Tinknal McCoy

Emerson White wrote:
Agreed, but I will mention that you have to be humane about it too. If you shoot an animal with an arrow it dies with little suffering compared to getting a disease or starving to death, If you catch an animal in a leg trap and leave it for two days then it dies with much more suffering.

Nature is not humane.  There is no reason to let an animal sit in a trap for two days, check them every day. 

Animals can as easily suffer from a poorly placed arrow.  The goal is to minimize suffering.  If you want to entirely prevent it you need to completely opt out of life.

Synergy wrote:
That is impressive about the catfish growth rate.   I would like to have seasonal ponds at some point.  I fish freshwater and ocean but very very rarely , less than once a year.  I also have harvested seaweed for making bread and shellfish just for an individual meal.

I would very much like to do so more often in an way that gives something back in balance with the environment .   I understand organic gardening and find it something sustainable but haven't quite rationalized taking from the wild except I suppose wild harvest on a very low consumption level cognizant of the environment might be more sustainable than shopping at a supermarket with all the added resources that go into that and harvesting that is often completely without regard to the environment for profit.

Nature produces a harvestable excess.  If a species overpopulates it's environment there will be a mass die off due to disease or starvation.  It happens naturally all of the time.  You do not have to feel bad about harvesting natures bounty as long as you do it in a sustainable manner. 

Any land that you set aside for wild harvest benefits all the species that live there, not just the ones you harvest.

Beavers allow trees to grow where they otherwise would not.  In more arid prairie zones the water that is pooled encourages the growth of trees that otherwise couldn't exist.

7 billion and counting.  A large percentage who do not have the ability, or inclination to grow their own food.  A larger percentage who are lucky if they can afford a handfull of beans and rice for supper.

I'll feed myself and not worry about saving the world.

stewartrIL wrote:
Thanks for the reply. That's the info I needed! It does have a damper in the flu.

I think the wasp problem was partially because it sat unused for so long, and the damper was rusted in place (part way open). I had to use a pair of channel lock pliers to break it loose. The wasps must have built some wicked nests in the outer wall of the damper.

There is no pathway from the inside of the flue to the outer wall.  Unless the door of the fireplace was open the wasps could not have entered this way.

mtnDon Miller wrote:
Thanks Robert. I posted it on CP and it has been a big hit there.

Yeah, I posted it on HT and everyone got a kick out of it too.

Blackberries send up new shoots every year and fruit on the yeaqr old canes.  I doubt you could graft to them.  just enjoy the Blackberries.

Putting out more wildlife food will just attract more wildlife. 

If you hinged it at the bottom and added an adjustable stand at the top you could benefit better from the angle of the sun.

The hallmark of an invasive species is that it has no natural controls.  When a plant or animal exists where it first developed, there will be animals, insects, parasites, diseases,  that serve to control the species and make it fit into the local ecosystem. 

When we take a species and put it into an environment where it has no natural controls it can go crazy.

Think wild hogs in Texas, Bighead Carp in the Mississippi, sea lampry in the Great Lakes, etc.