fall foraging feast

A beautiful walk in the woods with a camera is a wonderful thing any time of year... but THIS time of year is MUSHROOM SEASON! Oh my there was a beautiful assortment of mushrooms! My camera was so happy clicking away at colourful (toxic) looking fungal fruits. Our trail system was THOROUGHLY picked over for edible varieties.... kicked over and stomped through...sad sad for me. BUT I did a shaggy mane, a puff ball and some lobster mushrooms (which I have not tried before but were too gorgeous to leave behind). They are heavy and dirty and technically what makes them lobster mushrooms isn't the mushroom at all but the mushroom's parasite! Freaky, but cool.

 Just one of the 50 or more mushroom photos from today...

 Cleaned, it is much more appetizing..

 I decided to make a Newburg sauce with extra paprika (lobster mushroom, but no fish)...

 The finished meal with puff pastry and chard from the garden....

The whole family enjoyed it thoroughly and now I have one more food in my foraging repertoire.

Wildlife

We have a bear.

Not that I mind (actually it's pretty cool to think I share my territory with a big animal like that)
BUT this particular bear has been a bit destructive in it's hunt for fall food. Other than ripping limbs from my apple tree, (and massive poops) it took out 6 fence panels of my neighbour's backyard and left more poop and other debris right up on her sundeck!

Miraculously it has ignored the chicken coop even though it is directly adjacent to the apples trees.
The neighbour is worried about what it will do next. Or worse, what her husband will do next. So she called the conservation officer... And THATS how a live bear trap got taken through my driveway.  It's about 10 ft from my garage right now.

Last night the bear came back but was more interested in mauling my green bin than climbing into the trap for the big bag of stinky cat food. Smarter than your average bear? Or just a vegetarian? So the trap is still vacant... for now.

More Camping!

We got a few days off in a row, so we took to the hills with trailer and truck.

Our favourite place is a modest campground with pit toilets and fire rings - no services - no cell service either. A spot that is a 45 minute drive past the pavement up and down logging roads hugging a very large lake on Vancouver Island (approximately 40 km long and 1.6 km wide).

I love it there. Just love it. We tried a new spot this time, just wonderful!

(you can see the lake from the picnic table with it's own short trail to the shore)

 (looking back up the trrail to our site)

 

(here is our private beach)

(sitting in a kayak on the beach - yes the dog is in a kayak on the lake!)

(the weather was stunning the first day and the lake was warm)

(then the weather changed... and stayed spotty if not downright miserable the rest of the time)

(at least we were allowed a campfire with the rain)

(the morning we left we were tired of being damp, this shot was taken after we had packed up and just before the heavens opened up in a torrent with thunder and everything!)

 

We all got to paddle around in the kayaks at one point or another, and it was quiet and relaxing in the kayak in the rain. Steve had his unicycle, Cam had his R/C rock crawler truck, I had my e-reader and T got to leave work and the honey-do list behind. The camping trip did it's job, we all felt relaxed and happy the whole time. The only wild food I got to harvest was a lovely white chantrelle mushroom and a few berries (honestly the rain wasn't fun to forage in). The spot was excellent for it's scenery, sheltered beach and it's extremely quiet location.

CAMPING!

Stamp River Provincial Campground was perfect for us! Lots of trees, privacy and no frills.

 

After a brisk swim in the fast flowing river, we went for a walk to the falls

 

Very pretty canyon that the river squeezes into

 

Next morning we head to McLean Mill to go to the "Steam-Up" festival (which was the whole reason we came camping in Post Alberni in the first place)

 

Very interesting steam machines from the classic Stanley Steamer automobile, to a small steam boat, a gorgeous shiny firefighters pump wagon, lots of tractors and engines and donkeys and huge lorries and of course the mill itself has been restored to steam power! There is something awe-inspiring about the beautiful steam equipment.

 

Cammy managed to get enlisted for the old-time logging demonstration. He got loaded down with old-fashioned faller's gear and there was a lot of it especially for a sunny summer afternoon.

 

And then the lucky bum caught the eye of a man moving his machine and got to ride on a vintage tractor around the mill site! His face is so serious.

 

It was a good weekend, the camping and steam, and museum, and general relaxing around the firepit roasting marshmallows and reading a novel. Very nice indeed.

