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nafex - [NAFEX] meat gardens, seeds, hybrid plum pollination

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  • From: Melissa Kacalanos <mijwiz@yahoo.com>
  • To: North American Fruit Explorers <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [NAFEX] meat gardens, seeds, hybrid plum pollination
  • Date: Sat, 15 Nov 2008 21:29:41 -0800 (PST)

Regarding all the varmint-eating: I read somewhere
that a NYC zoo looked into feeding its carnivores the
local pigeons to save money, but had to nix the idea
when they tested too high in lead.

The attic of my old house kept being invaded by
squirrels, which we caught in havaheart traps.
Although they looked nice and plump, one of the
reasons we didn't eat them was that they'd chewed
through many layers of lead paint to get into our
attic.

Most of you probably live in the pure wholesome
countryside, so this probably isn't an issue for you.

But regarding eating trapped animals: a friend of mine
said that meat from stressed animals isn't as tasty as
that from animals surprised by death. He said that an
animal stressed in a trap for hours goes through some
metabolic process that makes it taste bad. I haven't
eaten enough meat from either category to have an
opinion myself, I'm just passing his along.

Regarding garden seeds: I like Fedco, which is cheap
and reliable, and has a nice mix of heirlooms (some
organically-grown) and hybrids:
http://www.fedcoseeds.com/
I know heirlooms are more PC, but their hybrid 'Mokum'
carrot is so sweet and juicy, it practically counts as
a fruit, which almost brings us back on topic.

Regarding Asian/American hybrid plums, like the
recently discussed 'Superior': I've read that
pollination can be problematic with these.
Specifically, some say they pollinate each other,
while others say that they can only be pollinated by
wild plums, and that the people who think their hybrid
plums are pollinating each other are being fooled by a
wild plum nearby, that's really the one doing the
pollinating. There's a fascinating article here:
http://www.usask.ca/agriculture/plantsci/dom_fruit/articles/plums.pdf
Thoughts? I'd like to plant some of these, but am
having my usual trouble picking just a few varieties.

Melissa







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