Processing the Harvest

So lashing rain this morning and my wife wanted to drive my truck to work, she leaves just as the sky is starting dawn light, but its battery was dead. Her car has idiosyncrasies, being a fabric topped, 18 year old thing - like the roof and windows leak buckets of rain, the defroster, heater, air-conditioning, speedometer do not work; the radio and all else but breaks, outside lights, steering, clutch, transmission, and engine do not work either - and the windows do not roll up and down unless two people are working on them together, one from the inside, one outside the car. And the seats cannot move forward and back and the drivers side door hinge rusted through. But it has been very reliable otherwise - sea air. You should have heard the 27 phone calls I got wile trying to sleep as she ranted about it all - and then her work truck had totally fogged windows and they would not clear up till the engine was fully warmed so that got her calling me to yell about too.

And now she is off driving her rig again for her afternoon run, and I just took a call for her from the guy who has the goat we would buy, but he will not let me shoot it at his place so we have not bought it, and he wants her to go pick all the okra she wants in exchange for 18 crabs. I will let her know and we may be off to pick okra. I use so much in my gumbo, seafood, soups that freezing some would be excellent. He wants the crabs for his gumbo too, the native dish here, and I will take him 18 crabs and a pack of frozen shrimp too.

But here is a 14 second video from yesterday's shrimping attempt - when I spot the eagle we saw the last time out, but now it is facing us on its perch I see it is an osprey instead (sounds like I call it an ostrich, but I say osprey really.) We have tons of ospreys, but only rare eagle sightings, although they are around.



And I have just made my second batch of pressure cooker crème caramel in two days, I am getting very good, and fast, at it, and make more of the caramelized sugar, and use a bunch of unsweetened coconut threads in it too - wonderful!

 

Did you dry any fish Colne? Mine are excellent

 

Fried okra are the main side dish here - at any place that sells fried chicken. Here in The South there are loads of gas stations where hot food of the low kind is sold. At the counter where you pay for your gas, beside it, will be a big hot table behind glass with corn dogs, fried burritos, always their own fried chicken (which is usually excellent) pizza-pockets, jalapenos stuffed with cream cheese , breaded, and fried - that sort of stuff; and always French fries and fried okra. Any place which sells frozen foods will have bags of okra rolled in cornmeal, fried, and frozen - to be heated in the oven. It is in our top junk foods.

Then there is boiled peanuts. Any open air place with lots of people there will be a trailer with a huge kettle of salted water boiling peanuts - in the shell and you shell them and eat as you walk about. Which is an interesting thing - Jimmy Carter, when a young boy, on his peanut farm, would boil a huge vat of peanuts over wood he would fell and chop every Friday night (this was the depression) and sell them around town from his bicycle all Saturday. By the time he was 11 he owned two rental houses he had bought with the money he made. Hard work for a kid, but Jimmy was exceptional. (by the way, as an older boy Jimmy worked framing crews - the carpenters who build the body of a house - and even young would be 'saw man' the guy who cuts the wood exactly correctly (no time for errors, men are waiting for that piece) This job is for the older experts because when getting to the complex roofs of hips, valleys, gables, the angles and lengths get very hard to keep up with - and making stair risers and such - any way he loved it because he could see every angle and dimension in his head once he had looked at the drawing. People think he was a stupid president, but had one of the finest minds a person can have - and was never idle, a farmers boy working both side jobs and his farm work all his young life wile being the top student in his school.

Well, I have done it again - the site is telling me I have used up the majority of my allotted words and has begun its slowing down and soon will just stop completely. This is about as long a post GC allows - if you ever write long posts. (and if you just try another post it remembers you and stays slow on that on too)

So fishing, I was slowly dragging a dead pogie behind the boat as I returned yesterday and caught two 'sail cats' edible catfish, where the common salt water catfish, 'hard head cat' is not. Both hard fighters though. So I kept the sail cats - one had a few worms in the meat, common with big sail cats and especially black drum - harmless to warm blooded animals, but not appetizing so I cooked it for the dogs who just dance and dance about when they get their fried fish. How they love it.



Today I get up to several things - and it is suddenly cold, I have on a jacket for the first time this fall. That sentence tool a long time to appear so must go.

