March 2nd, 2025 - The opening weekend of clamming at Penrose Point State Park is a festive affair with lots clams and oysters to go around. This year there were also mussels tucked into the oyster beds which was the first time we got to try harvesting them. The mussels were nonexistent last year when we showed up two weeks later so they must get cleared out quickly.
My master plan was to take most of the steamer clams and plant them at our beach but the boys and their friends got really into some archeological digging projects and we didn't leave the state park in time to replant. Instead, I put the boys to work on the eternal blackberry crusade.
Back at home, the mixed bag of oysters, clams, and mussels made for a long night of processing but I was really impressed with the mussels. My favorite way to work through surplus bivalves lately is good bread, almost burnt in the toaster, buttered, and then plop your mussels or clams on there with some fresh parsley.
March 7th, 2025 - The first mushroom survey of the year in my favorite section of Tiger Mountain. Things were really quiet with just a few interesting specimen and nothing to eat... The highlight was finding an unmarked trail that gives me a more secretive route to transport lobsters and chanterelles from my favorite hidey-hole back to the truck.
I was really hoping to find an area where squirrels mining for black truffles but the forest is a little too old to offer the high density that might let me stumble into one. The squirrels had better luck but I could never find more than a single dig site in a given area and they never left me any crumbs.
The rest of March's outdoor fun was focused on beach projects and clamming. Round 1 was completing the railings down to the beach, mounting the bat box, and mowing the footprint for an aspirational orchard. My poor little battery powered yard mower was feeling poorly treated trying to defeat a mix of trailing blackberries and thigh high weeds.
Round 2 was gathering the deer fence supplies and taking advantage of the low tides to scout for steamer clams. That 330' roll of woven wire was almost the end of me...
Down on the beach, the tide was about a +3' and falling. The first thing I found was ten Taylor Shellfish rubber bands on the rocks so I guess that clears up the question of who is running the geoduck farm. The steamer digging is not pleasant as its mostly shifting rocks but to my surprise I found clams in the tiny pockets of sand/gravel that do exist. I was so shocked that I was taking pictures of every clam I found (including a varnish clam, which I do not eat anymore after learning of their superior ability to hold onto biotoxins). Most of the steamers were dramatically bigger than you would find on a public beach so its clear they haven't been dug in this area for at least a few years.
Round 3 was installing the 10' t-posts and wood posts. In my head at least, a 40' x 60' will let us have eight, aggressively maintained fruit trees. This year the plan is to put in three pear trees and then expand with some apples and maybe plums in a couple years once I figure out a way to water without lugging it all from home.
I only had ten minutes to run down to the beach to see if anything interesting washed up. This time it was a big log and a very out of place razor clam shell. To my knowledge, razor clams are exclusive to the wide, sandy beaches of the Pacific coast so maybe just my neighbors pranking me.
Round 4 was a break from the projects to host a few families for a clam dig on a +1' tide.
With the water a couple feet lower we could see some chunky oysters, mussels, and mussels inside oysters!
Round 5 was sucking it up and trying to install the fence solo. I invested in a come along to provide the strength that I lack. Things went pretty well for about 2.5 lengths until I managed to do the impossible and tied the 6.5' fence roll into some sort of inverted knot... I couldn't defeat it without wire cutters.
I also got to deliver the property's first kayak, a 13.5' tandem that the previous owner rigged with three seats. As a bonus, the tide was down to -1.6' which held the faintest hope of finding geoducks or at least a consolation butter clam.
At about 0' the beach transitions from the rock to a firm sand/mud mix which will be great for digging if we can find any clams. I didn't see any shows but there were a lot of living sand dollars. Taylor Shellfish was out as well, although I couldn't tell if they were planting or harvesting. But I have triple circled the end of April tides which are all the way down to -3.6' and I can't imagine the geoduck farm hasn't seeded the beach with at least one tasty treat.
PS - It will be awhile before I get out the April report but if you are looking for early foraging targets: the oyster mushrooms are blooming on the dead alders and plenty of stinging nettles to harvest.