Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Value of a 'Bunny Boiler'.
Living in a big rambling farmhouse in the countryside, and taking pleasure from a three acre informal garden brings with its own problems. Two of these are the terrifying cost of heating the house, and the depredations of a ever growing rabbit population. A solution could be at hand. The practical citizens of Stockholm have found a way of dealing with both problems. Each year, they kill thousands of wild rabbits that eat the plants in Stockholm's public parks, and use the bodies as fuel to heat houses in the Karsloga region of central Sweden. This innovative approach to recycling and pest control is reported in today's Telegraph. A case of killing two problems with one stove. I've often heard the term 'bunny boiler' used, but I'm not sure what it means. I have a feeling that its an uncomplimentary reference to a type of woman. Perhaps someone can tell me what it is - apart from a heating appliance in Sweden. I wonder if it takes grey squirrels as well.
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To quote Wikipedia (accurate for once, if badly phrased):
"The phrase derives from the 1987 film Fatal Attraction, about a woman who begins stalking a man with whom she had a one-night stand, during the course of which she cooks his daughter's pet rabbit."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bunny_boiler
You will Glyn, get the (literal and metaphorical) bunny huggers (must be careful there isn't a spoonerism there!) that will be up in arms about these pests, albeit cute pests!
Personally I would suggest a recipe such as this in the interim?
http://www.ciao.co.uk/Recipes_for_Main_Courses__Review_5559362
Oh btw .. the term "bunny boiler"
"Bunny Boiler is a pejorative term for an obsessive and dangerous individual, referring to a former lover who stalks the person who spurned them. The term is normally used for a woman. The phrase derives from the 1987 film Fatal Attraction, about a woman who begins stalking a man with whom she had a one-night stand, during the course of which she cooks his daughter's pet rabbit."
(wiki)
Bunny Boiler - Watch "Fatal Attraction" with Glen Close.
Why not eat them? Cheap source of protein, use the skins for insulation? Coppice or polard some of your trees, specifically Hazel.
On the subject of Hazel, didn't Prince Phillips attempts to produce truffles not come to anything, the orchard, coppice that he was hoping to produce truffles hasn't produced a single one in three or four years.
Rabbit meat (and game in general) is probably the most environmentally friendly form of protien available*, it would be very wasteful to kill the rabbits and then burn them - far better to invest in home insulation (and maybe some Rabbit fur coats!).
*although I believe that for some reason digesting the meat uses more calories than you obtain from it, so it needs to be eaten with plenty of vegetables.
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