Giant rodents and freezer burn
I have a confession the likes of which would make my mother proud. The majority of my freezer is now full of food instead of pieces of wood, deer parts, and two furry tree-predators. Yes, two beavers recently made a grand exit from my freezer! They had to go to make room for meat that was gifted to me by my parents. Mom called a few weeks ago.. “Amy, if we need to store some meat in your freezer can we do that? Do you want some? Is there room? Does it have any…..uh, animal parts in it?”
Cue the weird music, I guess.
I’ve always collected “natural” decorations. You know, the kind that illicit a disapproving glance from someone older who wears a lot of Mary Kay and says, “Your house is so natural”.
Poor me, I’ve been plagued with nature my whole life. When I worked in Alaska (of all places) a co-worker told me I smelled so natural. I guess it was because I didn’t hose down with bleach, or like synthetic fragrances. I’ve always squinted my eyes after hearing those comments. Mostly because I clearly see the gulf of separation between my worldview and theirs. But it doesn’t bother me, as you can tell. I continue to fill my freezer with animal parts and wood. Half decomposed trees are in the garage and so are antlers, oyster shells, and other bits. Because… well, I’m so natural.
So, on Monday instead of working on the podcast and because it was so nice outside, I skinned a beaver. As one does.
Despite my propensity for grit, I’ve never actually killed any animals except a few birds while driving. I routinely save little noodley snakes, and leave the spiders in the corners of the ceiling to eat the flies. They seem happy, and if they eat the excess flies then it’s the circle of life. I guess it could sound odd that even though I don’t hunt or trap I still have a house full of furs. The truth is, I find dead animals all the time and people also give them to me. Last fall, I found a recently hit grey fox on the interstate and this winter my neighbor gave me these two frozen beavers and a mink that was killing all of their chickens. Anyway, I finally had a nice day to skin and flesh the beavers, and I’m happy to do so. Mary Kay be damned.
Having said that, I’m doubtful how well it will go when I tan them because they are so greasy. I’m also unsure about them being frozen whole. I’ve never worked with anything quite like these hides. It’s an unbelievable amount of oil, so I need to give it my best shot. I typically do a brain/egg tan, but these are going to need to be de-greased somehow. An old-school tanning book recommended washing a beaver hide with Kerosene… but that sounds terrible to me. What do you do with the kerosene afterwards? Won’t the hides smell like it? That’ll be a hard pass.
So this is where I am now. I have two hides that need to be degreased, washed and stretched. I’m crossing my fingers that they weren’t damaged by the freezer. I have plans for these hides. I’ve wanted big furry mittens for ages, but more on that later. First they must be tanned!