Let's visit on the Porch II (Columbus: neighbourhood, farm, Persian)

[MTSilvertip]

Originally Posted by Reziac

I'm wondering if anyone raises wild-stock turkeys as domestic eatin' birds... seems to me they'd adapt easily. Canadian geese sure do, given the slightest encouragement.

Actually, there are a lot of folks raising wild strain turkeys these days.
They are now called Heritage stock as the modern domestic whites can no longer reproduce on their own but have to be artificially inseminated due to breeding to the point that the birds can actually get to large and heavy to breed on their own.

The heritage birds have a lot more dark meat, much leaner than domestics, and don't get as large.

Bourbon Reds are one of the oldest varieties.
Bronze turkeys are the prettiest, and some varieties are still capable of breeding, but most of the modern birds you buy at the feed store can't. They aren't sterile, just mutated to where they are not viable as a breed without human assistance.

Remember that turkeys are a new world bird and were introduced to Europe, so all turkeys were originally wild strain at one time.

My Mother has raised turkeys for years, with some amazing results.
My Father likes them because they will shift for themselves and keep the grasshoppers in check. They produce a lot of meat for little investment, and a home raised turkey tastes nothing like the silcon substitute they sell in the grocery stores.
Raising your own animals for meat or hunting for it, Having your own milk cow for real butter and milk and cream, and even cheese if you are really ambitious, raising your own vegetables or harvesting wild will really spoil you to the point you can hardly eat the prepackaged garbage you get in a fast food place.
It is more work, but so much better.

[ElkHunter]

Last spring we had a turkey show up. Wild type, but evidentally somebody around here had been feeding it. When it first showed up I was out feeding the horses and it walked right up to me about 10 ft away. It followed me from the lean too (baled hay is stored) and then followed me over and watched me feed the horses. Then it followed me back when I put the wheel borrow away.

It did this about a week straight so I started throwing out a handful of grain. After about 3 weeks it followed me to the freezer. We were going to cook it up at Thanksgiving but both of us had plans in town. So it's still in the freezer.

[Wurzig]

Originally Posted by montygarlic

Yeah! I remember that! I was the one that smelled heavily of garlic.



Shows and travel get old and expensive quickly. I did a couple food shows out East (think NYC) for the quick hits of 'big population'. That worked until our distributor there went belly-up.

I love doing shows, but hate the travel, prep, tear-down and expense. I'm pretty choosey in doing them anymore.

Gotta do a presentation to the folks at the U of M food service the day-after-tomorrow. Wish me luck.

mg

Why don't you try to sell it to the book store and I'll have my kid bring one to me when she flies home..... I bought my first huckleberry jam there in August, so why not some Montana bbq sauce?

[Wurzig]

Originally Posted by Reziac

Most westerners probably have some Hebrew ancestors back 2 or 3 thousand years, so we might all claim to be just a tiny bit Jewish I only buy Kosher hotdogs and Polish sausage, it's always better quality with more real meat in 'em. I like Hebrew National brand best of those I've tried, tho I imagine there are others as good or better that I don't know about.

Anyone else think hotdogs are best eaten fresh out of the freezer?

I only buy Hebrew National....nothing else. I buy them on sale and freeze them, but let them thaw in a vegetable bin before we eat them.....we mostly bbq them......

[Wurzig]

Originally Posted by Reziac

True of any predator... if it's present, then it is being fed by a prey population, even if you DON'T see that. Spiders in your house means there are bugs to eat (which you don't see cuz the spiders eat 'em), and so on.

Yea, they eat the ants in my house.......<sigh>

[Wurzig]

Dang, you guys:

Hope you are laying (or should that be lying??), low until you heal, EH!

Hope you and Katie are not passing any more stones or have gotten hit by any more mouse traps, R!

And I hope nobody else's car breaks down this coming week!

[Rickers]

Here are some of my old lops. I want to be settled and start raising these tasty things again. I had to force them to mate.
The female was very good at hiding her business end firmly protected in the corner of the hutch.

http://lh4.ggpht.com/_9a8nDInPVGE/TPx78ppVwJI/AAAAAAAAIIw/fuo__rTdXpQ/s512/Lop%20Ear-1.jpg (broken link)

I took a photo of a few icicles hanging from our roof the other day. ~♥~
http://lh4.ggpht.com/_9a8nDInPVGE/TPxsQkFZS0I/AAAAAAAAIIQ/BBkWjYuLc-E/s512/IMG_2010-1.JPG (broken link)

[Walter Greenspan]

Originally Posted by Wurzig

I only buy Hebrew National....nothing else. I buy them on sale and freeze them, but let them thaw in a vegetable bin before we eat them.....we mostly bbq them......

I get mine at SAM's; freeze them, too; but, then par boil and broil them, before putting them in a hot dog bun (actually, a piece of French bread cut in the shape of a hot dog bun) with spicy brown mustard and sauerkraut.

[Walter Greenspan]

The 2010-11 college football bowl season starts December 18 with BYU vs. UTEP in the New Mexico Bowl in Albuquerque, N.M., and ends January 10 with Oregon vs. Auburn in the Tostitos BCS National Championship Game in Glendale, Ariz.

Here's the complete schedule of the 35 college football bowls.

[ElkHunter]

Hotdogs????

I buy those excellent Hotdogs called, "Whichever ones are on sale." Usually for a dollar a pack. Don't much care what's in them.

I do set aside the really good ones for when company comes. The really good ones are the ones marked "80% known parts".

Bad hoar frost here this am. Was a Dense Fog Advisory last night but that usually doesn't mean what we got. Frost is so heavy the tree branches are hanging.

Plumbing was froze up this morning. Darn weather guessers said "Low of 12". Yeah, it was 12 alright, but they had a plus sign in front of their number, we had a minus sign in front of ours. So stupid me didn't leave the water drip because even 0 is not a problem. Didn't think they'd be that far off.