Believe it or not, we city (and the surrounding suburbs) folk now have coyote sightings too.

So many animals are being displaced by house development and construction that I even saw a red fox in my suburban backyard a few weeks ago!

We all have to be careful about letting our little doggies out in the backyard at night without supervision. A few have been killed.

Did anyone hear of the recent coyote incident in Central Park? As Manhattan is an island, the theory of his getting there is that he swam across the river from the Bronx!!!

Alice

I don't think a religious community really would want to affiliate itself with The Village People--named after New York’s gay district in Greenwich Village. The song YMCA was originally considered an anthem for the gay community.


Mnohaja lita would make a good chant for baseball games, though. And if you must have arm movements, M and L are easily made. That is, unless you've imbibed on too much of Nathan's Specialty Craft Beer.

How's "Feast of Cana" for the pub's name? Or I suppose there is the fallback of "St. Patrick's." I think Fr. Deacon offered to provide the entertainment! Any woodworkers to make the bar?

YES! Minor League Baseball Team! Actually, it might be very possible to get an amature baseball team. I don't know how it is outside of MN, but here there are a lot of tiny towns with amature baseball teams. Since their population doesn't provide all the players, many players come from nearby cities to play on the team.

I don't think I've actually ever had a Nathan's hotdog...we don't have them here in MN.

I don't know of any, but my grandfather owns a sawmill, so I might be able to get some lumber. Some nice Red Oak (MN has some of the nicest Red Oak in the states).

Nathan's ByzVillage thought for the day:

Maple Syrup...I was just at my grandpa's and he was cooking up a batch while I visited. It would be nice to have some Maple Trees wherever we were.

Maple Syrup would be very nice. And speaking of Red Oak, Red Oak is an awesome beer! Check out http://www.redoakbrewery.com/brewery/

It's interesting you mention that, Alice. Coyotes are really one of the greatest opportunists of the animal kingdom. Their range was less than half of what it is now - but after the 1800s they moved with people back east to places they had not historically been.

You can see them in the downtown areas around here in Topeka, Kansas City, etc. after hours in alleys and trash cans. I understand they are quite prevalent throughout NYC and especially Long Island now.

I lost more sheep last year to coyotes than the previous 6 or 7 years combined - unfortunately our dog is getting quite old and this last year he was gimped up much of the time, which showed in the losses.
FDD

Is that an invitation to come out and do some Predator Hunting Father Deacon Diak? It sure would be fun! Do you hunt yourself?

You bet - although my youngest son is catching up with the old man in his shooting ability. My eyes just aren't as good as they used to be.

This last turkey season, I came home from work one evening. It turns out my son Nikolai had shot not one, but two turkeys - and off our deck in the back yard. In the past I've spent days on end without success - and he didn't even have to go in the woods.
FDD

Do you ever predator call, or use an electronic predator call? Do you ever trap coyotes?

Not done much trapping since a teenager, and that was mainly raccoons. I have used predator calls before but haven't in a long time. Now I just wait until we have one of the older sheep die of natural causes - it becomes coyote bait (literally).

When I was much younger there was a bounty on coyotes, but that didn't do much to reduce the population (and cost a bunch) so it was stopped.
FDD

I'm coming with my family and the chickens! Egg layers...so no ideas about eating fowl from any of you. We're planning on adding a few Americauna's this spring, which will give us blue/green eggs in addition to brown and white. These babes are free range, eating lots of bugs and fruits & veggies in addition to their feed.

Barbara

Dear Rusyn Girl,

Does this mean that we can finally use FOWL language on the Byzantine Forum?

Mmmmmm....chicken...mmmmm...eggs....

Ok, I'm back.

Nathan's ByzVillage thought of the day:

Is it even possible for one to support a family with a homestead/small farm? What about the all encompassing health insurance?

Nathan - you will have to keep a day job, unless you can pull something off like the Amish. They usually have a cottage industry of some kind, building houses, carpentry, etc. outside of the community to support themselves. Even amongst my heroes of small farming, people like Wendell Berry give lectures, write, etc. for extra income.
FDD

Lets open a Pirohi factory! Let's say no to Mrs. T's and Yes to "Matushka's Pirohi!"