 

Yesterday was an notable thing - the temperatures have been the 85F - 75F (29C - 24C) for the last month - hot before that, and then yesterday was 71F - 49F (22C - 9.5C)! I wore a jacket and got out the first bed covering other than a sheet since May, a light quilt. Wow, Fall is coming fast. Deciduous leaves are already falling on some woody plants. The Goldenrod, which is a thriving weed here, turning all the open edges to gold and will be feeding the soon to arrive butterfly migrations, is beginning its fall flowering. Our massive dragonfly migration is well on. One splats them often, although of all the insects they are best at dodging automobiles, because like all the migrating insects here (several kinds, in very big numbers - amazing) they love to fly about 4 - 15 foot above asphalt roads going their way. The pond always has a big show of dragonflies this time of year; a wide variety from huge ones with garish colors to fantastically delicate and quick kinds. All the brushy areas have a large, very delicate, woody shrub I call a mosquito bush that is just beginning flowering with its masses of white, cotton/dandelion flowers. It is exceptionally pretty and a fall thing and will make my property white where the woody brush begins, and golden in the open washing onto that from goldenrod.

But then today the 10 day forecast continues back to - 81F, 27C to 71F, 21.5C, wonderful. I do like the hot weather - I just like being on the water so much, and in the woods. And my plan this week is three trips to the harbor under the light (in the crowd) with over 100 live shrimp and get some serious fish to freeze. The trout are biting, the shrimp still here, in bait quantities anyway, and I should stock up for those months when it is not so easy - or as pleasant. Standing out on the long arm of the harbor under the bright light which lights up the entrance - all out South is the Beautiful Gulf - stretching off to east and West are the beaches, and behind is the marvelous harbor with all its massed fishing/work boats, and pleasure sail and motorized boats.

The water is lit so one can see into it for a foot or two and the fish, jellyfish, minnows, shrimp all clear like an aquarium - warm breezes, stars and moon - it is idyllic for a fisherman. Well the crowd all jammed under this one light - over 100 yards down a narrow walkway on top the harbor outer wall, is not ideal, but I kind of like the company - or at least do not have it wreck the experience. Who is there is the thing; and almost always they are a good bunch.

I think the brown shrimp (what I was catching) are about finished in good numbers but the huge white shrimp will make a quick showing - if you can be in the right place at the right time. So what to do today? I have so much work to do but it is glorious out, warm, sunny, no wind. I think maybe taking my brush mower and cutting parts of the woods into park like wildlife food plots and overseeding them would be good. Certainly check the crab traps that have been out for three days - I think I need to take my wife out in the boat for a quick shot for a flounder off the point. I caught up my paperwork over coffee this morning so can do what ever we want. Weeding the pond edge certainly, fixing the chicken wire around the garden definitely - the bad small ones got in again and dug dust baths in the carrot bed!



The site has almost slowed completely, so no talk of the last Crusades changing the world with its effect on industry and agricultural. - and Ziggs, tell us about dried fish. Cod is the fish that changed the world.

If you were sentient in the 1970's you may remember Cod made the whole world a different place, yet again. Horse, cow, sheep, goats, - and Cod! Animals which shaped our world.

 

Not caught a Cod for years, mind you, I don't fish in the winter much anymore, had enough of freezing all evening just to catch a few Dogfish.

I remember the Cod wars with Iceland They've decided to target Mackerel now Icelanders don't even eat them, they're considered dirty fish out there.

Often wondered with the outdoor Cod drying racks, how they kept the seagulls off them?

 

Time is too precious to work when the weather's suiting you Colne. Nice to read you are chilling out and enjoying the fresh air. You are beginning to sound like a GC gardener at last,
Jenny

 

That is right, the Cod Wars - an amazing story, shook the world to the core yet is virtually unknown. It is a story well worth going into - collusion, intrigue, trillions of dollars in outcome - a very part of the Cold War, and of the realpolitik of first, second, and third world necessity and of facing the new world order - in a way that absolutely had to be faced if the world was to survive being post-colonial.

But of fish, in my little video - I realized I have chopped it about leaving some odd hanging bits; like the 37 for $10 bit. That was what I paid for my goldfish the spring before last - and 3 survive, and are about 10 inches long now, from tiny things.

I am off to bed, just a stroll with the dogs, listen to the fish who are pretty active tonight, and then a quick read on the Portuguese giving up holding their fortresses in Morocco, after 150 years, keeping only Ceuta. The Moors were just too much of a hassle; mid sixteenth century.

And I caught a good catch of crabs, all steamed and in the refrigerator now; shown here:

 

Well; I will resist giving a lecture on the Cod Wars, as I have on Prince Hennery the Navigator, and new world conquest of the maddest kind, and Goa, and West African gold and stick to my small world of the bayou and local shopping.

