MORELS

The morel season has just reached its end here, but my friend's son a few days ago found more morels than he could carry. I was told that they feasted for two days on the harvest. They live higher up on the escarpment than I do -- my area just to the east has been finished, I think, for about a week.

The photo shows the lunch I made of the last of the wild leeks and morels. The eggs come from Willow Lane Farm in Mansfield -- they have a little roadside vegetable and egg stand. All very local food. 

I especially miss the wild leeks. Maybe part of the pleasure we get from these wild foods is how very seasonal they are and that we need to actively look for them.

ANDY AND HIS ROOSTERS

My friend Andy used to have chickens when he was growing up and thought that he would enjoy having them on his rural Mansfield property as a source of fresh eggs. One of his water customers (Andy owns Mansfield Springs Water Company) was happy to give him four Bantam chickens a year ago. There were two hens and two roosters when we picked them up and brought them home. One of the roosters slipped out of the crate before being placed into the chicken coop -- he was around for about two weeks before he met his ultimate fate. Several mishaps later, including an invasion of the chicken coop by a black bear -- it took off with a full bag of chicken feed -- only one hen was left with a clutch of six fertile eggs. Andy naturally hoped that the odds would be in his favour as to hen/rooster ratios.

I wondered if the black bear shock to the mother hen somehow skewed what should have been a 50:50 ratio, but there were five roosters to one little hen in that clutch of eggs. The Hazletts have been putting up for months with almost continuous crowing starting often at 3 in the morning. The hens are feeling harassed and egg production isn't high. Andy talks about how he has to reduce the number of roosters, but meanwhile has managed to make pets out of them. The nuts and seeds that he keeps in his pockets at all times have much to do with the friendliness of the chickens.

It is relaxing to watch them as they go about their chicken business, but the crowing is admittedly tiresome after awhile. We are also wondering what vegetables will be safe to grow in the garden -- chickens are fairly omnivorous and will eat almost anything.

note: The photo shows Andy reaching into his pocket for a chicken treat. Three of the roosters are perched and waiting.

WILD LEEKS

Wild leeks are one of my favorite vegetables -- nothing tastes quite like them. I pick only the leaves, one from each plant. The entire plant with the root is what was traditionally harvested in the spring and eaten as one of the first greens of the season after a long winter. The onion flavour is distinctive and sweet but with a bit of a bite. After years of steaming them, it was suggested to me by Dr. Werner Fabian, our local anthroposophical physician, that I might instead simply eat them as a salad. With a dollop of mayonnaise, that is how I now like them best. Another great method is to chop a handful of leeks on top of soups or sandwiches.

The season for them will hopefully last until I tire of them -- eventually they become too strong as the plant matures and flowers. Weather here has become quite suddenly unseasonably hot and that might accelerate development.

photo: The photo was taken in the hardwood forest to the south of my property. Going out to harvest the leeks is a big part of it -- a great reason to go out into the forest.