Old Town Canoe

[barbender]

That's a well done video. I will say this, though- while I am not an experienced ricer the guy that taught me would've smacked me in the back of the head if I was tapping the rice like a fairy like in the video. If it is ripe enough to harvest a lot of it will start to fall off just from hooking it with your knocker.

It looked like ricer had the canoe everyone says is the good one, the Old Town Penobscot.

With the hot market that existed for wild rice back in the day, it didn't take long for it to be cultivated. We have a lot of rice paddies in the area, most of them defunct. My town of Deer River had 2 of the larger wild rice processing plants in MN, that recieved a large amount of that rice. I worked and sweated in both of them when I was younger.

Some processors run the rice through post-haste. This is the good stuff, it will have an olive green or light brown color to it. The more commercial outfits went to letting the rice sit for a number of days in bug piles. It actually starts to ferment, and gives off a large amount of heat. The fermenting sours it a bit and turns the outside of the kernel black. While I find this rice still edible, it isn't nearly as good as the lighter colored stuff that is processed prior to any fermentation. The black stuff also cooks very slowly, the green colored rice cooks in ¼ the time.

If you are able to find wild rice in a local grocery store, it will likely be the black colored, "sour" rice. If you want good rice you will likely have to order it, the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe has a rice program and they sell first quality rice. It is expensive, I think it is $16/pound this year, although a little goes a long way. I just picked up 15 pounds the other day😁

[barbender]

Yep, Jeff- it is really expensive. The black stuff is about ⅓ the cost of the good stuff though. If I was making a huge wild rice hot dish or something I might use the cheaper stuff. Like I said, it isn't bad. Just not quite as good😊

[SwampDonkey]

A lot of wild rice is now harvested with a specially equipped airboat/fanboat. It gets dried so it stores better.

[barbender]

Here's a handful of the top quality stuff. It's going in the slow cooker with a pork roast, some potatoes, and whatever else comes to mind through the day😊

[barbender]

Wild rice has a truly unique flavor, if you've never tried it I'd say you owe it to yourself. While as I've said, I enjoy a heap of it with just butter and salt and pepper, for most people it is better as an accent in a dish. It mixes with regular rice to make a tasty pilaf, added to a turkey bread stuffing it is excellent. 

[Southside]

"pilaf", "turkey bread stuffing", cooking a whole meal during the middle of the day.....

What happened to the Barbender we all know?  

Tell me your not using "soft, creamy, lotion" now too.  :D

[barbender]

I don't know what's happening to me!?😂😂 I am the semi-stay at home dad now😊

My lotion choices are none of your business, Southside!😂

[Southside]

You can't grip a tackle box that way.  :D

[doc henderson]

you know I have heard, that skin so soft will repel bugs!      smiley_gorgeous

[barbender]

I would like to dispel the Skin So Soft bug repellent myth. My Mom used to have us use that stuff when I was a kid. While it didn't repel the skeeters, you did eventually build up something of a protective sludge of Skin So Soft and squished mosquitoes and gnats. Plus you smelled nice😁 Personally I'll take whatever is on hand that has the highest DEET concentration available.

[doc henderson]

marketing by the wicked women at Avon.   8)

[Southside]

How much have you purchased off QVC this month?  :D

[barbender]

Well, I don't even know what QVC is, but I hit Amazon pretty hard😂

[Jeff]

They sell it at the farm market in the soo, or at least use too. Ill have to check next time im up there. I'm trying to scab a tractor shelter together, and they have a habitat for humanity restore up there I may want to visit yet this fall.

[SwampDonkey]

I've used it, but my go to now is long sleeves, a good gator to wick off the sweat from my scalp and a good bug net especially since a hard hat is a gathering place for deer flies and black flies. Gotta protect a bald head or lose your scalp. But this time of year for cutting wood is great, no bugs and no heat. Even with the warm fall, I've never seen a mosquito in 2 months. Deer flies were gone in August. :D :D

[snowstorm]

saw this on craigs list 1930 old town wood and canvas. new canvas and paint a little wear but over all its looks pretty good

[peakbagger]

Be careful, old wood canvas canoes can be the exact opposite of a Royalex canoe. Everything can be fixed for price, if you have the serial number Old Town sold the rights for their hand made canoes to a firm in Maine and I think they can still make new ribs off the original forms. 

