Snapshots of the last week

It's been a warm week here at FortWhyte Alive.  Good weather means more visitors - and more visitors means more adventures happen!

Last week, during a "Rent-a-Naturalist" program, I did an edible wilds walk.  The idea behind Rent-a-Naturalist: for $15, a group of up to six visitors can hire one of our interpretive staff to do the program (hike, talk, tour, paddle, etc.) the group has always dreamed of!  One gentleman in my group had a keen interest in wild edible plants - so we did a customized walkabout, nibbling as we went.  Though no wild fruit is ripe yet, we found no less than ten tasty wild edibles within twenty metres of the Interpretive Centre.

Loyal followers of the blog know that though I appreciate the aspirin content of willow-bark tea, I'm not a fan of the crushed-aspirin-in-brine flavour...my guest's suggestion:  mix the tea with tomato juice to hide the taste.  I've not yet tried the idea, but it seems like a good one!

This was all happening at the same time my colleagues Dana and Melanie were busy leading a fishing experience for Grandparents and Grandkids.  The fishing line might have only been five-pound-test line, but the memories the participants walked away with are strong enough to last forever...it was great fun to watch that group as we foraged through the forest.

- A fisher, not unlike FortWhyte's!

Just in case you think the action ends with the Education Team, our accountant saw our resident fisher later in the day as she biked home.  We normally see fisher tracks in the winter, but this summer, we've had reports from all over the property, about one a week.  You can go for a lifetime in the forests of Manitoba and rarely, if ever, see a fisher...understandably, we're thrilled to have people seeing them!

We had Bison Safaris on Sunday, I had the thrill of making botany come alive to a group of older adults yesterday, and summer camp is in full swing....whew!

FortWhyte really has been alive these past few days.  Sometimes, I wonder if it sleeps!

-Barret

Go Fish - Jacks are Wild!

The fishing on Lake 3 (south of the Interpretive Centre) seems to be getting hotter faster than a July morning!

We've had AT LEAST six northern pike (aka, Jackfish, hence the snappy title of this post!) caught in the past 18 hours.

The fishing at FortWhyte can be hit and miss - this is true of fishing anywhere - but six jack in less than two days has not happened in a few years.

The best part: one angler caught three of the fish.  It works out to one fish for every thirty years of life experience for this fellow, who was nearly 90 years old!

Also of note today...wild mint is EVERYWHERE!  We had an afternoon tea in the Biodiversity Garden on Monday afternoon; I must have made at least six litres of wild mint tea.  I followed up my tea-making on Tuesday, when a fellow stopped by for a "Rent-a-Naturalist" wild edibles walk...

...but that's a story for tomorrow!

It's in my nature - to say thanks!

Hello, everyone!

An article profiling some of my work at FortWhyte Alive, and some of my side interests, ran in the Winnipeg Free Press this past Saturday.  A series of web videos accompany the article; if you've been on a tour of FortWhyte with me, you'll likely see something familiar in them, and if you've never been, I encourage you to watch them, and let me show you around!

The title is, "It's in His Nature", and the jist is my love of the outdoors and our Manitoba culture is reflected in my work and personal life.  Which, I hope, is true.  I try.

The article also got me thinking about the people who've helped ensure outdoor life, an appreciation for this province and its peoples, and the willingness to learn and share new ideas and facts are part of my nature.  So, I'd like to take a time-out from my usual blog fair of coyote tracks, owls, and wild-fungus-foraging to say some thank-yous.

First, a big thanks to Alison Mayes of the Free Press...for thinking up the story idea, and for doing a great job turning a series of random Barret-facts into a readable piece.

Another big thanks is due to Ruth and the folks in the photo department of the Free Press.  The videos are great...I never get to see myself on a program, so I appreciated the chance to say, "gee, that's what I look like at work!", and the opportunity you've given me to share what I do with friends and family far away.

The article also mentions some of the people who helped shape my nature into what it is today.  My parents and Grandparents played a big role in making me into the "Nature-nut" I am today - and taught me a lot of other good things along the way.  My extended family have always encouraged my outdoor pursuits - a big thanks to my family, those close, and farther away.

The only reason I get to have any sort of adventure in my everyday work is the great team I work with.  My colleagues on the Education Team here at FortWhyte - current and past - I've been so lucky to work with you...I mean it.  Ed Team forever!  Another big thanks is due to all the other staff at FortWhyte Alive... administration, development, site crews, my camp colleagues - we're a jigsaw puzzle, and aren't complete without all the pieces.  Also, without the dedicated efforts of a huge volunteer base, FortWhyte Alive would be very much alive at all.  Your time, talents, and teaching is something I value deeply.  Thank-you.

To those who taught me at Pinawa Secondary or U of W...thanks!

The Free Press article references my Scouting experience.  My Scout leaders - from Beavers on through those at the Manitoba office, and everyone in between...thank-you.  Some of my proudest moments have come through Scouts Canada - and my experience in the program has given me skills and abilities to create more proud moments.

To the people who I've worked with at summer camps, or worked with me when I was a camper (LV and Amisk - you rock!!!), through youth work, and to the RP detachment at Kildonan...wouldn't be doing what I do if I hadn't learned something from you along the way.

