What's for supper?

The rabbits sure must be hungry this winter!  Even though we have not had any snow coverage or even any heavy frost for that matter, the rabbits have taken to gnawing tree bark. They are stripping the bark from the Mimosa saplings instead of raiding the mustard and turnip greens in the garden. I find this a bit strange since there is still plenty of greenery for them to munch.  Perhaps there is more "stick to your ribs" nutrition in bark versus the empty calories in a salad.  This is all fine by me as we have far too many Mimosa saplings growing on the hillside.  Plus!  Their abstaining from the garden greens means there will be more for us to enjoy!

Mimosa (Albezia) is one of those ever-present trees here.  These trees will reproduce with great rapidity from seeds, cuttings and roots. I recall hearing years ago how during lean times, farmers would harvest Mimosa bark and saplings to grind as fodder for their farm animals.  It seems that this was sometimes mixed with the sugarcane tops as a nutritious feed for livestock.  Raising sugarcane was quite common on the Coast years ago.  Late fall, saw the folks here making syrup in long outdoor evaporators or cookers. (Another great tale from the family archives!)  The cane was pressed to extract the juice then the long cooking process took place.  The leftover cane roughage and Mimosa bark (and saplings) was put through a grinder to make feed for the livestock.

The rabbits around the hillside are definitely on the right track by munching the Mimosa bark.  It is supposedly quite good for them!  The gnaw marks on the saplings run from a bout an inch up from the ground to about three feet in height.  The younger, more limber trees are stripped even further as they can be bent for easy access.  Sometimes the entire sapling is gnawed off or the stripping can be so extreme that it kills the tree. That is something that I do not have to worry about with the Mimosa trees, however.  I have come to the conclusion that it is virtually impossible to kill these trees!  Michael and I have cut them down with the lawnmower, chopped them out with the ax and dug them out with the shovel only to have them spring back in just a few weeks.  The rabbit damage to the Mimosas can do nothing but help our landscaping in the long run!  Eat, Little Rabbits, eat!  (Just stay clear of my garden greens!)