September 24, 2021
Most skills in livestock farming are simply not transferable. What works with chickens won’t work with sheep and what works with pigs is likely a poor idea to try on the grandchildren.
For instance, we discovered years ago, that the best way to get a 500-pound sow out of a busy intersection (alive) is for one person to put an empty garbage can over her head, while the second person uses the tail to steer her as she backs her way across 4 lanes of traffic, trying in vain to extricate herself from the can. It works like a charm - but indeed, it would never work for sheep, or chickens, and I certainly wouldn’t recommend it for children.
One skill, though, that has recently come in handy, and is indeed transferable, is spotting the bark of an oak tree from a hundred feet away. Pigs love acorns even more than they love their freedom, so if we include a few oak trees in every pig pasture, the pigs spend way less time trying to escape, and ultimately spare us all the whole trash can indignity.
So, when someone told me that they were looking for wild Maitake mushrooms, which have a strong preference for oak trees, and asked that I keep an eye out for them - Shazam! I instantly became an avid Maitake hunter and have yet another reason to spend my time in the woods, instead of doing whatever it is I should otherwise be doing. You will likely never find me searching for anything in a mall, but I could happily spend hours in the woods, wandering among the trees, up one aisle and down the other, shopping for whatever it is the next tree might have to offer.