Cyprus-Forum.com

[iceman]

U.N. peacekeepers have upset traditional wild asparagus harvesters on the ethnically divided island of Cyprus by preventing them from entering a buffer zone to gather the tasty shoots.

U.N. soldiers, restricting access to the buffer zone which splits the island from east to west after Cyprus was divided in a Turkish invasion in 1974 triggered by a Greek-inspired coup, say they are only doing their job, but residents are livid.

"This is unacceptable behaviour and I have demanded that action is taken," said Nicos Kotziambashis, leader of the Greek Cypriot village of Mammari which has been particularly hit by the U.N. ban. "The situation is explosive."

"It is not something we particularly like to do but unfortunately if the asparagus is found in the buffer zone the peacekeepers have to do their job, which is to regulate access to that part of the territory," a U.N. spokesman told Reuters.

Plentiful rains ensured a bumper crop of "aggrelia" this year exacerbating the standoff between soldiers and the army of locals who flock to pick asparagus, which tied in green and red burgundy bunches, sells for up to four euros at local markets.

Asparagus harvesting has never been for the faint-hearted with pickers crawling into dense thorn bushes to pick the delicate shoots from the undergrowth.

(Reporting by Michele Kambas)

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/22/20090227/to ... 1d00a.html

[bill cobbett]

Bleeding Partitionist UN, denying CYs (of both communities) from shooting wild asparagus.

[Oracle]

Seems like Cyprus' soil might be similar to that on Mars ... (or perhaps it's just the rusting landmines )


Mars suitable for growing asparagus

"I've come to the conclusion that the amazing thing about Mars is not that it's an alien world, but that in many aspects, like mineralogy, it's very much like Earth."

So much so, in fact, that Kounaves suggested future colonists might be able to use the Martian dirt ... "to grow asparagus very well".

While the alkalinity of the soil sample will please asparagonauts, it'll come as a blow to strawberry-loving interplanetary gardeners, since the fruit requires somewhat more acidity.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/science/space/