Then again a friend of mine and his wife used to help an elderly lady down the road who eventually had to move out of her farm to go live with someone in her family. My friends helped out in the process of helping her move. One day my friend's wife notices a canoe in the barn had not been moved so she asked where it was going. The owner said its yours if she wanted it. She had gotten it as retirement gift in 1951. It was an Old Town guide special with special trim, custom seats and a slat deck on the floor to keep the sports feet dry, basically the most deluxe Old Town Canoe that could be ordered at the time. They do not know if the owner had ever used it and they have only had it out once or twice as its too mint to use.  

[SwampDonkey]

I'd like to have an old Chestnut canvas back/cedar rib like the 'Ogilvy Special' in mint condition. Built for poling in shallow water and fast water canoeing and could carry a good sized cargo up the rivers to the salmon fishing camps. Wide bottom and very stable. The Ogilvy's were world famous salmon fishing guides and hunting outfitters from the Tobique River. Some models were 26 footers with a 40'ish beam.

Paddling into the future: Restoring the legendary Chestnut canoe for a new generation | CBC News

[firefighter ontheside]

I tried to buy another canoe.  I came across an ad for a Wenonah canoe for $400.  I responded to the ad which had 2 canoes and 5 kayaks.  I messaged that I was interested in the Wenonah and didn't hear anything for a week.  Then the other night the guy messages to ask if I was still interested.  I said yes and sent a pic where I marked the canoe I was interested in.  He said it was $400 and said he could meet me on Saturday.  Last night I sent a message to confirm that he had the Wenonah.  2 hours later I got a message that said, sorry no.  It was going to be a 90 min drive, so I'm glad I confirmed again.  I don't think he was trying to mess with me.  I think he was completely in-attentive.  I was pretty mad.  I didn't' need it and wasn't out looking for it, but a Wenonah for $400 was a great deal.  I'm bummed, but I still have my Old Town.  I need to work on the seats to get it ready for some canoeing this spring.  Not right now though, the river I live  by is out of its banks and a raging torrent from all the rain we had the last few days.

[firefighter ontheside]

I bought another Old Town Penobscot, but this one is 17'.  I have to go to Indiana to pick it up.  It needs a new thwart and possibly new seats made.  I know a guy who has a bunch of ash lumber to make all of that.  Plus I know a guy who just re-did his seats with poly webbing to replace the broken cane webbing.  I paid $700 for my first one and it came with 2 really nice paddles and a third seat.  I paid $300 for this one, due to the issues it has.  I wasn't looking for a second one, but couldn't pass this up.  As for the trip to get it, I've been needing to go to Indianapolis to visit my buddy whose wife passed away recently, so its not really an extra trip.  With respect to the thread about how expensive it is to drive diesels these days, I am going to strap it to the top of my Subaru Forester to bring it home.  

[doc henderson]

No.  wont the canoe be longer than the car?

[firefighter ontheside]

The canoe will be longer than the car.  That's fine.  Put it on the rack with it just a little off center of the rack with more hanging off the back than the front.  Strap it to the rack and run some ropes from the front to the front bumber and same to the back bumper.  Drive home.  


 

 

[peakbagger]

I used to haul a 19' kayak on my honda civic hatchback. It hung out a couple of feet on both ends. I just ran ropes from the bow and stern to tow points front and rear. My gas mileage dropped about 5 MPH but even in winds it was rock steady. The only time I was worried was when a moose stepped up over a guard rail in front of me. With a civic the moose's legs break and the body hit the wind shield pillar and breaks it just below the roof. The roof tears back and looks like a sardine can. Luckily I swerved and the moose decided to move instead of stop and kick the "predator". 

[firefighter ontheside]

Yeah, I've seen the damage moose can do to a vehicle.  After I saw that I became much more cognitive of looking for them while driving.

[peakbagger]

Back when I moved into northern New Hampshire, moose were very rare. They had been pretty well wiped out by hunting in the early 1900s. For various reasons they moved back into the region big time. Many cow moose would have 2 or 3 calf's and the density of them went up so high that they were hanging out in every mud puddle on the sides of the road. I could go out for a drive in the evening and see 20 or 30 of them. In my development they were almost household pests;). In a one month stretch in the spring, there would be 20 or 30 moose strikes a week in my area. At the end of my road at the intersection with a state highway with a wetland nearby there were 9 moose killed two years in row and couple of drivers. Eventually the winter tick which lives on moose followed the moose to the area and got re-established helped by warming winters that were not cold enough to knock them back. The ticks are decimating the population, most moose calves dont make it to spring. I still see them on occasion and a few moose strikes every spring but the population has dropped way down. 

Pickups are high enough that the moose's body bounces off and totals the front end but smaller cars take the roofs off. On pickups, the air bag crash sensors frequently do not register a crash when the moose's legs break and the air bags do not go off.