TOPIC: opening day...

Too bad Chief... we had another nice sunny day here today... and I hear it is supposed to be sunny tomorrow about half the day.

I may even get to go fishing tomorrow morning.. I expect the river may still be up some, but I may have to give it a try anyway.

I like to fish slow early (crawdad jig)... but when the river is running, that is near impossible... but I have found a Mepps #3 spinner (squirrel tail) works pretty good even with some current.

I would sure love to tie into one of those big smallies.. and have him stretch my line.

Got one pic to share today...

This is my backyard crabapple...
It is located just upwind of my old original orchard and helps pollinate my Mac apple trees there.

It is at about 20-30% bloom now.



TNHunter

We had a beautiful Thursday, my wife and ventured out to some local trails for a 5 mile run. This morning was nice but it's raining again, I don't think the next couple days look that promising for nice weather either. It's not as bad as it was when we lived in the PNW but I'm starting to wonder... and feeling your pain Chief.

TN, nice post, wish I had read it last summer. I have heard of food forest and permaculture but have not researched them.

I have fruit trees (7) in pots still and some berry bushes, I'll probably go ahead and plant them here soon. I'd never heard of Goumie bushes, I'll have to look them up.

My peach trees have blossoms and some of the others are close. I'm still clearing some brush adjacent to where I plan to plant the trees.

My wife and I went to Walmart on Wednesday for our weekly grocery shopping. She usually goes alone but asked me to go in case the police were pulling folks over for being outside. It hasn't reached that point here, not sure if it has anywhere in the US but other countries apparently are more stringently locked down. It felt odd there were few of us out and about. I commented to the cashier it felt like we were in the Twilight Zone.

While in Walmart we walked by the sporting goods and I glanced over at the fishing equipment and commented that once the house remodeling is complete I might start fishing again (been decades). She just laughed knowing at my pace it'll take years for me to get this place fixed up.

Ain't found any ginseng poking up yet. I suspect I'm a few weeks behind you TN.

it was 29 degrees here early this morning,,damn it seemed cold to me...

Chief... 29 is cold for sure.

I hope I don't see that again this year... my peach blossoms are at that point where you can see the little peaches poking out the tip now... definitely got fruit set and looks to be a good one... (fingers crossed) cause a hard late frost I assume could still get them.

I did go Fishing on Saturday morning... but man the river was up and running hard. It was more like white water rafting

It usually takes me from daybreak to at least 10 am.. to fish that 2.8 mile stretch... but I zipped thru there and was out before 8 am this time.
The river was just running so fast that i could not even slow down and fish a lot of the good spots. I did manage to catch a few... 2 black perch, 4 smallies, and one nice large mouth bass.

Had a wild turkey fly across the river right in front of me too. He was gobbling his head off once he got to the top of the hill on the other side.

ps... while I was fishing saturday moring... My wife got pics of a nice gobbler in our front yard... he was strutting and carrying on and there was a hen in the back yard and he went all they way around the house to join her and off they went. I have been hearing him for a few weeks now... Season opens this Saturday... If the river does not settle down some I may just have to get some turkey for dinner.

Having fish for supper tonight...

I have never tried eating fish liver or roe... but i am going to give it a try tonight along with some nice filet.
Liver and roe are very nutrient dense... and I am sure that our ancestors ate them regularly...

Will see how that works out.

TNHunter

We had two warm and mostly sunny days but windy as all get out. I was sitting on the bucket of my tractor yesterday and heard my neighbor's hot tub cover blow off and land about 40 feet away. I kind of got a chuckle from that, yea, I can be a jerk at times. I did walk over and offer to help him secure it back in place.

Today no wind but cloudy and 42 this morning. Warmed to about 52 and started raining.

We had two turkeys walk through our front yard this morning, I've seen a few up in the woods but first time so close to the house.

So far two of my races have been canceled due to the virus, not expecting to run many races this summer at this point.

woodsrunner... and races... I see now that those go together...

So do you do some kind of cross country type races ? I can walk 15 miles hunting seng... but not much into running these days.

Only when I have to, and I carry a Glock all the time, so don't have to much

PS... all you that shroom... dogwoods are breaking bloom here... redbuds have been in bloom a while, and that is normally when I start finding morels.

I looked my hot spot over good yesterday, but found none. We got a good rain last night and it is supposed to warm up some, so perhaps sometime this next week or so I will find some.

Would be nice to have a good mess of morels to go with this fish tonight !

TNHunter.

TN the roe is good eating,,they are starting to find a few black mushrooms in the far south part of my state,

Hey Chief... you are right about that Roe...

I included two nice ones last night in my supper and a couple of fish livers too... and they were good eating.

The livers... well had that liver taste, but not near as strong as beef or chicken livers (which I eat and like anyway)... they were a little more on the mild side I would say for liver. The roe, had a light fishy taste, but also somewhat smooooothe, and more buttery tasting.

I baked all of that... filets from 4 bass, 2 livers and 2 roe... in the oven. Took about 20 minutes and it was getting flakey and white...

I first coated them in ghee (clarified butter) and then seasoned with my 5 spice mix (equal parts salt pepper onion powder, garlic powder and smoked paprika). Then just baked them in the oven... turned out really good.

My wife made some hushpuppies and taters... and it was a fine dinner.

I will not be tossing out any more fish livers or roe... going to eat them from now own.

PS... I went down to check on my seed producing bed this evening... and that one little 2 prong that was just emerging the other day, it up nicely now and you can see both prongs (3 leaves only on each)... it is probably a 2 year old....

but since I planted it from a berry... that means I planted it in the Fall of 2017... it stratified thru 2018, and was a 3 leafer in 2019, and now in 2020 a 2 prong with 3 leaves on each.

Yep... it takes some time to grow this stuff.

Also... got a nice surprise when I checked my seed bed today... there were a couple of smaller seng plants up... no big ones yet... but there was also a nice little yellow/blondish morel up too. it is only about 2" tall maby 2.5... so i think I will let it grow for a few days and harvest it when it gets a little bigger.

I will go and get a Pic of it now, and post that later this evening.

TNHunter

Here you go...

First morel of the year for me... and found it in my seed producing bed. Last year I found two in there (for the first time since 2010).

I don't mind at all if my seed producing bed... produces a few morels each year too - sweet !

PS... what are your thoughts on letting it grow a while ?

My Case Canoe Knife there is 3.5" long.. so you can see that little morel is not very big now.



TNHunter

Oh... and here is a pic of a smallish 3 prong emerging in my seed producing bed.

I think this may be one that came up from a berry drop several years ago. It does not look like one of my larger original plants.

It is rolling out earlier than most...

TNHunter