Happy Easter!

We took a walk to see what Spring would show show us...

Freshwater Mussels In September 1998, we stocked our new pond with a multitude of tiny freshwater mussels purchased from Zetts Tri-State Fish Hatchery of Inwood, WV. The mussels were part of a sustainable food chain for the fish assortment we also added to the pond. At that time, the mussels were about the size of your fingertip. Almost 22 years later, we can only imagine how many mussels are in the depths of the pond. Are they edible? Yes. Do we eat them? No. The raccoons do! We find shells on the banks of the pond after raccoons have pried them open and eaten the meat. The mussels are shockingly big. The raccoons are shockingly big, as well, when they stand on their hind legs and look in our sliding glass door at us in the evenings. Virginia Department of Game & Inland Fisheries - Mussel Restoration

A disclaimer: This newsletter is not intended as an instructional message on how to forage for and eat wild foods.

Wild Watercress

Its been almost four weeks since we went to a grocery store. Although we have plenty to eat, we have no fresh vegetables. Over at our Spring House, the water that exits that building trickles down a ditch into Dutchman's Creek. Each Spring, that ditch is filled with wild watercress. Watercress is a nutritious plant and has long been used as a Spring Tonic . We are cautious. We definitely know that livestock have not been using the ditch where it is growing. We harvested only the leafy parts growing above the water. We examined it for parasites and triple washed it. Raw watercress is tender and has a strong peppery bite, like radishes on steroids! Because of the bite, sometimes is is used as a garnish for rich and fatty meats. For a salad, you can tame the bite by using Blue Cheese, Roquefort or Ranch salad dressings. You can sauté it i n bacon fat as you would kale or collard greens. It is also enjoyed on small buttered tea sandwiches.

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Crayfish Mounds

We walked through a small grove of trees next to Dutchman's Creek. Clyde pointed to several mounds of mud lined up in the grass and said the sight took him back to his childhood. Crayfish mounds! Crayfish are freshwater crustaceans resembling small lobsters. Their mounds encircle a tunnel dug down to the water table; sometimes that can be 2-5 feet deep! They live in the water down there and come out at night to hunt for earthworms. Crayfish are resilient. You can unwittingly run over one of their domes with a tractor, and the next day it will be re-dug and a few new domes added for good measure.

We believe the height of the dome is a clue of how deep the crayfish have had to dig to reach water. In our field, they don't need to dig very deep. There seem to be two schools of thought about the mounds: They pose a problem for lawns and people do whatever it takes to get rid of them. Or, as Clyde would do as a boy: they fish for them with a length of line and a chunk of meat! Our crayfish mounds are in a field about 15 feet from Dutchman's Creek. They aren't bothering us in any way so, we left them in peace. You can see what other folk have experienced by watching these videos: Fishing for crayfish with a line Noodling for Crayfish in Texas & Paying with Pain in the end

In general, here is more than you would ever want or need to know about skunk cabbage...

Skunk Cabbage We have a small area of wetland with cattails . Between the wetland and Dutchman's Creek is a boggy area. In the bog, we found several patches of Skunk Cabbage. We aren't certain if we missed their flowering. In the East, the flower is like a speckled eggplant. If you tear the leaves, the aroma is skunk-like, or some would say like rubber and petroleum. Use the link below to learn why, on the Olympic Peninsula, Skunk Cabbage is worthy of its own Festival: "The legend of the skunk cabbage says that after the salmon came to our rivers the Great Spirit rewarded the skunk cabbage with a war club, a cape of elk skin and the best bottom land along our rivers"

Wild Violets They typically grow in the shade and can expand into sunny areas. They can be invasive. They are edible, however we don't eat them. They are pretty. We leave them alone and are thrilled when they spread. More about violets...

We wish you and yours a Happy Easter and hope you are able to safely spend it with all the people you cherish.