Fire Power: the age of Anthropocene; Flower Power

🔥 I don't mind winter, it makes spring more exciting. Sadly, we've had terrible heat of the summer temperatures, and little rain. Many fires have been accidentally 😒 started by people burning leaves, etc. Nova Scotia is now creating a $25,000 fine for such. Many are discussing The Anthropocene: The human era and how it shapes our planet.

People can be so ignorant about nature and wildlife. Not all of us, for sure. This↓ is why I think Gaelyn is happy to be retired! 

Another shout out to another blogger, the awful conditions in Alberta has been affecting our friend, Red.  I was awake at 3 a.m., looked out the front window and the moon was orange. The smoke is traveling (<= forecast) all over. Our local smoke, in SE Ontario, is from the Quebec fires this week. 

Thank goodness for good governments and excellent use of taxpayer dollars. Within Canada, we have a national centre, which coordinates human and physical resources:  🔥Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre. They analyse fire locations, and determine who has resources which could be sent to another province. 

I have to thank (as if they read my blog!), those countries who have all sent firefighters to help us with these fires. This is what I found out: Canada has agreements to share firefighters 🚒 with six other countries -- the United States, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Mexico and Costa Rica.

🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

Flower Power

The poppies are in bloom.

It's known as Field Hawkweed, but my mother always called them Devil's paintbrush! OK, to be honest, she called them Indian Paintbrush, but that is no longer acceptable. When we know better –  we do better!

The fuschia is blooming nicely!

Dame's violet and Impatiens. I brought us back to my Anthropocene, accidentally. That is a beer can I found beside the mailbox, brought back to the house, and meant to put in recycle. 

After two horrid storms, Dec., 2022, and then April, 2023, the poor pine trees are putting out new needles. (Back to Anthropocene and Climate Change, which causes these extreme storms.) The problem with this  is the trees would provide shade on the back deck. 

The sun is shining more heavily on the indoor plants I put out. I had to bring my orchid in. While they like indirect light, there is a limit to that! 

 

The cherry tomatoes plants are doing well! Also, the Horse Chestnut tree.

Local Produce!

Finally, a neighbour drove by, and popped in with a gift of asparagus from down the road at Miller's Bay Farm. With all the fooferah around the gun range, and the applicant appealing, I'd forgotten to order some! She is the kindest woman. She also is the momentum behind the petition, and the 534 signatures gathered to protest the gun range. She researched the requirements, designed the petition, distributed it, and got most of the signatures.

We had the asparagus and some of  Jiny's Korean Kimchee for dinner. JB had gone to the market Saturday. 👩🏻‍🍳@jinykimjh

Thank goodness for amazing people in the world, they outnumber the yahoos!

Oh, give me a home, where the buffalo roam ♪♫♩

Photo courtesy Battle River Bison Co.

My late father used to sing this song for me at bedtime. It's one of my favourites! His lovely tenor voice echoes in my memory.

They are bison, just to be truthful, but you get the idea. They are mistakenly called buffalo, but truly are called American Bison, found on the Great Plains.

On a drive into Carleton Place to take photos of the NCR Habitat build, I spotted them having a bit of a dance in the field.

Well, perhaps more of a '–tag, you're it!'

This local farm appeals to the locavore in me. For my vegetarian friends, do not read any further!

I simply say that I support our local farmers. It is important to make good choices.

The video was a bit dull, with traffic zipping by, but they were having so much fun. I brightened up the video. You can see the critters barreling around.


Bison from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.
Battle River Bison Co.
They offer several recipes on their webpage. Soups and stews, ribs, ground bison r

Bison in Canada, census years 1991 to 2006

ecipes, roasts, Recipes from the Canadian Bison Association . Bison on the Battle River Bison farm between Perth and Carleton Place.

They are mammals and herbivores, more information is at National Geographic. They grow to have a head and body length of 2 - 3.5 m, and are as tall as a tall man (5 - 6.5'). They weigh between 422 - 998 kg (930 to 2200 lbs.).

Camera Critters #191

They run up to 65 k/hr (40 mph), and weigh a ton or so.
Like cows and my deer friends, they regurgitate their food and chew it up.
There were Wood Bison and Plains Bison, the former living farther north, with the Plains Bison living on...yes, the plains of North America.

For more info about the extirpation of the bison–Gutenberg e-Books
The Extermination of the American Bison (1888) 
by William Temple Hornaday

They were hunted to near extinction, by both First Nations and white hunters. Before the guns, there were plenty of these beasts.
"With these figures before us, it is not difficult to make a calculation that will be somewhere near the truth of the number of buffaloes actually seen in one day by Colonel Dodge on the Arkansas River during that memorable drive, and also of the number of head in the entire herd: 480,000."


The sheer numbers of these beasts convinced them that they would never have an impact on the herds.

The gun increased the numbers that were taken, and many began to take only the tongue. Heads fetched from $10 -  50 depending upon the gender and size of the animal, mountable skins sold for $50 - 150. The railway increased the numbers of heads and hides that could be shipped.

As early as 1701 the Huguenot settlers at Manikintown, on the James River, a few miles above Richmond, began to domesticate buffaloes. Fortunately, there are many that have begun to do this quite successfully in Lanark County.

The big problem is the lack of genetic diversity, due to the extirpation of the species by 1998.
As livestock, they tell us, they do quite well. However, many of them have been bred with beef cattle, and the genetics may prove to be another human experiment with animals gone wrong.