wolfenxsong-blog

[hermmachinery]

Poultry Feed Mill Plant

What is The Poultry Feed Mill Plant? Starting a poultry feed processing plant has always been a profitable business in many countries. Poultry feed plant is specialized in producing duck feed, goose feed, chicken feed, bird feed, parrot feed, and other poultry feed, etc. How to make poultry feed? You need a poultry feed pellet production line first. Our fully automatic poultry feed mill plant…

[cremach]

Cremach Pvt. Ltd. (CPL) is a Project Engineering Company for Animal Feed plants based in Vadodara. CPL specializes in turnkey projects for animal feed-making machines, such as Cattle Feed plants, Poultry Feed Plant, Fish Feed Plant, and Shrimp Feed Plant.

Our high-quality milling machinery designed for the compound feed industry includes a Hammer Mill, Industrial Mixer, Pellet Mill, Crumbler, Countercurrent Cooler, and Material Handling Equipment. With the experience of over 4 decades, the company excels in the design, fabrication, supply, installation, automation, and commissioning of animal feed process machinery.

Cremach Private Limited 448/1 GIDC Makarpura Vadodara 390010 Reach us on +91 99099 84960

Email: info@cremach.in

Website: https://cremach.in/

[reasonsforhope]

"Abby Allen has no problem with her neighbours peering over her luxuriant hedges to see what she is up to on her farm.

For years she has been carrying out ad hoc experiments with wildlife and farming techniques; in her lush Devon fields native cattle graze alongside 400-year-old hedgerows, with birds and butterflies enjoying the species-rich pasture.

Under the environmental land management scheme (ELMS), introduced by the government in 2021, those experiments were finally being funded. “We have a neighbour who has always been more of an intensive farmer,” she says, but he is now considering leaving fields unploughed to help the soil. “It genuinely is having such a huge impact in changing people’s mindsets who traditionally would never have thought about farming in this way.”

The new nature payments scheme followed the UK’s exit from the EU, when the government decided to scrap the common agricultural payments scheme, which gave a flat subsidy dependent on the number of acres a farmer managed. In its place came ELMS, which pays farmers for things such as planting hedges, sowing wildflowers for birds to feed on and leaving corners of their land wild for nature.

But these schemes are now at threat of defunding, as the Labour government has refused to commit to the £2.4bn a year spending pot put in place by the previous Conservative government. With spending tight and the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, cutting back on infrastructure and hinting at tax rises, a cut to the ELMS scheme may be on her list.

However, government data released last week found the schemes were working to tentatively bring nature back to England’s farmland. Butterflies, bees and bats are among the wildlife being boosted by ELMS, with birds among the chief beneficiaries, particularly ones that largely feed on invertebrates. An average of 25% more breeding birds were found in areas utilising the eco-friendly schemes.

...there are also farmers who welcome the schemes. Allen says the ELMS has helped her farm provide data and funds to expand and improve the good things they were doing for nature. “Some of the money available around things like soil testing and monitoring – instead of us going ‘we think these are the right things to do and providing these benefits,’ we can now measure it. The exciting thing now is there is money available to measure and monitor and kind of prove that you’re doing the right things. And so then you can find appropriate funding to do more of that.”

Allen, who is in the Nature Friendly Farming Network, manages a network of farms in England, most of which are using the ELMS. This includes chicken farms where the poultry spend their life outside rather than in sheds and other regenerative livestock businesses...

Mark Spencer was an environment minister until 2024 when he lost his seat, but now spends more time in the fields admiring the fruits of his and his family’s labour. He says that a few years of nature-friendly agriculture has restored lapwings and owls.

“On the farm, I haven’t seen lapwings in any number for what feels like a whole generation. You know, as a kid, when I was in my early teens, you’d see lapwings. We used to call them peewits. We’d see them all the time, and they sort of disappeared.

“But then, me and my neighbours changed the way we did cropping, left space in the fields for them to nest, and suddenly they returned. You need to have a piece of land where you’re not having mechanical machinery go over it on a regular basis, because otherwise you destroy the nest. We’ve also got baby owls in our owl box now for the first time in 15 years. They look mega, to be honest, these little owls, little balls of fluff. It is rewarding.”"

-via The Guardian, August 23, 2024

[homeofhousechickens]

I saw this chart being shared around which was either made by an AI/bot or a very misinformed person (notice how it keeps repeating high nutrition value on colors that should def give you the ick) so I'm going to share my egg yolk color post from my patreon.

And here is my 2 year old patreon post if you want to learn what yolk colors really mean/ I think it covers everything besides blood/meat spots which are just due to the oviduct or blood vessels getting damaged in the egg laying process

"Its uncommon but sometimes egg yolks can come in a variety of colors besides shades of yellow and orange. Egg yolks are usually various shades of orange and yellow due to Xanthophylls, specifically Lutein. Xanthophylls are a yellow pigment and a type of carotenoid mostly found in leafy green plants. These pigments are what give free range chickens such a nice rich orange color to their yolks. There is a catch though, us humans know that lutein is what makes egg yolks that nice color so sometimes companies add it into their feed to give the impression that their poultry feed is healthier then their competitors. Sadly this also means that nice orange egg yolks don't necessarily mean the chicken that laid it lived a nice lifestyle. There are other egg yolk colors besides orange and yellow, such as white for example. This only happens when the hen in question is on a diet severely lacking in sources of Lutein, so no corn, leafy greens, grains, ect. So it usually means a chicken is lacking nutritionally and will be fixed immediately when on a better diet. Bright red is another color that can be caused by a variety of reasons. Red yolks can be from a hen eating a lot of sources of lutein and red pigments, such as nice green grass. peppers, or it can be from trauma in the oviduct which led to blood being in the yolk. Sometimes its just nutrition but its always safe to check your eggs over in case this is unusual for your hen. Another interesting color is black and green. These egg yolks are usually caused by cottenseed meal. They are this color due to an overabundance of Gossypol a yellow and brown pigment that is toxic in high amounts to both humans and chickens and very abundant in cottonseeds. Cottenseed meal is sometimes used in some poorer quality feed and silage as filler and as a protein source even though it has anti-nutritional properties. Sadly this can have a negative effect on chickens who eat to much causing long term damage to their digestive health and physically changing their crop. It can also cause eggs to become rubbery in texture and have pinkish egg whites. For these reasons you never want to eat egg yolks of this color. Lastly we have olive green. Olive Green egg yolks are most commonly caused by curious chickens eating acorns or by being fed acorn meal. Not only do acorns cause the bizarre change in color they also cause the eggs to taste weird. Acorns have a high amount of tannins in them, just like tea and just like tea they tend to have a naturally bitter flavor, not something you want to taste in your eggs! Tannins can also be toxic in high amounts so be mindful of your chickens diet if you see them. I think that covers most varieties and the reasons they happen. Its generally a good idea to not eat eggs that are questionable or a weird color in anyway, especially since some dangerous bacteria can change the color of the egg yolk or even the egg whites. So if your eggs arent the usual yellow and to reddish orange shades it may be a good idea to throw out the egg." https://www.patreon.com/posts/64183457

