DUCKY DOPAMINE & MORE

As we cruise through February, Mother Nature is barely beginning to awaken so on particularly sunny days, our finned babies in the lower pond are vaguely navigating about while our Miss Fiona Papillon is ever-vigilant on the ‘birdies watch’ and trying to keep our feral Jasper from getting to his good eats.

Our only remaining weeping blue atlas cedar in the Reunited Resurrection garden has gracefully twisted himself over the last year and Miss Fi feigns disinterest.

A couple of weeks ago we were gifted a giant bunch of green bananas that looked like they were going to be grand but alas, apparently the producer or distributor had gassed the poor produce to retard ripening. Well, it surely worked as 2 weeks later having been both in the frig and on the counter, they were still bright green, not one fruit fly, and hard as bricks actually defying being peeled! We had to cut the peels from the bananas after they sat UNTOUCHED on the raised feeding station for over yet 1 more week. Finally, the raccoons knocked all but 1 straggler onto the ground. Now, just a day or so shy of one month out there, our discerning raccoon eaters again showed their disdain. I guess this is their version of ‘last banana standing’!

And that darned banana is still there even after another nibbling pass!

One of our favorite bartenders at the 10/12 Lounge in Clarkdale, Wyatt and his wife Nicole, are resident duck keepers! They are home to nine quackers who are graced to live all protected from critters (with a lovely duck house), pond, handfed strawberries, spinach and other natural delicacies, and an environment that is totally pesticide-free/hormone-free/pharmaceutical-free. What an absolute treat to have for The Surgeon’s House to have the unique opportunity to serve duck eggs and at the same time support another smallsmallsmall businessperson who is raising a family so responsibly!!!

We recycle egg cartons for them and most times the eggs are so large that a rubber band is needed to keep the lid closed. Look at their eggs compared to ‘extra-large’ chicken eggs purchased commercially.

These eggs are so perfectly and naturally engineered that the shells nearly defy breaking and the membranes are tough to protect the contents. The yolks are brilliant neon orange and stand easily nearly 1/2” above the white. The richness is unequalled. Take a look at a simple omelet comprised of merely TWO of these duck eggs.

On a trivia note . . . chickens cease to lay eggs during cold weather whereas Wyatt and Nicole’s quacking femmes never cease. Inquiring needed to understand this difference in capons. Best research indicates that decreased sunshine and daylight hours during cold weather affects the hormones in their ovaries and with cold weather ensuing, their instincts tell them to conserve energy for survival – wise choice. So why do ducks keep laying one might ask . . . they are more cold and damp tolerant. Doesn’t Mother Nature have all this worked out? Follow Wyatt and Nicole at ducky dopamine on Facebook and here are our pompoms waving for Ferrari who lays the largest of the gigantic eggs!

Marlona-ette Perkins (aka andrea at tsh) and Wild Coconut Island Kingdom report signing off – ha!