Which went well today! my wife's tires were finally too bald for me to put off taking aggressive action on. Parts had no tread left - no dreaded MOT here. They reminded me of my younger years when the threads would be showing through the rubber before I got shopping for tires. But I have always bought used tires, which take shopping for, one has to circle around several non-standard tire places and keep watching.......And this afternoon I thought I had bagged 4 - what are called 'take offs' in the used tire lingo -( where some fool goes in with almost new tires and buys a new set of fancy tires for the fashion look - or because he wants fat knobbly ones for mud bogging or such, and then leaves the still good ones behind.)

And I rushed there with $200 (total, cash, mounted and balanced - like new!) and they had already gone out the door; these are hard to find. But in a stroke of luck I got a set of 4; half life still left ones, for $120, (80£) installed, cash. They have a bit of dry rot, but I would guess still have 12,000 miles left on them. And I stopped at the poor people grocery store on the way back and got 2 pounds unsweetened confectioners coconut threads and 1/2 pound of pure cocoa powder for $6. I love that coconut and they are the only place that carries it (Cost Cutter brand) I have taken to making coconut, or chocolate, or both, custards. Magnificent. So all those are harvests of a kind.

And I have a stainless steel drum from a washing machine I am going to make into a live well off my dock to keep shrimp alive for fishing bait - that is what I will do now, then off to the main bayou and catch some shrimp - not easy, they have moved on, but I will cast right on the grass line and should get enough - a hundred or so, to go fishing tonight.

And my third - or whatever, attempt at growing beets has lines of tiny beet seedlings in the garden. Many winter crops have good seedlings popping in my starter pots. A couple broccoli that got through the pests are getting big enough they may do fine......looking good.

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oh, yes, and it is waxing gibbous, neap, so I do not look for much fish, or shrimp, but full tides coming by the weekend.

 

What do you agree with Zigs? The no talk of Henry the Navigator, the neap tides, or used tires? Or the custard? I just thought I need to make a batch right now, which is why I did not leave. I am very quick at it.

 

Well that took longer than I thought - as usual things are variables till completed, and mine were a bit varied - first I dropped an egg while shifting my containers about between the bad ones I use in the back and the customers nice ones in front. Then I did not stir the cocoa powder in enough so it exploded into a cloud when I hit it with the electric beater - but the caramel syrup making went very well. But the big thing was the delivery truck coming in during this - and my dogs went bezerk as they do - so I grabbed the door knob to rush out and get them away from the driver - pulled it off the door, got it back on, went down to stop the dogs (they attack if anyone comes up - not to bite, but it is dramatic and loud. So the guy pitched the box and was back in his van.

Bit only 3 more minutes on the pressure cooker and it all is done. I went very heavy with the cocoa and cocoanut - ugly picture but taken a couple minutes before, it has been a bit rushed here - and all is cleaned up too.



Looks terrible, but that was before I put it onto pressure cooking for 7 minutes jiggling - and it just pinged the timer, all done - needs a couple hours to sit, then cooling in fridge.

Fast - cooked, cleaned up, wrenched knob off door, hurled dogs into my truck to shut them up, took and posted this picture, and all between the last post and this.

 

Last night was lovely, on the harbor wall which was not crowded; the Vietnamese family each catching a bucket of white trout and a couple guys fishing for redfish. There are always people fishing for redfish and shark but mostly just off the harbor parking area before the wall and usually get a 20-30 pound redfish. They will have 3-4 heavy rods apiece, cast out with large chunks of mullet for bait. We fish out at the end of the wall in the pool of light that lights the mouth of the harbor - over 100 meter walk down the wall - you can see it where my wife is walking out with the camera. The other bit shows my bobber, a nice speckled trout, and the other fishermen - see into the water, all lit and luminous. There is 12 pounds of ice in the cooler below the fish, and I will add another 8 pounds of ice cubes after the picture. Keeping the seafood cold is vital, I make lots of ice.

You can see the trout rising and swimming lazily about in the water wile stand above fishing, and minnows, and shrimp leaping across the surface as trout pursue them. Your shrimp swims about un weighted with 4 foot of line to a weighted float - and often you watch the trout come up and grab the shrimp in a flash of silver - and the float goes shooting under the water. Trout have to be 13 inches long, zero tolerance. I caught about 4 undersized ones, thrown back, for each keeper. Then there is no size or quantity limit on white trout - which make the bulk of the fish in the cooler. I would guess 15 pounds of fish - 5-6 pounds of very nice fillets. I will freeze them in 1 pound bags for the winter. We eat fish about half our meals when they are biting well. The night before last was an excellent shrimp curry with one of the frozen 12 oz bags.

