FORAGING.
About a year ago I wrote of my foraging,< https://wrayfreden.com/2024/05/05/foraging/> I neglected to mention allmost all of my foraging has been during my married life. It has dawned on me I was foraging with my Mom back when I was 5 years old !
I had never thought the picking of wild Concord grapes as foraging. The old Railroad bed across from our street. had tons of them just-a-hanging waiting for the birds ,Mom, Dad & I. to gather Baskets full of them , so ripe & sweet. Mom made Grape Juice & jelly from them and did this way before I was a helper. The Depression years were tough,
Collecting the free grapes was in much need for that sweet tooth.
Now try Beach Plums,. They were not in our back yard , that meant a trip to the sea shore and sand dunes, ,and only a short trip to Humarock’s south end brought us to a large area of Rexhame Beach Sand Dunes , Beach grass, Bay bushes ,Rugosa Rose Bushes, and Beach Plumb bushes, and plenty to be had.
.
THE OLD CHEVY JUST WAITING TO GO ANYWHERE. ®
For you folks know of this area, your thinking of driving over the Julian St Bridge, turning right on a paved road, to a small gravel parking lot, Well, not so in 1939. There was no Julian St Bridge, no paved road, no gravel parking lot.
It was over the Sea St Bridge to Central Ave, paved to Berry Ave next to the Fire Station , then gravel for a few more streets.
River St. was sand and wind blown sand drifts, there were no camps south of Julian St, We make it to the end of River St., and close enough to walk to the Rexhame dunes.
It was windy as hell that day, the strong wind ripped the car door from Mom’s hand when she opened it ! Out I jumped my jacket hood up and a tight grip on my basket handle.
Pickin was pretty easy, if you picked back to the wind. Some bushes were thick and bushy full of plums.
SPRINGTIME , A SEA. OF WHITE OVERLOOKING
REXHAME DUNES, THIS IS LOOKING BACK TO HUMAROCK BEACH, WITHOUT A COTTAGE IN SIGHT.
After the bloom and a summer of growing of the fruit
I t didn’t’ take long to fill my basket. 
Mom said we needed 10 quarts, I had no clew what 10 quarts looked like, I took about three trips back to the car and dumped my share into the big basket on the back seat. Moms bounty filled the big basket ,so off to home, but not without a stop at Steads ( Stedman’s General Store) for a candy bar and coke , that cost Mom 10¢ ! Mom got herself a treat also. Then home to unload.
THIS BUSH WAS CHOCK-A-BLOCK-FULL. !
At home , out came the garden hose and a wash down of the plums. Another wash down in the kitchen’ sink. Then into a large pot to be boiled down to make a mush.
Near 5 pm, the pot got pushed back out of the way for mom to start supper. When Dad arrived and his first words were “OH, Plums for supper !” Mom laughed . After supper Mom &D got to work on the now cooked plums, separating skins &seeds as best they. could.
,
This pile got poured into the pot to boil.
FIRST BOIL OFF . A POT OF MUSH ,SKINS & SEEDS
The mash got poured into a bag, the bag got squeezed to get the juice drained and lots came out, then the bag got hung on a bracket over the sink to drip overnight into a Large pan . It was amazing to see the flow of clear juice. Dad would give the bag an upturn & hard squeeze. to get the flow restarted.
Well at 9 pm was my bedtime, so off to bed upstairs happily, happily not having to listen that drip-drip !
MOM GOT THE DRIPPING STARTED WITH A SQUEEZE . 
NANA ,helping.
This was another session some year later, Nana came to help out ,that always a treat because she always had a bag full of goodies !
Mom got to adding sugar, petcin & lemon juice , heat to a boil then cool & into, jelly jars with a wax seal. 15 pints done ,Yea !
MOM MELTED PARAFFIN WAX AND POURED IT OVER THE JELLY TO SEAL IT TIGHT.
Next, the clean up. the waste plum skins & seeds were in two buckets out on the porch. and ready for me to bring out to our chickens, My Jacket, my rubbers over my shoes, and off to the chicken yard,. When they saw me they knew food was. coming, but, they don’t know of these treats, so into the yard and dumping the bucket into the troth — well , these chickens went crazy-nuts — clucking, flying over , squawking with mouths full of plum skins. — 12 happy girls. 
The roosters were in another closed off pen, I’d feed them next.
Just think, scraps to the chickens,–they process the scraps, I’d clean out the droppings & spread on the garden— oh do veggies love chicken poo ! Along with the best tasting eggs ever. I remember Plum (- pickin trips) from 1939 to 1946 , all through WW ll .
Mom always hoarded enough sugar to make jelly every year.
If your wondering what we used plum jelly on, ever hear of peanut & jelly sandwiches ? Waffles. smeared with Plum jelly,
Plum jelly was special.
