Blogs – Agricultural Museums

What comes to mind when you hear the word “tractor”?

Tractor. What comes to mind? Do you immediately conjure an image of a four-wheeled vehicle hitched to a plow? Do you picture a particular manufacturer? Think about horsepower? Link internal combustion engines to fossil-fuel consumption? Wonder about tractors in relation to organic agriculture? Ponder autonomous tractor use in agriculture? Think about the business of manufacturing… Continue reading What comes to mind when you hear the word “tractor”?

What, if Anything, is Yoghurt?*

Have you ever thought about yoghurt, really? That there might be more than plain and flavoured? That it might be an iconic food in many places and still made in traditional ways? Two fruit and one plain yoghurt, local production by a farmer in the Morbihan, France, Photo C. Griffin-Kremer We may do well to… Continue reading What, if Anything, is Yoghurt?*

International Women’s Day AIMA Lecture – 8 March 2023

Please register under: aimalecturesreg@gmail.com by 3 March 2023. We will then provide you with the Zoom-Link to attend the lecture. Mark your calendars: 14:00 Central European Time; 8:00 am Eastern Standard Time; Midnight Sydney, Australia.

Agriculture & the International Year of Glass 2022

Agriculture? Glass? What’s the connection? Fig. 1. Stained Glass Panel, Labours of the Months (October – breaking up clods and scattering wheat), 1450-1475, England. From Cassiobury Park, Hertfordshire. Source: Commons Wikimedia. Have you ever thought about how farmers and market gardeners care for “baby” plants, for example, by covering them with a glass cloche to… Continue reading Agriculture & the International Year of Glass 2022

Food Awareness & Loss 2022 AIMA Lecture Series

AIMA recognizes the International Day of World Awareness of Food Loss and Waste The International Association of Agricultural Museums (AIMA) invites you to a one-hour program via ZOOM. Speakers will address museum collections, policies, protocol, and programming aimed at increasing awareness of the numerous costs of food loss and waste. To join the event, please… Continue reading Food Awareness & Loss 2022 AIMA Lecture Series

World Donkey Day 2022 AIMA Lecture Series

Register now!Donkeys are an integral part of the culture, the history and the future in numerous countries in the world. Donkeys (and mules parented by donkeys) have been, and still are, important for agricultural production and marketing as well as for transport. Donkey traditions have been encapsulated in museums around the world, but donkey technologies… Continue reading World Donkey Day 2022 AIMA Lecture Series

Filmjölk – The Swedish Yoghurt

In Sweden, many of us start the day with some yoghurt or fil for breakfast. The yoghurt and fil we eat nowadays is not the traditional homemade soured milk we ate before industrialization, but the products are closely related. Yoghurt as a product has only been produced in dairies in Sweden. In the time before… Continue reading Filmjölk – The Swedish Yoghurt

Networking for Draft Animals and Rare Breeds

We often mention the networks of members and friends that come together in the AIMA, many times in our past congresses, regularly by contributing to the newsletters and blog posts, or by giving advice to help us and…. our networking partners. This often makes for a feeling of a very small world, as well as… Continue reading Networking for Draft Animals and Rare Breeds

A horseman talks about his donkeys

From Luxemburg, Pit Schlechter sent a note about his two donkeys. “They are Zamorano-Leones, a Spanish breed that is indeed related to the Poitou donkeys (although the Poitou breeders avoid talking about it, even if they sometimes go and get stallions from there). It took me a very long time to learn how to communicate,… Continue reading A horseman talks about his donkeys

Astrid Masson’s Handbook on Harnessing Cattle

– especially based on experience in open-air museums. Astrid uses cows and their calves in her work at the Dahlem Open Air Museum in Berlin, perhaps one of the world’s only urban museums of its kind and it is indeed “open” – the public can walk through the entire farmland section without paying any entry… Continue reading Astrid Masson’s Handbook on Harnessing Cattle

