Foraging Weekend!

For the first time this month I had the weekend off. The weather has been stellar and the tides were favourable for replenishing our dulse stash. Dulse (Palmaria palmata) is an edible seaweed rich in nutrients and popular among maritimers. Every community boats that they have THE best dulse and with prices online of around $23/100 g for organic dulse it’s a good idea to expand a little energy on a sunny day to fill my pantry corner. My friends and I spent an hour filling our mesh bags while walking for about 2 km into the shallow waters of the Bay of Fundy Minas Basin at low tide. Once we returned to shore we spread the wet dulse onto tulle yardage and let it dry in the hot sun. Laura decided to guard our treasure while Deena and I made our way to the Meeting of the Waters. It was the most epic experience in the four years I have enjoyed this phenomena. Just have a look:

Sunday it was time to get out to pick blueberries for the freezer. We always wait until the end of harvest and pick the berries along the edge of the fields where the mechanical equipment doesn’t reach. An hour in the sunshine on the top of the mountain and we had gathered 3 ½ liters of wild blueberries!

The view from the mountain never disappoints!

And just because I have not been out to look for mushrooms this summer we took the long way home…

…and found enough chanterelles to fill a small basket.

Recipes and possibilities are swirling around my head! Mushroom sauce over tonight’s roast beef… experimenting to create flakey dulse biscuits to accompany the lobster boil I am catering Friday and a blueberry sauce, lightly sweetened with local maple syrup, for the cheesecake I plan to serve for dessert. Love this time of the year: so much on offer from Mother Nature!