Posted on 03/11/2009 9:47:53 AM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin
Overwhelming all of them are the major North American droughts that occur on a roughly 21/22 year cycle, and each time in roughly a different quadrant of "flyover country" (Great Plains states, Midwest, Panhandle, and Centrla South). When those happen, the local things just get pushed aside and the drought happens even if it's supposed to be a rainy year.
China is known to have a similar cycle.
What we have this time is an "out of turn" situation. Back in the 1990s, the drought cycle skipped a beat and happened 11/12 years after the 1987 drought in the MidAtlantic and Lower Midwest.
Lots of folks got excited about it because it fit into a Global Warming theory they had.
Obviously it didn't mean anything more than the time-line was getting broken up, which always happens anyway ~ this stuff is more art than precise prediction.
What we do have, though, is a population of 5 billion peasants scattered rather evenly all over the world, and they know what they see, taste, touch and feel, and this year, building on their rememrance of $20 a bag rice last year, they KNOW we are in a drought!
LOL.
I had this dream about a week ago — one of those freaky dreams that seem real, where one wakes up still dreaming.
I dreamed I planted the hill below my house with native grasses, and let it grow up unmowed (am convinced this doesn’t need mowing anyway). And it became populated with quail, a few grouse. I dreamed my English setter was in a perpetual pointing position, and I went down there and harvested some of the quail for the table.
I live on top of a huge ridge in Tennessee (high elevation). It is mostly limestone rock and has been logged over many times (although we still have some old trees).
It is not conducive to the native quail and grouse species that inhabited it orginally. And of course, the fescue long overtook any native grasses here.
Summer before last, my neighbor logged his 100 acres, and I was jumping with joy. I figure the successional growth will give me lots of rabbits, quail and other species that thrive in these conditions.
I see a lot of hawks and owls, so I figure there is something on the ground worth eating. It’s a good sign to me, and I really want to plant the native grasses. I have so many deer the grass might not make it past the seedling stage, and I can’t fence it, but I am going to try it. Plus, next year, I’ll help my brother thin out the deer.
I don’t know how you could raise quail in a suburban area. I am just glad I am in the country and nobody is around to tell me what I can/can’t do. I know you can order quail through the mail, and I’d hoard these if I lived in a city.
Order them and eat them, pickle their eggs. I love pickled quail eggs.
Square pegs and round holes separate reality from imagination; bullshit is the lubricant to combine them.
Bunny farm in the basement?
Bear in mind that the climate-control measures being played with by various governments have probably upset weather patterns more than global warming ever has.
In preparation for the 2008 Olympics China seeded clouds with a chemical that would prevent it from raining. They wanted even the weather to look good to the foreign press.
About a month or so ago I read that the drought in one of the regions in China was severe enough that people were dying of starvation, and the Chinese government was preparing to seed the clouds there with chemicals that would force it to rain.
Those couldn’t POSSIBLY be related though, could they?
/s
“I don’t know how you could raise quail in a suburban area.”
The latest issue of Backwoods Home had an article on just that. It doesn’t look like that article is available online, but here’s the link to the issue:
http://www.backwoodshome.com/current_issue.html
Excellent article, I will link to it on the survival thread.
Good news for the children and families.
Our ancestors knew them well ~
Bunny farm in the basement ~ lot of “sh|+” shoveling ~ you gotta’ take care of the pellets. Read up on this first.
TWRA tried a quail reintroduction but things have changed a lot since the days they used to fly free in Tennessee.
The fescue replacing the native grasses are a big factor but also modern “Clean Farming” had a large effect.
Back in the day farming equipment was not as efficient as today. Tractors cut more corners and plowed further away from tree lines and ditches. This left long strips of prime habitat for quail. Today batwing bushhogs and modern disk sets can turn earth right up to a field edge and the use of herbicides prevents the growth of grasses that used to reseed themselves each spring but at a loss of crops.
LIke Girlangler said, you can order eggs and raise quail. www.mcmurrayhatchery.com is one source. I buy my Chickens form them and can vouch for their reliability and service.
http://www.mcmurrayhatchery.com/category/quail_eggs.html
Now they will find a way to tax it.