[what-even-is-thiss]

i've been reading some of your arguments for why you wouldn't be vegan and just wanted to point out that you have a lot of fallacy in your arguments. might want to do a look in there to make sure you are stating your morals/prose properly, and aren't using any arguments that can be easy to shutdown. appeal to tradition. appeal to futility and the argument that personal pleasure(taste etc) allows us to do what we want to others without consent to their bodies is a moral issue i don't think you align with but i could be mistaken. a lot of people who enjoy sex don't rape for example.

i also liked the taste of animal flesh and organs but realized my personal pleasure i got from consuming them pales when it is placed against the value of someone's life and what they have to endure for me to get that on my plate, it's easy to have a disconnect when you don't know. health, animals, earth all benefit from a plant based diet. a plant based diet can feed more people for cheaper, helping to end hunger.

you can say you cook "more vegetarian" but i implore you to continue your growth and align your actions with your morals and continue to strive for a plant based diet in the future. you don't seem like a cruel person but i could be wrong. i've been vegan for 15 years and i cook so many amazing meals and can tell you from experience you don't have to limit yourself to oatmeal. if you have time to watch/listen id implore you to check out gary yourofsky "the most important speech you will ever hear"

good luck to you on aligning your moral values with the actions you take daily/what you pay for.

Okay. Do you say these same things to vegans that wear cotton? That also kills a lot of animals. Like a lot of them. It hurts entire ecosystems.

There’s no way to buy stuff in our current economy that doesn’t hurt somebody or something. I know how to cook tasty and cheap and mostly healthy meals for myself and the easiest way to do that is with pre-cut veggies, eggs, and the occasional poultry.

Yeah I’m wasting plastic. Yeah I’m eating animals. Vegans eat almonds and quinoa. Those are bad farmed at an industrial scale.

Being an omnivore is natural and I don’t feel bad about it. If you look me in the eyes and ask me if I could kill a chicken the answer is yes. I’ve done extensive research on how to do it safely, actually. If the apocalypse comes I’m raising hens for meat.

Also comparing animal agriculture to rape? Couldn’t find literally anything else to compare it to? Really?

[fatehbaz]

In August 1963, the Dutchveterinarian Dan (E.H.) Kampelmacher stepped on a plane to Lima, the capital of Peru. His destination: smelly factories in Lima’s port city which ground up tiny anchovy fish from the Pacific Ocean into huge amounts of animal feed. Peru exported one fifth of this ‘fishmeal’ to the Netherlands, where farmers used it to feed their quickly rising numbers of chickens and pigs in new intensive livestock or ‘factory’ farms. [...]

The ports of Lima and Rotterdam connected the ecosystems of Peruvian fishmeal plants and Dutch farms. [...] [H]ardly anyone showed any interest in what the stuff was made of. Although Dutch farmers had started to refer to their new industrial poultry and pig farms as ‘landless’ at this point in time, they did not intend this phrase to mean their growing dependence on oceans rather than land. Rather, it characterized a fundamental change in livestock farming: in the postwar era farmers could increase their numbers of animals independently of the area of land they had for growing feed. The phrase ‘landless’ erased from view that these farms in fact depended on places elsewhere on the planet. [...] [T]he fish, called “anchoveta” [were] from the Humboldt Current ecosystem [...].

Fishmeal was invisible, despite its crucial importance for two interrelated major changes in the Netherlands and the global north in general: the rise of intensive livestock farming, and the unprecedented increase in the consumption of meat and eggs. [...] How did fishmeal and its environmental impacts connect industrial livestock farming in the global north to its production places in the global south [...]? [...]

---

Shadow places are ‘all those places that produce or are affected by the commodities you consume, places consumers don’t know about, don’t want to know about, and in a commodity regime don’t ever need to know about or take responsibility for’. It is very similar to the ‘ghost acres’ concept used by environmental and global historians: the acres of land countries used elsewhere on the planet [...]. Cushman analyses the rise of the Peruvian fishmeal industry as another case of what he calls ‘neo-ecological imperialism’: the ‘Blue Revolution’ [...], to stress the connection between fishmeal production in the Pacific World and the rise of industrial livestock farming in the global north. [...]

Fishmeal fed the twentieth-century shift to industrial livestock farming – the Netherlands was among the top three fishmeal importers internationally from 1954 to 1972. [...] Animal proteins – and fishmeal in particular – played an essential role in this shift to industrial livestock farming [...]. But for poultry and pigs, animal proteins were an ‘indispensable ingredient’ [...]. Internationally, fishery landings tripled in the period 1950��1973 due to the rise in fishmeal production for animal feed. [...] During the Peruvian fishmeal boom from 1958 until 1970, [...] [t]he livestock sector started to refer to it explicitly as ‘Peru fishmeal’ [...]. The Netherlands was the second-largest importer after the USA in 1955 [...].

---

According to Cushman and Wintersteen, the spectacular rise of the Peruvian fishmeal industry was the result of [...] international interest in the Peruvian stocks of small fish suitable for fishmeal production, interest from the USA in particular.

After the collapse of the Californian fishmeal industry shortly after the Second World War, industrial fishmeal plants in Peru were realised with American marine expertise, investments by American industrialists, subsidiaries of American companies like Cargill and Ralston Purina, and second-hand American fishmeal equipment and technology. [...]

As a result, the Peruvian fishery industry changed radically during the 1950s. Rather than a being a by-product of fish canneries, fishmeal became its core focus. [...] [A]nd industrialists moved in entire fishmeal plants from the USA and Scandinavia. These plants could turn 5.4 tons of fish into a ton of fishmeal at the peak of the industry [...].

---

Angola exported fishmeal under Portuguese colonial rule (until 1975), and South Africa exported fishmeal during Apartheid (until 1994). In Chile the neoliberal dictatorship of general Augusto Pinochet (1973–1990) gave fishmeal industrialists free rein again from 1973 onwards, and Chile had replaced Peru as the major fishmeal exporter by 1980.

