by Robin Van Loon | Sep 26, 2017 | Native Seeds Project
Opoka and his fellow farmers remember that the parish of Atiyaba in northern Uganda was once forested. This mosaic landscape of savannah-like grassland was punctuated by great swathes of tropical forest expanding out from river ways and swamps. Tree cover was the norm... 
by Robin Van Loon | Jun 27, 2017 | Native Seeds Project
This is the story of our world: For the first time ever, more than half of all people live in cities. Cities are simply something that didn’t exist for most of the human era – indeed, what we now mean by city has scarcely existed for a hundred years. For the first... 
by Robin Van Loon | Mar 24, 2017 | Native Seeds Project
We often think of landscapes as stagnant and unchanging. Covering vast terrain and spanning many countries, the Sahara Desert seems immutable and eternal, yet its boundaries shift like extremely slow-moving tides. This process of fluctuation is natural but has been... 
by Robin Van Loon | Apr 29, 2016 | Native Seeds Project
A quick glance at Northern Uganda and you might think that it’s another Serengeti. It is a home to rolling savannah, to vast horizons seen blurred through the dust-heavy air. Sunrises and sunsets are red giants rippling mirage-like, and indeed in the region’s... 
by Robin Van Loon | Nov 19, 2015 | Native Seeds Project
For most who know it, shea butter evokes exuberant health, youthful skin, and perhaps a faint trace of connection to the African continent. At home in many a bazar in Europe, Asia, and America, shea (Vitellaria paradoxa, family Sapotaceae) is also widely consumed in...