The Eclectic Chef

A wild donkey in the Arizona desert will dig a well six feet deep with its front hooves, and for half a century the United States government has been shooting it as a threat to the desert. August on a dry wash in the Sonoran. The creek has been gone since May. The sand is hot enough to cook on and every animal for miles is standing in what shade it can find, waiting for a rain that is not coming. A burro walks down the wash, stops at a bend for no reason anyone else can see, puts its head down and smells. Then it starts digging. Front feet, one after the other, like a dog after a bone, until it is in up to its shoulders and the bottom of the hole goes dark and wet. It drinks and walks off. Within the hour there is a queue. Mule deer. Javelina. A bobcat. A scrub jay standing on the rim. In 2021 a biologist called Erick Lundgren published the count in Science: 59 species of vertebrate drinking at donkey wells, 64% more species than at the dry stretches of the same streams, and in the driest months the donkeys were raising the amount of open water in the desert by 300% on average and by up to 1,450%. When the wells were abandoned, cottonwood and willow seedlings came up in them. The donkey had been planting the riverbank. Asked about his methodology, the donkey had another drink and left. When a beaver builds a pond, a film crew is sent. When a donkey digs a well, the Park Service sends a marksman. The burros came up from Mexico with the Spanish and the prospectors, carried the ore out of every mine in the West, and were turned loose when the mines closed. Then they were reclassified. In 1979 the National Park Service planned to shoot all 577 in the Grand Canyon. A writer called Cleveland Amory raised more than $500,000 and lifted 582 of them out by helicopter, slung underneath, the most expensive taxi ride a donkey has ever taken. Death Valley shot 400 between 1987 and 1994. Lundgren said that when he started, people did not think a donkey digging a hole was worthy of scientific attention. The animal was listed as a threat to the desert's water. It was the one bringing the water up. Fifty-nine species knew. The ones with the rifles had never sat by the hole.

Recipe of the Day: Gratin of Mussels in Garlic Butter. Fresh mussels topped with garlic, lemon and parsley butter, enriched with their own white wine cooking juices and baked until sizzling. Serve with crusty baguette to soak up every last drop of those beautifully flavoured juices. Serves 6 as a starter or 3-4 for a light supper. deliaonline.com/recipes/inte… #recipeoftheday #mussels #musselsrecipe #seafoodrecipes #garlicbutter

Georgia is widely regarded as the birthplaces of winemaking, with archaeological evidence of wine production dating back around 8,000 years, and qvevri winemaking is one of the clearest links to that ancient wine culture. Qvevri wine is made by fermenting and aging grape juice in large clay vessels buried underground, often with the skins, seeds, and sometimes stems. The method is used for both white and red wines and can produce structured, tannic, and highly aromatic styles. In 2013, UNESCO inscribed the ancient Georgian qvevri winemaking method on its Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. @georgiatravel_