It’s kinda weird but gettin’ in the prawns, catching a Ling, getting some crabs, oysters and clams….produce from the garden……well, it’s happy-making. It really is. Crazier still, you get into it and look at eating other wild stuff. Berries. Nettles. We have a veritable cornucopia of sea cucumbers out front right now and they have heretofore NEVER been looked at as appetizing but, well, I seem to be on a bit of a roll…….
My friend, John, and I went out prawning the other day. Did boffo. Gangbusters! Got our limit and did my freezer proud in two days! We are good for a year of somewhat regular dining on prawns (once a month plus dinner parties, appetizers and Sally Special sea-food chowder). And the meals are generous! Then – just today – John went out and caught two big Lings and we are the happy recipients of one of them. All this a week or so from getting in crab from Great Scott.
As the year wears on the garden will also produce. The neighbours will share. And people will bring. That’s how it’s done out here. And we try to do the same. But it’s not about equalizing…not about X$ worth of something to equal the same $ of the other thing. There is no value attributed to anyone’s gifts and yet, as the saying goes, “It’s all priceless.”
Mind you, I have a veritable ‘printing press’ of ‘value’ in the kitchen. There is very little the locals won’t offer up in the hopes of getting some of Sal’s baking with the ‘chocolate stuff’ most coveted. Some preppers hoard guns and ammo, others fill barns with dried foods and MRE’s (meals-ready-to-eat). Still others learn to eat worms and sleep in swamps and nonsense like that. Us? If it ever comes to the ‘end of days’, we’ll load up on chocolate and turn Sal loose in the kitchen. Survival guaranteed.
This BONUS VIDEO LINK features our local airline and postmaster: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5yp85OYkKc&feature=youtu.be&app=desktop&persist_app=1
Our Off the Grid Home 
Hey. have you got any pictures of them Ling Cods? Best fish on the West Coast with some beer batter. Recently paid thirty dollars a pound for Halibut. And how about them Spotted Prawns! Two dollars each at our local fish market. You are looking in fine face for someone having endured the suffering of the sea’s bounty. And chocolate cake too! Great mail plane video. A+ post.
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Those prawns are huge! What a bounty. Prawns and chocolate. The primary purpose for living.
My son who is studying environmental science, tried crickets the other day. They were supposed to taste nutty or so he was told. 🙂
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You are making me hungry with this blog post, JD! An account of one of the best aspects of your lifestyle. I love it. And the image of the prawns in the trap was informative. Had no idea how one catches prawns? I’m sure those are way better than the Asian-farm-raised ones that I have to buy at the market! I have to drive over an hour to the coast to eat fresh ling cod beer battered fish and chips. I’m jealous that they are available for the catching not far from your front door.
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If I chucked a rock, not hard, it would land exactly where the Lings were. If I turned 180 and chucked another, it would land where the oysters and clams are. This is not only bounty but convenient bounty!
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Gas is $1.65.9 in Vancouver AND Victoria!
In Victoria it jumped from $1.53.9 to $1.65.9 overnight…..talk about ruthless…..
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The entire West Coast is seeing gas prices rising. California’s gas prices are reaching four dollars American per gallon which is equivalent to about $1.50 per litre Canadian roughly calculated.
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We do live in a bountiful area. – Margy
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Busier than a two headed Woodpecker in a petrified forest Dave?
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