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A fortune teller who used asparagus to predict England winning the Cricket World Cup says the US president is in for a rocky 2020. Jemima Packington interprets upcoming world events by chucking Vale of Evesham asparagus tips in the air and ‘reading’ how they land. The world’s only ‘Asparamancer’ thinks Donald Trump will be re-elected this year, but will be impeached again and kicked out of office. Last year Jemima, also known as Mystic Veg, correctly predicted a year of extreme temperatures across the globe. She thinks climate change will take centre stage again in 2020 but that more countries...

NASA has focused its vegetable-growing efforts on lettuce, which astronauts tend to while they live on the International Space Station. The orbiting laboratory poses different challenges than the Red Planet's surface, however, and crops that Mars visitors can expect to rely on may not be to everyone's taste. "In fact, in this particular area the soils are more alkaline so this would be OK for growing asparagus and beans and not potatoes," NASA chief scientist Jim Green said during a presentation held here last week as part of the International Astronautical Congress of soil studied by NASA's Curiosity rover. However...

Jemima Packington, 63, is the world’s only Asparamancer and claims she can peer into the future by tossing the veg in the air and interpreting how the spears land. She predicts that 2019 will see that extreme temperature will become a norm and well-known British businesses will fold. She also says that despite a global recession, fears over the impact Brexit will have on the British economy will be largely unfounded. Jemima believes the reality TV show Big Brother will also return to our screens after it aired its final series in November. She also says it will be a...

If you’ve ever noticed a strange, not-entirely-pleasant scent coming from your urine after you eat asparagus, you’re definitely not alone. Distinguished thinkers as varied as Scottish mathematician and physician John Arbuthnot (who wrote in a 1731 book that “asparagus…affects the urine with a foetid smell”) and Marcel Proust (who wrote how the vegetable “transforms my chamber-pot into a flask of perfume”) have commented on the phenomenon. Even Benjamin Franklin took note, stating in a 1781 letter to the Royal Academy of Brussels that “A few Stems of Asparagus eaten, shall give our Urine a disagreable Odour” (he was trying to...

Asparagus is so venerated in Worcester that it has been blessed in a special ceremony in the city's cathedral. But the thanksgiving service celebrating the local crop has been criticised by other Anglicans who have called it "absurd". The bizarre Sunday evensong service was defended by the cathedral's Precentor, who said the vegetable was "a sign of the abundant provision and generosity of God".

One of the best dishes that my husband makes is a ‘Chicken Primavera’ pasta dish, with asparagus. This recipe calls for Vermouth, which I don’t like very much; so we use a dry white wine instead; and you don’t have to use Fettuccine - it’s also nice with little shells or any other whimsical pasta. I think I originally found this in one of those little recipe books that they place at the supermarket checkout to lure you into an impulse purchase. I’ve been ‘impulsed’ many times, and have found some very nice recipes in those pamphlets ;-) Chicken Primavera...

For ‘foodies’ – and a lot of vegetable gardeners - one of the most welcome harbingers of warm weather and the growing season is the Asparagus. This recipe for ‘Asparagus Tart’ comes from the website of the Pioneer Woman, Ree Drummond, and it's as easy as - (actually easier than) - pie!: http://thepioneerwoman.com/food-and-friends/3-ingredient-asparagus-tart/But I think my favorite, is just Roasted Asparagus (which is also my favorite way with Brussels Sprouts, in a different season). My husband makes this often, with just olive oil, salt and pepper; but I like the addition of the Parmesan Cheese: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/parmesan-roasted-asparagus-recipe-JT

This week, shoppers at Whole Foods in Brentwood, California spotted the new health drink, priced at $5.99 (£3.85) per bottle on the shelves. For just under four pounds, you got a bottle filled with water and three stalks of asparagus. Was this the new maple water? Could Whole Foods get any more ridiculous? Are they becoming a parody of themselves? There were so many questions. Alerted by bemused customers on Twitter, Eater called the store to investigate. They were initially told by an employee that the product was indeed new to the store. ‘We’ve had them on the shelf for...

"I'll take 'Origin Of City Names' for 500, Alex." "The Saint that Saint Louis is named after." Beepbeepbeep "Harry Reid!" "What is Las Vegas, Alex?" "No, it's not Las Vegas." Beepbeepbeep "Nancy Pelosi!" "What is California, Alex?" "No, Nancy, California is a state. It's not a city." Beepbeepbeep "Joe Biden!" "What is orange, Alex?" "..........Honestly? You think there is a Saint Orange, Joe?" Beepbeepbeep "What is yes, Alex.?" "Joe, take your thumb off the buzzer." Beepbeepbeep "What is no, Alex?" "OK, Harry. Your thumb off the buzzer, too. I've never seen so many idiots." Beepbeepbeep "What is The State Department,...

