Interestingly, they used the fish trick in Europe too - just not in any of the particular places the Pilgrims on the Mayflower had come from. (Apparently quite a bit of squabbling in the new colony was caused by different people having different agricultural practices from different parts of England, but I can't cite that.)
Cherokee farmers use fish as fertilizer. A modern version is fish emulsion, my mother's favorite. My grandmother just buried fish scraps in the garden after cleaning them. It's one of the relic customs I discovered, things from family practices that matched up with ethnic ones. We don't usually have fish scraps in my current household, but if we do and it's my turn to take them out -- then into the herb garden they go.
On the West Coast, salmon is the driving force. Tribes organized their whole culture around the salmon runs. They had all kinds of rules about taking care of the fish -- and almost all of them included how the scraps were to be disposed of. Often that involved pitching them up the bank or burying them in the forest. Basically like what the bears did with their leftovers, so it matched the ecosystem.
Dried and shredded fish carcesses were a common by-product of the fishing industry, all from what they call by-catch, i.e something other than the target species like herring. This by-catch fish meal was sold to the farmers to fertilise the fields long before agri-chemicals were a thing. Pretty much since medieval times or earlier.
Ironically, one of the first synthetic fertilizers, sold by ICI, was a by-product of the explosives made for the munitions industry. That was Ammonium nitrate, and one of the main ingredients in fish meal.
I feel like this is one of those 'no duh' sort of discoveries. Anyone with any connection to the land is nodding and smiling while the scientists pat themselves on the back and city folk make gross faces.
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dancing_serpent
(no subject)
Date: 2019-03-02 06:04 am (UTC)Thoughts
Date: 2019-03-02 06:50 am (UTC)Cherokee farmers use fish as fertilizer. A modern version is fish emulsion, my mother's favorite. My grandmother just buried fish scraps in the garden after cleaning them. It's one of the relic customs I discovered, things from family practices that matched up with ethnic ones. We don't usually have fish scraps in my current household, but if we do and it's my turn to take them out -- then into the herb garden they go.
On the West Coast, salmon is the driving force. Tribes organized their whole culture around the salmon runs. They had all kinds of rules about taking care of the fish -- and almost all of them included how the scraps were to be disposed of. Often that involved pitching them up the bank or burying them in the forest. Basically like what the bears did with their leftovers, so it matched the ecosystem.
Re: Thoughts
Date: 2019-03-02 11:12 am (UTC)Ironically, one of the first synthetic fertilizers, sold by ICI, was a by-product of the explosives made for the munitions industry. That was Ammonium nitrate, and one of the main ingredients in fish meal.
Re: Thoughts
Date: 2019-03-02 11:16 am (UTC)Re: Thoughts
Date: 2019-03-02 11:20 am (UTC)'nuff said.
*blink*
Date: 2019-03-03 02:26 am (UTC)