[Sca-cooks] Smoked Meats in Northern Europe

Sue Clemenger mooncat at in-tch.com
Sun Oct 8 17:02:38 PDT 2006


We have a 300-foot Doug Fir growing in the pasture of what was my parents'
place (now owned by my brother).  It's amazingly tall, with a trunk wide
enough that it would take several people, arms outstretched, to circle it.
It is somewhere between Huette's tree and Kiri's tree in age.
Unfortunately, about 15 years ago, it got nailed, good, in a lightning
strike, so the top of it was fried.  Most of it's still thriving, though.
We don't have the weather or moisture up here for anything resembling a
pecan, or really any nut trees, outside of the occasional horse chestnut.
Most of the planted tree canopy here in town is yellow Maple; the remainder
are Japanese maple, birch, cottonwood, various pine and spruce, mountain
ash.
Forests in the state are mostly soft woods--pines, spruces, firs (depending
on altitude and other environmental factors), with a good sprinkling of
things like aspen and larch.  Cottonwoods and willows along the creek &
river banks, etc.  It's my favorite time of year for trees--we don't have
quite the varied palette that other states do, but, oh, it's lovely to see a
grove of aspen, all white and gold against a backdrop of dark fir.  The
larch turn all saffron colored before they drop their needles, and make
hillsides an amazing contrast of evergreen and yellow....
No food content...I don't actually know what the preferred (local) wood for
smoking meats would be.
--Maire, home with a cold....ick....

----- Original Message -----
From: "Elaine Koogler" <ekoogler1 at comcast.net>
To: "Cooks within the SCA" <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>
Sent: Sunday, October 08, 2006 3:28 PM
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Smoked Meats in Northern Europe


> Huette von Ahrens wrote:
> > Years ago, before the squirrels moved in, we would get about two or
three
> > paper grocery bags full of unshelled pecans in a bumper year. One paper
grocery
> > bag full in a good year.  With our tree, the cycle was good year, bumper
year,
> > good year, resting year.  Our tree is in the south east corner of our
lot.
> > So we share the bounty with three neighbors, most of whom didn't do
anything
> > with the nuts.  I have no idea of how much the whole tree produced, but
> > guestimating I would put it at at least six grocery bags full, if not
more.
> >
> > Our tree is healthy, if full of squirrels.  I have had an arborist look
at it.
> > The tree is probably about 100 years old.  It was a healthy mature tree
when
> > our house was built in 1947.  It is reasonably away from our house and
our neighbors
> > so that the roots get plenty of water and nutrition.  Unfortunately,
because it is
> > so tall, should it get blown over, it will do damage to someone's
property.  But we
> > are not prone to strong, gale-force winds, so I am hoping that the tree
will survive
> > me.  It is quite a landmark in our neighborhood and can be seen several
blocks away.
> > Hmmmm... I wonder how old it has to be to be called an historic
landmark?  Hmmmm....
> >
> > Huette
> >
> >
> We had a 250+ year old oak in the yard of our old house.  It had a crown
> that measured about 75 feet across, and the trunk was 5' in diameter.
> Wonderful old tree...we called it "Grandfather Oak", and it was part of
> the reason for our household name, Tair Derwen or Three Oaks...there
> were also two very old white oaks in tthe yard as well.  But I
> digress...the Calvert Co. forester looked at it and said that it was a
> "Champion Tree", and could very well be what they term a "Witness Tree",
> that it may have witnessed the founding and early settling of Maryland.
> However, we could not get the tree protected status...the fellow who
> purchased the house from us tried his darnedest to sell it for lumber,
> but no one wanted the hassle of trying to take down such a huge
> tree...that honor fell to a hurricane that came through here a couple of
> years ago...broke that gorgeous old tree off at the trunk.  sigh.
>
> Kiri
>
> --
> Remember, if you ever need a helping hand, it's at the end of your arm.
> As you get older, remember you have another hand: the first is to help
> yourself, the second is to help others
>
>                         -- Audrey Hepburn
>
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