Dig a Pail of Clams on PTown's Tidal Flats

A man digs clams on tidal flats near West End Parking Lot, with Coast Guard pier in
background. Cap'n Jack's Wharf and Provincetown Inn mark harvesting boundaries.

Digging for shellfish has long been a New England tradition, dating back about 4,500 years, though the Pilgrims and early settlers were too afraid to eat very much of it.
These settlers knew that local native tribes ate a lot of shellfish, but they had become ill after trying a bit of it themselves.
Wampanoag and other Native tribes of the New England area had been eating clams and other mollusks for thousands of years, and at some point began carving the shells into decorative wampum beads. Eventually, European settlers affixed a specific value to such beads, and wampum became a kind of currency used in trade. I'll write more about all of that in a future post, but today I want to get you out to dig your own clams for a bowl of chowder or a plate of linguine that you'll really enjoy, having harvested the seafood yourself from the abundant shellfish beds of Provincetown's tidal flats.

Ocean and her son Richard harvested clams from the beach at the
West End Parking Lot, authorized for clamming through March.

Not long ago, I was parked next to the boat ramp at the West End Parking Lot, where I often stop for a while to watch the tiny waves ripple in along the quiet beach that edges its way around Provincetown Harbor.
In the summertime the waterfront is packed with all sorts of boats coming and going at all hours, offering lots to see, but in the off-season a visit to this spot is more about just taking the time to really observe the wildlife you might notice, and watching the sky and water turn colors with the weather or the time of day.
As the light begins to dim, which happens in the late afternoon at this time of the year, from this West End spot on the harbor you can see the beams begin blinking from three lighthouses, spanning the entire harbor, including the white flashing of the Highland light in North Truro. Race Point Light, in Provincetown's northwest corner, can't be seen from this vantage point, but in the center of the harbor the green glow of the Long Point Lighthouse winks on and off in a regular pattern, with Wood End Light taking its time between short red bursts in the Far West End. The colored lights marking the breakwater, green on its east end and red on the west, further syncopate the rhythm of Provincetown Harbor, even on a quiet, off-season night.
Since I was there on a Friday afternoon at low tide, before sundown, I got to watch a few folks walking out amongst the puddles of the tidal flats, carrying clam rakes and pails, and pausing here and there to dig up the sand for the bounty hiding below in patches, where a few tiny bubbles made by clams nestled below the surface gave them away.

17 palm-sized clams are plenty for Ocean and Richard's dinner.

I met Ocean and her son, Richard, as they walked back up to their pickup truck in the parking lot after they'd finished digging clams for supper. They carried a clam rake, of course, and a bucket holding a fair number of three-and-four-inch hard-shelled clams covered with a few inches of sea water.
These were more than enough quahogs (say "co•hogs," from the 18th century Algonquian word for round, hard-shelled clams) to make a nice dinner for these two, who have recently returned to Provincetown after an absence of more than twenty years. They'd had to move away when Richard was a young boy, and are now very happy to be back. And they were happy to be out on the flats that afternoon, gathering juicy, meaty, Provincetown clams for a great meal.
Residents, as well as non-resident property owners, can visit the Town Clerk's office to obtain a recreational shellfishing permit for $15 for the season, which generally runs from mid-November through March each year. Non-residents will pay a $50 fee. The permit is free for seniors aged 65 and older. A sheet of shellfishing regulations will accompany your permit. Informative pamphlets on shellfishing are available at the Harbor Master's office, open every day, out on MacMillan Pier.
The permit allows the holder to gather clams and oysters of adult size from any officially designated shellfishing area on either a Sunday or Friday of each week of the season, with a maximum harvest of one ten-quart pail or a one-peck basket, once each week. Harvesting areas are rotated frequently to preserve breeding stock and prevent over-use of any area, while rules for minimum sizes for any mollusks taken serve the same goal, helping to sustain this very popular community resource.
The area east of the West End Breakwater was just opened to harvesting once again, adding another acre or two to this year's public shellfishing grounds. A few oysters can be found along the breakwater, but make sure that any you take are at least three inches long, which will help to allow breeding stock to grow in this area. If scallops become plentiful enough to allow for harvesting, an area will be designated for their collection. Mussels can be taken at any time of year, with no permit required.
Equipment needed for clamming is simple and easily available. I bought my knee-high rubber boots at Marine Specialties. They may also have clamming tools in stock, and ask for a tide chart as well, or check the newspaper or internet for low tides occurring during daylight hours on Fridays and Sundays. You can also visit the hardware stores for equipment like rakes and pails. You'll want a hat, good gloves, and a jacket that keeps the wind at bay. The breeze can be pretty stiff out on the tidal flats, even on a warmer day, and especially if you get wet, so dress in layers, and unbutton a bit if you get too warm.
Some 500 baskets of quahogs have already been taken from the West End this year, so it's now taking a bit more effort to fill a pail with clams, which must be a minimum of one inch thick to be harvested. A shellfish gauge is available for purchase at Town Hall, along with your permit, and you must carry it with you when when harvesting.

