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Five sports have been added to the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles have after being approved by the International Olympic Committee's executive board. Three of the sports — baseball/softball, cricket and lacrosse — have been played at past Olympic games, while flag football and squash will make their Olympics debut in LA. The five sports are "in line with the American sports culture and will showcase iconic American sports to the world, while bringing international sports to the United States," IOC President Thomas Bach said in a statement. The global sports tournament hasn't been held in the U.S. since the...

An international team found that during this period, crops were being cultivated in a remote location in what is now northern Bolivia. The scientists believe that the humans who lived here were planting squash, cassava and maize. The inhabitants also created thousands of artificial islands in the forest. The end of the last ice age, around 12,000 years ago, saw a sustained rise in global temperatures... Researchers have previously unearthed evidence that crops were domesticated at four important locations around the world. So China saw the cultivation of rice, while in the Middle East it was grains, in Central America...

Yesterday I decided I better finish up any and all last minute lawn and garden fall maintenance. I thought I was done a couple of weeks ago, but you know - Parkinson’s Law. So of course there were additional leaves (and they’re not done yet!) to rake, more branches to clean up, a few more plants to deadhead and…one final herb harvest! Only if you live in a winter wonderland of perma-frost will that last late-fall green harvest thrill you as much as the first sprouts of spring.Especially if they’ve survived several hard freezes and 3 fair-sized snowfalls, as the...

Genetic analysis of plant species has long pointed to the lowlands of southwest Amazonia as a key region in the early history of plant domestication in the Americas, but systematic archaeological evidence to support this has been rare. The new evidence comes from recently-exposed layers of the Teotonio archaeological site, which has been described by researchers as a "microcosm of human occupation of the Upper Madeira [River]" because it preserves a nearly continuous record of human cultures going back approximately 9,000 years. In this study, Watling and colleagues analyzed the remains of seeds, phytoliths, and other plant materials in the...

Venezuela police scramble to squash pumpkin threat CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) - Venezuelan security services scrambled on Monday to tackle a new threat on the streets of Caracas: Halloween-style pumpkins carrying messages of rebellion against President Hugo Chavez. Local media showed heavily armed police and bomb experts surrounding one orange squash with a Halloween face and covered with stickers; others sprouted cables and wires making authorities wary they could be home-made explosives

The Avon lady who visits my office building brought us the new catalogs this week; and I noticed that Avon is currently offering cookie cutters for making a cookie version of the sugar skulls, or ‘calaveras’ that are traditional for the Mexican holiday ‘The Day of the Dead’. I didn’t know much about this holiday, and while doing a search on it I happened to find a really wonderful website/blog devoted to decorated cookies: Sweetsugarbelle.com. Along with all the other fantastic cookies, one entry includes a tutorial on making the skulls; and anyone who likes decorating cookies will love this...

I recently picked up a nasty ‘bug’ that threw me into a six-day fever. No idea what it was, but I’ve never been laid-out so badly, or so little interested in food - all I could taste was salt, and salt was revolting. I finally hit on vanilla ice cream as tolerable, and ate nothing else for days. There are still some ‘notes’ that I can’t taste, and I’m craving the weirdest things: “MacDonald’s Fish Sandwich???” - my husband must feel that he’s got a pregnant lady calling him at work and demanding this-or-that be picked up on the way...

Students from Winnipeg, Canada recently discovered a stash of 800-year-old seeds while on an archaeological dig. The mysterious seeds, once planted, grew into a rare species of squash that has been extinct for hundreds of years. While we don't know if the seeds themselves were safe to eat, the squash that they harvested was absolutely delicious. Check out the images below to see the rare gourd for yourself and learn more about this discovery.

Contact: Dr. Dolores Pipernopipernod@tivoli.si.edu 011-507-212-8101Smithsonian Institution An origin of new world agriculture in coastal Ecuador New archaeological evidence points to an independent origin of agriculture in coastal Ecuador 10,000 to 12,000 years ago. Suddenly, the remains of larger squash plants appear in the record. The Las Vegas site, described by Dolores Piperno of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) and Karen Stothert, University of Texas at Austin in the February 14th issue of Science, may predate plant domestication sites in the Mesoamerican highlands. The fertile and amazingly diverse lowland tropics seem like a likely place for agriculture to develop. But...

Okay, I like to cook.  I made this butternut squash bisque for Thanksgiving, and took it to my in-laws, where we devoured it and fought for the leftovers.  It's so good, I made it again, wrote down all the ingredients, remeasured everything, and made it into a real recipe. Here it is so you can try it. Makes about 8-10 servings.  It will take you a good hour or two to make this. Ingredients:1 medium butternut squash – peeled, seeded and cut into ½” cubes (6 cups) 3 med yellow squash (4 if they are small) – seeded and cut...

