2024 Life Logs, Day 285: Cranberry Harvest
Date: Saturday October 12, 2024
Weather: Sunny; High Temp 71, Low 41 degrees F
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue, Falmouth, MA
Check … Northern Lights. Check … Cranberry Harvest. Claire had both these items on her bucket list and during her visit here, we have been able to check off both of them. She wants to see a New England coyote. Our coyotes are not pure. They are a mix of coyote, wolf, and dog. One source on Google says, “Coyotes in the Northeast are mostly (60%-84%) coyote, with lesser amounts of wolf (8%-25%) and dog (8%-11%).” I don’t know if that is accurate, but it is close enough. After my experience with Shadow yesterday, I’m steering clear of coyotes for a bit, but hopefully Claire gets to see one tomorrow.
This morning, Kevin, Claire, Heather, Olga, and I walked in the Coonasmessett River Restoration. The sky was Cape Cod blue and it was sunny and warm. There are some maple trees in the Reserve, and they were gloriously red.
The most exciting thing of the day happened on the way to the Coonemessett Reserve. When I went to pick up Olga, I drove by the bogs on Old Barnstable Road at the intersection with Old Meeting House Road. I saw that the bogs on the west side of the road were flooded with water, which at this time of year usually means they are ready to start harvesting. After our walk, on my way back from taking Olga home, I drove by again and saw that the harvesting was underway in one of the bog sections back from the road. Bingo! Claire got her wish. We parked and walked back to where they were harvesting. I let Claire take my phone to take photos as she had left her phone at home, and she delighted in taking photos and videos of the process. She can now check that one off her bucket list.
The first cranberry harvest I witnessed was in early October of 2013. Mark and I were at Heather to take care of 18-month-old Ollie for the day when we heard machinery. Heather was at home and we asked what the noise was all about. She knew right away it was cranberry harvesting, so Mark and I put Ollie in his stroller and headed for the bogs. It was exciting to watch for the first time, but over the years, I still marvel at the beauty of the harvest each year.
For dinner tonight, I made one of Claire’s recipes from a cookbook she is compiling called Plant-Based Cooking for tiny kitchens. This recipe is her version of Shepherd’s Pie made with lentils instead of ground beef. It is called Gardener’s pie and it is delicious. I now have a plant-based substitute for one of my favorite comfort foods. Thank you, Claire! And I have to thank her a second time for the new address sign at the head of my driveway. No one can ever find my driveway, so this morning at a give away yard sale around the corner from my house, Claire pointed out a wooden whale painted red. It was exactly what I have been looking for the past year to put out front so I can tell people to turn at the red whale. I love it.
