John dropped a couple of prawn traps before he went home yesterday. They were for us. Today we pulled them up from about 300 feet down. Netted about 60+ prawns or three pounds. Sal puts them in a sandwich bag with some water and we freeze them in blocks. In that way, we can have ‘fresh’ prawns every so often.

At book club on Sunday, one of the women took Spanikopita made with nettles (stinging) instead of spinach. I didn’t have any of this but I’ve had nettles before. They are delicious. We decided to get some and went on a hunt for the young, wild spring nettle. Nettles are good for you and good to eat if you catch them in their early spring growth and only harvest the top couple of inches. Lower than that and you will get the ‘stinging’ part.

We found some but there was only ‘buds’ so they are a still a harvest waiting to happen. Of course, we can always load up on Oysters and clams but today was already full with other chores. We left them to lie-in-waiting, too.

Eating off the land is not something I am actually too used to. Blackberries, the odd orchard apple, rarely a fish……….that was about it before we came out here. But ’round these parts folks very much augment their food regimen from the self-grown, locally-farmed and the side-of-the-road if not the actual ‘wild’.

Well, the ‘wild’ is represented by shell-fish and fish but not many people hunt game anymore. Sometimes a guy gets a deer but it is not a regular mainstay for anybody out here, really. Maybe the camo-ATV-beer commercial guy and his buddies from the city go a-hunting every year but it is not so much a routine out here.

But harvesting of sorts is still pretty big. All the berries are picked in season. Not ALL the berries, but all the species of berries are usually partially picked by some people, especially the wine-makers. Mushrooms, of course, but most of us are leery of picking the wrong ones so that is left to a few old-hands mostly. There are wild onions and other edibles that we might recognize but there are many more that we don’t. And many more that few but the aboriginals might recognize. There are special botany tours to learn about them all but we haven’t availed ourselves as yet. Just a matter of time, I think.

We do utilize a bit of seaweed now and then, tho. And, of course, some of the locals have fabulous orchards and gardens so, in that sense, we benefit from the bounty of the land. And then there are our own garden boxes that are beginning to supplement the larder. Local food is an ever increasing portion of our diet. I’d guess at 10%.

It may be more. Because as we use more and more local, fresh, wild and free, we are also using less and less processed, packaged and ‘wrapped’ food. The last time Sal went to Save-on she remarked, “I never would have imagined that I would be missing not only complete aisles but I am actually only shopping around the outside edge! In fact, I am not even using the whole edge! More and more I am simply NOT buying what is on offer here. I probably got 10% from the bulk bins, 60% from the produce section and 20% from the dairy and bakery. Boy have our habits changed!”

And we intend to keep it up.