Mariani Nut Company (Yolo County)

Since cow milk isn't really necessary for an adult diet, as it was intended by nature in order to help a calf to gain a ton or two, the various almond, walnut, and other "milks" can work fine for diet and for recipes that ask for milk. Also, cow milk has a lot of sugar; 13 grams per cup on one label that I looked at recently. Last week I purchased some walnut milk, which has only 2 grams of sugar and is not a GMO food. I didn't even look at the producer, which I saw today was the Mariani Nut Company (or Mariani Family Orchards) in Winters, California; founded in 1906.

From the container/label:

Meet the family

For five generations, the Marianis have been farming the land in California. Enjoy our family's labor of love any time of the day for a simply better way to live the good life.

I would venture a guess that the Mariani family, who were originally from Croatia, was either "Istrian Italian" or "Dalmatian Italian." For example, the famous race car driver Mario Andretti was born in Montona, Italy; however this town is now part of Croatia. There were a lot of Venetians who had lived in those regions going back centuries, particularly in Istria. I don't claim to know who has the better irredentist claim to Trieste or Istria, but it has long been in intellectual and historical dispute. In any case, the Mariani family has an interesting history: Our Family Story. There has also historically been a large Croatian-American population in San Francisco and the greater bay. The Mariani Nut Company is located in Yolo County, east of Napa County and north of Solano County. I purchased the "Original Walnutmilk" at Safeway.

Mariani.com

Mariani Nut Company (facebook)

 

 

*************************

I'm backdating this from October 21. I'm not going to be posting much for perhaps five or six months, as my mother's passing has taken an unexpected legal turn. Things are very uncertain for me as of now, and I have to address it.

.

"Veltha ruin" - Planting our flag

"Veltha ruin" - Planting our flag

Padanian American League flag


Voltumna (Veltha)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voltumna

In Etruscan mythology, Voltumna or Veltha was the chthonic (earth) deity, who became the supreme god of the Etruscan pantheon, the deus Etruriae princeps, according to Varro. Voltumna's cult was centered in Volsini (modern-day Orvieto) a polis of the Etruscan Civilization of northwest Italy.

The bond of the twelve Etruscan populi was renewed annually at the sacred grove of Fanum Voltumnae, the sanctuary of Voltumnus sited near Volsinii (present day Bolsena), which was mentioned by Livy. At the Fanum Voltumnae ludi were held, the precise nature of which, whether athletic or artistic, is unknown.


Fanum Voltumnae
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fanum_Voltumnae

The Fanum Voltumnae, or shrine of Voltumna, was the chief sanctuary of the Etruscans: fanum means a sacred place, a much broader notion than a single temple. Numerous sources refer to a league of the "Twelve Peoples" (lucumonies) of Etruria, formed for religious purposes but evidently having some political functions. The Etruscan league of twelve city-states met annually at the Fanum, located in a place chosen as omphalos (sacred navel), the geographical and spiritual centre of the whole Etruscan nation. Each spring political and religious leaders from the cities would meet to discuss military campaigns and civic affairs and pray to their common gods. Chief amongst these was Voltumna (or Veltha), possibly state god of the Etruria.


Sacred grove
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sacred_grove

A sacred grove or sacred woods are any grove of trees of special religious importance to a particular culture. Sacred groves were most prominent in the Ancient Near East and prehistoric Europe, but feature in various cultures throughout the world.


[Music: Piano instrumental version of 'Battle Hymn of the Republic' by Allen Dale
http://www.youtube.com/user/allendale1962?feature=watch

Flute instrumental version of 'Brandy' by Blue Train
http://www.youtube.com/user/TwainsBlues?feature=watch

Piano instrumental version of 'Delta Dawn' by Allen Dale]

.

About this blog

This blog has taken a number of different directions since it's founding, and they need to be defined a little bit for clarification. It started as the main mode of communication from the PAL to the community at large, which it remains. It's a way to take many different related subjects, past and present, and tackle them at random. Also, rather than try to constantly maintain a lot of related links, we can just post links at will. It serves as something of a "think tank" for study and future plans.

The Bresciani nel Mondo blog, which changed over to the Lombardian-American blog at some point, was later just merged together with this one. Therefore, there was a focus on those related issues and subjects. Those plans discussed are now on hold.

We see pagan traditions as "a history" first, and have focused a lot of attention to those related subjects. However, we recognize the need to focus on Christian/Catholic related subjects and history. Also, there is a tremendous area of study of Etruscan/Tuscan and Umbrian history. If you wish to write about any related subject, just contact us. If it's a longer work, or continuous study, it might be a good idea to break it down into parts. Also, we would like to encourage others to make videos about aspects of our history.

In conclusion, this blog has taken a number of different directions, not always following a consistent pattern. There are many subjects that would be great to keep focusing on, but we haven't yet gotten back to them. In a few instances, there have been contradictory directions. However, that gets back to the "think tank concept." Weighing and jockeying around facts, ideas, and information in order to decide on a pragmatic approach.

Padanian-American and Padanoamericano

The term "Padanian-American" is used to describe the extremely marginalized Northern Italian-descended people of Northern California and other small pockets of the United States of America. The proper term for "Padanian" in Italian is "Padano." The proper term for "Italian-American" in Italian is Italoamericano. Therefore, clearly "Padanoamericano" would be the coined Italian term in reference to anything Padanian-American.

I have communicated with people in Northern Italy, and they seem totally unaware of over one million Northern Italian-descended Californians. There is a small portion who have heard of North Beach. When Italy was competing in the World Cup in 2006, there were a sizable number of Italian nationals in North Beach. A lot of local Italians mingled with them for those weeks. Very interesting.

I've noticed that a few groups claim certain small areas as their neighborhoods, often in now unpleasant environments. I think the bar needs to be raised. Since we've been so geographically deconstructed, I think that we should just consider the entire Bay Area as our "hood." It's time to think on a bigger scale. There are some who I believe have a hold on us, and unintentionally are holding us back now. You know what I mean. You look at the board of directors and every one is male, white haired, and unapproachable. As a friend of mine once told me in reference to them: "They think they're old bad-asses," which pretty much hits the nail right on the head. Often the "young guy" of the group is 50. That's what we have leading us, and it's not working anymore. Unique and changing problems cannot be addressed in this manner.

There needs to be a complete paradigm shift soon. It's perfectly fine to have a "men's club," but that should be a completely separate endeavor. And to finish this entry, and it bears repeating, if people are a cross in heritage between the historically northern peoples (Ligurians, Tuscans, Piemontese, Lombardians, Venetians, etc.) and those of Sicily and Southern Italy, they may consider themselves Padanian-Americans.