I’m a BYC member :)
There’s a lot of good info there. I have a dozen eggs in my “Darth Bator” now. They are due on the 30th.
A person can quietly keep hens in a residential district without annoying the neighbors if they don’t try to house roosters. Hens are quiet and easy to maintain.
Also, for meat purposes, Rabbits have the most efficient feed conversion ratio of just about any animal and they multiply like crazy. Dollar for Dollar, rabbits are a great “Surviving socialism” solution and healthy meat source.
I have read up on it. For several years. A well-designed hutch should be easy to clean. Have a removable tray at the bottom lined with newspapers. To clean, pull out try, roll up old paper, lay out fresh paper, replace tray, repeat.
The poopy paper can be burned or composted.
Thanks, Granny! :)
Wish I liked rabbit. I have a zillion of them around here to hunt; the dogs scared up two on our walk this evening, and I just saw two more fat ones under the bird feeder. I could shoot ‘em out the window if I could acquire a taste for them.
Guess I haven’t been hungry enough, yet. :)
I have thought about keeping Angora Rabbits for the fur; they’d be more like pets, though they’d be penned in the pole barn. My young Yellow Lab would have a hard time understanding that she can chase the free rabbits, but not the ones Mom keeps caged up for her, LOL!
I also want a milk cow. If things keep on going my way, I’ll have one. Husband is dragging his feet. He says I can have goats, but I hate goats. (Childhood of raising goats; smelly, evil creatures!)
I vouch for McMurray Hatchery, too. I’ve raised up close to 300 hens in the past 10 years, and they have always given me healthy, sturdy, disease-free chicks. And they’re so CUTE! :)
Not adding any new ones this year; of the 50 I did last year, I only lost ONE this winter, and she was a really old hen.
Got three ‘accidental roosters’ that are finding their way into my stew pot in a few weeks, though. ;)
Nothing like her spaghetti that had wild mushrooms incorporated in the sauce.
I am so sorry I didn't listen to her, how to can, how to preserve, how to dry meat.
I leaned how to butcher animals(a good thing for survival)but disregarded the rest as "womans work". As you have probably figured out by now I am a male.
One of my biggest regrets of my life is that I did not pay attention to this woman who was a fountain of knowledge of how to survive without modern machines or government intervention!
However I am trying to relearn the things her and my aunts knew how to do without thinking about it!
Raised chickens when I was a child, raised beef also, along with goats(great tasting meat regardless of what you may have heard). Mainly though the goats were for milk, the hens were for eggs but we did raise a certain amount for food. The beef was always for food.
I was blessed with two wonderful Grandma’s. One was a Farm Gal and taught me all about growing food, butchering, baking bread, sewing, canning, making jelly & pies, etc. I spent a lot of time with her when I was growing up because Mom worked while Dad was in college and working his apprenticeships. I am from 100% Blue Collar stock. :)
My City Grandma taught me all about the arts; we’d go to movies and the theater, fancy restaurants, art exhibits, etc. I had a very well-rounded childhood. She also grew prize-winning flowers for the State Fair, so I learned that, too. My Gladiolus are without compare. :)
It’s never too late to learn new skills! Take a look at these books for starters:
Storey’s Basic Country Skills
The Encyclopedia of Country Living
The Foxfire books (if you can find them; they’re getting rare)
The other day, for $2, I found a Reader’s Digest book, ‘Back to Basics’ from the 1980’s. I don’t THINK I’ll do any blacksmithing or cobble any shoes in the near future, but it’s nice to know I can learn if I have to, LOL!
Learn to sew on a button and replace a zipper, while you’re at it. And why not try your hand at knitting? Lots of men knit. You can make your own socks, mittens, scarves and hats at the very least. And it’s relaxing. :) (I crochet; want to learn to knit.)
*SIGH* I love my job (I manage a Garden Center), but I miss being home and having the time to do all of that stuff. Not much longer before Husband makes his first million and I can work at home again for good! :)
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