Delicate, soft-shelled steamers are abundant at Hatches Harbor.

For digging soft-shell clams, with a minimum size limit of two inches, head to Hatch's Harbor. This tiny, natural harbor lies between Race Point and Herring Cove, which many old-timers still refer to as New Beach. It has steamers in abundance in the sandy patches near the marsh, according to the mid-season shellfish update just issued by Shellfish Constable Steve Wisbauer.
His notice also mentioned smaller quahogs found in the deeper pools nearby. Be sure to have your shellfish sizing gauge with you, and make certain you don't run off with any juveniles that should be left to reach maturity before they're harvested. Also, be sure to report your "take" to the constable so the town can keep tabs on the total annual harvest.
There's a third area open for the shellfish harvest this winter, in the part of the harbor that lies between Allerton Street and the Truro town line. That's roughly from the brick facade of 627 Commercial Street, still known to many as Mailer's house, to the Holiday Shores condos out on Beach Point. Constable Wisbauer's update mentioned the most productive area there, which is only accessible during the most extreme low tides, when the farthest sandbars are exposed. This remote area can yield quahogs of all sizes, and even very large surf clams, all found in abundance there, if your timing and the tides are right.

It's PTown's Public Shellfishing Season

An old man digs clams on the tidal flats in this vintage photo I found in the scrapbooks of Athea Boxell,
book 5, page 7, which is part of the Dowd collection in the Provincetown History Preservation Project.

The shellfish area near the west end breakwater is open for the season.

The necessary permits, area maps, regulations and shellfish gauges can be

obtained by visiting the town clerk's office, at Provincetown Town Hall.

Residents and non-resident property owners will pay $15.00 for a recreational
shellfishing license; non-residents will pay $50.00; residents and taxpayers
65 and older can dig for free, but you must get your license and gauge.

The abundant supply of clams in Provincetown Harbor is said to have saved the lives of Pilgrims and early settlers here, and the gathering of a rich variety of shellfish along our shoreline, there for the taking, has been a time-honored tradition of local people ever since.

To harvest your own shellfish from Provincetown's tidal flats you'll need a shellfishing license, which allows you to gather shellfish on a recreational basis on Sundays or Fridays, in a currently designated area, through the end of March 2016, with a ten-quart limit per week. Areas open to shellfishing may vary during the season, as designated by the shellfish warden.

This license does not allow you to sell your bounty, and shellfish you gather must be of legal size, so you must carry a gauge with you, along with your license. You won't be allowed on the flats without them. You'll also need a shellfish rake or similar tool, and either a ten-quart pail or a one-peck shellfish basket. No other containers are allowed. Tall rubber boots or waders and waterproof gloves will be helpful, and wearing warm, wind resistant clothing is a good idea.

During open periods, shellfish may only be harvested on Sunday or Friday of each week. Permit holders may only shellfish on one of these days per week. Quahogs gathered must be one inch thick, soft-shelled clams must be two inches long, and oysters must be three inches long. The weekly limit for recreational permit holders for any combination of quahogs, soft-shelled clams and oysters is either one level ten-quart pail, or a one-peck basket.

