The Old Folks Home

[ozexpat]

Deb, 3.8 liters is 3.8 kg, at NTP.

My understanding is that the center of the metric weights and volumes system is based on 1KG = 1Liter of water

 

[ChickenCanoe]

...

The chicken vet is coming over in the morning to pick up 2 of my ayam cemani roos to decrow surgically & look over our caponizing equipment and walk us through on caponizing.

So I might have a surgically decrowed ayam cemani rooster from mike bean's non Smithsonian line for sale in a few months if both the roos get through the surgery well and recover. Then it will be the white bresse roosters turn, until I get my breeding stock all ready, then excess roos become capons. Everyone is happy including neighbors. If all goes well.

We went to harbor freight to get a duck pond, now I have lost my mind as I now have 10 muscovy ducks. And 15 roosters to caponize tomorrow or attempt to. With the chicken vet who hasn't caponized before, but does decrowing surgery. It should go better than my bf and I and another byc member looking at the caponizing thread and following along, which will result in much death I think vs the way it will happen tomorrow with calm help that does surgery on live chickens that live to tell about it. Vs my not having anything remotely like that in my skillset. Yet.

Yes stoned rambling, the medical mj and wine while waiting for chops to finish cooking. Obviously make me unable to complete whole thoughts or put context to anything. Yes, this is my normal.. laugh now I am.

Caponizing and decrow surgery. Sounds like a lot of work. Let us know how it works. Are the Cemani loud long crowers? I'd love to have some but I don't think I have the space.

We usually host the big dinners when in the USA as the Filipino side has no concept of serving a timed, all hot multi course feast. They do everything buffet style and often cold.

I start with a pasta as an appetizer. Normally ravioli with a putanesca sauce.

The main meal is roast turkey with stuffing, a leg of lamb and a ham. Vegtables are peas, roasted squash, carrots, potatoes and yams. We serve cranberry, mint sauce and a dark mushroom gravy.

Dessert is pie.

Cakebread Chardonnay, a reasonable McLaren Vale Shiraz and a sweet Riesling.

We learnt to embrace Thanksgiving when we moved over to USA.

I normally bring a turkey and ham from USA to the Phils these days.

Sounds like great meals. I've been a good cook a long time but getting everything done at the same time is something I only finally accomplished about 25 years ago.
I'm not a big dessert fan but at Thanksgiving I live for the pumpkin pies. When I was a kid my parents would bake about 20 pies. Usually a couple cherry, a couple apple, a peach and the rest pumpkin. My dad always made the pumpkin and my mom the rest. We now have Thanksgiving dinner at the wife's parents and her mom always has pumpkin pie for me but mine are much better. I still eat a piece there to show appreciation for the effort.

before

IMO, the sunfish family are among the best tasting freshwater fish. Bluegill, crappie, largemouth and smallmouth are tops.

Those are bream (pronounced "brim") or also known as bluegill. Some also call them Shell-crackers, sun-perch, or red eared sunfish but these refer to different varieties and are often used interchangeably.

It's funny how many local/common names fish species have.

There are 37 species of sunfish. We had about 10 species in creeks on our farm and 12 in our pond so I got good at identifying them. That's most of the sunfish species that are native to MO.
Some sunfish will hybridize, bluegill/redear is a common hybrid. Largemouth will hybridize with Spotted bass too and there are even pictures of them on the MO Dept. of Conservation printed info to help fishermen identify them.
Longear and pumpkinseed are among the most brilliantly colored native freshwater fish.
Many people don't realize that Largemouth, Smallmouth and Spotted bass are actually sunfish.
People also mistake the perch family and sunfish family for one another. I know old guys that call anything that shape a perch or a bream. Apparently they don't see well or too lazy to tell them apart.
https://www.fish.state.pa.us/anglerboater/2003/ja03angler/sunfishtree.pdf

But does tilapia taste good?

Depending on how they're raised. They've become a staple at a lot of restaurants because they can be propagated so easily.

Tialpia are great aquaponics fish.

