Abundance

abundance |əˈbəndəns|
noun
a very large quantity of something

Orcas Island in July is overflowing with an abundance of food. Fresh prawns, crabs, deer, rabbits, goats, lambs, mussels, oysters, salmon. . . not to mention all the green veggies coming to fruition. Everywhere I turn there is fresh local food beckoning to be consumed. It is quite magical, to say the least.

I spent the day on the north side of Orcas helping my friend Lerner harvest kelp and mussles. Just as we were heading out his mom called up to say that she was on her way with fresh roadkill. (The resourcefulness of people here is astonishing.) She pulled up an hour later with a beautiful young doe. It was the first time I had witnessed the gutting, slicing and dicing of such a large creature. The pop when the air released from the body cavity let out a musty and gamy smell. I had to turn away for a second. Phew. I was hugely impressed by Ruby, an 18 year old Orcas Island local, who staked the claim on preparing the deer. It took her two hours to skin and butcher the whole animal and by the time we got back up from the beach she had even prepared lunch for us: fresh venison, brown rice and a salad from their garden. Life doesn’t get better.

Meanwhile down on the beach we harvested a variety of different sea weeds. The big one you will see is called bull kelp. We pickled and canned the whip in a spiced brine. Mmmm. Then we hung the leafs up to dry. They can be crushed and sprinkled on any meal for added salt, flavor and a serious boost of minerals. The kelp can also be thrown into a compost mix, releasing beneficial nutrients into the soil. Below I am posting a gallery of images because they do more justice than my writing skills ever could. Cheers.