If Bay Scallops are abundant, the Shellfish Warden will post the days and location for their taking, limited to two pecks per week. No permit is required for sea worms, periwinkles, or mussels, which may be taken year-round. Upon leaving the flats, you must report to the Shellfish Warden, who maintains a record of the town's yearly harvest. In any given year, residents might gather more than 1,000 pails of shellfish along Provincetown shores.

Fresh littlenecks, scrubbed and ready to go into the pot.

This weekend should be great for clamming, with sunny skies, little wind, mild temperatures, and daylight during low tides. Friday should bring about 46 degrees with the low tide just before noon. Sunday looks to be about 53 degrees with low tide at 1:47 PM. Winds of a mere 10 miles per hour are predicted for both days, so get your permit and go try your hand at digging shellfish.

There's something especially satisfying about having a meal of seafood harvested through your own efforts. Whether it's a stuffed sea clam baked in the oven, a hearty chowder, or linguine with clam sauce, there's nothing like fresh, local seafood right out of the water, and digging your own clams seems to impart a bit of added flavor when you sit down to such a dinner. Friends can feel an extra dimension of camaraderie in foraging together for a meal they'll share as they warm up from their chilly adventure on the tidal flats.

From a simple pot of steamers or mussels to an elegant platter of oysters Rockefeller, nothing tastes better than a meal that truly results from your own resourcefulness. Bon appétit!

A Bit of Cranberry History

In this 1906 postcard, Cape Codders pick cranberries by the six-quart pail, the standard measure by the 1870s.

It's cranberry season in the sandy outskirts of Provincetown, in the very low spots where the water tends to pool up in the spring rains. You can look for them off of Province Lands Road, on either side, in the low spots before the road rises to meet Race Point Road on the little hill near the Province Lands Visitor Center. There are also wild cranberry bogs in the very low spots of the dunes, sometimes quite near the trails used by the dune tour and the folks staying out there in the old dune shacks.
Cranberries are one of only three fruits that are native to North America, along with the blueberries, which you'll find around Provincetown in early summer, and Concord grapes, which inspired the name given to Martha's Vineyard by British explorer Bartholomew Gosnold when he visited the island in 1602. Gosnold also gave Cape Cod its name on May 15th, 1602, after having named it Shoal Hope that morning, but that's another story, told in my article about Cape Cod's 413th Birthday, sort of...
In the 1906 postcard above, these folks seem to be in groups, perhaps families, each harvesting the cranberries in their allotted area, marked out in plots of equal width running the length of the bog. It looks as though this may have been a wild bog where everyone was to have an equal chance to gather a fair share of the berries. Read my article from last autumn to learn about Provincetown's Cranberry Vote of 1773, enacting the law which provided for stiff penalties for anyone caught poaching the berries before the season. The dollar fine mentioned there may not seem like much, but a 100 pound barrel of cranberries shipped to be sold in Philadelphia in 1868 brought 58 cents, so a buck was a lot of money. Cranberries had become a food source for those early New Englanders, and a valuable commodity for trading as well.

This 1910 postcard, hand tinted from a black a white photo, shows the newly
developed rocker scoop, with its long fingers pushed along beneath the vines
and then "rocked" back to pluck the berries, which rolled down into the scoop.

