Foraging and Educating
The end of June usually includes the emergence of some of my favorite wild foods: yellow chanterelle mushrooms, wild strawberries, red raspberries, and cattail spikes. This past week I have been harvesting all of them.
Cattails are among the favorite foods of muskrats and have been a staple of Native Americans for millennia. Cattail shoots and roots can be harvested when they first emerge; cattail spikes, when they begin to flower; and the yellow pollen, which develops during the fertilization process a bit later, can be collected and mixed with flour for baking things like pancakes, producing an amazing golden colored treat.
I especially like the cattail spikes, the immature male flowers of cattails. If you look closely at the cattail flowers emerging this time of year you will notice the male flowers emerging above the female flowers, initially contained within a thin sheath that is easy to remove. They taste best when they feel slightly spongy when you squeeze them. The pictures below show the harvested flowers (left-most still in the sheath) and the male spikes removed on the right. These taste like little corn cobs when boiled for a few minutes and served with butter and salt. They can also be frozen after blanching and eaten year-round.
The 7 Lakes Education and Outreach Team spent four days at Camp Tracy and used our floating classroom to get over 100 campers, counselors, and staff from Camp Tracy out on McGrath Pond to learn about lakes and conduct some hands-on lake science. Additionally, there were some land-based programs about aquatic plants and invertebrates, including capturing macroinvertebrates with nets while wading. Check out the picture below of campers excited to learn about the lakes and what lives in them in a fun environment. You can see the excitement in their faces.
I did get out hiking at French Mountain a bit and met longtime 7 Lakes member John Brower hiking with his new wife, Lindsay. John has a camp on Jamaica Point and has been hiking our trails for over a half century, roughly twenty years before we owned any of them. He was “taking her outside” to introduce her to the special place they now share.
Mike Guarino, who is the Community Engagement Specialist for the Mid-Maine Chamber of Commerce, still does a bit of guiding in the Belgrades. Now that he has a “real job,” Mike guides mostly on weekends, which this year means most of his trips have been on rainy days. He sent me a picture of 8-year-old Ash, who came up from Massachusetts with his dad. Mike says, “An 8-year-old fish slayer! Ash fought through rain and wind and some chilly temps, and proceeded to put on a master class in smallmouth fishing.”
(Editor’s Note: Years ago, when Mike Guarino was guiding full time, he wrote a fishing column for Summertime in the Belgrades.)
Those of you who have been near the Kennebec Highlands lately know that the State has recently begun a planned logging harvest that has two “log yard” entrances off Watson Pond Road. There is more information about this harvest at the trailhead kiosks and at the 7 Lakes office. One of the things the Maine Forest Service is doing is identifying areas where there are significant numbers of white, green, and brown ash trees. They are inoculating the trees in these areas to protect many of the trees against emerald ash borers in order to create small islands of EAB-resistant trees that could help the forest survive an invasion of these beetles. They already in York and Aroostook County and converging towards central Maine. One of these “islands” is right near the Sanders Hill Trailhead where the “Loop” trail comes off the north side of the parking lot. The treated trees are marked with a green metal medallion at eye level.
Check the 7LA website and Facebook page for upcoming events. Our Thursday afternoons, 3:00 to 4:00, Chewonki presentations are ongoing. We will also be offering regular expeditions on our new education boat on Tuesday mornings at 9:00 and Invasive Plant Workshops on Sunday mornings during the Farmers’ Market. Check with Sally (495‑6039) in the gallery if you are interested in signing up.
I encourage everyone to take advantage of the wealth of recreational opportunities this area offers. Do like they used to in “the good old days” and take a kid fishing, or on a hike, or paddling in a canoe. It’s how memories are made. Or take a parent, so they can become a kid again.
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