This summer I was lucky to be able to attend a few Folk School classes at Historic Cold Spring Village which is just about 2 miles down the road. It was a new program for the Village and I tried to take full advantage of it. The first class I participated in was book making. I got to make 3 small projects the first class and was invited to start a more complicated book the following week. I will write that up separately... The second class was on broom making! It was fantastic. I had a wonderful instructor and was taught how to make a whisk broom and a cob-webber.
My awesome instructor and a hen supervisor.
I was very proud of my two brooms and immediately thought of my friends over at No Frills Farm - they groom BROOMCORN! I got home and messaged the farmer there, Charles, to ask if he was growing any this year. He was! What luck! So I told him I'd like to place an order for as much as I can get, maybe 100 pieces. When the fall came and they began harvesting, I reminded him of my order and volunteered to help harvest what I needed. One Sunday morning I drove to the farm and we headed out to the back field to clip away. I came home with almost 200 pieces! I was super excited. Then the realization that I had to take all the seeds
off sank in. That was an awful lot of seed.
Broomcorn awaiting processing.
A few quick searches on the internet and I had devised a plan. I gathered up my materials - a nice big plastic bin for catching the seeds and two combs, left over from my pony showing days - mane combs! After setting myself up, I decided to video it.
Deseeding the broomcorn.
All deseeded.
I finished up the other two colors of broomcorn today. I just
used the metal pulling comb, as it is more efficient. Now I am letting
them dry out a bit before I begin practicing! Don't worry! I will be
documenting the entire process.
A little broomcorn fact for you: Broomcorn is not actually corn! It is a type of sorghum, Sorghum vulgare var. technicum, that produces long fibrous seed branches, making it a perfect choice for making brooms. For further information on broomcorn, check out Purdue University's horticulture page on broomcorn here.
I was fortunate enough to join some friends in Ontario, Canada last week at a Wild Food Dinner hosted by the Lanark Wild Food Club. The best part was getting to try some foods I would never have been able to try! My favorite by far was the roasted beaver. Not something found down here in Cape May County. (This will be a photo heavy post! Though mere words and photos cannot describe the taste.)
The menu was varied and all the food was delicious. From the appetizers such as wild harvested mushrooms on toast with wild leek ricotta, venison sausage, First Nations smoked trout to the main dishes of venison roast & roasted beaver to the dessert of apple & wild plum strudel.
Wild Picked Mushrooms with Herbed Ricotta
Pickerel Fritter & First Nations Smoked Trout
Halved Baked Potato with fresh Pickerel & Wild Leek Butter
Salad of local bitter greens, fiddle heads, cattail palm, smoked trout, thinly sliced radishes & beets.
Close up of the Fiddle Heads & Cattail Palm
Puree of Butternut Squash & Apple with Apple cider and Maple Cream
Venison Kafka, Wild Blueberries & Local Cheddar
Roasted Beaver with Venison sausage stuffing.
Wild Plum & Apple Strudel
A nice Canadian Charonnay to accompany the entire meal.
I even won a door prize! I picked up a book on Edible Wild Plants, which I hope to utilize here at home.
Kudos to the Lanark Wild Foods Club for hosting such a fantastic event, all the foragers, anglers, & hunters who donated the food; as well as to the team of culinary students from St. Lawrence College Centre for Culinary Arts for such a delicious meal.
My friends have been forewarned that I will be making this an annual pilgrimage. I am so grateful for good friends!