Social inequality was exacerbated [...]. Fishmeal industrialists made enormous amounts of money, and stock exchanges in the global north enabled speculation on fishmeal. Simultaneously, workers in the fishmeal plants were poorly paid and lived in slums with no paved roads, running water or electricity, unhealthy conditions and polluted air. Fishmeal’s volatile market resulted in labour unrest during the 1960s in Peru, and during the 1980s in Chile. [...] Many factories were moved to less-regulated places along the coast, taking the air pollution and resulting public health problems with them. One of these places was the city of Chimbote, which quickly grew into the largest fishmeal city of Peru, and became ‘one of the nation’s … most polluted cities’. [...] One place impacted by the feeding of fish to farm animals was in particular in shadows: the marine ecosystems from which the tiny fish were taken, like the Pacific Humboldt Current along the coast of Peru and Chile. [...]

The ocean ecosystems in the global south exploited to feed the industrial livestock sector in the north remained largely invisible. [...] The disappearance of the Peruvian anchoveta also made the ‘protein crisis’ move north. The Dutch livestock sector referred to the ‘true emergency situation’ of the Peruvian fishmeal crisis as the ‘protein crisis’ (‘de eiwit-crisis’). [...] But in 1972–1973 the Humboldt Current marine ecosystem created its own shadow places in both the north and the south. The extraordinary strong El Niño led to the sudden disappearance of the anchovy population [...].

---

All text above by: Floor Haalboom. “Oceans and Landless Farms: Linking Southern and Northern Shadow Places of Industrial Livestock (1954-1975).” Environment and History Volume 28 Number 4. November 2022. [Bold emphasis and some paragraph breaks/contractions added by me.]

[acti-veg]

Mercy For Animals published a video in which workers are seen kicking, stepping, throwing and stuffing chickens into cages for transport. The farms provide chickens to Pilgrim’s Pride, one of the largest chicken producers in the United States.

Mercy For Animals is protesting Senate Bill 16, which aims to criminalize the use of any recording equipment (drones, cameras, video recorders, audio recorders etc.) inside concentrated animal feeding operations and commercial food processing and manufacturing plants without consent from the operation's owner.

[honey-minded-hivemind]

For my🥚Tiny Talons AUs (except 🥚Tiny Heir❄, maybe or maybe not🥚Tiny Sting🐝, and possibly 🥚Tiny Animus🔮) Reader tied between either being a SilkWing or a HiveWing/SilkWing hybrid...

So they're going to be a HiveWing/SilkWing hybrid! They are either 50% HiveWing and 50% SilkWing, or 25% HiveWing and 75% SilkWing!!!

And they'd be so cute!!!

They wouldn't have full grown wings as a baby dragonet. If they were equally HiveWing and SilkWing, they might have more HiveWing-esque wings that were already there... Or they'd have wingbuds that woud only grow into wings after their Metamorphosis, if their wings were more SilkWing-esque.

Oooooo! Imagine what colors they'd be! I'm thinking either reds and pinks, oranges and golds, or pastel yellow and pink, but with some darker red/pink/orange/gold/yellow and black scales, due to their HiveWing side. They'd definetly have antenna, they might have a HiveWing power, and they'd be so itty bitty!

They'd be likely to eat meat and veggies and fruits and sweets, not being fully vegetarian like a SilkWing. Maybe they prefer less heavy meats? Like poultry, fish, and such. They'd eat eggs, enjoy honeybuns, and also eat raspberries and tangerines. Would bite an adult platonic yan if they dared to take away a piece of food, and would also bite them if they tried to syringe-feed them medicine. Favorite meat snacks include: small salmon bites, gazelle jerkey, and bird wings and legs. Favorite veggie snacks include: sweet potato sticks and steamed broccoli. Favorite fruit snacks include: raisins, raspberries, and tangerine slices. Their favorite sweets are: small lemon cakes/bars, honeydrops, and small chocolates in the shape of bees.

Baby dragonet Reader is doing their best to communicate to the adult platonic yans that they are not mentally a hatchling, all while trying to find out how they (and possibly the other older dragonets/teens) were changed into baby dragonets. Reader tries to be sneaky, but being in the body of a baby dragonet means they're rather loud, wobbly, and clumsy. The adults think they're playing, and Reader is exasperated over their predicament. Reader can't fly in their current state, so they have to either climb on things or climb on someone to get a better view. They're annoyed over being treated like a draginet and having baby limitations, like having to take naps and needing to eat every few hours and needing someone to keep an eye on them most of the time... but this is also something they wanted, albeit as an older dragonet.

The reason behind Reader (and maybe the other teens/dragonets) getting animus magicked into baby draginets is due to a traumatic incident that broke a few of the teens and adults, enough so that the adults went a little off the deep end, and decided to try and start over, trying to erase what happened and make it so they could have a happier life and memories. Depending on the flavor of backstory for Tiny Talons, they could have been abusive in the past or really friendly with Reader, they could have been friends or enemies, or rivals or family, it just depends on the backstory used for the au.

The adults set up a baby dragonet-proof hatchery, as well as a nursery-like room. The hatchery has soft carpeting, early learning toys and puzzles, baby dragonet books and scrolls, as well as little blankets and stuffed animals/dragons and play structures. The nursery is a large room with only one entrance/exit, which two platonic yans are guarding at all times, in case the dragonets need them or someone tries to hurt them. The nursery has different sleeping areas, such as small streams and little ponds for SeaWings and MudWings, rocky ledges with furs and pillows for SkyWings and IceWings and NightWings, woven hammocks and beds of vines and plants filled with woven blankets for RainWings and SilkWings and LeafWings and HiveWings, even larger hammocks and beds/nests that can hold and fit all of the dragonets or even an adult dragon or two. There are some cubby holes filled with different types of snacks and drinks, a few cubbies full of first aid supplies, as well as larger cabinets full of blankets and bedding and extra vines and fabrics and strands and silk, in case they need to replace or repair anything. There is a large book case and scroll case full of different dragonet stories, how-to guides on dragonet care, different cook books, and even the likes of touch-and-feel books and A-to-Z animals, colors, rocks, foods, etc. ... They also have a large chest full of different stuffed animals and dragon dolls, so the dragonets can either play with them or sleep with them or cuddle them. Reader has one, and while they find having one a little demeaning, it is also the closest they have to a comfort item (and no one will take it away unless it is to clean it). All in all, these two rooms have everything a dragonet or baby dragonet could want, and are only accessible to the adults, who keep a heavy watch over them. If any scavengers (humans) tried to break in to steal the dragonets, they would likey be eaten, or tossed off from the highest outcropping in the territory/mountain/Hive/palace/academy/wherever they are.

So now Reader has to figure out the mystery behind why they're a baby dragonet, all while putting up with the care of the adult platonic yans...

