I am finally qualified to be considered a true “Mainer”. I moved to Maine in 1999 and was told by some of the natives that I would have to live here for at least 25 years before I could even be considered a “Mainer”. I can now wear that distinction with honor since I’m my 26th year of residency. Maine is a beautiful place with Mother Nature displaying all of her wonders at every turn. Most people know very little about Maine except for it’s abundance of lobsters, a rather expensive delicacy. Unfortunately I’m one of a very small group of people who actually dislike lobsters and everything connected with them. Being the book nerd that I am I decided to learn more about lobsters and their history because I’d heard odd stories over the years about how lobsters came to be the ultimate food with a price tag that could make you gasp. Here is a paraphrased account of some lobster history.
Lobsters have always been plentiful along the coast of Maine. The Pilgrims likely dined on lobster at the first Thanksgiving. There are stories of two-foot high piles of lobsters simply washing up on the shore during that time period. When things are plentiful the price is usually reasonable as was the case until the 1800’s. Massive quantities of cheap lobster weren’t all that appetizing at the time and were used to feed prison inmates and indentured servants. Some nearby states had rules insisting their inmates eat canned lobster meat more than once a week, and other sources noted that indentured servants often demanded that their contracts limit the number of lobster meals to no more than twice weekly.
Once lobsters were able to be shipped alive, over long distances, the Maine lobster became much sought after in the Boson and New York areas. Over the next decades that custom spread across the country and even during World War II lobster was considered a high priced delicacy and not subject to wartime rationing. My how things have changed. During the recent World Cup invasion I listened to some of our British friends trying out their first taste of our famous lobster rolls. They loved the taste enough to pay upwards of $40.00 for a small sandwich. That’s just another big reason for me to avoid that delicacy since I’ve always been a cheap SOB.
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Just pass me two of those big, fat, and juicy hamburgers, “Thank you very much!
Today will be a first for this blog. I’ve covered many and varied topics over the years but today is something special. Today I’ll be discussing cows and cow poop. I’ve heard certain insane environmentalists insist that all of the cows on the planet are affecting the earth due to excessive farting. I think it’s a load of crap (no pun intended) but I suppose I could be wrong. Here’s some additional crap for you to digest (again, no pun intended) to help you make an informed decision.
There are an estimated 1,294,604,000 head of cattle on Earth. Some are cows and some are bulls but for this discussion let’s call them all cows.
There are approximately 4.93 people for every cow.
There is no rule that says all these cows couldn’t potentially be eaten. There also is no rule that says all this meat couldn’t be turned into juicy and delicious burgers. Point of fact, each 850-pound carcass would provide 310 pounds of edible meat.
Using the above information there are approximately 1,605,308,900,000 (1.61 trillion) quarter pounders masquerading as cows. At 15 cents each, buns for those quarter pounders would cost approximately $240.,000,000.
These burgers could provide all the 4.472 billion adults on Earth with the maximum calorie allowance for 36 days. To summarize, all the cattle currently on earth could feed adult humanity for five weeks.
The worlds 1,294,604,000 each cow poops up to 16 times per day and beef cattle produce up to 65 pounds of poop daily.
Hold your nose for this one. 11,747,273 tons of poop are produced worldwide every day.
Hold your nose again. Over the course of a year 15,367,758,619 tons of cow poop is produced.
2.41 tons of manure per person are produced worldwide annually. This much poop could cover an area two and a half times the size of Rhode Island to the height of a man. P and U !!!!
Disposing of all this poop is a serious problem. As many as two-thirds of households in the developing world depend on poop as a significant fuel source. Tragically, as many as 4 million women and children are estimated to die every year from respiratory disease triggered by the smoke from wood and poop fires.
Therre it is. Everything you always wanted to know about cows and cow poop but were afraid to ask. My suggestion is for all of us to eat as many burgers as humanly possible and to build a three-story mansion made totally from cow poop. We have to try and be as ecologically respectful as we can if we want to save the world. LOL
With Summer slowly fading away our daily routine changes once again. The nights have been cold enough recently to require a little help from my electric blanket. I rolled over the other morning and found my cat snuggling up against me, something he almost never does unless his fur coat isn’t getting the job done. I touched his back and it was ice cold so I threw a blanket over the little dummy and went back to sleep. Another real indicator of Winter like caterpillars with extra thick fur.
I’m forever raving about how great I think Maine is but I’ve never shown any photographs of it’s main export. While I’m not a lobster lover my better-half is. We had a family cook-out yesterday with all the normal grilling food, burgers, dogs, sausages, and as extra added bonus . . . lobsters. As you can see these poor fellows look pretty contented in the first photo but not so much in the second. They are now just a memory but left my better-half, her daughter, and son-in-law with dribbles of melted butter on their chins and a smile on their faces.
‘Before’
‘After”
Our menial tasks continued this week with the canning of more pickles, the making of more zucchini bread, and the drying of more herbs. Over the next few days I’ll be harvesting and drying batches of tarragon, basil, parsley, and chives. I have so many damn chives growing everywhere it’s getting ridiculous. If I dry too many I’ll just have to package them up and give them to friends and family members.
I hope to begin removing plants from the garden next week. I have a lot of work ahead but would like to get it done as soon as possible. Once the plants are removed I can begin making a few changes to the garden. I’m expanding the rhubarb area because it’s growing so fast I can’t contain it. I’m also adding on two additional frames, one abutting each large frame, to help expand the sunflower areas. We both love having as many sunflowers as possible in the garden and the birds will be thrilled with all of the extra food. I thought it best to do this construction now rather than in the Spring.
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