Chappell Marsh

Last year I learned of the existence of the Chappell Marsh Conservation Area. It was a discovery of the "this seems to good to be true" variety - within a 15 minute drive of my house, birds and wildlife galore, hardly any other people around, and right next door to my new favourite U-Pick farm (which feels similarly too good to be true), Rhodes Raspberries and Blackcurrants.

In the age of physical distancing, Chappell Marsh is the perfect alternative to some of the potentially more crowded and well-known Meewasin sites. We went on a Sunday afternoon two weekends ago and were the only people in the area for the full hour we were there! We saw tons of birds, a wide variety of wildflowers being enjoyed by all sorts of bees and butterflies, and even a deer and a coyote. (Full disclosure, the wildlife encounters also included one tick that I found several hours later on my back.)

(My photos are quite bad because I just brought my point-and-shoot camera, but was kicking myself for not bringing my DSLR and telephoto lens because I missed out on some great photo opportunities. Above are the best I could get of an eastern kingbird and our coyote friend who unnervingly watched us for several minutes.)

There are a couple of hours' worth of trails to explore, plus sitting areas and a few little offshoots from the trails that would be great places to set up for the day for extended bird watching or photography. It is more of a wetland/grassland environment rather than deep woods, but there are plenty of trees to shade at least a portion of the trails.

I will be back to Chappell Marsh this summer, and look forward to experiencing fall migration there as well!

New Potatoes NOW

Legitimate new potatoes, i.e. freshly dug yesterday in Saskatchewan, are one of the true tastes of summer for me. They are a very fleeting seasonal pleasure, as they only taste the way they do for about a month until they mature and begin to taste more classically "potatoey". Actual new baby potatoes taste almost sweet and are a very different experience from a french fry or a large baked russet.

If you don't understand the big deal, and continue to buy last years' crop from the grocery store, I implore you to just buy one little bag and give it a shot. Perhaps $5 for a pound of potatoes seems a bit steep, but remember it is $5 for a once-a-year treat that won't exist in a few more weeks. I have been buying mine from Spring Creek Garden, through the Community Farmers Market of Saskatoon or the Robertson Valley Farm stand on Valley Road, but a lot of other market vendors will have them very soon.

My favourite way to prepare them is: boil (this is the only time I boil vegetables) and drain them. Then I put a generous amount of butter and salt into the pot, get the butter slightly bubbling, add copious amounts of dill and green onion, and add the potatoes back in to coat them in butter and greenery.

"Dilled potatoes" as I grew up calling them (and likely do many others, as it seems very common for markets to advertise fresh dill along with new potatoes) make a great side for a BBQ'd protein, and sometimes we just eat them as our full meal along with sour cream or cottage cheese (I know some people are grossed out by cottage cheese, but don't knock it until you try it - it's like an Eastern European poutine).

Time is of the essence here, people! Get your baby potatoes while they are still babies.