Be Salt Savvy

As the sun slipped below the horizon, twilight began its ascent, bringing another beautiful day in the bay to a close. The mother deer, keeping her twin fawns within eyesight, stepped lightly through the brush beneath the old oaks, often pausing to sniff the air for the scent of a coyote. Early evening was when she felt safest to travel to the salt lick. Neighbors left the block on a well-traveled deer path far away from area flower and veggie gardens. This deer had “marked” the salt block area, so she felt comfortable bringing her family to it. The three had their fill and moved on quietly.”

LJ handed Annie the binoculars, “Bambi and her babies are enjoying the salt.”

Annie looked, “she is a good momma. Putting a salt block on a deer trail is reminiscent of how salt played a role in civilization’s development. Pre-historic animals sought out salt to satisfy their need for the mineral. Humans hunted them along the trails to the salt source, thus introducing salt to our diet. The trails became paths, the paths became roads, and villages grew around those roads. Once salt’s antiseptic, flavor, medicinal and preservative, qualities were realized, it became a currency (salary is derived from the word salt). As the salt economy evolved, the villages grew into towns, and the towns into cities and ta-da now we have civilization!”