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General Discussion / Re: Jeez.
« Last post by Pete Bog on January 16, 2021, 02:18:40 AM » I'm concerned about the pesticide runoff into the ponds too. So I take my clues from the frog population. If there is plenty of evening croaking going on to indicate a robust and healthy frog population in the pond, I'll give it an OK to use grade. If there are very few or no frogs, I stay away.
We have a railroad track on the section of land I live on. (a section is one mile by one mile and contains 640 acres.) Through coincidence and circumstance, the South side is actively farmed with much fertilizer, herbicides and pesticides. The North side is partially WMA (Federal Wildlife Management Area) and partially enrolled in a CRP program. This is Conservation Reserve Program and the landowner is paid a small fee to let the land grow up in grasses, providing habitat for wildlife. On occasion, the fields can be cut for hay. But only after the normal nesting season is over. In the past 30 years, the land North of the railroad tracks has had no chemicals applied and the Frog population is great. On the South side, frogs are scarce or nonexistent.
I'll eat things from the North side of the tracks, but the South side ponds are only suitable for Ice Racing practice and sail boating in my opinion. I can't even take my dog down there in the summer because the green algae (poisonous) starts early. I suspect from the nutrients in the runoff fertilizer contributes to that.
One of the things that took up residence in the North pond, a few years back, was a family of beaver. They started helping themselves to the trees protecting the farmstead from the winter storms. They had to go. Long story short, I had heard that beaver tail was a very tasty treat. So, I cut off the tail, impaled it on a stick and roasted it over a campfire. The hide was supposed to puff up like popcorn and make it easy to skin. It did and worked great. Once the hide was off the tail, what I found was a tailbone running down the center, a few (very few) blood vessels and the rest was pure unadulterated fat. Translucent, not like hog fat or beef tallow. That took me by surprise. I thought I'd find some muscle in there that would fry up real nice, but no. Just fat.
Now if times were tough and energy was needed, I'd fry that up, render it out and eat the cracklins. But I wasn't that cold or hungry or adventurous. The dog and cats thought it was pretty tasty though. In hindsight, I should have tried a little Morton's Sugar Cure and tried to salt cure it like bacon.
As a side note, a couple years later, beaver moved into a different pond and started on the trees over there. I had been given some "Dave's Insanity Hot Sauce" as a gift, but it was way above my spicy hot tolerance. So I sprinkled it on the bark of the trees in jeopardy. End of the beaver problem. They packed up and left the next night and have never been back. Hope that tidbit of information helps someone with a beaver problem one day.
We have a railroad track on the section of land I live on. (a section is one mile by one mile and contains 640 acres.) Through coincidence and circumstance, the South side is actively farmed with much fertilizer, herbicides and pesticides. The North side is partially WMA (Federal Wildlife Management Area) and partially enrolled in a CRP program. This is Conservation Reserve Program and the landowner is paid a small fee to let the land grow up in grasses, providing habitat for wildlife. On occasion, the fields can be cut for hay. But only after the normal nesting season is over. In the past 30 years, the land North of the railroad tracks has had no chemicals applied and the Frog population is great. On the South side, frogs are scarce or nonexistent.
I'll eat things from the North side of the tracks, but the South side ponds are only suitable for Ice Racing practice and sail boating in my opinion. I can't even take my dog down there in the summer because the green algae (poisonous) starts early. I suspect from the nutrients in the runoff fertilizer contributes to that.
One of the things that took up residence in the North pond, a few years back, was a family of beaver. They started helping themselves to the trees protecting the farmstead from the winter storms. They had to go. Long story short, I had heard that beaver tail was a very tasty treat. So, I cut off the tail, impaled it on a stick and roasted it over a campfire. The hide was supposed to puff up like popcorn and make it easy to skin. It did and worked great. Once the hide was off the tail, what I found was a tailbone running down the center, a few (very few) blood vessels and the rest was pure unadulterated fat. Translucent, not like hog fat or beef tallow. That took me by surprise. I thought I'd find some muscle in there that would fry up real nice, but no. Just fat.
Now if times were tough and energy was needed, I'd fry that up, render it out and eat the cracklins. But I wasn't that cold or hungry or adventurous. The dog and cats thought it was pretty tasty though. In hindsight, I should have tried a little Morton's Sugar Cure and tried to salt cure it like bacon.
As a side note, a couple years later, beaver moved into a different pond and started on the trees over there. I had been given some "Dave's Insanity Hot Sauce" as a gift, but it was way above my spicy hot tolerance. So I sprinkled it on the bark of the trees in jeopardy. End of the beaver problem. They packed up and left the next night and have never been back. Hope that tidbit of information helps someone with a beaver problem one day.
It sounded like a viable use for part of the plant at a time of the year when some of the other parts of the plant were not edible.......so, I did a google search and found this....