Saturday, December 15, 2012

Adventure 47: Oyster picking in the dark

I am really running out of steam with these adventures. Time constraints with the holiday season has put excess pressure on the ability to undertake these little trips. If I could plan it again, we would have started in the spring, and run it through the year. Winter is limiting on our outdoor pursuits, where I prefer to take Natalie to learn and explore. We will complete the adventures but the writing maybe somewhat less involved for now, and maybe it will be explanded in the future.

I had been wanting to go to my favorite oyster beach for a few weeks now. Fresh harvested oysters during December are wonderful. The caveat is the best tides are during the night. So to participate in this fishery, we needed to get out later than either of us are normally still awake. I was going to get out two weeks ago, but the incessent rain had created a closure on shellfish harvesting in the area I pick. Last week the closure was lifted and the tide was prime for a harvest. How to get out so late? My sister invited us to an open house at her house on Friday night, so a slight detour on the way home would result in a pile of delicious, wild seafood.

Natalie and I grabbed our headlamps and boots before leaving for a paleo feast at Mandy's house. We ate amazing food, including some surprising, paleo friendly, cupcakes. I brought some pepperoni and smoked salmon to share with family and friends. Natalie got to visit with her cousin Livia and I had a great time talking about local food and paleo with interested folks. Soon it was time to go, before it was too late to stay up. We hit the beach around 10:20 and by 10:30 we had our limit of my favorite mollusk. Natalie had not the opportunity before to search the beach by headlamp. It was a good adventure in harvesting local food, and on Sunday I will be teaching her how to shuck and cook them. Find Adventure.

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