Monday, April 8, 2013

Barter.

It is always nice when you have something that some one else can use,  in this case feathers.  I have got to know someone quite well who works in one of the little shops in our small town and we always have a chat, mainly about gardening and being self sufficient, he also goes fishing, fly fishing, and makes his own flies but has a problem in getting the feathers to make them.
Two brown and one rainbow trout.
 Well feathers is something that we have a good supply of so I had promised him some the next time we had birds to slaughter, these were the last batch of quail which we slaughtered last week, I saved the longer feathers for  him and he was delighted, so delighted that when I popped into the shop today he came out with a heavy carrier bag, two large brown trout and a beautiful rainbow trout, this fish weighed 2.2oz cleaned so it was a good size fish, enough to well feed four people.
2.2oz cleaned weight.
 I can't help but think that we have had the best of this deal, but he seemed very happy with the feathers and we will continue to supply him when we have them.
We are still waiting for rain, everything is so dry, although the temperatures are now rising we have the easterly wind back which is making things even drier. The wind has done more damage to plants than the frosts and until we have some rain there is no point in planting seeds or plants outside. Maybe we will have to do a rain dance.
The one thing that is surviving well is the rhubarb, we have kept it well covered with straw because of the frosts, this has had the additional benefit of keeping what little moisture there is around the plants.
Monkey doing a Meerkat impersonation.





We love our cats, they all have such different personalities, Monkey is a little black and white half Siamese cat, she and her brother Tommy are now eleven years old, but still think they are kittens, they were both hand reared by us as their mum had no milk for them. Monkey has never accepted that she is a cat, she's not quite sure what she is, but she has always been different, she does are very good imitation of a Meerkat, sitting up on her back legs and begging.  As a kitten she insisted in holding her bottle between her front legs, using them like hands, just like a little  Monkey, hence the name.
  

3 comments:

  1. Love the story of how Monkey got her name!!! We have a cat Murray. He will be a year later this month. When we have our coffee in the morning, he meows and meows until you give him his 'coffee'. Which is a dish of cream. But Murray thinks it is coffee!

    I think if both parties are happy, the barter deal works well. Fishing here in Alberta, is not allowed in the month of April. But I am hoping once May hits, the hubby does some fishing. Sure miss eating fresh fish. Your trout looks scrumptious!

    ReplyDelete
  2. That trout looks delish! I´d love to learn fly fishing, and fly tieing, for that matter.

    ReplyDelete
  3. What a good barter, I think you both did well. Oh Monkey is so cute, what a delight. Sorry to hear about all your weather problems. We are having good weather today with temps close to 70, but still we could have many frosts so no planting yet. I will be getting the potato bins ready to plant over the next few days. Enjoy the fish.

    ReplyDelete