Plum jelly was special.
TOAST PLUM JELLY , A CUP OF WARM MILK. LIFE WAS GOOD .
I had forgotten completely about this wonderful time, fromm1939 to 1946. now long gone. In 1947 we moved into our new house. At that time , and on , there were two extra mouths to feed and too many chores to do and finishing touches, and I. just happened. to be the right. age for the “TO DO LIST” !
From this time on ,jams & jellies came from the A&P , or home made from the food table at the Marshfield fair.
A FEW OF MY THOUGHTS:
The beach plum I once knew, A scraggly bush fighting to live in the salty Ocean -side sand. In the spring it bursts into beautiful white flowers, that went on to little yellow green fruits,
then turning purple pink , and on to the final ripe plum blue color. It amazed me to see the fight it had to live. The wind was never ending, the salt spray all day. there roots continue to search for the needed. nutrients to survive such conditions. Before man’s progress, they survived all over the eastern coast. the fruit, free for the taking for jam , jelly, and plum butter.
Then , a summer camp, then 10 summer camps , a bulldozer. or two leveling the dunes plowing the beach grass, the Rugosa Rose and the Beach plum bushes — GONE ! the survivors were jammed up in piles , only to be destroyed by property owners because the scraggly bush did not fit into their landscaping. The Rugosa Rose can be hedged and controlled. It’s too bad more of Humaroc;k’s, south beach wasn’t kept for a town preserve allowing the piping plover, and the least tern , to nest, along with the lowly beach plum to survive. Gone, gone forever.
W. Ray Freden , Seaview, Marshfield 70 years . Down East Maine, 21 years, “The Way Life Should Be”
WRF ®
Loved this piece! Thank you for posting it. And you’re right about their being hard to come by nowadays. I do wish the beach plums were still there. You can occasionally find them along Duxbury Beach, if you’re lucky. And you might find some down the Cape.
I’ve made beach-plum jelly, but I don’t use pectin, which requires more sugar, as your recipe indicates. If you use cup-for-cup strained juice and sugar, no more than four cups of each, you get a fine jelly that sets up nicely. You do have to boil the daylights out of it, though! Jelly (any kind that I make) is done when it “sheets” off the spoon you’re stirring it with or comes to a “boil that can’t be stirred down.” If you want to be more scientific about it, you cook it until it reaches the “Soft-Boil” setting on your thermometer. I also gave up on using paraffin to seal the jars and now flip the filled and capped jars over on a sheet pan for 30 seconds to a minute, then turn them right-side up again. In a few minutes, the jar tops will “pop” as they snap down in the center, and the seal will be complete. If any of the jars don’t seal within half an hour or so, you can use the “preferred” way, which is to using the boiling water method, which is described in numerous books.
Happy picking and jelling!
Marguerite Krupp
Loved this piece! Thank you for posting it. And you’re right about their being hard to come by nowadays. I do wish the beach plums were still there in Marshfield. You can occasionally find them along Duxbury Beach, if you’re lucky. And you might find some down the Cape.
I’ve made beach-plum jelly, but I don’t use pectin, which requires more sugar, as your recipe indicates. If you use cup-for-cup strained juice and sugar, no more than four cups of each, you get a fine jelly that sets up nicely. You do have to boil the daylights out of it, though! Jelly (any kind that I make) is done when it “sheets” off the spoon you’re stirring it with or comes to a “boil that can’t be stirred down.” If you want to be more scientific about it, you cook it until it reaches the “Soft-Boil” setting on your thermometer. I also gave up on using paraffin to seal the jars and now flip the filled and capped jars over on a sheet pan for 30 seconds to a minute, then turn them right-side up again. In a few minutes, the jar tops will “pop” as they snap down in the center, and the seal will be complete. If any of the jars don’t seal within half an hour or so, you can use the “preferred” way, which is to using the boiling water method, which is described in numerous books.
Happy picking and jelling!
Marguerite Krupp
Great story Ray – the good old days when life was real.
Cheers, Ed H
Thanks, Ray. I thoroughly enjoyed the article.
Great memories, Ray! Thanks for sharing!
I am now full-time DownEast as well living on Islesboro in the remodeled Carriage House. Say hi to Carol for me and keep the memories coming.
Scott
What a wonderful post about times gone by and environmental riches gone by.
Wonderful stories about days gone by and environments gone by. Really enjoyed this. May mention it in my next book.
Thanks Ray, we have a beech plumb on our property in Norwell on the North river. We half the sugar, add some red wine and no pectin. Love your posts.
Bob
Thanks Ray! Jackie Powell and Mary-Lou MacLean picked both Grapes and Beach Plumbs and made Jelly which was shared with we Beach Girls. I love Beach Plum Jelly.
I always enjoy your stories of a simpler time. Thank you for sharing