The use of the humble cranberry dates back to the year 1550, when Native Americans began using it not only as a medicine to apply to wounds, and as a dye for blankets and rugs, but also as a staple of their diets. Crushed cranberries were often blended with dried venison and rendered fat to make pemmican, which may have been the world's first energy bar. In 1620 the Pilgrims met the Native Americans, who showed them many uses for cranberries, and in 1683 the settlers made their first cranberry juice.
In 1816 Captain Henry Hall accidentally became the first to cultivate cranberries, at his home in Dennis, in the center of Cape Cod, when he cut down a stand of tall trees on his property. He hadn't realized that without the trees acting as a windbreak, sand would blow in and cover his cranberry blog. He though that this "mistake" had surely ruined the bog, but noticed with some delight that his cranberries actually grew better than ever that year, leading him to begin experimenting with using sand to cover the bogs to varying degrees and at different times of the year. Eventually, he hit on the combination of factors that would best maximize his crop.
By the 1820s, Cape Codders were growing cranberries in sufficient quantities to ship them to be sold in a growing European market. By 1843 Eli Howes was actively cultivating his Howes variety of cranberries in East Dennis, a few miles east of Hall's land, and by 1847, Cyrus Cahoon was busy developing his Early Black variety just a few more miles to the east, in the town of Harwich.
In 1850 cranberries became a source of vitamin C for fishermen, whalers and sailors who ate them to ward off scurvy while they were away at sea for months or years at a time, with any other fresh fruits or vegetables onboard being consumed within the first few weeks of the voyage. Over the next few years the first cranberry scoops began making harvesting the berries quicker and easier, and in 1854 the first census of cranberry acreage reported 197 acres in Barnstable County, which comprises all of the towns and villages of Cape Cod.
This unusually warm weather coming this week should make it a pleasure to grab a bucket and take a stroll out through the bogs. If you do go out picking cranberries, don't confuse them with bearberry, which are also red berries growing on little vines on the ground, but are generally smaller and kind of shiny, and humans shouldn't eat them in large quantities.
Although I'm not sure how the dearth of rain this summer will have affected the cranberries, they should probably be ripe by now, likely with more of them ripening over the next few weeks. They may be a bit smaller than usual due to the lack of rain, but if there were enough bees to pollinate them well, we should have plenty of berries to pick.

PTown's Wild Mushroom Season Begins

This visitor from New York gathers Provincetown mushrooms with her family.

'Tis the season for gathering the wild mushrooms found on the outskirts of Provincetown, near Beach Forest, and on the edges of the sand dunes.
People can be found carrying buckets, bags and baskets along the sides of Province Lands Road and in other spots out in the Cape Cod National Seashore, looking for these treasures that may be in short supply this year. I haven't spotted more than one or two mushrooms myself, but I haven't  had the chance to talk with anyone who's been out gathering these delectable morsels yet this year.
Of course, you have to make sure you know the edible ones from the poisonous ones if you intend to go out picking them. You can find out about identifying them by reading my Gathering Provincetown's Wild Mushrooms post from last season. It contains links to great resources to help you hunt safely for these delicious treasures.

 "X" marks just a few of the spots where mushrooms have been found out in the
Province Lands, northwest of the center of Provincetown. Click map to enlarge.

An "X" on this map shows a spot where mushrooms have been found, but, of course, there are no guarantees.
These are certainly not the only spots to look for mushrooms, either. A family of three was seen out walking on the edge of Province Lands Road on Wednesday, each carrying an identical bucket filled nearly to the top with good-sized mushrooms.
If you go out foraging, be sure to cut your mushrooms off at the bottom of the stem rather than pulling them out of the ground. That way the remaining bit of the stalk can grow more mushrooms for someone else to find later on. Happy hunting!

Champion Clam Digger?

"Carl" the Champion Clam Digger is a mystery man.

