The Generous Fisherman

One of the unseen and often under-estimated joys of living in on a small island is the local fisherman. When you think of the taste of fresh food, often thoughts turn to the farmer’s market. Who can deny those lovely tomatoes of summer, so sweet and juicy they hardly make it home before they are consumed. How about the lettuce that is crisp, cool and sweet. The carrots that may not be the straightest, but taste like a carrot should. The benefits and joys of a farmer’s market are well known to all, and if they are not, then you should definitely rise early and explore some of the best food you will ever see outside of your own garden. When you think of local, of sustainable eating, often we do not think of our local fisherman.

The local fisherman is every bit as sustainable as the market gardener or local farmer. They are as local as the free range beef, pork or chicken that comes from friends around the corner. They harvest and manage their ‘crop’ just as much as all the others, and they often know when things are at their best, advice which is well heeded. Sometimes you are lucky and you know just such a fisherman. Sometimes you are extraordinarily blessed and this fisherman is your neighbor.

David is our neighbor, and you have read about him around this time last year when I had the chance to go lobster fishing with him last spring. He is a fisherman, and he fishes in the spring and through the early summer. He also farms mussels and oysters, but his first love is lobster. In order to fish lobster, you have to have bait for the traps. Often this bait is cut fish that has been caught elsewhere. Many of the lobstermen will purchase mackerel or flounder for bait for their traps, but some fish their bait to ensure freshness and a steady supply at a reasonable cost. David fishes his own mackerel.

Tonight, David brought over three lobsters for a cooking lesson that Nancy will be having in our house in two days. As usual, we called to ask him if we could purchase a few lobster form him, and as usual, he refused to take our money. Normally he will cook the lobster for us as he steams in to shore, in the sea water. The quick steaming of lobster in sea water and rapid cooling in the same imparts a flavor to the lobster I have never had in any other setting. Tonight, he chose not to steam them as he thought that part of the lesson would involve the cooking of the lobster. You can imagine Nancy’s surprise when she reached into the bucket for the lobster and they were still kicking. Having never cooked lobster before, the lesson commenced, and David taught us the best way to steam lobster (if you are not doing it in seawater). Whenever we have cooked and eaten something that had recently been kicking around, and their demise was at our hands, we take a moment to give thanks for the life that is given for us.

David was full of surprises, in addition to the lobster, he had brought two 8 ounce mackerel that he had caught earlier in the day. He was kind enough to clean and scale them for us, and he provided us with a couple of recipes that he often used when cooking mackerel. Neither of us has ever had mackerel that we can recall, and it is not a common item on the menu at the local restaurants. However, David assured us that it was a really good fish, and aside from just burning it all to heck, it would taste lovely. So, despite the chili that was in the slow cooker, the lobster that was to be saved for the cooking lesson on Friday, we turned our attention to the mackerel.

Mackerel is an oily ocean fish that is high in omega-3 fatty acids, and is best eaten fresh. There are many different types of mackerel and the Spanish is supposed to be of the lightest flavor, the Atlantic the most savory. Well, ours was Atlantic, and savory was the order of the night. A quick call to Judy (the chef who will be giving us lessons) and we had a quick and dirty recipe for the mackerel. We elected the grill, to help render some of the oil, and allow the flavor to intensify a little bit. Since our herb garden is in full swing, a little fresh Greek oregano, English Thyme, and rosemary made a lovely bouquet. A quick Google search yielded a basic recipe (minus the olives) to compliment the one from Judy and it provided a nice lemon pepper sauce for the fish.

To say that this was the best fish I have ever had may seem a bit over the top, but consider that it is 22:45 at night, after a long day, and I am writing about this fish because it was so wonderful and that should give you a bit more perspective. The flesh was firm yet tender, and the taste was savory but not overwhelming. It did not taste strongly ‘fish’, and with the herbs and lemon-pepper sauce, it was quiet simply the best meal we have had in a long time. The season for mackerel is roughly four week in our area, so we can enjoy this fish from the end of May through June and then it is gone. It is a fish stock that is strong and has not been stressed by production fishing. Given the health benefits of this fish, the lovely flavor, and the ease with which it was prepared on the grill, it is beyond my understanding why it is not more popular.

So, as our night comes to a close, we give thanks to the local fisherman. He has once again brought us a joyful meal, local, sustainable, and yummy. May you all be so blessed this week.

