Posts Tagged ‘Bay of Fundy’
abandoned boat
On Monday, we drove to Black’s Harbour. On the new highway, where it crosses the inland dregs of Oak Bay, the ice was broken into big sheets along the shore. There, in the icy debris, was an abandoned fishing boat, a wreck. Although I have never seen it before, it has probably been there a long time.
~
Foggy Molly
~
she had a sixth sense –
kicked in on a grey day
when mists lobbed across the bow
and thickened her passage
she loved flat water
and a blanket of fog
~
she was nervous of a big sea,
preferred to be tied, snug
to the wharf,
to lift and settle,
to lift and settle
moved by the inhalation,
the exhalation
of the tides
~
ironic – she broke up
at berth, waiting for a re-fit
smashed by a nor’easter
and cleavers of ice
~
~
Copyright Jane Tims 2013
limits of the tide #5 – Samphire (Salicornia europaea L.)
A beach-comber this time of year may easily over-look plants of Samphire (Salicornia europaea L.), also called Glasswort, Pigeon-foot, and Chicken-claws. Unless it is plentiful, it becomes lost ‘in the green’ of other sea-shore plants. The genus name, Salicornia, comes from the words sal meaning salt and cornu meaning horn. These plants consist of a branched, succulent stem, apparently without leaves or flowers. The leaves and tiny flowers are embedded in the stem.
Although Salicornia is typically a plant of coastal areas, like Sea-blite, it is also found far from the coast, in the vicinity of inland salt springs.
Samphire greens are salty, delicious as a salad ingredient, a pickle, or a pot-herb.
~
~
salt of the sea
Samphire ( Salicornia europaea L.)
~
Salicornia smoulders
on a silica shore,
flute and fire
~
Glass pipes,
mainstem and branches,
pickle green
~
Light glimpsed
through crystalline,
transparent walls
~
Seawater, rarefied,
decanted
to a Samphire phial
~
Flask of salt-sap,
brine on the tongue
Always wanting more
~
~
© Jane Tims 2012
Warning: 1. never eat any plant if you are not absolutely certain of the identification; 2. never eat any plant if you have personal sensitivities, including allergies, to certain plants or their derivatives; 3. never eat any plant unless you have checked several sources to verify the edibility of the plant.limits of the tide #2 – Seaside Plantain (Plantago juncoides Lam.) – Goosetongue greens
One of the edible plants we found at Oak Bay (near St. Stephen, New Brunswick) was Seaside Plantain, also known locally as Goosetongue.
Seaside Plantain, also known as Goosetongue, ready to pick… they have to be rinsed well since the outgoing tide has left a thick layer of sediment behind…
Seaside Plantain (Plantago juncoides Lam.) grows in thick clumps, forming an intermittent carpet across the shore. The succulent, linear leaves of Seaside Plantain are grey-green in color. Inconspicuous green flowers, not present until later in June, rise from the rosette of leaves in a terminal spike. Seaside Plantain is in the same genus as Common Plantain (see the post for June 13, 2012, ‘Common Plantain’ under the category ‘growing and gathering’). Plantago is from the Latin for ‘footprint’ and juncoides means ‘rush-like’.
Goosetongue greens are pleasantly salty and are a local delicacy, eaten as a salad or pickle, or cooked like green beans and served with butter. For a vivid description of the experience of gathering and preparing Goosetongue greens, see Nature of Words (www.natureofwords.com/2011/07/goosetongue-greens/) by Deborah Carr, and the post for July 14, 2011, entitled ‘Goosetongue greens’.
Warning: 1. never eat any plant if you are not absolutely certain of the identification; 2. never eat any plant if you have personal sensitivities, including allergies, to certain plants or their derivatives; 3. never eat any plant unless you have checked several sources to verify the edibility of the plant.~
~
Sunday Dinner at Maces Bay
Seaside Plantain (Pantago juncoides Lam.)