I've had the digital image of this vintage Provincetown postcard in my collection for years, and this morning I decided to find out what I could about "Carl" in the image above. I've googled every possible combination of key words I can think up, and I can't find a thing. I also tried the Althea Boxell scrapbooks on the Provincetown History Preservation website, also to no avail.
Clam digging by individuals rather than by seafood companies was common in earlier days, when quahogs, steamers, sea clams and even razor clams were easily dug on nearly any beach in Provincetown. Clams were found in many traditional Portuguese recipes, as well as in the ubiquitous clam chowder, and were often used as fishing bait. They weren't expensive, and many families simply dug their own.
You can still dig your own clams today, at the proper time of year, which is now. Stop by Town Hall and get a recreational shellfishing permit, allowing you to gather clams and oysters, seasonally, once a week, either on Fridays or Sundays. Residents and non-resident property owners are charged $15 for this annual license, while non-residents will pay $50, and seniors age 65 and older pay nothing at all.
You'll need a 10-quart pail, a clam rake (found at the local hardware stores) and a shellfish gauge, which you can pick up at Town Hall when you get your license. They'll also give you a copy of the rules, such as sizes of steamers, quahogs and oysters you can harvest, hence the need for the gauge, which is required for you to set out on the tidal flats. Rubber boots will help keep your feet dry as you slosh through wet sand on your quest for delectable seafood, yours for the digging.
Visit the town's Shellfish Regulations page on their website for more information. Be sure you know the rules, gather your mollusks only in designated areas, and be sure to report your catch to the shellfish constable, who keeps statistics on the town's annual harvest, as you leave the beach. Mussels, by the way, can be taken any time of year and require no permit, along with sea worms and periwinkles.
Meanwhile, who has information on "Carl" in the photo above? Call, text or phone TheYearRounder with any insights. My contact info is near the right corner above.
Happy digging!

PTown's Cranberry Harvest

It takes a while to pick this many wild cranberries, but it's worth the effort.

I've talked to a lot of hikers and foragers this week, and from all accounts, wild cranberries seem to be abundant this year, and are ready to gather from the low-lying spots in the forests, and even in the very low spots in the dunes, where the water tends to pool up after the rainfall. These are the spots where cranberries seem grow the best, completely wild and natural, and they are ours for the taking. An afternoon spent strolling through the forests can lead you to a cache of cranberries to put in your muffins, jellies, chutneys and any number of recipes that can be enhanced with this tart, toothsome and delightful little berry.
In a commercial cranberry bog, things are a bit different from a wild bog. The amount of water in the bogs can be controlled, and at harvest time the bogs are flooded, with the berries floating to the surface. Machinery is used to agitate the water, and more berries break away from the vines and float to the top, where they are scooped up by more machines. Commercial cranberry bogs cover about 13,000 acres of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, producing over 2 million barrels of cranberries in the average autumn season. The more rain we get in the summertime, the bigger the cranberries, which tend to plump up in years with generous rainfall.
The Provincetown Council on Aging is planning a trip to Harwich on Tuesday, October 21st, at 9 AM, to tour a working cranberry bog. This 1 1/2 hour tour will teach us about the cranberry industry and the harvesting process, and includes a ride around the bog with a guide. A special price of $12.50 for the tour has been arranged for COA members, and the group will stop for lunch at the Jail House Tavern in Orleans, where meals start at around $10, before returning to Provincetown. Call the Council on Aging at 508 487-7080 to reserve your trip.
In the meantime, get out for a stroll in the Provincelands, take a bucket with you, and bring home some of these remarkable, tasty little fruits that are native to this beautiful land we live on.

Gathering Provincetown's Wild Mushrooms

Some beautiful, big mushrooms await those who pursue them.

Provincetown's annual mushroom harvest is underway out in the Provincelands. I met these folks, who had travelled here from New York just to gather some of the wild mushrooms that can be found in the forests and at the edges of the dunes at this time of year. There were four of them, hiking the hillsides and cutting mushrooms as they found them. Mushrooms need to be cut from the plant at the base of the stem so the root remains in place, allowing it to continue to sprout more mushrooms later on.
Of course, not every mushroom found amongst the trees and shrubs in these sandy little hillsides will be of the edible variety. You must know exactly what you're doing if you intend to pluck this delightful fungus as you hike.
The Twin Eagles Wilderness School has a website to help you identify wild mushrooms. And David Fischer, an expert on the ecology and identification of wild mushrooms, has a wealth of information for you at americanmushrooms.com. You'll find all the basics, and some more advanced topics relating to safely gathering these delicious morsels, along with a couple of great videos, although they play some really cheesy new-agey music in the background while you watch a slide show of stunningly beautiful wild mushrooms. This site also offers a number of books on foraging for fungi.
Read my blog post Gather Ye Mushrooms While Ye May, written last autumn when conditions were similar to this year's, about finding these elusive delicacies on the outskirts of Provincetown.

