Shrimp Harvest in Illinois and a Giveaway!

     Let's start with the exciting news first...I'm having another GIVEAWAY! I was pleasantly surprised when Jamie from CSN Stores contacted me to do another review or giveaway. I recently did my first review for the company and decided that a GIVEAWAY was in order this time. CSN Stores are becoming quite popular in Blogland. They carry so many different types of things. I was recently looking at an ottoman coffee table for my son's apartment. I have been using my new Le Creuset bakeware frequently and I've picked out some holiday dishes that I would love to have.

     One lucky follower will be receiving a $55 gift code to use on any of csnstores.com sites. The giveaway is open to residents of the U.S. and Canada only. To enter:

1) Leave a comment letting me know you are a follower of my blog

2) Leave a second comment after visiting csnstores.com and tell me what you might buy if you win for a second entry.

This giveaway runs until October 17th.

     On Saturday we attended a shrimp harvest. For those of you that live near the ocean, this might not seem like a big deal...but, when you live in Central Illinois it is a bit unusual. This is our second year to visit Stan and Kay Zumbahlen's Dairy Farm in rural Newton, IL. For the past 9 years, they have also raised shrimp. They purchase the baby shrimp in Southern Illinois, where they have been nurtured for around 45 days, originally coming from the Texas Gulf Coast. The shrimp live in the Zumbahlen's pond for about 3 months and 1 day a year the pond is drained and the shrimp are harvested. People line up to buy the huge beauties for $8 a pound.

     This year the pond had already been drained when we arrived. You can see the people who are working picking up the shrimp from the bottom of the pond.

It was a cool, cloudy day and these people

are walking around in the muck to find the shrimp.

     I know they aren't pretty and I don't know why they have blue legs. This is one of the large vats where the shrimp are kept before being carried to the barn for purchase. At this point, they are still alive.

     Above you can see how most of the shrimp are harvested. The pond drains into this pipe and the shrimp come out the pipe and are caught in the netting. They are huge!

     We bought 10 pounds (you get a pound free with 10) and I cleaned all of them when we got home. My husband and father had shrimp cocktail for dinner and both of them were almost purring they were so good and fresh. I always have to wait a little while after watching them swim and cleaning them before I'm ready to eat them! It really is amazing to see this in the Midwest. They harvested around 1000 pounds this year and they always sell out. I froze ours in 2 pound packages and I'm sure we will be going back again next year.

I am linking today with Susan @ A Southern Daydreamer

for Outdoor Wednesday. Please take time to visit her

and thank her for hosting this fun event.