In 1911 our grandfather came west from Ontario on a "harvester's special". He got off at Fort Walsh, where he found work as a cook and cowboy. We've lived in and loved Alberta ever since. Jewel of the Canadian West is an occasionally updated blog about Southwestern Alberta's people and places. The best corner of the best province in the best country in the world, I like to say. Welcome to The Jewel of The Canadian West!

Monday, November 22, 2010

Un-Canadian Geese

They're a major hazard to airplanes and golf courses, they defile public parks with their leavings and out-honk every other migratory bird in North America.  Their V-shaped flying formation is familiar to us all as a harbinger of the season to come.  The Canada Goose (Branta canadensis).  Golf courses everywhere annually spend their members' hard-earned money on eradication schemes aimed at these wetland giants - and cities wish they could spend our tax dollars doing the same.  They're pests and everyone knows it.  (Even if they do have some laudable qualities.  First, they mate for life, although they may take a new mate if their original one passes away.  Second ...well actually that's it - they have no other laudable qualities.)  But please, they're not necessarily Canadian, ie. born in Canada, for many of them nest in the northern U.S. and never grace a Canuck sky during their laudably loyal lives according to the Peterson Field Guide to Birds of North America.  What we need, it's painfully obvious, is to make wild Canada Goose a "dish of the month" like turkey.  Attach it to a national holiday like Labor Day.  Every family could do their patriotic duty; go out and shoot one, cook it up and celebrate cleaner parks and public places.  No farm-raised CG's please, wild ones only.  Hell of an idea.  Of course, we'd have to screen for bird flu...and everyone (in Canada at least) isn't a gun owner...okay, the idea needs work, I'll admit it.

3 comments:

  1. I'm thinking a certain kitchen maven known well to this blog might develop and market some sort of fast-cooked product freezer ready for consumers. Perhaps especially her mother?

    Anyone for Marvelous Minneapolis instant-pulverized, baked and deboned Goose pate ala jet-engine intake? No? Not very adventurous, are we ...

    Okay, I'll admit a to a similar need for work on this one. Over to you, kitchen maven ...

    Loofy

    ReplyDelete
  2. Not too goofy, Loofy! Hey Beth, how about a great goose recipe, complete with stuffing and appropriate veggies?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Loofy, having just been on a plane that ingested one of this flying rodents, and having just suffered through the overwhelming smell of burning goose, I'm just not sure I could stomach one...
    is there such a thing as Mad Goose Disease? why the heck can't they get out of the way...?

    ReplyDelete