Ep 042 The Goose: I feel the need, the need for speed...flying into the Danger Zone. Christmas, that is.
12/23/19 • 53 min
It’s almost that time of year. Chilly air, crackling fire, and the holiday roast goose is on the table. Well, maybe up until the Cratchit dinner in Dickens, but not so much anymore here in the U.S. And why is that? We don’t know, to be honest, as this is said to be one of the tastiest birds used for human consumption.
And even better, the goose is a multipurpose animal. It is said to be a great forager for grasses, bugs, and the scattered grains that might be left in the fields after the fall harvest. It’s the cleanup animal that gives back, in the form of (sometimes messy) fertilizer and (definitely messy) family holiday get-togethers. Geese are used as an early warning system on military bases in Europe, whiskey warehouses in Scotland, and are said by Livy to have given the alarm when the Gauls invaded in 390 B.C. They’re pretty good at the confrontation part, too, and can do some fairly nasty physical damage when they get vexed.
We’re meeting with John Metzer of Metzer Farms, in Gonzales, California. Ducks, geese, chickens, or pretty much anything fowl (ha) is his bailiwick, and he’ll talk about all of the above with us from his farm in the beautiful Salinas Valley agricultural region. We also get his opinions on biodiversity, and thinking outside the box in marketing. He runs one of the premier hatchery providers in the country, and taught us one or two things in there that were new experiences to us.
What on earth is balut, anyway?
For more information, here are some places to start...
https://www.metzerfarms.com/index.cfm
https://vric.ucdavis.edu/virtual_tour/salinas.htm
https://center-of-the-plate.com/2017/12/06/why-we-eat-goose-at-christmas/
It’s almost that time of year. Chilly air, crackling fire, and the holiday roast goose is on the table. Well, maybe up until the Cratchit dinner in Dickens, but not so much anymore here in the U.S. And why is that? We don’t know, to be honest, as this is said to be one of the tastiest birds used for human consumption.
And even better, the goose is a multipurpose animal. It is said to be a great forager for grasses, bugs, and the scattered grains that might be left in the fields after the fall harvest. It’s the cleanup animal that gives back, in the form of (sometimes messy) fertilizer and (definitely messy) family holiday get-togethers. Geese are used as an early warning system on military bases in Europe, whiskey warehouses in Scotland, and are said by Livy to have given the alarm when the Gauls invaded in 390 B.C. They’re pretty good at the confrontation part, too, and can do some fairly nasty physical damage when they get vexed.
We’re meeting with John Metzer of Metzer Farms, in Gonzales, California. Ducks, geese, chickens, or pretty much anything fowl (ha) is his bailiwick, and he’ll talk about all of the above with us from his farm in the beautiful Salinas Valley agricultural region. We also get his opinions on biodiversity, and thinking outside the box in marketing. He runs one of the premier hatchery providers in the country, and taught us one or two things in there that were new experiences to us.
What on earth is balut, anyway?
For more information, here are some places to start...
https://www.metzerfarms.com/index.cfm
https://vric.ucdavis.edu/virtual_tour/salinas.htm
https://center-of-the-plate.com/2017/12/06/why-we-eat-goose-at-christmas/
Previous Episode
Ep 041 Rankin the Nankins with Special Guest Elaine Shirley at Williamsburg. Tickets now!
We hope that our podcast you click in.
As we talk of some cute little chickens.
In Colonial times
(Are you sick of these rhymes?)
It’s Nankins this week that we’re pickin’.
Join us this week, as we talk all things colonial (okay, maybe just the livestock) at Colonial Williamsburg. Elaine Shirley, the manager of the Rare Breeds Program, walks us through on a wonderful tour of the horses, cattle, and chickens (and more) that were used by the early settlers. This living history museum in Virginia is a great place to walk back in time and see what life was like on a daily basis in 17th and 18th centuries -- heritage breeds included. And you can quaff beer in a tavern, fire a musket, ride in a carriage, and quiz George Washington about his life. Not kidding on that last one, actually. Elara asked him about his...donkey, the American Mammoth Jack.
But today, we’ll focus on the Nankin chicken – a true bantam that is about as friendly, cute and active as they come. And it’s a bird that’s broody, so it’s often used to sit on other chickens' eggs in the coop. A dove-sized chicken sitting on a full-sized batch of eggs. How’s that for a funny mental picture? Elaine gives us the skinny on these little birds, and the reason they’re on the tour.
We’ll bring you more from our visit to Colonial Williamsburg in the future, but until then, we urge you to find out more. Here are a few links to get you started.
https://colonialwilliamsburg.com/
https://livestockconservancy.org/index.php/heritage/internal/nankin
Next Episode
Ep 043 National Western Stock Show Pt 1: Cowboys and Longhorns and IYAK - Oh, My!
I've got me a hankerin’ that may be irrational
I'm wanting to go back again to the National
Western that is, and we've been there now twice
But two times it seems aren't enough to suffice.
There's cowboys and cowgirls and rodeo riders
The food court last year had these great little sliders
The animal auctions are quite a big deal
In nationwide coverage they’re traded with zeal
The two-hitch-jump sled pulling sure was amazing
But some people there spent the whole time just grazing
With llamas and sheepdogs (and of course then the sheep)
There seems to be barely enough time to sleep
There’s teams of huge draft horses thundering by
And colorful yak flags against the blue sky
Some riders weren't frightened of looking like fools
In racing ‘round barrels on cantankerous mules
But the livestock for us was the best kind of draw
And my feet even now have just started to thaw
The cows and the horses are just the beginning
The blue-ribbon heifer and Highland bull winning
In Denver we’ll yearn for the longhorn parade
I’m hoping that soon reservations are made
Either way, we will bring you a slice of the show
And hope that you also then might want to go.
For more information, here are some links to get you started.
https://nationalwestern.com/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Western_Stock_Show
http://www.dundonaldhighlands.com/index.html
https://highlandcattleusa.org/default.aspx
https://www.sunnyhillranch.com/
https://www.facebook.com/ybarhitch
https://nationalwesterncenter.com/about/what-is-the-nwc/history-about-the-site/
http://www.iyak.org
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