Thursday, March 28, 2024
HomeNotes From KathyMonkey Bread, Cricket Brownies, Fried Larvae and Horse Nettle = A Perfect...

Monkey Bread, Cricket Brownies, Fried Larvae and Horse Nettle = A Perfect Trip!

I spent the last week of September in  Louisiana.  Dr. Alan DeRamus of the University of Louisiana invited me there to talk to farmers about how to teach their livestock to eat weeds.  It was an outstanding trip and here’s why:

Great food

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Click for the Monkey Bread recipe. Quick, easy and very tasty! It made me feel so special that Betty had made this just so we could all sit, have coffee and talk about cows.

I ate Monkey Bread for the first time, and that was just one of the great meals Betty Ashford made in the two days I spent with her and her husband Don just outside Ethel, Louisiana. Sloppie Joes for a picnic lunch after the workshop with lemon basil sugar cookies!  Perfect! Then every evening I walked from my hotel to the Blue Dog cafe where I learned about crawfish, and etouffee and the Blue Dog.  Good thing I had to walk a bit or I would have come home much larger.

Great Cows

The cows learned well too.  The University Brangus herd was introduced to goldenrod, but they decided on their own that tea weed (prickly sida) was just as good, and they chowed down on it in pasture.  Don and Betty Ashford introduced their cows to mimosa weed (also known as chamberbitter weed).  Then the cattle decided on their own to add teaweed and horse nettle.

Now, all of the weeds that the cows began eating are big deals. But for me, the biggest deal was the horse nettle.  It grows in a lot of places and lots of farmers and ranchers have trouble with it.  I’ve been asked over and over, “Can cows eat horse nettle?” After really looking at it and gathering all the information I could, I thought we could try, but that we ought to watch the cattle and make sure that my one last concern, that it might cause stomach pain, was not a problem.  So imagine the jumping up and down, laughing, hugging, and giggling that went on when I saw Don and Betty’s cows taking huge bites out of the leafy plant!  I’ve told Don that he and Betty and their cows are going to be famous!  (Click here to find out how to teach your livestock to eat weeds.)

SpinySidaandMimosaWeed

HorseNettleandgoldenrod

Great People

I’ve traveled a lot for this part of my job, and while I don’t love the time I spend in airports and airplanes, I love the people I meet.  These folks were extra fun because they asked me to step outside my normal routine of presenting with a projector and a computer.  Instead, we just talked as we all sat outdoors in the shade.

Look, a protein bar!  Yes, crickets are very high in protein. :-)  Click to buy yours!
Look, a protein bar! Yes, crickets are very high in protein. 🙂 Click to buy yours!

I decided a little audience participation would help, so I got them to try different foods so they could experience the training process in action.  It started innocently enough, just like the training plan for teaching cows does.  First I gave them M&Ms.  Then Starburst candies shaped like candy corn.  Then they tried little squares of what looked like a chocolate brownie.  I didn’t tell them that the baker out of Utah had made them with cricket flour.  From there it was an easy jump to cheddar-cheese-flavored fried larvae. They were great sports, and as they left many told me there were going to train their cows to eat new things. It felt like a great success and something that I’d like to do again.

In my book, hanging out with nice people in a pasture full of cows is just about the perfect day.  (OK, it wasn’t so perfect the first day, because the airline had lost my luggage and when we were standing in the pasture, me in my travel sandals, the fire ants bit my feet. Note to self: wear boots on the plane even if it’s 100 degrees when you’re leaving Tucson.) But seeing how well both cows and people take to new food, and how that solves what everyone thought was a big problem, really makes my day.

One more note – if you’re one of the great people I’m going to meet at a future presentation, don’t give away the secret if you see me pulling out bowls of candy and other “interesting” foods.  I look forward to hearing you tell everyone around you what tasty treats I always bring!

Almost forgot to show you the Blue Dog.  Not always blue, the dog is artist George Rodrigue's interpretation of the Cajun werewolf or "loup-garou." One of his son's runs the Blue Dog cafe in Lafayette.  Great food and walls and walls of blue dog paintings.  Don't miss it if you stop in Lafayette, Louisiana!
Almost forgot to show you the Blue Dog. Not always blue, the dog is artist George Rodrigue’s interpretation of the Cajun werewolf or “loup-garou.” One of his son’s runs the Blue Dog cafe in Lafayette. Great food and walls and walls of blue dog paintings. Don’t miss it if you stop in Lafayette, Louisiana!

 

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Kathy Voth
Kathy Vothhttps://onpasture.com
I am the founder, editor and publisher of On Pasture, now retired. My career spanned 40 years of finding creative solutions to problems, and sharing ideas with people that encouraged them to work together and try new things. From figuring out how to teach livestock to eat weeds, to teaching range management to high schoolers, outdoor ed graduation camping trips with fifty 6th graders at a time, building firebreaks with a 130-goat herd, developing the signs and interpretation for the Storm King Fourteen Memorial trail, receiving the Conservation Service Award for my work building the 150-mile mountain bike trail from Grand Junction, Colorado to Moab, Utah...well, the list is long so I'll stop with, I've had a great time and I'm very grateful.

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