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.
It may seem a long way off with the snow piled outside and storms on the way, but the growing season is just around the corner for local farmers. They're already planning for the season and one of the things on their minds is securing labour. If you've imagined getting your hands in the soil and learning about farming, then this could be your year to pitch in, and now is the time to think about signing up with a farm to volunteer or apprentice.
In Newfoundland and Labrador we produce a huge abundance and variety of leafy greens for a lot of the year, but they’re sparse come wintertime. If you're missing summer salads and need a boost after all the heavy holiday eating, there is a way to get local greens into your life way before spring, and it is so extremely simple. In your own kitchen you can easily grow the powerhouse of plants, the sultan of salads, the emporium of enzymes…sprouts!
Happy Spring!
It’s that time of year when you begin to think about buying seeds to plant all Spring and Summer long.
This year I got to work early dreaming about my garden and planning out all the vegetables I wanted to grow. Despite a goal of planting fewer varieties of plants we’d be growing my partner and I ended up with a huge list of indispensible, must-grow plants we absolutely had to have. That can get expensive, especially considering that most seed packets have way more seeds than a typical back yard gardener needs, so you're probably paying for seeds you won't use.
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.