So... who's ready for this ride?

[fhw-unleashed]

Couldn't resist snapping one of the inspiring prompts from the cute BAWKtober 2024 list by @makenna-made-this Check out all this lovely chicken stuff. Nr. 5 Coffe & Donuts Carpooling

"Good morning, sleepyhead." Ryder greets David, who has been woken by a rumble of the car and is stretching out in the passenger seat. It's already dawn, but a glance at the clock tells David he hasn't missed much of the five-hour drive home.

Home. He looks nervously over at Ryder and puts a hand on his thigh, feeling his presence reassure him. It's the first time he's brought him home, and David desperately hopes his sister and her partner won't cause any trouble. Or worse, that they won't let him out of their sight out of intrusive curiosity.

"Sorry, I promised to keep you entertained during the ride, but I pretty much failed." David says, cuddling up to Ryder's shoulder, who takes advantage of a quiet moment to plant a kiss on the top of David's head.

"Go back to sleep, as long as you're sleeping you won't be fidgeting like a nervous chicken. Besides, your sweet snoring is quite entertaining." Ryder chuckles as the hand on his thigh pats him. "Let's stop over there, I need caffeine and something to eat, then I'll drive you to the end of the world if you want."

"I should shower with you more often, if you're always so calm and content afterwards." David remarks, licking his lips as Ryder looks at him.

In the nearly empty parking lot, Ryder quickly jumps out of the car and hurries to the other side to open the door for David. He gets out and lands right in his driver's arms, who kisses him tenderly. "If you don't stop seducing the driver, we'll never get to your house! Or is that your intention?"

"No, it's not. I'm just nervous, that's all. You know my sister, I love her, but she can be difficult." David explains, stroking the short hair on the back of Ryder's neck. "Oh look, they have coffee and fresh donuts, we're saved!"

David happily grabs Ryder's hand and pulls him behind him into the dimly lit diner.

Packed with bags and coffee cups, the two return to their car in high spirits. From a distance they can see that something is lying on the still warm hood and they both slowly approach it. "What is it? Doesn't look like a cat." Ryder asks suspiciously, grabbing David's hand as he tries to get closer.

The occupant of the car turns a small head toward them, but remains where it is. "It's not a predator, it's a chicken." David explains confusedly, and looks around the large parking lot for more chickens or a coop. "What's it doing here? It doesn't look like there are any chickens here."

"It will know where it belongs. Let's shoo it away from the car and move on." Ryder suggests.

"No way, it's dark. If it stays out here, it'll get eaten for sure. Go inside and ask where it belongs. I'll stay here and watch where it goes." David orders Ryder, who is about to reply, but then falls silent and kisses him on the forehead.

"Why am I still surprised that you would really save everyone in this world if you could? I'll be right back."

A little later, Ryder comes back with a critical look on his face at David, who is leaning against the car door and throwing something on the hood.

"Are you feeding that chicken my donut on my hood?" He asks skeptically.

"Her name's Clara, and she's hungry. Have you found out anything?"

"Nothing you'll like. There's no chicken coop here. Just some runaway chickens from a poultry truck that crashed a few days ago. According to the waitress, most of the ones that couldn't be caught were eaten or run over." Ryder says in a calm tone, squeezing David's cheek in his hand when he notices that his eyes are starting to glisten wet. "You can't save everyone, sweetheart."

"We can't leave her here." David says, a pleading undertone mixing with his emotionally charged voice.

"And how are you going to convince the chicken to get in the car? Not to mention what she'll do to the car during the four-hour drive." Ryder points out, seeing in David's eyes that his arguments are not falling on fertile ground. He sighs deeply. "Okay, do you know how to catch a chicken?"

Relieved, David wraps his arms around his neck and pulls him close. Clara is startled by the sudden movement and flutters to the ground, waddling across the dimly lit parking lot. The two look at the chicken in confusion, then set off to save Clara from certain death in the wilderness.

The coffee is long gone cold by the time the car rolls out of the parking lot two hours later. It has grown dark and a creeping chill runs through their limbs, although the heater is already doing its best to warm them up. David yawns and tries to find a comfortable position while Ryder drinks the cold coffee and steers the car through the darkness.

It doesn't take long until David, exhausted from the hunt, falls asleep again. Ryder caresses his still cold hand that rests on his thigh. "You couldn't have chosen a more loving guardian, Clara. I'm sure you won't miss anything." Ryder says, smiling as he hears a contented bawk bawk from the back seat, where Clara is picking donut crumbs from between the cushions.

[probablyasocialecologist]

Chicken sales have benefited from the relentless propaganda war against red meat, as a result of which, some consumers have been persuaded on the basis of selective and misrepresented data, that chicken is a better choice for planetary, animal and personal health. “I don’t eat red meat, but I do eat chicken sometimes.” How often have you heard that said? Superficially, that stance might seem enlightened, but the reality is that in this country, UK or EU reared red meat from truly sustainable, pasture-based systems will almost always be a more genuinely progressive choice than chicken. UK-reared beef, lamb, goat and venison is produced more extensively than chicken (and pork, for that matter). Sheep, cattle and other ruminants are rarely raised exclusively indoors in Britain. Farmed deer are still in the field for the best part of their lives. These animals live on a diet of mainly pasture and forage, making use of land that is often unsuitable for growing other crops. They can flourish eating grass, herbs and shrubs, effectively transforming sunlight, rainwater and soil nutrients into some of the most nutrient rich foods available to us. While many UK-reared cattle are now finished on a diet that includes some cereals, they typically spend the greater part of their lives grazing outside, and for people seeking the most sustainable meat option, produce from 100% grass-fed animals is available. The more cereals that are fed to an animal, the less resource efficient its milk or meat is. This is because productive arable farmland, that could be used for growing food to be fed directly to people, is used for growing lower grade livestock cereals, from which only 17-30% of calories are returned for human consumption as meat or milk. Alternatively, the cereals used for animal feed may be grown in other regions of the world and shipped vast distances – which brings us back to chicken. We eat a billion chickens each year in these isles, and they do not lead remotely content or natural lives. Almost all (95%) are from fast-growing breeds, intensively reared in vast, tightly packed, indoor facilities and they are slaughtered at as little as 28 days. While chickens are a relatively small bird, their environmental footprint is significant. The Soil Association’s report, Peak Poultry, details that roughly three million tonnes of soya are imported into the UK each year, and most of it is bought by chicken producers to fatten chickens. Typically, this soya comes from Latin America, a crop that contributes to deforestation and pesticide use in biologically important areas, such as the Amazon and Cerrado. There are at least 1,000 intensive poultry units throughout the UK. This marks an increase of more than 30% in the past decade as chicken has been marketed as a more compassionate, healthy and ecological alternative to red meat. Given the complexity of the debate, it’s no wonder that so many of us accept that chicken is a more ethical choice. Put chicken on the menu, whether that’s in school dinner halls or restaurants, and you are likely to invite fewer religious objections, while ‘flexitarians’, and those who describe themselves as ‘plant-based’ eaters will view it as ‘the least bad’ of the possible meat options.

