Picking
admin
As We Fish and Farm

I came to Newfoundland for the first time just over four years ago. I can still vividly recall taking the ferry across from Nova Scotia in the late winter, listening to the groaning sounds of the ice around the boat. Within two months of arriving I made my first trip to Bonne Bay, a remote fjord on the west coast of the island. I went to learn about the food system and fisheries in the region as part of a PhD program I was beginning at Memorial University that fall.

As We Fish and Farm
Picking, Preparing
admin
DIY Maple Syrup

Maple syrup conjures up images of towering arboretums in places like Quebec or Vermont, but it’s a little known secret that the rugged and hardy maple trees of Newfoundland make darn fine maple syrup. With nothing more than a half dozen maple trees, some old salt beef containers and a handful of 25 cent metal tree taps, you’re good to go and can expect to end up with over a dozen bottles of hand made maple syrup.

DIY Maple Syrup
Picking, Planting, Preparing
Andreae C
My front yard grocery store
My front yard grocery store
Events, Picking, Planting
Costa Kasimos
Bits and Pieces: Along the Shore

Spectacular vistas, whales breaching, ice bergs floating by, and a foragers paradise. We are blessed with many wilderness areas that offer abundant edible plants. I rarely go on a hike without stopping to have a little taste of this or that. In this post, I will touch upon some of the edibles currently available in our wonderful wilderness.

Bits and Pieces: Along the Shore
Planting
Matthew Middleton
Growing In A Potato Box

Thanks to the listing from Seeds of Diversity, I was able to locate a gentleman in Newfoundland who has a great deal of experience growing a wide variety of potatoes here. Last week, I recieved by my set of samples from George, and here's what my benefactor told me about the varieties:

Red Dutch: A very dry, yellow flesh red from Holland in the 1940’s. An excellent potato. Late maturing.

Northern White: A white flesh variety, from Quebec apparently, from the early 1900’s. Very high yield. Good taste.

Growing In A Potato Box

cod

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Colourful Baked Cod

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Colourful Baked Cod

I was a strict vegetarian/vegan for my formative learning-to-cook-for-myself years, so cooking meat and fish is a big mystery to me at 27. Last year I roasted a chicken and became confused when I couldn’t find the meat. I searched everywhere on top of the chicken for the white meat, only to find skin stretched over nearly bare bones. 20 minutes later I discovered that I had it upside down.

As I started cooking cod fillets I found I really couldn’t fry it without ending up with a mush of fish, completely separated. I’m still waiting for someone to show me how to do that. What I can do is bake a fillet of cod. That is easy. And delicious.

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Wild food stir-fry and baked cod

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Wild food stir-fry and baked cod

This post is a bit delayed in arriving, with photos from late May. As a follow-up to Costa's A Taste of the Wild Side posts I brought a few unusual ingredients together for a meal. It's too late in the season now for harvesting young knotweed shoots and dandelion greens but hopefully you'll still be inspired to seek them out next year. The codfish I used was locally harvested and then frozen.