Grist for the Mill
Winter brings with it a chance to recharge. To power down and rebuild the physical and mental stores that get drained by a long summer season. The weariness that many of us feel has been pushed to a new level this year, and the added stress and toil to survive 2020 with businesses intact has left many Cape Codders running on fumes. While not all have or will ultimately survive, Cori and I have been awed by the dogged determination by which the Cape’s local businesses, owners and staffs alike, have stared down closings and protocol changes and rolled with the punches. For many of them, there is no off-season. More modifications undoubtedly will be deemed necessary, and these people will continue the fight to bring us the freshest locally-sourced sustenance.
What goes a long way in rejuvenating ourselves is the food we put in our bodies, and that fuel can come from the most unlikely of places. Becca Miller’s salute to the dandelion teaches us that not all weeds are to be frowned upon, and there isn’t a part of this mighty little plant that we can’t use.
Jeff Avery returns with his own proclamation of love for his potent horseradish. The powerfully pungent root comes with a cautionary tale. If you are indeed going to process it at home, you’re going to need more than nose plugs in order to make it through unscathed!
A steaming bowl of chowder is always in order as the temperatures drop. A new voice to these pages, Jeanne Petrizzo, shares her challenges and triumphs as she set about making a chowder with all locally-sourced ingredients. It’s a story that goes far beyond a simple collection of clams, onions and potatoes.
We may all be familiar with the Muffin Man from the nursery rhyme we learned as kids, but how well are you acquainted with the mushroom man? Michelle Koch introduces us to Uli Winslow, a mushroom farmer in Truro. A next generation farmer, Uli’s knowledge and skill at growing three different types of mushrooms on his farm seems impossible for someone so young. If shitake, oyster or lion’s mane mushrooms are to your liking, then Uli is a fungi to be around (sorry, I couldn’t help myself).
Innkeepers Rick Garceau and Tom Nortz are certainly two fun guys who know their way around a pun. The two proprietors of the Captain David Kelley House Inn in Centerville are charming, witty and locked in a heated war with one another over, of all things, scones. Susan Fernald stopped by for the scones and stayed for the comedy in “Scone Wars.”
So, catch your breath. Enjoy the stories our contributors have brought us and make a plan. The blueprint for better days ahead begins with hope. Before you know it, it’ll be time to hit the ground running with a freshly re-lit pilot light. The days will once again turn brighter, the gardens will burst with color and businesses’ doors will reopen. To the establishments that stick it out year-round and until we can walk through the doors again of those that take a break, we humbly thank you. Now try and get some rest!
