Monday, August 08, 2011

Talk About Good Luck: Driver finds dead 16-foot python for dinner & leather

A driver in Sedro-Woolley, Wash., says he found a 16-foot python in the middle of a local road.

Lino Silva and his friend Sarah Vogt were driving down River Road near Riverfront Park in Sedro-Woolley Thursday morning when they spotted something they originally thought was a big branch, the Skagit Valley Herald in Mount Vernon, Wash., reported.

It was actually a python.

Dr. Skip Snow in lab with Burmese python captured in Everglades National Park

"I just turned my head, and I saw something huge like a snake," said Silva. "I have a fear of these things. We looked at it and we were like, 'Holy guacamole!'"

The two called Vogt's boyfriend Nick Pfeifer, a snake enthusiast, to help them move the carcass of the snake to a relative's house.

Once they moved the snake, it took about 30 minutes for the three to skihttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifn it and remove the meat for preparation to cook. Ed Note: Snakes have the same internal organs as poultry and are all white meat. Lightly steamed snake meat is much like chicken breast. It is easy to manage if cut into 1-2" sections. The meat can then be gently forked off the ribs to eat. Meat from venomous and non-venomous snakes are edible and safe. (HB-C)

Pfeifer says he plans to have a jacket made out of the brown, tan and white skin.

"I'm hoping to get enough to make a leather jacket out of it," Pfeifer said. "If I don't have enough for a whole jacket, I'll probably do a vest."

Silva said he was happy to pass the find along to his friend.

Snake field guide at Back40Books.com:

Monday, April 25, 2011

Smoke Plants of North America

"What a rabbit eats we can smoke"


Smoke Plants of North America by Author Mairi R. Ross. Ms. Ross acknowledges the serious negative health, social, and spiritual consequences of smoking commercial cigarettes and the author challenges us to look past our modern practices and rediscover the truth about the age old ritual of smoking.

The author shares her personal discovery of over 150 wild plants, legal, non-addictive, medicinal, and enjoyable, that have been smoked by Native Americans and others for centuries. Compiled here for the first time in print, this knowledge is drawn from the author's own experience and her research into original ethnobotanical texts and contemporary herbalism. Acknowledging the serious negative health, social, and spiritual consequences of smoking commercial cigarettes, the author challenges us to look past our modern practices and rediscover the truth about the age old ritual of smoking. In this book you will discover: over a dozen smoke mix recipes made with legal, non addictive herbs that calm nerves, reduce anxiety, relieve insomnia and may help you stop or reduce cigarette and marijuana smoking. A guide to gathering over 50 smokeable wild plants. Over 150 smoke plants, many traditionally used by the Navajo, Iroquois, Cherokee, Hope, Cowasuck and other Native Americans. The original spiritual purpose of smoking. 5+"x 7+", 182 page paperback. Available from www.Back40Books.com for $15.95 + shipping