What Are Grain Elevators For, Exactly?

I am a huge fan of the show Corner Gas and while working at my current job have watched every single episode of the show’s six seasons at least four times each. Don’t judge! It’s an easy show to watch! YouTube has all the episodes available, commercial free! The show is set in a prairie farming community in Saskatchewan, and follows a motley crew of characters that I just can't get enough of.

Anyways, in the episode I’m watching right now, one of the characters is showing a bunch of pictures she’s taken, and all the pictures happen to be of grain elevators. It occurred to me that while I’ve seen many grain elevators while living in and driving through Alberta, and vaguely know how they work, I really have no idea EXACTLY what they do.

After some research I found that I actually did know pretty much what grain elevators do and how they do it, but thought I’d write about it anyways, in case some city folk are unaware. 

Grain elevators, first put into use in New York state in the early 1840s, are basically just huge storage bins for wheat and other grains. The design of grain elevators, which is pretty standard and very recognizable for anyone who has lived anywhere near farming communities, is very specific, and ensures that while keeping the grain safe and contained, it also makes for easy removal and eventual transport. The height of the elevators allows for considerable amounts of storage capabilities, and the more grain, the better they work, as the weight of the grain presses down and literally forces itself out of the metal spouts that lead into whatever transport vessels are being used.

On a side note, I used to always think it would be fun to jump into the unseen depths of grain, but my mom quickly warned me that doing such would cause me to suffocate and die. Yikes! So, no grain diving for me then. 

Is it Legal to Raise Bunnies for Food?

This evening I was at work, answering calls as per usual, when one of our humane society clients received a call on their after-hours emergency line. Usually I hate getting calls for these guys because their on-call staff is incredibly unhelpful and rude, so I wasn't very excited to answer the line.But, you know, I'm paid to do it, so I sucked it up and picked up. The woman on the other end of the line was very, very nice. She introduced herself (let's call her Mallory) and I gauged her to be around my age, judging from the way she spoke and the timbre of her voice. She explained that she had a very odd situation she needed to talk to someone about and then prodded along by me started sharing her concerns. 

Mallory told me that her and her husband had brought in a rabbit to the SPCA that morning, but that when she got home they found another three or four in their backyard. She explained that she had new neighbours to the one side of her, and that they'd only been living next door a few months. Very politically correct, she described them as being of a 'different cultural background.' Mallory then went on to say that as weird as she knew it sounded, she believed that they were eating their bunnies. And I say bunnies because that was exactly how she referred to them throughout the conversation - never as rabbits, only as bunnies. Mallory then proceeded to tell me that there'd been a few times where her and her husband had smelled a strange smell coming from next door, and that it was like burning hair (which I thought was funny, cause, you know, hair? hare? tee hee). So, one day she peeked her head over the fence and saw in their backyard a large pen about four times the size of a garden shed and it was FILLED with bunnies. 

Naturally, I had no idea what to say at first. Our on call personnel is only for emergencies, and I told her as such, explaining that I didn't think they'd be able to help her as even though I would never kill and eat a bunny, I didn't think it was illegal to do so. She was so appalled, and it was totally cute, but it did make me wonder - IS it illegal to kill and eat rabbits in your backyard?

And nope, it isn't. You can totally raise meat rabbits, slaughter them, and consume them. In fact, there aren't really any rules or regulations about doing so. Also, judging from the posts on the internet, its more popular than I would have ever suspected. Unfortunately, my researches also illuminated me (as unwilling as I was to learn) what's involved in the slaughter of rabbits, and now I will never be able to 'un' learn that information. 

There are some interesting things I did read, though, which kinda make me think. This particular response to a reader's question impressed me. It is regarding small animal husbandry in big city areas, and though the site is from a Calgarian point of  view, I thought what was written was very thorough and educational. You can check that out here: http://www.greencalgary.org/ask-ashley/details/micro-livestock-in-the-city.

I also learned that rabbits are illegal in Queensland, Australia!! I had some fun skimming this: http://www.daff.qld.gov.au/documents/Biosecurity_EnvironmentalPests/IPA-Keeping-Rabbits-As-Pets-PA15.pdf, and really enjoyed that they put a scary red-eyed bunny in the picture!

And, because it is too cute not to post, a pic I found under Google images. You can thank me later!