[luna-the-bard]

👁️👁️teeny tiny giant infodump about terranian foods

* Skeets has never had chicken noodle soup before Samus made it for her when she was sick

* Terranian cultures have broths and soups, but they’re usually veggie soups with lots of turnip & potato-like veggies/starches. That’s not to say they can’t add meat in them - but there’s only one species of chicken exists around these parts (the Big Blue Dinochicken), so it’s off limits.

Some soups have grain in them, too - mix some potatoes and buckwheat together in poultry/meat broth, add some other vegetables to it like carrots, and maybe even some meatballs if you’re feeling fancy (the ones that are specifically for soup, they’re different), and you have yourself a pot full of nutritious deliciousness.

The broths themselves are usually a lot spicier than one might be used to, and oftentimes have stuff like ginger or seafood-related products like seaweed in them. Those make things a bit more flavorful - since terranians can’t really taste spice, they go for sour or salty tastes when they want to make something less bland.

They also have lots of herbal tea blends, caffeinated and not. Terran tea has to be brewed ice-cold, the temperature of that water being crucial to the leaves releasing the light toxins stored within them, and a cold drink is usually well-appreciated in a warm climate like Te’rra’s.

There’s a kvas-like (carbonated fermented non-alcoholic drink) beverage that can be made at home from concentrate or from scratch. Put it in a big pot/bucket with a lid and let it stand in the shade for a couple days, and you’ll have yourself something nice and refreshing to sip on during the hot day cycle.

* Anyways the chicken noodle soup became an act of care for Skeets, like it becomes for a lot of people that were fed it when they would get sick. Also both Skeets and Samus add diced Swiss cheese to it because it’s delicious and I said so.😒

Terranians have many delicious stew recipes. The most popular ones are beef veggie stews (whatever equivalent to beef Te’rra has to offer, anyway), and several types of shepherd’s pie (which also utilizes terran beef; it’s easier sourced than the elusive poultry).

There is a number of pickled vegetables that are popular on Te’rra, and some pickled fruit, but I personally only care about pickled cucumbers bc those are superior. Also Skeets is mildly allergic to pickled beets.

Preserved fruit is mostly peaches and a crunchy apple-like fruit named grabi (because the shrub it grows on feeds on small animals via grabbing and entangling them in its branches, to prepare for digestion).

Speaking of flora, because the plants are so springy and often dense (aside from nectar flowers/honeyplants, which have a mushy inside - in case of being squished, it feeds the soil and attracts insects with its smell so they can spread the pollen/seeds), a lot of veggie dishes have to be steamed, stewed, slow cooked or sautéed for a long time to prepare them for consumption. This is why cooking in large portions for a crowd of people is so common; it’s just less time-consuming to throw everything into a big pot and make a bunch at once. It gives other terranians more time to dedicate to their own tasks, as they don’t have to prepare meals as often.

This is also why there’s so many stews, and steamed veggies, or veggie blends fried in oil (they’re usually steamed a bit before or during the process, too, to soften the fibers). Skeets likes the fried blends a lot. If she’s eating steamed veggies, she tends to add a lot of salt to them to compensate for the blandness. She loves meat stews, too, even if the meat is just in the sauce. At some point, when her and Samus were visiting a tourist hotspot somewhere outside of Te’rra, they stopped for dinner at a small restaurant. This is how Skeets was introduced to fettuccine bolognese. To this day, this is one of her favorite non-terran dishes; at least a third of her and Samus’s dates now involve going somewhere that serves it (lucky for them, those places aren’t hard to find).

While eating honeyplant nectar is great, its petals and fruit are also often harvested and either eaten raw/with little preparation, or cooked, or preserved/pickled. Raw or slightly cooked, the petals and fruit retain a very nice ✨crunchy✨ texture (crispy crunchy watery like a cucumber on the outside, sweet and sticky like fresh honey on the inside). Preserved, the skin tends to soften a little bit and lose that crunchiness, but the petals become a lot sweeter because of the added sugar.

Also, terran shrimp. Are blue and green. That’s it that’s all I have to say about them👍🏻

Enjoy, @coldgoldlazarus

[hermmachinery]

3-4T/H Poultry Feed Production Plant in Tanzania

It is profitable to develop the poultry industry in Tanzania. A Tanzanian customer ordered a turnkey project for a 3-4t/h poultry feed plant production line from Herm. The customer mainly produces 2mm, 3mm, 4mm, and 6mm chicken feed. The customer also asked a number of feed pellet machine manufacturers, compare their products, services, installation, and after-sales, and finally chose Herm…

[allthebrazilianpolitics]

Fallout From Brazil’s Historic Floods to Last Into Next Season

Catastrophic floods in Brazil will have long-lasting impacts for agriculture, with soaked soils making it harder for farmers to plant crops including rice and wheat for next season.

Growers in Rio Grande do Sul will likely be forced to shift away from their traditional crops and into new cultures, according to Silvia Massruhá, head of agricultural research agency Embrapa. Wheat output, already forecast to drop 4.3% in the state in the season that was supposed to start this month, could be even lower after the floods.

The historic weather has already hurt this season’s soybean harvest and paralyzed plants that process the crop into cooking oil and animal feed. Some meat factories have also halted operations in the state that’s among the biggest growers of soybeans, wheat and rice, as well as a large producer of pork and poultry.

“There will be a need for rearranging agriculture and feedstock activities in that region,” Massruhá said in an interview this week. “The soil has soaked up a lot of water, so we don’t know what share of rice or wheat farmers will be able to plant the next crop or if they will need to plant something else before until the soil recovers.”

Continue reading.

[dertaglichedan]

Today that number is over 5500

Another one bites the dust. 97 and counting.

While the fire seems insignificant, it's part of a much larger issue of a spate of "accidental fires," one by one, taking out America's food supply chain over the past year.