After getting grilled at the House Judiciary Committee hearing, Attorney General Eric Holder wished one of his outspoken critics “good luck with your asparagus.” It was a not-so-subtle dig at Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Texas, inspired by the congressman’s flub last year when he warned Holder not to “cast aspersions on my asparagus.” Holder has had a testy relationship with several Republican lawmakers since the Republican-led House held him in contempt of Congress two years ago for failing to turn over certain documents tied to the Fast and Furious scandal involving botched firearms sting operations, despite a congressional subpoena seeking those...

UNIVERSITY CITY • A dried-out batch of asparagus has touched off a debate about racial discrimination, grocery stores and the role of citizen-led commissions. It started in May when resident David Olander was perusing the produce section of the University City Schnucks. He noticed the asparagus weren’t resting in a tray of water. “It was just sitting there dried out,” said Olander, a member of the city’s human relations commission. Olander summoned an assistant manager, and then he asked the question: Did the quality of the asparagus have any relationship to the store’s location in a black neighborhood?

Here's another reason to eat asparagus, in case you were looking for one. Researchers at the Kagawa Nutrition University in Japan fed a diet consisting of 5 percent asparagus to rats with high blood pressure. As they report in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, published online on May 30, after 10 weeks, the rats on the asparagus diet had lower blood pressure than the ones fed a standard rat diet without asparagus. The rats on the asparagus diet also had less protein in their urine, a sign of a healthier kidney. And they had less activity of ACE,...

It's a cold, cloudy day with plenty of snow on the ground. Not much good for gardening, but the kind of day when you want to put a stock pot on the back burner, and turn on the oven to bake bread, casseroles, and/or roasts. All to make you warm inside and out.LOL I have been reviewing some of the heirloom grains this week and need to narrow the list down to 2 or 3 that I will order. Teff and Quinoa are 2 that may make the cut. I will be planting some crimson clover this week or next...

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...

The College of William & Mary in Virginia is looking for a few good mascot ideas. One suggestion? An asparagus stalk. More than 400 nominations have been submitted to the 15-member William & Mary Mascot Search Committee since April 1. On Monday a headline in The (Norfolk) Virginian-Pilot boldly asked, "Wanted: William & Mary mascot. Got an idea?" "It's been fun," Susan T. Evans, a committee member who created the online communities to open up the process, told the Virginian-Pilot. "We have a lot of great options to consider." More than half of the suggestion have come from William &...

WILLIAMSBURG, Va. - The College of William & Mary in Virginia is looking for a mascot and ideas have ranged from a feathered horse to an asparagus stalk. The school said Monday more than 400 nominations have been submitted. William & Mary for decades was known as the Indians, but the school changed its nickname to Tribe in the 1980s. The NCAA ruled in 2006 that the college could keep the Tribe nickname but its feathered logo was demeaning to Native Americans and had to go. The school's athletic teams will still be called the Tribe, but the college wants...

This is the section of the Farm bill that just passed the Senate that provides $30,000,000 in taxpayer money to Asparagus growers. S.2302 Food and Energy Security Act of 2007 SEC. 1852. MARKET LOSS ASSISTANCE FOR ASPARAGUS PRODUCERS. (a) In General- As soon as practicable after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall make payments to producers of the 2007 crop of asparagus for market loss resulting from imports during the 2004 through 2007 crop years. (b) Payment Rate- The payment rate for a payment under this section shall be based on the reduction in revenue received...

EUROPE'S largest legal annual migration is under way with university professors joining roadsweepers and the jobless to pour into Germany from eastern Europe to pick asparagus.People come in their tens of thousands from Poland and the Czech Republic for two-months of plucking that which Germans love to see on their dinner tables, but of whose harvest they want no part. Once again the German government is throwing money at the nation's five million jobless, trying to persuade and cajole them into working for a change. But asparagus-picking is one job they refuse to do. The asparagus spring harvest is again...

BRANSON — In the wake of Big Idea Productions' bankruptcy and sale to new owner Classic Media, VeggieTales characters are struggling to define their post-Big Idea lives. In a modest but clean condominium in Branson, Mo., Bob the Tomato sits on a rented couch and nibbles cheese curls. The window overlooks the busy thoroughfare jammed with tourist traffic. Bob's chin shows three days of stubble, his eyes the emotional scars of a recent bout with depression, but tonight he'll be performing again for the first time since Jonah — A VeggieTales Movie. After bouncing around the country for the past...

Cyrus the Great Cylinder, The First Charter of Human Rights By 546 BCE, Cyrus had defeated Croesus, the Lydian king of fabled wealth, and had secured control of the Aegean coast of Asia Minor, Armenia, and the Greek colonies along the Levant. Moving east, he took Parthia (land of the Arsacids, not to be confused with Parsa, which was to the southwest), Chorasmis, and Bactria. He besieged and captured Babylon in 539 and released the Jews who had been held captive there, thus earning his immortalization in the Book of Isaiah. When he died in 529, Cyrus's kingdom extended as...