Maggie: Guayule conference at MLK Annexe, March 24 2016

Serge (Palu) gave a very informative conference about guayule rubber and comparisons with hevea rubber at the MLK annex on Thursday evening, 24 March.  It was nice that members of BCA (and FOAL?) were able to join members of AWG and their husbands for the event, and one member of BCA remarked that we  should now be able to rise to the challenge of any quiz night questions about either natural rubber.   It is quite impressive that AWG, and now FAWCO, thanks to the Development Grant that was awarded to the project we proposed in South Africa (Growing Guayule to Fight AIDS and Provide Bio-fuel, a/k/a Condoms, Cash, and Cooking Fuel) are involved at the ground floor of this new technology dealing with the latex of the future.

During the course of the talk, Serge mentioned several times the use of female American labor to plant guayule, and specifically cited Peggy Rig and Maggie as helping to plant the first guayule plants in the Sup-Agro fields near the CIRAD offices.  He also said that the guayule fields near Lansargues were featured in a FR3 national news program in December, and Arte has proposed making a film about the guayule research.  

After the talk, some people mentioned that they would be interested in visiting the guayule fields near Lansargues, so perhaps that is an activity that can be arranged with the Garden Group.  May would be the optimal month.

Since all the SEASON cookbooks have been sold, AWG had to find another gift for the guest speaker, and Mariannick handled the task brilliantly.  While she and Maggie were working on the accounts for the Celtic Evening on Tuesday, she mentioned that she wanted to buy a bottle of whisky for her ‘other half’ for his birthday, and asked Maggie if she could recommend a whisky that could be purchased at Le Flacon, one of our sponsors for the Thanksgiving raffle.  Maggie was happy to oblige.  Little did she know that she would be carrying the bottle home on Thursday night, and enjoying it with HER ‘other half.’

When Mary-Catherine presented the bottle of whisky to Serge, she mentioned that some of the people in the room might have seen him in Clapiers the previous Saturday night, in a skirt.  Maggie noted that it’s called a kilt, but Mary-Catherine said, “No matter how you look at it, it’s a skirt,” and wondered if people had asked Serge whether he was wearing anything under it.  Maggie then repeated the Scottish joke:  The reply to the question “Is anything worn under the kilt?” is “There’s nothing worn under the kilt.  Everything is in fine and perfect working order.”

Serge presented both AWG and BCA with copies of a DVD about guayule, which he produced with colleagues at CIRAD.  He also recommended the book Growing American Rubber, by Mark  R. Finlay (no relation to Mary-Catherine, whose mother’s name is Finlay) and the translation into French, Guayule et autres plantes à caoutchouc – De la saga d’hier à l’industrie de demain?, with its beautiful cover photo of a guayule plant taken by no other than Maggie.  (credits on the back of the book, although you have to open it to find Serge’s name – if anyone would like to buy a copy of the French translation, contact Maggie)

The evening ended with an apéro, which was enjoyed by all, before we had to be cleared out of the hall.

Photo credits:  Maggie