When work is fun and learning at Howell Living History Farm

It’s winter, so take the time out to visit and help with the ice harvest, tap the maple trees to make maple sugar and take a sleigh ride or attend the Sugar Moon Dance (in March). Later in the year, you can “walk” the corn maze. Looking for experience with working animals? Then apply for… Continue reading When work is fun and learning at Howell Living History Farm

Sourdough or “sourfaux” Bread

Bread in a Healthy Food System The Real Bread Campaign is a part of the SUSTAIN alliance of organisations and communities working together for a better system of food, farming and fishing. SUSTAIN advocates food and agriculture policies and practices that enhance the health and welfare of people and animals, improve the working and living… Continue reading Sourdough or “sourfaux” Bread

The Blessing of Bread in Latvia

By Indra Cekstere. My interest in traditional Latvian bread-baking is rooted in my childhood, because my mother and grandmother on my father’s side both baked rye bread at home. At that time (in the mid-20th century) this was common in all of Latvia. As a child I was allowed to watch everything and to make… Continue reading The Blessing of Bread in Latvia

Rye bread is THE heritage bread in Estonia and here’s why

In the Estonian language, we usually translate the English word “bread” as “leib”. What we mean by “leib” is a loaf made primarily using rye flour. It might be whole-grain or refined, the loaves might have seeds or herbs, meat or nuts added. It might be made using traditional sourdough or yeast (like most breads… Continue reading Rye bread is THE heritage bread in Estonia and here’s why

Museum Education Fighting Food Waste in Estonia

The Estonian Rural Museums Foundation offers various educational programmes on the past, present, and future of agriculture and food. Learning about our national rye bread, potatoes, vegetables, poultry and eggs, bees and honey are just a few of the topics. This fall a new programme on the food cycle was introduced, targeting students from middle… Continue reading Museum Education Fighting Food Waste in Estonia

The industrialisation of butter production in the second half of the 19th century

– spontaneous skimming and skimmed milk machines. [AIMA member Fabien Knittel has proposed a brief article as a follow-up to publication of his books Agronomie et techniques laitières, Le cas des fruitières de l’Arc jurassien, 1790-1914 (Agronomy and dairy techniques, traditional mountain cheese-making in the Jura) and La Fabrique du lait. Europe occidentale (Moyen Âge-XXe… Continue reading The industrialisation of butter production in the second half of the 19th century

Cervoise (Barley Beer) – an Experimental Drink

at Malagne, Archéoparc de Rochefort (Rochefort ArcheoPark), Belgium. By Florence Garit, Scientific Collaborator, Malagne. The first-century CE Gallo-Roman villa located in Belgium on the site of Malagne, the Rochefort ArcheoPark, takes its visitors on a journey back in time (1). In addition to the visible remnants of two residential buildings, the domain also has reconstituted… Continue reading Cervoise (Barley Beer) – an Experimental Drink

Stained Glass Window at the MERL

Detail from a stained glass window depicting modern agriculture, Museum of English Rural Life, Reading, England, commissioned to commemorate the museum’s opening in 2005. Artist: Susan Moxley. The Museum of English Rural Life includes a large stained glass window in its collection. Artist Susan Moxley produced the work in the context of the MERL’s opening… Continue reading Stained Glass Window at the MERL

Home-built agricultural machines in Estonia during the Soviet era (1945-1991)

by Monika Levkin, researcher at the Estonian Agricultural Museum. EPM TAe 94 This tractor was built by Kaino Kriit in the early 1990s. Kaino worked as a tractor driver himself, he could also weld, and as a technically talented man began trying to build a garden tractor. The frame and axles were acquired at minimal… Continue reading Home-built agricultural machines in Estonia during the Soviet era (1945-1991)

Food Culture on Matkult.se

How the Institute for Language and Folklore brings Swedish cultural heritage to the digital audience. Åsa Holmgren & Marlene Hugoson, Institute of Language and Folklore (ISOF), Sweden. In the ISOF archives, extensive knowledge on traditional food culture has been and still is being collected. The themes extend from agriculture and fishing to the diet, food… Continue reading Food Culture on Matkult.se