 

(and the beloved trailer was perfect)

PS; fox&bee, we got some great sound bites of the steam equipment running if you want it

More Wood's Goods

When my dear friends J&J were here, I went foraging for big leaf maple blossoms. I just found out they were edible and wanted to try a recipe in my beautiful new cookbook, "PACIFIC FEAST"  (by Jennifer Hahn) that I bought last fall. I was just waiting for Spring to give me some fresh ingredients.

Got a nice, big grocery bag of the green, grape-like clusters, easy to get this time of year, they were clean, tight and bug free!

 

Then I steeped the blossoms in hot milk for a few minutes. The result was a greenish milk that smelled kind of arrowrootish. Not unpleasant at all! With that I made Creme Brullee's.

 

.I didn't have the correct dishes (ramekins), but it's not a disaster to improvise sometimes. I thought the resulting dessert was very tasty. Creamy, mildly flavoured and not too sweet. I wished there was MORE.

Wood's Goods

Yesterday T wanted to go for a good hike, and this time I was prepared to forage the natural bounty of SPRING! I made sure I had sturdy gloves, bags, and scissors.

By the time I got home several hours later (and all exhausted by the pace my husband likes to trudge through the woods), I had a sizable amount of fresh, young, tender stinging nettles! Mmmmm.

I have tried nettle foods before at the Edible Wilds Food Fair, but never had the courage to go get them myself. Those nettles really sting!

It was worth the risk, these super-greens are scrumptious! Milder than spinach, I found the flavour delicate and deliciously "green" tasting.

Following the instructions carefully, I washed in cold water for 5 minutes (with heavy gloves on):

Then blanched in salted boiling water for 1 minute:

 

Then I squeezed out the excess juice (reserving the water and juice for a very healthy stock) and proceeded to make a nettle pesto which I served on Gnocchi dumplings! OMG this was yummy!

 

 

(I got the batch pictured above and 2 more cups of Nettle Pesto saved in the freezer)

 

The positive reaction by the whole family towards this vibrant green dish prompted me to head out with my gear again this morning to pick some more!!!!!

 

I think maybe a nettle lasagna would be nice....

"Conspiracy" Documentaries

I love these things. I guess I would rather know all the arguments than be blindsided by sensationalist nonesense. The library is a perfect place to get my fix.

"Who killed the electric car" not my fave, but I watched it
"Gashole" about the big oil companies of the US squelching innovations in fuel economy/alternatives.

"Bowling for Columbine", "Sicko", "Farenheit 9/11",  "Capitalism" all by Michael Moore are great for making me feel superior as a Canadian (then I am embarrassed that I fell for that).

"An Inconvenient Truth" I liked it (guiltily) because I like looking at Gore. But even if half of what he said was blown out of proportion we are in big trouble.

For food I am a big fan of "Food Inc." and the DVD version of "Botany of Desire" is very pretty.

Just the other day I watched a well-done more personal documentary the other day called "King Corn" about the story of..... well, corn. Like "Food Inc" it mentioned the big seed and pesticide giants squeezing the small farmers, and how making this food a commodity (with subsidies by the govt to help) has made a massive surplus and still bankrupts the farmers. Worth the time to see.

But thinking about these things all together had me make an uncomfortable connections... Developing countries are slashing and burning giant sections of forest to plant ethanol crops. Not even food for themselves, but FUEL so we can feel "greener" about filling our SUV's.

YIKES!

Talk about not seeing the forest for the trees, killing the golden goose AND throwing the baby out with the bathwater all at once!

And another thing. Corn. It's such an amazingly cheap plant material that chemists have turned it into almost everything but people food. With tweaks to structures, and a bit of energy, they can cheaply make it into fuel, plastics, high-fructose corn syrups, beast meal, etc, etc, etc. It's everywhere and that's not natural. But the worst part is that to grow THAT MUCH CORN, it is an empire based on a GMO seed that is doused in natural gas based pesticides/herbicides/fertilizers since before even being put in the ground and long afterwards. In one of these documentaries it mentioned how forcing these lowly grasses to yield so much they need to exploit many hundreds of times the natural "solar" nitrogen fixing units that a farmer could have provided in the 60's by way of crop rotations, compost, manure and other naturally derived fertilizers. Fossil fuel based fertilizers have a cool property that has captured and stored a whole lot of concentrated year's worth of plant/sunshine nitrogen. Once the scientists unlocked those solar elements to be usable by presently living plants -- whoah nelly! -- Farming was revolutionized! Specifically though, this corn stuff is taking literally thousands and thousands of acres to grow phenominal quanities of one genetically specific thing that simply cannot grow without the use of fossil fuels (and lets not forget about the energy needed to make the fertilizer or the toxic by products). And the soil that the corn crop occupies can grow NOTHING else because it is saturated with the fossil fuel derived materials.

