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.
Garden Mind returns with another workshop on gardening techniques. FSN is pleased to have Danilo Gonzalez and Luis Reyes providing their expertise on greenhouse design and management. Learn basic information about building and managing a greenhouse for your home or community garden in Newfoundland and Labrador.
This one-day workshop will help you create a year-round garden so you can raise and harvest food all year round, by planting seasonally in raised beds with protective structures like cloches, cold frames, tunnels, row cover and greenhouses. By planting different crops in succession and protecting your plants with simple structures, you can harvest food all through the year, even in the winter.
After several years of running out and planting seeds too early and seeing healthy seedlings killed by an early frost, I tried to think of a way to plant early and keep the seedlings alive. After finishing a bottle of water one day I thought how neat the top was and wondered what the bottle could be used for...
