Brush Fire

Tis the season, not for turkey or hunting deer like those in Vermont might think, but rather for burning fields and looking for the bush rats that run out. As a way of clearing fields of grass, corn stalks, basically waste from farming, they burn them. This is not actually all ecologically bad. Things get very dry here during the dry season and doing a controled fire before things become very dry helps prevent brush fires during a time that would be really dangerous. Burning is also a good thing for the environment, believe it or not, it replaces nutrients into the soil, and helps to change the chemistry of the soil. 'Slash and burn agriculture', can actually be a sustainable way to farm IF done correctly. The bush fires here have been in practice for many many years on the same fields producing a good harvest every year, I believe the Beninese have found a good method of burning because it works for them, they also practice crop rotation and put nutrients back into the soil in other ways. May I remind those who are still unconvinced that burning fields is a good thing, the United States does prescribed burns in the National Forests, for the reasons of protecting against out of control forest fires. Fire is a natural occurance and is a necessary part of nature, just as water and air are.
I havent actually seen any yet but ive heard that they exsist, bush rats. This is just hearsay but during the time where everyone burns their fields, all the bush rats that have been living in the fields run out, and people go and hunt them, Ive yet to see a bush rat but Im curious as to what they look like, also what they taste like. Bush rat, Ive heard is a Beninese delicacy, Ive also heard that they are rather large, not like your normal size rats. Ive noticed people going around on motos with rifles lately I think with the intent of finding bush rats running away from burning fields. All of this bush rat business of course is high speculative and all based on what I hear, my own curiousity and imagination.