~
dig right in
says your father
and nudges the pitcher of water
in my direction
~
I study the ‘goosetongue greens’ –
mound of green spaghetti
between spuds and chicken,
green eels diving
for the bottom of the plate
~
two things not in their favour –
they’re green,
they look a little like
the tongues of geese
~
I watch your Dad –
he adds a dollop of butter,
he weaves his fork to catch a little of each,
potato, greens and chicken,
chews with his eyes closed,
reaches for his glass of water
~
I sigh
and taste –
salt air and butter-cream,
crisp, the perfect crush,
mouth-feel, amazing
please pass the water
~
~
© Jane Tims 2012
Warning: 1. never eat any plant if you are not absolutely certain of the identification; 2. never eat any plant if you have personal sensitivities, including allergies, to certain plants or their derivatives; 3. never eat any plant unless you have checked several sources to verify the edibility of the plant.limits of the tide #1 – edible plants
Last week, our travels took us to the edge of the sea, where I looked for more edible wild plants. I found what I was looking for at Oak Bay, near St. Stephen. At the end of a little-used road, we came out on a gravelly spit of land jutting into the Bay.
mid-tide at Oak Bay… at high tide, most of the foreshore will be covered by salt water… at low tide, the clam-flats will be exposed
There, on the shoreline, were four plants to add to my larder of edible wild.
Three of the species formed a small community near the upper reaches of the shore: Seaside Plantain, Sea-blite and Samphire. All three are in the photo below… can you find them?
The Seaside Plantain (also known as Goosetongue) is the dense clump of long, thick, linear leaves in the photo above…
The Sea-blite is just starting to grow. Later in the season it will be as large or larger than the Seaside Plantain. In the enlargement below, Sea-blite is the small green plant to the right of the clump of Seaside Plantain…
The Samphire is also very small this time of year. Later it will be as large as the Sea-blite or Seaside Plantain. In the photo enlargement below, it is at the base of the clump of Seaside Plantain, at exactly 6 o’clock.
The fourth edible plant at Oak Bay is Orach. It grows on the upper shore, above the Seaside Plantain and beyond the limit of the tide. These plants often grow together along the coast, on salt marshes, tidal flats, dykelands and beaches.
Since the plants were not plentiful and not yet ready to pick, I took only one plant of each, for my drawings. I also took a bite of each type of leaf. Although there are subtle differences, all four were crisp and salty in flavour, a delightful nibble of the salty sea.
These are just a few of the edible plants living in coastal areas of New Brunswick. Over the next posts, I will explore these four species and a few others.
© Jane Tims 2012
Warning: 1. never eat any plant if you are not absolutely certain of the identification; 2. never eat any plant if you have personal sensitivities, including allergies, to certain plants or their derivatives; 3. never eat any plant unless you have checked several sources to verify the edibility of the plant.more horizons
horizon: line at which earth and sky appear to meet (Oxford dictionary)
After thinking more about horizons, I looked through our photos for some horizons we have captured in New Brunswick. Once you start to look for them, they are everywhere!
overlooking the hilly area of Sussex... Poley Mountain (a local ski hill) is in the background
a blueberry field and the distant hills of Queens County
- Horizons are made more interesting by the passing seasons…
- in autumn…
maple trees in autumn costume along the Trans-Canada Highway in Victoria County
…and in winter.
bare trees in the Grand Lake Meadows area in winter... a hawk in the tree and a treed horizon if you look carefully
Of course, I can’t forget the horizon of the Bay of Fundy…
Bay of Fundy at Saint Martins
…the horizon viewed from the ocean…
Charlotte County viewed from the waters of the Bay of Fundy
…and the horizon created by islands.
'The Wolves', special islands in the Bay of Fundy
Look to the hoizon, and see where land and sky, and sometimes water, meet.
horizontal haiku
~
horizon distant intersection land water sky
~
© Jane Tims 2011
landscape
landscape: inland scenery (Oxford dictionary)
When I see the beaches and headlands of coastal New Brunswick…
Saint Martins, New Brunswick
or the flatland and grasses of the western Canadian prairie…
prairie in southern Saskatchewan.. a dust storm on a salt lake bed
… I know landscape influences my life.
I also know my life has a landscape of its own, with hills and valleys, places to celebrate and places to hide, paths and roads moving ever forward. When I take the time to be aware of my landscape, to notice the detail and understand nature, I experience the best life has to offer.
landscape
~
a veil
draped across
bones of the earth
pointed tents
supported by forest
and the bent stems of grasses
soft settles in pockets
lichens and mosses
~
beneath the veil
texture
the ways I follow
quick or crawl
hollows elevations
clear eyes
or sorrow
~
the only way to understand
form follows function follows form
is repeated observation
lay myself on the landscape
allow my bones to conform
feel its nuance
~
see a field of grasses
see also awns and panicles and glumes
~
© Jane Tims, 2011
the parts of a grass plant (from Roland and Smith, 1969, page 68)
‘niche’ on a rock
In July, we went to the Saint Martins area for the day and spent some time exploring the caves and beach-combing. We also took the short drive to the lighthouse at Quaco Head. The lighthouse is perched on the cliff overlooking Quaco Bay.