Merry Christmas Message

In our little corner of the world, Christmas morning has arrived with a little snow on the ground and a definite nip in the air. We have had a wonderful year on Prince Edward Island, and with the arrival of our second Christmas, we have come to appreciate and enjoy the warmth of our small town even more. The island has allowed us to slow the speed of our lives, given us the chance to look around, and reminded us of the joys of daily living. It has given us the chance to learn who makes our food and buy from them directly. It has given the opportunity to see the needs of others and help. It has reminded us of the spirit of community and encouraged our inclusion. It has released us from the bonds of time by asking us to sit for an hour when we drop by for a visit. In short, our little corner of the world has helped us return to the values and ideals that we believe in our core. It is our sincere hope for each of you, that this opportunity to return, refresh and re-energize comes you way, and in so doing renews the joys of your life and living.
Merry Christmas to you all….…..Gil and Nancy

Signs of Fall

The Lobster boats are out of the water and the potatoes are coming out of the field, these are sure signs that fall is in full swing on Prince Edward Island (PEI). It seems that every day the colors on the trees become deeper and the air is cooling off. The drive to and from work are some of the best times of the day to look at the color. The low angle light in the morning and the evening really bring out the colors in the trees which makes it more difficult to keep focused on the road as I drive. Likewise, if you were behind me watching you might think that I had a bit of a ‘tic’ as you watch my head swivel left and right trying to see everything. Everyone tells me to enjoy the colors because they are not long for the island and in a very short time the winds of winter will blow and all the color will carpet the lawn announcing the beginning of the hard cold winter.

Since PEI is such a small island you end up living very close to the land. Just down the road the lobster man has pulled out his boat and his lobster traps in preparation for winter. Our neighbor across the street has not pulled his boat yet, he still has some work this year. He is a fisherman, he fishes oysters in the early fall both wild and raised, then mussels in November, mackerel in December, and then the boat comes out of the water. He has his cultured oysters across the road from us in the bay, and he works them quite a bit right now. He starts by situating floating columns (called the clutch) over the oyster bed and as the oysters reproduce, the small larvae eventually seek a strong firm surface upon which to cling where they spend their first year on the clutch. In the fall he scrapes down the clutch so the maturing oysters fall into the bed where they continue to grow until they are two or more inches long (usually two years). In the fall, he scrapes down the clutch, and then uses the oyster tongs to harvest the oysters from the bottom. For any of the small oysters they get tossed back and only the big ones are kept. It is hard work, and when the wind is blowing, the rain is falling; it becomes very apparent that the fisherman is a tough fellow. There are two types of oyster fishermen for oysters, those that have a lease can harvest from one spot where they have enriched the supply. For others, they harvest form the wild. They find a spot, and work it all day, then move to another spot. On the first day of the season you can see many folks in one space harvesting the wild oysters, but after day one, the ‘Oyster Farmers’ head to their lease while the wild oystermen continue their work.

The fall harvest does not just contain the lobster and the oyster, it also contains the root crops-carrots and potatoes. We have a small potato field behind the house and we have been waiting for them to harvest the field. You see, when a field is harvested there are many potatoes that get left behind, and once the harvesters are out of the field, these leftover potatoes are free for the taking. They harvested the potatoes yesterday and so this morning Nancy was out in the field gathering the free potatoes. You have to get out there early so that you can get them before they start to turn green, and you have to be careful to pick those potatoes that are not cut or otherwise damaged. We picked up potatoes for the morning and have them spread out in the garage drying before we bag them into paper sacks and place them in the basement for winter storage. It is an island tradition, and the fresh potatoes are very good. The farmers harvest their potatoes, knock most of the dirt off of them, and then store them in a potato shed. These sheds remind me of barracks from the Marine Corps and they are filled floor to ceiling with potatoes. It is an interesting sight to see folks loading these sheds with potatoes. The farmers work morning till night and the days are often 18 hours long. The goal is to get the harvest in before the weather turns ugly and the rains come (effectively ruining the crop in the field). Just like the fishermen, the farmers work from before sun up until after sunset and so whenever I see them in the emergency room, it is usually either very early or very late.

If you have not taken a look at the photo pages lately, take a click on the slide show and enjoy the photos of fall as well as photos of the harvest and the local farmers market (where we are buying as much as we can). Stay tuned for a guest blog in the very near future.

What is he saying (Part II)???

Whenever you go to a new location you can expect that things are going to be different (see part I of what is he saying???). For instance, when you go to France you expect that things will be in French. Likewise, in China you expect Chinese, Korea , well Korean of course. So when you arrive in Canada you should expect to hear some Canadian.