Gather Ye Mushrooms While Ye May

Persistence pays off in the search for mushrooms.

It took the better part of the day, but this gentleman and his family (his wife and their two children) finally were able to gather enough wild mushrooms to nearly fill their bucket. They drove to Provincetown on their annual mushroom pilgrimage and went wandering in the little hillsides surrounding Province Lands Road, out near the visitor center, where the land isn't exactly forest and not exactly dunes either, but rather a verdant combination of small, sandy hills and little pockets of pitch pines and scrub oaks, with the occasional fox or coyote thrown in for local color.
These folks rambled over dozens of scenic acres, peeking beneath shrubs and around tree trunks for the elusive edible mushrooms that are scattered all too sparsely through these little hummocks this year. The dearth of rainfall this spring may have something to do with this year's scarcity of the fungus that brings carloads of visitors to this part of the Cape Cod National Seashore each autumn for a peaceful walk among the changing colors of the season while they forage for these delicious morsels.
My favorite Provincetown chef told me he hunted for two hours the other day and found just two mushrooms, and he remarked that the cranberries looked to be about three weeks behind schedule, too, with none quite ready to pick that day. We've had rainfall this year far below the amount we receive in the average year. This spring we got very little, and we stand at less than 10% of the average rainfall over the past month, which may have something to do with the lack of mushrooms this season, and the slower growth of the cranberries. But I've also met a few folks who have filled their mushroom baskets and buckets to the brim, with persistence paying off during a longer walk.
If you know your mushrooms and are confident in your ability to recognize the edible varieties, by all means, get out for a little hike and find the tasty few that await you. Just remember to be careful not to walk on any of the plant life as you wander. Some of these plants and grasses are extremely fragile. And remember to cut your mushrooms off at the base of the stem rather than plucking them out of the ground so that they can continue to sprout more mushrooms for others to find later. If you don't know very much about wild mushrooms, get out and enjoy the stroll anyway, but simply admire the lovely mushrooms you might discover and just walk on by. We want you to live to take another walk amongst the mushrooms another day.

Pick Your Own Beach Plums

 For the last week or two people have been wandering the edges of the dunes carrying bags and baskets, picking beach plums as they find them ripe and ready to eat, leaving behind fruit that is not yet at its peak.
In a few more days, when those little plums are finally ripe, someone else coming along will pick them.

These little one-inch plums are delicious on their own, and they also make a great jam or jelly.
You might also find them at the farmer's market near Town Hall on Saturdays. Birdsong Farm in Dennis grows them, and there may be others nearby as well. Beach plums are becoming a popular addition to the orchards of small farms. They thrive in the poorest of soils, surviving drought and the harshest winter weather.

This woman was gathering beach plums near the Provincelands Visitor Center last week. Generally, picking anything in a national park is prohibited, but when the Town of Provincetown turned over roughly 4,000 acres of land, sand dunes, ponds and wildlife to the National Park Service in the 1960s, we insisted on continued traditional uses of the land. One of those uses was berry picking. So at the right time of year blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, beach plums and  others can be gathered on these national park lands. I've never run across the strawberries, myself, but two friends have each found them, and I've tasted all but those elusive strawberries.
In a couple of spots in the dunes you can even find high bush blueberries, growing on what amounts to a scraggly sort of tree about eight feet tall. Delicious! Just make sure you know what you're picking. There are a lot of blue berries in the forests and the dunes, but they aren't all blueberries. If you're not sure about what might be edible, just admire the lovely plant and walk on by. Not all the berries and fruits you'll find are safe to eat. And for mushrooms, you'll want to go with someone who has really studied the varieties you'll find out in the park. Many are poisonous.
The beach plums are pretty easy to identify. Nothing else out there looks quite the same. If you go out in search of beach plums this week remember to be kind to the land and to your fellow humans. Make sure you don't trample any plants or ground cover as you walk through the forests or dunes, and don't snatch up every bit of fruit you come across. Food gathering etiquette demands that we each pick just enough for our own use, and maybe a few to share with friends, but leave enough for other folks to do the same.