Thanks, brother. I can tell you from experience, that Spanish moss is a horror to a chainsaw, if it grabs a loose chunk. Nature's Kevlar... We cut this 1 load of elm that had moss on it. I pulled a lot of it off. Saw caught some clumps 4 or 5 times, just like a chain brake...had to take bar and chain off just to clear it...
Very nice gardens. I thought at first you had mis-named the live oak, until I realized it must be moss (and it was confirmed in later comments). I loved that you thought to take a picture with the explanation on how they cured and smoked meat. I didn't realize that method would keep meat "good" for that long a time.
Thanks. My dad was a butcher when I was a boy and I remember helping him with the hams, shoulders and other cuts. We would salt it down in the cooler, (and that salt would find every little nick on my hands...) let is set for 90-100 days, he woukd take it out , brush off the loose salt and he had a mixture of pepper, spices, and some other thing that was then rubbed on, hung up outside where the wind would help dry and cure it. It would then last a long time with no refrigeration...