Irene’s effects

Irene did not blow too much of a gale here. But, her effects are starting to show.

- The leaves are starting to shrivel on the trees from the stress of the wind. I feel we will not have a very pretty fall. Our fall is not much of a sight anyway, scrub oak turns dark brown.

- When walking on the shore the other day I saw a lot of seed scallops….shells. They had been blown ashore and the seagulls had eaten them. These are the scallops to harvest for next winter. I feel it won’t be a good year now. That’s too bad. I love bay scallops. This winter is supposed to be good from the seed last year. They are adults now and stay a little deeper. There were only a few of them on the shore. I hope this doesn’t throw the harvest off for a long time. I’ll share the bay scallop season with you in October when it starts. It’s one of my favorite island things.

- The beachplum bushes have suffered. I went to my final always dependable tons of bushes spot today. They were all brown from the blowing salt water and there was not a berry to be seen. The  shore had been eaten away in the saltwater pond and some of them had been washed away too. >sigh<

- On the bright side the rugosa rose hips are looking great. The ones closest to the shore were also battered and are starting to shrivel but, I can find enough for one or two batches of jelly. Does anyone have any good recipes for rosehips? They are very high in vitamin C.