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, 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
Planting
Rick Kelly
Harvest Times

EEk! Sorry everyone - I missed September entirely. Oh well, at least I have a lot to say about the garden.

As you may remember, I've been growing my first real attempt at a garden this year, with a 12x4 foot raised bed. Last time I wrote I was complaining about the water ban, but that's certainly not a problem anymore! I've harvested just about everything now (a little less then I was hoping). What remains is to pick the carrots, beets, and turnip, and to prepare the garden for the winter.

Harvest Times

Picking

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St. John's Native Friendship Centre sharing traditional food skills

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St. John's Native Friendship Centre sharing traditional food skills

This October the St. John’s Native Friendship Centre hosted its annual Women’s retreat at Woody Island Resort, just a few hours outside of the city. This provides Aboriginal Women in our community the opportunity to reconnect with nature, connect with peers, and learn from one another’s experiences. At each retreat we learn a new skill: last year we learned how to skin and clean small game (rabbit and partridges), and this year, thanks to the Food Security Network, we learned the ins and outs of safe bottling and canning.

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Community Freezer in Hopedale

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Community Freezer in Hopedale

The community freezer in Hopedale, Labrador, is getting an upgrade this year that will allow it to serve the community even better. A community freezer is a freezer where country food, wild hunted fare such as moose, caribou, seal, partridge, and geese, is donated and stored until given out to families and individuals who are lacking their own. The current community freezer program in Hopedale has been operating for over 2 years with two chest freezers. A new walk-in freezer is about to be installed that will greatly increase the program’s capacity.