure as I got confused when I got to look at the pictures at home. I couldn't find a picture on the internet. Does anyone know? At the very least it conveys to me the beauty of tree life on village roads.)
My point is that there seemed rather thorough use of available resources; little waste. It was a wonderful experience to see the environment so completely mined for the needs of daily life. As the country transitions to greater modern development, there are signs of all the usual detritus of modern urban life such as blue plastic bags stacked in piles at various points in the cities. One wonders if anyone ever picks them up but frankly that is doubtful. But village life provides a breather from the relentlessness of modernization. Fortunately, there is a lot of villages available for tourists to enjoy and a very open attitude about outsiders getting a peek in. This is a country I recommend visiting.
photo by Lowell Cooper
