About The Sylvania times. (Sylvania, Ga.) 2022-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 31, 2024)
thesy lvaniatimes. com The Sylvania Times Wednesday, January 31, 2024 - Page 13 ATTENTION SCREVEN COUNTV! 2 0 2 If Theme Contest It’s getting that time again to start planning for the 73rd Annual Screven County Livestock Festival! YOU COULDWIN ^50 Call or email us with your best theme ideas! 912-564-7878 screvencountychamber@gmail.com All entries are due by February 14 DON'T LET BUGS BOTHER YOU THIS YEAR! | Protecting homeowners from harm and hassle Stj • fV£ cinqo/f Pest Control ^ SjM ■ Call Chris Today! 912.403.2536 1- ^ 0- 4263 Savannah Hwy Sylvania, GA 30467 1912) 857-3112 NOW OPEN ON Fasm Mud "Lmd Lcjr-n about ih-o va-rie-ty o? Gaorgia’s /VnricijrtUFt throughout tho itol-of GPEtl rOCufJIVIlNT ITk-IITh GftAQEfiS. applications oue sy march i WWW .11KTU H LCDMltW E G E OflCIASM * DUNE 5-7-S JULY S-10 h 2024 Keys To Catch Fish During The Georgia Winter This week, I was thinking about living in Georgia and how great the fishing is in our great State. Of course in Georgia we don't have to winterize our boats too often and it does make life easier. Now part of the deal is the one hundred degree weather days during mid summer and the mild winters that gives us premium fishing for many species. I have to say, the best way to winterize your boat in Georgia, is to use it on a daily basis. Regardless of weather. The great thing about fishing in Georgia is to figure out what works for you, and fish how you like to fish. For so much of the winter months, I prefer to fish when the weather is at a medium cold or slightly warm. And of course we all know the longer the warm-ups the better the fishing we have. We all have to take the time to figure out how the bass or crappie are reacting based on just how severe the cold was before the warming trend. Some fish or bass in small ponds can act differently, by moving to the shoreline for cover, while in large lakes, they may remain in their winter off shore pattern due to the warming up taking so long. I have found that in February, I use alot of different kinds of baits to catch bass and such. I like anything that is slow moving. Swimbaits, Ned rigs, underspins and sometimes jigging spoons. And if you have never tried a hair jigg, give it a try, you may just like it. Now, crappie are usually near the bottom on high pressure days. And during these months, I still find that dropping the line to the bottom of the lake is the best way to catch as many crappie as I want or need. Another great way of fishing for crappie in the mid wami to cold weather is trolling. All you need to do is stagger your rods, so not to get tanggled while you make turns. Try to use jig heads or curly tail grubs as you can, this will help catch the most during the difference in seasons. I also find that crappie bite great on cloudy days. I am not sure what it is, it just works. And last today, I want to say, when we get toward the end of a warm up and a front is coming in, most fish can sense it and typically feed well. Most of your crappie, bass and striped bass get what we fishermen call, "fired up." Happy fishing guys! Go get end Until next week! } ack The Farm Wife at Two Pennies Farm Strange Fruit Friend: So what did you guys do last night? Me: Not much. I watched TV and Hubs learned to blet his Medlars. Friend: He learned WHAT? Few people have ever heard of Medlars. They are fruit trees that have been in cultivation for over 3,000 years. Their short history reads as such: The Greeks imported the fruit from Asia. The Romans got them from the Greeks and took trees with them as they conquered the world. They were very popular in the Middle Ages as they were the only fruit that could be harvested in the winter. You could find the fruit in the grocery stores up until the end of WWII. So why has no one heard of this fruit much after the 1940’s? Well, the fruit is not very pretty. It looks a lot like a brown rose hip (the large seed capsule that’s left after the rose petals fall off) and is about the size of a golf ball. It’s harvested in December, and not many folks want to bundle up and go out in the winter weather to pick fruit. But the biggest reason Medlars fell from grace is that it needs to be ‘bletted’ before you can eat them. And what is bletting? It’s simply laying the fruit out in a cool, dark room and basically letting it rot for several weeks. When the fruit is squishy, then you can eat it. Not many folks want to eat rotten fruit, even though I’ve been told that they are very sweet and taste rather like an apple with cinnamon. Then comes the challenge of how to eat them. You can be a heathen and nip the bottom of the fruit off with your teeth and just suck the flesh out of the skin as you do with our very ripe persimmons. Or you could be like Victorian high society and scoop it out with tiny silver spoons. I would not have the patience for that! Also, medlars have very large seeds for the size of the fruit so there’s a lot of sucking the seeds clean and spitting them out; not the kind of table manners we’d like to flaunt in front of others. If you come into a glut of Medlars, you can preserve them like any other fruit. They can be made into jellies, jams, pies, cobblers and more. But it takes patience to deal with the small fruits and many seeds. I haven’t tried putting any up yet, but I’d imagine it involves cooking the fruits and straining the flesh from the seeds and skins with a colander. I fear it will be like when I made Chickasaw Plum Jam summer before last. The whole fruit seemed to be pit, and I ended up rubbing the cooked fruit through my hands to separate the pits out. That’s kind of hard on the hands. So, my very own personal medlar fruit was finally finished bletting this week. The big flavor reveal took place in the kitchen with Hubs instructing on slicing the skin and squeezing out the fruit. I took my long-anticipated first taste and immediately spit it out. It was not sweet and did not taste like apples and cinnamon, and it was dry. I was so disappointed. All the ones Hubs has had so far have been wonderful according to him. I must have weird tastebuds. The good news is that there are a half a dozen medlars still on the tree and I will have another chance to try this strange fruit. Wish me luck! New Year Join our Fitness Gym ana Loose that un wan tea weight! * Personal T raining T ranming Silver Sneakers Senior Adult T raining TANNING BEDS Group Classes
