The expression "pasture" is probably familiar to every person. Most people imagine what it means. In the common sense, such a food is free, usually not very tasty, but contains enough calories to survive food. Such food can be used in different situations, both by humans and animals.
What is the composition?
Most often, the term “pasture” means grasses and small shrubs. All sorts of mushrooms and berries fall under this definition. To some extent, various kinds of bugs, spiders and worms can be considered pasture.
Of course, there are other varieties of such food suitable for animals or humans. Therefore, grazing is difficult to disassemble by composition. The concept is very broad, so a variety of foods can fall under it. Below, we will deal with what specifically can be considered such food in a given situation.
Free animal feed
For livestock and poultry, almost any grass is such a meal. This can be nettle, quinoa, mint, leek, euphorbia, dandelions, etc. For cattle and small cattle in the summer, pasture is one of the main sources of calories. For most of the day, cows, goats and sheep graze on pastures.
Of course, gratuitous food is good food for all kinds of poultry (such as, for example, turkeys or chickens). Pasture in this case can also help to save the farmer. Many homeowners let birds feed in the yard and on the street.
With some stretch, aquatic plants can also be called pasture. They feed on domestic ducks and geese. Such food also allows homeowners to save on the diet of farmed poultry. Farmers do not release only rabbits on pasture. Even pigs are often allowed to roam the field and search for something edible for themselves.
Waste
Sometimes under the concept of "pasture" for animals, completely strange things can fall. In India, for example, as you know, cows roam quite freely along the streets of cities and villages. Of course, nobody specially feeds these animals sacred to the local population. Therefore, heifers and bulls are forced to eat in landfills, of which in this country there is also just a huge amount. Thus, household food waste can sometimes also be subsumed under the definition of pasture.
Russia is not much richer than India. Cows in our country, fortunately, do not walk around. But all sorts of trash can be a good help for the same cats and dogs. Of course, this is not too good. But, unfortunately, Russia does not have the ability to maintain shelters for pets as, for example, is done in the USA and developed European countries.
Feed for humans
For people, such food is most often quinoa or nettle. For example, only over the past century, the starving population of Russia had to eat just such pasture twice: in the 30s of the last century and during the Second World War. Soups were made from nettles and swans, herbal cakes were made, etc.
Feed in the forest
Of course, man-made food can be used not only in difficult historical periods. Everything happens in life, and you often have to switch to such food, for example, lost in the forest. In this case, to maintain strength, in addition to nettles and quinoa, herbs such as sorrel, cow parsnip, sour sour, parsnip, field cabbage or even plantain and clover can also be used.
A good pasture for a person lost in the forest is also such berries as dogrose, raspberry, blackberry, juniper, lingonberry, etc. Of course, in groves and oak groves, among other things, you can find a variety of mushrooms - brown boletus, white, rowing, boletus, russula.
Feeding in the steppe
It is, of course, more difficult to get lost in the steppe than in the forest, but still it is possible. In such a place, birds' eggs (for example, larks), cereal plants, elm buds, wild garlic, threshed, and hazel grouse can become pasture. You can also support the strength of hemp seeds.
Nomadic peoples in ancient times caught gophers from burrows, fried them on a fire and ate them. The meat of these animals in this case can also be attributed to pasture. But there is, of course, only worth it when absolutely necessary. Gophers are carriers of many diseases.
After rain in the steppe, as in the forest, mushrooms appear. Most often these are raincoats or mushrooms. Also quite edible mantles and feather grasses are common in the steppe.
Free food by the sea
In such places it is much easier to find food than in many others. Eating pasture by the sea is a relatively simple matter. For example, in coastal meadows, edible and tasty enough plants such as wild parsley, sea eel, mertensia, ranch, garlic grow in abundance.
Actually on the beach, various kinds of mollusks can serve as pasture - mussels, nutella, natiki. The meat of these marine inhabitants is very nutritious, but it should be eaten carefully and in not too large quantities. Many mollusks, including mussels, are able to accumulate toxic or harmful substances in the tissues of their bodies. Of course, various aquatic plants can serve as pasture near the sea. Edible, for example, kelp, alaria, ulva, "bubbles" of Fucus.
In the tundra
In such places it is difficult to find anything that falls under the definition of “pasture”. However, there are plants that are well suited as food for livestock. For example, various kinds of lichens are a very good pasture for reindeer. The most common and well-known species of such plants is reindeer moss.
The meaning of the expression in a figurative sense
Thus, pasture is, first of all, found gratuitous food, most often of plant origin. However, this expression once had a slightly different meaning. Earlier in Russia, all governors and commanders who received positions in cities were supported by the population. Such places were especially attractive for representatives of impoverished noble families. For obvious reasons, these posts were called “pasture”. Often they brought very good incomes.
Recipes
Below we offer the reader recipes of dishes, one of the components of which is pasture, growing in the fields or even just in the garden. They can be prepared, for example, in early spring, when there are no vegetables and fruits yet.
Cheerful Sorrel Casserole
To prepare this dish you will need:
- 500 g of sorrel;
- 50 g of dill;
- 2 cups of milk;
- ½ tbsp rice;
- 2 tbsp. l crackers;
- 4 eggs;
- salt pepper.
Sorrel and parsley are finely chopped and mixed. Next, the mass is salted and allowed over medium heat (5 minutes). Rice is boiled in two glasses of milk. Cool it and mix with green mass. Proteins are whipped into a foam and also added to rice. Lubricate the frying pan with vegetable oil and spread the mass on it. Bake rice in the oven.
Nettle sundowners
In this case, you need to take:
- 500 g nettle;
- 2 onions;
- 100 g of champignons;
- 50 g of dill;
- ordinary dumplings dough;
- 4 tbsp. l vegetable oil.
First, prepare the stuffing. To do this, wash and pour over nettle with boiling water. They throw it back into a colander, and then chop it very finely. Champignons are also boiled and cut into pieces. Add onion and dill to the mass. Roll out the dough into a tourniquet, cut into pieces and make mugs. About 5 x 5 cm squares are cut out of them. Forcemeat is put on each. Kundyum is molded and boiled in mushroom broth.
Food Reviews
Thus, we found out what means pasture. Such food is, of course, best for livestock. The best feedback on pasture is available from farmers, who can save money and make their households more profitable. But for a person such free food can be very useful. And not only in extreme situations.
Of course, in the summer or in the fall any salads and dumplings with grass are unlikely to be eaten by anyone. The only exceptions are pies with sorrel or, for example, nightshade. But in the spring such food is quite capable of supporting strength and filling the body with vitamins. Of course, at this time of the year, most people will have a positive opinion about such dishes. And from some original salad of leaves and flowers of dandelion, sorrel and garlic, properly cooked, many may not refuse.