the Quaco Head Lighthouse ....... “The present Quaco Head Lighthouse was constructed in 1966 and consists of a square tower rising from one corner of a concrete fog signal building. The light in its lantern room produces a white flash every ten seconds, while the fog signal emits a three-second blast every thirty seconds, when needed.” from http://www.lighthousefriends.com/
If you look out over the Bay, you can see some exposed rocks where sea birds make their home, and, to the north-east, Martin Head, about 30 kilometers away.
the view to the north-east ...... Martin Head is on the horizon, to the left
Wildflowers were everywhere, but what caught my eye was a lichen on a flat rock at the base of the lighthouse. It was bright orange, like a splash of paint.
There are two orange lichens that live on rocks in the coastal area of New Brunswick, Xanthoria and Caloplaca. The orange lichen I found at Quaco Head is likely one of two species: Xanthoria sorediata (Vain.) Poelt or Xanthoria elegans (Link) Th. Fr.
bright orange Xanthoria lichen on a rock .... there are also two or more other species of lichen present
A lichen is not a plant, but a composite organism, consisting of an algae and a fungus, living together in a symbiotic, mutually beneficial, relationship.
Ringing
Swallow Tail Lighthouse, Grand Manan
air saltfresh and balsam
walls lapped by a juniper sea
pale mimic of the salt sea
battering its foundations
its endurance
a mystery
until I found
an iron ring
anchored deep
in rock
almost lost
in lichen
Xanthoria orange
lifted and dropped
run round
its axis
clashing on stone
creak and clank of the metal door
echoes climbing the welded stair
ground glass grit of the light
fog washed clang of the channel bell
rock lashed to the lighthouse
salt breakers turned to stone
Published as: ‘Ringing’, Spring 1995, The Cormorant XI (2)
(revised)
© Jane Tims
exploring the intertidal zone
Every summer, we take a day to drive along the Bay of Fundy and explore some of the beaches and rocky shores. Last summer, we found a small cove where the fog was just lifting.
Through the mist we could see the ghostly form of a fishing weir and the distant rugged shore.
a cove along the Bay of Fundy coast
The beach was pebbles and sand, perfect for beach-combing. We wandered at random, watching for sea glass, shells and wave-smoothed rocks.
The intertidal area, between low and high tide, is an extraordinary space, not quite ocean, not quite land. The plants and animals who live in this area have very particular ‘niche-needs’. They need the rise and fall of the tide twice daily. Some plants have adaptations to help them cope with changing conditions. For example, the brown algae Ascophyllum nodosum has bladders to help it float at high tide and reach the sunlight.
When we explored the cove, it was low tide. Where the sea water was trapped among the rocks, there were tidal pools, small natural aquariums of sea life. One rock with a large hollow in its surface had its own population of bladder wrack (Fucus vesiculosis), green algae (Enteromorpha), barnacles, and a lone crab.
The barnacles are fun to watch. They are crustaceans, and live with their shells securely attatched to the substrate. An opening in the top of the shell is covered by a pair of ‘sliding doors’ called the operculum. Under water, the operculum opens and the barnacle reaches out with modified legs, designed to capture its food. The legs, known as cirri, look like feathery fingers, reaching out and pulling back, reaching out and pulling back.
The ‘niche’ of a particular plant or animal can be thought of as its ‘occupation’ in the space where it lives. For example, with respect to food gathering, the crab feeds on the larger prey in the pool, the barnacles filter out the smallest creatures, and the algae take in their nutrients from the water itself. Although they live in the same space, the crab, barnacles and algae each occupy a different ‘niche’.
one of the smallest tidal pools ever... in the hollow of a rock
Deep Cove detail
low tide
weirs and dories indistinct
pillars of fog
glide up the long beach
attention to
drifts of mica
periwinkle paths
breaking bands of wave
water kicked into rainbows
sunlight above the fog
plover tracks sprinkled on sand
cobbles, coloured glass
float ropes, plastic pink
rockweed
plaited by the sea
© Jane Tims
nichepoetryandprose 