Agriculture

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‘GIVE US THIS DAY OUR DAILY BREAD’: HOW GRAIN SILOS IMPROVED FOOD SECURITY IN ANCIENT TIMES / The sixth line from the Lord’s Prayer asks God to provide us with the essentials that keep body and soul together. Long before those words were written, our

‘GIVE US THIS DAY OUR DAILY BREAD’: HOW GRAIN SILOS IMPROVED FOOD SECURITY IN ANCIENT TIMES / The sixth line from the Lord’s Prayer asks God to provide us with the essentials that keep body and soul together. Long before those words were written, our distant ancestors took more practical steps to reduce the risk of dying of starvation in troubled times. A key part of their survival strategy was the silo.

A SHAGGY DOG STORY: HOW A FEW BEARS RESCUED THE PYRENEAN MOUNTAIN DOG / Traditionally they were trained to defend flocks of sheep from bears and wolves, but during the second half of the 20th century the Pyrenean Mountain dog all but disappeared from

A SHAGGY DOG STORY: HOW A FEW BEARS RESCUED THE PYRENEAN MOUNTAIN DOG / Traditionally they were trained to defend flocks of sheep from bears and wolves, but during the second half of the 20th century the Pyrenean Mountain dog all but disappeared from its home range, along with the predators it used to confront. With a little help from Slovenia, this iconic dog has made a come back in recent years.

THE SECRET OF PASTEL, OR HOW TO TURN A GREEN PLANT INTO BLUE AND GOLD / In English, isatis tinctoria is commonly known as woad. In Toulouse it was pastel. Extracting the blue dye from these green leaves was a long and complicated process, but it gen

THE SECRET OF PASTEL, OR HOW TO TURN A GREEN PLANT INTO BLUE AND GOLD / In English, isatis tinctoria is commonly known as woad. In Toulouse it was pastel. Extracting the blue dye from these green leaves was a long and complicated process, but it generated enormous wealth for the region.

THE RUINS OF LIANTRAN: DISCOVER ONE OF THE OLDEST PASTORAL SETTLEMENTS IN THE PYRENEES / Liantran has been used by shepherds for around 7,000 years, and it was surveyed by archaeologists for the first time in 2018. What they discovered makes Liantran

THE RUINS OF LIANTRAN: DISCOVER ONE OF THE OLDEST PASTORAL SETTLEMENTS IN THE PYRENEES / Liantran has been used by shepherds for around 7,000 years, and it was surveyed by archaeologists for the first time in 2018. What they discovered makes Liantran one of the largest and most complex pastoral sites discovered in the Pyrenees.

TRANSHUMANCE: THE LONG WALK HOME / The word transhumance derives from two Latin words meaning across (trans) the ground (humus), and more precisely, it refers to a form of mobile livestock husbandry in which herders move their flocks regularly and re

TRANSHUMANCE: THE LONG WALK HOME / The word transhumance derives from two Latin words meaning across (trans) the ground (humus), and more precisely, it refers to a form of mobile livestock husbandry in which herders move their flocks regularly and repeatedly between defined seasonal grazing areas.

PIGEONNIERS: THE INSIDE STORY / Arguably, no creature has had more beautiful homes built for it than the pigeon, and the 6,000 that remain in our region display an astonishing variety of shapes, sizes and styles. This raises an obvious question: why

PIGEONNIERS: THE INSIDE STORY / Arguably, no creature has had more beautiful homes built for it than the pigeon, and the 6,000 that remain in our region display an astonishing variety of shapes, sizes and styles. This raises an obvious question: why did so many people go to so much trouble to house a bird?