Back to actual Fauna and Flora this week. First up – this chicken that Austin bred by accident. She has no tail bone at all. Austin just loves her and calls her “Kiwi.” She was conceived about the time Austin had a few chickens in isolation because of fever. Perhaps some wild bird gene got dragged in.
Edible cactus – we ate it for the first time this week. Some guest knew how to prepare it. I wasn’t here for that, only showed up for the eating of it. I think they scraped the skin off. Then it was cut into strips and cooked like green beans. Very tasty.
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And now for a story that has been building for several weeks – but now I have photos…. BATS. There have been scores of large bats for the last few weeks. Austin’s idea is that the storm up north destroyed all their food sources and so they have flown south. There isn’t much food for them here – so we see them going to coconut trees to get a little something from the flowers. They have to eat all day to keep fed that way, instead of just a few hours at dawn and sunset. Poor things.
A lot of people are less sympathetic, especially when bats are going for the Very Precious papaya crops – and so they kill them when they can. Austin was visiting a neighbor whose grandkids had just killed one. He brought the victim home.
As I said, these bats are LARGE.
And soft and furry.
Flying foxes.
The amazing webbing in its hand that serves as its wing.
And its little toe nails – very sharp …. the one piece of a bat that I am nervous about.
Many years ago our family raised an orphaned baby bat to adulthood and it successfully returned to the wild, so we are batty for bats. I’ll share that story another time.
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Now for a little This and That. I got the best packed groceries ever this week! Below is a typical box on the left, and the prize-worthy box on the right.
The fellow had a box cutter and made a hole for the top of the olive oil bottle! Love it!
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We’ve been at the farm close to eight years. The first time I noticed saris as an agriculture material was on the papayas a few months ago. This week I saw this:
Why? (Does it have anything to do with the rise in popularity of “sari suits”?)
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Finally, I accidentally shortchanged a cake loving friend by neglecting to take photos of lolo buns before. Well, I had lolo buns this weekend and got a few shots.
Have a sweet week, everybody.
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Flora and Fauna Weekly Report 
Odd chicken. Sad bat. Yummy looking buns. Recipe?
I’ll ask around for the recipe. The buns Really Love MY buns, I’ll tell ya!
I’m interested in the bats. Great to see the speciment close up, in daylight. I’ve only ever seen them flying around at dusk. In India I sometimes played tennis in the evening, and bats flew across the court….(tennis bats?). Apart from ducking to avoid them, I welcomed them, as I assumed that they would eat the biting insects.
In Europe bats are protected – it’s illegal to injure them or damage their breeding sites or resting places. But I have sympathy for papaya growers too.
I’m so glad bats are protected in England. They are such beautiful little animals. In Guam the fruit bats are pretty much wiped out because fruit bat and corn soup is a highly treasured meal. (answer: yes.) (answer: kind of sweet, very chewy, weirdly furry.)
There can’t be much meat on them after peeling 😦
um…. why do you assume they are peeled? (chewing on the fur is part of the appeal ….. gack)
Hmmm…maybe it’s like sending a pipe cleaner through your intestines…
Oh Simone, ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!
I was very interested in the pictures of the bat. I think in my lifetime I have only seen one up close. When we were children there were bats in the barn on our property and at night the bats would swoop close to us. I’m sure they were catching mosquitos, but we didn’t like them very well. One got caught in a net my dad had put up, so we were able to see one during the daytime. Amazing animals. I also was interested in eating cactus. We have them all around our area, but no one ever eats them, as far as I know. Interesting. Hope you are well and enjoying your fall.
LG
Bats in the barn! That does sound more worrisome than our free-range fruit bats. I like small bats better than these giants. As for cactus, I only got the product, wasn’t home for the production …. so looky what I just found for us online: http://www.motherearthnews.com/real-food/how-to-eat-cactus-zmaz84zloeck.aspx?PageId=1#ArticleContent A link for how to eat cactus!