I checked the mileage I drove to get the bait and go fishing and it was 7 miles total - $1 of gas for the truck, not bad. I am up at five a.m. to watch the moon eclipse now - a blood moon turning reddish wile in the eclipse phase. It is right off my porch to the South and has finally gone below the trees - but I watched it for the last hour going from all bright to a dull red - almost full disk. In the video you can see the moon and water last night.



I must go back to bed so I can fish tomorrow night, although we quit fishing by 10p.m. because my wife leaves for work at 6:15 a.m. - she just left - I am pushing to get a stock of fish frozen - and it really is beautiful - and friendly, out there. The Vietnamese man was calling me 'Trout Master', they are always there and pleasant, and getting their freezer full wile the white trout are in. So when I get up in a couple hours I have this batch of fish to clean - with bagging and then cleaning up that will take an hour and a half - And then I have two dozen crabs to process into just meat - with bagging and cleanup another hour and a half. I will put on a WWII documentary, get a couple generic colas and enjoy it. And being out at nights, over the Gulf waters, one only needed a shirt, although I took a wind breaker jacket in case it was cool.



Look how distinct the light pool is, and the fishermen.

 

A know fishing is not big on GC, but it is what I am focused on in harvesting this time of year - and It makes me think. The cod wars were basically UK and USA and Iceland getting up to some craziness on the world stage to create the modern 200 mile ownership of waters of a nations coast. First it was 12 miles - then all the rest after 12 miles from the shoreline was open to all. UK was pillaging Iceland's cod so the Icelandic government declared a fifty mile (I am just going from memory - the numbers may be a bit off, the story is the same, an the 200 is true) exclusion zone and then the trawlers began their fight - ramming and cutting and the Icelandic coastguard pulling cutters and cutting trawl cables..........And so it went to the UN and all agreed to the 50 mile becoming the international law.

Soon that was not enough as it did not actually protect the cod's habitat so Iceland called a 100 mile ownership of the ocean - and the British trawlers began using the 'Box' where they would trawl in a square (much like the WWII convoys for U-boat protection) with the inside ones pulling the nets and if an Icelandic coast guard tried to get in to cut the nets the perimeter ships could ram it! (ships ramming at sea is exceedingly dangerous!) And it went to the UN and (USA was on-side) and that became law - But it still did not protect the cod grounds so the third war began, the 200 mile war, and a couple shots were fired, a couple died from ramming, a couple UK boats arrested and the fishermen held in semi jail in Iceland - and then the international agreement was made - 200 miles! That this all was happening when north Sea oil was getting ready.........

But this was VITAL for the world. the old days of Western paternalism and global ownership of international waters basically, and the rest of the globe being poor and stay-at-home, was over - and now each needed to have determination on their own coasts. Globalization had begun. And so the cod wars brought this self determination. And thus Falklands oil and fishing is saved for them, as is coastal fishing where each nation can decide how their non-migratory fish stocks are decimated or protected.

But then in say the Med - no one has enough ownership of the waters so all is open season because if you conserve yours it will just stray onto another's waters and be caught. And UK, after jointly bringing one of the finest laws ever, the 200 mile zone, has given its fish stocks to the disgusting EU where they are being utterly wrecked based on the principal of "that which belongs to all belongs to nobody" so it is every man for themselves, take no prisoners.

And so I mention my mother talking of how the entire Indian coast is empty - no fish for the poor guy to go catch for his dinner - all eaten. (she has Goan friends) And I post this cast netting video - tons of Asian cast netting videos - they never catch anything. Here with that net you could fill chests with fish.



And I think of the family under the light, like large numbers of Americans, like me - filling our freezers - and how that is because the fish in USA and Canada are very protected, and the inshore fish kept for the citizens instead of a few commercial boats - unlike how it is in UK, and 90% of the world.

Well the site is telling me to wind up - it has slowed to a total crawl - and I never even spoke of my harvesting - several things going on here. But few people talk of the natural world except for the mad 'green' issues which are pure cynical politics.

 

But I need to post a picture - the site remembers I have used my allotted amount of words so I will have to go off wile this appears - writing to a blank screen -

But here is a picture of the hills Jan 27, 2014 - all bare, the thornless blackberries and asparagus not even dug from the friends garden - nothing planted - the trees not bought mostly, the shrubs and bulbs not collected - lot of change this year. This took 10 minutes to appear by the way! (Flora wearing her Mardi Gras beads)

 

Flora is so cute Colne.

That picture looks quite bare of plants. How long have you lived in your present house?