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.
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.
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.
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.
From the Agricultural History Society of NL: The Agricultural History Society of NL would like to advise that we are launching a special research project documenting the history and traditional use of the common Root Cellar. With approved funding we will start this project in early June. We have already located a number of cellars to visit and record. However, should you or one of your friends have an active traditional root cellar and you wish to share this information, please contact
Greetings, friends! My name is Andreae and I will be posting here on the Root Cellars Rock page whenever I have something interesting to share about my adventures in gardening, foraging, preserving, and cooking local foods (so long as that's on a Thursday...). I grow vegetables, fruit, and edible flowers in my yard in downtown St. John's, and I have been known to force my children to gather fallen apples from roadside trees on at least one occasion. I love to cook - some of you might know my name from my old Food Nerd columns in The Scope - and I love getting the canning kettle out and packing away jars of gleaming jams, jellies, and pickles before the snow flies each year.
"One afternoon in October 1992 Meg and Peter were serving us tea in their kitchen in Conche, a fishing outport on the Great Northern Peninsula. On the table were home-made bread and squashberry jam, cabbage pickles, some crackers, and molasses for Peter's tea. 'Do you like this rough food?' Peter wondered. I asked what that meant..."
