Harvest 2009
Harvest to Home
By Sydney Bender, EDITOR

When a clam rake cuts through the sand and hits a quahog, you can feel it. The clam causes a resonance that runs up the pole and into your hands. It’s a different sensation compared to rasping through sand, dead bivalves, and decaying shells—and coming up empty. Coop told me that long ago, when I bought my first rake and set of waders from him for clamming, and he was right.
Loading up my Volvo, black lab, and a couple of beers or a thermos of coffee, depending on the time of day and tides, I ventured into the pond waters wherever my home shellfishing license would take me. And when the Shellfish Constable showed up, I’d bound (as much as one can bound wearing waders and schlepping a rake and basket) through the brackish water to show off my permission slip and the requisite shellfish gauge dangling from my neck like a promised heart. Maybe, in retrospect, I was too enthusiastic…but it was invigorating to rake for the simplest clam chowder.
Every day we hunt, gather, and forage to eat, whether it’s from the Island’s sea, sky, woods or fields, the grocery store or the pizza joint for takeout after a too-long-a day-to-cook. It’s basic and undeniable. Even when it’s at the checkout, there’s adventure to enjoy by bringing food to the table.
In this Harvest issue of eV, Samantha Barrow and Chris Fischer share their perspectives about a similar topic: hunting locally and a locally grown grilled dinner. “Free-Range Fowl,” and “Hunt, Cook, Eat.” Shirley Mayhew reminisces in “My Vineyard,” about how the ‘lowly bivalve’ inadvertently became a family holiday tradition, while Geraldine Brooks traces cranberries and Island agricultural traditions in “Harvesting Sasumuneash.”
No issue of eV is complete without Susie Middleton’s tried and true recipes. In this issue she cooks up variations on a potato theme in “Cooking Fresh,” and bakes pies with Judi Worthington in “In Season.”
After the farmers harvest what they can, there’s gleaning to be done. Read about the MV Gleaners, and how the group is already having a salutary impact on our food system in “In the Dirt.”
In “Finds,” Nina Carelli illustrates a fantasy of foraging, and we rummage through friends’ kitchens for working knives. An old pocketknife humbly makes me appreciate that using what you already have is sometimes all you need.
These days the last pears fall off my neighbor’s gigantesque tree. Vineyard Haven’s wildlife and I are plenty full of the fruit, having gorged on this windfall for weeks. When a pear is bruised or has started to rot, I cut away the bad parts and eat the rest. You never know where your harvest will take you.
Features: Harvest 2009
Free-Range Fowl
Canadian geese abound but not on our dinnerplates—yet.
Departments: Harvest 2009
Recipes: Harvest 2009
Rack of Venison with Grilled…
Entrées
Shellfish Chowder with Bacon…
Soups and Stews
Dave’s Grilled Marinated Goose…
Entrées
Potato Galette
Sides
Braised Fingerlings
Sides
Double-Crust Winter Pear Pie
Desserts
Finds: Harvest 2009
The Wild Things Are Here
Ox-Eye Daisy Capers: Great as a garnish and slightly reminiscentof artichoke hearts, these capers come from the ox-eye daisy. Perfect in an egg scramble or pasta dishes, $8.50-$14.

Mushrooms
Flavor soups, sauces, and stews with a wide selection of dried North American mushrooms,…

Wild Mustard
Wild Canadian mustard seed is collected and ground to create this earthy and bold prepared…

Spruce Tips
Tender new shoots of the Eastern White Spruce can be used like capers or used sparingly…

Wild Rose Petal Syrup
Beach rose petals are the key to this sweet syrup. Use it in baking or drizzle it on yogurt…

Jellied Elderberry
Reduce with butter and red wine to make a sauce and use with chicken. Or use to flavor…