Magic Cottage Creations

Magic Cottage Creations
Return to my website.

January 23, 2016

I Wish I Had A Clam Garden

By Maryanna Gabriel

"Clam up your mouth and be silent like an oyster shell."
                                   
 Rumi                                               


Gulf Island "Clam Garden"
 photo from cbc.ca
Clams used to be so abundant. When I was growing up our family ate them a lot. It is hard to find a good clam beach these days. The beaches here are all clammed out. Once when I was walking on the ocean nearby I watched a boat come onto shore and many people descended of Asian stature and persuasion with wide straw hats. As a clump they moved in silent, orderly fashion, with downcast eyes, swiftly working the beach for clams. I understood then one of the reasons for the disappearance of the clam. When the Coastal Salish lived here there were apparently “clam gardens” a phenomenon only recent understood by archaeologists. The gardens were cultivated by creating sandy areas behind piles of rocks that became burms. It was a way to create a continuous food source for the abundant populations. One such place was Fulford. According to a man who was born here on Salt Spring Island and who is in his 80’s now,  Fulford Harbour used to be sandy and clear with abundant eel grasses. A huge clam garden was there. Then, loggers came. At the head of the harbour the logs were dumped along a chute. In a few years the garden was completely gone and the eel grasses destroyed. Today it is a dank mud flat. It is kind of a joke on us for we are only recently figuring out what the Salish have known all along. If only I had waterfront I would get busy.