Here's a list of 97 so far:

1/11/21 A fire that destroyed a 75,000-square-foot processing plant in Fayetteville

4/30/21 A fire ignited inside the Smithfield Foods pork processing plant in Monmouth, IL

7/25/21 Three-alarm fire at Kellogg plant in Memphis, 170 emergency personnel responded to the call

7/30/21 Firefighters on Friday battled a large fire at Tyson's River Valley Ingredients plant in Hanceville, Alabama

8/23/21 Fire crews were called to the Patak Meat Production company on Ewing Road in Austell

9/13/21 A fire at the JBS beef plant in Grand Island, Neb., on Sunday night forced a halt to slaughter and fabrication lines

10/13/21 A five-alarm fire ripped through the Darigold butter production plant in Caldwell, ID

11/15/21 A woman is in custody following a fire at the Garrard County Food Pantry

11/29/21 A fire broke out around 5:30 p.m. at the Maid-Rite Steak Company meat processing plant

12/13/21 West Side food processing plant in San Antonio left with smoke damage after a fire

1/7/22 Damage to a poultry processing plant on Hamilton's Mountain following an overnight fire

1/13/22 Firefighters worked for 12 hours to put a fire out at the Cargill-Nutrena plant in Lecompte, LA

1/31/22 a fertilizer plant with 600 tons of ammonium nitrate inside caught on fire on Cherry Street in Winston-Salem

2/3/22 A massive fire swept through Wisconsin River Meats in Mauston

2/3/22 At least 130 cows were killed in a fire at Percy Farm in Stowe

2/15/22 Bonanza Meat Company goes up in flames in El Paso, Texas

2/15/22 Nearly a week after the fire destroyed most of the Shearer's Foods plant in Hermiston

2/16/22 A fire had broken at US largest soybean processing and biodiesel plant in Claypool, Indiana

2/18/22 An early morning fire tore through the milk parlor at Bess View Farm

2/19/22 Three people were injured, and one was hospitalized, after an ammonia leak at Lincoln Premium Poultry in Fremont

2/22/22 The Shearer's Foods plant in Hermiston caught fire after a propane boiler exploded

2/28/22 A smoldering pile of sulfur quickly became a raging chemical fire at Nutrien Ag Solutions

2/28/22 A man was hurt after a fire broke out at the Shadow Brook Farm and Dutch Girl Creamery

3/4/22 294,800 chickens destroyed at farm in Stoddard, Missouri

3/4/22 644,000 chickens destroyed at egg farm in Cecil, Maryland

3/8/22 243,900 chickens destroyed at egg farm in New Castle, Delaware

3/10/22 663,400 chickens destroyed at egg farm in Cecil, MD

3/10/22 915,900 chickens destroyed at egg farm in Taylor, IA

3/14/22 The blaze at 244 Meadow Drive was discovered shortly after 5 p.m. by farm owner Wayne Hoover

3/14/22 2,750,700 chickens destroyed at egg farm in Jefferson, Wisconsin

3/16/22 A fire at a Walmart warehouse distribution center has cast a large plume of smoke visible throughout Indianapolis.

3/16/22 Nestle Food Plant extensively damaged in fire and new production destroyed Jonesboro, Arkansas

3/17/22 5,347,500 chickens destroyed at egg farm in Buena Vista, Iowa

3/17/22 147,600 chickens destroyed at farm in Kent, Delaware

3/18/22 315,400 chickens destroyed at egg farm in Cecil, Maryland

3/22/22 172,000 Turkeys destroyed on farms in South Dakota

3/22/22 570,000 chickens destroyed at farm in Butler, Nebraska

3/24/22 Fire fighters from numerous towns are battling a major fire at the McCrum potato processing facility in Belfast.

3/24/22 418,500 chickens destroyed at farm in Butler, Nebraska

3/25/22 250,300 chickens destroyed at egg farm in Franklin, Iowa

3/26/22 311,000 Turkeys destroyed in Minnesota

3/27/22 126,300 Turkeys destroyed in South Dakota

3/28/22 1,460,000 chickens destroyed at egg farm in Guthrie, Iowa

3/29/22 A massive fire burned 40,000 pounds of food meant to feed people in a food desert near Maricopa

3/31/22 A structure fire caused significant damage to a large portion of key fresh onion packing facilities in south Texas

3/31/22 76,400 Turkeys destroyed in Osceola, Iowa

3/31/22 5,011,700 chickens destroyed at egg farm in Osceola, Iowa

4/6/22 281,600 chickens destroyed at farm in Wayne, North Carolina

4/9/22 76,400 Turkeys destroyed in Minnesota

4/9/22 208,900 Turkeys destroyed in Minnesota

4/12/22 89,700 chickens destroyed at farm in Wayne, North Carolina

4/12/22 1,746,900 chickens destroyed at egg farm in Dixon, Nebraska

4/12/22 259,000 chickens destroyed at farm in Minnesota

4/13/22 fire destroys East Conway Beef & Pork Meat Market in Conway, New Hampshire

4/13/22 Plane crashes into Gem State Processing, Idaho potato and food processing plant

4/13/22 77,000 Turkeys destroyed in Minnesota

4/14/22 Taylor Farms Food Processing plant burns down Salinas, California.

4/14/22 99,600 Turkeys destroyed in Minnesota

4/15/22 1,380,500 chickens destroyed at egg farm in Lancaster, Minnesota

4/19/22 Azure Standard nation's premier independent distributor of organic and healthy food, was destroyed by fire in Dufur, Oregon

4/19/22 339,000 Turkeys destroyed in Minnesota

4/19/22 58,000 chickens destroyed at farm in Montrose, Color

4/20/22 2,000,000 chickens destroyed at egg farm in Minnesota

4/21/22 A small plane crashed in the lot of a General Mills plant in Georgia

4/22/22 197,000 Turkeys destroyed in Minnesota

4/23/22 200,000 Turkeys destroyed in Minnesota

4/25/22 1,501,200 chickens destroyed at egg farm Cache, Utah

4/26/22 307,400 chickens destroyed at farm Lancaster Pennsylvania

4/27/22 2,118,000 chickens destroyed at farm Knox, Nebraska

4/28/22 Egg-laying facility in Iowa kills 5.3 million chickens, fires 200-plus workers

