Happy Earth Day 2013!

 

Happy Earth Day!

Yeah, I know that Earth Day has already passed for this year...I guess I feel like there's a little bit of Earth Day in EVERY day. Or there should be.

I'm not going to get too heavy here. Just want to share some images and thoughts that remind me of Earth Day and how much I love being connected to nature. Like the plant fronds above. That's a shot I took on an island in the Philippines, where the natural resources are being exploited at a stunning rate. The endemic species there are disappearing... This image reminds me of a fossilized plant, which reminds me of coal and oil...and our consumption of same.

A double rainbow in fall, shot from our birding tower in southeast Ohio. Being up high like this lends us a perspective that we don't get from the ground. It shows the vastness of the habitat in some views, but it also reveals fragmentation and all the things that come with it. In our part of the world we're beginning to experience the impact of hydraulic fracking for oil and gas. I wonder if our beautiful vistas will be the same in 10 years.

Each spring I get to experience the miracle of the songbird nesting season on our farm. Monitoring our nest boxes is such a treat. To watch birds such as these Carolina chickadees go from eggs to hatchlings to flying tots in just a few weeks—well, it boggles the mind.

I took this image of Phoebe on Hog Island Audubon Camp in Maine. It wasn't posed. She loved climbing out on the rocks as the tide came in and I couldn't resist the image. Maine may very well be the place that my kids connect most closely with the natural world because it is so very different from the habitat and landscape (or seascape) where we live. I'm just happy they're connecting.

 

And speaking of young people...one of the best things about Earth Day is all the various activities that are available for youngsters to experience—and to connect with—nature. But we don't have to wait to do that until Earth Day NEXT year. Why not invite a young person (or a whole classroom!) to go outside with you and your birding/nature club or companions. It's the very best way to keep the spirit of Earth Day alive.

Tomorrow morning I'll get up before dawn to lead a passel of people on a long hike down the New River Gorge in West Virginia. There will be nature fans of all ages—a few youngsters and a many young-at-heart bird watchers. I'll do my best to show them a good time and to let them know why I think this area is so wonderful and special. But, you know, that's true of anywhere, as long as it's outside!

 

Happy Earth Day!

PINK PEANUT PATTIES

 

Remember when you used to get to go on a hunting, fishing or cross country trip with your Dad, Grand Dad or Uncles and they would stop to get gas at one of the little country gas stations.  My bunch always brought us kids a soda water of some sort such as an RC, Big Red, Buck Grape or the sort and would pitch a Pink Peanut Patty or two into the seat for us to share. There used to be all sorts and brands  of those pink candy patties in almost every gas station or country store, these days I rarely see them.  Once in a while when I find them I grab one or two even though I am not supposed to eat sugar anymore.  They keep for a long time and can withstand heat in the truck, camp or boat.  They have a unique flavor and always bring back good memories for me.  I ran across this recipe and thought you might like to make them for yourself or the kids.  These aren’t perfect as I didn’t use a thermometer and I may have beat them a little too long, but they taste pretty dang good and brought back some good memories.  Get out and make some memories of your own.  Wild Ed

 

Homemade Pink Peanut Patties

2 1/2 cups white sugar  

2/3 cup light corn syrup  

1 cup evaporated milk  

1 tablespoon butter  

3 cups peanuts, canned or raw your choice

I used canned mixed nut because that was all I had and they worked just fine.  I bet pecans would be good also.

1 tablespoon vanilla extract  

1 dash red food coloring (optional) If you don't eat the stuff.  I have already had enough to kill a horse so a little more won't matter.

 Directions

In a saucepan over medium-low heat, combine the sugar, corn syrup, evaporated milk, and peanuts if using raw peanuts. Bring to a slow boil, and stir to blend once heated. Let boil until the mixture reaches a temperature of between 240and 250 degrees F, or until a drop off of the stirring spoon dropped into cold water forms a ball that flattens somewhat when it hits the bottom of the glass. This may take up to an hour. If you are using canned nuts add them when the drop starts forming a loose ball so they can cook in the mixture for just a little while.

Stir in the butter, vanilla and food coloring into the candy mixture once the mixture has reached the proper temperature.  Beat until mixture starts to set. Spoon out onto buttered waxed paper or parchment paper to form patties.  Cool until set.

I am sure this is not the original recipe but it is close enough to pass the grandkid inspection and taste test.

 

Christmas in April: Arrivals Pouring In!

Blue-gray gnatcatcher.

 

 

 

This spring every new day feels a little bit like Christmas morning.

It was a brutal, long, gloomy winter here in southeastern Ohio and springlike weather has been slow to arrive. But now that the insect-eating songbirds are beginning to make their spring appearances, I awake each morning full of anticipation about what gifts may have flown in from the south on the night breezes. This is why it's Christmas-like. Just like every Christmas Day morning for the past five decades, I'm rearing to go and full of "Can't wait!"