What the heck are we humans doing?! I am worried for my kids.

not quite 40

I'm still in my 30's...

...for a couple more months anyways.

My 30s have been pretty good to me I think. I have everything I'd hoped to have by this time of my life (not saying my life is for everyone, but it is right for me). I'm a planner... and I must be okay at it because so far things are right on schedule. The only thing missing is the financial stability I was sure I'd have by now. Hey, it's not exactly bad, it's just not AS good as I though it would be by now.

I am smarter about some things now than I was 10 years ago.

There is now a greater appreciation for my health, a greater appreciation for the kindness and reciprocity of friends. I have a more realistic appreciation for the liquid properties of time, and the limited amount available in one lifetime. That was the hardest lesson so far.

But with the time passing so very quickly, I have felt pressure about the choices that must be made for this life. I cannot be everything I wanted to be. It's almost ludicrous to think I will finally get to design for a car company (not that I've tried very hard mind you). It is improbable that one of the inventions I have made in my head will reach production (but maybe one of my son's will?). Designing my own home to build and live in may not happen-- regrettably I have to accept it might not. And the dream of having an acreage for my children to play on seems to be getting more and more unlikely as each year passes (because my children are getting older and because the money hardly seems worth the change).

As hardened as I am with the reality of my mortality, I still feel very wide-eyed and full of wonder at all the stuff that this world has. No matter how old I get, I hope to keep that. Feathered frost creeping across my windshield has caught my breath with it's infinitely intricate patterns! Cresting the hill to see the sun hitting the far away coastal mountains, across the straight and so far away, the sight makes me gasp with the grandeur of it. Finding the perfect, fresh ingredients gets me giddy with the possibilities. I delight in the softness of my cat's soft fur and my dog's goofy antics. The stars in a clear night render me humble, small and happy. Seeing a tiny spiderling spin a line to catch a light breeze gives me boundless hope. I get a lot of joy a lot of the time... this world is full of magic, beauty and I love being alive!

Camping Bliss Still

*** August 31st would have been moving day if we had got the other house, I am a little sad still but life moves on... ***

We went CAMPING!
Our trailer (which we have affectionately named "Alice" after her former care giver) was dragged down an hour of terribly undignified logging roads to spend 5 nights in my favourite spot on the planet -- Nixon Creek in the heart of central Vancouver Island.

I went in 2007

And again in 2007

And 2008

And again in 2008

But that makes it 3 years since we last saw thins beautiful place -- It's been too long! I missed the gravel shore and deep forest, my heart has BONDED with that place.



our spot



our spot from another angle



my favourite place; on our little private beach




Cam's favourite sunny spot



Cam's favourite shady spot



Steve's favourite thing to do



The boy's spent a lot of time chasing fish...

 

Max's over-looking the lake most of the time


Of course there was time spent chasing local foods. Though my boys got skunked fishing (close calls but nothing brought in), another camper shared his catch with us one day. That evening we had fresh, campfire-smoked trout served with wild onions (from a nearby beach) and chantrelle mushrooms that I had found that afternoon in the woods. Salal, Saskatoon, Thimble, Huckleberry, Brambleberry sauce on yogurt for dessert! Yummy, indigenous, extremely local goodness!!!!

There were beautiful sunsets.
There was a campfire every night with marshmallows, hot cocoa and even popcorn. There was good conversation around the flames and then when things were super-quiet we would go down to our little beach and look at the mind-blowing amount of stars (that we can't see within our city limits due to light pollution).

There were misty mornings and windy afternoons, long walks in the deep forest and fantastic wildlife.
There were NOT any noisy people, sibling squabbles, pesky mosquitos (though I did get a few wasp stings out in the woods when we accidentally disturbed a nest in the woods) nor electric devices demanding attention.
It was wonderful... really really wonderful.

