The Free Radical

Foraging is fun… and full of surprises!

As I make my way daily through the fields of clover, I occasionally stoop to pick and eat the most luscious of the blossoms I encounter. Early season clover blossoms– before summer’s heat really settles in, as it has now– have a somewhat familiar flavour along the lines of what we might expect. They’re slightly sweet with a touch of camphor taste, similar to a scaled-down version of clover honey. After they’ve gotten baked in summer’s intensity, their flavour shifts to something very reminiscent of nachos. I’m not kidding; many of the clover blossoms now taste exactly like a plate of mild nachos. Do what you will with this bombshell info.

The next bit of foraging lore and discovery I wish to share involves endless fields of wild raspberries and the occasional patch of sweet clover. Sweet clover is the tall yellow-flowered arrangement which smells exactly like vanilla. It loves to grow in ditches. Its sweetness must be in reference to its smell only because its flavour is very definitely bitter– but strongly vanilla. I like to take just a pinch of the sweet clover blossoms before I dive into the massive raspberry patches. The combination of the two flavours, sprinkled with a touch of imagination, convinces me that I’m eating raspberry ripple ice cream… and on these scorching days, that’s a nice sensation.

And now, finally, I’d like to mention Bigsquatch. I was standing atop the Mesa, looking down on the north end of the swamp when suddenly I heard the movement of something very big moving through the brush below. It moved with the sure stealth and grace of a bulldozer… or perhaps the sure-footed poise of a drunken Calgarian with both shoelaces untied. This thing, whatever it was, was crashing through the forest with a racket I’d never heard before. I was reluctant to go down and investigate because it was obviously something larger than me; I would be hard-pressed to make that much noise even in my most awkward moments! So I am concluding that it was Bigsquatch. I will keep an eye– and a camera lens– out… and will keep you posted.