A future project of mine

I'm part of a big sustainable living group in the St. Louis area. Several members raise tilapia both in backyard ponds and tanks in the basement or greenouse.

I looked at a small farmette for sale when I was in Costa Rica. It had a tilapia pond and they had contracts with area restaurants.

OK I will stop trying to convert.... Water is heavy... support the aquarium....

The idea behind aquaponics is to have a circulated water system that pumps the effluent from the fish up through grow beds for veggies it is then circulated back down through the fish. So the system requires fresh water fish.... I did some looking at aquaponics in Alaska and Yep they are doing it there.... All Green house setups... With of all things Freezers converted to fish tanks... What a great idea... chest freezers.... completely insulated and mostly watertight... though I would expect that a freezer would be only about a hundred gallons.

I want to use water totes they are about 250 gallons and cube shaped... perfect volume and surface area for raising fish.... Plus they have all the plumbing access you would require.... Large sized too for raising up fry to a certain size and transferring to grow out tanks.... I also want to give crayfish a try.... Or freshwater Prawns.... they need a different setup though. Surface area and circulation..... But the water could be the same...

deb

That would work in combination with a fodder system too.

 

[hennible]

Tialpia are great aquaponics fish.

A future project of mine

Me also. A fellow who lives 2 h away runs a thriving greenhouse slash aquaponics business... He is doing very well... Of course up here its all in greenhouses.

 

[Double Kindness]

I got some red warty things pumpkins yesterday if you're into tasty sweet not stringy pumpkins for pie making, I highly recommend them!

I may bake one up to make some pie tomorrow on a less busy/stressful day. And my coffeemaker is broken. Agh.

My friend is bringing her cemani roo over with a broken toe. He's LOUD, he was louder than that rooster we processed yesterday, as they were face to face having a crowing contest. My friends cemani definitely won and is a much prettier bird, and he is for sale just $40 + shipping. She won't sell him to me, because I have enough cemani roos, and I would likely process him and eat him. She might not be my friend after something like that.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

I agree on the better pumpkin varieties for pie. I almost bought one yesterday.

I'm sorry your coffeemaker broke. Time for an investment.

 

[hennible]

Amish pie pumpkins and warty and grey, never used one but they are supposed to make great pie. Kurrie type squash work well, also butternut and butter cup.

 

[LindaB220]

Tilapia are kind of muddy like Cat fish... Though I like the taste of Tilapia MUCH more than catfish.
and they are pretty much vegitarians.... so your food tastes like what you feed it.

When I used to have my big Aquarium set up I found that the recommendations for feeding fish are to sell FISH food.

I used to regularly feed my tropicals spinach, Zucchini, and spirulina... an algae.... as a supplement.... and I only fed them about twice per week. You can grow spriulina yourself...

deb

I'm still learning. Something new, every day. Tilapia is okay but I like catfish better. Just what you're raised on. Everything is store bought for me. I wonder.... No, I've got to concentrate on the garden for next year first. The fellow is finishing up my 2nd big coop. (at least for me) 12' x 12'. Then he is doing the horizontal nipple buckets for me. Next month I want him to put hardware cloth on the outside of both coops and the small one. And build me some garden beds so I can be setting them up for next spring.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

I'm still learning. Something new, every day. Tilapia is okay but I like catfish better. Just what you're raised on. Everything is store bought for me. I wonder.... No, I've got to concentrate on the garden for next year first. The fellow is finishing up my 2nd big coop. (at least for me) 12' x 12'. Then he is doing the horizontal nipple buckets for me. Next month I want him to put hardware cloth on the outside of both coops and the small one. And build me some garden beds so I can be setting them up for next spring.

We had channel cat in our pond. Those and the ones that I catch in gravel bottom streams taste much better than those from big muddy rivers.

 

[bamadude]

Any ideas on cooking this?

 

[hennible]

Patti pan, or scallop squash right.. Cook like zucchini. Shredded and put it in like a chocolate cake or slice it really thin and use it like noodles in a lasagna or roast sliced in the oven with cheese and spices on it... can't think of anything else