4/28/22 Allen Harim Foods processing plant killed nearly 2M chickens in Delaware

4/2822 110,700 Turkeys destroyed Barron Wisconsin

4/29/22 1,366,200 chickens destroyed at farm Weld Colorado

4/30/22 13,800 chickens destroyed at farm Sequoia Oklahoma

5/3/22 58,000 Turkeys destroyed Barron Wisconsin

5/3/22 118,900 Turkeys destroyed Beadle S Dakota

5/3/22 114,000 ducks destroyed at Duck farm Berks Pennsylvania

5/3/22 118,900 Turkeys destroyed Lyon Minnesota

5/7/22 20,100 Turkeys destroyed Barron Wisconsin

5/10/22 72,300 chickens destroyed at farm Lancaster Pennsylvania

5/10/22 61,000 ducks destroyed at Duck farm Berks Pennsylvania

5/10/22 35,100 Turkeys destroyed Muskegon, Michigan

5/13/22 10,500 Turkeys destroyed Barron Wisconsin

5/14/22 83,400 ducks destroyed at Duck farm Berks Pennsylvania

5/17/22 79,00 chickens destroyed at Duck farm Berks Pennsylvania

5/18/22 7,200 ducks destroyed at Duck farm Berks Pennsylvania

5/19/22 Train carrying limestone derailed Jensen Beach FL

5/21/22 57,000 Turkeys destroyed on farm in Dakota Minnesota

5/23/22 4,000 ducks destroyed at Duck farm Berks Pennsylvania

5/29/22 A Saturday night fire destroyed a poultry building at Forsman Farms

5/31/22 3,000,000 chickens destroyed by fire at Forsman facility in Stockholm Township, Minnesota

6/2/22 30,000 ducks destroyed at Duck farm Berks Pennsylvania

6/7/22 A fire occurred Tuesday evening at the JBS meat packing plant in Green Bay.

6/8/22 Firefighters from Tangipahoa Fire District 1 respond to a fire at the Purina Feed Mill in Arcola

6/9/22 Irrigation water was canceled in California (the #1 producer of food in the US) and storage water flushed directly out to the delta.

6/12/22 Largest Pork Company in the US Shuts Down California Plant Due to High Costs

6/13/22 Fire Breaks Out at a Food Processing Plant West of Waupaca County in Wisconsin.

***This is from 2021 and 2022.. Can that total today be correct???

[thebeckster]

May 2024 Casual Prompt Fill

Didn't think I was going to have anything for the prompts this month over at @love-bokumono-fics, nothing really struck a note of inspiration this month. But I was looking at the choices again tonight and suddenly had an idea. So I spent 30 minutes putting this down on paper.

It's an alternate prompt, using Livestock rather than the winning choice of Rarepairs. I've been itching over the last couple days to start up a new file on a farm sim just to have the fun experience of starting anew. I might have to boot up another FoMT file tomorrow, because writing this fic did not scratch that itch entirely lol

You can read the fic on AO3, but since it's pretty short, the whole thing is here too. Enjoy!

A New Friend

Pete had been waiting for this day all his life. Or it felt like it. Really just in the last couple weeks had the idle daydream had a chance of becoming reality.

Today he was going to buy a chicken!

Most people wouldn’t see such an occasion as something so monumental, but for a fledgling farmer it was a significant milestone. Ever since moving onto the farm, he’s scrimped and saved every spare penny into an old pickle jar which he’d labeled confidently as his “Livestock Fund.” And he had just enough saved up for a chicken and some feed.

He’d put blood, sweat, and tears into repairing the ramshackle chicken coop on the property, sealing up the walls to keep his future hens safe and snug, salvaging and repairing the nesting boxes and feed silo, he’s even built a fenced in little yard for them to scratch around in and enjoy the fresh air and sunshine on nice days.

Rick had been by yesterday to inspect Pete’s work on the coop, and it had passed his inspection. So as soon as the Poultry Shop opened, Pete was going to walk in and ask Lilia for their finest hen.

Pete looked around his farm, still rather raggedy looking, clearing out all of the weeds and debris after so many neglected years was a harder job than he anticipated, but he could see its potential so clearly in his mind’s eye. Acres of lush crops, wide pastures with a variety of livestock happily grazing, the contended cluck of chickens scratching for bugs to eat.

A farm just wasn’t a farm without animals.

Sure Pete had his dog, the happy little puppy he’d adopted when he moved in was going to grow to be a fine farm dog. But he needed more than a pet companion. If his farm was going to be successful, he needed livestock. Cows and sheep seemed pretty complicated for a brand new farmer, but a chicken seemed to be perfectly on his level. He’d read every book on chickens the library had. He was so ready for this!

The morning seemed to crawl by as Pete did his chores, watering the plots of crops he had planted, clearing out the few weeds that were stubbornly trying to grow back in the tilled soil, picking what forage he could from the mountain. Every penny mattered, and while he knew the chicken was going to help him make more money, he also knew he was taking on another mouth to feed.

Finally the time came for the store to open and Pete hurried, though he tried not to run, to the neighboring farm. Brimming with excitement, he strode through the doors, slammed his money on the counter and proclaimed, “Lillia, your finest hen please!”

The shopkeeper laughed kindly at the display and pulled a small cage out from behind the counter. “Popuri picked her out just for you. She said the two of you would be a perfect match.”

Pete beamed at the bird, she was beautiful. Snowy white feathers, little red face, bright black eyes, yellow beak and feet. She seemed mildly disgruntled, ruffling her feathers at the cage and glaring suspiciously at Pete. When he peered closer she shook herself and made a few low, disapproving clucks.

“She’s perfect! Has she got a name?”

“You have the honor of naming her. She’s just gotten old enough to begin laying, but it might take her a few days to settle in. Once she’s happy and comfortable in her new home she should be a wonderful addition to your farm. Her mother is a prodigious layer, so you’ll have plenty of eggs to sell and eat soon enough.”

“Then I’ll have to think up a good name for her. Something that suits her.”

Still smiling, Lillia began counting Pete’s money. “Take your time and let her personality come out. She’s just been called ‘hey chicken’ while she’s been with us. We usually wait til they’re grown before naming them. Saves us from having a chicken named Sweetpea with the personality of an angry demon. Now you’ll be wanting some feed too? I’ll send Rick over with it later.” She closed the till and wrote out a receipt for Pete and a small pouch of feed. “Now you take your new friend home and get her settled, having a snack will help her feel at home in the new coop. And don’t forget, if you have any questions or concerns, we’re here for all your poultry needs!”

With a cheerful wave, she sent Pete out the door. As he walked, he held the cage close to his chest, looking down at his new chicken more than the road in front of him. She continued clucking softly, as if commenting on the scenery or conversing with Pete all the way back.

“You are chatty,” Pete laughed as he stepped onto his farm. “Maybe Cathy? Hmm… no. Well, we’re here. Take a look around at your new home.” And he held the cage out for the chicken to see. “I know it doesn’t look like much, but I have plans for it, and you’re going to help me make them come true.”

He carried the chicken to the coop and opened the cage for her. He waited excitedly for her to step out on her own and begin looking around. She was slow and hesitant at first, taking cautious steps around the coop, she flinched every time Pete moved, fluttering away with an alarmed squawk, but she became braver when he tipped some of the feed out for her to eat. When she ate what he’d given her she looked at him expectantly. With a laugh, he tipped some of the feed into his palm.