This time, with the trailer I wasn't prepared to leave when it was time to go... sniff sniff.... till we meet again Nixon Creek!

Photo Op.

This is a first for me. I've never seen a Garter snake in a tree before... he looked very content., laying in tidy coils, taking in the rare sun about 4 ft off the ground on this dense shrub. He was very accommodating letting me take his picture!

(Good thing I'm not frightened of them anymore)

I found his colours juxtaposed against the bright green of the tree very pretty.

How does your garden grow?

Mine's looking pretty pathetic, I'm telling you!
The plants are stunted from the cold weather, and then when it starts brightening up and things start showing some real growth.... the DEER come along and nibble the peas, beans, peppers and strawberries to the ground! Cute but annoying... I love a good venison roast, too bad Bambi's are protected in city limits....

oh well... I had 2 good GREAT years of veggies out of it, lets hope next year (in our new place maybe?!) will be better.

On the bright side, I went out berry picking today while the REALTOR tour was on at my house, and found 3 cherry trees in behind the lake we are moving closer to! I managed to reach a few ripe little cherries on the lower branches and they are YUMMY! And of course the last of the salmon berries and the first of the thimble berries and even some tiny huckle berries were ready for my eager hands. I came home and made genuine "fruiti di bosco" (forest berry) biscuits with my walk's harvest. Yummy.

I didn't want to get my hopes up about that other place, but it's happened. I am 100% ready to let someone else live in my house and move onto the other one. Even the rest of the family is on board. Steve was the foot-dragger but now he is keen on moving too. I am ready - really really ready.

Not as Easy as it Sounds

I have been watching the wild strawberries grow and bloom in eager anticipation of a bountiful harvest of tiny, flavour explosions! This morning was the perfect day for berrypicking ... slightly overcast, not windy... after walking my youngest up to the school I trekked out into the woods with my bucket eyes peeled for tiny treats.

One and a half hours later, this is what I had gathered:

Pretty pathetic, eh? They are very hard to find, and unfortunately for me I wasn't the only one anticipating strawberries this year! Creatures had already been there, not many left for big fumbling bipeds to find!

But all was not lost, I did collect some superb Salmon berries

And sweet wild rose petals too!

My strawberry walk was a bust (almost) but it was alovely day to be scrounging around on meadow floors, tromping over moss, avoiding stinging nettles, brushing cobwebs off my hands and startling sunning garter snakes. My hands were right in the thick of it, and that was a good experience!

Yesterday I harvested 4 healthy bullrushes to try marinating some in lemon juice and salt (like palm hearts)

More wild foods

I learned something yummy today!

The common Bulrushes (or Cattails) are edible!
I had heard about it, so I had to try for myself (of course)

Today on the way home from picking up Cami from school,  I pulled one out of the muck, peeled of the outer layers and snapped off a crisp 9 inches of clean, bright white stalk. I sniffed it tentatively... smells like garden fresh cucumber! So I tried it and I liked it!

But I cautiously waited a while before eating more than a nibble. It's been my experience with wild plants that sometimes the initial taste can be pleasant but the aftertaste can haunt for ages. This crisp gift is no exception... the first nibble tastes like cucumber sweet and refreshing, but the aftertaste is more like a very mild spanish onion, sweet and savory at the same time... I think it will be very very good in salads! Very good indeed.

Suddenly with this new knowledge, the acres of weland I cross on my way to and from the school have something more to offer than just gorgeous scenery and birdsong!

I like foraging.

The weather was lovely and I was feeling seized up my spine, so we walked to school this morning -- (oh man, my back is in serious spasm this morning!)

Lucky me though, the trail was clear and the SALMON BERRIES ARE READY!

Some people find them a lttle too bitter to want to eat, I have always liked how they taste REAL and how they are FREE to anyone that wants them, just waiting on the sides of the local wooded trails near water.

Today, I happened upon an unlikely but delicious pairing of flavours:

Mmmm... for some unexplicable reason, eating the lush, fresh petals of the wild rose before eating the salmon berries makes everything perfect! The perfume in the rose mellows out the bitter in the berries and brings out the tart tang of them, and the tart tang mellows out the perfume flavour of the petals. It's a win-win flavour combo for a sunny Spring snack on the go!

I love foraging for snacks as I walk.