Like Thoreau, I have a longing for wildness. The more digital and technological life becomes, the more I love the wild. It may seem strange to call an island favored by billionaires wild, but it is an island exposed to the winds and waves of the North Atlantic, a precious ecosystem of sand plain grassland, and more than 50% of its area is conserved.
My foraging year has included blueberries, beach plums and fox grapes, and this past weekend we scalloped at Pocomo. Yummy ceviche followed as we celebrated Josh's 75th birthday with his close friends David and Michael and their wives. We sent them home with our wild fox grape jelly.
We took our first trip of the year to Great Point. Fisherman were catching false albacore when they could beat the seals. We showed off our favorite Norwood Farm walk. Firey maples, late seaside goldenrod and late asters adorned the landscape. Most of the pond lilies were gone, but blueberry bushes and cotton grass lit up the ponds .
As I hiked Windswept bog before departing, I chanced upon a rusty blackbird eating viburnum berries. A clay-colored sparrow mixed in with white-throated and song sparrows. Several sharp-shinned hawks scuffled and sheared through the landscape. There were late patches of the purple gerardia which was so prolix last month. When next I visit, the bright colors will be gone.
 |
| Cain’s Pond |
 |
| Windswept Bog |
 |
| Sharp-shinned Hawk |
 |
| Rusty Blackbird |
 |
| Green-winged Teal |
 |
Northern Seaside Goldenrod
Solidago sempervirens
|