Often, these last few weeks, my very first thought—before my eyes are open—is: "I'll bet today is the day that the hummingbirds (or tree swallows, or blue-winged warblers, or wood thrushes) get back." The little, brightly feathered "presents" that Nature brings us each spring—in dribs and drabs at first, then in a marvelous gush of song and color as migration reaches its peak.

Oddly our current spring migration has been somewhat inconsistent with our records for returning dates of migrants. Hummingbirds are several days late. Tree swallows are back all around us but ours have not appeared, making us worry about their fate. Only a few warblers have come back—so far no tanagers or orioles. 

Male yellow warbler.

It's all right. Let them take their time. After all, the anticipation is almost as wonderful as seeing and hearing an old familiar friend, returned from a winter away from this old ridgetop farm.

White-eyed vireo.

 

My first vireo of the spring was a male white-eyed vireo that was singing in our orchard on April 11, several days early according to our records. [We've been keeping arrival, departure, and nesting records here on Indigo Hill for 20 years. White-eyed vireos usually arrive each spring on April 15 or 16.]

Singing male ovenbird. Photo by Julie Zickefoose.

I was giddy to hear an ovenbird on Monday of this week. His song is so loud and percussive that it's hard to miss. I'm sure he was not back sooner. He was drifting around the old orchard to the west of our house, singing half-heartedly. By early May our woods will be ringing with the songs of ovenbirds and a dozen other warbler species.

Like the song says: "Springtime, you know it is my songbirds' sing time." And that's music to my ears.

Texas Style Carne Guisada

My youngest daughter and her husband are currently in Bali, Indonesia and were homesick for some good Texas style Mexican food.  I am posting this blog so they can fix some Carne Guisada for their new friends in Bali.

Growing up in West Texas, Mexican food was a staple in our diets. Most of us had Mexican food almost as much as we did American cuisine and sometimes a blend of both. As I grew older I spent the summers working as a cowboy on ranches from the Red River to the Hill Country and all the way out to the Trans Pecos. Each area served a little bit different kind of Tex-mex food and all tasted a little different. Each dish was influenced by the people that lived there. One of my favorites was Carne Guisada. It was eaten with rice, peppers and tortillas on the side. Other places it was wrapped in tortillas and eaten as tacos or burritos. Many times I had it as the main ingredient in breakfast tacos. I like to serve homemade Carne Guisada with Spanish style rice, refried beans, flour tortillas and lots of peppers. I have even been known to stop at one of the Mexican fast food chains to get my fix of Carne Guisada.

This wonderful Mexican stew is made in many variations and one can use most any meat or peppers in its creation. I have eaten it made from beef, pork, venison and other game meats. No one way is right and I enjoy trying it all over this great State. Some versions have potatoes and other vegetables. One of my favorites is a New Mexico version full of green chilies and sweet onion. My most memorable meal of Carne Guisada took place on a horseback sheep hunt on the Big Bend Ranch State Park. My brother-by-choice and I had hired a couple of vaqueros as guides and they had taken us up in the rough high desert country in search of Aoudad sheep. At lunch we let the horses and our backsides take a rest while we sat and ate Carne Guisada tacos that had been packed in our saddle bags. We sat on a high mesa where there had once been an Apache village, the circles where the wikiups were placed still visible all these many years later.  As we ate we were looking across the Rio Grande into the majestic mountains of Mexico.  That day I ate an authentic meal with people from a different world thinking of Apaches while taking in a view I will never forget.

 

 

CARNE GUISADA

 

Ingredients:

1 pound stew beef

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

2 tablespoons tomato paste

10 1/2 ounces condensed beef broth, undiluted

1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

2 cloves garlic, crushed

1 teaspoon chili powder

1/2 teaspoon cumin

1 or 2 small jalapeno or Serrano Chile peppers, chopped

1/2 cup water

2 teaspoons cornstarch, dissolved in a small amount of cold water

Directions: Brown meat in oil on all sides. Pour off excess grease. Add tomato paste [optional], beef broth, salt and pepper, garlic, chili powder, cumin, Chile peppers, and water. Cover and cook on low for 8 to 12 hours, or until meat is very tender. Turn to high and dissolve about 2 teaspoons of cornstarch in small amount of cold water and slowly pour into stew, which is simmering, until proper thickness of gravy is obtained. Serve with rice and warm tortillas, if desired. The longer you let it simmer the better it gets.  Good Eating, Wild Ed

Turkeys

All the feeding and protection of the Turkeys on our place is paying off.  We have had some visitors at the feeders this week and I thought you might like to see some of them.  Some of the hens appear to be on the nest so it looks like we will have Turkeys at "Wildwoods" in the future. My brother and I have decided to get our turkey at HEB this year, we kind of like having the wild ones around.  Wild Ed