Comfort

Submitted by Charlene Wight on Wed, 03/26/2025 - 13:01

This year has brought much change, and that includes some sad news. Ken Armstrong, a scientist at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada in Ottawa for 35 years, passed away a few weeks ago. Ken’s speciality was cytogenetics, and, among other things, he was a part of the infamous Quaker Oats Consortium in the 1990s. You can read more about Ken’s legacy in his obituary, which has been added to the “Hall of Fame” section in the newsletter. Plans have not yet been made for a Celebration of Life, but I’m sure you will all join me in offering comfort to Ken’s wife, Jan, and his other family and close friends

With the state of the world as it is, many people are in need of comfort. I know that many of our colleagues at the USDA-ARS, for example, have found their worlds turned upside down. There have been multiple stories in the media about some of these events, and links to a few of them have been posted in the last few “Weekly Web Harvests”.

As has been mentioned before, I find most of the stories I post in that section on social media, but it was time for a change there, too. This post describes my new approach.

Elena Prats’ group at IAS-CSIC (El Instituto de Agricultura Sostenible del Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas de Córdoba) in southern Spain uses social media a lot, and their work is featured in some of the WWH posts. In a recent Instagram post (accessible to all - just close the pop-up window), they welcomed a new group member - Carmen Tejero Arroyo, who will be working on avenanthramides and powdery mildew resistance. Links to the group’s social media accounts are included in an article they submitted for the “Research reports” section. The article describes the challenges they’ve been facing with flooding affecting their drought tolerance experiments!

A second new research report summarizes work published by Juan Dietz, et al.. The focus of their work is stem rust resistance in Argentina.

It is comforting to know that the USDA-ARS Cereal Disease Lab is continuing to monitor the crown and stem rust situation across the United States. Last year’s report on small grain losses due to rust is now available on their website.

Less rust, of course, means better grain, and oats feature in many a comfort food. You can peruse links to dozens of recipes featuring oats in the “Oat Recipes” section. A link to Alison Kay’s “Ancestral Kitchen” site has just been added there. She has a new e-book available that includes oat recipes, and you can sign up to receive email updates.

Known as the Hebridean Baker, Coinneach MacLeod has produced several cookbooks that include oat recipes and is becoming somewhat famous. A recent interview with him can be seen here.

Being from Scotland, I’m sure that Coinneach appreciates that March 26th (the date of this posting) has now been designated “World Bannock Day”! In this context, it is Scottish bannock that is being celebrated. Being a traditional food, bannock also has its place in Scottish folklore and appears in stories such as this one. The hunt is also on, by the way, for the world’s best haggis, another traditional Scottish food incorporating oats.

Comforting traditions can also come in the form of song, and Axel Diederichsen reports that a Danish song about oats, "Jeg er Havren" was performed at a recent event marking the retirement of the director of the Nordic Gene Bank. Which version do you like the best?

Here's wishing you comfort in whatever form you desire!