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.
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.
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.
Check out this awesome event happening next month! I'm signing up my garden, so come on down and visit on the 20th! Email local.feast@gmail.com to sign up your own garden or just sign up for the FEASt newsletter (in order to get the map to the 'open garden day')
-Rick
FEASt (Food Education Action St. John's) is planning an 'Open Garden Day' on Sun. Sept 20th, 1 - 5pm, to be followed by a Local Food Potluck Picnic (& Autumn Equinox Celebration) at Bannerman Park, 5pm - 8pm.
Hi folks - Rick here,
I have now had several delicious salads from the garden: lettuce, beet and turnip tops (while thinning out the small ones), some green beans and squash flowers (you can eat them). There have been a few issues to talk about, though.
Water Ban!
I'm sure every gardener using the city water supply has been affected by the water ban. You're not supposed to do any watering of any vegetable or flower garden. An exception is made for water from a rain barrel or 'grey water', used cleaning water from the house.
Haha, I thought we were having great weather this year, but yesterday's frost warning had me running to cover up the garden with bed sheets! Otherwise things seem to be going well. The greens are slowly coming up, as are the root vegetables. There are some little squash forming. The Kale didn't come up, so I bought some new seeds and planted those. I also planted some parsnip in my last two square feet of garden. No slugs have been spotted in the garden yet.
Done! (Almost). This weekend I planted all of my seedlings, and a bunch of seeds. Last week I was mixing together the soil in the raised bed according to a recipe, but I lacked vermiculite. I couldn't find it anywhere and I got some advice that it wasn't necessary with good peat, so I ended up buying a few bags of topsoil from Traverse Gardens to fill up the bed. My soil contains a lot of peat moss, a little vermiculite, my personal vermicompost, sheep manure, seaweed, and whatever is in Ross Traverse's soil mix (peat, compost). It feels pretty light and moist, much better than the actual soil in the ground.
