Winter came early here in The Shire. Most years we are wondering if we will have a white Christmas. This year we had white long before Thanksgiving. At least in this part of The Shire. This morning we woke to about a foot of heavy, packed snow on the ground. It’s been around for weeks and more settles on top every couple of days. It was the fog rolling through the trees and warm air drifting about that was different.
There was a time, not that long ago, that I would simply see what the day brought. I didn’t check the weather or plan too much ahead. If it was raining I would put on a rain coat and go to the garden anyway. If I had planned a hike and forage and it was going to be 90 degrees I would go anyway. Perhaps I would just get an early start. And I still live mostly like that. Maybe it’s getting older and wiser, but I find myself checking the weather a bit more these days. Living in New England you grow up knowing that there is a 50/50 chance the weather forecast is completely wrong anyway. But, on Saturday when I discovered that today was going to be above 40 degrees I changed all of my plans and began preparing for a winter forage!
There isn’t a plethora of foraging to be had in December in New Hampshire, but it isn’t a total bust either. Today was no exception. So, I headed south….
First stop, the beach.
I am a multiple birds, one stone kind of person, especially when foraging long distance. The beach is only about 40 minutes away, but when you consider gas and time and whatnot, it needs to make sense. Driving 40 minutes to boil down a half cup of sea salt that you can purchase for under a buck isn’t a smart use of resources. But, when you combine it with a variety of other things you make for a fun, successful day.
Ringo was in dire need of a proper adventure, so bird one, get this dog out of the house and getting some exercise. He and I met a friend on the beach and the three of us went for a nice walk next to the ocean. It was 52 degrees in Rye today. An absolute stunner. We were taking off our coats and breaking a little sweat. Bird two, a nice, overdue visit with a friend. Bird three, I got some exercise myself and ocean therapy. Bird four? When I lived in Portsmouth I went to the beach at least a couple of times a week. It is one of the main reasons I got through being a mother, wife and business owner while remaining fit and healthy and never having any of those mommy breakdowns that happen so often. I didn’t get the mommy stress so many around me got and I fully relate it to how I took care of myself. One of those things being my time alone at the beach to meditate and release and get that ocean therapy.
Next was, you guessed it, sea water for sea salt. Bird five.
We have these 6 gallon water jugs we use for camping. Where we camp there are zero facilities. No bathrooms, no well pumps, no host, no people, no nothing. Just some rocks for a fire pit. So we always have to bring in water. These seal up tight so they should be perfect, right? Well, that depends.
You see, in the summer when it’s super hot and you are getting in the water anyway, absolutely. They can be cumbersome to get under and hold under the waves, but get out above your knees and it works just fine. And there is no sloshing around in the car on the way home.
Try laying it flat under incoming waves fully dressed in December and you have a whole new adventure on your hands. I love these Ahnu boots. For a short leather hiking boot they are insanely water proof. I had my feet fully submerged to my ankle and the angora socks didn’t get the slightest bit wet. But, those waves. I quickly discovered that I was not getting this big cumbersome jug under enough water to fill that tiny hole in this amount of water. There was only one choice. To get in the ocean.
I didn’t hesitate. Actually, I’m sure I was a silly sight giggling and telling Ringo we were taking this adventure up a notch. I took off my boots, rolled up my Prana pants and waded in. Let me take a moment to tell you about these pants. I had never really been a Prana fan until last year. Sure they were nice, but I always found things I liked a little bit more and the selection where I had been shopping was never that great. And then I found these lined Prana pants. They have this ridiculously soft, warm lining in them and the exterior are water proof. When they do get wet, they dry super fast. These are my most favorite pants of all time. I waded into the ocean with my pants rolled up to my knees, after getting in ankle deep with them down, and I swear they never felt wet or soggy once. Today I have been in the snow, in the ocean, walking along a wet side walk, in sand, back in the snow shoveling wet, icy steps and waded into the deep snow of the garden. They are still dry and looking brand new. If you are the slightest bit “outdoorsy” you want to get these pants. They are also super cute and fit just right so even if you aren’t, you probably want them just the same.
….yes, my legs are looking pale and dry and maybe not freshly shaven. I didn’t expect any bare leg photo shoots with snow surrounding me as I rushed off this morning to get in as much adventuring as I could for the day.
Where was I?
That’s right. Knee deep in the ocean.
I got the first jug mostly full. I had to put my boots back on to carry the heavy jug the relatively long jaunt back to the truck so Ringo and I decided to detour and do some exploring. We needed bird six, seaweed.
There is a ton of edible seaweed available along the coast. Most people think it’s just stinky, annoying stuff their kids like to throw at each other. Some have even tried to tell me it’s poisonous. That actually happened. It’s funny how often I get that really. I have one friend who is always asking me if I’m scared, how do I know it’s safe, do I have books? Books? Yes, actually I have hundreds of books, but I also have hundreds of hours (thousands?) of studying and experience. Years of it. Have you been following along at all?