To my friends - you encourage me, you laugh with me, you humour me when Interpreter Barret decides to show up at inopportune times, you challenge me and support me...and I thank-you for it all.

Finally - blog readers, a great big thank-you.  Knowing people read the posts help me keep them coming!

I've left no one off the list by intent...if I missed someone, it's an oversight.

Stay tuned.  Tomorrow, I've got owl news, fun with weather maps, another teaser on our new museum resident, and much more!

-Barret

Forage Day - the Results!

Was my foraging successful?  Did I end up buying lunch?  Did I go hungry?

Yes, no, and no.

My foraging started at 1:30pm - late for lunch, yes, but my work schedule got in the way of my foraging schedule.

Lesson One:  A modern work day interferes with a hunter-gatherer lifestyle.


I thought some acorns might be a nice, nutty nosh - but raccoons and squirrels had beaten me to the best oak trees.  My efforts in acorn hunting were rewarded not by oak mast, but raccoon poop.

Lesson Two:  Raccoons are better wild omnivores than I am.  I was outforaged by red squirrels...

My hunger growing, I started to look harder.  I found some mountain ash berries - unpalatable during the summer, but after a frost, only slightly bitter and sour.  Score:  One handful of slightly unpleasant berries.

I remembered we had some cloves of garlic and onions from FortWhyte Farms kicking around.  They belong to everyone, and no one...a tragedy of the commons, really, as no one would likely use them.  Except me.

Score:  Two cloves of garlic, one onion, and some berries.

I remembered some past foraging I'd done, during mushroom season.  I had some lovely dried morels, and a few oyster mushrooms.  Add these to the score.

Looking around the FortWhyte landscape, I saw the one plant we can count on to feed us in any season- the cattail.  Fall and winter, cattail roots provide a potato-like, if somewhat fibrous, starch food.  My colleague Minna and I grabbed a spade, and five minutes later, could add one cup of cattail root to the score.

I will post the recipe below, but cooked together into a hearty soup, my foraged ingredients made a nice, late afternoon soup lunch.  Vegetable, starch, a tiny bit of butter for fat and dairy, and a reasonably balanced lunch results.

The initial review of the soup was very positive.  The mountain ash berries, which are pretty poor snacking on their own, lent a tang to the soup.  The onion, garlic, mushrooms and cattail came together to make a whole greater than the sum of its parts.

Lesson Three:  Sometimes, with a little ingenuity, the most unlikely things just come together and become good!


Lesson Four:  A return to only hunting and gathering is not likely the answer to our current problem of over-consumption and consumerism.  But it was a fun way to mark Buy Nothing Day.  It was an experience that reminded me of the value of food, how easy it can be for us to get food, and how we still have a long way to go to make sure scrounging and foraging is a choice, not a necessity, for people, here and elsewhere.

For anyone who is interested, I'm posting the recipe below.

Foraged Soup with Cattail Root and Wild Mushroom

1 medium onion
2 cloves garlic
1 tbsp butter
Salt and pepper optional
10 frozen mountain ash berries
1 cup dried mushrooms (morels and oysters?)
1 cup cattail roots, freshly dug
l litre of fresh water.

Saute onion, garlic in butter.  Add salt and pepper, and mountain ash berries.  Wash and peel cattail roots, saute for two minute.  Add half the water.  Bring to boil for five minutes.  Add mushrooms and remaining water.  Bring back to boil, and simmer for ten minutes, until mushrooms are tender and rehydrated.

Serves two hungry people, allows for four light tastings.

 

Forage Day!!!

Hello, Readers!

Today, I will be going for a walk in the woods, and foraging for my lunch.  It's Manitoba, in November.  Even with our warm fall, there is not a whole lot growing anymore...it's going to be a challenge!

I can hear the question forming in your heads..."WHY!?!?!?!  Why not enjoy something nice from the cafe?  Why not bring lunch from home?"

Today is "Buy Nothing Day", an annual protest against the rampant consumerism of the developed world.  The observance, founded by the folks at Adbusters Magazine in the 1980's, encourages people to take a day, and opt out of our consumer society by attempting to do exactly what the name implies, and buy nothing.

For me, Buy Nothing Day is an annual reminder of how our consumer society touches everything we do.  If you are reading my blog, you've bought power to run a computer, for example.  Also, I find it somewhat ironic that Buy Nothing Day was founded and is promoted by a magazine...granted, a magazine that stands against advertising and wanton consumerism, but still a somewhat commercial concern.

I'm not writing today to start a debate about Buy Nothing Day.  Again, the fact that I'm writing means I've already "bought in" and purchased power (I realize that hardcore Buy Nothing observers could point out that this is not a conscious act of consumerism, and so does not technically violate the spirit of Buy Nothing Day).  I'm a big believer in honouring an observance in a way that is personally meaningful - hence, Foraging For Lunch Day.

So, I will be foraging - I cannot get much more into the "Buy Nothing Day" spirit than by channeling
our collective hunter-gatherer past..  I will post later to let everyone out in Blogland know how my foraging excursion goes.