Skin Small Animals with a Hand Pump, Sixteen Uses for Old Tires, a Honey Candy Recipe, and More Country Lore

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ILLUSTRATION: MOTHER EARTH NEWS STAFF
Try growing your tomato plants upside down in buckets: the tomato vines grow out and up around the container, the red fruits hang down for easy picking, and it helps keep most pests away.

Skin Small Animals More Cleanly with a Hand Pump

According to “50 percent self-sufficient” Daniel Warner of Walton, New York, there’s more than one way to skin a small animal. In order to better define the boundary between a recently killed specimen’s hide and its flesh, Daniel makes one small hole in the skin right above the quarry’s hind foot. He then inserts a ball needle (attached to a hand pump) just under the skin, and begins pumping in air. The carcass puffs up like a balloon, separating most of the hide from the meat. Warner next pats the hide, working air into any area that still adheres to the flesh.

At that point, the Empire Stater begins cutting around the animal’s legs and across to the anus. Then, when Daniel does peel the hide, it comes off easily, and the connective tissue remains clearly visible, enabling him to make cuts that insure that the maximum amount of meat stays on the carcass and off the hide.

Chickens Pull Weeds along Fences

If you own chickens, Doug Qualls’s tip may be mighty helpful to you. This resident of Apple Valley, California avoids the boring chore of hoeing the weeds along his fences by throwing chicken scratch along the line of his posts. Doug’s feathered “fence crew” then digs in after the feed, pulling up weeds as they go!

  • Published on Jul 1, 1983
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