Sat Feb 11 2012
As I write this, visions of snowflakes are dancing about like those little sugar plum fairies. How much will we get? Will we get any? Will the storm pass south of us?
By now we know the answers to all those questions and hopefully you’ve made plans for the next Big Event of the Winter – Groundhog Day! In these times of economic belt-tightening it has become one of my favorite holidays – just as it was my late grandfather’s – because we don’t need to send cards (don’t do that anyway) or give presents!
A look at the calendar reveals the big day is Tuesday when the furry varmint is supposed to emerge from his hole and, depending on whether or not he sees his shadow, declare whether or not we have six more weeks of winter weather before us (sees his shadow) or if the worst is behind us now (doesn’t see it).
Either way, Spring will arrive on March 20.
Of course the nation’s “official harbinger” is Punxsutawney Phil, who resides in a well-tended burrow somewhere in the great state of Pennsylvania. Each year he’s hauled from his hole by a bunch of dudes in high hats. As the nation watches, Phil makes his prediction – more often than not for six more weeks of winter – and then is returned to his hole for a few more weeks of slumber.
Much ado surrounds Punx Phil and his prediction and if you’d like to know more then visit the Web site www.groundhogday.org. You can order a T-shirt or a video and find out all sorts of useful facts about the day itself.
While groundhogs are supposed to be hibernating at this time of year, Joe Burgess called me to report a “spotting” a couple of weeks back.
“I was looking out my bathroom window,” Burgess said, “and I saw a groundhog run across the backyard.” Burgess lives somewhere in Indian Hills (I get lost every time I drive into that area) and spotted the ‘hog on Friday, Jan. 15.
I asked him if he got a picture.
He reported he wasn’t dressed in a fashion appropriate for photographing varmints in town so he remained in the house.
Ah well, at least we know they’re out and about.
I’ve told you before about a collaborative effort – one that never got off the ground (or to the hole) incidentally – quite a number of years ago to find Frankfort’s own groundhog for a prediction. I share that again because I was saddened to hear that my co-conspirator in that effort, Jack Walters, died this past year.
Jack lived in South Frankfort and was my go-to source for weather-related folklore, including woolly worms and katydids. I’ll miss his call each summer – usually in late June or early July – when he’d ask if I’d heard the first katydid, a harbinger of frost 90 days hence. Then he’d report when he’d heard one in South Frankfort.
Rest in peace, Jack. I don’t know if they have katydids in heaven but if they do maybe you can devise a way to get me a report!
Anyway, back to it.
Jack suggested we cook a corn pudding and take it, while still steaming, to a groundhog’s hole. We would then devise a way to get the sweet pungency of the pudding to waft its way down the hole, awakening the sleeping rodent who, if all worked well, would then make its way to the surface to investigate the source of smell and we would have our own prediction when he emerged!
It never happened but it seemed like a plausible idea.
Pudding or no pudding, sunshine or not, Feb. 2 will come and we’ll hear a prediction from Pennsylvania. If it rolls out as usual, Phil will see his shadow and winter will stick around for six more weeks.
Happy Groundhog Day!
Groundhog recipes
Last year we did a big spread on groundhogs with Kim Cowherd contributing factual data about the furry folks and the destruction they can cause. We included a few recipes if you’d like to cook one instead of venerate him (or her) as a weather prognosticator. Here they are again.
Groundhog Stew
1 groundhog
2 onions, sliced
1/2 cup celery, sliced
Flour
Vinegar and water
Salt and pepper
Cloves
Clean groundhog; remove glands; cut into serving pieces. Soak overnight in a solution of equal parts of water and vinegar with addition of one sliced onion and a little salt. Drain, wash, and wipe. Parboil 20 minutes, drain, and cover with fresh boiling water. Add one sliced onion, celery, a few cloves, and salt and pepper to taste. Cook until tender; thicken gravy with flour.
Fried groundhog
1 groundhog
1 tbsp salt
1 cup flour
2 tbsp fat
Clean groundhog; remove glands; cut into 6 or 7 pieces. Parboil in salted water for 1 hour. Remove from broth; roll in flour and fry in hot fat (deep fat may be used) until brown. Serves 6.
Groundhog meat patties with tomato sauce
1 groundhog
1 cup bread crumbs
1/4 cup ground onion
1 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. pepper
2 eggs
3 tbsp. fat
1 cup catsup
1/4 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
Clean groundhog; remove meat from bones and grind. Add 1/2 cup crumbs, onion, salt, pepper, 1 beaten egg, and 1 tbsp. melted fat. Mix thoroughly. Shape into patties and dip into 1 beaten egg, then into 1/2 cup crumbs. Fry until brown in 2 tbsp hot fat. Add catsup and Worcestershire sauce and bake in a slow oven (325 degrees F.) for 1 hour. Makes 8-9 patties.
These recipes are from the Cooperative Extension Service-approved Web site http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/martin/wildrecipes/list.html. Visit if for a variety of other wild game recipes.
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