Southern Kentucky is blessed to be home to Buck Acres freshwater shrimp farm. The last weekend of September and the first weekend of October are the scheduled yearly shrimp harvest. It is an amazing sight to observe. Watching the ponds drain and seeing the prawns (freshwater shrimp) and tilapia lifted out still thrashing and flipping is a locavore’s dream. It requires lots of teamwork and a good deal of patience. Jack and Hadley couldn’t get enough. I was sure we would be pulling Jack from the drain spillway and while I waited to get my shrimp, Grandma pointed out that Hadley had put on gloves and was actually helping with the harvest.
Shrimp are bottom feeders so as the ponds drain, they settle in the mud and must be gathered by hand.
The water drains through a large concrete “colander” that traps the shrimp etc. These men are scooping them out and transferring the shrimp and fish to live wells.
Turtles also got caught in the nets and were set aside to be released.
Brianna was my photographer for the day, which means I have beautiful shots of the happenings and not a single shot of our family experiencing them. Sigh.
1 comment:
No pictures of Hadley harvesting? Shrimp are much less appetizing with their eyeballs attached. I suppose the same could be said for most creatures...
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