Not everything you find in those piles along the rocks and beach are fresh, but we were able to find some really great sea lettuce and a bit of dulse. I would show you a picture, but Ringo ATE IT on the way home. Yup. I went back to the truck for the second run of things to carry in and the bag on the back floor was empty. No wonder he was gulping water like he hadn’t drank in weeks when we got home. I guess he will eat a light supper. No seaweed for us this time around. Note to self – hide the seaweed from the dingo. I’m still waiting for him to splarf all over the floor. That should be fun.
We gathered our first round of seaweed and water and headed to the truck. Only to be over run by a couple car loads of women and toddlers and men with cameras. Ringo and I aren’t much for foraging in crowds, or crowds in general, so we opted to load up and flee.
It was time for bird 7. The poke bowl at Ohana.
I should really do a whole Food Snobs lunch edition on this place. I love it. I stop by at least once a month and load the build your own bowl with most of what is on the menu. It is delicious.
We took our poke bowl and headed back to the beach for lunch with a view.
There is another lovely gem along the coast. Rose hips. The rose is a beautiful gift in all of it’s forms and the hip is no exception. These little jewels offer all kinds of natural medicine. All matters of the heart, both physical and emotional, can benefit from the rose.
We gathered up a couple of handfuls of hips to take home and make some medicine with. We were sure to leave some for the birds. Bird 8. I did not do that on purpose.
At this point we were contemplating finding another spot to get closer to the water, but apparently everyone had the same idea. We headed for home with our bounty and happy hearts. We had sea salt to prepare.
Making sea salt is really quite simple. I fully intended to tell you all about it today, but this is about where the day took a fabulously wild turn. After getting home and unloading our bounty, setting the sea water to boil and being sure Ringo had plenty of water to dilute that seaweed, it was time to settle in to write about our days adventure. Everything went along beautifully. I stopped to prepare dinner and have a quick visit with my son and wait for the Mister to arrive home. And then it happened.
The Mister got a call. A call about a lost deer. And a tracking dog. And another must have adventure. This was last night if you haven’t put that together yet. The writing was never complete because well, after dark forest adventures and a tracking dog!
We layered up, grabbed our gear and headed to the woods. We always learn something on these adventures. Usually how we think we are so prepared, but there is always something we need to do better. This time was no exception. The GoPro was dead. Blasphemy. Don’t worry, a new charging station is in the works. It will be located next to all of our gear so this does not happen again. Because man, did we miss an adventure to share with all of you. It started like this….
James shot a deer with an arrow. Then started following the blood trail. This thing took him all over the woods, bleeding steady. For hours. He (she) wasn’t giving up or slowing down. Now it was starting to get dark. It is illegal to shoot after dark in New Hampshire so in order to continue tracking and be able to properly and humanely dispatch this deer you need a licensed tracker. And a dog.
This is Daisy. I would have lots of better footage for you because I was able to get a wee bit of a charge on the drive over, but well, I don’t know what happened. I guess in my excitement I turned off the GoPro or had it on the photo setting rather than video. I don’t really know what happened other than I DIDN’T GET ANY. Yes, I was heartbroken. You guys would have loved it.
Luckily the Mister snapped a couple of photos along the way. Lesson 2 – never rely on just one camera.
Wandering the woods is my all time favorite thing to do. Wandering unknown woods in the dark with coyotes howling in the not so distant distance is absolutely exhilarating. My cheeks still hurt from having so many things to smile and giggle over all day. And night.
You are probably wondering how this all turned out. Well, we tracked and we tracked and Daisy did an amazing job, as did her handler and dad, Josh. This deer took us through bogs, over streams, up ridges, down ravines and even tried to kill us in the thickets. I mean these thickets were so tight you couldn’t see 2 feet in front of you. If it weren’t for the tracks in the snow and the lights from our head lamps we would probably all still be wandering those thickets.
Eventually, after nearly 3 miles and a few hours we came to an old dirt road. The deer walked down the road a bit, crossed over and… straight into heavily posted land. For real. After all of that we could not track any further because we couldn’t trespass on posted land. It was time to head back to the trucks.
You thought that was going to be the easy part, didn’t you? The trucks were 3 miles away through the thicket and bog and streams. It was much longer by road, but an easier walk. So, we walked. Down dirt roads in the middle of no where at ten o’clock at night. For what seemed like FOREVER. By the time we got back to the trucks we were tired and thinking about our 3am wake up that was rapidly approaching.
Just when we thought the adventure was over for the day, we hit a doe on our way home! Lucky for her The Mister has quick reflexes and brand new brakes. It was like watching it in slow motion. She came out, hesitated, went for it, the truck stops, the deer stumbles, slides sideways and just barely scuffs the side of the bumper. Then she gets up, runs onto the lawn across the street and stares at us with as much bewilderment as we were feeling. Deer 2 – Salmon Falls Sportsman/James/Wild Shire 0
But that’s okay. It was another wild, wonderful adventure.
Tomorrow we will talk about sea salt.