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina - Making a solid case for its modernity despite being a core sport of the ancient Olympics, wrestling saved its place on the Summer Games program Sunday. Wrestling wiped its opponents off the mat, defeating baseball / softball and squash to gain the one open spot on the 2020 Olympic program and be assured of staying at least through 2024. It took just one round of voting by International Olympic Committee members for wrestling to get the needed majority. Wrestling got 49 votes to 24 for baseball / softball and 22 for squash.

The Weekly Gardening Thread is a weekly gathering of folks that love soil, seeds and plants of all kinds. From complete newbies that are looking to start that first potted plant, to gardeners with some acreage, to Master Gardener level and beyond, we would love to hear from you. This thread is non-political, although you will find that most here are conservative folks. No matter what, you won’t be flamed and the only dumb question is the one that isn’t asked. It is impossible to hijack the Weekly Gardening Thread ... there is no telling where it will go and...

Contact: Oris Sanjur sanjuro@naos.si.edu 202-786-2094 x8824 Smithsonian Institution Genetic marker tells squash domestication story In the January 8 Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers from the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI), The Cucurbit Network and the University of Puerto Rico establish mitochondrial DNA analysis as a powerful tool for understanding relationships among flowering plants. A comparison of mtDNA from cultivated squash, pumpkins, gourds and their wild ancestors strongly supports hypotheses based on archeological and ethnobotanical evidence for six, independent domestication events in the New World. Even Oris Sanjur, who conducted the genetic analysis was "surprised by the resolution" ...

My aunt has an unusual plant that came up in her garden & needs some help identifying it. It looks like a variety of squash, & I've done a search for images. But nothing I found matches it identically. I thought I'd ask for some FReeper assistance...

Here's an announcement to its customers that I'm told came directly from Sysco Foods. ALL OF OUR GROWERS HAVE INVOKED THE ACT OF GOD CLAUSE ON OUR CONTRACTS (Force majuere) DUE TO THE FOLLOWING RELEASE. WE WILL BE CONTACTING YOU PERSONALLY TO REVIEW HOW THIS WILL AFFECT OUR CONTRACTED ITEMS WITH YOU GOING FORWARD. THE DEVASTATING FREEZE IN MEXICO IS WORST FREEZE IN OVER 50 YEARS... THE EXTREME FREEZING TEMPERATURES HIT A VERY BROAD SECTION OF MAJOR GROWING REGIONS IN MEXICO, FROM HERMOSILLO IN THE NORTH ALL THE WAY SOUTH TO LOS MOCHIS AND EVEN SOUTH OF CULIACAN. THE EARLY...

(Nov. 3) -- A delivery man in New Hampshire found a new way to squash crime. When a crook attempted to rob a corner store in Manchester, a worker delivering food to the shop stopped the perp with the closest weapon he could find -- a squash. According to WMUR.com, the strange incident occurred around 11:30 a.m. Oct. 30 when suspect Sean Cullen, 25, entered the Hillsborough Market and passed a note to a shopkeeper reading: "Give me your money, or you're going to die." At that moment, good Samaritan Greg Geden walked into the store and pulled the perp...

HELENA, Mont. – A Montana woman fended off a bear trying to muscle its way into her home Thursday by pelting the animal with a large piece of zucchini from her garden. The woman suffered minor scratches and one of her dogs was wounded after tussling with the 200-pound bear.

Tired of the same ole green bean casserole? This will be a welcome change to add to your upcoming Thanksgiving feast!

Disfigured fruits and vegetables could be allowed in stores after most European Union members voted to loosen restrictions on produce, officials say. Misshapen bananas and cucumbers could be in stores by next year if reforms on produce rules are carried out, The Telegraph reported Thursday. The Telegraph said produce standards are so strict, many edible foods are discarded by farmers. European agriculture commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel said she thinks some regulations should also be thrown out for onions, garlic, cauliflower and spinach. In this era of high prices and growing demand, it makes no sense to throw (misshapen fruit and...

Three Viruses Threaten Watermelon, Squash, Pumpkins, Cucumbers And Now Green BeansCucurbit Leaf Crumple Virus, a major problem of cucumbers, was found in green beans in Florida for the first time. (Credit: USDA) ScienceDaily (Apr. 20, 2008) — Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists in Florida have made recommendations to help growers deal with several whitefly-transmitted viruses that threaten cucurbits and other crops in that state. In recent years, the number of whitefly-transmitted viruses in cucurbit fields, home to crops like cucumbers, squashes, pumpkins, melons and watermelons, has increased to almost epidemic proportions in Florida. Researchers led by plant pathologists Scott Adkins...