The hen didn’t waste much time approaching him and inspecting the food in his hand, and when she decided he was safe she happily ate.

When she had finished her snack, Pete opened the door which led to the fenced in enclosure he’d built. She was quite happy to have the sunshine and fresh air available to her and moved quickly into the yard. Pete watched her inspect every corner and scratch around, and when he was content that she couldn’t break through the fence, he let her be and returned to his work.

He worked in the fields closest to the coop, so he could keep half an eye on his new chicken while he cleared out more debris. His dog came over to investigate the new addition and Pete had a very serious talk with the puppy that the chicken here was a friend, not food. It was his dog’s job to protect their friends, not scare them. And the puppy seemed to understand, or perhaps he just had gained a healthy respect for the chicken already. She had squawked and pecked at his nose when he came sniffing around her fence.

All the while Pete worked the chicken chattered. Maybe she just missed the noise of the other chickens at the poultry farm, or maybe she just liked hearing herself talk. Pete entertained himself with the idea that the chicken was commenting on his work, complimenting his technique with the scythe, criticizing him for not giving her the worms he uncovered when he moved a rock. Once, he was certain she actually laughed at him when he’d misjudged how robust an old stump was and ended up getting his axe stuck in the wood. He’d managed to get it unstuck with no small amount of effort, and all the while he struggled the chicken clucked and clucked.

“You never stop talking, do you?” Pete panted, sitting on the ground next to the fence and wiping sweat from his brow. “Got a lot to say. Like my very own peanut gallery. Hey!” He perked up. “That’s a good name for you, Peanut. What do you think? Cluck once for yes and twice for no.”

The chicken stared at him for a moment, her eyes narrowed in thought. Then she jerked her head in what almost looked like a nod and clucked once.

“Peanut is it.” He reached through the fence and brushed a couple fingers over Peanut’s feathered head. “Welcome to the farm, Peanut old girl. You and me are going to be good friends. I can tell.”

Peanut pecked at his fingers in annoyance, and stalked out of reach ruffling her feathers.

Pete chuckled and flopped back into the grass. “Start of a beautiful friendship.”

[darkened-storm]

The Venus Fly Trap

@bladerbunny @hellovivirose @let-it-ripperoni

“Your venus fly trap is looking pretty average,” Steph said rather hesitantly. Ilma, however, took a far less tactful approach. “It looks rather dead.” Celeste winced. “I think it’s hungry, but I can’t get it to eat anything. I even let a fly hang around it for three days and nothing.” Steph shuddered and resisted the urge to douse the kitchen in disinfectacnt, but she did make a mental note to douse Ian instead before they let him into the sharehouse again. “Maybe we can feed it ourselves,” Ilma suggested, heading for the fridge. “I put some steak in here last time Steph over-stocked on groceries.” “Lies and slander,” Steph defended herself. “I don’t overstock. I buy extra steak because we can’t have any form of poultry around here on account of Brooklyn’s love affair with the feathered creatures.” “We also can’t keep fish in the house because it makes you puke,” Ilma reminded her apathetically as she rifled through the freezer. “Aha.” She tossed the steak down on the counter with a thud and reached for a knife. With the sort of expertise and knife handling skills that made Celeste and Steph fear for the next person who crossed her, Ilma filleted the steak and placed a small sliver on one of the trap’s leaves. And nothing happened.

“It’s not working,” Celeste said, sounding defeated. “Hmm,” Ilma murmured, frowning at the plant. “Maybe it prefers fresh meat. It is a carnivorous plant after all.” “Oh joy,” Steph muttered. “Maybe we should shove Ian’s nose in there then.” Ilma, who always took the potential mutilation of Ian’s nose entirely seriously, said; “it’s not going to fit, but we could try his finger instead.” “You’re not feeding Ian to the plant!” Kiya’s shout could be heard from the lounge where she was clearly eavesdropping whilst working. “You’ll give it indigestion.” Ilma rolled her eyes. “Fine, we won’t feed Ian to the plant.” She turned to Celeste. “Did it come with any instructions when you brought it?” Celeste glanced around the kitchen and ruffled some of Kiya’s paperwork. “They’re around her soemwhere… Kiya, when are you going to clean up this mess?” “When your lazy ass boyfriend starts pulling his weight around here!” was the irritated response. “Last I checked this academy was HIS IDEA.” “You had to ask, didn’t you,” Ilma grumbled and Celeste shook her head in dismay. “Here it is,” Steph announced, plucking a colourful flyer from the bottom of the pile and reading the instructions out loud. “Do not feed a Venus fly trap any meat: including chicken, steak, sausages or hot dogs. Also, refrain from offering it fruit or candy.” She flipped the flyer over and appraised the other side, then screwed her face up in disgust. “Well that’s not very helpful at all. I’m going to get someone who has actually kept a plant alive for more than a day.” She disappeared upstairs and returned with Becky in tow. “It needs more light for a start,” Becky determined, then aimed a glare in her cousin’s direction. “If someone bothered to open the curtains around here…” Ilma looked offended. “I need to protect my skin from the UV light - think about my complexion.” Ignoring her, Becky went on. “You shouldn’t let it flower either,” she said, reaching for the sheers. “A mature trap can handle the energy deficit of producing a flower, but not before it’s at least a year old.” “But the flowers are so pretty,” Celeste lamented. “Yes, but they’re entirely useless,” Becky insisted as she began to hack away at the flowers with the sheers. “Purely ornamental.” “Oh, so like your boyfriend,” Steph deduced, then glanced over her shoulder to make sure Kai wasn’t lurking in the hallway. “And it needs food it would catch in the wild,” Becky went on, ignoring the comment. She cleared the Ilma’s steak from the trap then reached for the fly squatter Kiya had conveniently stored by the microwave. SPLAT! The fly that had been buzzing around the kitchen for the last three days met an unfortunate end and Becky plucked it from the squatter using a pair of chopsticks. “Ew,” Celeste grimaced, watching as Becky carefully placed the fly on the leaf of the trap. Then, using the edge of the chopstick, she tickled the fine hairs on the edge of the leaf and the trap snapped shut. “ACK!” Steph exclaimed, jumping back and yeeting Ilma in front of herself as a shield, but Celeste was bouncing on the balls of her feet and hugging Becky enthusiastically. “You did it!” Their mission accomplished, the girls retired to the lounge room. Steph snuggled into the couch and used Kiya’s shoulder as a pillow. “So - does the fly trap have a name?”