Wait, I thought the Canadians spoke English and French?
You are in fact correct.
Then what is Canadian?
That is the version of English they speak.

Today I pay tribute to some noteworthy differences that I have picked up over the last month and a half. Some are in the way in which folks pronounce things, others in the adjectives and adverbs used to highlight the conversation. So, let’s go through my most recent examples of differences from our common language.

The first example comes from Nancy and her interaction with a car salesman. We have recently purchased a happy yellow Chevrolet Aveo and we enjoy it when it runs (and when it does not it goes back to the salesman to have it looked at and fixed….a completely separate post). It was during one of her visits to the dealer to pick up the car (again) that they got to talking about the color. She calls it happy yellow. This led to a conversation as follows (deckle rhymes with freckle).

Salesman: You ought to get a deckle for that car
Nancy: A what?
Salesman: A deckle of a nice yellow smiley face, there is a guy down the road who makes em, eh.
Nancy: Confused look on her face
Salesman: See he made all those deckles for my other cars, eh.
Nancy: Light bulb comes on and she realizes he
means Decal. Hmmm………

The second example comes from several patients I have heard over the last week. You see we have had a bit of stomach flu in our community (a gift from the return of the school year). So I have seen several people with the same basic complaints.

Doc: Hello Mr Whomever, what is going on today that brings you in?
Patient: I been sqwamish, terrible sqawmish.
Doc: I see (Puzzeled look on my face masking as concern)….Tell me a bit more about it.
Patient: I been wake up terrible sqwamish, can’t hear tell of eating, make me terrible sqwamish.
Doc: Have you been throwing up?
Patient: Only when the sqwamish gets terrible.

After several encounters I began to understand that sqwamish meant squeamish. It is an unusual way to describe nausea, but I guess it works. It certainly gets the point across once you understand what they are saying.

The last bit comes from differences in the way we describe the same things (taken from the medical setting).

Terrible = As an adjective such as a Terrible smart, Terrible big, Terrible pretty, Terrible sick, or Terrible tasty. In some parts of the country they would substitute the word wicked. In Texas you might hear the word powerful in place of terrible.

Getting a Needle = an injection of some kind
Freeze it up = Numb an area for something like a stitch or an excision
Prick, as in “ I had to prick her three times to get that IV started”. I am used to hearing the word stick in place of prick.

I will continue to listen for more curisities form the north.

Well for all of you that are sweating away in Texas, you will wish that you were here. The weather is glorious, and the fall colors are beyond anything I have seen . The leaves have an electric almost fluorescent color to them as they turn brilliant yellow, red and purple. Here is a link to the science behind the changing of the leaves. I only hope that Kyle does not blow them all away prior to getting some photos of them for everyone. For now head over the flickr site (click on the slideshow on the right) to see some new photos we posted form a trip last month to the north shore of the island.

The wool mill around the corner

It appears that some folks reading the blog have become curious if all that is taking place at the new homestead is the steady drill of painting, unpacking, sleeping and repeating. Well I can assure you that nothing could be further from the truth. In fact there has been a great deal more taking place than this simple four step cycle represents. There has been grocery shopping, the eternal quest for Fritos, trips to the barn, work with horses, setting up an office, painting, deciphering the mandatory recycle system, searching for Fritos, sleeping, unpacking, going to the hardware store, painting, and of course, sleeping.

In all seriousness, the quest to get everything important unpacked, as well as finishing the painting so that the rooms can be organized has occupied a significant amount of time. However, we are venturing forth to explore the surroundings as we make our way north and south across the island on the regular trips to the barn and clinic. Today we ran into a most amazing place which we have passed several times, but today decided needed closer inspection. It is the MacAuslands woolen mill and it has been in operation since 1870. The building itself is newer having been rebuilt after the fire in 1948, but the mill itself has been operating on this site since 1870. We have driven past it several times as it is on the way from O’Leary to the Kent Hardware (think Lowes or Home Depot). Today we popped in and took a look around (Link to flickr photos). It was fantastic. The equipment is wonderful, and the women who were working away on it moved with a sense of finesse and grace as they ran the spindles that created the yarn. We talked with the owners for about half an hour prior to taking our leave. They put me in touch with a lady who knits wool sweaters and I will be visiting her soon to get a few in my size.

This weekend we are hoping to head to the northern and western most point of the island to the town of Tignish to see a beautiful Catholic church and enjoy the sites. Also, since we now have a reliable internet connection at home I will begin uploading more photos of the travels.

In case you are curious as to the multiple mentions of Fritos, we are having great difficulty finding these chips in Canada.